As Sam starts talking to her about how she isn't Nivara, she slowly starts to nod, trying to let his words sink in. She knows he is right, but how she is in her head... she doesn't understand. "I don't know what I have of Nivara. This last dream was the worst, she was... she was mocking me. And then showing me things that she did and then what I did. No.. no, I didn't kill Nivara." She sits up and looks at Sam, really looks at him.
"Sam, I wasn't kidding when I told you I am an assassin. I am a hired killer. I was a hired killer... I don't think I could ever go back to that life, I don't want to go back to that life. Shit, I look back and all I was was a robot, nothing more. And now?" A small smile creeps in under the terror that has gripped her. "No, I can't go back to that. I was given several jobs to carry out, through the Treasury mainly. Huh, your all hatred towards the faction isn't exactly misplaced. But there was one that felt off, didn't feel right, but I did it as I was asked and that was the one she just showed me. I don't know why? She has shown me what she did here, the horrors that she belayed upon these people. And I think, I think she killed Vox Tontritor, at least she was meaning to. But then she said she gave them freedom, it was more than she could say for me. Then showing me what I can only assume to be Hector's brother's death and I felt Mori's pain, real hollowed out pain. Then she showed me the murder I committed. Then.. well then you woke me."
"I should have woken you earlier," Sam mutters softly with a sad shake of his head. "And I don't hate the Treasury... For whatever their faults, and it sounds like there's faults there we don't even suspect, they at least brought us you, eh?"
"But yes, assassin. I remember," Sam adds quickly so as to get past that quickly. "Not as pleasant as a baker, I suppose, but who am I to judge? I've done my fair share of nasty things in my life. And probably the next half dozen guys fair share as well. Some was getting blackout drunk and taking my anger out of whatever was nearby... And that was the nicer of it. I won't compare crime to crime with you but don't be so sure you'd win, eh? I never did nothing on the scale you're talking about but then again I never had no evil twin and vampire father urging me on... Just a cause..." Sam says in an attempt to sympathize and show that he can indeed empathize. "Sounds like you weren't exactly in your right mind... Maybe not even you yet. My worst things I can't even blame on the drink. I did them with a clear head. Just told myself that the ends justify the means and it is amazing what you can justify to yourself that way..."
"Point is, you have a dark past but your future is as bright as you decide to make it? And maybe if we can't erase our pasts we can at least... try to add a counter balance? I don't know, do the gods care when they judge you after it all? Some say yes, some say no, some say... shit I don't even understand. Screw 'em. I am more worried how I judge myself and I know I'm not perfect... It's true, it's true! I am not. But... But I figure if I am trying to be better then that's all I can really do, eh?"
Sam pauses and looks away and out over the others sleeping. He lets a sigh out and then turns back to look Elthana in the eyes. "All this mind stuff... How you can have anothers memories and what that means about who you are and such. I don't know. It is beyond me. Maybe Muir would have some bigger thoughts, if you could survive all his questions before you got there... But as I said, you are you. Not your past. Not your memories. What you do with the now is all that you really have a choice about. I trust you in the now. Maybe trust yourself, if you can? Accept the... Well no, that's the wrong word. Acknowledge? Yeah, that works better I think... Acknowledge the past. Your past. Let it influence the now but don't ever let it dictate the now. That make sense?"
"The dreams or whatever... You said 'she showed me'... Do you think these are dreams or do you think this Nivara is somehow showing you things? 'Cause that would mean that she's somehow alive, eh? Active somehow? Attacking... or at least trying to influence you? And if so, I say we put a stop to that. Nobody messes with our minds and gets away with it, eh?"
"Yeah.. we all have a past, that's for sure." her shoulders slump as she feels the weight of it. Sam's words definitely help, she feels steadier, able to discuss things, but it doesn't take away the weight, at least not at the moment. "I trust you too, Sam."
Taking a deep breath and trying to remember what happened in the dream, she focuses on that, "It's hard to describe, the dream started out as if I was her. I was, or she was, I'm going to say I and just know it was her, ok? I was in this place before it broke and was hiding in the shadows. I made it to Lumithor and the great dragon was just staring at me. I tried to talk to it and that's when I heard Nivara's voice in my head, taunting me, telling me that wasn't how it went. Then the scene changed and she just killed everyone, the town, they.. I don't know how she did it, they became undead and then started killing people that weren't yet and it was like she was creating this army of undead." Elthana buries her face in her hands and starts crying again, "It was awful. The worst sight I've ever seen... and I've seen some things."
