Private Tales The Broken City

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer

Dana Kass

Priestess of Metisa
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Malakath, undoubtedly the farthest Dana’s ever been from home. It’s not somewhere she went lightly. The infamously dangerous monsters and other dangers made her hesitate. But there’s only so long she could resist the call of an unknown civilization that predated the elves themselves.

Lucky for her she’d found an expedition with similar goals to sign onto. They’d provided all the security and supplies she needed on their little trip through Malakath. So far, the monsters had been only a mild nuisance. But that looked to change soon, given their current situation.

Dana walked to the edge of the camp and stared at the ruins of the ancient city. It didn’t take an archeologist to deduce what’d caused it to fall. Half the once sprawling metropolis had been crushed by the arm of a fallen titan, its hand tightly gripping the base of the city’s old keep. The rest of the city had fallen apart soon after.

Now it’s a desolate ruin, prowled by monsters, scavengers, a few madmen, and who knows what else. She glanced back at the rest of the expedition; most members were pairing up to enter the ruins. Anyone who went in alone risked being picked off by the dangers there. She sighed, realizing she'd also have to find someone to partner with. If she hoped to survive the expedition.

Xithispk N'Xilna

Seska the Dragonslayer

 
This portion of Malakath was not very flat. But nor was it entirely mountainous. Greater summits and higher altitudes were available to be explored to the east. But Xithispk had come down from the slightly elevated jungles to the south. He had stumbled upon this broken city before the Hive of soft and furry looking strangers had arrived and made camp nearby.

He should not have lingered in these ruins to begin with. But he found himself unable to leave them be. He had walked empty streets and slain viscious beasts in long abandoned homes simply for the privilege of wandering through their vacant rooms. To see this empty, overgrown ruin. To walk and hunt within it's buildings. And to even sleep within a long forsaken chamber within it. This felt like it might be as close to feeling ...right... as he might ever get again.

Xithispk walked out onto the balcony of a structure not so deep within the city, and he stared across the terrain to the strange camp that the visitors had erected. They seemed to be moving and getting ready for a scouting mission of some kind. Had they planned on taking over this long forgotten nest for their own dwelling? Were they the kind of creatures who had originally built it and those other odd things an ruins now all covered in foliage?

As he looked on in curiosity he noticed that one of the creatures was looking in at the city. Looking in his direction. He could feel the gaze of this one as he saw it watching and looking. But did it see him as well?

He wouldn't let it. He had no idea if these ones were warriors or workers. And so he walked back into the building leaving the view and the strangers behind.

Dana Kass
Seska the Dragonslayer
Ander'ashan Merellien
 
Staring at the ancient thing, struggling to remember anything about it. About the city it had snuffed out, about the people that had been here. In fact, just trying to remember if she had been here, all those years ago. The fog in her mind was no so forgiving, and the peaks of memory that stretched above the endless sea of clouds refused to give up any of the secrets lost to the mists.

It was a troubling thing for one such as her. The little fae had outlived all of her companions over the interminable years since the fall of Mo'pri and the literal ocean of blood that had washed over that fated land. It was difficult to understand an existence such as hers; hume children seldom lived more than a century, and even the most ardent of elfin sorcerers only made it to a few thousand years. The undying did not tend to suffer their tenuous existence for long than thousands of years.

How long had she lived? There was no answer to that question. Born of the Sidhe of Tonan, of a people who had long since reached the zenith of their society and descended into terminal decline - nay, to the ending of the line, to the cessation of their existence as a people. She alone was the bearer of a torch long since guttered and snuffed out by the twisted winds of time. She alone carried the epitaph of millions, drowned, burned, and crushed to dust and since scattered to the four corners of a world that had been lost to her for millennia beyond counting.

How to put into words that perspective? Was it possible?

