Sandy Graves's page

"Yes I WAS a god. It is a story I will tell you all I give you my word. But right now I sense a crack in the group. Some of you are angry and feeling useless because of the actions and in actions of others amongst you. I know that you all had good reason at the time to keep things to yourselves. It is hard to share in the heat of battle and it is harder to share when you don't know who you are sharing with. This does not change the fact that the information I have shared today needs to be shared deeper amongst you all. I will leave now and return in a few hours. You can use this room to talk, share and plan amongst yourselves. I can not make you work as a group, you must find it within yourselves to come together."

He pauses before he leaves. "I chose you all for a reason, Elon your soul of action and willingness to get straight to the job, Carth your strength of character and conviction, Krallek your quiet hunger and battle heart, Archaouss your quick mind and hidden talents and Galacia your strong will and great aura. Do not forget that you all have weakness's as well as strengths and you need each other to do what you can not. Share and trust each other as I have placed my entire trust in you all. I will return when it is time."

With that he leaves the room.

"Sybil gave Elon some pages from her diary in exchange for some of his blood. For that he will get a gift when the pages are returned. Archaous, having made a deal with Paul for the were-bout's of Toby, stole the diary from her. A fact she was acutely aware of at the time, though he wouldn't of known. Sybil is much smarter than she comes across. But we each have our own inner defenses."

You all awake to bright sunshine and song of birds. It delays the heavy weight of yesterdays events for just a few moments. No sooner are you ready and up than the purple cloaks are escorting you to Graves office.

"Come in" His voice shows no hint of the tiredness that is face clearly does.

"I trust the weapons are adequate." He will not wait for an answer.

"Well as you are all keenly aware, we have ran int o a bit of a situation. The gods a vying for power and that is never good for mortals. Innocent people are being killed, my town is falling apart at the seems and there is a group of people in front of me that all want to know what is going on. The truth is we don't have a whole lot of options at this juncture."

He stands and begins to pace. "So instead of focusing on what we don't have. It is time to focus on what we do have." He turns to Elon and Archaouss. As he does you feel movement from your bags. We have these pages and the diary from Sybil. he takes a moment to read them and it only takes a moment.

"Well if this had been shared sooner the events of yesterday may have been avoided."He makes no effort to hide his emotions.

"Elon your tests will show I'm not evil. You may do it now if you wish. unlike some of you I have nothing to hide."

He will stand still for your detections.

"Now, what you all know so far; Paul is evil, he is not what he seems. a dog like creature maybe. More likely one of the shadows sent here by the dark god. Sybil knows more about this town that she admits to. She can create a magic of sorts with her liquids. The mill belongs to Toby who is not liked by the town. He attempted to steal the orbs a long time ago. His motivations are unclear. He may or may not be back. The town nearest us would benefit greatly form our failings and you all saw the vision. That I can not begin to interpret."

He waits to see you have all followed.

"What I was able to find out for the creature is simple. It is not Paul. It knew Paul was a human and it knew of his memory, his life but it was not him. It needed a vessel and Paul fit. It would not reveal anything of the other shadows or its true intent. It's only thoughts were to .... well to finish what you all interrupted."

"What happened yesterday was avoidable and unforgivable. What you all did to fix it was more than anyone in this town would have done. For that I am grateful. You need to work together, non of you can beat this alone. Together you are strong. Make your plans and I will help how I can."

He sits down and awaits your responses.

"She is very tough at least she can be. Eliana is a very good friend." He seems a little distant when he says that and quickly moves on to trying to explain,

"She is connected to the orbs in a way or to be more accurate they are connected to her. It is hard to explain."

He paces slowly back to the desk to sit down and takes a deep breath.

"she seems to know when they orbs need something or are in trouble. The night before the first one was stolen, she had terrible nightmare, thrashing and shouting in her sleep the whole night and she could not be raised from sleep for most of the following day. As far as I know this occurred each time one was taken."

Concern once again shows on is face.

"She does not remember having nightmares. She does not remember a lot of things and some are for the best but I trust her with my life and to hear that she said not to hand the orb to Argius, leaves me in a bit of a conundrum."

He sits quiet for a moment and listens to Elon speaking.

"If that is the evidence you have then it is a good place to start. Sybil knows more about Paul than I do though I fear her answers may be biased, they do not get along."

"She was in the burning building?" Obvious panic and concern show in his face and voice.

He stands up to leave in a rush but is stopped by Krallek's words. "Argius and Argiusotherer may have similar names and I can see why not many people get along with Argius, he is not the most patient of people. However he is my employee and therefor bound by my authority. Though the fact that Eliana has said not to let him touch it has given me pause for thought."

"We have one orb safe, I shall lock it away when I go to work on your tools. That leaves 3 more to find and I doubt the next three will be so easy to come across. Do you have a plan regarding what to do next?"

