A little ways down the road, Ithriel asks Leon, "Can I inquire something of you, my friend?"
"Of course, Ithriel. What do you need?"
The Elf lowered his voice and asked, "Are you a descendant of kings?"
Oh this sounds juicy!
Perception
Leylyn can't help but try to eavesdrop. She's embarrassingly obvious about it too, slowing down to get close two the two whispering.
Leon winced at the question and shrugged. "Well my grandfather seemed to think so and taught me a lot of things based on that, but I never really..."
Leon stopped mid sentance and stared at the elf. "Wait just a minute... How do you know these things?"
Ithriel noticing Leon's wince, said a little loudly, in Leylyn's direction, "Uumlast nessa lindar, sina uumantlle sii."
Then he turns to Leon and proceeds to tell him of the vision he had while he was examining Endrian. When finished, he added, "While I may be mostly blind, I still see things most cannot."
He's an elf. He's a seer. He's my friend. I can't just not trust this. I know he didn't read the book. He just knows...
Leon sighed. "Guess it might really be true then. I was kind of hoping it wasn't."
Ithriel put his hand on Leon's shoulder. "All things have a destiny, my friend of the fields. But the road to that destiny is not a straight path. It branches a multitude of times and each choice takes us down a different branch. You'll realize your path in due time." The Elf removes his hand and continues down the road with his companions.
My whole life I did things because I was supposed to. It was easy. I knew what things needed to be done because they were obvious. Fields need planting. Crops need harvesting. The cow needs milking. By the time all the obvious things were done there wasn't any time for anything else. Definitely no time to worry about lost crowns and old quests. Now though... What things are obvious to a seer? Do I act on them even if I don't understand them? I want a drink..."
Leylyn pouts.
Leylyn doesn't push the subject though and moves away form the two.
Feeling a little guilty about what he said to Leylyn, Ithriel moves up beside her and whispers. "I apologize for what I said earlier, but he is not ready for the others to know. Give him time."
After talking with Leylyn, Ithriel finds the young Paladin. "How are you holding up my friend?"
Having decided to outrace the rest of the Seekers, you push towards your final destination.
While the route is rough and your recent hardships strain heavily on morale, you succeed in your task and reach the ruins safe and sound.
The ruins lie before you. While only the rumored watchtower has been slightly excavated, telltale signs of recent digging amongst other spots show that someone has been here recently.
No signs of movement disturb the scene however, at least, from what you can see.
"Finally! The resting place o' the fabled grail. Looks like we got beaten here. What's the plan Lee?" Jevon says to Leon, scanning the area for any clues to what happened here.
"Of course someone was here, how do you think we know about it? Messages falling out of the sky? The problem is that no one is here now, which begs the question of what happened to them. She and I will see if they are in the ruins, everyone else scout around the ruins. In pairs!" He points at Ms Koyr and then heads off warily towards the tower with a Shock grasp held active.
Edited for clarity.
Baster surveys the ruined landscape before him and his companions with great intensity.
A smile slowly spreads accros his lips.
The resting place of the Grail ! Thank you, Eveldine, for bestowing such a sight upon my eyes ! Here, somewhere among that rubble and that dirt, deep under our feet, lies the Great Vessel of Destiny, by which the Wicked are punished and the Blessed are rewarded !
The smile drops abruptly from his face.
But who are the Wicked, and who are the Blessed ? Who can say ?
I can't.
He looks at his companions, each of them in turn.
There's darkness in your heart. As in mine. There are darkness and murderous thoughts in all of the Gods' living creatures.
With his sword hand, the Peacock Knight unconsciously traces the stitched lines of the peacock's head embroidered on his tabard.
Aye, murder ! It's all the more important then that we carefully choose our enemies, so that we may visit murder upon them and that we're able to call it the fair handiwork of Gods...
He straightens himself.
Make no mistake, Eveldine: I am proud of who I am ! And why should I not ? Are You not the one who made me so, according to the ramblings of philosophers and priests ?
The nobleman laughs abruptly. It ends shortly, though.
F!!* the priests and their limp words ! I know who I am, and I need no excuse to claim my birthright upon this land !
Baster moves towards the ruins.
"So, Leon," he adresses the man as he passes him by "the chase for the prize really begins now, he ? Do you think you have what it takes to lay claim to It, peasant knight ?"
Though rough and grating, Baster's tone is not unkindly.
"Alright, we made it! So should we wait for the rest of the band, or should we get a head start checking this place out. I bet we could have the grail before they even arrive!" Leylyn says excitedly checking the ancient site out in detail.
Ithriel places his hand on the minstral's shoulder and asked, "Leylyn, you seem to be full of tales. Is there anything you can tell us about this place?"