"She then in my head talked about how they were to serve her, not their measly god. Then once she was satisfied with the destruction here, she turned her sights on thundercloud, I started flying towards it and in my head she said 'Kill Vox Tontritor.' After that, she showed me the deaths that were more related to me, almost yelling in my head that she gave them freedom and that was more than I could say for me." She wipes away her tears and looks over at the others sleeping, not sure if she could meet Sam's eyes again. "And that's when you woke me."
Sam frown at the tears. He hates tears. Emotions, really. All of them. Except for anger they've never really worked out for him in the long run... But this is Elthana and he can't just sit here and watch her cry. Sam reaches out gently and tentatively pulls Elthana close to him. "What she did is not your burden," Sam reminds her in a whisper as he squeezes her to him and then leans in and places a kiss upon the top of her head.
"I..." Sam starts but then closes his eyes a moment before starting again. "We'll do whatever we can to... Well I guess maybe we can't really fix things but we'll do whatever we can, eh? You, me, the rest of them. We'll do what we can..." Sam then just holds her gently until she pulls away or she has pulled herself together. He isn't sure what more to say so he just stays with her and quietly lends his support.
The watch moves along without incident, the hesitant but tender comfort found between the two lingers until the stirrings of serafina signals that the next watch shift is starting. As Elthana climbs back into bed and finds herself quickly falling into a disquieting slumber, Sam wakes Muir and the next watch begins.
Muir talks with Serafina for the first few minutes of his shift, asking about history and gently probing for information. She reveals that the moss fields that they walked through on the previous days and the point of the shattering itself used to be the center of a thriving city before nivara showed up, then in one day she turned the entire city undead and once done fled. Then came the shattering which wiped the city off the map entirely and altered the landscape of the entire isle forever.
Serafina then begins to ask questions of her own but after Muir's stumbling she reveals that the questions were pointed to Griff who lays awake in his bedroll. Revealing further that she has figured out his occupation and accusing him of several things, and the entire conversation becomes highly tense, until Griff outlines his severe disadvantage in this situation and his lack of a choice at being brought to the isle, Muir steps easily into the role of mediator. The give and take of information flows between the Aarakocra an d the shadar-kai as Muir sees to it they keep things fair and after the exchange of information theories begin to fall into place culminating in a plan, a plan that serafina tasks Muir with explaining to everyone when they wake.
The last watch closes out and everyone is awoken at least a little more refreshed than when they first went to sleep (everyone reduces one exhaustion)
Muir smiles at everyone groggily waking up "Good morning, Good morning. Quick sit here, eat and listen. Griff and Serafina have come to an agreement of sorts"Muir pauses and smiles at the two "After much deliberation during my watch they decided that it was possible they are not enemies, but instead pawns. Through questions, civil conversation and mediating by your truly, they seem to have agreed to put their hostilities aside...Why you ask? That's a great question Elthana, thank you for asking....Let me review several points. I will list them so you" On you Muir looks subconsciously at Sam "can follow. "
1. Nivara wanted a cure for death 2. She decided the Shadowfell was her way to do this 3. She spoke to Lumithor 4. She did not get her way and came to these isles destroying a whole city of people 5. Shortly there after she went to Vox Tronitor, the isles were destroyed, Lumithor killed, and Nivarra has not been seen since.
Yes but Muir there must be more, what details are missing? Another great question thank you Young Vincent. So in conversation the kobolds have a bounty for each one killed. Not captured for information but killed. The bounties are higher if the Kobolds are better preserved....PRESERVED! That word is important but we will revisit it shortly......The kobold are then sent to Vox Trontitor..So why would the god of this realm need dead Kobolds? Surely a God can see that these Kobolds are dead and trust in the leaders they have installed such as Djinn Akiin. So why must Vox have all these dead Kobolds? We have deduced it is 1 of 2 things....Nivara has made a deal with Vox for the dead Kobold to raise a dead army. You can't have an undead army missing limbs or decaying...PRESERVED.....
