Through the Faerie Ring: Under a Violet Moon

[DoctorGlock]

As seeker dips under the Valravn's guard she can feel her neck hairs prickle as a rush of dark energy rushes by like a mountain breeze. The Valravn's shimmering camoflage breaks, and the tattered thing becomes visible. It's has something akin to the shape of a man, but hunched and gaunt and rotting, moldering black-grey wings where it's arms would be, and long spindly hands where the claws of a bat would be. Its bony neck is topped by an oversized avian skull, yellow eyes gleaming evilly in the sunken hollows.

The bird hops back a step and begins to sprint ungainly on all fours like a beast down the passage away from Seeker. As it runs, it meddles with another charm, and shadows lengthen around it, and it seems to vanish into the darkness.

Spoiler

Show

Valravn uses disengage, it's super effective! Valravn is 60 feet away from seeker. It's also invisible.

[TaiLiu]

Seeker.
One Year and One Day Left

Seeker pulls back her sword and blinks, and the monster is suddenly three strides away from her. She takes a deep breath and springs forward, though this time without the magical aid of her drow companion. Her feet thud inelegantly against the cave floor, and her legs are numb, but she keeps up with the Valravn - just enough so that when it suddenly turns invisible, she's able to swipe at its hind.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Buffs:
Rairhdlailr has the keen and shock weapon abilities. The former grants Rairhdlailr a critical range of 16–20/×2, while the latter adds 1d6 electricity damage on a successful hit. Rairhdlailr has been affected for 6/10 of his maximum duration.

Seeker used her free action to draw from Rairhdlailr's arcane pool and use Black Blade Strike, giving her scimitar a +2 to damage. Her damage modifier is back up to +7. Rairhdlailr has been affected for 5/10 of his maximum duration.

Seeker is holding chill touch. She has 3/5 uses left.

Actions:
Seeker expends her full-round action and charges:

Attack: (1d20+10)[20];
Damage: (1d6+7)[9] slashing and (1d6)[5] electric damage. Also, (1d6)[6] negative energy damage and a DC 15 Fortitude or lose 1 Strength.

[DoctorGlock]

Seeker sprints after the beast, leaping even as the haste spell dies, leaving her limbs feeling sluggish and dull. The dim light of her fading spellfire gleams on the steel and copper blade as Seeker reaches the zenith of her arc. The beast turns, raising it's rotting wings like a shield, but too late. The spellfire blade plunges into a hollow eye socket, extinguishing its fell yellow gleam. The Valravn's twitching nearly jerks the blade from Seeker's hands before it lets out a gurgling croak and lies still. A fell breeze seems to pass in the darkened tunnel. Silence lies once more in the deep.

It's interrupted by a rattling and a whispering sound, like a weight being dragged.

''Tis a shame I could not be here in time to wring its neck,' Amber croons, her luminous eyes approaching in the gloom. In one hand you can see the skeletal remains of one of the Valravn's wards being dragged through the moist earth. The body falls to the ground with a soft thump, sliding off her long amber talons which seems to glow in reflection to her eyes.

'I suppose I now owe you a favor.'

[TaiLiu]

Seeker.
One Year and One Day Left

Seeker rips her sword out of the eye socket and almost collapses against the wall, panting, an arm holding her up. With the adrenaline and the spell finally out of her system, she could feel the weight of melee and marathon fall on her even harder. Every muscle ached. She could taste sweat. If she thought she felt exhausted before...

In her weary state, Seeker did not notice Amber's appearance till she spoke. The swordswoman looks up at her and her talons, and in response, holds up her thread-covered arm. "You don't owe me anything," she says. Her voice is almost a hoarse whisper, and she catches her breath between words. "But we might be even now."

She wipes the sweat from her brow and sheathes Rairhdlailr, throwing her back against the wall and taking a few more seconds to take in air. Then she licks her lips and speaks. "Gwylith. Zeeke. Did you find them?"

[DoctorGlock]

Amber's eyes stare levelly at Seeker in the gloom.

'Twas not for you I did so, but a debt to your companion, Nasu Imrahi Killian,' she speaks. 'There is unresolved debt now between us.' She falls silent as she strides over to the Valravn's corpse and lifts a winged arm. It's feathers shimmer in the shadows beneath the light of Amber's eyes.