:>
Knowledge (arcana)
Knowledge (dungeoneering)
Knowledge (engineering)
Knowledge (geography)
Knowledge (history)
Knowledge (local)
Knowledge (nature)
Knowledge (nobility)
Knowledge (planes)
Knowledge (religion)
Leon shrugs at Baster's question. "Honestly, M'Lord, I hadn't ever planned on laying my hands on it myself. I just wanted to help. To me the most important thing is to make sure the wrong people don't get their hands on it. I'm going to walk up that big hill there and take a look over the land. People have been here and may still be camped nearby, but we'd never know from down in there. Feel like joining me?"
"I will." Jevon says, drawing his musket and tailing Leon.
Leon nods and starts up the hill with Jevon.
Leylyn smiles at Ithriel, "Wahaha! Boy do I ever! Over ah thousand years ago, Eveldine, THEE EVELDINE, lead a force that fought back the Society of the End, AKA the bad guys. She battled against these dark nihilists for well over three decades, although the actual length of the battling is highly debated among scholars... Anyway she fought her butt off for a long time, and her strength was starting to waiver, most-likely due to age, but that's another highly debatable subject. Long story short, she sacrificed herself to power up 'Thee Grail of Gods'. Once Eveldine's knights and Templars had the super-charged Grail, they pretty much beat the tar out of the Society. Eveldine was then beatified into Saint Eveldine and is said to be entombed along with the Grail, within Goldhollow's Catacombs. The Catacombs have been said to have been lost to the test of time and myth."
"Thats what this place is! The. Frig'n. fabled. Goldhollow's Catacombs! Although there is no substantial evidence, they found remains which included armaments with the insignia of Avelone, and they are dated in the right window of time to possible be from that fabled war!"
"On the ruins themselves though, I don't know much. Even assuming these are the true ruins of Goldhollows Catacombs, the tales don't go into much detail on the ruins themselves and the ruins have only been found 3 months ago... We're some of the first people to set foot here in almost a thousand years! What I do know is that there are a few key locations to help us truly identify this place. There is the Silver Fountains, Eveldine's Rise, and the Whisperwell. If we can locate and identify these locations, we've made frig'n history!" Leylyn finishes, a bit starstruck.
"So then our first priority is to establish whether this is the correct location or not."
Baster looks at Leon and Jevon as they start climbing the hill, but he decides to stay behind to listen to what Leylyn is saying.
"A very enthusiastic viewpoint, Leylyn. As always." he says, obviously pleased at being in the company of the energetic and good-spirited young woman.
"Maybe we could join Lord Deamon and Miss Koyr as they explore the interior of the ruins ?" he says to the bard and to the Elf.
"That way, we may be able to find clues as to wether we are in the right place - as you were saying, Ithriel."
"And, besides that, I'd like to point out that it hasn't been formally established yet that Miss Koyr is not a spy for the enemy."
"Tim could be in for a nasty surprise... or maybe it's a dangerous bounty hunter's ruse to flush his prey out of hiding, so to say."
"That, or he wants to ravish her on the bed of history" the nobleman muses under his breath.
Leylyn's ears twitch, "What was that Basty? I didn't catch that last part!" ;P
Ithriel leans over towards Leylyn and whispers, "He said, 'That, or he wants to ravish her on the bed of history.'"
"Hurmm" Baster says, clearing his throat.
"Let us go and explore !"
Endrian turns to Baster "Let us go forth Sir Baster. Destiny beckons!"
Leylyn rolls her eyes. "Oh Basty... Hahaha. How about we explore and check on Tim while were at it? If we're lucky maybe we will walk in on some betrayal or infidelity!"
"Betrayal, hmmm ? Yes, betrayal hides in the most unexpected places" Baster says in a sardonic though amused tone of voice.
Then the Peacock knight, Leylyn, the paladin of Eveldine and Ithriel move towards the Watchtover's ruins, and enter them.
Within the Watch Tower
Sunlight peers through cracks of the stone tower. A lone raven flutters out of a large fissure at the top. Dust clouds the interior, creating a feeling of being submerged in minute light particles.
A crumbled stairway makes it way higher while a large stone trapdoor takes up most of the floor. It is currently sealed.
Does the door appear to have been open recently?
The Elf raises his staff and says, "Kalywandil." It begins to glow as bright as a torch. "One never knows what lurks in the dark." he states nonchalantly.
"Thank you, Ithriel" murmurs Baster.
He looks at the interior of the watchtower, unconsciously holding his breath at the sight of this place crumbling under the weight and dust of history.
Then the nobleman kneels alongside Tim to take a better look at the trapdoor.
He lets his fingers run along the uneven stone surface, looking for.. he doesn't exactly know what.
Once atop the hill, Jevon will scan the surroundings to see if he notices anything different from the higher vantage point.
"Leon, you see anything?"
"Nothing beyond the obvious."
"Well we best join the others before they leave us completely behind, eh?"
"Yeah. Glad we're alone out here. Wonder what happened tot he folks that were here before us."
With a shrug, Leon followed Jevon back down the hill.
Aldus stands just outside the doorway resting on his staff with both hands, his large buggy eyes darting from detail to detail. Bird, his large hawk combs through Aldus's tangled hair, screeching with glee as it finds a small insect it quickly devours it's prize.