Ling rocks back and forth on her heels, bent over to read the writing. That is very tempting but... it's a little too tempting. "Did you put that writing on there just now to mock me, Dagon?" She eyes him suspiciously. "I'm not an idiot. Fine, show me the city and then we go back home. Just hold on a second." She walks over to one of the queens, this one is wearing a beautiful tiara decorated with what appear to be huge emeralds. Ling steals the crown off her head and puts it on herself. "I am ready to visit my kingdom!" She declares to Dagon, grinning.
"Hah!" Dagon barks in laughter. "If only that were so, little one."
The angel's eyes linger on the tiara as Ling places it upon her head, but he says nothing further.
Once the shadowhunter is ready, Dagon strolls onwards, guiding her through a maze of corridors, stairs, and courtyards. Finally, they enter a hall larger and loftier than any they have seen so far. From its size, and the great, arch-shaped opening at the far end, it seems clear that this must be the main entrance.
More light than Ling has seen in all her time on this world pours in through the empty doorway, and, when Dagon leads her out through it, she finds herself in the open air. Cold, yet somehow stale wind blows in their faces. They are looking down from a high terrace and there is a great landscape spread out below them.
Low down and near the horizon hangs a great, red sun, far bigger than the sun on Ling's own world. She feels at once that it is also older than the sun she knows. A sun near the end of its life, weary of looking down upon the world. To the left of the sun, and higher up, there is a single star, big and bright. Those are the only two things to be seen in the dark sky. They make a dismal group.
On the earth, in every direction, as far as the eye can reach, there spreads a vast city, in which there is no living thing to be seen. Temples, towers, palaces, pyramids, and bridges cast long, disastrous-looking shadows in the red light of the withered sun. Once a great river flowed through the city, but the water has long since vanished, and it is now only a wide ditch of grey dust.
"Look well on that, which no eyes will ever see again," Dagon intones dramatically, with an extravagant gesture towards the apocalyptic vista before them.
"Such was Charn, the great city. The city of the King of Kings. The wonder of the world. It is silent now, but once the whole air was full of the noises of civilisation. The trampling of feet. The creaking of wheels. The cracking of the whips and the groaning of slaves. The thunder of chariots, and the sacrificial drums beating in the temples. Near the end, the roar of battle went up from every street and the river of Charn ran red..." he pauses and adds, "and, all in one moment, one woman blotted it out for ever. Jadis. The last Queen, but the Queen of the World."
"Later, she would say it was her sister's fault," said the former angel. "'She drove her to it'. 'May the curse of all the Powers rest upon her forever!' 'At any moment I was ready to make peace - yes and to spare her life too, if only she would yield the throne.' " Dagon's voice drips with sarcasm.
"Alas, she would not, and the pride of both sisters destroyed the whole world. Even after the war had begun, there was a solemn promise that neither side would use magic. However, Jadis's sister broke her promise. 'What could I do?' She said. 'Fool! As if she did not know that I had more Magic than she! She even knew that I had the secret of the Deplorable Word. Did she think - she was always a weakling - that I would not use it?'"
"That was the secret of secrets," he explains. "It had long been known to the great kings that there was a word which, if spoken with the proper ceremonies, would destroy all living things, except the one who spoke it. The ancient kings bound themselves and all who should come after them with great oaths never to seek after the knowledge of that word, but Jadis learned it in a secret place, and at a terrible price."
"She fought to overcome her sister by every other means. She poured out the blood of her armies like water. The last great battle raged for three days, here in Charn itself. For three days Jadis looked down upon it from this very spot. She withheld her power until the last of her soldiers had fallen, and her sister, at the head of the rebels was halfway up the great stairs that lead up from the city. She waited until they were so close that they could see one another's faces. 'Victory,' her sister said, her eyes flashing. 'Yes,' said Jadis. 'Victory, but not yours.' Then she spoke the Deplorable Word, and a moment later she was the only living thing beneath the sun."
Dagon is silent for a moment, as he lets the meaning of his tale sink in.
"Jadis had already cast powerful spells on the hall where the images of her ancestors sit. She slept among them, like an image herself, needing neither food nor fire, even if a thousand years should pass, until one came and struck the bell and awoke her."