'Your fellows yet draw breath. With the worm's wards down I can see them clearly, skulking about the mouth of the cavern,' she crooks a clawed finger and begins to strip the feathers off the corpse. 'They fear more for yourself. A Valravn is a formidable foe, and your journey ahead will not have two Namers at your back.'

Spoiler: Seeker (perception passed)

Show

Something seems on the tip of her tongue, almost human like she seems to be holding back something important to her

[TaiLiu]

Seeker.
One Year and One Day Left

"If it is at all possible," says Seeker, "I would move this debt and return his favour." She is silent as she watches the faerie systematically strips the feathers off of the Valravn, and as her breath slowly returns to her. "But I assume that it is not."

She crouches down and begins to help Amber pluck the feathers, choosing not to press her for now. "This debt between us... What is it? We have debts, too, but from what I have seen, they seem to carry more weight here. And what do you mean about the Namers? We will have Killian, and Talia."

[DoctorGlock]

'There are circumstances that make it rather impossible now,' she responds, and you can detect a hint of sorrow in Amber's voice. 'Debt and favors are the currency of Faerie, and we can brood over them for ages before calling in our markers, as did Killian for you. This quest of yours is close to his heart for reasons even I cannot know for certain. But they are binding to our kind, and to reneg on one's oath or lien can have quite tangible consequence, much like a curse even. You have slain the carrion crow that dwelt in my hall, for that I owe you a favor in return, whether it be knowledge, or power or some future token is for you to decide, though what aid I can offer outside my borders is limited indeed.'

'Your other questions I cannot answer, I have already said more than I should.' She stands, lashing the feathers together with amber thread and wrapping them around her waist like a shimmering skirt. 'The others are expecting our return, should you wish to name something, you may speak to me at any time.

***

Spoiler: OOC

Show

You have all regrouped and are back at the feast clearing

It's a silent and somber journey through the shadowed passageways and winding paths, over hill and stone and forest lit by the faint glow of milling pixies, they seem more numerous than before, as if returning from hiding to the light. Before long you once again sit in the mossy clearing with the feast among the wildflowers.

Zeeke lies on a bed of moss where a cloud of fireflies clings to his cold skin and Amber sits on her knees above him. "He will live,' she says. 'Even now he stirs to wakefulness.' She takes to her feet and gestures to a pair of fauns who approach bearing a chest of red wood inlaid with golden amber filigree.

'You have all aided me, and I return that with this token,' she says opening the chest and drawing out what appears to be a suit of golden or copper mail. One second glimpse you see it is made of interwoven autumn leaves shimmering with amber coating that rustles like a faint wind in a glade. 'Tis the mail of my warriors, that may protect you in the dangerous places ahead. It weighs no more than autumn twilight, and protects you as well as the iron you bear.'

Gwylith runs his fingers over the thin plates marveling, they seem to capture the light like opal. 'Never have I seen a fit so perfect, this would turn even the fangs of a wyvern,'

'And its sting,' Killian says softly. 'Amber's enchantments as a healer are renowned, though a bulwark against poison would have been most welcome before our hunt.'

'And not being so remarkably foolish as to wander the dark roads in search of a Pallas fruit of all things might have helped more,' Amber retorts, running her fingers through the long leafy skirts of the mail with a rustle. 'With the next moon rise you depart sunwards on greater follies, outside my reach and protection. But this much I can send with you. Killian will fill you in once you cross my borders. There are Names i'll have spoken under my branch and bough.'

There is also in the chest a cloak of shimmering feathers, the Valravn's you realize, all bound together with amber thread. 'It's the carrion crow's own cloak, with it you may vanish into shadow and mist.'

[whoiam]

Fully loaded, Alauniira'a was pretty close to the limit of what she could carry already. Still, it'd be rude to turn down the armour. Plus it was probably better than Mage Armour was... it would only tie a normal chain shirt, after all. The extra-special fey ones should be even better. And the knife wound in her back was reminding her that every little bit of extra protection would help around here.