The trip to this forgotten part of this world had proved as fruitless as so many others. The lands were unfamiliar to her, though she had doubtless been here before. Contrary to what one would think, the capacity to remember is not a limitless resource, and she had long since reached her capacity. Mountains in a sea of mist, each peak some important event that avoided being erased by the fog of dissolution. To only one other had she been able to related this, or at least to only one other in the past thousand years or so. She looked back to the west, and thought after Draedamyr and wondered what the old elf was up to. A warmth in a chest - the ghostly memory of companionship, of love - stirred and was silent. There would be more time for that, yet.

With the restoration of magic, she was was safe to return home. But, having arrived her, why not explore, and see what had changed? See if she could recall anything, or failing that, maybe find something new.

The scent of smoke on the wind made the diminutive woman sit up, and cast sleepy eyes westward. The day was but beginning, and some errant shift in the wind brought her this. The wild things in this place had learned to avoid her after a few persuasive episodes, and of others she had seen naught. Curious, she rose to her feet and snatched up her staff, an elegant thing carved of some strange wood and decorated with climbing roses and thorns. The thorns seemed to curl away from her hands she she gripped it, though it was certain that anyone else that tried to lay claim to it would have an unpleasant experience at best.

Others, in these ruins. Friend or foe mattered little to her; if she had to she could fade away or, failing that, demonstrate her singular talent for magic. Unlike many other so-called ancients, she did not necessarily eschew those who were mortal.

They were the ones that had the most fun, after all.
 
Exploring the vastness of the world outside the woods of Aendreasas had become a enjoyable task, much to Ander's surprise. Had he not been forced from his homeland due to the great tragedy that fell upon it, he could even imagine a life in which he returned home, full of marvelous tales and exciting discoveries to be shared with his friends and family.

But they were long gone, their blood on his hands, and the memories of their deaths still fresh on his mind. And so, he walked and walked, exploring every corner of those continents, keeping a watchful ear to the rumours that circulated in every place he went.

On one such place, he caught wind of a expedition to a land far away, to explore ruins that were certain to be filled with monstrosities and knowledge, forgotten lore of a people long before them. In recent months, Ander had become quite adept at these little escapades, hunting for relics and slaying monsters as if doing so would dwell the pain in his heart, the shame he felt for disgracing his kind. He thought the artifacts would give him answers to the evil that invaded his homeland, but he found nothing but dark blood to stain his elven blade, and some new acquaintances as well.

But this journey seemed to be much different. He was following those people, hunters and explorers from many corners of the world, all looking for their own share in those spoils, so lost in their want that they would even dismiss the dangers that were certain to loom around such ancient places.

Malakath, as he had overheard one night, hidden amongst the trees as they made camp. No one had even noticed his presence, so careful his steps that not even the animals would hear him. After weeks of travel, the expedition seemed to have finally found its destination, and Ander kept watch from afar, glancing at the sheer size of those ruins, and also surprised that so many of it was still standing, withstanding the rigors of time as well as the destruction first caused to it.

Surprisingly so, there was still beauty to be found in that once great city.

His eyes lingered on the fallen walls, his mind already falling in line to focus on what he would find past them. Every warrior had to keep both his mind and body prepared for the dangers of the road ahead, and Ander was no different, even if he was a warrior in name only these days, his title as Guardian and his status of prestige long gone, buried under the ruins of Avhalos, with the rest of his past.

As reckless and daring as ever, the elf had decided not to wait for the rest of the expedition to explore that place. Perhaps his curiosity was getting the better of him again, or he feared that those people would stumble upon and meddle with things that were not meant for them. No matter his reasons at present, Ander knew he would have to be careful as he silently walked around the encampment, evading any curious gazes and staying removed from sight as he approached what seemed to be one of the entrances to the ruins of the city, with rocks collapsed all over it and barely enough room for him to pass through.

"Bless me, Great Wolf."

A small prayer to one of his gods, one that he hoped would keep him safe throughout that journey.

Dana Kass
Xithispk N'Xilna
Seska the Dragonslayer
 
Dana’s gaze stopped abruptly on the remains of an old building. For a fleeting moment, she caught a glimpse of, something, backing into it. She frowned and set a hand on her staff. It looked humanoid, but also insectoid? She shook her head. All manner of strange things lurked in Malakath, it wouldn’t do her good to fret about every one she saw.

