Shattered City Shattered City[Main Event]

[Szesh]

“So those aren’t the marks of an exile?”

Szesh was stunned. How did he know what the mark meant? No one save for his own kind should be aware of its meaning, unless those that were captured had revealed it. It wasn’t a secret, per se, But how would that have even come up?

His surprise was evident, for his eyes widened and he opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to find words. What else did this masked man know? What was this place?

As he looked around, he began to realize how terribly out of his depth he truly was. White hot anger had started to cool with time, and he finally focused on the library. The sheer number of books was astounding. It would have taken centuries to amass such a collection, at least. Everything was gold and shining, to the point that gold must have been but a pittance to its owner. If they put this much wealth into bookshelves...

The aromas of fresh meat started to waft in from somewhere, and Szesh felt his own hunger. He had not eaten since before visiting the ruins of his village, but he did not trust this Kaahl enough to eat his food.... for the time being.

 

[Myrcella Bochanan]

Myrcella relaxed only slightly as Richard Henry the Eighth reassured her. He said he'd never leave her and for the moment she was holding him to that.

Her eyes were drawn to Fife as the boy seemed to stare at her. Myrcella looked down at her dress, believing that the current state of it was why the looks lasted for so long. Never had she been in public while looking like such a mess. Her mother would have much to say about it.

A double-take was given as Richard professed his love for her in front of the strangers. Why did he do that? They could take advantage of that, surely., by taking her hostage or some other like thing. But if this place was so dangerous, than they stood a better chance with the trio.

"Hello. Pleased to meet you. Are you all from here? Or....?" Having not exactly travelled the world, Myrcella was quite uncertain as to what the general population here looked like or consisted of.

Belduhr Brighthand Raigryn Vayd n

 

[Richard Henry the Eighth]

Richard felt a bit uncomfortable seeing a little boy covered in soot and blood eye them with suspicion. It added to the uneasiness to an already frantic past few days. All Richard wanted to do was to get Myrcella out of here and clear his head but of course the Gods have other plans. "I'm doubtful they're from here Myrcella," Richard said. "Judging by that massive Golem next to us that or he's the servant who passed out drunk. I remember having a servant like that as a child. He threw up on my toy solider never touched it since."

Maybe some humor to lighten the mood after all they randomly arrived at this majestic Dwarven city. "So what exactly is going on here and how did this city get discovered?" Richard asked still holding Myrcella. "It's quite lovely really."

 

[Fynaurie]

Ukrir Aifrin

"Fynauria! Fynauria!? Vaxor!? Please one of you!"

Vaxor's shriek was loud enough to cut glass, let alone reach Aifrin. Around the next corner Aifrin would find Vaxor in the centre of a street. The rohk kept lifting on leg from the ground and then setting it down. There was a black ring near the base of his talon and a much large one that still smouldered on his shoulder.

Fynaurie was in front of him. She was unconscious, her breathing slow and shallow. Her extremities still twitched every few seconds.

When the metal footfalls reached them Vaxor bent low over Fynaurie, spreading out his wings over her. It was the same posture and eagle used to defend its kill from another predator.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"So what exactly is going on here and how did this city get discovered?" Richard asked still holding Myrcella. "It's quite lovely really."

Raigryn was struggling. He was struggling with his mental balance after using so much Misery in one great spell. Having his clear mission so interrupted in unexpected ways was not helping matters.

"Fife is my apprentice," he said rather firmly. He paused and took a breath.

"That..." he pointed over his shoulder to the gleaming walls in the distance. Great towers struck towards the sky, catching the sunlight. Raigryn had never seen such things before. The squat, grey and ugly towers built by humankind could not be compared to what was ahead of them.

"...appeared out of the mountainside. Alok-Therak is the safest place around, so if you really want to stay safe then remain here and hope the dwarves can seal the breach in the wall made by that giant golem. Otherwise we're going to try and work out how....the fuck...a city full of golems can burst out of a mountain."

He gave a shrug, which betrayed just how out of his own depth he felt and turned to continue away from Alok-Therak and towards the golden city.

 

[Aifrin]

Birin screeched at her, and had she reached Fynauria before Vaxor had covered her with his wings, she might have continued crawling forward. She tried to stand, but the muscles in her back made her fall forward on her hands and knees.

Birin hopped over to her and pulled her by her leg backwards to her surprise.