So she accepted one, and returned to her spot beside her (most) injured colleague before trying it on. She wasn't terribly comfortable in armour, even this set, but it didn't seem to impede her too much. Just to be sure, she broke out a Prestidigitation, using the minor magic to try and get her hair in order. Hardly an urgent task, but it was the quickest way to judge if the armour was restricting her spellcasting.

[TaiLiu]

Seeker.
One Year and One Day Left

Crouching, Seeker lifts a suit of armour off the chest and holds it up to the light. Strange was its design to her eye - nothing like human armour, or even elven armour. It was like holding up a soft summer breeze. Could this armour really protect them? She taps an amber-coated leaf, feeling its enchanted hardness against the tip of her finger. It was just as sturdy as her current armour, if not better. Another perfect abjuration from Amber.

She looks up the three faeries deep in conversation. She thinks back to the fight with the Valravn, and the spiders, and the names that Amber wove, and the power that she and Killian and Talia held - power that the old elves must have held, too, back before the Empire began to rot from the inside out. Was cold iron the solution, or did that lie in the fiery words of old magic?

She didn't know, but she realized that she had a rare opportunity in her hands, one that she would never get again, and she turns to the lady of the Shadewyld and speaks.

"I call in my debt," said the seeker of iron secrets. "Teach me to Name."

[Nightraiderx]

Zeeke is young again, he is helping his mother bake goods. His mother says something but he can't quite hear her.
Then the screams as he realizes something is wrong, amber fluid begins to encase her from foot to head. He tries to help
her but to no avail until she is completely covered in a gold sheen familiarto him. Zeeke slams against the amber trying to break it,
He looks down as his feet is now covered with the amber as it pins him where he stands. Zeeke watches in horror as the Amber encases him.
In his dream he lets out an angry yell... but his eyes suddenly open, he sits up in a cold sweat. Oh god that dream again. he thinks to himself as he looks around the room. "What happened? were there any other spiders? Is everyone else ok?" Zeeke's worried expression darts back and forth scanning the room until he notices Alauniira, he stops for a moment and remembers seeing her in some of the nightmares, sometimes she would be there helping him learn and she would get encased into the Amber prison. He looks away from her looking at Amber, the fey who took away his freedom for so long. He grips the sheets, in a quiet anger and a sense of dread.

[DoctorGlock]

The amber mail fits Alauniiraa like a perfectly tailored evening gown, its cascade of interlocking autumn leaves barely rustling as she turns, spell flying from her lips and fingers utterly unimpeded. As her hair unwinds itself and slithers about some of the flitting pixies wheel about and clap their tiny glowing hands, clearly enjoying the show.

'There is naught to fear, manling,' Amber croons towards Zeeke, he luminous eyes piercing the twilight of the glade and reflecting the flickering pixie lights around. 'You first came uninvited, but now are a guest. Your companions fare far better than yourself, as you have lain 'twixt the living and the dead nearly to the rise of the moon.'

She hops off her moss-encrusted stone seat in the glade, long grass whispering about her bare ankles as she approaches Seeker. Those glowing eyes regard he level and unblinking. 'I can do this, but know that the art oft comes at a terrible price. There are few of us now that remain, and there is reason for that. It warps us, as we warp the world about, and what I can teach you will destroy you if you cannot control it. Do you know your Name?'

[TaiLiu]

Seeker.
One Year and No Days Left

"My mind is already warped from wizardry," says Seeker, "which I understand to be a form of debased Naming. Long ago, my people held this power in their grasp. Given the chance, I would hold it again, though I do not know my Name. Will this be a problem?"

Her voice trembles just a little, from impatient anticipation and from fear. Was this really happening? Would Amber teach her to Name? And if Names and not Iron were the secret to resurrecting the glory of the Elven Empire, then did she waste a hundred years of her life pursuing mortal drivel?

She shakes this thought of her head. She did what she did so she could end up here - that's all that mattered.

[DoctorGlock]

Amber's level gaze regards Seeker long. 'I know little of your mortal wizardries, but I know to speak a Name changes you each time you speak it. Neither myself nor Killian were always as we are now,' she says, her soft voice betraying a cold finality.

