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<Cerin> Cerin walks into Herons room, having decided to ask some questions before he set out on a chase after vague feelings of intuition.
The Sidereal, clad in a fresh emerald-green cloak but looking somewhat grayer than when Cerin first met him, sits, back to the door, meditating upon his bed. "Hello, Cerin," he says, as the Solar enters.
<Cerin> "Greetings Herons. You look in better health. I have some questions to ask of you."
<Cerin> "I would like to talk with you somewhat about exactly how I ended up leaving certain items" his hands gesture to the badges "with the flowers for safekeeping."
<Cerin> "How, then?"
<Cerin> "And when was this in relation to Talmuda's death?"
<Cerin> "What happened to that?"
<Cerin> "And so you attacked her. Then what?"
<Herons?> "She flew into a rage. Struck against us. Left seven of our number at death's door. She fled through the streets, with Knights in full pursuit. When she reached the gate that, ah, you followed me through" -- there is a slight shift of rhythm here -- "those who followed her saw a massive display of Essence as she entered the gate. Afterwards, we found ourselves unable to enter Bi'Allah through the gate network."
<Cerin> "So what became of the Daybreaker then?"
<Herons?> "It was collected and brought for study. No one but the Knights, the War Council, and the Perfect Circle knew it was in our possession."
<Cerin> "Collected from where?"
<Herons?> "From the ground. She did not carry it with her beyond the walls of the Chrysanthemum."
<Herons?> "We were... unable to complete it."
<Cerin> "Ah. What interuppted you?"
This is clearly the most difficult part yet for Herons to relate. "A member of the Perfect Circle asked to examine the blade himself. He told us that he believed he could learn much about the nature of the undead creatures by examining it."
<Cerin> "Who and when?"
<Herons?> "Kiriath. Perhaps a month after Ymir disappeared."
<Cerin> "Then?"
<Herons?> "We never recovered it."
This is all very tiring for Herons; he looks like he could really use a nap by this point. "We waited. We knew she would have to emerge via the Path of Stars, with the gates blocked from accessing Bi'allah. We were prepared to stop her...
<Cerin> "And?"
<Herons?> "The difficulty with Kiriath interfered."
<Cerin> "Ah, yes that might have I can imagine. This was how long after he took the sword?"
<Herons?> "Not that we could determine. His body was untouched beyond the wounds that slew him; his possessions did not appear to have been moved in any way."
When he arrives at the gate, spends a few brief moments to activate the gate, and then after a moments consideration activates the sequence suggested to him as the orrery was stolen. The sigils roar to life, broadcasting a location well within the borders of Creation -- somewhat to the west. The gate opens.
The building clearly helps to channel powerful Essence flows, though they appear to have grown the slightest bit wild as the building has fallen into disrepair. It does not appear that anyone has passed this way in several years; the dust is largely undisturbed of late, though clearly beyond the central path there is dust far, far older than that.
There is naught but silence behind the door.
The door opens into what was once a First Age city. Great cobbled streets run between buildings, each smooth and curved, built to allow ideal airflow between them and to reveal great open spaces within the sky. Small blue canals cut through the ground, flowing out in a variety of directions. The sound of the sea can be easily heard, and the smell of salt; gulls fly about.
The door is connected to a fairly large building, rising up above his current location to perhaps five stories, narrowing as it rises. The area seems to be deserted, other than the gulls.
Beyond the small enclave he entered through, there are primary doors to the manse as well. They lead into a vast central entrance chamber, complete with large fountains and a variety of entertaining spaces. Spiralling staircases lead up to verandas and mezzanines, which themselves curve upward to various other chambers. It seems likely that the building was once used as a secondary home for entertaining guests, or holding medium-sized soirees. Cerin expects he could easily locate an external porch if he wished to do so.
Finding a porch on the smallest fifth floor of the manse, Cerin emerges to look out upon the city. From this vantage point -- above the roofs of nearly every other building -- he can see the shoreline and the ocean's waves that rise up to it, a gorgeous cerulean color, just past the walls of the final buildings. The city as a whole is open and inviting. Most of the buildings seem likely to have been purposed to fairly mundane uses, though there is some sort of circular meeting hall that catches his eye.
Walking the streets Cerin finds the mix of the small trickle of the nearby water paths and the distant roar of the ocean remarkably soothing. As he approaches the meeting hall, he can easily make out the runes that tell him where he has arrived: the city of Estoc.
To say Cerin was unsurprised by this goes without saying, and he smiles to himself as he quietly slips into the meeting hall, feelings extended to their max, as he starts to look around the meeting hall.
The room is perhaps fifty yards wide, and not tremendously high. Smooth, comfortable-looking marble benches surround a central pool of standing water; other smaller pools occur further out from the center. A gentle breeze blows through, and thin rays of light are allowed in by the ceiling. This room, too, has clearly been used more recently than the thousands of years ago the city was last occupied.
Cerin can tell, the centralmost area was the last used for any sort of meeting. Four people stood there: a thin gentleman arrived first, coming from the easternmost door; then a heavyset man sat opposite him; and shortly thereafter a woman came in to sit between them and they were all assembled.
The meeting adjourned, all three people left simultaneously.
Tags: (:tags Herons, Badges of Office, Sidereals, Ymir, Talmuda, Chrysanthemum, Orrery of Light, Solar Circle Sorcery, Bi'allah, Daybreaker, Kiriath, Path of Stars, Estoc, Lai Misuna, Holbar, Shikaya, Thousand-Faced Man :)
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