Nothern Shadows

[Arcane]

OOC-ok im sick of this and will give you all material to write with, regardless of aegis' plans.
__________________________________________________ __

Sedgemon continued his counsel with the dwarven lord. "Perhaps ye, who have lived longer than most of us, except maybe Gilderin," he nodded at the elf, who shook his head. "Aye so, perhaps ye would know where this 'Seir' makes its lairs, its habits, its hunting trails and so forth," the dwarven lord looked at the wearied, group and nodded. "Aye, follow me to the libraries, mayhaps we may shake up the old tomes in the old corners...."

The group followed the dwarf to the library, where the stone, majestic halls glittered with gems. The group marvelled at the halls and the dwarf lord chuckled, "Aye, if ye be amazed at this, see our feast hall!" the made a right turn and teh group all drew their breath. Mithril lined the walls of teh hall and the lords table was studded with gems and other precious stones.
"Aye then, the library..."

Back in the lirbray, each member of the group began poring through the ancient tomes of the creatures of the forest, recorded by the dwarves in their long years.

__________________________________________________ __
OOC-Each character should read a tome about the creatures of his preference. example-casan would be reading about just the creatures surrounding bryn shandar, while the others would be reading just about the general wilderness creatures of the dale.

[Durwyn]

Durn picked up one of the book's in common, not knowing dwarven. It was about subterran creatures. Intresting he thought. He read but was finding little success. He looked over at Casan and wondred if he was doing any better. He walked over and asked Casan " Have you had any luck?"


ooc-i know it's not much but i just got back from a vacation

[Rob-hin]

“Well, I haven’t had read that much just yet. But there are many tales about this creature; none however describe its appearance. Perhaps we are the first to encounter this thing and lived to tell…”

Durn expression said it all, this wasn’t good.

“It has been around for a long time. The clan has named it Seir, like the king said. Sounds to me like it’s a hunter, nothing more and nothing less. It lives for the kill, and the better the opponent, the more fun it has hunting it. I’ve never heard of any thing like it.”

“We have to stop it, we must avenge Gilthanas and Anduin.” Durn looked serious. “But how…”

“Strange, nothing I read here seems too based on facts. Could this be the only one of its kind?”

[Craig]

Vren had learnt Common, and when he was told of he's parents death, he had asked his father if he could learn Hin...He was awestruck. He walked over to shelf, finger tapping on the books, like the old "Wheel of fate" at the fayre he had seen, he went over to a book and looked at it; it read "The history or Halflings." he pawed through the pages feverently.

[Magus]

The musty smell of earth greeted Gilthanas’s return to consciousness. Muffled voices echoed from some distance away. They were deep and guttural; dwarves he decided groggily. His head was killing him. He slowly assessed the rest of his body. It was stiff and bruised, but there was no broken bones. He felt like he’d been stomped on by a pack of rampaging hill giants. Damn, why’d he have to wake up? He had a vague sensation of being disturbed from something pleasant. That’s right, he had been dreaming...dreaming of a place amongst the trees, where painted dark-haired elves walked the trails, living with nature and protecting it from those who would defile it. It was a tough place, often harsh and unforgiving, but it was home. One elf-maiden in particular stood out vividly in his mind. She had beautiful black hair, the color of obsidian, with a gentle, coy, smile that disarmed the most hardened of hearts. But what struck him most were her eyes. Colored dark amber, they stared back with a forgiving kindness that put you instantly at ease. In their sight, it mattered not what race you were, or what anybody else thought of you. Such things didn’t matter to her.

Was this...his childhood? Gilthanas sighed. The pain in his head had seemed to lessen. Tentatively he opened his eyes. Bright light flooded in. He looked away, squinting, but kept them open. Gradually his eyes adjusted, and he looked around, turning his head slowly from side to side. He was in a small room, the walls and ceiling hewn from solid stone. He couldn’t see a door, at least from this angle. He sat up. Immediately his head exploded in pain. He clutched it in agony, feeling for the source. He felt something dry and crusty on the right side of his head, some sort of bandage. He looked at his hand. It was dusted with dried blood. From what he could tell, there was an awful lot of it. He must have taken a hit in the head. But how?

He tried to think back, but his mind refused to function. “Curse it,” he muttered, taking comfort in the sound of his voice. The pain was starting to recede again. He looked around some more. He was lying in a hard wooden bed. To his left was a small but sturdy chest of drawers. Along the left wall was a large mirror, about half his size. On the far end of the right wall was an oaken door. There were no windows. A feeling of unease settled over him. He felt...trapped. He suddenly decided he had to get out of here. Remembering what happened when he sat up, he stood slowly, bracing himself for the painful shock. It wasn’t as bad as he had expected. He creeped over to the mirror. The person that stared back was a mess. The side of his head was wrapped in bloody bandages, his disheveled hair caked with patches of dried blood. His face was a sickly pale white. For a moment, Gilthanas had the odd impression that he was staring at a corpse.