'There is an old ritual, between a master and a student. If you know not your name we shall discover it. But guard it above all things, and beyond all worldly treasures. And take care never to lose it.'

Amber rises to he feet. 'Follow me, niran nasu, Namer's apprentice.' She strides through the twilight glade to one of the crumbling archways.

You recognize the way, at least part of it, and brace yourself for the rush of water as you step out underneath the cascade, bracing yourself to keep your balance on the slick stone bridge. The dew about glitters on Amber's olive skin as she beckons you to a rough hewn stairway beneath the fells.

Gracefully she descends the treacherous moss-grown span. Leading you through the mists and lickens to shallow tide pools at base of the cliff face. Aside from the thunder of the falls you realize it is quiet, with no assorted fae or fauna to breach the peace. Above you can see the blaze of the aurora filtering through the clearing.

'You will Name through knowledge of yourself. I am not like Killian, nor Iax or Mab. I cannot teach you to call the tempest or ride the winds, but my craft can make it that no blade can pierce you and no poison harm you. But you need knowledge of your own name.'

She guestures for you to sit, there are lichen covered stones encrusted with barnacles and shellfish. 'What is your nature?' She asks, her alien eyes focusing on you with a blazing intensity.

[Nightraiderx]

Zeeke relaxes somewhat trying to regain composure, looking at Alauniiraa wearing the new armor
"Looks great on you..." giving a sheepish thumbs up. He rises out of bed stretching himself
"so what did I miss while I was out cold?"

[DoctorGlock]

CHAPTER 3

In which a Namer, a witch, a thief, a hunter and a horse set against hoar and horror

Above your heads the aurora burns crimson through the forest canopy and the crescent moon shines with searing argent light, reflecting autumn hues off your amber mail. Underfoot the pale cobbled path has given way to forest floor. The chatter of unseen bird and beast fills your ears, and a stiff breeze filters through the thinning trees, born across some distant plain.

Amber rides with you atop a great elk, glittering gold chains set between its vast sprawling horns that match her own. It's hoof beats fall silent and you look up and see she has stopped. 'Here lie the boundaries of my realm and the limits of my protection,' she says gesturing to a moss covered waystone set in the moist earth of the path. You note it is another amber statue. 'Your path ahead is fraught with danger. It is likely your quarry will soon know of your attention. Speak not of them until you have put ten thousand paces between yourself and my borders. Your oaths will yet be tested and your wills shaken,' she glances over Gwylith and Seeker with those last words.

'We thank you for your hospitality, Lady Amber,' Gwylith says from Killian's back, extending a hand with burned palm upward. 'We wish peace and health on your hearth, there ere night and all.'

Amber nods her head, the exchange seems almost scripted, obeying arcane and byzantine formal rules.

'And upon yourself Ciridun, through mist and shadow.' She pauses, the rite evidently finished. 'I cannot guide you through the shadows where you must go, but I can provide you some light, my student,' she says, cupping a hand as fireflies descend about you like the stars above, glowing faintly. 'A Namer fears no shade nor shadows, call light in the darkness,' she says as the fireflies alight about seeker's shoulders and crown.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Seeker you can use Light as a free action, and can move the cloud at a speed of 30' 1/round as a free action. If the cloud enters an opponent's square you can expend it as a free action to give the opponent -2 on all d20 checks for 1 action. The fireflies can be replenished each moonrise if expended this way

.

'What do you know of the path ahead,' Gwylith asks. Amber simply shakes her head slowly.

'That is between yourselves and your guide,' she rounds the elk about and begins to trot back into the dark woods.

Walking ahead the trees give way to vast open steppe ahead. 'What was that supposed to mean, Killian,' Gwylith demands.

The horse stands still a long moment gazing long at the horizon, where the sky seems to brighten over distant mountains. 'There is one in Faerie that can read Alauniira's book. Iax's book. And she also bears an old Key. We travel sunwards, into ice unending. Mab, the Cold Queen, lady of the winter sun.'

