Flash looks a little puzzled, "Huh? Well, generally people wear rings." Looking at Deerian now,"And sometimes they keep them in jewellery boxes. Or safehouses. Do you mean this spell came from a ring? Which ring?"
Feeling certain that she should continue to be honest now she's started Ellirayne stops and shifts her hair to show Flash the back of her neck. "The ring that did this. The one that rolled over to me when your furniture fought" She explains with the tiniest of shrugs "It just seemed right."
Flash excitedly inspects the marking, "A ring did this? It marked you? What kind of mark is that, anyway? It's....like a dragonmark...but different.....Are you sure it came from my stuff? I don't know of any rings that chest was carrying. Weird! Where's the ring now?"
Ellirayne can't help but laugh a little at Flash's enthusiasm, despite her mild disappointment that he can't give her any more information. "Where's the ring?" She repeats looking down at her empty ring finger for a moment before rubbing the fingertips of her left hand over the area where the ring should rest in the hopes of working out if it was possible to remove it or if it was with her now. "..that is a good question.. if I can't find it Deerian picked one up too."
Following along quietly Deerian listened to his sister and 'father' discuss magic. Elli's new gift made him feel a little better as he was unsure if healing would come from a bad source. Still the obvious fact that Flash didn't know about it was worrisome.
"It's true I have what would have been a match for Elli's ring." Producing the small item he showed it to Flash wondering, for a moment, if it would give him the gift of healing too.
At Ellirayne: "How did you lose such a ring? It marked you, and you misplaced it?"
Turning to Deerian at the mention of his ring: "You have a ring as well? Why did you not put it on?"
"I didn't lose it" Ellirayne responds easily as she scratches a little at her ring finger "for all I know it's still there and I haven't worked out how to make it materialise again.."
Flash takes a look for a moment before musing:"Hmm, I've never seen a ring that could do that before, much less heard of one...Deerian, let's take a look at yours..."
It was worrying that Flash, he still couldn't quite accept thinking of the man as father, didn't know about the rings. Remeber healing shouldn't really come from a bad source.
Pulling the ring from the pocket he presented it nestling in the palm of his hand. "Here it is... I didn't put it on as things were a little confused and it isn't mine. Besides they rolled from the crashing furniture right to out feet.. It seemed a little stange."
Snatching the ring from Deerian, Flash mutters a few quiet words, his eyes turning briefly into an intense kaleidoscope of colours. He studies the ring but for a moment before closing his eyes, and shaking his head, ending the spell.
"These rings are obviously very special. I don't even know what's going on with them. There's some illusion wrapped around the ring itself, here, but the real juice is in this little gem-shard."
Flash tosses the ring back to Deerian with a flick of his thumb. "I don't know of any rings that were stored there. The closest thing, and this is a bit of a jump, is that there was a sealed vase in the case. By my estimations, it should have contained the bones and dust of some long dead king 'What's-his-name'. Not rings. I definitely heard some rattling in there, but I dare not open it. Wouldn't want to have some ancient curse unleashed upon me! I mean....no, not a curse. But it wouldn't be good! It would at least smell horrible..." Flash stops putting his foot in his mouth as he notices the twins' growing uneasiness.
"Either way, these rings are special, powerful, and probably are part of a larger set. That, if there were more of them, are now somewhere between here, and The Cogs, floating down down down. Who knows who could have the other ones?"
Shooting a look at Deerian; "Are you still uncomfortable, my boy? I saw a lot of power in that ring, but nothing that seemed dangerous or malicious. Why not take a look yourself?"
Ellirayne looks over at her twin with a mischievous little grin as he contemplates the situation with the magical rings. "Or, if you're scared I could put that one on too." She comments slyly with a little smirk, obviously enjoying not having to be overly diplomatic for the time being.
At his twin's mockery Deerian had to resist the urge to put the ring on straight away. Actually that was possibly Elli's plan. Rolling his eyes Deerian turned to Flash. "It might be worth doing some experimentation... Maybe if you observe the magic whilst I try the ring we might get a better idea as to what happens."