Her concentration broke when she heard someone walk past her, a little to her left. She glanced over to see an elf walking ahead into the city. She vaguely recognized him, he’d been on the expedition’s ship, and around their camp. Now he was entering the city alone.

Her eyes drifted to the fine sword hanging from his belt. Ah, he was a warrior then, that would explain why he felt confident to enter the city alone. But perhaps he wouldn’t mind a little company. She hurried after him. “You there!” She awkwardly navigated past the rubble and over to his side. “You’re from the expedition too, aren’t you? Bold of you to enter the city unaccompanied.”

Her attention returned to the building where she’d seen something moments earlier. She pointed at it. “I saw movement from that building earlier. Hostile or not, I don’t know, but it might be prudent to check before pressing into the city.”

Xithispk N'Xilna
Seska the Dragonslayer
Ander'ashan Merellien
 
The insectman seemed to be regaining some of the will to live which had been so very absent directly after the loss of his whole people. There were other Hives of course. But it did not just happen that one joined a different Hive. The loss of his Hive had been like the loss of his entire world.

It was strange that he had even felt the need to remove himself from that balcony at all. The passing days were apparently having some kind of effect on him. And generally it seemed a stabilizing one.

Or perhaps it was that he was walking around an empty, uninhabited territory, which was more substantial now than the crumbled and crushed arenas and corridors of his old home. He was like a ghost it seemed. And these ruins had made a fitting substitute for the home that was taken from him.

It had given him a chance to remember and to forget. For even though it was very different. This territory was not so unlike the old tunnels and chambers he was used to. It was if anything, a bit draftier in a city like this than in a proper Chi'Xilixi city.

When he had first come to this building, it had reminded him of the Chambers of Queen Xilna. Especially the third floor rooms near the balcony he had been on. Perhaps that was why he was in there now. To experience a what familiarity he could.

But at the moment he left the upper rooms and began to walk downstairs. He was likely to have company soon. And the bloody, torn corpses of reptilian bipeds that he had left in the living room were quite the unsightly mess.

Dana Kass
Seska the Dragonslayer
Ander'ashan Merellien
 
She moved like an aetherial creature, ephemeral in the morning light that managed to pierce the encroaching branches of the trees that had grown among the ruins. The dappled light seemed to accentuate the fragile beauty of the sidhe as she moved, long flowing hair dancing fitfully in the playful breeze.

She could feel the presence of others, or rather, the presence of others that dabbled in the arcane arts. The impression was, naturally, faint and hardly worthy of note; the short-lived seldom gained any real mastery of their abilities during the course of their short life. Whatever the case, whatever the skill, she could sense them. A useful talent when trying to avoid those among them of a particular arcane persuasion.

Something else, though. Her pointed ears twitched to the sound of movement within one of the many empty buildings, and she stopped mid-stride, her head turning to survey the source. Those amethyst orbs were bright...but they were old. The scholars and philosophers claimed that they eyes were windows into the souls, and the soul of this woman was...

...ineffable.

She remained stock still, staring into the dark doorways of antiquity. A faint scent wafted on the breeze - the coppery scent of blood, not exactly fresh but not rotten. She cocked her head to one side, silver hair shifting in the shadowy light of the broken street. Thinking, casting about with her preternatural senses for the scent of magick, of some glam or elemental spirit or force. Naught but the dead were there, alas...naught, save, the singular soul that lurked in the darkness indoors.

The one she could not sense, for the Chi'xilixi did not present the aspect of the arcane or the occult to which she was so highly attuned. Still, there was a feeling in the air, as of one watching or waiting. Patient, she could wait seasons for an answer to a question, but in the present environs she misliked lingering overlong. Staff in hand, she turned to face the building.