But Muir this makes no sense, you say Sam?.....True there is something that does not make sense with this option....What would Nivara have that Vox would need? Surely a God wouldn't need something from Nivara...No there has to be a better option I said to myself. That option is Nivara has either captured or killed Vox. There are several reasons to believe this. Why would Vox need the dead? Vox does not but Nivara does. How would she get her playthings and experiments you ask Gewyn...from endless war. She has both sides convinced they are the enemies that she flies right under their noses. Serafina assures us that under her watch no Kobolds have attacked but yet Griff speaks of Kobold attacks....To the untrained eye an undead Kobold would look like a regular Kobold but there are differences....
Lastly Lumithor....Why would Vox strike down Lumithor who clearly did his job keeping Nivara out? Also Vox would know that Killing Lumithor would not release him from his duty to the Raven Queen and keep the Shadowfell seeled. Who would not know this? NIvara....
On top of all this the Raven Queen is weaponized, kobolds blamed for Lumithor's death, and accused of worshipping Nectryan...Who here has seen anyone in these parts worshipping that devil? No, neither have I and it's because it is a farce made up by Nivara to try to amass an army of undead soldiers to break her way into the shadowfell...unless she has somehow managed to get there through Vox's castle in the clouds." Muir takes a breath a blinks looking from each companion to the next before adding "So you see that is what we are up against...Luckily for us there is one that can help us with some of these questions....Lumithor's spirit. Be on your guard when we get there....We do not know what awaits us." Muir sits
On "you" Sam subconsciously flips Muir off and smirks.
Later, Sam stifles a yawn and stretch and instead turns to look at Muir. "No, you long nosed, floppy eared freak, I was asking how Nivara had an undead army..." but Muir had moved on already and Sam figured it wasn't really his question to ask anyway.
"Ok, but... What?" Sam asks. Turning to Elthana he leans in and whispers "Does that all match up with your dreams?" It was all very confusing but if Nivara killed a town and they all rose up as an undead army loyal to her, where do Kobold corpses come in to it?
"I still don't know what we are up against but first thing is first... We need to get the load stone before anything else, yes?"
Muir smiles and nods at Sam "Indeed and luckily for us the bones of Lumithor and his spirit are both where we are headed.....However, if Nivara is indeed running this realm as I suspect then she would know we are on our way there as well....or Vox....."
Vin is a little stunned by the conclusion that Muir, Serafina and Griff had come to.
"Muir, that is so far fetched as to seem a little ridiculous, but I can't help but think it is also brilliant. So Nivara wants as many dead as possible, she doesn't care that they are all preserved, she just needs enough like that to pose as regular kobolds to stoke the fires of war to create more opportunity for raising the dead? And you think she is experimenting on them as well?".
"They say Vox Tontritor sees everything. Perhaps they destroyed this isle trying to take out Nivara, seeing her threat and accepting the collateral damage? It obviously didn't work though, mind", he muses.
He then processes what Sam said, "What dream?". He looks to Elthana.
As he waits for replies, Vin digs into his backpack.
"I think it is time we used this on Nivara", he says drawing out his crystal ball. "Elthana, the closer to the person you are, the more likely it is to work. I think it is best if you do it, but it will take time for you to attune though".
Elthana listens to Muir and his conclusions and can't help but smile as the big ol loxodon sure got a lot of information out of the two of them. And she was impressed how Muir was able to get them to come to at least somewhat of an agreement, that was good news. Maybe Serafina wasn't out to plot her doom afterall.
But man, what information. It made her shudder to think how things were tracking, they had to stay here and fix things after the lodestone was sent back. At least she did, she couldn't help it, she feels partly responsible.
"I don't know if they are being stood up like statues," Elthana pipes up referring to the kobolds, "I'm sure she has a way to reanimate them.. I'm sure she has a plan." Turning to Muir, "I'm sorry I doubted you on the fact that Nivara was still alive, I just didn't want to believe it."
Her eyes go wide and she backs away a bit from Vin as he mentions for her to scry on Nivara. "She won't know I'm there, will she?" The fright she is suddenly filled with unnerves her. Then her features change as anger fills her, she has never let anyone make her feel this way, why is she now?