"That's a fair idea. We could all observe it. Surely you know how to observe and tune into magical energies? It's an easy trick, and definitely important for any would-be magic user to learn!"
Flash's eyes grow bright again as the detect spell sparks up: "Go ahead, you two too."
Grinning brightly as Deerian acts as predicted and offer to put the ring on Ellirayne shifts a little closer to her twin hoping to catch all of the subtlties of the magic of the rings. Taking a deep breath to focus herself the young woman's eyes slowly shift to a similar glowing colour as Flash's as she activates her detect magic spell with confident ease.
Rolling his eyes at his twin's happy look, oh she was a pain at times, Deerian quickly cast his own magic to shift his vision to that odd way of looking at the world. Then watching carefully he slipped the ring onto his finger. Hopefully this wouldn't go horribly wrong.
When Deerian places the ring on his finger, all three mages are able to follow the path of the magic as it courses through his body.
Deerian feels a tingling, like a gentle prickling, from head to toe. Watching it with the detect spell active shows the magic travelling quickly and completely throughout Deerians body, before coalescing at a point on his left forearm. It does not appear to give off a magic aura, but normal sight reveals it to be a similar kind of mark as Ellirayne's. Deerian is left with only a quiet tingling feeling on the side of his arm, that fades after a few seconds.
"Hmmm...", Flash mutters. "It would appear that any trace of illusion magic ceased as soon as you placed the ring on your finger. The ring, itself, was an illusion. That certainly explains why it was so perfect. It must have just been an illusory carrier for the shard; an excuse to make skin contact with that gem! That's all it needed to activate. Fantastic! Deerian, boy, how do you feel?"
Lost in thought for a moment Deerian didn't respond at first. That was a remarkably strange sensation but it didn't feel bad. Oh well what was done was done. "I feel fine.. It's certainly a different sort of magic.."
Shrugging a little he glanced up at his sister with a smile. "There you go... We still match. So what do we think on all this? How did you activate that spell?"
Ellirayne gives a light satisfied smile as her brother puts on the ring, her expression slowly becoming one of intrigue and appreciation as she watches the magic. Looking closely at the mark on his arm she frowns a little as she tries to remember what she did to activate hers. Subconsciously shifting she lifts her hand to rub the back of her neck as she often does under stress or when thinking. Her fingers almost brush the back of her neck as she remembers.
"Oh, I think you just need to touch it.." She explains with a smile.
"Well, the ring is gone, either way," Flash says, pointing to Deerian's hand.
He reaches out and takes Deerian's hand in his, slowly turning it over and examining it. "The gem's not embedded in your hand or anything. It must have just held the magic itself, and then dissipated into you. The gem, for all intents and purposes, is inside you now."
Flash hums a little song in his head before continuing, "It can't be all that bad though. Ellirayne got a beneficial spell out of it. What spell did you get? Aren't you curious? Maybe more divine magic?"
Ellirayne
Deerian
Ellirayne looks oddly at Deerian for a moment, a trace of confusion in her expression for a moment before she composes herself and gives a smile. "Try it" She tells him with a grin as she glances at the mark.
Ellirayne
Deerian
The half-elf was rapidly becoming more than a little confused by the goings on. He'd been about to respond to Flash when the voices sounded in his head. "I think it does something else as well... That or my sister has cast some other magic... her voice and another are talking in my mind."
Ellirayne smiles apologetically at her brother before focusing on the stranger's voice in her head once more.
'Don't you think it's a little crass to ask a lady her name and location without introducing yourself first?' She silently enquires of the voice in her mind.
"You're over-hearing a telepathic conversation? I didn't see her cast a spell, tho some do exist that can join minds together....There are a myriad of beings that can communicate telepathically; angels, devils, and worse. Is it promising you riches, power, or fame?"
Flash looks puzzled, but patient as the twins appear to wrestle with multiple conversations at once.
There is no response from the mysterious voice, but Deerian hears his sister's interrogation of it. You surmise that there is some kind of 'party-line' open here.
