Quest The City That Can't Forget

[Douglas Haley]

____________________________

Douglas scowled at Telemachus, obviously perturbed by his slight. In truth, he was shocked by the deaths that had happened prior, but to be so cold and callous that they had absolutely no effect on the elf? Deplorable, especially used as a means of insulting Douglas for his empathy. How low of a being could Telemachus be?

At least, that’s how Douglas saw it.

Resisting the urge to punch him, he gritted his teeth and looked back out the crack of the door, waiting to see if ‘Rundal’ reappeared.

“No, Master Telemachus, he hasn’t.”, he said with an obvious annoyance in his tone.

“I was sent her to research the ruins, just like you, but…”, Douglas idled off as Rundal returned to the room for a moment to grab a small dagger off the table, tucking it in the back of his belt before walking up another set of stairs to some unknown area of the ruins.

With a lower tone, one matched with more calmness, he spoke once more as he opened the door slowly;

“But, something isn’t right. This Rundal, even Nero, they’re… shimmering. Reek of subtle magics, but I can’t place it.”, he said as he glanced to the stairs Rundal only a moment before had walked up.

“Leave alone the fact there are now two Rundals… One upstairs, with Nero, and the one I swear I just saw.”

Occasionally glancing up to the stairs Rundal had walked towards, Douglas began to look through the notes on the table, yet most seemed to be encrypted in some sort of key he couldn’t decipher. Magical cypher perhaps? It wasn’t uncommon for mages, alchemists, and scholars to hide their greatest works behind complicated codes to ensure they never fell into the wrong hands, and yet there didn’t seem a purpose for Rundal to have done this unless he had discovered something worth hiding…

While Douglas seemed preoccupied with the books and notes, a soft pulse emanated from a side room Rundal had wandered into before departing the room entirely. It was slow, dull, but Telemachus could swear it sounded like the fading heartbeat of a mortal; though its intensity seemed as though his head were laid on the chest of whatever being it was. Something was hiding its efforts to be found, and Douglas in his preoccupation had missed it entirely.

Telemachus​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn didn't answer any questions. He certainly wasn't about to take any blame for not knowing the elf could teleport. Such a rare skill that the mages known to have mastered it could be counted on one hand.

He was already moving towards the downed woman when Nero addressed him. No one had checked on her properly. There were many times he'd seen messy wounds that people lived through. Other times folk dropped dead from not much at all.

This time it wasn't one of those happy miracles. The elf had struck true. Kneeling by her side he couldn't sense much life left. What he did feel was that subtle heartbeat again.

"She's dead," Raigryn answered quietly as he stood.

 

[Telemachus]

Two Rundals. Great. What cavernous and miserable hell had he wandered into that there were now multiple Rundals? Perhaps Douglas was hallucinating. But there was an evenness in Haley's tone that indicated calm nerves, despite his earlier near-breakdown. Hallucinating, maybe not, but mistaken... Telemachus could only hope.

He did not move as Douglas began rifling through the notes. The apprenticed mentioned foreign magic glimmering on the two foreign academics and Telemachus gave a light snort. "They are wreathed in some sort of illusory spell. I cannot determine the specifics myself, or what they seek to hide with it..."

Not without getting closer to either man; a prospect that was becoming less and less likely. It was not unusual for some Sidereal Elves to wake up every morning and cast minor illusions to conceal blemishes and pimples. Mundane spells like that could last nearly a full day. Telemachus had scarcely stopped to consider whether humans might have engaged in something similar.

Probably not. If the rest of the day's events were any indication, something else was afoot here. The steady heartbeat caught Telemachus' ears again, only now it was slowing. Strange.

Telemachus trailed off, seemingly forgetting about Douglas Haley drifting in the direction of the door the alleged-Rundal had apparently passed through. He attempted to peak inside...

 

[Douglas Haley]

____________________________

Paging through the book, Douglas saw a small illustration of something he had never seen before. It seemed to contain people, some cut open and others bound, while footnotes and captions to each laid still encrypted by the cipher Rundal had seemingly put on. A thumb pressed to his chin, it wasn’t until he heard Telemachus’s footsteps near the doorway that he looked up, cocking a brow;

“Something in there?”

