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It has been a year since the character's Exaltation, and they have not been idle in those times. Over the course of that year the characters came to terms with their new existance, harnessed much of their potential, and have grown into mature Exalts ready to take their first steady steps into the world. Well, not their first steps...
First Meetings
After her Exaltation, Skyla helped Janna to one of the nearby tribes of the Hill Folk and the two spent a good amount of time discussing everything that had happened and everything that would come to pass. Skyla sent word to her father, telling him that she intended to stay among the Hill Folk for a few months and reorient herself with her friend. While that played some part in it, mostly, Skyla was unsure what to make of all that had happened. The Hill Folk were both cautious of her and very respectful, as they had seen her Castemark the first night she'd come, and knew it to be a holy and yet dangerous mark. She wasn't even there very long, though, before Jhord had made the long trip to see what was going on and eventually worked out what had happened -- and accepted it near instantly. He knew his girl, and he accepted what had happened far quicker than Skyla had thought possible.
Skyla remained among the Hill Folk for several months, regardless, working among them and getting a better understanding of her own heritage. Eventually, though, rumor began to reach her of a man that had wandered into the Underworld and returned with a young boy. These rumors drew her away from the Tribe, toward her Village of Nulam, where she encountered another like herself...the old retired Mercenary. He'd been keeping a lower profile, but more or less everyone knew and so it didn't take her long to find out.
The two young Solars fell into each others company easily enough, Skyla helping the less-experienced Solar to master his anima and gain better control over his Essence, while Jackal took the younger woman under his wing and taught her a bit more in the ways of self-defense and combat-stances. In addition to making trips into the Wilderness, or the occasional furtive attempt to explore the Sunset Catacombs, the two also spent a good bit of time talking about the strange visions and dreams that frequently came to them. It was also about this time that Skyla began having dreams of a place far to the Northeast, past civilized lands, where her past self and other Solars had kept a number of lost treasures and hidden wonders -- including a primordial sphere of life-giving energy called the Wood-Dragon's Eye.
It was at this point that the Evening Crest pulled into the Harbour and Balthasar made his return to Nulam. He was surprised to find that two of "his kind" were already there, particularly that one of them was so close a friend, but was also greatful for their advice and aid. He was also intruiged by what Skyla could tell him of this Golden Manse that haunted her dreams, knowing that such a lost trove of the First Age would bring Wealth Beyond Measure to any that found it and would likely contain other wonders besides. Especially, Skyla was adamant in noting, the Eye of the Wood-Dragon which could perform many wonders of healing and restoration.
The small Circle of Three thus set off, following the river toward the Northeast, Balthasar having deciphered Skyla and his own dreams enough to roughly pinpoint where the Golden Manse should have been hidden. The trip was a slow one, from one corner of the Hundred Kingdoms to the others, and many challenges and tales could be told of it. Passing from village to village, the group found many of them speaking of one who had come not long before, a "Maimed Goddess" that had spoken with righteousness and done many grand deeds for them. Most of them paid little heed, but Jackal was convinced that it was another like themselves and that they should find her. It did not take long.
Merayen had indeed been travelling along the same path they had, drawing north along the River and passing through each of the villages as she came to them. While she wandered much as she always did, she was perhaps not as undirected as she might have been, for in this case she had a goal which she moved toward. She had first encountered his handiwork some time ago, coming across a Village that looked as if it had been ravaged by raiders, and was surprised that the damage had been done by a single man in a fit of mad rage. She was even more surprised, but perhaps not as surprised as she might have, to learn that such woes had been done by "one of the Forsaken."
The first thing Merayen saw was the Blade, a massive elegant thing of almost-pure Orichalcum. The Star of the East was one of the most renowned of blades, spoken of even among some of the texts kept in the Scavenger Lands, a blade of Kings once wielded by a Great Protector of Men -- and now, apparently, in the hands of a butcher. Merayen's first encounter with "San of the Blade" started off kindly enough, but turned ugly quickly once matters began to turn toward the discussion of the village, until the Forsaken one lost his temper and launched at the Zenith with abandon. The battle was hard-fought, the Forsaken not listening to reason and seeming almost possessed, and it was all that she could do to escape with her life.