Muir smiles "It is ok...To be certain, I don't know if any of this is correct or not, we will have to speak to Lumithor's spirit....The three of us" on us he motions to Serafina and Griff "believe this theory is plausible. If none of this comes to be true, I will seriously have to reconsider the ways I go about researching these portals and phenomenon. The war they have fought for centuries does not make logical sense if this is untrue in some way." Muir quiets at the notion of using the orb of scrying. He remembers Hermes bringing this up and decides to wait a moment to allow Vincent to answer
"If it works, a small invisible sensor appears close to her which will follow her. Through that you will be able to see and hear her for 10 minutes. The more familiar you are with her, and the greater the connection to her the better, which is why you are the perfect person to do this", Vin replies.
"If she is able to see invisible things, she might spot the sensor, and she might guess it is you that summoned it. She would be able to talk to you through it then, but I am not certatin if she has the capability to do more", he admits.
"You don't have to do this if it makes you nervous. I will try myself in that case".
"Will spying on Nivara help with what we are about to do?" Sam asks. "Like do we think she may be around or actively opposing our trying to get the load stone? 'Cause if not, do we want to poke at her before we accomplish that?"
Serafina seems highly interested in whether the group will decide to scry upon nivara and anxious at what it might mean, she nods along to Sam's suggestion of waiting.
Griff on the other hand seems impatient to see the outcome of the proposed scrying and is willing to delay the inevitable lightning field crossing, if only for a short while.
Elthana hesitantly takes the crystal ball from Vin, eyes flickering to Serafina but not letting her nod to waiting stop her as her anger has taken over. Her need to know and possibly see and prove that Nivara is actually here... the idea was almost overwhelming.
Under her breath she whispers, "Please don't see me."
Elthana holds the ball out in front of her and starts casting the spell. The shadow elf's eyes roll into the back of her head and turn misty white as her vision leaves the group and enters the spell.
Vin looks at Sam, "I understand what you mean, but the problem is we don't actually know. Nivara seems to be the threat here, and having no idea where she is and what she is doing leaves our mission exposed. I hope doing this is the right thing, and won't cause more trouble".
As Elthana takes the crystal ball from him and prepares to cast the spell, he can't help but say, "Tell us what you see as you are scrying".
Gewyn wakes up with a snort a couple shortly before Muir's monologue. At first he is confused. It should be his watch, so why is everyone up? Then he sees Sam yawning, and his slowly waking mind pieces it together. "Sam, you bastard,"he says, trying to prepare a witty scolding. But he simply follows with "... Thanks."
Gewyn nods along to Muir's assessments. "I mean, a lot of things have felt off about this whole thing, and the Mornlyf immediately stood out as peculiar. I can't think of any explanation that explains away the peculiarities half as well as the ones you have provided."
While they talk about the possibility of scrying, Gewyn fiddles with one of the rings on his finger, unable to ignore the fear in Elthana's voice. "Listen, I think I side with Sam on this one. It may be best to hold off on potentially provoking her until we have the lodestones- lodestone, I mean. But El, if it would give you some peace of mind... I've been using this ring to..." he glances over at Serafina. "... to keep certain things about me private. It shields ones mind. No one can look into your thoughts, nor can they talk to you through them."He slides the ring off and offers it over to Elthana. "If you think it might help ease some of your worries, you are welcome to borrow it."
As Elthana slips the offered ring on her finger hoping that it helps, she casts the spell and her eyes turn misty white and swirl reflecting the same misty white swirl which now begins to move inside the ball.
As soon as an image starts to appear on the ball it flashes and begins again, over and over, never quite showing the group what Elthana is seeing, the flashes pick up their pace, quickening as the spell drags on.
Elthana, with her senses elsewhere begins to flinch and show visible signs of pain and discomfort as the flashes now strobe, lighting up her face, the pace crescendos to a solid white light after nearly ten minutes of uncertainty and then it finally releases Elthana who drops the ball and cannot help but clutch at her head with pain.
Sam pays no attention to the images in the crystal ball but instead focuses on Elthana. As she starts to show pain and distress Sam moves behind her. He's tempted to support her or whisper to her that she can stop if she needs to... But magic is delicate shit and Sam figured it was really best he not interfere. Still, he stood at the ready and when she finally releases the ball he is there to put a gentle hand on her back to support her, or catch her if need be.
"Are you ok?"
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As Sam starts talking to her about how she isn't Nivara, she slowly starts to nod, trying to let his words sink in. She knows he is right, but how she is in her head... she doesn't understand. "I don't know what I have of Nivara. This last dream was the worst, she was... she was mocking me. And then showing me things that she did and then what I did. No.. no, I didn't kill Nivara." She sits up and looks at Sam, really looks at him.