"Birin no! We have to help them! Someone!? Anyone!? Help!" She screamed as Birin pulled her back, preparing to take off with her by the leg before golems surrounded them.

 

[Belduhr Brighthand]

Raigryn explained the situation, and Belduhr shifted the staff in one hand while his other was busy with the hammer. He was lost in thought at the signs Fife had made at him to really mind the new people that had arrived.

Had she insulted him? He was mildly confused by the gestures, having never dealt with the lass speaking as such before.

 

[Fife]

Belduhr seemed hardly aware of the newcomers, but Fife watched them carefully. It wasn't uncommon when she met new people, but she watched the man with more interest. The girl didn't seem frightened, however. Lost, hurt, and nervous, but she didn't seem like she was being taken anywhere against her will.

But her interest quickly shifted when Raigryn spoke. He seemed... off. Normally he was good-natured and sociable, even to strangers and mild threats. He'd been so casual to the bandits at the wall, even. He'd certainly never cussed in front of a lady.

Fife looked apologetically at Myrcella and Richard, but turned to follow Raigryn. They were going to the mysterious golden city and leaving the mangled dwarven settlement behind them. She agreed that a man with a wounded lady in his charge should stay with the dwarves rather than risk their lives at the strange, unearthed city.

Catching up to her mentor, she looked up at him questioningly, but didn't raise her hands to ask if he was alright. Fife already knew something was wrong without asking, and knew she probably had a hand in it. So instead of asking, she simply walked beside him, letting him sort it out on his own or to tell her of his own volition. She was accustomed to the silence between them and she trusted that Raigryn knew how to take care of himself.

// Raigryn Vayd // Belduhr Brighthand // Richard Henry the Eighth // Myrcella Bochanan //

 

[Myrcella Bochanan]

Richard Henry the Eighth gave her a little reason to smile as he tried to lighten the mood. He had a habit of doing that. Even when she mourned the death of her Father, he was there to sing to her and tell amusing stories.

But that didn't seem to go so well with Raigryn Vayd . The man seemed so perplexed about what was happening that he cursed right in front of her. Perhaps, given the state of her clothing, she didn't look like a proper young Lady. She furrowed her brows in confusion over his behaviour, and of course Fife caught her attention. Myrcella gave her a quick little nod, letting the apprentice know that she accepted the apoligy.

She then looked to the golem on the ground, stared at it with a shudder as she pictured the thing alive and moving. It was doubtful that she could run from that.

Myrcella then looked up to Richard and spoke quietly, "Safety in numbers, I think. We should go with them. Maybe there'll be another portal stone within the city? It looks like it'd have a lot of treasures."

Belduhr Brighthand

 

[Richard Henry the Eighth]

How could the Raigryn do such a thing cursing in front of a lady? Even if the situation was dire there was no need to curse in front Myrcella like that. Richard shrugged he's heard worse on the battlefield but still based on Mrycella's reaction it looked like this was the first time experiencing somebody cursing in front of her.

"Don't worry," Richard whispered to her. "I'll just say that you look really lovely from this angle in order to make up for the man cursing in front of you."

Still Richard was left with a dilemma, stay here and join the Dwarves or follow the group. Part of him wanted to stay with the Dwarves for Myrcella's sake but it was dangerous. If the huge Golem corpse next to them is to go by who knows what dangers might be lurking in the Dwarven City. "Agreed," Richard whispered back. "Who knows what dangers are here if we go on our own."

Richard then looked at the Raigryn Vayd and Fife "we'll tag along," he said carrying Myrcella. "Don't worry about Myrcella though, I can carry her while we travel. She feels safer around me and I vowed to protect her."

The Bard Knight then looked down at Myrcella. "Because I love you," he whispered.

Myrcella Bochanan

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn looked down at Fife and sighed. It hadn't been much of an outburst, but it wasn't in his character to be so curt.

"I'm off balance," he sighed to her. "Used too much of one aspect in one go. Which as I have said before is something you should never ever do. Whilst I also keep breaking the rules in front of you, which I realise is not a good example."

He felt slightly bad about pressing on ahead with Fife, leaving Belduhr Brighthand with the loving couple, but not that bad. It took a great deal of his concentration to keep himself in balance, or at least to a semblance of it.

"Just remember that when you're old you can break rules. And when not breaking a rule means that everyone is probably going to die. That's a good time to break a rule."

