[Nexus] Harnel's Plots

[The Bushranger]

[Key of the Dead]

"...well, that was simple enough. And yeah, 'to each according to their needs' seems reasonable enough, with not-needed items being split equally?" Jamie suggests, sepping forwards to help with searching.

[Lost_Deep]

Key of the Dead

Copi lets herself down from her position, and the extra limbs disappear. "I would suggest that crossing equality and necessity would be preferred. Monterary gain and other nonspecific items should be divided evenly, I think. Magical or useful items should go on a as needed basis, but keeping equality in mind."

[Slii Arhem]

Key of the Dead

"That'll work. Now let's stop being agreeable and start getting mean. If there's vanps, there could be wights hanging around in the tunnels and stinking up the place. The worst thing we could do is barrel ahead down a single tunnel, find all the treasure, and then turn around and find out we have to fight our way out through a horde. So who's up for a little methodical tunnel clearing?" Jack frowns, ears twitching irritably as he regards the two piles of ash. Those vamps went down far too easily, and now he had no one to question about the cave's layout, or whatever else they might find down there.

Going in blind was going to be hell on his nerves.

Rather than focus on it, he heads over to the piles of ash and clothing to lend a hand in the looting.

[Halae]

[Key of the Dead]

After the vampires started going up in flames, their entire bodies turned to ash, but curiously left their clothes mostly unharmed, though obviously covered in ash. Beyond the clothes though, there's not much to be gotten out of the bodies.

[Shadowcaller]

[Key of the Dead]

"Anyone needs dusty clothes? If so, this is your lucky day." Dena says as she tosses the clothes in the groups general direction once she's done searching them.

She then turns to the group. "In any case, let's have our guide lead the way shall we? I sure don't know where we are going and these place are usually a maze, literary."

[The Bushranger]

"I guess that makes sense," Mikani agrees with a nod.

[Lost_Deep]

Key of the Dead

"Lead on. Individuals with superior night vision should probably lead."

Copi peers forward into the cave. Probably can't see very far, considering how dark it is...

[Slii Arhem]

Key of the Dead

Jack shrugs, bringing his hand up and murmuring something under his breath once more. An electric lantern shimmers into view in his hand, already lit.

"We aren't going to be doing this the quiet way it seems, so why not announce our presence? Be ready to blast anything that moves threateningly, or at all." Bold words, but the rabbit eared man seems ready to lead the way. Assuming the others will follow him, he'll begin the descent into the cave after checking to make sure the gas masks will hold up.

[Halae]

[Key of the Dead]

As the group descends further into the cave, they'll start to hear dripping noises - apparently it's moist inside. for a while, it seems like it's all empty, but this is quickly followed by words echoing through the cavern, "Find Dimtirii. He's supposed to see me."

The area of the cavern they'll be in when they hear this has cracks and crevices along the walls, large enough for a person to get into, before opening up into a larger cavern about twenty feet ahead of the group.

[Shadowcaller]

[Key of the Dead]

"And who or what exactly is 'Dimitrii'?" Dena asks with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, how do I tell it's him?"

She might not have revealed this yet, but drow happen to have perfect dark vision. If any of the other members know anything about the drow they probably know this as well though.

[The Bushranger]

[Key of the Dead]

"Sounds Russian. Perhaps he was sent to find nuclear wessels," Mikani quips, her own low-light vision being better than average, but nowhere near Drow quality as she looks about.

[Lost_Deep]

Key of the Dead

Copi, having no night vision to speak of, tries to use her psychic powers to sense around her. Minds nearby should be obvious (unless they wouldn't show up to psychics, IE they are undead.) and she will have basic knowledge of the nearby solid objects.

Noting that this isn't really useful, Copi takes a moment to work on this. Not sure how much progress she will make right now, depends on what happens next.

[Halae]

[Mithar Keep - The Master Bedroom]

"And this is completely safe, right? I don't really like the idea of someone other than myself in my head," Harnel says, seeming a bit nervous as he lays on the bed. He's taken up a comfortable laying position on his side, likely looking straight at Cessie.

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Keep - The Master Bedroom]

"It's perfectly safe. Everything that happens in there is basically a dream and the artifact have a safe mechanism that will return me to my body if something goes wrong." She explains to the half-dragon with a gesture at the curiously designed artifact that have been placed on the table next to his bed.

"The only thing I can do is to communicate to your mind, my magic won't work inside your head unless you imagine it will. It's all in your imagination after all." Cessie says as she sits down at a chair while placing her hand on the artifact.

[Halae]

[Mithar Keep - The Master Bedroom]

Harnel nods, "Alright then. I'm ready to start when you are, Sia Memamosal. Hopefully this goes well." He breathes in deeply, and then out, closing his eyes so that Cessie can put him to sleep. There's no way he'd be able to get to sleep as he is right now, after all, not on his own.