Ellirayne gives a small frown at the lack of response. 'And not responding because you don't get things your way is even ruder.' She chastises the mystery voice, if someone was going to be in her head they could at least be civil. Shaking her head a little she looks at her two male relatives with a vague smile.
"No promises of anything, just a severe lack of anything approaching manners" She tells Flash certainly.
"I suppose that it means that at least someone somewhere has another ring.. It also might make tracking them down a little easier.. Although i'm not too sure I like the idea of strangers being inside mine and Ellie's heads." It was a worrying prospect but there wasn't anything they could do about it now. The rings had gone and it seemed that there was no real clue as to who else was linked to them.
"Really, I don't know anything about these rings. Who knows how many of them there could be? I imagine, however, that whoever found the other ones are probably as lost about the whole thing as we are. Maybe there's some mention of them, in some old, dusty, forgotten tome? It's always an old dusty book. Trust me.
Either way, I'd like to know a bit more about them. Maybe there's more than rings? Maybe there's a whole ensemble? Perhaps a magic tiara," Flash teases.
"If you're feeling up for it, perhaps you could try and track down any others that have been found? You have a better way of finding those people than I do," Flash says, tapping his head with his finger.
"We don't really have that much to go on, unless we find out more. My boy, are you not going to activate yours?"
Ellirayne's eyes light up at the very notion of hunting down beautiful bits of jewellery that will give her more fantastic, if strange, gifts. She of course knows that Flash is teasing but likes the idea of a matching tiara or perhaps just an 'inside-out' necklace of some sort.
"Well I'm all for tracking down whatever remains of these rings, especially if it'll save on more rude voices turning up in my mind. Although I think I scared the first one off so finding them may be tricky."
As always Deerian waited for his sister to have her say before responding himself. "I thought the voices more important but as it seems we'll have to put some thought into tracking people down I guess it's time for an experiment."
With only a moment of reluctance the young man gently touched the new mark on his arm. Hopefully this wouldn't lead to anything too bad.
As soon as Deerian activates his new mark, a small ring of light blue runes begins floating around his head. They dance between his neck and his forehead, like a choker made of light.
Flash studies the magic for a moment before giggling a little: "Well, my dear boy, this new development takes us back to square one! Maybe I'm not your father at all! That is an ability that is generally reserved for Gnomes! Most of them are able to communicate with animals for the duration of the spell. Gnomes!" Flash slaps his thigh, and lets out a louder laugh before composing himself again.
"Oh, and of course, all those with deep connections to nature can do it as well. You know, Druids, protectors and guardians of old, blah blah blah.
To be fair, they can also heal wounds magically. Those are our only connections so far, but perhaps Druids had a hand in forging these rings? Who knows if we could ever get anything out of that lot. They're extremely secretive."
Deerian:
After a couple minutes, Deerian feels the power begin to fade, leaving the marked spot tingling and cool. The marks remains cool to the touch.
Laughing warmly Ellirayne shakes her head a little at the conversation. "Oh I don't know,he could still be yours, you're sort of gnomish around the nose you know" She remarks playfully as she reaches up and lightly bops Flash on the nose with the tips of her fingers."
She giggles a little more before calming herself and looking forward. "I'm sure we could find a druid willing to talk to us though. We're affiliated with the house of storms afterall and they're usually fans of playing with the weather!"
It was a little too soon for this newcomer to be making jokes about his parentage. Restraining the flash of anger that passed through him Deerian instead concentrated on the possibilities of this new magic. An old childhood fancy took hold, the idea that he could befriend the raptors and fly with them, that was enough to calm his mind and bring a smile to the handsome young man's lips. "Well I guess there is little else to do now... Perhaps we should continue on in finding you a berth for the night?"
"The House of Storms! Well, my dear, you have way more pull in that regard than I could ever hope for. I'll leave that bit to you.
As for me, as long as the beds are clean and the drink is good, I'm very easy to persuade! And it will be nice to focus on my berth for a change today!" Flash says with a wink at Deerian.