Within, Telemachus would see very little but a single small crystalline heart on a pedestal. Its pulsing was not physical, but he could sense it in every fiber of his being as he came close enough now to see it, as if it was proud to be seen, crying out ‘Witness me.’; even if its pulsations were far calmer than they once were. It sat on a small iron cage, a pedestal to hold up crystals fit just as it was, while its clarity and craftsmanship were on par with the likes of jewelers world renowned in Alliria.

Douglas glanced over Telemachus’s shoulder, taking care to tuck the book into his satchel along with any other goods he could get his hands on. A cock of his mouth, thin lips parting as if for a question before faltering. Silence held him for only a moment before he chimed in, just above a whisper;

“What is that?”

Telemachus​

 

[Telemachus]

"It would seem," Telemachus replied icily, trying to ignore the sounds of Douglas Haley stealing another individual's hard-earned research. Perhaps it was a virtue of Agron Salim to teach his apprentices this sort of behavior, but to thieve the scholarly work of another (while they still lived) was a heinous crime among the Antikathri.

Haley was not his apprentice, however, so Telemachus did not feel it was his business to stop him. That did not mean he wouldn't inform Rundal or Nero of what the apprentice had done as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Still, he peered warily at the pulsating heart. Even from this distance, he could tell the craftsmanship was impressive. What was that doing in a ruin such as this? Was it the object of the other expedition's research? No, it couldn't be. Something pulsing like that would not have lasted this long before scavengers found it. It had to have been brought here.

But to what end?

Telemachus gently opened the door further, nudging it with his staff. "I do not know."

He glanced around in search of the Rundal who had come through this way. Seeing nothing, he ventured inside, moving with the sort of caution one might expect from a person whose primary forms of protection were robes and magic.

 

[Douglas Haley]

__________________________

Douglas hadn’t exactly looked that far ahead, to know what comes when Nero and Rundal, and whoever else was in their party, would ask questions about what exactly had occurred to their notes. In fact, he was more curious as to what the cypher was, and why there was depictions of such gruesome acts; though Telemachus wasn’t likely to know this. Douglas wasn’t in the mood to tell him either, since no trust had been established.

Instead, he glanced around with the elf as they both entered the side passage, nothing but the ‘altar’ before them offering any sort of light. The heart itself seemed to glow, bathing much of the room in a faded pink light that felt cold to the touch. With every step the two took, the temperature seemed to drop five degrees, before standing within arms reach of it they could almost feel the frozen ache of a wasteland in their bones. With a harsh exhale and a shiver, Douglas’s breath became visible in a condensated mass before him.

“Didn’t they say they didn’t find the source of the beating?”, he said as he quietly thought back to Nero’s words on the matter.

“Seems they lied… Only adds to the whole mys-”, he began as he slowly moved to pick it up with a rag.

Just as he began to speak, a familiar voice shot into them from behind, cutting deeper than any of the cold thus far;

“What’re you two doing down here?”, it asked.

As the two turned, Rundal stood with a concerned expression in the doorway, but while his gaze wandered between the two, it eventually settled on the heart now in Douglas’s hand. Going from a soft, somewhat questionable expression, Rundal quickly furrowed his brow and seemed excessively anxious, his voice suddenly matching;

“And why do you have that?”

Telemachus​

 

[Telemachus]

Douglas reached out to grab the heart while Telemachus was still inspecting it. What on earth could the source of this impudence be? Telemachus would use his staff to give the apprentice a sharp smack on the back of the hand - and keep the sticky-fingered apprentice from taking the gem from its perch.

"Do you make a habit of grabbing every stray item you find? Mind yourself." A statement like that might have come out as a hiss from someone else, though from Telemachus it was another drone - dry as the skeletons that littered some areas of Valen. But there was no mistaking his annoyance. "It may be dangerous."

In came Rundal.

