Mending a shattered mind

[Dal'Lumen]

Resplendent wood, 2

The day was still young, the sun was assuming his highest point when Dal'Lumen stepped outside the manse he had stayed in that night. the meeting with the others had taken most of the morning but there would still be time to reach Tari and Roaring wave to attempt to commune with his patron god, the unconquered sun.

Breathing in the new day, as he passed over the place he had fought Quie-Ra the night before, he began twisting and extending his extremities, starting from feet and ending by rolling his neck finally shaking out any other kinks. When he was done loosening up he paused a moment and closed his eyes, only to moments later open them and burst into a run in the direction of the market he had met the two merchants he was on his way to help.

As Dal darted through the bustling streets, in his usual nimble manner, he concentrated his thoughts on readying himself for whatever may come.

He would soon arrive at his destination where he would be expected to have some sort of answer for Tari and Roaring wave... but the gnawing worry that he might not be able to gain the attention of the Sun. Having tried several times on his journey before he reached Imperveress, asking the Unconquered sun for guidance, seemed only an exercise in futility.

"I have come to this place as you wished me to, now I have something to ask of you..."

His eyes narrowed, and he continued running through the streets of Beziar.

[Dal'Lumen]

Resplendent wood, 2

The day had become later now, it was now well into the late afternoon, several hours after he had left the Manse, and the suns light cast a golden glow over all things below, as it was before the evening and sunset.

Dal, rounded a corner onto the street where he had been stumbled upon by Stone Cricket, and inadvertently met the two merchants, Tari , and Roaring Wave. A Confident countenance, and calm steady stride marked his preparedness as he slowed to a walk near the entrance to the couples shop.

He reached up and knocked on the top of the door frame, being that it was just above his head level, appearing to have been constructed for people of smaller stature, westerners like him, who's fathers happened not to be giant easterners like his had been.

*boom boom* He peered into the dark opening of the shop, unable to see anything other than shadows before his eyes adjusted from being under the intense light of the sun.

"Hello!? Roaring Wave, Its Dal'Lumen, I'm back and I can help Tari!"

Dal leaned on his hand against the doorway, waiting for any sort of reply from the depths of the structure, he didn't want to just walk in, should this be their private residence as well.

[Ress]

Resplendent wood, 2

* The door opened inward in a quick jerking motion, revealing Roaring Wave, a hopeful, yet worried expression plastered upon his face. Without thinking, he grabbed Dal's arm and pulled him inside, almost dragging him within his shop and all the way into the back, where they lived*

" Tari is in here! her condition has become worse!"

* He kicked open the door from the shop to his home, not wanting to waste time turning the knob. After briefly passing through a living room, he kicked open another door, this one leading to their bedroom, of which strange screams were coming from.

When the door opened, Dal would see Tari, drenched in sweat and writhing in her bead, screaming and laughing all at the same time, all the while streams of sweat coming down her face... but this all paled in comparison to what else was happening... upon the walls and on the blanket of their bed... strange blue crystals were growing and blooming like swift growing flowers. By now, the broad western wall was covered in them, and was threatening to engulf the northern and southern wall, and the crystals on the bed were growing down onto the ground*

"Please! She is bewitched! Help her Sun-King!"

* he let go of Dal's arm and pointed at his wife, Tari*

[Dal'Lumen]

Dal was understandably startled by the act of being towed straight through the shop and into the back room so suddenly. Taking a moment to get his wits about him and figure out what was going on he shook his head and strode over to the bed where Tari flailed in her madness.

"Ohh that can't be good, this is bad, very bad!" *Dal gathered himself and leaned over Tari taking care not to come in contact with the crystals.*" Ahhem, Right well... here we go!"

Dal closed his eyes and raised face and his open hands up to the sky, as if to receive some sort of treasure offered down by the heavens. His closed eyes scrunched as he concentrated and tried to reach out to The Unconquered Sun for help. His tremendous voice grew to raise above the cacophony of Taris maddened shrieks and laughter, and it boomed around the small room impressively.

"Hear me, I beg of you, I you're humble servant call to you, The Unconquered Sun! I ask only that you save this woman from what threatens to destroy her, she is Ridden, and madness consumes her mind!"

Dal paused a moment waiting for some sort of obvious sign of divine
power, he opened one squinted eye and looked around the room hoping for something, anything.

*Sigh*"Look, I know we haven't exactly spoken since... well, you know... the first time. But that wasn't for lack of trying, and I came to the place you guided me to, I'm trying to help them, I want to help them with every fiber of my existence! So if you could... help me out here I'm kinda in a bind!