 

[Belduhr Brighthand]

Belduhr snapped back to the real world, content to guess that Fife had indeed insulted him, even if he had to ask what she had said.

"Oy! Don' leave me behind. I've not the stomach for the pair of them making kissy face at each other." Belduhr grumbled loudly. He snorted after his words, pressing forward with Fife and Raigryn. Granted the dwarf had to shuffle a bit faster than the human man.

"So, I don' think whosoever we should find inside the city might be, uh, amiable to us comin' an' knockin' our way in. On the other hand, it's most certainly possible that my peoples, hospitality, might have tempered their inclination towards a rather-." Belduhr paused and thought of the words that came to mind.

"Aggressive in their greeting to the world. I've a mind to wonder what they seek." He peered around them at the destruction of the city. "Granted, if it truly does come from a time long past, one wonders who might actually be left alive. If these things are driven by a single minded goal as they most certainly seem to be, it might be a troublesome task to figure out how to, disable the things."

He made a rough gesture back towards the staff.

"I doubt that we'll find another like this to stop all of them though." He chuckled.

 

[Fife]

To her genuine surprise, Raigryn said something, which must have really been a testament to how he was feeling. She blinked up at him and nodded. Too much Misery. She had been off balance once; she knew the overwhelming wrongness of too much of one Aspect, in her case Tranquility. Fife had struggled to feel any real emotion for days. She could only imagine what too much Misery felt like. Probably awful.

Nodding again, she put on a little bit of a smile for him. They hadn't died and had come away from the scrap relatively unharmed -- his emotional balance and her scraped joints aside. The fear and adrenaline of the golem encounter abated and its hulking remains left to the dwarves, she was starting to feel better. And while she was a shitty conversant, she was a good distraction from whatever he was feeling.

Grinning with a bit of mischief, Fife pointed to him, then touched the pad of her thumb to one of her front teeth and drew it down toward her chin. One of her brows hiked in question. You're getting long on the tooth?

All too soon, Belduhr caught up and started rambling, and Fife hooked her thumbs in the straps of her pack with a sigh. Any time he had something to say, it took half an hour to say it. She preferred Raigryn's cut and dried statements that got right to the point over his aimless verbal meandering.

She gave him an exasperated look and pointed from him then to the staff, shooing her hands at him. You keep it.

Fife shook her head and pointed to herself, negated with a line across her throat, made the sign for want grasping toward herself, and pointed to the staff again. I don't want it.

She exaggerated a full body shiver, expressing the uncomfortable feeling it gave her. She wasn't going to ask if Belduhr knew how to perform magic or not to use it. She just didn't want it back. With Raigryn off balance, however, she was now probably their best bet at using it (as much as she didn't want to admit it). At least making him carry the wretched thing alleviated some degree of the weight of that realization. Responsibility was a new burden she was not yet familiar with.

// Raigryn Vayd // Belduhr Brighthand // Richard Henry the Eighth // Myrcella Bochanan //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Fife Belduhr Brighthand Richard Henry the Eighth Myrcella Bochanan

The walls loomed high above the group. Raigryn could see angular ballista mounted on the towers. Nothing stirred as they approached. Perhaps because of the control rod they had brought with them, but perhaps simple because those minds that had been woken as the city came to life had turned their attentions inwards to other intruders.

"It's not like the one we found," Raigryn called out. "It's as if it were perfectly preserved in the rock."

The path to the gates was treacherous. The city had literally exploded out of the mountainside sending debris in all directions.

"Let's stick close to the bigger rocks, just in case," he advised.

 

[Selene Avar]

THE GOLDEN LIBRARY
Szesh Kaahl TTamark Ava Gilleth Harrier Arbeiter

Selene frowned.

This...thing, seemed to be more curious about the outside world than she had expected. For some reason the Dreadlord had thought the residence of this city would be more about dominating Arethil than anything else. That was what the golems had suggested.

Lips thinned. "I do not know where that city is."

The Dreadlord answered, eyeing some of the food that was brought out. She did not trust any of it, and it was clear from her expression that she did not want any of her compatriors to partake either.

"How long...what is this place?" She asked finally. "We have never seen anything the like."

The Golden City was far more advanced than even Elbion.

 

[Harrier]

Szesh Kaahl TTamark Ava Gilleth Selene Avar Arbeiter

Harrier gasped herself awake on the library floor, surrounded by dry bones and very concerned skeletons. Hardly dignified, but then again she was an exile who lived in a swamp. Dignity wasn't her forte at the best of times, let alone when...many, many books had just dumped themselves into her memory. She got up with a skeleton's help and cracked her neck.