He turned away and slowly limped to the door. Just before he reached it, it swung open without a sound. A well-groomed dwarf stared at him with an almost comical look of shock. Gilthanas’s laugh turned into a racking cough, and he almost fell over. He managed to catch himself against the wall, and leaned there, gasping for breath.

“What ye be doin there, boy?! Ye’re supposed to be in bed!” the dwarf cried.

[Arcane]

Gylderon slipped away from the others and decided to explore his surroundings, regardless of claustrophobia or not. He wandered into the first hall, where he over heard two dwarves talking-
"Aye, Berek, them two are now in bed and Korhvain damn well better take good care of them! Anduin of Bryn Shandar!"

Gylderon ran back to the others and asked the head dwarf where the clinic was. The dwarf smiled and led them down another hall, where a well groomed dwarf was tending to bandages on Gilthanas' arms. Anduin however, was still out. Gylderon walked to Gilthanas, took his arm and said "All grudges I have against you are lost, and I embrace ye like a brother, though you might choose not to..."

The rest of the group began talking to Gilthanas simulataneosly.
"Yes, then we travelled for a day-"
"How was it on the otehr side? We thought-"
"Twas lucky the dwarv-"

"ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT ENOUGH!" Kohrvain yelled "These sick uns need rest and they damn well need it! Git back to yer rooms er halls er whatever ye call em!"

[Magus]

The elf came up and took his arm. "All grudges I have against you are lost, and I embrace ye like a brother, though you might choose not to..." he uttered, his grave tone lightened by a welcoming smile. The others immediately descended on him, bombarding him with questions and details of their journey.

Gilthanas looked about in confusion. Who are these people? he thought. Though they did seem familiar...

The dwarf must have seen the look on his face. "ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT ENOUGH!" Kohrvain yelled "These sick uns need rest and they damn well need it! Git back to yer rooms er halls er whatever ye call em!"

The crowd left, albeit reluctantly. All except for a wizened old man, decked in the dark blue robes of a mage. “May I stay for a moment?” the mage asked the dwarf. “He’s an old friend of mine. I promise I won’t be long.”

The dwarf nodded slowly. “Aye, but make it quick.” He finished up with Gilthanas and left to tend to Anduin in the adjacent cubicle.

The mage walked up to him. “How are you feeling?” he asked softly.

Gilthanas looked at him for a moment, a quizzical look on his face. It was quite disconcerting. “I’m alright,” he finally replied. He looked into the distance, seemingly lost in thought.

Sedgemon inspected the bandages, knowing a little of first-aid himself. They were expertly tied, with the care only a specialist could provide. He knew Gilthanas and Anduin were in good hands. His eyes narrowed when he came across the bandage on Gilthanas’s head. The amount of bandage alone told him that it must have been a severe wound. He suddenly had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. No, he was just being paranoid. Gilthanas was fine now.

“Gilthanas?”

“Hmm?” he replied, somewhat distractedly.

“What happened back there?”

Gilthanas gave him a strange look. “Where?”

The sick feeling began to creep back. “At the bridge, when you were fighting the creature. What happened?” Sedge repeated.

Gilthanas shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Have we met?”

[Aegis]

Anduin heard noises around him. They were muffled, and couldn't make them out clearly. It sounded like people talking. He didn't know, though. He didn't care. He blinked a couple times, trying to let the light of the room filter in slowly, so as not to blind him. Once he managed to keep them open, he pushed himself up. His hand felt the plush feeling of well kept linen, soft and comfortable. The blood came rushing to his head. He lost his balance momentarly, almost falling back down toward the sheets, but catching himself just before hitting them. When he felt stable again, he pressed his hand to his forehead. He felt another odd thing. It was warm, and sticky, but with a granular texture to it. He drew his hand down, and looked at the finger tips for a second. His index finger was dabbed in his own blood. He felt his forehead again, and relized that it was a bandage dressed around his head. He must've been knocked around by the creature more then he had known.

He shook his head groggily, trying to sort everything out. He didn't recognize where he was, and he still couldn't make out the sounds in the next room. HE swung his feet out of the bed, and placed them firmly on the ground, or as firmly as he could keep them. As he was about to push himself off, and see where he was, the door opened. A stocky dwarf with a long grey beard came bounding in, a tray in his hand. The tray was filled with an assortment of devices, some more bandages, and a pale of warm water. Anduin squinted towards him, until finally able to make him out.