His last sentence was under his breath in a worried, but hopeful whisper which was quickly overwhelmed by the other powerful sounds currently in the room.

(5 total successes at diff 4)

[Ress]

Resplendent wood, 2

[glow=yellow,2,300]* A golden ray of light shot from the celing, to Dal's hands, then onto the face of Tari.
Almost al at once, her thrashing stopped as did her sweating. She began breathing calmly as her face began to change... losing its sickly pallor and returning her to her normal ( App:3) Self. Slowly, the light receded, from Tari's face... then back to the celing where it faded away... leaving Dal with a phrase in his head... in the unmistakable voice of the Unconquered Sun.

"Simply because you can not hear my voice, does not mean I am not speaking to you through other means, my child.... Fear not"

When the voice left him.. Dal would notice that quickly working its way out of Tari's forehead, was what looked like a half a blue, polished crystal heart.

It seemed not to hurt her, and when it exited completely, the skin closed immediately behind it* [/glow]

[Dal'Lumen]

Resplendent Wood, 2

When the light had left, Dal was left there, eyes wide open and mouth a gape; he panted heavily as if he had just run a marathon. Hands still up above him, palms to the sky he looked up and all at once he fell to his knees, causing the crystals at his feet to crunch and crackle loudly. The look on his face could have been read by anyone that saw it, it was awe... it was true reverence.

"Miraculous... I... I will not fear, thank you, thank you..." *he whispered in an exasperated voice*

Dal'Lumen rolled his head over to look at Roaring Wave and smiled wearily.

"All is well, my friend... Come to her."

Bringing himself to his feet, he slowly reached down with a cloth pouch he had extracted from his belt line in his hand to cautiously scoop up the little blue crystal. The crystal was of an unknown origin and he felt that it should be considered dangerous until proven otherwise, so he held it there the cloth between his hand and it as if he were handling a very hot object as he slowly brought it up to observe in the light.
Squinting at the crystalline mystery suspiciously, and looked back over to Roaring Wave, and then down to Tari, wondering if she would open her eyes.

[Ress]

Resplendent wood, 2

* The Western woman slowly sat up. She opened her pink eyes and blinked twice, allowing her eyes to focus, but was still in a daze from the ordeal*

* Roaring wave lept forward, wrapping his arms around Tari as he knelt at the side of their bed, shaking her a bit in his excitement... causing her to become confused.

Roaring Wave soon let go of Tari and looked eye to eye with Dal, smiling a lopsided smile common of sailors in the west, then gave him a bow as he did before*

" You did exactly as you said, Prince. You were truer to your word than I could have imagined.. and you saved my wife. You are welcome here whenever you please, and any fish you might desire are yours... and anything else you might want... just ask and it is yours!... I swear! Anything... simply ask it and it's done!"

* It was obvious that this sailor was grateful, and held an honor that was found mostly in the south west, perhaps Abalone*

"... Oh! There was something you wanted, wasn't there? well dont be shy, ask! Please Ask!"

* The crystals that were still blooming crumbled at the slightest touch, becoming a very fine powder... but those that had gone through their cycle were now rock hard spires which seemed to shimmer with a light blue inner light, but from Roaring Wave's brushed with them, they seemed to be harmless*

(Intelligence+Occult Diff:2 to notice the inner magics of the once growing crystals)

[Dal'Lumen]

Resplendent Wood, 2

Dal'Lumen looked back at Roaring Wave, sporting a big grin.

"well, I need to know what Tari saw, and how she got like this, I feel that information revolves around the case of the Emperor."

He held the small blue half heart out on his silk covered hand and nodded towards it quickly.

"Have you ever seen this before?"

[Ress]

Resplendent wood, 2

* Tari looked at Dal, then at the thing he held out for her to take a look at. her face scrunched up for a moment... then, without thinking, reached out and touched it with her index finger.

Nothing seemed to happen when she did.. she simply pulled it back and shook her head to Dal*

" No, I have never seen anything like this before in my life, Sun King.

But you wanted to know what I saw on the day of the attack?... then I will tell you exactly what I saw.

My husband, roaring wave, and I decided to take a visit to the other cities of Imperveress... and returning from Kideshin, we took the opportunity to visit the Imperial Manse.

That is when I felt a soft gust of wind, then a migrane headache that sent me falling to the ground.

When I returned to focus, I saw the Emperor with his bow in hand, firing shimmering arrows out to what I assumed to be an enemy... but later discovered..."

* Roaring Wave placed his hands on either of Tari's shoulders and shook slightly, as if to shake out any more blue crystal, should there still be any within her*

" We have no right to accusations like that Tari! For all we know, Emperor Ress was planting us peach orchards so we can be overrun with pies and jams!.... I didn't give up on you, you should have more faith in our Emperor..."