[Shadowcaller]

[Mithar Keep - The Master Bedroom]

"We can only hope the twins won't wake up now." She says with a smile before giving him a quick kiss and then cast a sleep spell on him which should put him to sleep.

She then activates the artifact and should find herself in her husbands mindscape.

[Halae]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

Given that Harnel is actively avoiding resisting the spell, it'll get through, possibly a bit more strongly than intended even.

Inside Harnel's mind, Cessie will find herself situated on the inside of a building, sitting down in front of a nice meal made up of crab, garlic bread, and some form of vegetable that Cessie will be hard pressed to identify. The room is small and cozy, and appears to be part of a farmhouse made up of wooden walls.

A woman is eating at the table, across from a very young half-red dragon, perhaps about five years old. He seems to be avoiding the vegetables and instead scarfing down the crab meat. Cessie may, in fact, realize that this is a memory.

The woman herself wears a blue dress, has black, straight hair, pale skin, and blue eyes, and Cessie may recognize her as Harnel's mother. one has to wonder when exactly this happened, but the pair seem to be enjoying themselves. it's not exciting or even a fun moment; it's just contentment that permeates the air. They're happy with how their lives are now, and that's enough.

[Shadowcaller]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

The sorceress rarely found children that adorable but seeing Harnel is this state she can barely stop herself from uttering a squee as she see him

Then she notices something else... oh gods, she looked like Harnel's mother. >.<

Now it all started to make sense in a horrible sort of way. But surely that couldn't be it? Gah! She suddenly didn't want to see this scene anymore and attempts to move away from the memory and out of the house, it wasn't what she was looking for anyway.

[Halae]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

Well, Harnel's motheris about a foot taller than Cessie, and has a different facial structure, but yes, they look similar

As Cessie moves away from the memory, she'll find herself floating in a free and open black area, like space, with each point of light being within reach if she would only reach for them. She appears to still be within his memories. If she looks to any memory, she should get a vague sense of what they are, so if she chose to, she could find specific memories and look in on them.

[Shadowcaller]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

While looking through his memories would be nice it isn't really what she was looking for. As her husband had put it, the greed trait wasn't something that had come with his upbringing, it was something in his draconic nature. Therefore she attempts to look for a way out of the memory section, trying to find what she knew to be the aspects of Harnel.

[Halae]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

As Cessie focuses on leaving, a gray cobblestone road appears beneath her feet. Should she follow it, the environment will change, fading away from his memories and into what appears to be a grouping of tents. Cessie might recognize this sort of area as a mercenary army's camping ground, with many of the soldiers being just half visible shades as they warm themselves around fires and tell half-heard jokes.

The Command tent shouldn't be hard to find, and inside Cessie will find what she's looking for, with four different Harnels sitting around the table, apparently arguing.

The first to say something is large. He's at least eight feet tall and bears himself with a hunched posture. His limbs are massive, each arm about as wide as Cessie's torso, and he has proportional legs. his face, on the other hand, bears a sort of mixture between a dragon's face and that of a human, similar to the one found in this image, "I don't care! This idiocy has gone on long enough, and we're the only ones who can put a stop to it. Drastic measures need to be taken!" Every word he speaks is punctuated by smoke billowing out of the sides of his mouth, and his face begs for destruction.

"Be that as it may, Wrath, steps are already being taken to ensure that the situation won't happen again," this one is surprising human, though it's still recognizably Harnel. He doesn't bear any obvious draconic features except for his golden eyes as he sits in a large chair behind the table. Where Wrath has chosen to stand and argue, this side of Harnel maintains his composure, relaxed and in authority.

"You know that I'm directly affected in all this, Wrath. We follow Valor because he knows what's best for the whole; that isn't going to change just because you get angry." This third version of Harnel looks as he normally does in reality, but there's a certain level of base attraction Cessie will likely feel towards him, and he seems a good deal more handsome than he is physically, as odd as that sounds. Contrary to Wrath and Valor, who both have their hair in a position of unkempt simplicity while they wear plate armor, as Harnel normally leaves his hair, this individual has his hair styled and looking wavy while longer than normal. The effect is altogether pleasing to the eye, and his outfit, which follows along the designs of Ascaerin courtiers suggests a level of refinement not present in most of Harnel's mind.

A last Harnel sits in the corner, not contributing to the conversation, but all the same he's more attentive to the world around him, having noticed Cessie upon entrance to the tent. He has black scales, and is smaller than even Cessie is. "We appear to have a guest."

All eyes turn to look at Cessie, and Valor smiles, "Welcome, Sia Memamosal."

[Shadowcaller]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

The sorceress had sort of expected this, though not so many of them at once. She looks around curiously at each Harnel, finding it rather interesting that each of them are varying degrees of dragon. Guess the dragon part wasn't just a physical attribute, but she knew that already.