"Come hither, shade," she said in a sweet voice that could be confused for a child. Senses alert, she awaited whatever might lurk in shadows. The prim was but a breath away, ever ready to her beck and call. Be it foe, they would rue the day they came from the shadows with ill intent. Be they friend...

...well, it would make for a more interesting day than traversing ruins forgotten to time, waxing philosophic to herself in the confines of her own mind.

Xithispk N'Xilna

 
Ander stood in front of those piles of rubble, the dust from the rocks gathering around before being blown by the howling winds. On his mind, a tiny war of thoughts waged on, with the elf conflicted as to whether or not he should explore that grandiose city of ruins alone. Absent explanation, he felt as if something there made him uneasy, going as far as believing that there were eyes being laid upon him.

And not long after, part of that suspicion was confirmed, as even from miles away, he heard the sound of hasty steps long before a voice, feminine and concerned, reached him. From the corner of his eye, Ander'ashan quietly observed as the woman approached him, calling him out as a trespasser who sought to enter the ruins alone.

Could he even deny that?

Strangely, Ander felt curious enough about her presence there, his head slowly turning to better look at her, examining her every detail. She was a human, although seemingly very different from the others he had seen back at the camp. He didn't know much about humans, saved that they were notorious for their greed and cunning, but the elf sensed something else coming from her, some sort of wisdom, perhaps.

"There are nothing but ghosts in this place, human." He spoke, casually dismissing some of her concerns about him going in there alone. Of course, he knew better than to believe such a ancient place had no other secrets waiting to be trifled with, common traps for the foolish and unaware.

Ander followed her finger as it pointed towards one of the tall buildings in the distance. It seemed he wasn't the only one to feel as if there were other eyes lurking about, watching their moves. He could even feel his magic stirring, its calmness turned to turmoil, testament to whatever hidden powers awaited nearby.

"We should explore it together, then. You may call me Ander." The elf introduced himself, his hand on his chest and his head bowing down only slightly as a sign of respect, a common greeting amongst Aendreasians that he had learned to be shared amongst other races as well.

He motioned for her to follow after their small conversation, getting some of the hurdles out of the way and clearing a path for them to pass inside, following a short road until they were inside the building that she had mentioned before, finding it completely deserted and lifeless, decorated only by ashes. They pushed onwards until they entered the living room, only to find it filled with rotten carcasses of dead creatures, most of them nasty to the eye.

With but a whisper, Ander called to the woman again, worried. "We are not alone."

Dana Kass
Xithispk N'Xilna
Seska the Dragonslayer
 
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Dana set her hands on her hips and frowned at the way he dismissed her warning. “Those monsters we encountered on the way seemed real enough. And this city must be crawling with them by now. I saw one myself a moment ago.” She sighed. Hoping he wasn’t some headstrong adventurer intent on wandering straight ahead into danger.

She relented when the elf, Ander apparently, heeded her warning. Perhaps he was more reasonable than she thought. She set a hand on her heart and smiled politely. “And you may call me Dana. It’s a pleasure.” She shifted her focus back to the structure, following Ander as he led the way over.

She stepped inside after him and scanned the floor. Her nose wrinkling at the sight of the dead and decaying corpses. Seems they weren’t the only things here that detested monsters. She started to reach for her staff but paused when she heard another sound, a faint voice, feminine, not far from them. But she didn’t think it was addressing them either. “Did you hear that?”

She inched further inside and gave the room another look over. Hoping to find a hint as to what could’ve killed the creatures, and whether it was friend or foe.

Ander'ashan Merellien Xithispk N'Xilna Seska the Dragonslayer
 
"Come hither, shade,"
The noises of this language were starting to become vaguely familiar to the lone wanderer. Not that he had any idea what they meant yet. But for someone who had never heard the common trade language of the northern continents until recently, he was getting better at noticing when the intent to communicate was showing itself.

And within very little time the buglike man showed himself as well, in response. He stepped into the doorway into the building and stood calmly. He did not expect that this newcomer would understand Chix. So he hadn't bothered to even attempt speech.