The others had gathered tensely around a table that seemed set with blood and meat of dubious origins. All quite fresh, apparently.

Joining them had no appeal to her. Leaving might provoke. Harrier picked a book, not quite at random, and started reading.

 

[Belduhr Brighthand]

Belduhr nodded at Raigryn's words. Preserved was a good word for how well these golems moved and looked. It was strange to him just how many there were around them. Either these cities were a center for their creation, or this was just a large area for them to gather. It would be an interesting thing to see which of his ideas were correct.

"Yes, unlike the old ones, these golem's knees and joints aren't so readily breaking." He lightly jested. Keeping up with the pair wasn't easy, but it was certainly going to be fun at least.

 

[Fife]

They walked ever closer to the golden city, and it only grew more ominous, looming overhead. It was, as Raigryn pointed out, unmarred by its emergence, gleaming and bright. Meanwhile, they picked their way through the debris as they came closer to the city structures.

She might have wondered what could have burst an entire mountainside, but she'd already seen an underground city manipulating a Portal Stone and metal creatures that walked by mechanism and magic. Somewhere about those technological leaps, they should have been capable of the unimaginable, right?

Nothing hindered their approach, but she wasn't keen on raising the guard as they did so. Fife nodded to Raigryn. Stick to the rocks. Their best bet for now. She looked over her shoulder at Belduhr, nodding. Fife between them, the safest part of the group.

It wasn't much of a comfort.

Not bothering to convey through sign, she simply pointed to the staff he had tucked away. While she didn't want to be the one carrying it, she didn't want him losing it.

// Raigryn Vayd // Belduhr Brighthand //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Richard Henry the Eighth Myrcella Bochanan Belduhr Brighthand Fife

The gates were further away than it had seemed, the walls looming ever higher above them. The gate was almost as high as those walls. At least tall enough for the giant sized golem to have left this way.

"The gate is - of such a word is applicable here - ajar," Raigryn hissed to the others. He came to a halt behind a man-sized rock. It would at least provide cover if those still ballista were suddenly manned.

"There are people inside," he told everyone. His empathy had settled down enough that he could feel emotions once again. "Do we...knock?"

There was a hint of a smile again, a glimmer of humour in the corner of his eye. More of the man Fife had come to know back again.

 

[Aivrid]

Tag: Harrier Szesh TTamark Ava Gilleth Selene Avar Arbeiter
Location: Golden Library

This is larger than my own...

---

​

It seemed that these expeditions in a different form were becoming a regular occurrence in Aivrid's life. He was still unsure whether or not he enjoyed them. On the one hand, using such magic to change his body was refreshing. He felt an odd vitality, even in a human body. Despite his long memory he could not recall a time when he was so small as a dragon. On the other hand, humans were icky little creatures. They routinely disappointed him, these small folk, for a variety of reasons too many in number to list.

Knowledge, though, that was worth getting out of the house for. A portal stone had brought him here -- visions of important events were what prompted him to exit in the first place. Rumblings of an ancient city bursting out of the Spine was not a thing to go unnoticed by the great wyrm. It was worth seeing for himself, and preferably not crushing everything in his path.

His disguise donned, he strode into the great library and surveyed those who'd been gathered. Humans, golems... half dragon. He hoped he got the smell of the human right. His nose was getting old. Humans always smelled odd to him.

"So this is the library," the mysterious man mused. "And the Golden City..." Further research was necessary. Hopefully they would not mind if Aivrid took the entire place back home.

 

[Belduhr Brighthand]

Fife pointed at the staff, and his brows furrowed together. Did the lass want to hold it again? Making the gesture of holding it to her however seemed to be the opposite of what she wanted. He shifted it into his bag strap better before looking up at the large door ahead.

Ajar? Who in the world left the front door open? A fool believing that they had already won, or someone willing to invite in the rabble they sought to destroy. Either way, it was a very strange idea that they had left the place open for, invesitgation.

"Oh 'aye, just reach on up a ways and see if they ain't left a knocker 'fer us to let ourselves in with." Belduhr shook his head. This all seemed a bit sideways in his opinion. People already inside? Bah! Only fools would have gone into this place without-He paused mid-thought and looked between their little trio.

