Josephine, Warrior of the West's page

"No! He cannot go!"

Slicing the air that he stood in, Josephine's scimitar opened a viewing portal to the Avatar of the Dead's location.

But all it showed was the figure of a dark, twisted creature, thick muscles flowing under it's skin, like it was barely contained. And it was walking purposefully.

"I cannot decipher the meaning of this. Can any of you help?"

"I shall stay. My scimitar shall be needed. My body, too, shall be required. Let us fight this threat together, for if we fail, the world may not get a second chance."

Josephine began to scan the ground with her scimitar. Holding it above the ground, the orb seemed to shimmer. Eventually she stood above the point that the Avatar had stood on, and the orb projected an image onto the ground.

"Josephine, Warrior of the west, this is the Counsel of Avatars. The Avatar of Death has left us. We know only that Merlyn is in great danger, and that Death travels with the source of that danger. Keep him safe. You cannot succeed against Him without each other."

And the image disappeared.

"Esil'Dar, I have have heard that he was seen here. Can you lead us further? We need to know more before we can continue."

Josephine and Merlyn arrived at the Western Edge. The barrier of light that Merlyn erected long ago was barely visible, cracked, flawed and diminished. The absence of Gods had obviously weakened it's power. However, past the barrier people had begun to settle again. Fields of crops, grass, and orchards had sprung up, making the area much more hospitable.

"Give me a moment Merlyn, I shall call to Esil'Dar."

Josephine sat on the ground, just as she had done months before.

"Esil'Dar, Friend of the Avatar of Sand! I call to you now, not for guidance, but advice! Please, my friend, Come!"

All they could do now is wait...

"From what I heard, Merlyn, you are not welcome here. The Archdruid Esil'Dar told me the very same when I passed here looking for you. Perhaps, although this may be asking too much, we should head to the western edge of the Great Forest? After all, Esil'Dar does still play chess with the Avatar of Sand, and maybe he could tell us more?"

Josephine looked troubled. Strife between the Archdruids and Merlyn could only lead to sadness, and Stagbrow still had not been found. Many things could go wrong. She kept her scimitar at the ready...

"I have no objections. For now, i follow you, Merlyn."

"I insist, for without me you face certain failure. I know how the Avatars work, I know of the agreements they made, and I alone wield the weapon that can end them. And besides, at least one of us should return here to tell the tale of what happened, don't you think?"

Evidently Josephine knew a lot more than she outwardly showed.

Josephine was sitting in her room, when suddenly she felt a strange pull on her mind. She quickly opened her own bag of sand, and the sand flowed out onto the floor, before taking the form of the Avatar of Sand.

"Josephine, you must leave. Go with him. That scimitar is the one hope this world has now that the Gods are gone."

Josephine quickly packed her things. She went to Te-Bow, and said her goodbye to her apprentice. She will be back.

She quickly caught up to Merlyn, and she said to him "My scimitar is the one hope this world has of defeating Him. Why did you think of leaving without it?"

"Thank you, Merlyn. Watch carefully."

Josephine took the bag, and carefully swept her hand across each active gem, grabbing the barely perceptible bonds. She then drew the Scimitar across those bonds, visibly severing them.

"It is done. I will now call the Avatar."

She took a handful of the sand from the bag, and drew a circle on a clear space on Merlyn's desk...

"The question, Merlyn of the East, is not how you can help me, but how I can help you. I come here having spoken to Esil'Dar, and have heard of all that has happened here before I came. The Archdruid claims that this is a time of peace, and yet I arrive to find that the ranks of your... Paladins, i think you call them? have been bolstered significantly. I have conversed with the Avatar, and he in turn told me that he entered an agreement with the other Avatars. I come as their representative in this part of the world. I assume you have not forgotten how powerful the Avatar of the Sand was? He has not lost his touch, but it seems he considered you a worthy adversary, and so he asked me to come here."

At this point, Josephine seems a little lost. She is not used to being weaponless. It makes her feel uneasy.

"Rest assured, I am not here to cause strife, and the Avatar made it clear to me that I am not to harm any who do not wish harm upon others. Your paladins are no doubt skilled warriors, so you do not need me for that. And you are a skilled magician, perhaps the greatest this land will ever know, so you need not my magic. Guidance, however, is something you lack. The gods have left, including yours, and I wish to act as your advisor of sorts."

Josephine seems yet more lost. Speech comes easily to her, but Merlyn is an intimidating man, even in his aged state.