[TaiLiu]

Seeker.
One Year and No Days Left

Seeker smiles a genuine smile and takes in the lightning bugs crowning her shoulders and brow. One lands on the tip of her index finger and lights up a soft gold to match her pupils, and with delight, she, too, lights up. "I thank you for this final gift, Teacher. If only I had a parting gift as well." Student and teacher say their goodbyes, and Seeker watches as Amber ambles away on her massive elk, off into the central sanctity of her domain.

She turns to look at her compatriots, and then to horse and hunter, who speak firmly to one another. "Is the journey long, Killian? And by what paths can we get there?"

[Nightraiderx]

Zeeke walks in front of the group and bows his head low,
"I'd like to apologize for my rashness, to the group for
leaving the path on my own and to Lady Amber for trespassing.
And I give thanks for allowing me a second chance, I will do my best
to restrain myself from doing that again."
He finishes bowing and turns around towards their destination, trying to look as far as he can.
"hopefully we can resolve our dilemmas finding what lies ahead..."

[whoiam]

"I'll settle for surviving the journey, " Alauniira'a seems to be in a grumpy mood this morning. A mood that clearly had nothing to do with Seeker learning to name before her...

"We're down to three from our world already, and dwindling far too quickly for comfort." Whether that was concern for the others, or a suspicion that being the 'soft' one meant she was likely to be the next to fall was, probably for the best, not expanded upon.

"And speaking of the journey, we should really get going. Why don't we get started, and we can ask our questions on the road?"

[DoctorGlock]

IC Discord log


DoctorGlockLast Wednesday at 10:05 PM

Gwylith's face darkens as he sit still as Amber's statues atop Killian's back.

'You would take us to the halls of winter itself, to hold court with the Cold Queen against our oaths? How long have you been plotting this, hidden?'

The horse stops in his tracks and snorts in contempt.

'And what have you hidden from me, Ciridun? Your 'Pallas fruit' act might have fooled Amber, but I know you are not some flighty sprite to take such risks over such folly. You were evesdropping, so how much did you hear?' he demands, shaking his shoulders as he rounds to face Zeeke as well. 'You are lucky the lady knows neither of you well enough to spot such duplicity, she brooks no slight to her hospitality.'

The faen hunter has the grace to look almost ashamed at that. 'I cannot parley with Mab, nor can our companions who have taken the same oath.'

'Then you are a fool trapped between the words of your own oath,' Killian replies. 'She alone can read Iax's book. And she alone holds a key to the doors of night. If you would pursue the Seven to the very ends of faerie, you must parley with her.'

'And she will parley with you?' Gwylith asks. 'I heard enough to know she will not.'

Alauniira'a / whoiamLast Wednesday at 10:10 PM

"Then I suppose the relevant question is this: Would she parley with me? I'm the one with the book, after all, and I still haven't sworn a single oath here because I knew damn well this is where they'd get people. If she's inclined to talk, I can do it."

DoctorGlockLast Wednesday at 10:15 PM

'She is inclined to talk, but her price is always far higher than you can hope for,' Killian whispers sadly. 'Yes, you were prudent not to swear to hastily. But I hope it will not come to that. I will challenge her myself, and should that fail I still have something she desires enough to parley for.'

Seeker / TaiLiuLast Thursday at 5:39 AM

As horse and drow speak, Seeker looks up at and speaks to Gwylith. "Not to parley with, not to break bread, nor give aid or succor or mercy," she echoes. "And none received in kind." She holds up her left palm, branded with knife and cold fire. "Surely we cannot break the pact that we have sworn. If Killian challenges her, he cannot fail. There can be no parley from any of us."

DoctorGlockLast Thursday at 8:48 PM

'Then our quest depends on you,' Gwylith mutters, his voice cold. 'So when did you plan to tell us you would be unable to finish it?'

Killian freezes in his path, three eyes wide. 'So you heard that,' he whispers.
'Enough,' Gwylith answers. 'So will you tell them? Or must I?'

'Fine,' Killian whinnys and stomps, spitting into the golden grass. 'I will not be joining you past the Cold Queen's lands. I will not live long enough to see it.' The horse's face is stony as he stares into the distance.

Zeeke / NRXLast Thursday at 9:03 PM

"Yea I was kind of waiting on that as well," Zeeke looks at Killian with annoyed eyes. "And also tell us if there is a way to help you at least, you two have been consistent enough to guide us through this hellish landscape."