Ling quietly listens to Dagon's narration, fascinated. "So the bell was struck? Is that why it's broken? What happened to Jadis?" She looks around. "I've heard that siblings fight nastily. Kinda makes me glad I'm an only child." Looking over the dead landscape, she shivers slightly. "This place really is creepy. I'm ready to go back."
Dagon nods sagely as he looks out across the desolate cityscape.
"She left this world, when a traveller, like you, stumbled across the Hall of Images and couldn't resist the temptation of the bell. It's a cruel and devious trap, that rhyme. Only the adventurous dare to explore the Wood between the Worlds, and no explorer worth his salt could just walk on past a challenge as direct as that. It's the kind of thing that sits and festers inside you, eating away at you until you finally do the deed."
He turns from the terrace and begins to walk back towards the palace.
"Jadis escaped Charn and found a new world to torment... but that's a story for another time. For, you see, my little Ling, you've missed the most important question of all. Didn't you ever wonder where the House of Charn got their magic? They were descended from demons. Warlocks, every one of them, and the Bastards of Edom will wreak the same, and worse, upon your city if you do not take that ring through the portal and close it."
Dagon pauses to let this sink in before continuing.
"...but you mustn't do it alone." He adds with a slowly spreading smirk. "Two may accompany you. Take each one by the hand, and in the moment you pass through the portal, they will be transported off with you to God only knows where. You'll be stranded somewhere, in some parallel existence, but you'll be together. That much I can promise you."
He watches, briefly, gauging Ling's reaction, but doesn't wait for an answer.
"Now, come," he instructs, holding out a hand to her. "They're waiting for us. Close your eyes and think of the Wood."
Ling's eyes widen at the thought. "A whole world of warlocks? No wonder it ended like this, so much power in one place..." She looks determined as Dagon speaks on, but then her face falls. "Take others with me? Why? I - I don't know" She turns the ring on her finger, discouraged by this new development. I can't ask anyone to do that. There must be a way around it. I'll ask Nik, he'll know what to do. Home, let's go home to Nik and the others! Ling closes her eyes and pictures the woods.
The whole of the dreary world of Charn vanishes from Ling's eyes, and once more she finds herself rushing upwards. The same warm green light grows ever nearer overhead, until her head emerges from the pool, and, once more, the sunny quietness of the Wood between the Worlds is all about her. It seems richer, and warmer, and more peaceful than ever after the staleness and ruin of the place she just left.
"See you on the other side," Dagon tells her with a wink, before slowly fading from existence.
Ling feels the same drowsiness pull at her again, but before it can take a hold, she locates the pond she marked before and jumps into it. Take me back to the cellar. Take me to Nikolai and my friends!
When she opens her eyes again, she can feels the cold stone of the wine cellar beneath her fingers. To the surprised faces of her fellow shadowhunters and Nik, she pops the tiara on her head and asks: "I know everything looks good on me, but this is just perfect for my skin tone, don't you think?"
As soon as Ling materializes, Caio darts over to her and pulls her into a tight hug. He breathes a heavy sigh of relief then pulls away too hold her at arms length. "What the **** happened?"
"It was crazy, I went to this other place, Charn, and everything was dead, and..." she grins and points at her head, "and I got this tiara! But I'll tell you more on the way. Let's finish searching this place and get outta here! I'll take the cellar with Nik, you two do the upstairs?" Without waiting for an answer, she drags Nik off with her and slips him the ring. "You can take a look at that now. Anything interesting happen while I was away? Oh and do you like my royal look? I think it suits me!"
While Nikolai inspects the ring, the shadowhunter gives the room a once-over, but it seems mundane. She returns to the wine cellar and goes to check out the other remaining rooms downstairs next. As she passes Alaris, she gives them a queenly wave and snickers - still wearing the stolen tiara.
Caio looks dumbfounded at Ling’s sparse explanation and nonchalance. He shakes his head and heads upstairs as instructed. More signs of luxury, nothing of interest, nothing to take his mind off what had just happened and what was about to happen. Eventually he heads back downstairs and paces alone for a few moments before calling out to the others. “Anything else worth looking at?” There’s a pause for a response, but before anyone can reply he calls out again. “Can we be done here?”
