On the Shores of Despair

[Zarae Zyne Kilanatlar]

a bit more self-conscience than the average, Zarae let her long hair float around her for an inconspicuous cover. the light reflect off the silver streaks. She had never participate in public baths or such, so it was a slight bit awkward.
"nice and big enough to jump in! of course bubbling would be fun. I never had a tub this big. Matron Mother did. it reminds me of the surface lakes, well, ones jailed up i suppose. the soaps smell good, like those petaled plants, flowers I think, especailly that one," pointing to a chamomile scented one.
"So who won? not that any agreed on betting..." she joked.

[Adian Novar]

Adian looked up at her from the water. He'd removed his headband, and she sould see four small silvery marks in a line on his forehead, as though someone had touched him with fingers dipped in silver paint.

"Zazzt," he said after a moment. "He was holding back. He outstrips me in age and experience, so he was scarcely winded."

He slid into the water.

"Ahhh..." he said. "The first warm bath since I struck the road. Once again Zazzt continues to surprise. One would think one could get used to it by now."

[Zarae Zyne Kilanatlar]

"I reckon its good i never got in that practice. It seams most of yall have me beat in years of experience and age. but i can hold my own, thanks to our weaponmaster. So how do you know Zazzt? whats your story. i mean you mentioned some of it in Bitterleaf, but are you originally from the promenade and such? whats it like? when I arrive on the surface it was a glade in a forest."

[Ra'Sona Races-The-Wind]

Lyon and Frad squabbled about Lyon's infatuation, Frad speaking in dwarfish and Lyon responding in the same, trying to defend his position.

"Cinder?" She held out a hand, offering to help with the arrows if she was allowed and trusted to do so. "Tell me about your home? I've heard it's a paradise unlike any other, is it really all it's said to be?"

[CinderSuru]

~Cinder hands an arrow and stone to Pwdn she pulled from her hide bag with a smile~

" Home is beautiful indeed I love the mountain were I had spent most of my time in my grandmother manor estate where she keeps her herds of Caribou and Horses." Cinder described her mountain home. " I delight in hunting and gathering in the woods most of all, the mountain rivers are clear and clean. I gather berries and mushrooms of many sorts and some basic herbs for medicines."



(( I am still trying to learn as much about the area as i can so I am keeping it general at this time. if anyone can offer me any sources to study, I am trying to get a hold of some books but I live kind of isolated in the mountain for real in BC. ))

[Adian Novar]

Adian laughed.

"Where to begin?" he asked. "I and six other children were led by the Dark Maiden to the Promenade when we were very small. We were raised more or less collectively by the priestesses there...one of the holiest places in the world for Eilistraee.

"It is a wonderful place, if a bit hazardous. The Promenade is located in Undermountain at a site where Lady Veladorn destroyed an avatar of slime. The people there are kind and generous, and there are many teachers of many different fields. The Evensong echoes through the tunnels in places where it can last for half a day sometimes, and there are many strong personalities who were a delight to gow up with.

"As much as my mothers would have preferred I remain in the Promenade, I felt drawn to the surface. Like...there was something I had to do. I was given a simple assignment where I met Zazzt and learned many things. Now I seek to learn even more. This is my second Run, and I felt an odd pull to the north. Perhaps this is what I was called here for.

"As I did for my first Run, I got a lot of advice," he said. "Including warnings about the cold and this strange ice called 'snow'. Even that did not prepare me for the real thing, though. The surface world is an amazing place, and I look forward to seeing more.

"And that is more or less my story," he said. "Short and boring, I'm afraid."

He had left out a detail, though...the mark on his forehead.

[NathreeDe'Shezbron]

"Aye, and a good thing it is you have traveled out here." Zazzt's voice said from the doorway. There was a faint shimmer there, evident of a scrying, "I was beginning to wonder if I would have the pleasure of crossing swords with you again." The shimmer opened into a portal, conecting Zazzt's bathroom with Adian's and Zarae's. Zazzt was fully clothed in his "new" clothes, and his hair glistened with moisture from his recent bath. He walked over to the tub and sat down on the rim, turning his back on the two bathing. However, where he sat, the bath seemed to pass through his clothes, an obvious illusion. "And in my long years upon this world, I have found that no one's story is as boring as they would have us believe. That village, for example, was an interesting marker of our journey."