Instead he regarded the lone figure with it's short stature, purple eyes, and silver mane. There was something about this one. His antennae were tingling. But not like there was a threat. Or a surprise. It was something else. Vague and imperceptible but slightly.

And for a long moment he only looked at the Sidhe. He had never seen one before. And he wanted to understand what it was he sensed from her. It was the strangest feeling...

But after just a moment he heard something in the distance. Coming from the direction of those new arrivals he had just been observing. Sounds of hurdles being moved and a path being cleared. It seemed more company would be arriving soon.

At these sounds he shifted, tilting his head in a slightly curious manner before gesturing a kind of ”come on in” motion and then taking the lead and walking deeper into the building.

Past the mess of corpses in the living room, to a room with a section of wall missing that allowed a comfortable, if subdued, light into the chamber. And there he turned and sat upon one of many large stones which were scattered about the place.

Seska the Dragonslayer

Dana Kass
Ander'ashan Merellien
 
The archmage did not blink when the Chixi stepped out of the shadows, did not flinch or fade back. Rather, she regarded the creature as one might an interesting specimen under glass. Which, taken a certain way, this might well qualify as.

She had seen its like before, of course. On first arriving on this land, it had been, though the one she had met possessed a stone that allowed for limited communication between it and the other fools in her party. She had to admit to not knowing much of the insectoid people; she had dealt with humans and elves and dwarves, with fellows of her own kind, and vampires, and centaurs and dozens of others aside. She imagined them to be similar to the droben.

Her ears twitched at the sound of movement, and of voices. For a moment, she considered whether she cared enough to accept this creatures invitation, wherever that might ultimately lead. Ultimately, she shrugged, and bowed ever so slightly to the creature even as it turned away. What did she have to lose?

And so she fell in behind, stepping over the corpses without so much as looking at them, absently avoiding even brushing them with the hem of her dress. They were part of the foreground, unimportant and certainly nothing she had not already seen before.

Into the little place that the thing had made for itself. She herself did not take a seat, instead stepping away from the portal and turning to face the creature before her with a steady stare, features inquisitive. The staff in her hand seemed to slowly writhe, as though the vines were live and crawling. An optical illusion or, perhaps, some manifestation of the magic that infused the item so heavily that it was no longer quite just wood.

Ears pricked, listening for the sound of pursuit, although judging by the manner of the insect there was nothing threatening beyond this little alcove.
 
In times past, Ander would've already reached for his sword, always ready to start a fight, but that kind of fire inside him had been put off, making way for a cold tranquility with which he now traversed that floor, littered with corpses.

With a few quick glances, the elf could tell that they weren't long dead, which led him to believe that the culprit for that extermination could still be nearby. Dana whispered nearby, asking him if he had heard the sounds as well, to which Ander silently agreed, nodding his head while looking to his side, his gaze travelling towards her.

Strangely, he felt at ease while accompanying that human, which was something he had never thought to experience. He was never one to harbor hate simply due to the tales of wars between human and elves that were told to him while he grew up, but as most elves, Ander would always be naturally distrustful of them. And yet, he walked ahead of that human, his back turned to her when she could simply attack him and leave him for dead amongst those corpses, if she so wanted to chase whatever treasures awaited there all by herself.

Upon stepping further into the room, Ander came to a halt suddenly, raising his arm and closing his hand as a signal for Dana to stop as well.

More sounds coming from beyond, although not far from them, if his ears wouldn't mislead him. He had heard voices before, as Dana had pointed out, but this sound was different, more animalistic and unrecognizable.

He felt himself being watched again, and it wasn't a feeling that the Guardian enjoyed.

Ander stood at a crossroads - he could either reveal his presence to whoever was lurking nearby, shouting and demanding that they show themselves, or simply stay put and wait. Conflicted, he looked at Dana, hoping that she could help decide his impasse with her own will.

