IC VIII Lost in the Flood

[CWater]

Shiny smiles his devious grin, then spins around and leads Rhenner down the corridor. The first door is locked, as is the gate they find at the bottom of the stairs, but Shiny's arcane spells make them open instantly. The cleric is concerned that Shiny makes no effort to move or speak quietly, until realizing that along with the invisibility Shiny has cast a spell to muffle their sounds.

The two sneak past a few guards; the compound is fairly well guarded, but after the challenge of sneaking through the Underdark this barely counts as a distraction. Within minutes, Shiny and Rhenner step out into the streets of the city of Hulburg.

They had left Marvell at the crack of dawn, and though Rhenner is well versed in how the time of day can vary between distant locations, he is still briefly surprised to find that the sun is now setting. Such a dance of time and space had seemed so theoretical to him before, as a student of the god of travel. The city is slowing down for the evening, with a few peddlers hurrying past them with sealed carts. The noise of a boisterous tavern floats to them through the air. The city is unimpressive by Eldgar's standards, with buildings shorter than Marvell's and far smaller than Cardonne's, yet to Rhenner the city could not feel more exotic, for every citizen that passes them by has their right hand bare.

It's one of those things, so common in everyday life, that you don't really notice until it's removed. Sure, Rhenner had met people without guildmarks on their travel last week, travelled with a few too, but that still didn't compare to the strangeness of the scene before him. He wondered how was it for a merchant to greet a customer without the slightest hint of what they considered most important? Who would you ask for directions, when you couldn't guess right away who would care where the temples were, who should know the markets, or the places of study. Or if it so happened, who could point you in the direction where you could find things not advertised in broad daylight.

He hadn't thought of it much, a passing thought when he first met these foreigners he'd soon follow in Deldon, but there had been so much else to think about then that he'd not dwelled on it more. But here, in a land where people would have neither instant camaraderie or distrust towards one stranger met on spot than the other, the question resurfaced, pushing away the serious and heavy thoughts that had bothered him just a moment before.

He was supposed to just take a quick look and go right back in, but some of his intrinsic curiosity towards things uncommon lure him to take a few more steps away from the door. He hadn't realized how long it had been since he'd last been to a place entirely new (that wasn't also horrible and constantly out to get you anyway). To let new sights invite his mind to marvel and wonder.

[Admiral]

It's one of those things, so common in everyday life, that you don't really notice until it's removed. Sure, Rhenner had met people without guildmarks on their travel last week, travelled with a few too, but that still didn't compare to the strangeness of the scene before him. He wondered how was it for a merchant to greet a customer without the slightest hint of what they considered most important? Who would you ask for directions, when you couldn't guess right away who would care where the temples were, who should know the markets, or the places of study. Or if it so happened, who could point you in the direction where you could find things not advertised in broad daylight.

He hadn't thought of it much, a passing thought when he first met these foreigners he'd soon follow in Deldon, but there had been so much else to think about then that he'd not dwelled on it more. But here, in a land where people would have neither instant camaraderie or distrust towards one stranger met on spot than the other, the question resurfaced, pushing away the serious and heavy thoughts that had bothered him just a moment before.

He was supposed to just take a quick look and go right back in, but some of his intrinsic curiosity towards things uncommon lure him to take a few more steps away from the door. He hadn't realized how long it had been since he'd last been to a place entirely new (that wasn't also horrible and constantly out to get you anyway). To let new sights invite his mind to marvel and wonder.

"It's something, isn't it? Being so far from home?" comes Shiny's voice next to Rhenner, though the cleric barely notices the gnome's presence when there's a whole city to look upon. "I remember when I first came to this continent..."

[CWater]

"It's something, isn't it? Being so far from home?" comes Shiny's voice next to Rhenner, though the cleric barely notices the gnome's presence when there's a whole city to look upon. "I remember when I first came to this continent..."

"You're not from here?", Rhenner asks, with obvious surprise in his voice, though a significant part of him is still distracted by the surroundings. Still, he had thought everyone else of this party were from this land. Then again, if all his claims were to be believed, the eccentric gnome was both native and a stranger to a thousand places. "Where do you come from then?", he asks anyway, and glances at Shiny with an usual smirk on his face.

[Admiral]

That gets Natalia's attention. She's still holding the sandwich with one hand, but her other one snatches the envelope. She quickly inspects it, and if it passes muster she opens the envelope and reads what's inside while eating her sandwich.