"Do not worry Archaouss, a Little crazy can keep you sane."

"It seems what ever was in the orb wanted to tell you something. The orbs have energy, not memory. At least if they have memory it is the first time they have shared it. Though as I said they are living, kind off."

"So now you know some of what I knew. That the orbs where a gift from the gods and that they where sent here to keep the balance. This village is blessed and cursed. We have held the key to the earths survival for so long and not many people knew what we had."

"Who was it that told you not to let Argius touch the orb? Was it Eliana?"

"Did Miss Patience tell you not to show it to Argius?"

He continues to look at the orb, ignoring Archaouss's 'crazy' comment. It was not the first time he had heard that said about him and probably wouldn't be the last.

"Miss Velana you have put it better than I ever could." He smiles and kisses the back of Velana's hand.

"Argiusotherer the unrelenting. So the first infiltrator is named. The orbs themselves has no will, no consciousness though they are technically living. well not living as in life but organic, well not organic but energy that replenishes and depletes the way we do. it eats, well not eats but takes energy from its surroundings and therefor takes on a part of where it is. This is the farmers Orb. The creature should not be there it is tainting the life the orb has and it needs to be removed. The only magic healer we have in town is Argius."

"Krallek do not mistake your past actions for your future worth. This world is filled with good people, bad people and everywhere in between people. It takes more than one type of person to live in it, why would it not take more than one type to save it?"

When Krallek mentions the Orb he replies. "Sick? How so?" His curiosity is obviously peaked by that news.

He handles the orb very carefully and daintily as he looks at it. More so than you expect a man of his size and age to be able to. He takes a look at the orb, the way a scientist looks at an experiment. "It does look...sick. I'll get Argius to take a look at it when we have finished here. May I ask how you knew it was 'sick'?" Curious about the wording that was used.

"I assume."

Graves thinks for a moment and then smiles. They way any kind wise teacher does when they see an element of their former selves.

"That is not for me to answer Galacia. You have your own reasons to save the world or to watch it burn. The greatest gift in this world is choice. You have to make your own."

"I did not choose anyone. I saw that it was you. Life or the gods or who ever you choose to believe in, chose you. How powerful do you think Argius is? he can heal that is all. The hammer was from me."

Graves's appearance is smart and handsome. His eyes seem to pierce through everything as though he truly see's what he is looking at. He has a a respectful, kind but authoritative look about him and all his features and posture match that.

"Please sit, stand, make yourself comfortable."

He closes the door behind the last person to enter. "Well first thing first, I could not be there to greet you myself, for which I am sorry. Seeing the future gives me no more control over my schedule as any of you have."

He sits on the edge of a table facing you all. "You have all been brought here by coincidence or choice, or well....me." He winks at you all.

"This town is in great trouble but none of that matters much. Those orbs are more important than anyone here realizes. They can be used to bring about the destruction of the mortal realm. Well not them exactly. they are under the watch of the gods to the 7 realms. If one god tries to take power here then the others will do everything to prevent it. That includes destroying the mortal realm. thats you me, him, her, everybody gone."

"POOF!!!" he shouts louder than he should have and gestures an explosion with his hands before smiling them down on the desk.

"Oh made my self jump there. Anyway I can see the future and....have I said that already? yes I am able to see the future which doesn't allow me to sort my schedule the way you think it would and the orbs you have been finding are important. very important. You see there are powerful gods. The gods of the 7 realms and they mean to destroy the mortal realm if someone should try to take power and according to my visions some one is trying to do just that. My visions are of the future. Wait I have definitely said that before, or later or will do soon."

He stands up shaking his head. "Anyway back to the most current present with you Sandy!"

"If nothing is done to stop this evil god from seizing power here, then we are all doomed. My visions told me that each of you had a important part to play in all this. I hate to sound melodramatic but the fate of the mortal realm and indeed the other realms, depends on you all. There are people like me that can help, people who know of magic and people that don't that will help. There are also those who work for the evil god and they know of magic to. Have we done the magic conversation yet?"

He shakes his head. "No we haven't have we, you are all special you are able to do things and see things and notice things that others cant. even those that don't use 'spells' I do not know how much you know of your own ability before today but I can tell you from now they will get stronger and you will discover more things you are able to do than you could not before. you will become better magic wielders, stronger fighter and better trackers for example. Magic is rare here, only a few know of it and not all of them are good. power corrupts as they say."

"So I have brought you here to save the world. I know, brilliant isn't it! I can help, I am making powerful weapons for you all imbuing them with...how to put it? abilities that weapons of such kind should not have. As soon as they are ready they will help you in your great task. Each weapon can only be wielded by the one I make it for should anyone else try to use it it will be less than useless, so please look after it."

Hmm there is something I am forgetting, what is it? what is it? oh of course."

"I am Sandy Graves, please to meet you all in person. Welcome to my home. Please sit, stand, make yourself comfortable."