To Walk a Dragon's Path, Chapter 1-A Thorny Road(closed ATM)

[Lady Blue03]

~*A light mist rolled at the feet of Alliene Silverwater, Princess of the Sea elf kingdom Allinav, Matron of First House Streea. A full moon shines down on the thick canopy of oak trees, redwoods, and other towering trees with great spreading limbs. Her black dragon friend and familiar, Kaishin'azunwith, more affectionatley known as Zachana, sat placidly on her shoulder, sharp black eyes keeping watch in the copse around them. It had been a week since Alliene and her party left the underdark. They needed to find a town or city soon. Shaking her head, she pushed back her waist length silver/white hair and eyed the rest of her party. Calaethis, her cousin, a few times removed on her father's side, Shadow, a half elf she knew not much about save that her dragon thought he was fascinating, Skye, another half-elf and a bard, with a young drow child in tow named Damion, Khalraan, an elf child who was in Skye's custody, Dameon, some strange man from a far off planet who, amazingly, had more pride in his skill than she herself did, Aeris, an unnaturaly aged drow whom she had banished then accepted back, and Verloren and Avalon, her sister, and her sister's silver dragon lover, along with Verloren's horse, Wind Shadow, and Calaethis's 'slaves'. They all looked to her for where to go, and she despised it*~

"There is a city about half a days walk from our location, and I trust we all want to stop and enjoy ourselves in a proper tavern?" the voice that normally would have been open to opinion was flat and hard, as her eyes, though sharp was a better word to describe those piercing silver orbs.

[ 01-22-2003, 07:00 PM: Message edited by: Lady Blue03 ]

[shadowhound]

Shadow smiled and shifted his pack, finally human civilization with its dirty bars and unwary merchants. Oh it would be good to be back somewhere where he had his footing again, It was all he could do not to be hopelessly confused while in the drow infested lands. Females claiming to be superior and males as servents was certainly not what he was used to.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

***OOC - Sui'aerl's name you almost spelt right you just missed a "r".
A suggestion - so we don't have to go though that stuff of opening up a new game - *looks at rules thread* I would suggest you add "Book 2" to the title... and I'd wouldnt call it a "new begining"... anyway I'll talk with you on AIM later ok? bleh, altho, they don't *have* AIM at college, not that your likely to be awake then anyway unless of course I stay until some godforsaken hour like, 6 or 7 in the evening, but thats besides the point.

'Nother question - erm, what time of year is it? I think it ought to be spring, but thats just me... January/February-ish - slightly bitter & cold outside with a touch of frost [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Colour Sceme:

Characters -
Calaethis - his thoughts are in "green" and since greens hard to read - bold as well
Sylquis - (full name: Sylquisitae Ilanisala)
Tyra - (full name: Tyratria Ilanisala)

Alliene:-(if I post her actions/speech)
Verloren:-(if I post her actions/speech)

Hostiles/Enemies:
Nuetrals: orange/blue
NPC Allies -

Tagnik'zurjess - Dragon's fang Calaethis's sentient sword - no-one is quite sure of its abilities, not even Calaethis - was a +3 vs evil, now is a +5 - other then that, nothing else is known.
Sssiks'barra - Sunshadow - the dragon on the outer hilt - changes colour to suit it's masters mood.
Sssiks vress'lve - Sunclaw - chinese/oriental dragon - is golden in colour, and has twin rubie eyes - which can change colour...

Misc
"*"s- (I use "*"s IC for when I need to point something out [img]tongue.gif[/img] akin to "NB")
All IC stuff will be posted in silver.
Any OOC stuff will be in IWs normal font.
Any mind-speech or thoughts are in italics - so you shouldn't get muddled (as well as that char's font colour)

*grin* If anyone has any comments/suggestions please contact me on MSN or AIM whenever it's convient... [img]tongue.gif[/img] (too good to resist) also - I'll try not to post posts as long as they were in the last chapter... boredom, college, and unlimited access to the 'net arnt nesseccarily a good thing...

Calaethis nodded at his cousin. "Yes Alliene, that would be nice - we all need rest after that battle..." he made a face, he hadn't properly had time to rest and niether had his two 'slaves', 'speaking of which' he thought 'I really ought to give them their "freedom" now we're out of the underdark'. He glanced over at his two 'slaves'. Both were gawking and squinting, having never been out of the underdark, they were unused to the sky, and the overland. The younger one of the two, Sylquis tremembled slightly, and stayed close to her sister. Gradually they both became used to the light and started to see what was around them. Calaethis smiled and shook his head, it was good to be back overland. Sheverash, his 'pet' wolf (animal companion) stood at his side, waiting for his masters command; quite content to follow him, and just happy to be out in the open again.

Placing his hand on his sword belt, Cal glanced down at his sword, Tagnik'zurjess. Sssiks'barra was a light bright golden yellow, and the blade *felt* cheerful. Calaethis shook his head slightly, he'd have to look deeper into his sword when he had time. Sssiks vress'lve was as golden as ever, and 'his' twin rubies eyes twinked in the moonlight. Feeling happier and more calm then he had in days, Calaethis looked at his cousin, and waited for her next command, his mood good humored, and light.