Nikolai smiles as Ling reappears and even against his better judgement, nearly rushes over to hug her, but the younger Caio beat him to it. He simply gives the young Shadowhunter a playful wink before he turns to look at Dagon. He locks the shades with his eyes and gives the strange angelic-demon-whatever a respectful nod. 'Thank you.' He simply thinks before he is whipped around with the speed of a cheetah and has a ring shoved into his hands. "Ah, yes, thank you, Ling. The thing I had hoped to do before you disappeared off to an alternate dimension or world or wherever you went. You will tell me all about your adventure that you had without me, by the way, when this is all done. Do not leave a single stone unturned. I want to hear it all." That now said, Nikolai sits down on the cellar floor and sits the ring down in front of him. He removes his tarot deck and once more begins to place cards around the item in a circle around it, touching each card to his forehead briefly before playing it into the casting circle. Each movement unique and ritualized, as the ring begins to glow and the images on his tarot cards begin to move and dance. Layer upon layer of incredibly powerful magical auras stack upon each other in the air above the ring that only Nikolai can see. He begins to sift through the auras to learn their purpose and when he reaches the strongest aura of them all he laughs. "So that's how she did it. Ling, you crazy girl...."
After 10 minutes he stands and passes the object back to Ling. "This is special. Very special. I would daresay this is a relic of historical greatness, an artifact even. It can temporarily stop time around you, it can allow you to Teleport anywhere on this plane of existence or even another plane. You can use it several times to make short teleports for you and one other person around 500 feet away, it can grant you excessive speed or slow someone else, and it can even hold off the decay of death for a time or just freeze someone in their tracks. This thing essentially can bend time. Treat it carefully.... very, very, very carefully." He gives Ling a very intense look.
He glances back at Dagon and a thought comes to him. "You know, I think we are going to need some help. I know someone that could be extremely useful to us. A friend of mine, well, I use that term loosely. She's more of a mercenary than anything, but she's a fighter. And I think we are going to need all of those we can get. Her name is Shivala, I think if I asked her to drop what she was doing on short notice, she'd do it for me."
Ling's eyes widen, then a big grin spreads over her face. "Awesome, this is like, the coolest thing I have ever found! By carefully, you mean don't use it to draw more things on your face?" She laughs, but then turns more serious, the high of her yin fen having finally worn off. "Don't worry, I'll treat it carefully from now on." At the mention of more help - without involving the overbearing Clave, Ling nods in agreement. "I've been wanting to meet her, you've mentioned her before. Another warlock would be a good ally to have against those 'bastards' for sure. Can she meet us this evening, you think?"
Finding nothing more of interest in the other room, Ling heads back upstairs, just as she hears Caio's question. She yells back: "All clear in the cellar, I'm ready to get going! Get ready for one hell of a story, I'll fill you in about Charn on the subway!"
"...and after all that, she doesn't even say goodbye..." Dagon jabs with a tut and a shake of his head, still stood leant lazily against the oaken casks. However, when Ling turns to glance back over her shoulder at him as she heads up the stairs, he is simply gone.
Outside, Ling can see that the sky is tinged with sunset pinks and oranges. Clearly some time has passed since they first set foot in old Kuzno's home. Perhaps more time than should have, but it's hard for her to tell since she spent so long with Dagon in Charn. For Alaris, Caio, and Nikolai the effect is clear. It shouldn't be this late already, but clearly it is.
After a few minutes' walk they are back on the subway and headed to find some dinner and form some kind of plan.
