<font color=lightgreen>Syrathic HP:45/74

Syrathic smiled to himself as he saw Anarrima and Brendon coming his way. Well, to be more precise, the smile was only for the Elven girl, even if she couldn't see it. Once again, Syrathic had to fight his nerves as she approached, but luckily, he was able to gain control of himself as he rose to his feet before they came near.

Syrathic made himself take his eyes off Anarrima as Brendon spoke. "Would we be able to get in even if we wanted too?" he asked. "It seems to me that they'd have the place guarded while Dantes and Morguerat and the Elders are speaking. I'm not sure if they'd want to be interrupted." Truth be told, Syrathic really didn't want to involve himself in the talks. Of course, he'd follow if they decided to go in, but the Elf often found himself wearied by long speeches. He was more an Elf of action than of words.

He looked around quickly. "Either way, I have to wait for Ruby so I can give her the things that she requested that I obtain for her. Hopefully, it will not be long, but I'd appreciate the company while I waited."</font>

ooc: I'm sorry to hear about that Morguerat. I'll keep you and your family in my prayers.

No need to worry, Cyril. Take your time with things, we all know that RL is more important than this. [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color=indianred>Brendon and <font color=orchid>Anarrima</font>

"Okay. I guess you are right. We will wait here for the others. Besides, we have better company than they!" Brendon smiled and looked over at Anarrima, who was busy talking and laughing with one of the gnomish children.

coming into sight of the others waiting for her, she gets her first glimpse of the elven girl. ruby starts to hum. she was so like carly...so like... as her humming comes into sync with her fears ruby calms down. clenching and unclenching her hands she regrets letting wyrd run off to play.

slowing her walk she sees that syrathic and brendon are enthralled with the woman. adoration and infatuation apparent to one so intune with others feelings. as uneasy as she is about her, it may turn out to be a good thing. not being the only girl in a party would be nice.

but the poor girl...'hopefully she is not unhappy about this attention.' ruby thinks to herself. as she reaches the group wyrd comes bounding up from behind her. before she can fully extend her hand out in greeting, the lion, ever protective, stands between them, ears laid back.

<font color=lightgreen>Syrathic HP:45/74

Syrathic chuckled at Brendon's comment. "I agree, my friend. Much better company," he said with a nod as he watched the Elven cleric play with the children. "A lovely slip of a girl, I must say. Well, maybe not. She's probably got many years on me."

He turned and saw Ruby coming their way. She hesitated before coming over, stopping near Anarrima. She reached out her hand in greeting, but Wyrd came out of nowhere to put himself between the two women. "I hope this doesn't turn out bad."

"Ruby, I have the stuff you wanted," he said, hoping to end the standoff. "I don't know if the hair brushes are the right kind, though. But they were the only ones I could fine."

"let me see one real quick...." ruby reaches her hand to him and takes an offered brush. before doing anything else with it she conks Wyrd on the head (not hard, but it is enough to get his attention.) the silent admonishment that brendon and syrathic know Wyrd is getting goes something like this *calm yourself. it has been many years since we've seen calry and this is not her. she has not cast a spell on these two. let us for once greet someone new with an open mind and not clenched teeth.*

looking up to the she-elf ruby smiles a small smile, "i apologize for wyrd's behaviour, i am ruby and this is my companion, wyrd. do you join our group?"

<font color="99ff00"> After Azrael had spoken while the gnomes were considering the impact of his words, Morguerat bowed, low, in appreciation for the words they had alredy offered, trust was hard to give in the lightless depths, and he knew they were fighting their basic survival instincts by telling them as much as they had, much as Morguerat had done when he had spoken of their mission, the information, and honesty were more likely to serve them and achieve the desired goals of gaining information, as well as alerting the gnomes to the scope of what they were up against, perhaps giving them the fighting chance that the Drow apparently had not even had... a truly frightening foe if it could dispatch a city of drow, (his assumption of what their hushed words had meant).

Morguerat's knowledge of the drow was mostly limited to hearsay, and unreliable tales told round the campfire, the one and only Drow he had met, had been in the company of the <font color="pink">Lady Galadria</font> (OOC: see Keldorns Order Building #2), the lovely Viconia, who had been far from a normal Drow, she had reurned from a subterranean quest to redeem the Drow, mostly unsuccessfully, if he recalled correctly.

But from all accounts when drow attacked survivors were few, tales were still told in another part of the forums of a great war of the drow, attacking the caves and hills of the mountain dwarves, and eventually being pushed back, into their lightless tunnels by peoples of all races, Men, Dwarves, surface Elves, Even a deep community of the Svirfneblin had arrived to battle the dark ones. They were not routed completely just turned away until the next time.

If this Terrakis was indeed still alive, or undead, he thought with a shudder, it would have to be unbeleivably powerful to decimate a city of drow, even if it caught them unprepared, drow are not ones to submit to any foe, ill portents indeed.

On the positive side however, his candor had been appreciated and it seemed the information he had bartered was worth more than the coin he had refused to loot from the dragons cave, not to mention easier to carry, and harder to lose to petty theft, or poorly made garments.</font>

<font color=orchid>Anarrima, speaking to Ruby

"Well met, travelor! My name is Anarrima, and as I was telling your companions here, I am a cleric by trade, and desire only to return to my home in Evermeet. I would like to travel with you, and lend aid as needed, though both of these gentlemen speak of a Morg...somebody that I will need to ask."

Anarrima looks over towards Wyrd and smiles...

