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<< Advice From Tamuz | Scroll And Sword Logs | Heavenly Emergency >>

<willows-ST> When We Last Left Our Heroes

<willows-ST> Tamuz: "I will raise the signal. At the next dark moon, a taker of trials will come to you. The trial will begin without warning. It will not last beyond the full moon."

<willows-ST> ----

Osprey looks up at the night sky, the stars shining bright and clear in the absence of the moon's concealing glow.

<willows-ST> A pack of wild dogs approaches Tamuz's camp from the west. At its head is a puppy with large, floppy ears and unmistakably silver fur. It leaps into Osprey's arms as the dogs form a circle around the campground.

<willows-ST> The puppy clambers onto the ground and changes into a willowy, naked young man.

Gia blinks, but her face remains expressionless.

<Osprey> Not terribly surprised -- at least outwardly -- Osprey gives the youth a polite nod. "Greetings."

<willows-ST> The youth nods in return. "You are the neophytes? I am here to announce your trial."

Arkadi keeps his eyes carefully elsewhere "Yeah, that's us."

<willows-ST> The Lunar nods and throws his head back to let out a long, eaglelike screech. One of the dogs emerges from the circle to stand at his feet.

Arkadi winces at the assault on his ear drums "Um, Ow.'

<willows-ST> He pats it and whispers in its eat, then gives it a light slap on the rump. The dog goes running. "Follow him." The youth melts away.

<willows-ST> (in its ear)

Arkadi shrugs

<Gia> With a glance to her companions, Gia shrugs slightly and follows the dog.

<Arkadi> "Guess we follow the beagle."

Malic starts after the dog at a steady long-distance trot in case it doesnt stop anytime soon

<Osprey> Pausing briefly to settle his daiklave's harness across his otherwise bare chest, Osprey begins jogging off after the dog, keeping his eyes and ears open.

Arkadi hustles off after the dog...

<willows-ST> It isn't long before the five are out of sight of the camp, and the dog stops and waits for the Circle to catch up to him.

<willows-ST> Following the dog's leadership, they eventually arrive at a stand of trees, and suddenly everything is subtly different, but before dawn it's not quite clear how.

<willows-ST> Sunlight finally shows that there are no colors here...the world is painted in black and white.

Malic looks around, sniffing at the dry desert wind to see if water might be nearby, his bottle is only half-full. "Well, that's odd."

<Gia> "It's pretty, in a way," Gia says quietly.

Osprey looks around thoughfully.

<Osprey> "The bordermarches?" he asks the dog.

<Arkadi> "Aw crap."

<willows-ST> There is something moving near a pool of water. The dog has no response.

Gia moves closer to the pool of water, peering intently.

Malic moves toward the pool and the whatever-that-is, one hand resting lighting on Burning Wind

Osprey follows his comrades, keeping the dog in the corner of his vision.

Arkadi advances towards the wate,r but keeps a respectable distance away from it

<willows-ST> Whatevre-that-is turns out to be the translucent apparition of a god, poking around in the underbrush. Two of his hands hold aloft basketwork orbs, and several others are quietly pushing about branches and scrub. Around his head, a rign of eyes floats and spins.

<Malic> "Hello, godling. What might you be doing here?"

<willows-ST> The god startles and drops one of his orbs as he straightens up. "Oh, hello, I didn't know anyone else was here."

<Malic> "We didn't either. Where is here? And who would you be?"

<willows-ST> "Here is right here. I'm Qebshenuf. And yourselves?"

<Malic> "I'm Malic of the Burnished Amber Road."

<Arkadi> "Arkadi'"

<Gia> "Esara Gia."

<Osprey> "I am called Merciful Osprey."

<willows-ST> "Those names sound somehow familiar....but no matter. What brings you to this foully blasted place?"

Osprey looks closely at the spirit.

<Gia> "Business, sort of."

<Osprey> "As when we last met... the web of fate has guided us to this meeting."

<willows-ST> "Interesting. As it happens, a web of my own giuded me here."

<Arkadi> "Oh?"

Osprey steals a glance at the dog, before turning back to the god.

<Osprey> "What was it you caught, which guided you here? More strange stars?"

<willows-ST> "Yes." He holds up a wickerwork ball, smaller than the other two. A bright point of light glows in its centre. "This web shows disturbances in the Loom. As you can see, it shows that there is one right here, where we stand! Quite remarkable."

<willows-ST> Qebshenuf seems to be having a hard time believing that he has met the Circle previously.

<Malic> "Because there isn't any color?"

Osprey looks around. "Not the wyld after all, then..." he murmurs.

<willows-ST> "Color?" The god closes most of his eyes, and his crown whirls as he survery the area. "I suppose you're right."

Arkadi scratches his chin and take a good, long look at the godling

<Malic> "Do you know why there isn't any?"

<willows-ST> "From what I can determine, this isn't just a random disturbance. Someone nearby is actually unweaving Fate."

<Malic> "Again? Sextes's grassy green ass, don't these people have better things to do?"

Arkadi scowls...not fate *anything* but fate...he sucks with this mystical crap

<Malic> "Any idea where they are or who they are?"

<willows-ST> "There's a ... a person. I can't get a very good look at him, but he's around here somewhere. I've been trying to pick up his trail again; somewhere I lost it."