Telemachus turned to face Rundal, utterly implacable. He appeared to be staring at Rundal, looking for any discrepancy between the one before them now and the one who had fainted with Nero.

"Explain this object. Now."

 

[Dante di Inverno]

Feelings of anger and embarrassment filtered through the blonde noble. His ice should have been strong enough to contain a measly elf. Instead, the filthy beast had teleported. Outwardly, though, Dante's features remained impassive.

A di Inverno never shows true emotion. To do so is to invite betrayal.

"Why would the elves target her?" Dante asked Nero, ignoring Raigryn Vayd and the fallen woman. "Who was she to your expedition, and what did the elf mean before you killed it?"

Dante honestly didn't care that the woman had died, but he would be damned if he said that out loud. The ursine man before him had shown himself more than capable of exacting swift revenge when angered.

The elf's words, however, gave him pause. It wasn't his expedition that had been attacked. In fact, the elf had been given ample opportunity to enact a scene much similar to this one in the disordered moments following the storm.

What, then, did Nero and his group have to hide?

Extending his magic, Dante slowly began to freeze the blood that had puddled beneath the woman's body. Whether he saw anything would determine his next course of action.

Raigryn Vayd | Telemachus | Douglas Haley

 

[Douglas Haley]

West of Vel Anir, within the temple of Valen...
Cirqa 369

Dungeon Master Post - Dante di Inverno │ Galen │ Telemachus │ Jason │ Kyver │ Sinnata Wynralei │ Alona Hawse │@Tezio Gomst │ Acillio Nazzaro │ Raziel Shirai
____________________________

At Raigryn’s rather obvious statement, the veins in Nero’s face bulged as the white knuckled grip he had on the sword tightened further. Rundal still sat catatonic, but all the life that had drained out of him filled Nero now with an incomprehensible anger that was visible in every facet of his motions. A growl erupted from his bearded maw, speaking to the white haired empath;

“Keen observation, asshole.”

Then the words of Dante, acting as calm and apathetic as ever, which didn’t seem to help Nero’s mood. As he spoke, Nero’s brow furrowed before he pointed the sword towards him as he spoke; not as a threat so much as to emphasize what he was saying, though the danger was obvious considering what he had just done a moment before;

“How am I supposed to know what an insane elf meant before he brutalized Rundal’s sister, huh?”, the massive figure said.

“The elves want us dead, unless you forgot he told you to leave too.”

With that said, mostly through gritted teeth, he turned his attention to Rundal as he tried to lessen what great anger the titan seemed to held. The crimson hue of his face faded as he kneeled down to Rundal, pressing a hand against his face that encompassed more than half of it. He offered soft condolences, calming words that mattered little in the grand scheme.

The blood however held a delay, a moment where any magic that touched it seemed to refuse to have it react. Only a moment later did it begin to freeze, and while the gap between its freezing was minor it was indeed noticeable to a reputable ice mage such as Dante. There was no distinct reason for this, as the heat of the desert was far from where they stood now within the temple.

---

“Explain why you have it. Explain why you aren’t with the rest of the group.”, Rundal fired off a few careless questions as he furrowed a heavy set brow to Telemachus.

Quickly however, he turned back to Douglas, putting a hand out towards him;

“What you hold is very dangerous, and you need to give it to me. You don’t understand what it can do, what it already has done. If you drop it, improperly alter magic around it, you’ll kill each and every one of us-”, he said with an obvious anxiety in his tone.

“Hand it to me. Now.”, Rundal said with more affirmative action than he had ever mustered in tone prior.

“Explain why there are two of you!”, Douglas retorted.

“Give me the heart.”, Rundal repeated.

Douglas, his own grip tightening on the heart, grimaced as he didn’t understand just how serious the situation he was in was. With some desperation, he looked to Telemachus for an answer, knowing full and well that if the elf agreed with the supposed Rundal he would have no chance to oppose the decision. It was the youth of Douglas, the lack of experience, that stuck him now; unsure of where to go from here.​

 

[Dante di Inverno]

Interesting, Dante thought as the blood on the floor momentarily resisted his power.

