---Shantari
In a small tavern on the outskirts of a tucked away country town sat, in his (permanently) rented room, Irissil Yana sat reading a leather bound book titled "Death From Above". It was his favourite and he had read it many times before, but literature was very scarce around town and he coveted what little brilliant texts he had as if they were fragments of the holy grail. In the corner of the room a small enchanted orb with a small hole drilled down the center was playing a calming tune with a continuous rhythm of four beats. The almost hypnotic tune kept his reading pace steady.
Yana settled the book down on his desk and leaned back on his chair until it tilted towards his drinks cabernet. Slipping it open, he pulled out a smooth, black leather covered box from inside. The catch clicked as he flipped it open and withdrew a circular package. He grabbed a mug from atop the cabernet and placed it on his desk. Ripping the package open, he spoke with a delicate accent, "The circle must be broken.." Before proceeding to pour the contents into the mug. A small pipe of hot water leading down from the ceiling ended with a tap on the right of the room. He walked over to it and filled the mug with water. Slowly drinking the hot liquid, "A lovely cup of tea..". He places the mug down and turns to his door at the sound of four knocks on the thin wood. Walking over, he extends a hand to twist the knob and open the door.
---Garg
Garth had his favourite hat pulled down low to cover his face, and the collar of his cloak upturned. It was a bitingly cold outside. He hadn't been outside long, probably only five minutes, but he had travelled twenty miles. Magic worked like that sometimes. He had then come to visit an old friend, someone you didn't want to ask a favour of--which was exactly why Garth was here. He stepped towards the door, knocked.
ta ta ta, ta
He wasn't really sure why he had added the additional knock, it confused him for a moment, then he remember how cold it was. He was probably shivering. The door opened and Garth stepped in without much of a word, the door closed behind him, it was warmer now. He looked at the man standing by the door.
"Perhaps you comprehend why I am here before I explain my visit, forgive me on the chance you don't, sporadically you can predict the reason for my visit... ... Oh, I'm quite sorry, It is good to see you again."
---Shantari
Yana is brushed aside as Garth steams into the room. He mutters to himself, "No please.. do come in..". Sliding the door shut, he turns to talk to Garth.
"I would say the same.." He starts babbling to himself and scratching the back of his head, "WELL.. I might do.. if I did I wouldn't mean it." He coughs and turns his attention back to Garth. Taking on a more serious tone he looks at Garth suspiciously, "I thought you died when your spells were absorbed by the jaws of the nightmare child... I would say it's impossible for you to be here, but I suppose it's just a little unlikely seen as you ARE here.."
Picking up his tea he takes a sip and sits down in his chair, "As for your reasons of being here, a prediction is highly unlikely at this point. I'm not much of a guessing man and.. well.. I can't be bothered to be perfectly honest. So how about you just tell me while I sit here and look interested... okay?" He sips his tea again and puts on a fake smile.
---Garg
Garth leans on a wall near Yana, eyeing the tea while he gathered his thoughts. He could use a cup of tea. Especially some Coursh White with honey.
"Short story, bad things are happening."
Garth attempts to gauge Yana's reaction--without success.
"Long story, Illithid sightings have tripled in the past month, I personally saw a Kraken recently but had dismissed it as happen stance. Then... remember that construct I kept locked up in my manor? Under tight security and binding enchantments. Let's not get into how it is not supposed to move in the first place and nobody alive except you and I know about it... it got out. I was sitting in that room reading, and it started moving, broke through it's bindings right in front of me. I couldn't stop it. That was Gelth's construct."
He paused a moment looked around, he waited for it to sink in.
"Former Lord Gelth of Devil ancestry. That one. We killed him during the Second Invasion."
Forget tea, he needed some wine.
---Shantari
Yana simply sits and stirs his tea for a while, taking in the message. Rather than taking his usual cool demeanor, Garth appears to be stressed. Then, he has good reason to be, Gelth was too powerful for his own good... If his construct still retains life force... This is bad.