Dana Kass
Xithispk N'Xilna
Seska the Dragonslayer
 
Dana took two careful steps in the direction of the sounds and squinted. But couldn’t see anything ahead of her. Likely around a corner or hidden behind a wall. Frustrating, as it meant she couldn’t get a proper read on the situation. She glanced at Ander to find him looking her way.

Personally, she’d hardly noticed that her travel companion was an elf. Although she hadn’t met many before and lived in Vel Anir. She’d never had a problem with elves herself. Perhaps because she’d never quite fit in with the dominant culture there.

She stopped when Ander held up an arm. Hearing the chattering of some kind of creature up ahead. “That could be what I saw before,” she whispered to her new companion. The sounds themselves weren’t random, they sounded like they had a pattern to them, an intelligence.

She glanced at Ander and nodded. “We should press on. If, whatever this is, wanted to ambush us they’d have done so by now.”

Xithispk N'Xilna Ander'ashan Merellien Seska the Dragonslayer
 
Xithispk's compound eyes returned Seska's unblinking appraisal. Although, in his case it was because blinking was not exactly possible. The thin clear membranes which could protect his eyes during sleep, swimming or harsh weather would have been impossible to notice had he moved them into place at all. But he had not.

He actually rather liked looking at this creature. She wasn't like the other short soft one's he had seen in his recent travels. For one thing she looked unique in her features. It was a subtle thing, but he could see it clearly. It was as if her form or the angles and shape of her features was different from the other soft ones of all kinds and for another, the way the light touched her seemed different than everyone and everything else he had ever seen.

And then there was the way his antennae picked up some force or movement in the air the closer she stood. Not even the strange old one with magic had given such an impression.

Yet after a while of observing her, he decided that for some reason all of this... strangeness.. wasn't very important. It did however make her pleasing to behold. What a strange thing. Why should one being be more pleasing to behold than another?

Maybe it was like this house. It just gave him a little bit of a memory of what it felt like to be home again. The way her staff moved and writhed was different however. It reminded him of adorable little larvae crawling and writhing in their nursery chambers.

If he could have she'd tears as humanoids do, this memory could have done it. After all, the cute little larvae he had seen grow into capable Chi'Xilixi were all dead now. And so we're the ones who hadn't grown at all yet. Even the newly hatched and the eggs. Decimated.

Yet he had the audacity to walk away intact...

He looked down then. He looked down with his whole head, placing his four hands on his thighs to keep himself sitting up, lest he collapse to the ground. Even his antennae drooped like weeping branches.

And then he sighed. For even though he could not speak like the soft one's, he did breathe the same air as them and in generally the same way.

And his sigh was quiet. But even quiet, it was thick with the inky blackness of a grief and frustration. And even a guilt. It was not something that he imagined any others would ever understand, the pain of having lived when your whole world had come crashing into an unstoppable destruction all around you.

Seska the Dragonslayer

Dana Kass
Ander'ashan Merellien
 
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Similar worlds in similar ways, and yet the gulf that separated them could not be easily bridged. Language was a barrier that she had encountered time and again, but his was a people for which she had little meaningful contact and therefore understood none of their language. If only she did not find the arts that affected the mind to be so abhorrent, it would be simple enough to communicate.

Among the many things that the years had taught was a strict adherence to principle. Abandoning principles in the name of easing life, of acquiring power, or of any of the other myriad reasons mortals gave for casting their morals to the wind....these follies were empty and meaningless in the eye of eternity.

She could sense his loss but could not mirror it. She could catch the subtle flavor of sorrow, but there were no words to share - none that would not be hollow and meaningless without the context of a story to share. All she could do was sit and stare across the space, hooded eyes revealing so little of what was in her mind. She might have been a porcelain doll for all that could be read on her features.

"I know little of your people," she began in common. She knew dozens of languages, some whole and some tattered by age. She did not think he (she was relatively certain it was a male) would understand any of them any better than common. "Tell me, have-"

She stopped. Her ears twitched, and she turned to the portal. Voices, not terribly far away. There was no real alarm, only quiet interest in whosoever else would wander this forgotten city in the back corner of the world. She turned a questioning eye of the bug-man, and then back to the portal.