Aloud he said, "You stated this wasn't the first assassin they've sent, so I would imagine you know much more about the elves' twisted motivations than us."

Returning his attention to the now frozen mess, Dante began to turn over the elf's words. It seemed odd that the being's last statement would center on blood that had soon after demonstrated a resistance to magic. He would need to collect a sample of it before the woman's body was cleared.

"Rundal," he said, crossing the room to address the quivering man and get closer to the body. "It is always a shame when family perishes unexpectedly. I hope your recovery for this tragedy is neither unduly hastened nor insufferably extended."

Upon reaching Rundal, Dante kneeled beside him and Nero.

"If you know anything of these ruins that Nero has not yet told us, I implore you to tell me so we may better work with one another to mitigate the threat these elves pose."

Telemachus | Raigryn Vayd | Douglas Haley

 

[Telemachus]

Telemachus narrowed his eyes. Either this Rundal variant was more assertive than its counterpart, or the artifact Douglas had mindlessly snatched off the pedestal was, indeed, an object of great and terrible power. One that could actually kill them. If only someone had attempted to stop Douglas from picking it up in the first place.

Well, it was never too late to rectify the situation.

"Place it back on the pedestal, Douglas," Telemachus said, staring sharply at the boy. "Now."

If the artifact could be used to kill people, he did not want it in Rundal's hands. But putting it back would at least lessen the odds of Douglas accidentally killing them all.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn seemed frustratingly unperturbed by Nero's anger. He didn't meet the angry man's eye. Nor did he try and draw it from him. There was something strange about the sensation of his anger. He didn't dare try and use that.

"Elves rarely act without reason. Even if that reason isn't apparent. Unless that heartbeat we all sensed is driving them?" he asked.

He watched Dante carefully. There was a different between keeping away fear and acting foolishly. Dante had placed himself close to Nero. Someone who had proved himself to be particularly dangerous. One by one he cycled through the emotional aspects he had stored. Not much for a serious battle. More Misery than anything else after the attack of the wind spirit.

How did this all tie together? Raigryn was a man who took the world as he saw it, but there was something else beneath the surface here.

 

[Douglas Haley]

West of Vel Anir, within the temple of Valen...
Cirqa 369

Dungeon Master Post - Dante di Inverno │ Galen │ Telemachus │ Jason │ Kyver │ Sinnata Wynralei │ Alona Hawse │@Tezio Gomst │ Acillio Nazzaro │ Raziel Shirai
____________________________

“I know nothing more than you do at this point. Damn elves don’t want anyone skulking around the ruins, that’s the extent of it.”; he said with a somber shake of his head, a massive hand resting on Rundal’s forehead as he tried to test his temperature.

As Dante moved forward however, seemingly to speak to Rundal, Nero’s gaze grew piercing and accusatory; knowing already that Dante never seemed to move without intent. His still apathetic nature spoke more to a sociopathic nature than Nero was comfortable with, and yet he did not stop him when he decided to ask Rundal what he knew of the ruins himself. Rundal however, offered little more than an agape mouth, as if he was ready to say something but kept it to himself.

Nero stood, sword still in hand, looking to Raigryn as he spoke;

“No idea. Damn elves are fanatics, looking to bleed anyone who wanders into the ruins.”, he said with a still agitated tone.

“I can give you water, food, whatever you need; but I think it's best you leave. There isn’t a need for more bloodshed. Not for strangers, not before you’ve lost one of your own to their ilk.”

---

Douglas moved to protest, opening his mouth with nothing coming forth. Instead, he clenched his jaw, and set the heart back on the iron cage; already knowing full and well that his hopeless argument would bear no fruit to either this affirmative Rundal, or the ever complacent Telemachus. Instead, he tightened a fist, but did not draw on magic as Rundal has prescribed, as the off chance he spoke the truth was just enough to not risk killing all surrounding the still beating crystalline heart.

“That’s not what I said.”, Rundal offered, magic tearing between them as the same wind magic that had shown itself prior to Telemachus now ripped the heart from its stand and into his hand at an astonishing rate.

