Quest Here be... Dragons?

[Silk the Archivist]

A report came in from a group of Rangers just returned the field. Their mission was assisting a mining village in the southernmost foothills of The Spine who had one of their mine shafts collapse unexpectedly. A little out of the Ranger's usual habitable zone, but not completely unheard of. On their way back, they had encountered something strange at an otherwise nondescript old ruin. One of the three Rangers was also a devotee of Maskat, she was the one who had insisted on submitting the report to Arilemna, and the other two were trained medics with no magical ability of their own, but as part of the Ranger's Medical Division, the report somehow still wound up on Arilemna's desk. She had thought this was why she had people at desks in this division. She read through their mission report, mumbling figures to herself.

"One man dead, six injured... three men, two women, one boy aged 12. Two still missing, presumed dead. She almost pushed herself too hard trying to heal people... Sounds about right. Glad she's not dead. Although if she was, I suppose she would finally get to meet Maskat and the remainder of the 6, blessings upon them. The medics we sent did their jobs well. Helped where she couldn't. If the strain would've been too much for her with magic, they did it with their own skills. Very nicely done. Also providing some assistance to the other villagers with cleanup and repairs. I'll have to talk to this one in particular, Bowe, about pushing himself too hard. I'll also need to recommend him for a promotion if he keeps putting this much of himself into his work. Otherwise very standard report. I still don't understand why I needed this..."

She picks up the second report about the "strange things" the group claims to have seen at an otherwise unspecified ruin. They claim it was around 400 kilometers north-northeast of Alliria proper, but if their report is accurate that might not mean much. She read the report once more. She herself found it hard to believe, however she understood how terribly dark magic perverted all life. Apparently an ancient source of dark magic was reviving a dragon who had died and was buried in the Allir Reach long ago. Dark specters flew around the ruin, and the corpse was completely unearthed. These wraiths seem to be filling the dead dragon with undead energies. The report didn't have much else for concrete information, but they did recommend the involvement of the local Templars. A scary prospect for the more conservative leaders of the Allirian Rangers. Of which Arilemna was a part. However, even she had to admit that their involvement on this project might be beneficial. She also had been recently informed of a group of escaped liches, one of which a pair of Rangers had also fought.

"Send them a missive to move out as soon as possible... Their experience might be extremely beneficial." The woman mused before standing from her desk and unslinging her shield from her back. She lays the shield down across her desk and bows her head to pray. "Oh, Great Maskat... Giver of bounties and life... Great Annuk... Ruler of the Six Divines... Iasimu... Whose spirit is as a tempest.... Munnun... He who values fairness over all... Naspar, who seeks knowledge and ideas deep in the unknown... Narmaka, most beautiful and fair of the Six... Give me the wisdom to know my opponent's mind... The strength to overcome them... And the resolve to resist the temptation of the Three... In thine, the Six Divines I ask...

She straightened, feeling the strength of the divines flow through her. She smiled, then, knowing that anything else that happened would be the will of the divines. She sent one of her rangers to get both Kaska Berlaire and Rosalia Kahl for her. While she waited for the two of them, she went over what she was going to say to them in her head.

 

[Lia]

The Ranger found Lia rather quickly.

She had not been hiding, and in fact had been in the courtyard training with some of the new recruits. Since her promotion she had worked hard to improve her swordsmanship, and had now taking to fighting two or three of the opponents at once. Some of the other Rangers had accused her of showing off...but the truth was she needed the challenge.

With only one of the lads there really wasn't much pressure. Usually they just swung their blades wildly and didn't use any of the actual forms, but with two or three of them attacking her all at the same time it actually became difficult to follow their moves and see where the blade was going.

It was still a bit egotistical though, not that she would admit it.

Still, the fact that she was right in the courtyard meant that finding her was difficult. Though she would have preferred to wash up first, she knew that it would be best to find out what this was all about first.

As a Lieutenant she was of higher rank now, and only Majors could really Order her around, but a request from someone of equal rank had to be taken into account. She wasn't going to be rude after all, and thus she found herself in the small command room within only a few minutes of being summoned.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska was slower to arrive, a fact of which would not surprise Lia but would likely grow into frustration with the others in the room. After thirty minutes the heavy thumps of her boots could be heard sauntering to the door.

The woman pushed in, infamous to the rangers as the insubordinate daughter to one of their six commanding Majors. It wasn't until recently that opinion of her had turned into any good light. No one was entirely sure what had occurred on the women's missions together, but the Kaska that had emerged from under Lia's command was a far milder version to the spit fire she was before.