With a light smile Ellirayne gently and reassuringly takes Deerian's arm as she notices his reaction to the jokes about parentage. Briefly she gives him an apologetic look before starting to lead him and Flash towards the Ten Tier.
With his dear sister's hand on his arm Deerian shook off the last of the ill will. It was afterall a small thing in some respects. The family was his home and that wouldn't change. "We certainly have had a busy day.. chock full of suprises and we have you to thank for that Flash. It should be fun to see where the wind takes us this time."
The twins usher their father into the Ten Tier Inn, a hostel taking up ten levels of Lyrandar Tower.
Inside, a powerfully built man attends the main counter. He stands 5 feet 8 inches tall and has short-cropped brown hair and sideburns that run almost to his chin.
He seems to be focused on writing in a large ledger on the counter, but when the twins arrive, he perks up. "Good day, Lyrandar heirs. Edrarm Malthus at your service!"
"Edrarm Malthus? The adventurer?", Flash interrupts. "I heard about your exploits in the Mournlands. Some very lucky people have some very lucky maps, thanks to you." Flash executes a low bow. "And, stories of your adventures have certainly kept me and my companions awake during long travels. For that I thank you."
Edrarm seems taken back, a sudden onslaught of old memories flooding his mind. His slightly glossy eyes are the only thing that belie his outward hospitality. "Ah, a fan! Trust that those days are long over. I am a simple innkeeper, of a not so simple inn. Welcome to the Ten Tier. How can I help you?"
Ellirayne smiles brightly at the innkeeper and leaves Flash to gush for a moment before speaking up. "Good day Mr. Malthus! We're looking for comfortable lodgings for our guest and of course your establishment was the first place that came to mind, and now we know he's a fan of yours it seems even more perfect" She declares easily with a dazzling grin up at the powerfully built man.
"For this fine gentlemen, of course. I have just the room! Let me show you!" Edrarm begins to lead Flash up and out of the room. They seem to get along just fine, and they quickly begin chatting up a storm.
The twins should feel confident enough that Flash is well taken care of here. He knows where to find them, and they'll know where to find him, should need be.
They are free to start their morning now.
After briefly saying goodbye to Flash the young man watches the older mount the stairs. "So sister... what do you make of all this? I'm completely at a loss." He spoke softly but now that they were alone the slight defferential tone was gone.
Giving a small sigh Elli takes her brother's arm and starts to walk away from the ten tier. "I'm not entirely sure, it's all a little much to take in isn't it?" She admits quietly "Perhaps we should take the morning off, just the two of us. I think we've earnt it all things considered. Then an afternoon of working out if we are indeed linked to another person's mind as that's an important thing to know. Maybe fitting in a trip to see a druid somewhere in there" She reels off, already mentally making an itenary for the day, almost certain that their parents wouldn't call on them for any sort of house duties today considering the events of the morning so far.
Hello?
"More magic? Anyone know? Sorry, Cassio, I'm not ignoring you, this is just a little odd."
"A small thing. Not my own, I must admit, but the sentiment is impeccable. Ready?
O never say that I was false of heart,
Though absence seem’d my flame to qualify:
As easy might I from myself depart
As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie;
That is my home of love; if I have ranged,
Like him that travels, I return again,
Just to the time, not with the time exchanged,
So that myself bring water for my stain.
Never believe, though in my nature reign’d
All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood,
That it could so preposterously be stain’d
To leave for nothing all thy sum of good:
For nothing this wide universe I call,
Save thou, my rose: in it thou art my all.""
Ellirayne gives a small sigh and a shake of her head. "Does nobody introduce themselves any more?" She asks in an exasperated tone "Exactly how many of these rings could there be? How many others are just going to speak into our minds without the forethought to be polite?"
"I'm kind of used to you but other voices that invade my life? That might be a little much." Although his words might sound a little harsh to some it was obvious that no harm was intended. As if on cue however a new voice sounded in his mind. Nodding agreement to Elli's rant he politely sent out a thought "Good morning.. Please could you provide your name.. I am a Scion of House Lyrandar. Our minds seem to be linked."