Sanctuary

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This topic contains 3 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of Mistress Lilliandra Mistwalker, Headmistress of The Bardic College of Corinthia Mistress Lilliandra Mistwalker, Headmistress of The Bardic College of Corinthia 8 years, 8 months ago.

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  • #551

    Lilliandra sat up in bed, she felt a sudden movement in her dreams that surprised her. It wasn’t a scary movement, just one she hadn’t felt in a while. She had spent the past two years hidden from those that walked in the mist because of the pain she had suffered at two years past. That mist dream had been difficult, the silver dragon had left her standing in the darkness and she did not understand why. She still didn’t understand, and it had all but killed her to have that ever present voice gone from her mind. It had all come to a head this past Midwinter when she was tormented by dreams of destruction and despair, haunted by the past of her ancestors and self. Tormented by the memories of great leaders gone mad, and her not being able to do anything about it. She had felt useless, lost, afraid, and dead inside. After that night she had lost the dreaming for a bit, not that it bothered her. She was exhausted emotionally and physically after so many years of dreaming, advising, and being shoved aside by those who called her councilor.
    So, she had chosen the route of dreamless sleep, and she had begun to heal. But lately the dreams had started to push through the veil she had erected in her mind and spirit, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

    “I don’t want to return to dreaming!”
    “My child, it is who you are.” a clear baritone voice replied
    “Ha, you abandoned me in my most desperate hour and expect me to return to the dream walks at your command?!”
    “No, I do not expect anything, I fell silent due to the despair in your heart and those of the realm. I and my brothers were silenced in the mists and have been captive. I never meant to leave you my child. I am sorry.” the baritone voice replied sadly.
    “Ha, well, I will not willingly go back to being a dreamwalker, what good does it bring?”
    “More good than you will ever know…”
    With that she had awoken, “damn dragon!”
    She stood up and walked carefully across her room, what was she to do? She no longer had her brother Gariff to confide in, wasn’t sure where that pesky wizard from the Misted Hills was and her love had fallen silent on all of these issues. “I guess I’ll send a letter to the Misted Hills or Aman Peak, maybe someone will catch me up on what has passed during my sabbatical…

  • #552

    She at her desk thinking about who to address this letter to, and how to send it. She then realized the only wizard she knew was still around for sure was Cirrus, and she had never communicated with him through the mists before. “I guess its the mundane way then.”
    She gathered her parchement and quill and began writing a letter to Cirrus, hoping it would actually reach him and that he would be willing to catch her up on what had been going on. Would he be willing to establish a connection that would allow them to send messages back and forth as she and Gariff had…good old candle, circle and a wish? Or even be willing to speak through dreams as she had with her mother, Baron Sebastian, Kalwen and Gariff? It didn’t really matter, he had no reason to trust her enough to establish any of those links.

    She wrote her letter, explaining that because of issues of her own and the collapse again of Midnight Keep (this time purely political) she had lost communication with all of those in the Misted Hills and Aman Peak. She explained that she did not know where any of her old comrades and had for a time lost the ability to dream walk, but that dreamwalking or mistwalking was slowly returning to her. She also stated that she would like to know what was going on outside the walls of her home and hoped he would be willing to tell her. Finally, she let him know that any questions he had regarding her rather specialized abilities she would be happy to answer. She did not know if Cirrus had even known that she was more than a mere bard? Did he know that she had been a seer and mistwalker? Would it even matter to him?

    She sealed the letter with her personal seal, not the Midnight Keep seal, a oak tree and harp, took it downstairs and sent her servant Anrae on a horse to Aman Peak. “If he wishes to respond immediately stay until he gives you a letter, if not return quickly. I do not wish to lose a friend to the wilds at this time.”

