She huddles into a corner wincing. Not all her attempts to hold her ears, nor the scarf wrapped around her head keep out the constant din of voices rising and falling around her.
Through the mists that tear at her hard fought balance, he reaches and his gentle voice lifts her up. His faceless form is less than a blur of all the others, she feels his warmth and reaches out shyly to the high lord. Sensing her inner battle he offers her a companion, a loyal archer who exudes aged wisdom and a wicked sense of humor.
She has naught to offer the high lord in exchange but her scarf. The sole defence against the storm around her is soon unwrapped and given as a small exchange for the archer now standing beside her holding out his arm as support.
She smiles as the lord accepts and feels some sense of balance restored to her frantic world. She sets down the road and smiles as she moves. The archer's whispered tales of the deeds of the high lord keep the unbalancing clamors of this strange world at bay and gives her hope of a brighter tomorrow.
Chapter Two
A wolf offering non-damage training? She stops and reads the message then ponders his words. It takes courage and trust to answer words that issued through such sharp jaws. Her whispered please though is responded to with courteous speech and gentle hands demonstrating the technique she needs to learn. She smiles as she flows through the training forms and gains a bit of grace to hone the sharp edges off her newness to this land.
Wolves have honour shining from their eyes, rightness to add balance to the land, and lone or not the wolf pup holds within him the glory and greatness this land proffers. He may have called it non-damage training but she will remember it as training to learn and learning to trust in the balance and flow of this land.
She whispers to her loyal archer companion of the new ways taught by the wolf warrior. He laughs and reminds her that good may walk in fur as well as in light.
Chapter Three
The small one looked up and up finally resting her trembling gaze on the stern visage of the mighty warrior. He has kind eyes behind that mask - I think I saw them twinkle. She shook a bit as she firmly set her knees into a rigid lock and then addressed him. "Excuse me my Lord but could you enlighten me as to why this road winds around and becomes its own tail?"
The warrior paused and then a strangled sound resembling a choked off laugh arose from him. "Becomes its own tail? I'm never thought about the topology in quite those terms but yes it does indeed. Until you find balance you are forced to repeat your steps and revisit until the old is new in your eyes." He patted her head then strode on, his figure becoming indistinct in the fading light and then vanishing around a corner that straightened out behind him.
She sighed and headed down the road contemplating balance. The Archer whispered to her about courage as they walked and looked for the new but finding only the old.
Some of my creatures
Page 577 - The Hunt for Red Presents
Invie decided he would interrogate Willow to find out what they knew of the gifts. Alongside them was Sunfire and someone who Willow described as the "putrid one". This arrangement, good cop, bad cop, and smelly cop, continued until Aamon, Jakubhi, and Aia appeared later to listen in on the conversation.
Willow was a sly one who unfortunately lacked memory until Sunfire palmed him a rather large Diamond. Upon miraculously regaining his memory Willow proceeded to explain that he allowed “the Fat Man” to store presents in exchange for an exorbitant number of coins. There was also a significant amount of advertising of his potions which are likely a scam. However the writer would like it noted that they are a bargain of a scam at just one silver coin, get them today! (advert inserted due to a large amount of coin changing hand, Willow is a crafty one)
Once discussions of low low priced potions had abated, Willow was then confused why there would still be presents in his storeroom, stating that they are normally gone on Christmas Eve. They remarked that they found their present under the tree as usual so was surprised when they found the presents still in the storeroom.
Willow was able to confirm, through viewing a flier of the murdered elf, that this was the person hanging around his storeroom. He remarked that the elf was seen moving presents back into the storeroom on Christmas Eve. This was something he felt was a tad odd, however you do not question the Fat Man’s elves, so he let it slide.
Bad cop continued until Invie made the somewhat final mistake of biting Willow’s hand. You know what they say, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you information. The Shop Guardian I was called in and escorted the troublemaker out of the premises, locking Willows shop to all who wanted to enter.
Like many others, Willow was unable to take the presents, however upon inspecting them decided it was likely elf magic protecting them. He was shown a snowflake by Aamon and agreed that that too smelt of elf magic. Willow stated that while they are an artificer (and self professed expert potion maker) they were not familiar with elf magic, but would tinker to see what could be achieved.
While Willow was very keen to accept the kind offers of more coin to take them to the Fat Man, he had to admit he did not know how to contact him. They explained the mountain of coin gets delivered by Aramour directly from the Fat Man. While third cop Ledah had been mostly quiet until now, he took special interest in this discussions concerning Willow and causing him to make notes about doubling the guard.
Good cop Sunfire continued the investigation, opting not to bite any more hands, and convinced Willow to explain that a number of elves that work for the Archives and they may know the Fat Man. Unfortunately the time drew on and Willows hands grew itchy, feeling anxious about the lost coin he was not scamming off people. At this point he bustled off ending the discussion and went to re-open the shop.
The full log is available on the forum, continue to send details to the INVISIBLE VOICE’s as required. The adventure, continues. ...
This story involves real player characters and updates every few hours.
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