Seeker / TaiLiuYesterday at 3:03 AM

From Seeker, a stream of questions: "Because you will be defeated in battle? Because Amber's token was withdrawn from you? Why?"

DoctorGlockYesterday at 11:07 AM

‘Because Hurin killed me!’ Killian snaps. ‘Because I am out of deaths to cheat! I have less time than you, and no way to avoid it!’ He says, rearing on his hind legs in irritation, sending Gwylith flailing for balance.
‘Not no way,’ Gwylith says, grasping at the saddle. ‘We overheard that too.’
Cold fury burns in Killian’s icy eyes. ‘I lost it. I cannot find it again!’

Seeker / TaiLiuYesterday at 11:23 AM
"You must forgive me," said Seeker. "For all the moons I have been in Faerie, yours drastically outnumber mine. If we are to hunt the Seven, you must speak more plainly to me."

"I think Zeeke is right. Why can we not offer our protection? What did you lose?" There is an ambiguous edge to her voice, and it is hard to tell whether it is one of old irritation or renewed concern.

DoctorGlockYesterday at 11:28 AM

Gwylith tenses as if about to leap from the saddle as Killian stands still as stone, staring into the distant hills. After a long moment he lets out a broken whisper.

‘My Name.’

[DoctorGlock]

Zeeke / NRX06/08/2019
Seeks nods, "while names are harder to find since everyone on this plane has secrets to hide perhaps we can find clues from other past encounters you had?"
Seeker / TaiLiu06/11/2019
Killian's admittance takes a few seconds for Seeker to process. His Name? Lost? How could you lose a name? The horse's discomfort was obvious even for a tactless mortal like herself, and she takes an additional moment to compose her questions. "I am sorry for your loss," she softly says, "and I am sorry for unveiling old wounds." The sentence seems a little forced, as if the speaker were unfamiliar with the art of sympathy. She waits a few moments. "I did not know you could lose a Name. When Amber taught me how to Name, she told me mine, and told me that its knowledge was essential for the primordial magic that I would learn. Did someone steal it? Did you forget it? If so, maybe Zeeke is right—maybe with the right nudge..." She trails off and waits for a response.
DoctorGlock06/12/2019
'It cannot simply be lost, not forgotten. But a Name may be discarded or traded away,' Killian mutters mournfully. 'I traded my Name for trickery, and trickery for life. Life I traded for wandering and now am left with nothing but unanswered questions,' he says with a heavy sigh. 'But when I traded my name away I traded away my self, reshaped it. I remember little of who I was, and should I reclaim my Name I will lose much of what I have learned as Killian.'
Gwylith stares at the winding road ahead, trodden into the long grass.

'But there are some who might remember,' he whispers. 'The oldest in Fae who know you well it seems. Why take us by Hurin's road, did you hope he would remember? Is that why we head now into the dawn and ice of eternal winter?'
'I take you to the Cold Queen because she alone can read Iax's book, and because she alone has his Key. If there is a way home for you all, it is through her hands,' Killian answers.

'But she knows your Name, doesnt she.' It is an accusation more than a question.