"One voice, speaking to another," she said calmly. There was no further information to be gleaned other than that. For the barest of moments she considered reaching out and seizing hold of the prim, the raw unformed stuff of creation. A moment, only, for it would serve no purpose to draw upon it now with no foe present. Those beyond were...a mystery, but at least they were a mystery that was not like to be voidsent, not like to be beast of fang and claw.

Still, mortals could be every bit as dangerous and more than those not of this world, or those beasts of the realm. All there was for it was to wait.
 
Ambush.

Ander had halted any movement, not even a twitch of his fingers, as Dana spoke that word. It was a word that took him back to the events of several months ago, the desolation of his homeland. For all his skill and prestige as a warrior, he had been foolishly led to an ambush, out of his own recklessness. The Guardians were all supposed to fight together as one, defending the elven lore of Aendreasas, but instead, Ander'ashan ran off in search for glory - only to find sorrow.

Once he came back to himself, the elf looked over to the human woman before quietly agreeing with her. The sounds weren't so far away, and whatever creature that could be inside that place didn't seem so eager to attack them.

Maybe there was more to that forgotten city than ruins, secrets and a expedition full of scavengers determined to cut through any sort of monsters in search of riches.

At least, that thought intrigued him enough that Ander had decided to push on, skipping over one of the corpses laid out on the ground right in front of him as the pair glanced upon a opening to another hallway across the room.

As beautiful as it may have once been, that whole building now looked like a maze of debris, none of its majestic features of ages ago standing out. It was all covered in ash, dirt and now splatters of blood, revealing more details about the battle that must've happened there before Ander and Dana arrived at the scene.

Ander motioned for the woman to quietly follow after him, paying attention to what could come out of the darkness of the corridor beyond, but he knew there was little choice for them than to press onwards, following the strange sounds they had heard earlier. And as they walked on, the Guardian felt his magic stirring up again, as if they were nearing some kind of powerful and ancient presence, reeking of mysterious energies that he had never felt before.

"Be on your guard." He whispered, his hand inevitably falling down to his waist, towards the hilt of his elven sword.

Dana Kass
Xithispk N'Xilna
Seska the Dragonslayer
 
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Dana stopped and reached for her staff when Ander’s froze. Sweeping her gaze over her surroundings, expecting to see what’d alarmed him. She frowned and relaxed her grip when she realized there wasn’t anything there. She turned back to the elf and whispered. “What’s wrong?”

She pursed her lips when her new companion agreed with her and walked on like nothing had happened. Was he simply spooked by something? Or was there more? She took a deep breath to refocus herself and pressed on. Twice she almost struck her foot against a piece of rubble, and once she nearly stepped on a body.

Whatever had killed so many monsters must be fearsome, she only hoped it would also be friendly. She kept her ears alert and focused on the strange chattering. Soon followed by the voice she’d heard earlier. Calm, not agitated, that was a good sign, usually.

She stepped a bit ahead of Ander’s when they reached the end of the hall and peeked into the room. Her lips parting when she saw exactly what awaited them inside.

Her eyes were first naturally drawn to the insectoid figure. Her mind raced through the warnings and descriptions she’d heard and read about the species that roamed Malakath. Eventually settling on one. “Chi’Xilixi,” she whispered. It, or perhaps he, stood like the guardsmen or warriors she’d seen throughout Arethil. Could he have been the one to slay so many of those creatures?

Standing across from him was a woman who looked no older than herself, at a glance. But Dana knew better than to take that at face value. Her silver hair and, glowing eyes? Was she just seeing things? Whatever the case, they made her doubt the woman was as youthful as she appeared. She must’ve been the one speaking before, and if she’s speaking so calmy to the Chi’Xilixi, he must not be hostile. Hopefully.

Xithispk N'Xilna Seska the Dragonslayer Ander'ashan Merellien