Ling steps outside, watching the sunset with some confusion. As the yin fen high wears off, a leaden tiredness settles in her bones. She pulls the Tiara off her head, suddenly feeling a little silly. On the subway, she remains quiet for a while, but then clears her throat. "So, I owe you a story..." She launches into a detailed account of the woods between worlds and Charn, leaving nothing out. Ling pulls the tiara back out of her jacket and turns it over in her hands. "And I brought this back. Honestly, the place was super eerie. There wasn't even an insect around, nothing at all. I can't imagine... if something like that were to happen here." Her stomach rumbles. "I think it's time we head to that cemetery. Okay, maybe food first, then cemetery. I seem to be all about visiting places of the dead today. The house of a murder victim, the dead world of Charn, the cemetery..." She continues twirling the tiara. "Let's just hope it's not some omen or something." The young shadowhunter says this with a light laugh, but she catches Nikolai's eye and her look is almost pleading. It's not a bad omen, is it Nik? "Anyway, this ring is really quite cool. And probably dangerous, but definitely cool." She holds up her left hand with the ring on it and eyes it with a mixture of respect and suspicion.
Caio is mostly quiet through Ling’s tale, occasionally asking clarifying questions or shooting his brows skyward in surprise. There is definitely a damper on his mood, and Ling might get the sense that her chipper attitude about the situation is grating on him. It’s a stark difference from his normal cool-as-a-cucumber demeanor. “... Yeah we should definitely get food first. Anyone have a taste for anything? Where does your friend live, Nik? Maybe we can head in the direction and grab dinner there.”
Alaris notices a tingling in their head and a pain in their chest.... then realizes that they've been holding their breath through most of Ling's tale. With an explosive exhale and inhale, the shadowhunter shakes their head and apologizes for the distraction, then steps over and gives Ling a frenzied hug.
"Ling, don't you ever leave us like that again! What we do, we do together. And the sooner we get rid of that ring, the better."
Alaris eyes the ring distastefully as Ling holds it up and the light plays across it.
"I hope we get to see Dagon again..." they muse after finding a seat again.
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Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid,Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions! I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...
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Ling rocks back and forth on her heels, bent over to read the writing. That is very tempting but... it's a little too tempting. "Did you put that writing on there just now to mock me, Dagon?" She eyes him suspiciously. "I'm not an idiot. Fine, show me the city and then we go back home. Just hold on a second." She walks over to one of the queens, this one is wearing a beautiful tiara decorated with what appear to be huge emeralds. Ling steals the crown off her head and puts it on herself. "I am ready to visit my kingdom!" She declares to Dagon, grinning.
"Hah!" Dagon barks in laughter. "If only that were so, little one."
The angel's eyes linger on the tiara as Ling places it upon her head, but he says nothing further.
Once the shadowhunter is ready, Dagon strolls onwards, guiding her through a maze of corridors, stairs, and courtyards. Finally, they enter a hall larger and loftier than any they have seen so far. From its size, and the great, arch-shaped opening at the far end, it seems clear that this must be the main entrance.
More light than Ling has seen in all her time on this world pours in through the empty doorway, and, when Dagon leads her out through it, she finds herself in the open air. Cold, yet somehow stale wind blows in their faces. They are looking down from a high terrace and there is a great landscape spread out below them.
Low down and near the horizon hangs a great, red sun, far bigger than the sun on Ling's own world. She feels at once that it is also older than the sun she knows. A sun near the end of its life, weary of looking down upon the world. To the left of the sun, and higher up, there is a single star, big and bright. Those are the only two things to be seen in the dark sky. They make a dismal group.
On the earth, in every direction, as far as the eye can reach, there spreads a vast city, in which there is no living thing to be seen. Temples, towers, palaces, pyramids, and bridges cast long, disastrous-looking shadows in the red light of the withered sun. Once a great river flowed through the city, but the water has long since vanished, and it is now only a wide ditch of grey dust.
"Look well on that, which no eyes will ever see again," Dagon intones dramatically, with an extravagant gesture towards the apocalyptic vista before them.
"Such was Charn, the great city. The city of the King of Kings. The wonder of the world. It is silent now, but once the whole air was full of the noises of civilisation. The trampling of feet. The creaking of wheels. The cracking of the whips and the groaning of slaves. The thunder of chariots, and the sacrificial drums beating in the temples. Near the end, the roar of battle went up from every street and the river of Charn ran red..." he pauses and adds, "and, all in one moment, one woman blotted it out for ever. Jadis. The last Queen, but the Queen of the World."