It was in the small village of Bourbon, recovering from her wounds, that the Circle found her. They had seen the glare of both of their animas, two nights before, and had guessed that she was the one they had been following based on the nature of their wounds. Trust was won easily enough, and both sides had Tales to share, Merayen telling the others of her encounter with the Mad Dawn Caste who had almost killed her -- and Skyla telling the Zenith about the Golden Manse and the power of the Wood-Dragon's Eye. The power of the Eye was one that Merayen grasped almost immediately, for it could be a vast force in the Hundred Kingdoms -- shaken as it was by violence and plague. Plus, if she was to encounter San of the Blade again, she would like to have allies.
The Golden Manse
Despite attempts to draw him out, the group did not locate San of the Blade -- after the battle, he had taken to ground and Balthasar doubted he would show himself anytime soon. With only a bit of regret, but understanding what it was that they sought, the group thus continued toward the Northeast and sought out the Golden Manse. Eventually the group arrived in the safe harbour of Gharos, where Balthasar arranged for his ship to be drydocked and repaired. Most of his crew left behind, the group headed out overland, deep into the Forests of the East.
The trek is not as straight-forward as Balthasar had hoped, and progress seems slow. It would seem that they are missing some crucial part of the puzzle! Eventually, after over a month of little luck, the group runs into Opal Blossom while exploring one of the many First Age Ruins that sprinkle the area. It quickly becomes apparent that this Twilight is ALSO looking for the Golden Manse. A Scavenger Lord and Explorer of the Wilds, she agrees to help you out with the piece of the Puzzle that SHE is familiar with in exchange for a share of whatever is found. None of you are quite sure you trust her, but without her help, you're fairly sure that you'll never be able to find the hidden way to the Manse' location.
Sure enough, her knowledge proves the last bit of the puzzle, and after only a bit more effort to properly align the various defensive mechanisms that keeps the Manse Hidden... you unveil the long-since looted ruin. Apparently you were not the first to find the way to the Manses' location. You weren't even in the same ballpark. The place had largely been ruined, and those ruins had been combed dry hundreds of years ago. None the less, initial disappointment to the contrary, that was still one chamber that remained sealed. One chamber that, if Skyla wasn't incorrect, would house a number of wonders in addition to the Wood-Dragon's Eye. One chamber that, Balthasar was forced to admit, he had no idea how to open. Nor, she claimed, did Opal Blossom...
The next morning, the Circle awoke to find that Opal Blossom had slipped away sometime during the night without even detected or missed. Sure enough, when they checked, the chamber had been opened and there was no sign of the Twilight at the time. Though, to their surprise, a number of items still remained within. It was as they were going over some of the remaining belongings that they heard her voice from above: "Thanks for the help; I'm sorry to have to do this, but I suspect I need a bit of a head start... Now that I've claimed the Prize, I've got to get back to my Buyer!"
Only seconds afterwards, the entrance to the main hidden chamber caved in and the Circle was trapped underground in the sealed chamber that they'd unwittingly walked into. They were hardly "sealed forever underground," and Opal Blossom had known such, but it took them several hours to pull themselves out. She was long gone by then, and though they tried to track her down, they lost sign of her somewhere around Gharos and were unable to pick up the trail again. Even so, while waiting for the ship to clear out of drydock, they managed to return to the ruins and learn a few things here and there ... as well as discover a few things that Opal Blossom had overlooked.
While she'd gotten away with the Wood-Dragon's Eye, you'd still managed to come back with a fair bit of wealth in artifacts and enough raw materials to pay for the entire trip (and then some).
Return to Nulam
The trek down the Maruto was a long but somewhat soothing one, removing some of the worries and stress. Most of the Circle was eager to get home, and Merayan was eager to /see/ this mythical-seeming place you'd described to her. It had been almost a year since you'd left, and by the time you all arrived at the small village it seemed as if an age had passed on the way. The trip of the River Sarine was dreadful, not a boat in sight and the river-banks clogged with wreckage from past conquests. There was even a farm burning in the distance, and investigation revealed that not a single person remained alive within.
The town itself was also somewhat less cheery than it might normally be. The attacks, of course, were one thing. However, there seemed to be no end of horrors bearing down on the small town and many of the Villagers could scent the looming diaster in the making. Madaan had turned its eye this way, and tribute of grain would not be enough to keep her armies at bay for long; they'd come maybe as soon as the Spring. Hopefully, whatever was going on with the Barbarian's wouldn't destroy the village before then -- they'd been rumbling more and more lately, a number of native born villagers disappearing in the night, lines of communication cut off. Plus, the village was suffocating with a lack of trade, as a particularly brutal band of bandits had taken up raiding along the Sarine.
You'd hoped to find a little rest, but it was not to be.
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