"Damdit-all." He cursed himself. Twice a fool for following these folks into strange things.

 

[Fife]

He motioned to give it to her and Fife rolled her eyes, withdrawing and putting her hands up in refusal. She pointed to him, more insistently and thoroughly exasperated. Gods above, the man was dense! She prayed Raigryn never got a mind to leave her with this insufferable man. She would have had better luck teaching her signs to a dog.

The door was ajar? She gladly left Belduhr behind at the last boulder of cover and leaned past her mentor to look. It made her uncomfortable. What did it make her think of? A story she half remembered about a kindly old woman in the forest. All Fife remembered was that she had heem trying to eat the damn kids. Not exactly encouraging.

It was Raigryn's turn for an exasperated look, but she bit back a grin. At least he was feeling better if he was joking. Belduhr had a far better response than she could have gestured out. The dwarf didn't sound nearly as amused as she or her mentor, however.

Echoing Belduhr's remarks and knowing they were going in, in spite of the gut feeling that told her not to, Fife stepped back into cover and held her hand out, palm up, and sort of gestured it forward. Go right ahead. If he got squished peering in the door, it would be in the comfort of knowing his friends had been thoroughly warned.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Myrcella Bochanan]

Myrcella watched as Fife , Raigryn Vayd and Belduhr Brighthand went on ahead of them, leaving herself and Richard Henry the Eighth on their own. "I don't think they like us very much..."

It could be due to status, it could be because of their appearance. Or it could be because she was injured and they didn't want her to slow them down. There were any number of reasons that she had yet to think of; all of them plausable and all of them wrong at the same time.

"I think that I want to try walking, Richard. It's been...days that I don't know the number of, since I had hurt it. We should try or I'll be weak or lame. My Father slaughters horses that become lame." Not that she'd be slaughtered, but the last thing that she needed when she was to be wed and shipped away to Elbion was to have some other reason for the nobles and ladies to take advantage of her.

And to make fun of her.

"Please set me down."

 

[Richard Henry the Eighth]

The group began to head deeper towards the gate leaving Richard and Myrcella behind. "Well judging by the looks of them," he said to Myrcella. "They were just in a battle with that dead Golem, I'm doubtful they're willing sit down and engage in small talk."

Still despite the potential danger of going deeper into the Dwarven City, Richard didn't feel like exploring the city alone with Myrcella. If an active Golem was roaming in a city as pristine as this one, who knows what other active machinery lurked here. The Bard Knight needed to protect Mrycella.

Speaking of Myrcella......

"You're right," Richard said. "You should try to test your ankle now It should be healed up by now." Even though Myrcella has rested it constantly, she hasn't got a chance to properly care for her ankle. A quick glance by Richard showed that Myrcella's ankle was still a shade of dark purple and was swelling. Something wasn't right, Myrcella at least should've shown some progress in healing.

"Myrcella," Richard frowned. "The last thing you are is weak and if anyone tries kill you, I'll decapitate them and take their ankles. Perhaps you can find a better use than they would."

But the young girl insisted Richard made sure to gently place her down to the ground. "I got you Myrcella," he said.

Myrcella Bochanan Fife Raigryn Vayd Belduhr Brighthand

 

[Kyros]

THE GOLDEN LIBRARY
Szesh Selene Avar TTamark Ava Gilleth Harrier Arbeiter Aivrid​

Several golems entered and placed plates of meat upon the golden table. Freshly cooked with exotic spices and herbs. Even the cuts of flesh themselves would be of unusual origin, almost unrecognizable origin.

A single golem entered from the side carrying an item twice the size of its metal head - wrapped in a cloth.

One book near Harrier that she could have grabbed was titled, The Politics of Contemporary Ixchel.

If she deciphered the text, she would find references to Q’umamul.

Kaahl looked at Selene and asked, “Are you saying this grand city of Vel Anir doesn’t have a library such as this?”

Silence followed as Kaahl maintained the glare. Even as Aivrid entered and spoke, Kaahl waited for an answer to his question. A golem was the one to "greet" Aivrid and attempt to silently guide the disguised dragon to the golden table.

Eventually, it would be the golem with the wrapped gift that broke his stare. The Librarian hovered his hands over the golem’s face. An actual spark flew between them. Then, Kaahl accepted what the golem offered to him.

Kaahl looked to Szesh.

“It seems this one found one of your kind,” Kaahl said as he removed the cloth…