"Later, she would say it was her sister's fault," said the former angel. "'She drove her to it'. 'May the curse of all the Powers rest upon her forever!' 'At any moment I was ready to make peace - yes and to spare her life too, if only she would yield the throne.' " Dagon's voice drips with sarcasm.
"Alas, she would not, and the pride of both sisters destroyed the whole world. Even after the war had begun, there was a solemn promise that neither side would use magic. However, Jadis's sister broke her promise. 'What could I do?' She said. 'Fool! As if she did not know that I had more Magic than she! She even knew that I had the secret of the Deplorable Word. Did she think - she was always a weakling - that I would not use it?'"
"That was the secret of secrets," he explains. "It had long been known to the great kings that there was a word which, if spoken with the proper ceremonies, would destroy all living things, except the one who spoke it. The ancient kings bound themselves and all who should come after them with great oaths never to seek after the knowledge of that word, but Jadis learned it in a secret place, and at a terrible price."
"She fought to overcome her sister by every other means. She poured out the blood of her armies like water. The last great battle raged for three days, here in Charn itself. For three days Jadis looked down upon it from this very spot. She withheld her power until the last of her soldiers had fallen, and her sister, at the head of the rebels was halfway up the great stairs that lead up from the city. She waited until they were so close that they could see one another's faces. 'Victory,' her sister said, her eyes flashing. 'Yes,' said Jadis. 'Victory, but not yours.' Then she spoke the Deplorable Word, and a moment later she was the only living thing beneath the sun."
Dagon is silent for a moment, as he lets the meaning of his tale sink in.
"Jadis had already cast powerful spells on the hall where the images of her ancestors sit. She slept among them, like an image herself, needing neither food nor fire, even if a thousand years should pass, until one came and struck the bell and awoke her."
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Ling quietly listens to Dagon's narration, fascinated. "So the bell was struck? Is that why it's broken? What happened to Jadis?" She looks around. "I've heard that siblings fight nastily. Kinda makes me glad I'm an only child." Looking over the dead landscape, she shivers slightly. "This place really is creepy. I'm ready to go back."
Dagon nods sagely as he looks out across the desolate cityscape.
"She left this world, when a traveller, like you, stumbled across the Hall of Images and couldn't resist the temptation of the bell. It's a cruel and devious trap, that rhyme. Only the adventurous dare to explore the Wood between the Worlds, and no explorer worth his salt could just walk on past a challenge as direct as that. It's the kind of thing that sits and festers inside you, eating away at you until you finally do the deed."
He turns from the terrace and begins to walk back towards the palace.
"Jadis escaped Charn and found a new world to torment... but that's a story for another time. For, you see, my little Ling, you've missed the most important question of all. Didn't you ever wonder where the House of Charn got their magic? They were descended from demons. Warlocks, every one of them, and the Bastards of Edom will wreak the same, and worse, upon your city if you do not take that ring through the portal and close it."
Dagon pauses to let this sink in before continuing.
"...but you mustn't do it alone." He adds with a slowly spreading smirk. "Two may accompany you. Take each one by the hand, and in the moment you pass through the portal, they will be transported off with you to God only knows where. You'll be stranded somewhere, in some parallel existence, but you'll be together. That much I can promise you."
He watches, briefly, gauging Ling's reaction, but doesn't wait for an answer.
"Now, come," he instructs, holding out a hand to her. "They're waiting for us. Close your eyes and think of the Wood."
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Ling's eyes widen at the thought. "A whole world of warlocks? No wonder it ended like this, so much power in one place..." She looks determined as Dagon speaks on, but then her face falls. "Take others with me? Why? I - I don't know" She turns the ring on her finger, discouraged by this new development. I can't ask anyone to do that. There must be a way around it. I'll ask Nik, he'll know what to do. Home, let's go home to Nik and the others! Ling closes her eyes and pictures the woods.
The whole of the dreary world of Charn vanishes from Ling's eyes, and once more she finds herself rushing upwards. The same warm green light grows ever nearer overhead, until her head emerges from the pool, and, once more, the sunny quietness of the Wood between the Worlds is all about her. It seems richer, and warmer, and more peaceful than ever after the staleness and ruin of the place she just left.
