Dreadlords How Many Dead Men

[Duncan]

"Ha! Nothing so macabre." Duncan said with a shake of his head as he began to place the candles around the room. Positioning each one as an intricate part of an unseen pattern.

"Don't get me wrong, I read a book on necromancy once." Meaning he remembered every page and spell within, just as Adra would have. A gift that the two of them shared, though utilized in vastly different means. "But working with bodies?"

Duncan made a face. He'd always been somewhat sensitive to smells.

"This is something else." He told her. "Time, as we know, is an irreproachable danger to those who can touch the strings of magic."

The Dreadlord said as he placed the final candle. "Those who attempt to stop, reverse, or quicken it's tethers are met with the unenviable fate of being wiped utterly from existence."

This was something nearly every sorcerer, wizard, mage, or otherwise knew. Those who had any semblance of self preservation stayed well away from such machinations lest the laws of nature itself come crashing down with force.

"However, a year ago, I read a paper from a Professor at Elbion. It was long, and very dry, but the gist of it was simple; we cannot touch time, but we can look through it." Duncan said with a grin, completely unaware of the others closing in on them. "He claims through the use of this spell, one is able to create a window to the past. Mind you, in very narrow circumstances, with some very careful tuning."

Which was why they had searched the city, and why they needed to find exactly the right spot. "If he is correct, then we will be able to see what happened here in Vel Orath for ourselves."

 

[Adra Eden]

Time.

Something not even the Dreadlords of Vel Anir dared to mess with. While they pushed the limits of the many facets of magic, Adra had not known a single Dreadlord, or any other mage beyond Vel Anir, to test that which was linked with the forbidden thread.

In that vein, she found herself frowning while Duncan explained himself.

"Duncan..." Adra paused with three candles still in her grasp, having also missed the sounds of those others on approach for her sudden wariness of the situation, "are you certain this is a good idea? It was just a paper. A theory, right?"

She would have almost preferred it was necromancy.

 

[Henk]

A University...? Anirian territories were so closely associated with the Academy that one could easily forget it was far from the only institution out there. Henk hadn't known Orath to have one, but then he hadn't known much about Orath in general, not until he'd begun looking into the more recent discrepancies here.

"A coincidence, I'm sure." Henk offered sarcastically at the fact it still stood. No, it had been affected. That much was clear as they entered the massive building, much of the inside every bit as coated with glass as the ruined city surrounding it. Whatever had razed Orath had indeed hit this University, but something had safeguarded it from the same level of annihilation that the rest of the city faced, and he sincerely doubted it was merely the craftsmanship.

"If there is something left to salvage from this city..." Henk muttered as he attempted to pull open the drawer on a desk, only for it to shatter under the slightest bit of tension. "It would be in here. We should hope to find it first, lest we learn what 'it' is before we're prepared." The dread in his voice was a gift from a rather prominent string of bad luck on recent missions. Lords above, he wished he had one mission where something didn't want his head.

Henk deferred to Perrine, who seemed to know much more about this place than he did. It wasn't long before they found the staircase leading to the second level of the University. Henk shared in Fain's unease, however. He too felt something amiss, a strange feeling that they weren't alone in this behemoth relic.

"Do you feel that?" He muttered ahead of him, turning his head to look back at Fain. "Something still lurks here..."

 

[Perrine Urahil]

She was not too sure what she would have found out here, but something that persisted, that survived all of this... it would be a start to her investigations. Even a glimmer would be enough to work with, to heal the magic and test her theories.

Perrine furrowed her brows, frowning at Henk's question and the alertness it demanded from it. "Tread carefully." She did not forget that Henk's magic was greater than her own, but it would be a last resort for her to use the harmful side of her own magicks. Let them believe she was just a Healer for now. "If the anomalies were similar to your reading on my tests, then perhaps we could theorise we are most definitely not alone here."

The Healer made to palm her knives, a choice of weapon that made many scoff at her in the past, but they had not seen a Healer trained with something sharp before.

"After you." She shrugged at Henk, as if to say 'You are the one with the better magic, after all.'

 

[Duncan]

"Well, a proven theory!" According to the paper anyway.

There was always a chance that the good Professor had been lying, but Duncan did not think it likely. The research had nearly seen him fired from his position, and from what he understood the academic community still thought him either a fool, a danger, or an all around kook.

Duncan thought otherwise though, and here they had a unique opportunity to do something that they as Dreadlord's did not often have the chance to do; break open a piece of Arcanic Science. "Trust me Adra."

He said as he opened his hands for the remaining candles.

"If I didn't feel confident in this, I would not have brought you." The Rogue Dreadlord assured her. "He was said to be the most powerful mage of his era in an age where even our Archons would have struggled to stand tall."

Duncan said, not able to hide the enthusiasm and excitement in his voice. Always having had a fascination with the old histories and so caught up within them now that he still did not hear their approaching guests. "Aren't you curious about seeing just what he did?"

 

[Adra Eden]

Adra watched her old comrade with concern evident in her gaze. Concern for him. For herself. For the structure within which they stood. For the gumption he held at tempting such fate.

"I did not earn a 4th Level title for being curious," her answer arrived over a small, wilted smirk, "but your curiosity is infectious, apparently." She was, admittedly, now curious about whether or not he - or rather, they - would be breaking any magical laws today.

She handed over the candles, "Just... be careful."

Adra stood back, closed her eyes over a silent prayer and apology to her husband, Jodeth Eden, should things go awry.

"What do you need me to do?"