[Zarae Zyne Kilanatlar]

Zarae listened to his story. "what a life to live in the most holiest spots of the Dark Maiden. I dont know much about the goddess, as i am sorta new to this. so my history and stories are a bit messed up. I have heard of Veladorn in passing in the rebel house. Most drow who turn to the Lady are drawn to the surface? I came here due to Lith MyAthlar's war with the neighboring city. But I have always wanted to see the surface world, even before my house's destruction. the tomes I read, I couldnt get enough. so I hope to find all those things in them and more."
She splashed a little, getting her arms from being tangled in her long hair. She heard Zazzt and 'saw' him show up.
"well, when I am as old as yall, I might can say that. but as I look back thru the 2 decades (she's 18, a child techinacally), I see nothing of interest for stories.

[NathreeDe'Shezbron]

Zazzt whirled at that, "You are only two decades old? Either you are extremely gifted, or extremely foolish. My studies took me neigh 3 centuries to complete, and you have shed your master so soon?" He grinned, "Am I to be your next teacher?"

[Adian Novar]

Adian also looked startled. [i:1m2rdnzc]Two decades?[/i:1m2rdnzc] She hardly looked it.

"Most are drawn to the surface," Adian said. "It is our ancestral home, after all. Some chose to remain below to help others seeking to escape the Spider Queen and her fellow atrocities. Lady Veladorn, and those with her, are charged with guarding the Promenade against a return of the Lord of Slime. A great deal of time is spent rebuilding bridges between ourselves and our surface kin."

He glanced at Zazzt.

"Accept him as your teacher only if you want to end up talking to the walls or talking in sly formalities."

[NathreeDe'Shezbron]

Zazzt glanced innocently at the nearest wall, "When have I spoken to a wall? And sly formalities are nothing more than common courtesy back in my day. And besides, need I smack you around again? Lady Quikue has taught me much about the true nature of magic... If only I could get Elminster as a master, oh but wouldn't that be grand?"

[Zarae Zyne Kilanatlar]

((no she's not stupid, she's a bit naive of the surface world. and not paying attention in classes didnt help either. so many of the famous she has only heard in passing kinda thing. She's has better reasoning/logic skills.))

She saw their look at her, tho not too surprised. She had a long debate with a few of the Ladies of the glade about traveling alone. But she hadnt really been alone. She had Shade, a spider companion who followed Lurue, Lady of the Talking Beast. with the northern weather she hadnt called her in awhile.
"foolish is most likely," she laughed. "but I didnt shed my teachers. my eldest brother the house wizard taught me some of the arcane and I learn swordcraft from the weaponmaster. but had I been sent to the priestess academy, I surly would have 'shed' them. I hated that boring stuff with our weanmother. so me and my twin brother spent much of those classes trying to devise ways to escape," she chuckled. "I was forced out, so to say. But when ones House is destroyed or war comes to your city, it tends to move one around. I met many of those who have stayed. they were the rebel group who took me in. My sister Alylin was supose to be hunting the base, but as far as I know, I found it and she never did. ironies."
She laughed at Adian's wall comment and Zazzt response.
"why would following this Elminster be grand? Is he of the promenade also? He sounds vaguely familiar. The tomes I read of the surface were mostly journal accounts however."

[Adian Novar]

"Elminster?" Adian asked. "You aim too high, my friend."

He'd glimpsed the famed sage once, when he was small, when the old man had come to speak with Qilue on some matter and he was shooed from the room. He had never seen such an old person before--not even the eldest of elves he had ever seen looked as wrinkled and craggy as the human sage had. In his young eyes, Elminster had seemed positively [i:1lnla5nn]ancient[/i:1lnla5nn].

And so it had astonished him when he had learned that humans rarely reached so much as a century. Except for Elminster...whom he learned seemed to be the exception to every rule.

[Ra'Sona Races-The-Wind]

((Pwdn met Elminster once, right at the beginning of her story. He told her she was a silly little girl.))