"See you on the other side," Dagon tells her with a wink, before slowly fading from existence.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Ling feels the same drowsiness pull at her again, but before it can take a hold, she locates the pond she marked before and jumps into it. Take me back to the cellar. Take me to Nikolai and my friends!
When she opens her eyes again, she can feels the cold stone of the wine cellar beneath her fingers. To the surprised faces of her fellow shadowhunters and Nik, she pops the tiara on her head and asks: "I know everything looks good on me, but this is just perfect for my skin tone, don't you think?"
There's a sudden flurry of black feathers and Dagon also appears, leaning nonchalantly against a large wine cask, still wearing his sunglasses.
"Chop, chop, tick, tock," he admonishes, gleefully.
"Time waits for no nephilim!"
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
As soon as Ling materializes, Caio darts over to her and pulls her into a tight hug. He breathes a heavy sigh of relief then pulls away too hold her at arms length. "What the **** happened?"
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
"It was crazy, I went to this other place, Charn, and everything was dead, and..." she grins and points at her head, "and I got this tiara! But I'll tell you more on the way. Let's finish searching this place and get outta here! I'll take the cellar with Nik, you two do the upstairs?" Without waiting for an answer, she drags Nik off with her and slips him the ring. "You can take a look at that now. Anything interesting happen while I was away? Oh and do you like my royal look? I think it suits me!"
To the left of the wine cellar, Ling finds a workshop full of tools and equipped for domestic DIY.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
While Nikolai inspects the ring, the shadowhunter gives the room a once-over, but it seems mundane. She returns to the wine cellar and goes to check out the other remaining rooms downstairs next. As she passes Alaris, she gives them a queenly wave and snickers - still wearing the stolen tiara.
The other end of the cellar contains a pair of comfy sofas, a big screen TV, and several gaming consoles. It's clearly a den of some kind.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Caio looks dumbfounded at Ling’s sparse explanation and nonchalance. He shakes his head and heads upstairs as instructed. More signs of luxury, nothing of interest, nothing to take his mind off what had just happened and what was about to happen. Eventually he heads back downstairs and paces alone for a few moments before calling out to the others. “Anything else worth looking at?” There’s a pause for a response, but before anyone can reply he calls out again. “Can we be done here?”
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Nikolai smiles as Ling reappears and even against his better judgement, nearly rushes over to hug her, but the younger Caio beat him to it. He simply gives the young Shadowhunter a playful wink before he turns to look at Dagon. He locks the shades with his eyes and gives the strange angelic-demon-whatever a respectful nod. 'Thank you.' He simply thinks before he is whipped around with the speed of a cheetah and has a ring shoved into his hands. "Ah, yes, thank you, Ling. The thing I had hoped to do before you disappeared off to an alternate dimension or world or wherever you went. You will tell me all about your adventure that you had without me, by the way, when this is all done. Do not leave a single stone unturned. I want to hear it all." That now said, Nikolai sits down on the cellar floor and sits the ring down in front of him. He removes his tarot deck and once more begins to place cards around the item in a circle around it, touching each card to his forehead briefly before playing it into the casting circle. Each movement unique and ritualized, as the ring begins to glow and the images on his tarot cards begin to move and dance. Layer upon layer of incredibly powerful magical auras stack upon each other in the air above the ring that only Nikolai can see. He begins to sift through the auras to learn their purpose and when he reaches the strongest aura of them all he laughs. "So that's how she did it. Ling, you crazy girl...."
After 10 minutes he stands and passes the object back to Ling. "This is special. Very special. I would daresay this is a relic of historical greatness, an artifact even. It can temporarily stop time around you, it can allow you to Teleport anywhere on this plane of existence or even another plane. You can use it several times to make short teleports for you and one other person around 500 feet away, it can grant you excessive speed or slow someone else, and it can even hold off the decay of death for a time or just freeze someone in their tracks. This thing essentially can bend time. Treat it carefully.... very, very, very carefully." He gives Ling a very intense look.