Lia's leadership skills were being noted. Killing the lich had been what pushed them over the edge. Both were no small feat.

An enigma had formed around the two that no one had yet had a chance to puzzle out. But it resulted in a promotion. For both of them. Kaska wasn't sure if she was happy or felt nauseous over it. Sometimes she felt both.

"I just got the summon," she excused, eyes skimming the faces and landing on Lia. The sharp gazed softened, Kaska stepping towards her.

"What's this about?" She asked, ignoring the others.

 

[Silk the Archivist]

Arilemna sighed softly before nodding to each of the women before standing and walking to the young ranger she had sent to fetch Lia and Kaska, still waiting at the door for dismissal. She nods to the young woman and leans in to whisper something to her ear. She nods and rushes off again. Arilemna Kavas Luminosus smiles before turning around to Lia and Kaska, smiling broadly to the two of them.

"Thank you both for coming, and congratulations to the both of you on your recent promotions. Six Divines willing, I would love to take the both of you out for drinks in the future. I apologize for the suddenness of the summons I sent. I recently received an..."
She hesitated for a second, gathering her thoughts and words. "Interesting report from a group of rangers in my division upon their return from a mission. I've just sent a summons for one of them as well. I will let her explain in more detail once she arrives, but the report basically said that there is a mass of dark energies attempting to resurrect the corpse of a dragon in a ruin several hundred miles into the Reach. I requested the two of you come here to assist in the removal of this potential threat to Alliria and the Allir Reach as a whole. I heard the two of you were able to kill a lich, and while admittedly, a reanimated dragon is much larger and will likely be much more difficult to kill, I am hoping your previous experience with undead forces will prove useful. I've given you all of the relevant information I have. I will hope that she will be able to answer any questions you have that I can't answer. Once we have all the information we can get, will the two of you accompany us to end the reexistence of this dragon?"

She has moved back to her desk as she spoke, and as she finished, she sat at her desk, hands clasped in front of her and propped up by her elbows resting on her desk.

 

[Kaska]

Kaska laughed, sharp and loud. She looked between the women, then quickly noticed that the unnamed Lutenient was not laughing with her.

This wasn't a joke? She... was serious.

"W-what?" Kaska asked, actually struck dumb. That was a first. That had to be amusing to Lia. She pinched the bridge of her nose, her hip jutting out. "I'm sorry, but for a moment I thought you actually ordered me to deal with an undead dragon. But that wouldn't make any sense because we're Rangers, not Templars. Right?"

Kaska's tendency to run her mouth was well known, the woman's rank doing very little to stopper her from saying her opinion exactly how it was.

 

[Lia]

Lia paused for a moment, then glanced at Kaska.

"We can do it." The Ranger said with no small amount of eagerness in her tone. Oh she well understood why Kaska was so...well Kaska about it, but she saw opportunity in this.

The Templar really should have been called to deal with this sort of thing, but as Lia had since learned they were somewhat...arrogant as a group. Rangers generally dealt with the heartland, the good folk and those around them, but she saw an opportunity here and that was the important thing.

"We still have everything from before, Kaska." She reminded the girl, nudging to the sword that rested on her back. "Plus...imagine the story."

The story was not what she was after of course, but it was close enough.

Since her promotion she'd needed something like this, and she saw it for what it was.

 

[Silk the Archivist]

Addressing Kaska first, she sighs and says "By the divines, I wish I could truthfully tell you it was simply a joke, that I was pulling your leg. However, this is the information I have been given, and I have no reason to believe these rangers would lie to me about the information they've given me. And no, not ordered. I wouldn't dare order you to do something so potentially dangerous. I'm asking that the two of you accompany and assist me with your knowledge and personal experience with the undead and the terrible, dark powers that control them. Take that information as you will."

Looking over at Lia, she smiled appreciatively at the other woman's apparent resolve. "It will be dangerous, and I want to involve all the powers that we can in this endeavor. Including the Templars, and potentially some mercenaries if we can afford them for such a mission." The crinkle of her brow turned into a deep furrow at the mention of the Templars, but she was willing to admit to needing such a necessary evil.

It was at that moment that the two Rangers that Arilemna had sent for, along with the Ranger she had sent to find them arrived. She stood and approached the three, gave a brief nod to the two Rangers and then dismissed the third with a quick salute.

The two Rangers, a man and a woman, entered and stood at attention. Arilemna moved back to a standing position in front of her desk. "At ease, you two. Introduce yourselves to Lieutenant Kahl and Captain Berlaire. Then explain your report to them."