[ 02-01-2003, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: Calaethis Dragonsbane ]

[Lord High Eater of Legs]

ic:Khalraan walked with the others, and came close to Skye, and whispered.
'That elf is really pretty'
His face suddenly turned red as he saw Skye smiling at him, and walked further ahead. After a while he strode closer to the older elf, and spoke quietly to him.
'Cal, who are the pretty elf girls? Is she the one I saw before?'
The young boy asked.

[ 01-22-2003, 01:00 PM: Message edited by: Lord High Eater of Legs ]

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Calaethis glanced at Khalraan and said in a quiet voice "Shh, keep your voice down, they're both tired; and not used to traveling this much, and yes, the younger one is the same girl you were gawking at and oggling at last night - the girl in the bathrobe?" Calaethis gave the youngster a sharp look. "Sylquis is the younger girl, Tyra is the elder one."

[Lady Blue03]

Verloren watched Alliene silently, her face tight with worry. Avalon towered over everyone, in his natural form, but it was neccessary. There were Greens in these woods, they were evil, and would respect the great Silver, but any sight or scent of Zachana would send them into a fury.
Her sister had been increasingly tight lipped and cold over their week out of the underdark. She hardly spoke to anyone, went hunting by herself, and was constanlty glaring at...something. She backed up and sat on one of Avalon's monstrous claws, his shining scales reflecting the moon light. After Alliene had addressed the party, she had resumed her scanning of the trees. She must speak to her soon. When they stopped at the city, or town, or where ever she was taking them.

~The party travels at night, while the Greens are asleep, and rests under cover during the day. Not much is said between Alliene or anyone else. The 2 dragons spoke, in their own language of hisses and growls and snorts. The town is merely a 45 minute walk away, and it is 1:30 in the morning.~

Zachana fluttered from Alliene's shoulder and pumped her winds until she landed lightly on Avalon's broad snout.

"What is it, Kaishin'azunwith?" Avalon kept his eyes on the trees ahead
"You are aware that I have partaken in being Shadow's...companion?" she waited for his affirmative snort before continuing, "Tell me...when you first were with Lady Verloren...did she make you..well, was it hard to be yourself around her? Did she fuddle your brains so you could hardly speak?"
Avalon focused one eye on her in surprise, "Aye, and she still does, when she smiles, when she looks at me...hmmm...why do you ask? Is this Shadow doing that to you?" his growl held mirth.
Zachana hunched her shoulders, "Well, yes. It's just...I've come very close to revealing who and what I am, and I wouldn't want to frighten him away,"
"Hmm...keep your wits about you awhile longer, black, and if he loves you enough when the truth does slip, it will only make things better,"
He was right. Thanking him, she dove down and returned to Alliene's shoulder.

The party stops as Alliene does. Ahead, small lamp lights can be seen in the distance. A normal town. They move forward again and into the town, where there are 2 inns. Alliene shrugged and picked the closest one. The innkeeper looked strtled at being woken at this hour, but quickly assured them he had rooms. Alliene payed for it all without a word. She was exhausted, physicly and mentally. When she reached her bed, she collapsed on it and went straight to sleep.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

After checking that Tyra and Sylquis were safely asleep, Calaethis, on silent feet, became one with the shadows and went to find Verloren... Finding her room, he knocked softly on the door and waited for a reply. Verloren opened it, and Calaethis spoke softly, leaving the shadows, "Am I disturbing you, my lady? I...I just wanted to talk to someone, to you... if your busy... I'll talk to you another time..." his voice tremebled slightly, and Verloren could see he was shaking.

[Lady Blue03]

Verloren hesitated, glancing back at where Avalon lay watching her idly from bed. She wanted to be with him...but she couldn't turn her sister's cousin away while he was like this,
"Avalon, could you please...busy yourself elsewhere? I need to speak to Calaethis,"
The dragon looked startled, but shrugged, slipping into a soft gray robe, he bowed to Verloren and exited, only glancing at Calaethis as he left. Verloren stood back to admit Calaethis and closed the door behind him. She lay a hand on his trembling shoulder, "What is wrong, Calaethis, are you ill?"

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Calaethis slipped his shounder into Verloren's arm, and looked at the ground. "No Lady Verloren, I'm not ill... its just... Alliene... shes so cold... even to me... its... she's never been this cold to me before!" with a strangled sob he bit his forearm and tried not to cry.

[Lady Blue03]

"Oh my..." Verloren breathed. She reached around with her other arm and pulled him close. She wanted to say reasuring words, that her sister just needed time. But how much time would she need?
"You must understand," she whispered, "Her mother made Alliene who she is, not her father. Now shes gone, and Alliene believes it is because she was too soft on the battle. She needs to realize who she is, now. It worries me also, Calaethis, but now, we can only support her and hope she becomes who she was before," she stepped back and tipped his head down to her with her finger, "Will you be ok? I will stay with you tonight if you need it."