He glances back at Dagon and a thought comes to him. "You know, I think we are going to need some help. I know someone that could be extremely useful to us. A friend of mine, well, I use that term loosely. She's more of a mercenary than anything, but she's a fighter. And I think we are going to need all of those we can get. Her name is Shivala, I think if I asked her to drop what she was doing on short notice, she'd do it for me."
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Ling's eyes widen, then a big grin spreads over her face. "Awesome, this is like, the coolest thing I have ever found! By carefully, you mean don't use it to draw more things on your face?" She laughs, but then turns more serious, the high of her yin fen having finally worn off. "Don't worry, I'll treat it carefully from now on." At the mention of more help - without involving the overbearing Clave, Ling nods in agreement. "I've been wanting to meet her, you've mentioned her before. Another warlock would be a good ally to have against those 'bastards' for sure. Can she meet us this evening, you think?"
Finding nothing more of interest in the other room, Ling heads back upstairs, just as she hears Caio's question. She yells back: "All clear in the cellar, I'm ready to get going! Get ready for one hell of a story, I'll fill you in about Charn on the subway!"
"...and after all that, she doesn't even say goodbye..." Dagon jabs with a tut and a shake of his head, still stood leant lazily against the oaken casks. However, when Ling turns to glance back over her shoulder at him as she heads up the stairs, he is simply gone.
Outside, Ling can see that the sky is tinged with sunset pinks and oranges. Clearly some time has passed since they first set foot in old Kuzno's home. Perhaps more time than should have, but it's hard for her to tell since she spent so long with Dagon in Charn. For Alaris, Caio, and Nikolai the effect is clear. It shouldn't be this late already, but clearly it is.
After a few minutes' walk they are back on the subway and headed to find some dinner and form some kind of plan.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Ling steps outside, watching the sunset with some confusion. As the yin fen high wears off, a leaden tiredness settles in her bones. She pulls the Tiara off her head, suddenly feeling a little silly. On the subway, she remains quiet for a while, but then clears her throat. "So, I owe you a story..." She launches into a detailed account of the woods between worlds and Charn, leaving nothing out. Ling pulls the tiara back out of her jacket and turns it over in her hands. "And I brought this back. Honestly, the place was super eerie. There wasn't even an insect around, nothing at all. I can't imagine... if something like that were to happen here." Her stomach rumbles. "I think it's time we head to that cemetery. Okay, maybe food first, then cemetery. I seem to be all about visiting places of the dead today. The house of a murder victim, the dead world of Charn, the cemetery..." She continues twirling the tiara. "Let's just hope it's not some omen or something." The young shadowhunter says this with a light laugh, but she catches Nikolai's eye and her look is almost pleading. It's not a bad omen, is it Nik? "Anyway, this ring is really quite cool. And probably dangerous, but definitely cool." She holds up her left hand with the ring on it and eyes it with a mixture of respect and suspicion.
Caio is mostly quiet through Ling’s tale, occasionally asking clarifying questions or shooting his brows skyward in surprise. There is definitely a damper on his mood, and Ling might get the sense that her chipper attitude about the situation is grating on him. It’s a stark difference from his normal cool-as-a-cucumber demeanor. “... Yeah we should definitely get food first. Anyone have a taste for anything? Where does your friend live, Nik? Maybe we can head in the direction and grab dinner there.”
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Alaris notices a tingling in their head and a pain in their chest.... then realizes that they've been holding their breath through most of Ling's tale. With an explosive exhale and inhale, the shadowhunter shakes their head and apologizes for the distraction, then steps over and gives Ling a frenzied hug.
"Ling, don't you ever leave us like that again! What we do, we do together. And the sooner we get rid of that ring, the better."
Alaris eyes the ring distastefully as Ling holds it up and the light plays across it.
"I hope we get to see Dagon again..." they muse after finding a seat again.
Eshuvenniel Kazander Ravid, Valor Bard and Acolyte of the Goddess of Luck
Caradoc Langham, Halfling Rogue - Lost Magics - Epic of Pre-made Proportions!
I'm not looking for heaven or hell... just someone to listen to stories I tell...