"I should love to see it some day, if my travels take me there." Pwdn accepted the arrow and ran her fingers over it, pinching the head at its' base and drawing her fingers to the tip. The metal seemed to respond slowly, eventually taking a mirrored gleam. "I remember almost nothing of my first home other than the house, the rooms with so many different books and scrolls, and the study door that was locked and warded at all times. I spent the greatest deal of time in Waterdeep at the Ilmaterian temple there. A beautiful place as any in its' own wah, though many wouldn't agree. Some streets the sky is almost hidden, a small strip of light the width on a needle held in your hand, but the lights are always lit and every day the walls are daubed with something new, poetic or offensive, almost like they're alive and trying to speak. Once I. . . well, once I matured I studied the genius loci and wrote of the walls in the slums being possibly a larval stage of such a thing. Then the temple district itself; so many styles and materials all competing for the highest grandeur. There was a statue to Helm that became a statue to Talos that became a statue to Ao, only for a very short while, that then was a wizard's tower and finally fell into ruin, all in the space of a year. The temples spread an seem to grow like trees, annexes and minarets and halls appearing and extending to jostle for the greatest voice among the throng. The market district was always my favourite, I stole from there endlessly as a child and later worked to repay my crimes for those who remained once I understood my error. I sold tailor's cloth the best, I always spend time keeping it gleaming and free from the dust and dirt with which the merchant's quarter is forever filled. I best enjoyed selling the candies, many children came to stare and asked me why I looked like I do, and all were delighted when I told them. If I did well, I was allowed to take a little of the candies back with me to the temple, though it wasn't as easy as selling the reams of cloth." Pwdn passed back the arrowhead then, refined to a perfectly mirrored finish. A semicircle was etched just below the tip on one side as a smith might stamp his mark on his work. "I learned to make keen blades like this there, at an armoury stall. He never made his own, but bought and repaired used blades to be reused and sold at a greater price. I left him early however, when he killed another man in a drunken fight while I watched the stall. He was not found guilty of murder and I do not know if he was defending himself, but he left a widow without means and refused my requests to aid her and so I took my leave." Retrieving another arrow, she continued to help as she could with the care of them. "The richer parts of town never held my interest, in passing they were grand and beautiful but the houses were static and the people uniform. There was no bustle or rhythm there, and none of the musicians and performers hired to fill the void ever managed to do so. I suppose it sounds strange that I should prefer the filth and destitution of the slums to the clipped trees and clipped people of grander areas? Maybe if I was not what I am the slums would disgust me, but I think not; The temple place and the slums, and the mass of bodies pressed into the markets like too much luggage in a travel case all had a beauty in the life and vitality they showed. I can only tell you of one house in the richer parts of the city. It was bare of wallpaper or paintings and the windows were shuttered, but the inside was a garden unlike any I have known. willow trees and a stream laid into the floor, and magical lights from the ceiling in every room to give the trees light. I was sent to help the owner recover from a terrible madness, his family's fortune had been squandered on this 'abomination' of a forest inside a house, but when I gained his trust he admitted that is was simply desperation for something he'd lost to himself. As a young man he'd once lay with a willow dryad, loved her, and then spurned her for a family who demanded obedience. Old and wiser, seeing his end approach, he wished to see her again and beg forgiveness and so brought wilderness to the most lifeless part of a city, hoping that this might create balance enough for him to find another and plead for them to find the one he'd wronged." Pwdn passed back a second mirrored arrow and took a third, continuing her story. "I refused to dissuade him, and gave him my protection and the blessing of the temple to continue to seek absolution. The house was burned to the ground later, the garden lost and the remains valued in gold and paid as insurance to his children, but there was no body found. A willow tree had grown in his bed however, with no soil or water in which to root, though it too was lost in the fire; I saw no need to tell what I knew to his family who were never convicted of ordering the fire. They didn't need the pain of knowing what they'd done, and Sir Wilbur had found what he had searched for after all before he died and had surely been forgiven." Another arrow passed back, and then she stood to look for water, having become thirsty again. "It's not much of a story, I know, but it's one of the few I have really worth the telling. Others are less pleasant, few natural places are nearly as unforgiving as Waterdeep to those who live there."

[Ra'Sona Races-The-Wind]

((Wow, big post! >.>;; ))