"If you wish proof of my allegiance to all in the East, then I would ask a favour of you. Give me the Bag of Sand that the Avatar gave you. I shall sever all ties it has to the other Archdruids. No doubt such an act will lift the burden on their hearts. I will also call the Avatar, as the bag will function purely as a communication system after I have severed the ties."

And finally Josephine finds the strength to finish what she needs to say.

"I will require my scimitar in order to do so. It has the power to negate any Avatar's magic to any degree that I see as being balanced. You see, the Avatars agreed to meddle no more in mortal affairs, but they lack the power to destroy relics of their own making. So they pooled their power, and now it lies in the sword. And I alone know how to use it. If you are willing, I will take an apprentice, who I shall teach the ways of the weapon. This will take many years to accomplish, but it will also provide you with a way to stop the desolation that the Black Desert caused. Avatars can be clever, twisting words to their own ends, and my own patron does not trust the Avatar of the Dead farther than he can be thrown. Let me do this for you, Merlyn, that the East does not come to remember only pain and suffering caused by the West."

Josephine stops, and awaits Merlyn's verdict.

After months of travel, Josephine finally arrived at Lighton. She approached the first Paladin she could see, and asked to see Merlyn, Magician of the East. All she could do now, was wait...

"Hmmm... you appear to have bested me, Esil'Dar. Indeed, the Avatar foresaw as much. Thank you for a most excellent game." Josephine was thrilled. Several times, Esil'Dar had outsmarted her, used hidden strategies, and had finally put her into an unwinnable situation. "Perhaps one day you may be needed as a strategist in a much larger conflict. However, now I must leave. To this... Lighton I go."

Josephine took up her sword, and Esil'Dar by this time had studied it extensively. It was a finely made scimitar, and the jewel in the hilt seemed to shimmer, almost as if it wasn't quite there. The details in the hilt showed desert, forest, mountain and ocean, all at peace with each other. And the sword itself seemed to hum with power, almost as if it was intelligent. But then, a truly intelligent sword would never reveal it's true nature willingly.

"Maybe we shall see each other again? I would like another game, perhaps when I do not have such a burden to carry. Farewell, and may the Forest be safe while I am gone." And with that, Josephine turned away, and walked around the forest, making sure not to walk under the canopy.

The Dunewalkers, Josephine's order of warriors, have a de facto calendar already. There are 3 seasons, one for the cooling of the world (late autumn into early winter, known as "The Sleeping"), one for the warming (late winter into early spring, known as "The Waking"), and one for when the Desert is too hot for most to walk it ("Fury"). Make of this what you will.

"Chess. A game of skill, thought, and tactics. Of course I will have a game."

Josephine very carefully opens a bag of her own pieces, made especially for her.

"These pieces were made for me by my father, cut from the rock that my family lived on. My name is Josephine, and I do indeed come peacefully."

As she finished setting up, with a careful hand from years of practice, she considers her opening moves. And she and Esil'Dar begin to play.

"Esil'Dar, I call to you, in the name of the Far West! I bid thee, come and speak a while!"

So said a young woman, clad in armor, sitting on the far side of the Barrier of Light. The land to the west of the barrier was recovering. It seems as though the Black Desert had not soured the land, and had indeed left hope for revival.

"My people have heard of you, Esil'Dar, Friend of the Black Desert. I am their prime fighter, one of the few known as Dunewalkers. We were all picked by the sands of the Black Desert itself, and fear not it's interference with our affairs. The Avatar has weakened, Archdruid. He no longer thirsts for conquest, but instead wishes to aid. Where is the one known as Merlyn? For I come as an advisor, tactician, and redeemer on the behalf of the Avatar of the Sand."

As she says this, she lays her sword flat on the ground in front of her. It's hilt is made of a gem that seems to contain the same roil of black sand kept in the pool the Avatar left behind.

"The Avatar also wished me to pass on this message. The pool of sand he left behind functions as a conduit, a method of speaking with him. All the avatars have agreed to neutrality, and my sword is the seal of that contract." And, indeed, the sword has an engraving on the side, that reads as "We are all part of Beriya. We are neutrality embodied. We are the Counsel of Avatars."

"I ask not that you trust me. The Avatar has told me much of what has happened, so I will not desecrate your forest by entering it. I only ask what has happened to Archdruid Stagbrow since the Avatar fulfilled his promise to Merlyn?"