They relax only slightly at being told to be at ease. First the woman steps forward and introduces herself as "I am Emmara Bowe, this is my partner, Lucius Bowe. He is a physician and I am a Devotee of Maskat. We are both Healer-Rangers of the Allirian Ranger's Emergency Response Corps, Sir!"

They pause to allow Kaska and Lia to respond to the introduction, but Arilemna interrupts briefly. "Ah, yes, and I am Arilemna Kavas Luminosus. I should have introduced myself earlier in our conversation, I do apologize for that. It's a pleasure to meet the two of you. Emmara, I know all three of us hold rank over you, however time is of the essence. Skip over the formalities for now, please." And with that, she falls silent and turns to Kaska and Lia, watching for reactions from them.

 

[Kaska]

All was quiet for a moment. And then Kaska burst out in a frustrated breath-- "This is ludicrous!" Her arms were tossed in the air, a look of exasperation given to all of them.

"Im sorry but-- no." She pointed a finger at Lia, protesting the disapproval she felt coming. "This isn't a ranger mission you're talking about, it's killing an undead dragon! It is-- suicidal. It's crazy. Since when do you care about the story?" She asked Lia near flabbergasted by her.

"We're not doing it."

Clearly, she would take some convincing.

 

[Lia]

"It's not just the story, Kaska." Lia said simply, her smile still on her face.

Including the Templar as Arilemna had suggested was always a possibility, in fact it was probably what they would have to do. There was no doubt it would be helpful, though she was weary of embarking on this without doing a little bit of research first. She could understand Kaska's hesitation on that part.

"We're sworn to defend the Reach, and this is a problem." Simple truth, though Kaska's argument that this should be left to the Templar's did have merit. "If we work with the Templar, and Arilemna and her people we can pull this off."

Specifically given their prior experience. "Not to mention the other benefits."

She stared at Kaska, attempting to communicate her point.

 

[Silk the Archivist]

Arilemna nods at Lia's points, thankful if not for her reasoning then her desire to progress through the ranks. "You need not hide your desire to advance yourself within the society of the Rangers and of the people of Alliria. If you do not desire to go, I can not in good faith and would not as a woman of faith attempt to force you to march to your probable death. I would hope I can convince you to at least accompany me and my people to assist us with this ultimately destructive force that may soon be rearing it's head to destroy Alliria and the people of the reaches that we have all here taken oaths to protect."

She sighed gently, before shaking her head and looking at the sword strapped to Kaska's back, smiling wryly at the two women. "I would hope that you would at least help me find a sword of that particular caliber for such a task as this, if you do refuse to accompany us?"

Cutting off a reply from either of the women at her knowledge of their prolific blade, she continues "As loathe as my people are to admit it, we are a subspecies of the common Elf. We are often much more naturally in harmony with Arcane Magics than most other sentient races in our world, and as a Devotee of Maskat I am much more in tune with Divine Magics than most other mortal beings would be. I don't know much about your blade other than that it does have some powerful magics attached to it. Is that correct?"

 

[Kaska]

Kaska gave Lia an unwavering, disapproving look. It continued on, carrying words unspoken even as Aril addressed Kaska.

This was stupid. Unlike Lia and stupid. Actually, you know what. It was exactly like Lia. It was exactly like her to tunnel onto a path that would lead her to a promotion and fail to see anything around it. The risks. The costs. How stupid she actually looked doing it.

Kaska's look told Lia exactly how stupid she looked tunnel visioning on this right now.

She gave a heavy sigh of exasperation, knowing once again, Lia would need her there to look after her.

Of course, that wasn't truly the case. But time and time again, it had been Kaska's aid, Kaska's perspective, and Kaska's particular area of expertise that had been the nail in the coffee to their success. So to Kaska, that was the same thing.

"It is not my sword," she informed Aril, no small amount of disdain dripping from her voice as she dragged her gaze over to the woman. "It's Lia's." She jerked her chin to Lia's back, where the holy sword sat hidden in its sheath, it's splendor hidden.

She had at one time had a sword herself, but it had been over 3/4ths her height and impossible to wield. She had long since returned it to its rightful owner.

It's dead rightful owner. But they didn't talk about that.

She kept knowledge of what arrows she still possessed to herself, saving them for a rainy day that was self-induced stupidity. Besides, would good would they do against a dragon?

"I will write for Saul. If he agrees, then fine, I will go." She would go anyway, she wouldn't leave Lia to that. "Otherwise, no. I will drug you to keep you down, don't think I won't," she threatened to Lia, the words utterly scandalous to say to any ranger, never mind a blatant superior two promotions away from running everything.

"You're both being stupid," she grumbled, crossing her arms and giving Lia an 'are you happy?' look.