As it landed in his hand, Rundal’s perceived anxiety faded, now firmly in the grasp of its de facto owner. Now however, it was replaced by a determination that rivalled what his insecurity had offered only a moment prior, motioning with his free hand to either of them;

“It’s time for both of you to leave.”, he said with a furrowed brow.

“We will but-”, Douglas began before Rundal interrupted;

“Now.”

“-what are you studying here? What is that heart?”

The still beating heart Rundal held had begun to force each heart to follow its pace, but the growing anxiety in the room had caused Douglas’s own to outpace it by far. What was once a steady march was now a scrambled rush; a thousand thoughts passing his own mindset by the moment before Rundal spoke again.

“What don’t you understand about leaving?”, Rundal argued, motioning past him towards the door they had come from prior.​

 

[Telemachus]

"I would have preferred compromise," Telemachus said, and there was the barest hint of exasperation in his voice.

The artifact was causing fluctuations again. Telemachus could feel his own heart stirring in ways it was not supposed to. Fluttering. Why was everything in this place so damnably sensitive to magic? Unless of course, it wasn't. And these manipulations were being caused by Rundal having the artifact. After he took the artifact. Using magic. With no other repercussions.

This was getting tiresome.

Telemachus brought his hand to his mouth and made a fist, as if to cough. But he did not. He belched - and fire spat forth from the other side of his fist. It came forward not like a stream or a ball, nothing that came even close enough to harm Rundal. It hit the ground like thick water, pooling in a puddle. It became hot. Sweltering. Uncomfortably so. Disproportionately so. But Telemachus did not appear phased.

Magic writhed and churned in the air around them, though not from the heart. Not any longer. Power drained from Telemachus' staff. The puddle of fire began to rise, slowly at first, and it worked itself into the vague shape of a man. The room took on an uneasy orange glow. Black spots formed in the humanoid shape now, then hardened. Curiass. Helmet. Bracers. A single, scimitar wicked in design and size. Some sort of Fire Elemental. Mere moments had passed.

The Elemental spoke, and its voice was filled with the sounds of a forest engulfed in flame.

Telemachus answered, "Take the heart."

It lurched towards Rundal, free hand outstretched. Unthinking and undaunted.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn was still struck by the elf's pleas, even when he knew his death was coming. He liked to think that he could spot a lie born of desperation.

"That is a welcome offer. Hopefully my colleagues have found the well and are refilling our supplies now.

"As for the elves, did you ever try and work out why they've tried to keep you out of the ruins?"

His gaze flicked down towards the body. Someone needed to fetch a blanket for it and some sand to clean up before the flies arrived. Raigryn had seen a hundred different ways to treat the deceased, but leaving the bodies out like this whilst they chatted seemed disrespectful.

"Need to bury that elf. And you need to tend to your dead," Raigryn said quietly.

 

[Douglas Haley]

West of Vel Anir, within the temple of Valen...
Cirqa 369

Dungeon Master Post - Dante di Inverno │ Galen │ Telemachus │ Jason │ Kyver │ Sinnata Wynralei │ Alona Hawse │@Tezio Gomst │ Acillio Nazzaro │ Raziel Shirai
____________________________

Telemachus’s threat had drawn the ire of Rundal, at least giving a prefaced warning to the summon he had decided to create. However, before he was able to attempt any sort of magic, the creature had lurched forward and moved to take the heart; though Rundal showed a surprising amount of speed when he backpedaled away from the creature. His steps were deft, almost dance like as a grin moved on his face, and he looked to Telemachus with his cocky expression;

“Couldn’t take me on yourself, could ya? Had to sum-”

CRACK.

The room became engulfed in a blinding white light, momentary thunder shell shocking the group as Rundal attempted to dance away. As vision and hearing returned, faint sparks around the room still jumped between the brickwork, but there was no mistaking who had create the spell. Douglas, arm outstretched with a slightly exasperated breath, stood quiet as lightning jumped between his finger tips. The skill of the Kavosh was evident now, if it hadn’t been prior, but Telemachus would likely notice a slight glow on the back of Douglas’s neck, a runic sigil beginning to glow; as if venting what magical energy Douglas had collected for his spell.