"Where I am from, we have many animal friends like the one that travels with you there. Your lion friend is a magnificient creature!"</font>

OOC: I forgot I have another character to play around with ;)

From out the window of a nearby tavern Dankorona watched the rest of the party gather. They were talking with somone else, who appeared to be a surface elf. "What a strange group I've got myself involved with," Dankorona thought to himself. "Since when did we start picking up strays?" he though, and then shrugged to himself. Dankorona pounded what was left of his ale and then threw down the two copper pieces he had remaining and left the tavern. He still wished he knew what happened to his money pouch but that was a matter for a different time. He glanced at the gathered party for a moment and thought about joining them, before he disappeared into the shadows next to the tavern. He had never felt comfortable around any of them but Dantes. Instead he went about his own preparations.

OOC:more to come on this post but I have to go for right now

<font color=lightgreen>Syrathic HP:45/74

Syrathic reached into the sack that held the items Ruby had requested and pulled out a brush. As he handed it to her, he wondered what she would want with it at a time like this. The Elf's silent query was quickly answered when Ruby thumped Wyrd over the head with the brush. It wasn't a very hard blow, but it looked like it served the purpose of getting the lion's attention. "I'm sure glad I'm not him," Syrathic thought as he watched the scene unfold. It really looked like Wyrd was getting a bit of a silent lecture from Ruby.

The Elf reached into this cloak and felt Dankorona's now light money pouch. He hoped that Ruby had some coins so that the Gnome wouldn't come off so bad in the end, but he also felt that the Gnome deserved to be a little worse for the wear since he was foolish enough not to keep an eye on his money in the company of a thief. Syrathic was not usually one to steal from his companions, but in this case it had proved beneficial, as he was able to use the Gnome's gold to acquire things that would not be worth a jewel. Therefore, he reasoned that Dankorona deserved something out of it. But there was still time before he would give the pouch back.</font>

<font color=lime>For Morguerat and Dantes</font>

<font color=thistle>The Clanmaster looks at the mage, weighing the words of his response carefully before speaking. “You know much about our magic, but it is the knowledge of a one who is a surfacer and a wizard. We indeed have such a gem in our possession and it does in fact possess a power similar to what you have described, but such things are not the products of any magery we possess and are not things to be loaned and bartered like the items of power adventurers seem never to tire of trading and buying like so many tools.” He pauses to look at his visitors and to allow them to see the resolve in his own face before he continues. He glances at his advisors and is relieved to see no anger in their faces – the mage meant no insult in his request, that is obvious, but it must be made equally clear that this matter is not subject to negotiation. “The elemental gems are sacred objects consecrated by our priests and blessed by our gods and even to save our lives we could not place such things in the hands of outsiders.” Again he pauses that silence might punctuate his words with its clarity.

“As for information,” he continues, “that you shall have.” Turning to the blind gnome, he nods. Strangely the sightless advisor returns the gesture with a formal bending of his ancient neck. The elderly figure walks slowly forward and turns in the direction from which the visitors had spoken and begins to speak.

“Little is known of Euryale for she does not come forth to hunt with the humanoids who serve her and if any eyes have seen her they have not carried forth the tale of their seeing. The grimlocks fear her and they reverence her and because of her they have become fearsome and effective in their raiding when before they were but savages as dangerous to one another as to their opponents. She it is who has united the scattered warbands and she it is who will soon control the passageways to the West, and should she have the aid of more creatures of shadow such as you have described, she will do so all the sooner.” His sightless eyes stare vacantly ahead as he pauses in his speaking.

His voice is softer as he resumes, softer and frail sounding as if even to speak drains the strength of the heart. “To seek Terrakis is to seek one’s death, so is the proverb I was taught as a youngling. None of us has seen him, but all who dwell in these warrens of earth and stone fear him. Long ago it was that he came leading a band of others like himself, great in size and strength and without mercy or compromise in battle. They thrust aside ancient and mighty creatures in their seeking but what they sought no one can say. Terrakis led them into the deepest places and there followed a great shaking in the earth and a collapsing of the tunnels and many believed the great giant destroyed along with his followers. But so fierce an enemy, so mighty in his strength and so willing to destroy was he that he has haunted memories, a nightmare even to the great races of the Underneath. Time has a way, however, of turning memories into mere phantoms of thought and in time the nightmare became for many little more than a byword for the vague terrors one feels for no clear reason. Still, every time the earth has shaken these last years since the coming of the one called Larry, all would grow silent and wonder if for only the briefest of moments whether a dimly remembered nightmare might be awakened in such trembling. And now even the one who Mods has fallen, his tower in ruins and his power dispersed into the winds and the earth has shaken terribly in his fall. Mighty Adalon has been slain and even her eggs destroyed. The drow are no more and while that is cause for celebration only a much more terrible evil could have defeated them so quickly and with such ease. An elf who escaped from the slaughter of the drow brought with her a tale of giants fierce in battle and devoid of mercy ......” He stops speaking, the name of the nightmare heavy and bitter upon his tongue. His sightless eyes move from the mage to the Fallen and then survey the room. “Terrakis. It can be no other. Merciless and unyielding he is and he does nothing without a reason. Just as he sought the stone and so destroyed the dragon, so the drow perished because of something he seeks. And if so much death follows in his seeking, how much more might attend his finding?”</font>

<font color=silver>ooc: <font color=turquoise>DMs Note</font> – For our purposes, the shadow giants did not just destroy a single drow city, they have effectively destroyed the drow in the Underneath of the Forums as there are no other large drow settlements in this game. This is not the Underdark of other game settings.</font>