<Malic> "What kind of trail? Osprey and I are trackers."

<Arkadi> "Right...can you give us more specifics?"

Osprey furrows his brow slightly at the vague description.

<Arkadi> "Old? young? Man? Woman?"

<Arkadi> "..other?"

<willows-ST> "Young. Very spry, and tall, but not large. He wears a cloak, so he could very well be a woman."

<willows-ST> "With you humans it is hard to tell."

<Arkadi> "...maybe for *you*."

<Malic> "No it's not."

Malic stands Osprey next to Gia. "See? It's easy" Malic starts pointing out differences.

Gia swiftly slaps Malic across the trunk, pushing him away.

<Malic> "ow!"

Osprey gives Malic a mildly reproachful look.

<Gia> "You richly deserved it."

<Arkadi> "I'm with her on this one."

<Malic> "Just trying to be helpful.."

Arkadi scratches his chin, and takes a note of the area

Malic sounds a bit wheezy. "Well. What sort of trail did she or he leave?"

<willows-ST> Qebshenuf jots down a note on a convenient corner of his robe.

Arkadi also takes a good long look at the godling, looking for the taletale signs of lying...oddly focused eyes, strange tensing of verbs, the ususal

<willows-ST> "Well the trouble is that he keeps jumping about, like this..." he trots a few steps and bounces into the air, coming down a fair distance away, and then returns in a similar manner, "so whenever he leaves the ground, I have to guess what direction he went in. See, there he goes again!"

<willows-ST> The godling points with a subsidiary arm.

Malic looks quickly in the indicated direction

Osprey turns his head in unison with Malic.

Gia turns her eyes, but not her face.

Arkadi 's eyes flick over

<willows-ST> A figure in a cloak is racing across the plains.

<willows-ST> Qebshenuf returns to his tracking, obviously determined to find the next landing spot.

Arkadi 's eyes follow the figure's gait, their posture, speed, etc.

<willows-ST> The figure is, for the most part, running like any person would, though he is covering ground at an alarming rate. A quick look makes it clear that this really is a man.

Malic hesitates for just a moment to get a sense for the figure's direction and speed, then races off along the black and white dunes. His footfalls should scatter sand like a rainstorm but, instead, the artful ripples of the desert are left in peace as Malic races across the hot air.

Gia races after the man, emerald-colored cloak flying behind her-- barely touching the ground, sometimes not touching at all.

<Arkadi> "Oh, godDAMN it."

Arkadi tears off after the group, mightily cursing the lack of any pedestrians of buildings to get in the fleeing man's way to slow him down

Osprey runs a few steps after the others, then slows down.

<willows-ST> The man throws something to thte ground. Vines spring up from the ground, tripping his three pursuers, but not enough to knock them down or slow them appreciably.

Osprey comes to a halt, monochrome sand scuffing up about his gray boots.

<Osprey> He looks around at the colorless landscape -- sand, plants, even the quickly-growing vines bleached of all color.

<Osprey> He casts a look behind him, where the puppy-Lunar gleams white.

Malic snorts as he plants a boot atop one of the vines, testing its strength. As it gives under his weight, Malic launches himself onto the vines and starts skimming over the impeding plants with all the grace of a thief on a rooftop

Osprey closes his eyes and draws a breath, then releases it, power flowing into his anima as the air is exhaled from his lungs.

<Osprey> Dark gray light begins to spread around him, rippling over the sand.

Osprey concentrates, a bead of gray sweat forming on his forehead.

<Osprey> Color begins to seep into the light around him.

<Osprey> Gray shades into pale blue, growing more and more saturated as he pits his will against the odd unweaving of fate.

<Osprey> With a last burst of mental exertion, Osprey's anima flares into its full cerulean glory.

Arkadi pours it on for a few more steps...then launches hiself forwards off the ground, bounding towards the mook with a single bound

<Osprey> The symbol of Venus shines blue on his forehead; color begins bleeding out over his face, grays replaced by his usual ruddy bronze.

<willows-ST> The figure notices the wave of blue light and makes a slow, soaring leap towards Osprey, landing in the trees some yards away. He alights on a branch and watches, while Arkadi floats toward him.

Osprey turns toward the figure, maintaining his concentration.

Gia pushes off of a nearby tree, relying on the strange rules of this place to send her back towards Osprey and the strange man.

Arkadi sails through the air, slamming down onto the plains and sliding to a stop "Freeze, dammit!"

<willows-ST> The figure is a man swathed in, well, grey clothing. His face is partly covered, but his eyes are frozen in a sort of hateful stare.

<Osprey> As Gia and Arkadi pass within the radius of Osprey's anima display, they are ringed by azure halos.

<Osprey> As his Essence surrounds them, color begins seeping into them around the edges.

<willows-ST> Arkadi and Gia land nearby, with a soft rustling.

Arkadi looks at the man

<Arkadi> "You planning to come down quietly?"

<Malic> "I hope not. That's not fun."

Osprey meets the man's hateful gaze, challenge obvious in the star-flecked indigo of his eyes.

Arkadi shoots a look at Malic

Malic smiles faintly as a pale yellow light begins to glow around his body, slowly creeping outward to swirl around his friends like a warm breeze caressing them. His anima too, slowly pushes back the grey and white of this place.

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