Rundal, not expecting the seemingly excessive lightning bolt had dropped to his knees. Smoke trailed off his collapsed form, but it was obvious he was still alive; but to what degree was hard to discern. What should have been a scarred, burned mess in the wake of the lightning was instead a corpse, straggles of black hair falling infront of its face. An illusion of Rundal flashed infront of it, over and over, before eventually settling back to the way it had prior. He said nothing as the elemental Telemachus had summoned ripped the heart from his grip and moved to hand it back to it’s master.

Eventually, Rundal looked up to Douglas, offering a single word;

“Ow.”, he said, a mixture of annoyance and pain littering his voice, while a small opal necklace danced about his neck.

---

“Ancient ruins hold alot of secrets. Imagine they’re trying to protect ‘em.”, he said, as if he hadn’t already told Raigryn that exact thing. It seemed more passive than his anger had been prior, but Nero didn’t seem to hold onto this hate as long as he should have, but it could easily have been chalked up to adrenaline after a bloodied kill.

Without hesitating, Nero had moved from Rundal to lift the girl, bits of blood staining his shirt as he motioned the group further into the ruins.

“Someone help Rundal. Come with me, we’ll-”, as he said that, a sharp crack, as though an explosion, echoed somewhere far deeper into the ruins. Almost instantly, Nero’s gaze moved to what seemed to be an empty portion of the wall, a sudden anxiety filling his features.

"What was that?", a member of the caravan asked.

Nero didn't answer.​

 

[Telemachus]

Telemachus blinked the stunning light away looking, for once, befuddled and perplexed. But when he saw Agron's apprentice still standing there, faint traces of magic still dancing on the edge of his hand, it made more sense. His normal, pallid expression returned.

"Excellent work, Master Haley," said Telemachus, even as he accepted the heart from the Fire Elemental. He turned the relic over in his hand, examining it carefully. "Block the door."

He hadn't been talking to Douglas. The Elemental slithered around the stunned and now-decaying (or always decaying) Rundal, obstructing the door. Anyone not sufficiently warded would be repelled from the heat, though if Rundal was undead... Well, Telemachus doubted he would be bothered much. It was for such reasons that these Elementals often came with a weapon included.

"I think Douglas had questions for you," Telemachus continued, placing the heart delicately into his satchel. "Answer them to the best of your ability, please."

Telemachus noted the sigil burning on the back of Douglas' neck, but made no comment on it. Rune magic was primitive, but Telemachus could not deny the effectiveness of it in this particular scenario. He liked to think the Elemental would have caught Rundal eventually.

But of course he'd like to think that.

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

His instincts had been screaming at him for some time to draw his sword in the presence of Nero. He had kept them in check in an effort to avoid a threatening appearance. After all, he was no longer the battle mage who had ridden to war with princes and lords. He was a simple scribe with a few tricks up his sleeve.

Taking the opportunity presented he drew his bastard sword and followed Nero's gaze.

"That was magic," he stated. "More elves?" Knowing a little elfish magic he knew that it had not been. In his opinion it was best not to be the subject of Nero's ire if he decided to swing that sword again.

 

[Douglas Haley]

West of Vel Anir, within the temple of Valen...
Cirqa 369

Dungeon Master Post - Dante di Inverno │ Galen │ Telemachus │ Jason │ Kyver │ Sinnata Wynralei │ Alona Hawse │@Tezio Gomst │ Acillio Nazzaro │ Raziel Shirai
____________________________

The suddenly youthful vigor of the facade that was Rundal slowly bent at the knee as he moved to stand, seemingly taking his time before offering any sort of response. The seconds passed, a pat here and a pat there seemed to clean off the illusion he held around him, but the once pragmatic, energetic nature ‘Rundal’ had put on prior was lost in the face of a composed, cold expression that stood as cold as the air around them. Well, prior to the elemental forming, that was.