Killian is silent a moment before answering. 'Yes.'
Seeker / TaiLiu06/14/2019
"So you go to recover it?" asks Seeker. Hers is genuine. "You would trade away Killian for something else, then?"
Zeeke / NRXLast Tuesday at 4:20 PM
"Why wouldn't he trade away his name for something else?" Zeeke turning to Seeker, "the closest thing I can relate to this is assassination work. That assassin goes under an alias so people can't track him down and get revenge. After a while they change names and disguises to keep away death to himself and aquaintences. Nothing more than that on a more literal scale."
Alauniira'a / whoiamLast Tuesday at 4:41 PM
"True names are different. You can't change them, for a start. An alias is just something you hide your true name behind, it can't replace that name or render it ineffective. Hand your true name to a namer and they can control you, no matter what you like to tell people you are called."
Zeeke / NRXLast Tuesday at 5:04 PM
"Its still not that different as an assassin uses alias' s but if someone ill mannered has their real name its pretty much over for that guy. Most he can do is put on a disguise but the person can blackmail and hold his family hostage. Though in this world its far more literal. Killian is an alias, just like our normal names are essentially alias's for our Truenames. But anyways my point is that alias's always leave a trail even though blurry. That is what we have to do if we can attempt to save Killian at all."
Seeker / TaiLiuLast Tuesday at 6:06 PM
"I meant that taking back him Name would change him irrevocably," Seeker said. "He said he would forget much of Killian"—here she gives the horse a glance—"and so would lose much of what makes him himself."
Zeeke / NRXLast Tuesday at 6:12 PM
"But is it really himself if he has forgot most of his past? Or is the identity which makes him, him is influenced by the Alias he has picked? Who really are any fae that go so far to survive that they forget themselves? It feels more like a reincarnation ritual than it is prolonging life."
Seeker / TaiLiuLast Tuesday at 6:16 PM
"That," said Seeker, "is why I asked what I did."
DoctorGlockLast Wednesday at 6:54 PM
'Tis an alias, and tis becoming,' Killian sighs. 'I did not know the price of such immortality when I made my bargain. Here in Faerie we are unbound by time, yet still there is death. To be unshackled of both? Who would not take such a deal? But I know not who I am now. Faint threads of memory from before I was Killian, and little more. Would I find my Name again, who would I be? Not I, 'twould be akin to dying and another walking in my place.'

'Then why must we storm the gates of winter?,' Gwylith demands. 'Our oaths prohibit seeking her aid, and we cannot hope to prevail by force of arms.'

'But I must try, Name-shorn or no,' Killian says. 'And there is little she can do to me that will not come to pass without my Name. Diminished though I may be, we can best her, even at the heart of her power and see all your oath fulfilled.'

Gwylith looks skeptical, the expression hauntingly familiar on his alien features. He dismounts to check the ground, finding his bearings and tasting the wind before turning to the horse again.
'How do you intend to do such a thing, old friend?'

'I know her Name,' Killian replies. His whisper is interrupted by a clatter as Gwylith drops his blade in shock.

'You know the Name of Mab herself?,' he exclaims. 'And she yours? You knew Hurin and are fast friends with Lady Amber. Are there no end to your secrets? Do you sup with the Shanzalar? Do you know the secrets of the Seven? Do you know where the moon travels when it is not in our skies?' Gwylith demands, gesturing wildly. 'Such a weapon, and you kept it hidden. I have broken bread with you, walked the paths of star and moon at your side and called you friend. What are you?'

Killian stares into the long distance before answering. 'You have been fast friend to me,' his voice a broken whisper. 'And my one condition was to keep my secrets to myself alone. But our path now makes that impossible. I know so little of who I was before Killian, but I remember enough. I am so much older than I have any right to be. I still remember the Creation War, where I walked in the company of Mab and Hurin and yes, at Iax's side.
Seeker / TaiLiuToday at 4:51 AM
This time, Seeker does not allow any time for reflection. Breathlessly: "The Creation War... Then you opened the gates? Then you are responsible for the elves as we are now? What happened? What did you do? What do you know about legacy of my people?"
"These long lost secrets... And you say you know the answers to them?"
DoctorGlockToday at 10:11 AM
Gwylith slumps against a tree in shock, his ringed mail digging into the damp bark and releasing the scent of autumn. 'That would make you among the eldest in all Faerie, peer to the great powers. Why are you even doing any of this?'

Killian just looks weary. 'I don't know the answer to all of your questions, I don't even understand many of them. Perhaps whoever Killian once was knows better. Why though? Because the war began when Iax opened the first gate, and Seven shadows followed behind like bleeding wounds in the world. For the first time in an age change is come to Faerie, and perhaps I can let old sins rest quiet. That is why we hunt the same prey.'

'But she is unchanged by time or season, constant as the sun burns in her frozen lands,' Gwylith says. 'These answers you think you can get from Mab herself.'

'She was there when Iax fell and the Seven ceased their endless pursuit.' Killian answers. 'They are linked with the gates in ways I know not, and they hunted Iax and those of us who walked at his side. Even he in his might could not stop them. But without my Name I have no answers.'