* Roaring Wave Let go of Tari, sighing as he stepped back, crushing a once growing crystal flower into dust under his boot*

* Tari looked unphased as she was shook by Roaring Wave, then shrugged as he backed off*

" I know what I saw. I wish it were different, but it wasn't"

[Dal'Lumen]

Resplendent Wood, 2

Dal's eyes widened as Tari reached out for the crystal, but he did not pull it away from her, but simply watched cautiously... just in case. When nothing happened he sighed gently, relieved that it could be less dangerous than he had suspected, at least, not to Tari anymore.

When Tari mentioned she felt a gust of wind just before Ress was seen firing his arrows, a light went on in Dal's head.

"A gust of wind... this was on the day of the attacks, you didn't notice the Earth Elemental dragon, Quar-Zagot being in the area did you, or perhaps did you notice anything else, smells, or sounds? "

Could it be, could the clouds of sand Quar-Zagot had kicked up on Ress' orders been to mark something as invisible as wind, was it just as he had suspected?

[Ress]

Resplendent wood, 2

*Tari thought for a moment, then nodded slightly to Dal*

" Yes... it was weird, I did smell something. It was like... dry dirt. And my whole body felt like quill fish were rubbing against me... and a sensation like... nothing I did mattered?... like I was a puppet and someone was pulling my strings.... but that did not last... it left as soon as I fell over... then saw Ress shooting in this direction"

" you know.... I felt that eact same sensation... just before you fell over. Quills, puppet and everything! It felt like someone was channaling large ammounts of essence in the direction of Aranea... but the Empress was not there... and it did not feel like a Moonlord's essence either"

[Dal'Lumen]

Resplendent Wood, 2

Dal Grinned, and pinched his chin, as he often did when something was dancing through his mind. That deffinently confirmed the preasence of something powerful, the dust cloud theory, and yet another eye witness to Ress using his bow on the 22nd day the wood was ascending.

Dal looked to Tari and then over to Roaring wave, and chuckled as he shook a finger in the direction of the Central Manse.

"This is good information, perhaps even enough to get closer than we have ever been to revealing a suspect or infulence in the Ress case. Thank you my friends, we may just find the answers we need yet!"

Dal's gaze fell down to the solid crystal formations on the floor and squinted at them apraisingly. These crystals may be evidence of that influence in some way, and it would probably be wise to gather a sample for the others to see... just then a silvery light flooded the room and there was the Empress staring back at him.

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Resplendent Wood, 2


*Almost as though the mention of her name called the Empress, a shaft of silver light appeared in the room next to the group of people as they spoke. It defined quickly into the voluptuous shape of Arachnia, the shading of her eyes from the altered color of light resulted in a blazing silver gaze as she looked around the room, a smile curling the corners of her lips. Her voice rang out like a song as she made an observation*

It looks as though someone is redecorating..

*the Empress giggled to herself and looked directly at each face of the trio she had interrupted*

I hope I'm not intruding on something... private

[Dal'Lumen]

Resplendent wood, 2

Dal Stood there, slightly taken off gaurd by the suddeness of her apperence. She had after all wanted to hear from him as soon as he learned more, but she had arrived nearly immediatly after he had. The convenience of the Empress' timing was ironic enough to leave Dal chuckling as he offered up a welcoming bow to Arachnia.

"Well, I suppose your timing is quite good on the contrary! I was successful in releiving Tari *he indicated to the woman on the bed with a nod of his head* of her burden." Dal Grinned happily, before he continued he bent down to observe the Crystal formations more closely. "So what is it that I can do for you Empress?"

*Dal slowly ran his fingers up the length of one of the crystal spires*

"Perhaps if you have a moment you can tell me what you think of these..."

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Resplendent Wood, 2

Of course you were, Golden Bull. Good afternoon...? I do apologize, I'm afraid that I have never had the pleasure of meeting either of you...

*Arachnia smiled at the room full of shocked people, the way she spoke "pleasure" leaving an almost tangible tingle on the ears. That was often times an entertaining effect on people, though usually the hushed silence she brought was for another reason. Her eyes danced as she remembered the old days of her life. Dal'Lumen's question brought her out of her reverie and the Empress knelt down to examine the crystals more closely. After a few moments she looked up happily, wishing that she could take them with her*

They're essence batteries! They even have a few motes stored in each one. How useful

*the spider practically squirmed with delight at their finding*

Take some of them with you, if you would, Dal'Lumen, those are valuable for any essence-wielder

]
{{Intelligence+Lore difficulty 4... 6 successes}}