“I will give you answers on one condition.”, he said as smoothly as he could, his voice modulating from character he had played to something far deeper, almost unbefitting of his scholarly look.

“You give me the heart, and I’ll even consider letting you leave without further issue.”

Douglas slowly nodded, though knew that since he didn’t have the heart his opinion didn’t exactly matter in the span of the conversation. Instead, he took advantage before Telemachus was able to protest, altering the deal;

“Fine. First, what are you?”

“A lich. Was an elf.”, he said with an almost unnatural quickness.

Douglas, almost taken aback, hesitated for a moment before moving to the next;

“What were you studying here?”

Instead of answering, Rundal glanced back to the table behind him to the now vacant location of his book. The cypher had stopped Douglas from understanding what was within it, but Rundal could tell where it had gone simply by connecting their presence to its disappearance, following quick with his answer;

“That book you got should explain it. It-”

Douglas quickly interrupted, “It has a cypher.”

Rundal sighed, but seemingly didn’t miss a beat as he continued, “It doesn’t. I didn’t even write it. Ancient tome, explains the secrets behind the city, won’t be hard to make sense of. You’re a Kavosh, right? Its written in your tongue, ask someone who knows about it.”

“And why was there two of you?”, Douglas said with a bit more exasperation, still trying to take it all in.

“This.”, Rundal said as he pointed to the necklace he wore, “Makes physical clones. The Fascimile, as they call it now. I’ll give it to you, if you, oh I don’t know - give me back the heart.”

Douglas quietly nodded, sighing slightly as a hand moved to touch the book in his own satchel. Rundal however turned now to Telemachus, outreaching a hand;

“Can I have it back, or do you have more questions?”

---

Nero quietly turned back to look at Raigryn, his towering form seeming almost taller by the second off sheer presence and intimidation, even when the man didn’t mean to. A hefty exhale from his nose brushed aside a few stray hairs of his blackened beard, but a shake of his head showed only anxiety;

“It could be. We still have other members of our party deeper in the ruins. Come, we’ll get your supplies as fast as possible, lest there be enough to over run us this time.”

With that, a few of the caravan guards looked nervously between each other before moving with the giant, taking care not to annoy him further. While some certainly felt confident in their ability to take him on, his presence as a whole had forced much of the ‘battle hardened’ in their group to slowly lose what nerve they once had; and it was only becoming more obvious by the moment.

“Damn elves need to give up already.”, he said hoarsely, the begrudged growl of the bear echoing through the hallways they wandered now.​

 

[Dante di Inverno]

Cold eyes watched Rundal's expression as he made as if to speak. Noticing his hesitation, those eyes narrowed, their harshness a stark contrast to the delicate push Dante's senses made against the man's collapsed form. The push yielded answers to questions he hadn't thought to ask. Answers that made his mind prick once more with the elf's final words.

Rundal's body contained no water, which meant he wasn't the human he appeared to be.

Instead, the liquid flowing through him felt similar to that of the corpse on the floor.

It would freeze, but choking the man with his own bodily fluids wouldn't be possible. So much for Dante's plan to get answers.

The blond aristocrat ignored Nero and Raigryn Vayd as he continued his examination, pondering the best course of action to get the answers he wanted. Thus far, conversation between the bear and empath had, for the most part, failed to deviate from their established script. He doubted they would say anything of interest.

Dante's attention fell to the necklace around Rundal's neck, and he recalled the man's near obsession with touching it on their walk over.

He had to get his hands onto it.

As Nero moved behind Dante to pick up the woman's corpse, the temple filled with a sharp crack. The faint, yet acrid scent of burning flesh reached his nostrils a few moments later, bringing long-buried memories of parental discipline to the fore of his mind. Shaking free of the memories, he took the group's momentary distraction and subsequent departure as an opportunity to grab the necklace and frozen "blood" from the floor. He then disappeared down the hallway closest to where he had felt the magic emanate from.

Dante's hope was that Nero's haste in getting the group to follow him would make him blind to missing members.

Beyond caring about the consequences, Dante continued on.