  • #553
    Profile photo of High Lord Cirrus of House Snow
    Cirrus
    Keymaster

    Anrae rode day and night to reach Shadow Gaurd. The roads and trails barely used. Upon entering to get a remount and directions, Anrae saw new construction being done. Just a few buildings. A school, a library, and a tavern/inn. Each was built in a style unseen to one from the North. The lights came from odd tube filled with a liquid that seemed to have something swimming in it. Disregarding the strangeness of it all, Anrae headed toward the gates of Aman Peak.
    The walls loomed high. So very high. The gate was open and people were moving in and out. Humans, elves, and dwarves mostly.
    “I have a letter for Sir Cirrus.”
    “Ain’t no Sir Cirrus ear thank in and go.” The man replied. The dialect so foreign. Handing the letter over Anrae waited for the man to do anything but stamp papers and direct traffic. Finally the man took up the letter, opened it and started reading. After a moment he gasped, folded the letter back up and put in into another folder.
    “Take this to House Snow. Directly to the Lord. No stops. Take this one with you, ” he told a young man. “Take this!” He handed the younger a card with a seal of some kind on it.
    Anrae was awestruck by the sights along the way. The streets where paved with bricks. More of those liquid lanterns hung everywhere. Steam and metal rose into the sky. But the worst were the monsters. EVERYWHERE! Orcs with tool belts sipping coffee from cups, speaking on the current guild laws. Drow ladies in dresses with black umbrellas heading to the next shop. Undead, with push brooms and bags emptying trash bins. Anrae wasn’t sure how many turns they took but they arrived at a home, no, a mansion with a door knocker the size of a man’s torso. After a few knocks a young lady opened the door. The man showed the seal and explained the situation and they were lead into the house. Through rooms and halls to a study where 2 men were talking. One, Simon his badge said, and another in a chair. Simon left saying something about still now getting any lift from the engine.
    The man in the chair, Cirrus, offered a seat to Anrae. He offered drink as he sat and read the letter.
    “Ha! I have been so busy I completely forgot about Midnight Keep.” He read the letter twice over, even once out loud. “Please wait here while I draft a reply.” He pulled a stick with a point, which he named a pen and started writing. The ink flowed from inside the stick it would seem.
    Back in Midnight Anrae handed Lilliandra a box with a letter attached. On reading the letter Cirrus explained the loss of Remle, the ice forming over Stagwood and the failed attempt to make contact with them. The slow decay of Shadow gaurd with leadership being handed around. And the need for change soght by Aman Peak. The induction of monsters, steam power and machine. He explained the lack of communication from anywhere but Shadow gaurd and the rise and fall of malevolent people had consumed his thoughts and actions as of late. Enclosed in the box was a way for them to communicate. Nothing as intimate as sharing dreams, he explained that “wizard” was a loose title he wore. Without the proper training in magic that the Red Tower had offered, he had to work things out the hard way, but it would be just as effective. When the box was opened there was a large oval shaped piece of crystal with a stand. The instructions said that focusing on the crystal and speaking the trigger word would allow communication back and forth.

  • #554

    Anrae was in a tizzy, Lilli had to tell him to hand her the package and go get ale and food from the kitchen, telling him she would speak with him later.
    She opened the message from Cirrus and read it carefully, “hmmm, seems change has come in good and bad form; should be interesting to hear Anrae’s impressions once he is coherent.”
    She opened the accompanying package and pulled out the odd crystal, read the instructions and said to herself, “Interesting, seems it may be safer than Mistwalking, ummm, but what is the trigger word I wonder?”

    Later that evening Lilli listened to Anrae tell her of the changes he had seen. Most of what he described excited her. She had always felt that monsters were not monsters but just other races that were not understood, much as humans, elves, and dwarves were not understood by monsters (or each other half the time. The only thing she felt uneasy over was the drow inclusion. She had suffered throughout her life because of the drow, she was not sure if she could accept them living in her world.”Maybe I need to practice what I teach, forgive, move on, and do not fault the present for the past.”

    “Anrae, please take this letter back to Shadow Guard.”
    “Mistress Lilli, must I?”
    “Yes young one, it seems the world is changing and we need not fear that change.”

    The letter was simple,”Cirrus, U am happy to hear of these changes and llok forward to using the crystal, by what is the trigger word?”

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