As Natalia picks up the envelope, she sees a note attached to the back. "From front desk of inn" is written in cursive- presumably the envelope had been picked up as part of the evidence collected by the Institute mages after their arrest, though the envelope is still sealed.

As Natalia opens the note, she finds a letter wrapped around a folded piece of notebook paper. The outer letter bears the handwriting of Aicha, and the text is nearly as fretted as her speech, crammed and curving along edges of the page as though she sometimes forgets to start a new line, and Natalia reads it first.

Natalia,

I got your note. Don't worry about earlier in the Church, I just get nervous sometimes. I don't really know how to talk to everyone.

When I saw told you there were two things I had to tell you, but I only remembered one until I went back to my notes, because I'd forgotten to put it in the index like I'm supposed to do. The Church library has periodicals reaching back all the way to its start, it's really great, you should see it sometime. I've read through so many of them that sometimes it takes a while to remember them, because most of them aren't important. But this one is important, you really need to read it, it's something we talked about that reminded me of it. I just copied it down from the library, maybe there's some explanation, but I knew you had to see it.

It's about your friend, Shiny.

I'm sorry.

-Aicha

[CoffeeIncluded]

Aicha sounds exactly the same on paper as she does when talking to her. Natalia smiles in relief at Aicha's forgiveness and the rambling explanation. And then she reads the last two sentences. A slice of turkey slips out of the sandwich and plops onto the plate as Natalia reads Aicha's note. Another cold chill settles over her and her fingers start to tremble as she picks up the article. She looks around furtively. Nobody's there, but that doesn't mean Shiny isn't. Should she read it? She can't unread it? But if it's here, in her pocket, unread? It'll eat at her.

And Shiny's been mentally crumbling too, hidden behind a facade of smiles and stories. She already made the decision to trust him.

"I'm sorry, Shiny." With a deep breath, she takes out the second note and begins to read.

[Admiral]

"I used to insult them as tricks and manipulations, but those can be done with the tongue as well as a spell." Mithril shivered at the memory of the Prisoner. "I see their use now. All this choice, yet somehow I still feel trapped, like I am in an endless hedgemaze, except I don't think there is an exit." Mithril looked pensive before getting back to the task at hand. "You had a sending to do didn't you? Would you like me here or gone?"

The priestess sighs. "You should join your friends to eat, servant of Boccob. You have a long road ahead whichever you choose, and should maintain your strength."

As Mithril turns to leave, Avaralynn holds up a hand. "I know things seem dark, and they will get darker. It is in our enemy's interest to deceive you, and make the war appear hopeless. But you need to know that it is not so."

"The Voice sees and influences much. Some battles that seemed to go against him were later revealed to play into his hands. But I do not believe he foresaw, or desired, for us to find this book." Avaralynn taps the side of the Book of Boccob. "We may not know what his ultimate plans are... but we may soon know how to disrupt them."

"So have hope, servant of Boccob..."

----------------

"You're not from here?", Rhenner asks, with obvious surprise in his voice, though a significant part of him is still distracted by the surroundings. Still, he had thought everyone else of this party were from this land. Then again, if all his claims were to be believed, the eccentric gnome was both native and a stranger to a thousand places. "Where do you come from then?", he asks anyway, and glances at Shiny with an usual smirk on his face.

"Somewhere I can never, ever, return..." comes the wistful reply. The words sound oddly distant, as if carried by the wind.

"Speaking of which... I haven't known you as long as I've known the others. But still, you'll be able to say goodbye to them for me, won't you?"

As Rhenner turns his head at the odd non-sequitur, he is surprised to see that the gnome is no longer standing next to him. The cleric remains invisible, but looking down he sees that the Shiny had slipped the pebble with the invisibility spell into his pocket. Scanning the surrounding streets, the cleric sees nothing of the slippery gnome, who through wit or magic has vanished into the foreign cityscape.

----------------

Natalia opens the inner sheet of paper with trembling fingers. The contents have the format of a periodical similar to the ones Natalia had seen in the Institute library, but it is traced in pencil. As scattered as Aicha may seem, she does careful work as a monk. The top of the page has a date, marking it as almost thirty years ago.

WANTED

5000gp bounty by the Brearshaw Firm for the delivery, alive, of

Shiny Axegrinder

AKA

Shiny Sharpsaw

AKA

Shiny Bonecutter

For questioning regarding his participation in the criminal cannibalistic acts of the barbarian tribe calling themselves the IMMORTALS.

------------------

"...we may yet turn the tide."

End of Act I

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