"And you're sure it was moving on it's own behalf? No reanimation or remote control?" He starts to become distressed himself and a small bead of sweat forms on his brow. Grabbing a couple of glasses from a draw in his desk, he reaches into his coat. He opens his pocket and pulls out a small bottle of fine elven spirit before filling the glasses.
"So what can we do?"
---Garg
Garth took one of the glasses, he stared at it for a few moments... longer than a few moments... too long now.
His thoughts scrambled for an answer, but nothing he could think of fit. His gaze wandered around the room, and then fell onto a split in the floorboards. For a second or two it looked as if he would speak...
...
Garth snorted.
"I suppose we put our faith in civilisation's ability to survive--no matter that darkest hour."
He drank the contents of the glass. Red liquid clung to the hairs around his lips, Garth wiped them off with the back of his hand.
"Death be ignored, that's what we did last time."
Garth pushed himself from the wall and turned for the door. He had one hand on his spellbook and the other on the doorknob. Without turning, Garth added.
"I, for one, foresee the need for superior tea if we intend to look those Illithids in the face while we dispatch them."
He stops a beat.
"Come along if you have enough motivation in that dry husk of yours."
---Shantari
After checking the time on a small fobwatch hanging from his vest pocket, Yana raises an eyebrow at the last comment before raising his mug of tea, carrying it over to the window and emptying the contents outside.
"You have such damned timing, turning up just as I have prepared my afternoon tea. And I am not a 'dry husk'. Just because some of us want to enjoy the finer things in life inbetween arcane wars and fighting demons."
He tidies his room a little before waving a hand to stop the music player in the corner. He starts cramming a tonne of papers and books.. and tea, seemingly all into one pocket. He continued on to throw a large cloak over his back and put more items of clothing in his other pocket. With the room looking distinctly tidier than beforehand, he turned to Garth and grins.
"Right then, we better be off. Alonzi."
He waits for Garth to open the door and quietly, while behind him, pulls the feather from his hat and puts it in his bin.
---Garg
Garth opened his spellbook and began reciting a bookmarked spell out loud. He had begun to walk outside towards the prepared pentagram in the snow. He reached out for Yana and lightly grasped his forearm, then stepped into a pentagram.
It smelled of pine needles, of course it always did. The darkness wasn't new either. Void, or rather, Garth's section of the void, it was rather complicated. They would be leaving it soon. Right then, actually.
A wave crashed against the high rocky cliff, spraying mist on Garth's face. It appeared to be before noon here. Long distance travelling was always quite strange, how the time passed or didn't.
Garth pointed at a dock in the distance, it looked to be about a mile off. He began walking.
---Shantari
Yana frowned as they landed on the rock. He was wearing his favourite cloak and it had just been sprayed with some disgustingly polluted sea water. More to the point, Garth was making it clear that he wanted to be somewhere ATLEAST a mile away from their current position.
"Why did you not just teleport us directly into the town?"
With a quick flick of his hand Yana created a shield with just enough density to keep the water fro splashing him as he walked along.
"And why are we here anyway? I'm all for a holiday by the seaside but I don't think we'll find much here other than some saltwater fish and broken boats."
---Garg
"Heh, didn't want to appear inside a wall or person or anything... I haven't been here in ten years."
He pointed out towards the coast, "There are Illithid out there..." a flick of the wrist at a dark spot on an island, "Heavily populated too."
The town was getting closer, Garth pulled his cloak tight and turned off the path, cutting through the grass, toward an old house by the water. The door to this shack was marked with four black circles, one slightly removed from the others.
(ta ta ta, ta)
He reached out and opened the door, inside was a small dry dock, various supplies, and a black hooded man.
(I am not human. I am not like you.)
Garth nodded at the man, who went about lowering a small row boat into the water. When he was done he took an oar and faced Garth again.
(A glimpse of something, glistening, where its mouth should be.)
"Thank you for arranging this for us." They got into the boat and the black hooded man began untying the mooring rope.
Subject: Journey's End 
Tue Dec 29, 2009 4:06 am