Douglas Haley | Telemachus | Raigryn Vayd

 

[Telemachus]

Telemachus turned the heart over in his hand. Yes, he could get a better feel for it now. The magic this carried was fit for holding souls. A philaktro, his Sidereal peers would have called it. Powerful magic even by their standards. Souls were useful for a variety of things, but not enough troublesome travelers came through the homeland of the Sidereal Elves to make it a worthwhile source of anything.

But instead of a source of power, Rundal seemed to be using it as a keep-safe to somehow prolong his life... Even into undeath. Curious. Such ploys were the work of humans who were desperate to overcome their sub-century lifespan. Most Elves lived long enough on their own that such measures weren't warranted. Had Rundal reached the end of eight centuries and decided he needed more?

Whatever. This was hardly worth concealing. Telemachus did not think highly of those who trafficked with the undead or became such aberrations themselves, if only because it was a path to power that was markedly inefficient. How convenient. But a deal was a deal, and apathy was beginning to gnaw at Telemachus' soul once more.

Rundal's answers were hardly satisfactory. "It's all in the book." He turned the heart in his hand again and inquired of Douglas, "Are you finished, then?"

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn walked close behind Nero. His eyes focused briefly on the spot at the nape of his neck that he would swing for if this was an ambush. It would have to be quick, with the Empath drawing deep from his Joy.

In his experience there was little in this world, magical or otherwise, that couldn't be killed with quality steel.

He hoped it wouldn't come to that. The situation had spiralled out of control and they hadn't been afforded time to take stock and work out what was really at play here.

 

[Telemachus]

Silence, cold and complete, was all Telemachus received from Douglas Haley. Telemachus decided to take this as the lad was truly done and finished with all that had transpired. Fine then. Telemachus had no questions, but he did want the Facsimile. It sounded quite useful.

"I suppose the boy is tired. Very well. Give the necklace to the Elemental and I shall return your precious bauble."

For something that acted as the key to his immortality, Rundall had not taken good care of his heart. Part of Telemachus wanted to make this a teaching moment for the Lich. The other part argued that if Rundall was a Lich, and former Elf, of considerable age who had already not known how to safeguard his property... Well, nothing could teach him now.

Rundall obeyed, wretched creature he was. The Elemental traded the Facsimile for the Heart and gave it back to Rundall. Telemachus liked to keep his word as often as possible, if only because deception and betrayal was such an elaborate and time-consuming undertaking. This was easier.

Telemachus felt the cold chain of the necklace between his fingers as he examined the opal crystal. It pulsed with magic, and in the reflection of the gem he could see only Rundall's vague and unsightly true visage. There would likely be some sort of ritual to re-attune the necklace. Something to see to later.

"Fascinating," said Telemachus, and placed the necklace within his satchel. "We will be leaving now."

---
​

It was only a short walk later that Telemachus, with or without Douglas in tow, rejoined the group. Perhaps someone had noticed he had gone. Perhaps not. Telemachus wordlessly fell in line behind the rest of the group as Nero continued to lead them to the area they might refresh their supplies.

Dante di Inverno | Raigryn Vayd | Galen​

 

[Dante di Inverno]

As Dante continued down the hallway, he heard some familiar voices.

One was of the elf he had attempted to antagonize in the stifling confines of their wagons. The other was of Rundal, whom he had left behind mere moments ago.

Long-buried memories rose to the forefront of the mage's mind once more, this time of hours spent within the library of his ancestral home. One of the tomes within that library had spoken of creatures in possession of longevity far greater than even the elves. Those creatures, in some cases, also possessed the ability to create copies of themselves -- a ruse, of sorts, that served as both protection from assassins and an easy means of accomplishing tasks.

If the annoyingly chipper man was truly one of these creatures, it would make sense of the oddities they had been faced with thus far.

Moments later, Dante rounded a corner and came face-to-face with Douglas Haley and Telemachus, followed closely behind by an elemental.

"Getting into some trouble?" he asked, quirking a perfectly manicured brow and falling in beside the pair as they strode back the way he had come. "Next time, I expect an invitation."

Raigryn Vayd | Galen