"Greetings." She says with a short bow. "It's a pleasure to met you all." The sorceress says with a smile. These people were Harnel so they wouldn't hurt her. Of course, even a part of Aegnor had wanted to harm her so she needed to be on her toes even here.

"I'm guessing you are arguing about greed?" She was kind of central in this.

[Halae]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

"Who else would we be talking about?" Wrath snaps, but Valor gives him a look, which causes him to quiet down. They know that they shouldn't be yelling at Cessie, evidently.

"He's the direct cause for all the things that have happened to you, and corrupts Happiness. We haven't been able to decide on what to do with him during this entire time; he has been a major problem since we met you, but getting rid of him outright would simply hurt the whole. We needed a solution," Valor says simply.

The well dressed and smooth talking Harnel comes forward and attempts to take Cessie's hand, speaking in tones befitting a lover rather than a comrade, "That, Sia Memamosal, is what you are here for. We cannot stop Greed without locking him away, and without Greed, Ambition would wither away." He smiles, "But you... you bear the special heart needed to change him, what I believe to be your beautiful soul, capable of turning the mighty dragon into a creature of your whim. You rule this place Cessie, as you rule us. That is truth."

[Shadowcaller]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

"That is an interesting analogy." Cessie tells romance with a smile, not withdrawing her hand from him. She didn't realize Harnel had this in him. She wondered if he could act like this more often, she certainly wouldn't mind.

"But I doubt greed will be easy to deal with, do you have any sort of tactic or do you just wish me to speak with him?" She asks romance more then the others even if Valor seems to be the man in charge.

[Halae]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

Romance will attempt to, as chivalrously as possible, lead Cessie over to a chair at the table, taking his own spot near her, "Ah, my love, this is something Valor will need to explain." His hands, if she allows them to stay, will remain both below and above Cessie hand. It's a gentle grip, prepared to let go if Cessie wishes to pull her hand away, but romance appears entirely devoted to doing what Cessie wishes, despite still listening to the others.

"I believe that you will need to speak with him alone, yes. If Greed feels us approach, he will know something is wrong, and might attack out of spite; he knows you are here." Valor says, 'I warn you to be careful, however. All of us became aware of your presence when one did. On the way there, you may be accosted by other concepts of being."

"We should be going with her!" Wrath says. It isn't lacking for force, but it rings a bit hollow when Valor stares him down again.

"We all love her, Wrath, but provoking Greed is not the way to accomplish our goals."

[Shadowcaller]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

The sorceress is familiar with chivalry, it's how nearly all the nobles in Hestopia had acted around her when she was younger. She hadn't found any of them especially interesting though. Aegnor and Harnel had both been exciting and interesting. Something on the wild side. Perhaps it was her own fey part that felt so attracted to it, but she finds the combination of Harnel's looks and the chivalry especially intriguing.

She takes a seat and smiles at Romance before focusing on Valor again. "I understand, I'd like to know a bit more about greed before I can confront him however. I can guess what he's like but I could use a few details to fill in the blanks. Any information you can think of might prove useful."

[Halae]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

"Of course. Paranoia?" Valor says, waving towards the small black scaled Harnel. He stands, pulling a scroll from under his wing and spreading it on the table, and Cessie will see an image of a dragon scrawled upon the scroll, resting atop a pile of coins.

"He is quite a powerful part of the whole. Almost as powerful as Valor himself," the jittery half-dragon says, "He is essential, unfortunately, but too powerful for us to contain by ourselves. He is a corrupting influence on many of our people, and even Romance here has fallen prey to him in the past."

Sorrow fills Romance's eyes, "And I wish to apologize for everything that has happened between us due to his cause, Sia Memamosal. I truly regret everything he's caused me to do to you."

[Shadowcaller]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

"It's okay, everyone have bad sides. Nobody is perfect." Cessie tells Romance, putting a hand on his shoulder. She knew she had less then good sides as well. "After all, he's an essential part of you, even if we might like that sometimes." She looks at Valor again, "So where is he? Can someone show me the way?"

[Halae]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

Romance nods, "I will. Greed will suspect something if we leave the camp, but I can show you the correct direction. And it is only fitting for a man to take his love as far as he can."

"If something happens, Call out and we'll be there as soon as possible," Wrath says, "We won't let anything happen to you, and I'll crush anyone who tries."

Romance will then stand, offering to help Cessie up as well, and if she follows him, will lead her to a point at the edge of the camp, where a cobbled path awaits, "This is the road you must follow to reach the beast, Sia Memamosal. How I wish I could go with you."

[Shadowcaller]

[Harnel's Mindscape]

"Don't worry, he can't harm me." Cessie replies confidently as she will attempt to give Romance a kiss before heading down the path to greed. "I'll see you once I have met him, okay?"