The dawrf seemed not to notice Anduin was awake until setting the tray down, and actually looked at the bed.

"Aye! Yer finally up an' about!" The dwarf looked him over agian, and ****ed his eyebrow "Well, yer up at least." He chuckled a bit, and pushed Anduin back into his bed, and began to take the dressing off his forehead. "Ye took quite a spill, says Berek. Right off the edge of the gorge!" Anduin tried to turn his head to look at the dwarf, but the dwarf just pushed it right back, and continued to replace the dressing, and clean the wound. "You and that elf friend o' yours are lucky to be alive."

"Gilthanas!" Anduin yelled, and tried to push himself up off the bed, only to be forced back down.

"Keep yer briches on, laddy. He's fine. In the next room, chatting wit' Sedgemon, of Byrn Shandar." The dwarf put the finishing touches on the head dressing. "There ye go. All fixed up, though you might have a bit of an ache for a bit."

Anduin sat up again, the dwarf letting him this time. Then, with the steady help of his stocky medic, Anduin stood, and made his way towards the next room. The dwarf opened the door, and both Sedge and Gilthanas looked towards Anduin, a bright smile appearing on his ol firneds face, but only a look of confusion on Gilthanas'...

[Durwyn]

Durn walked out as the dwarf told them to leave. It was a relief to know they were alive. And Gilthanas didn't look that bad, anyway he had seen worse. In the pit you see alot of pain and suffering he told himself. But the way Gilthanas had looked at them, like he didn't know them was discoferting. It was as if he didn't know who they were. He dismissed that from his mind and looked at a book he was reading from the library. It was about otherworldly creatures and one that he found intresting was the Yugoloths. They were kinda like this creature in it's traits but there was no recorded Yugoloth that looked like that. A new type of Yugoloth? he wondered.

[Arcane]

A normal assasin can hide in darkness.

A good assasin can hide in a lighted room.

So Gylderon waited until the rest of the party but Sedgemon left. Korhvail had left the room to tend to Anduin. Gylderon stepped from the darkness and was stopped in his tracks.

"Have we met before?"

Gylderon's jaw tightened.

Had Gilthanas contracted amnesia? Aye, he only started to accept the half-elf's character but he was a good fighter none the less. "Gilthanas," Gylderon said, startling Sedge. Gilthanas looked to him, "Hail to you rogue. How do you know my name?" Gylderon looked startled again. Sedgemon was studying the half-elf carefully.

"Aye I know your name, half-elf."

"Have we met before?"

Gylderon swore.

[Magus]

Gylderon swore.

A faint feeling crept through Gilthanas’s body, like something from a long forgotten memory. Looking at the elf, he felt a wary tingling, as if he should watch himself carefully when this man was around. Yet he didn’t feel threatened, just alert. Suddenly, the thought hit him. He’s an assassin... His hand strayed automatically to his blade, as if to reassure himself. It grabbed thin air. A brief burst of panic assaulted him. He looked down. The blade, the sheath...all gone. He jumped to his feet, the world flashing white with pain. Abruptly he stopped himself. What was he doing? He glanced around at the strangers, gawking at him in surprise. He sat back down, feeling a bit self-conscious. He looked back at the old wizard. Looking at him, he felt a ripple of reassurance spread through his body, relaxing his tensed muscles. There was something about the old man that invited absolute trust.

Gilthanas considered his words carefully. “You seem to know what’s going on. Where are we? And how did I get here?”

* * * * *

ooc: Seeing that Rail’s been gone for a while, someone else is welcome to answer for Sedgemon in his place, or answer with their own character.

[Aegis]

It saw the fire in front of it, felt the heat, heard the wood crack and hiss. He saw the shadow of the old man, haunched over it, holding something over the dancing flames, occasionally turning it over. The old man was mumbling something to himself incoherantly, seemingly oblivious to what he was doing, yet strangely aware. The Seir stepped out of the underbrush, nothing more than a blurring of the leaves marking his passage. It walked right up to the old man, watching it, learning about it. The old man was cooking a fish he had cought. It wasn't very big, but he seemed happy with it. The Seir stooped in closer to see it. As he came within a foot of the old man, the weathered old head snapped around, and looked right at the Seir. The man's eyes shawn with a hidden knowledge as he looked directly into the creature, yet past it.

The Seir staggered backwards, shocked that he saw him. Or did he? The old man turned his head back to the fish, and shrugged, then went back to cooking his dinner. The Seir backed off, back into the foilage, back to a safe distance. HE waited there, watching the man, learning about him...

[Craig]

OOC:Bump

[Arcane]

ooc: bump bump bump

[Aegis]

Bump for recognition