"Sam, I wasn't kidding when I told you I am an assassin. I am a hired killer. I was a hired killer... I don't think I could ever go back to that life, I don't want to go back to that life. Shit, I look back and all I was was a robot, nothing more. And now?" A small smile creeps in under the terror that has gripped her. "No, I can't go back to that. I was given several jobs to carry out, through the Treasury mainly. Huh, your all hatred towards the faction isn't exactly misplaced. But there was one that felt off, didn't feel right, but I did it as I was asked and that was the one she just showed me. I don't know why? She has shown me what she did here, the horrors that she belayed upon these people. And I think, I think she killed Vox Tontritor, at least she was meaning to. But then she said she gave them freedom, it was more than she could say for me. Then showing me what I can only assume to be Hector's brother's death and I felt Mori's pain, real hollowed out pain. Then she showed me the murder I committed. Then.. well then you woke me."
"I should have woken you earlier," Sam mutters softly with a sad shake of his head. "And I don't hate the Treasury... For whatever their faults, and it sounds like there's faults there we don't even suspect, they at least brought us you, eh?"
"But yes, assassin. I remember," Sam adds quickly so as to get past that quickly. "Not as pleasant as a baker, I suppose, but who am I to judge? I've done my fair share of nasty things in my life. And probably the next half dozen guys fair share as well. Some was getting blackout drunk and taking my anger out of whatever was nearby... And that was the nicer of it. I won't compare crime to crime with you but don't be so sure you'd win, eh? I never did nothing on the scale you're talking about but then again I never had no evil twin and vampire father urging me on... Just a cause..." Sam says in an attempt to sympathize and show that he can indeed empathize. "Sounds like you weren't exactly in your right mind... Maybe not even you yet. My worst things I can't even blame on the drink. I did them with a clear head. Just told myself that the ends justify the means and it is amazing what you can justify to yourself that way..."
"Point is, you have a dark past but your future is as bright as you decide to make it? And maybe if we can't erase our pasts we can at least... try to add a counter balance? I don't know, do the gods care when they judge you after it all? Some say yes, some say no, some say... shit I don't even understand. Screw 'em. I am more worried how I judge myself and I know I'm not perfect... It's true, it's true! I am not. But... But I figure if I am trying to be better then that's all I can really do, eh?"
Sam pauses and looks away and out over the others sleeping. He lets a sigh out and then turns back to look Elthana in the eyes. "All this mind stuff... How you can have anothers memories and what that means about who you are and such. I don't know. It is beyond me. Maybe Muir would have some bigger thoughts, if you could survive all his questions before you got there... But as I said, you are you. Not your past. Not your memories. What you do with the now is all that you really have a choice about. I trust you in the now. Maybe trust yourself, if you can? Accept the... Well no, that's the wrong word. Acknowledge? Yeah, that works better I think... Acknowledge the past. Your past. Let it influence the now but don't ever let it dictate the now. That make sense?"
"The dreams or whatever... You said 'she showed me'... Do you think these are dreams or do you think this Nivara is somehow showing you things? 'Cause that would mean that she's somehow alive, eh? Active somehow? Attacking... or at least trying to influence you? And if so, I say we put a stop to that. Nobody messes with our minds and gets away with it, eh?"
"Yeah.. we all have a past, that's for sure." her shoulders slump as she feels the weight of it. Sam's words definitely help, she feels steadier, able to discuss things, but it doesn't take away the weight, at least not at the moment. "I trust you too, Sam."
Taking a deep breath and trying to remember what happened in the dream, she focuses on that, "It's hard to describe, the dream started out as if I was her. I was, or she was, I'm going to say I and just know it was her, ok? I was in this place before it broke and was hiding in the shadows. I made it to Lumithor and the great dragon was just staring at me. I tried to talk to it and that's when I heard Nivara's voice in my head, taunting me, telling me that wasn't how it went. Then the scene changed and she just killed everyone, the town, they.. I don't know how she did it, they became undead and then started killing people that weren't yet and it was like she was creating this army of undead." Elthana buries her face in her hands and starts crying again, "It was awful. The worst sight I've ever seen... and I've seen some things."
"She then in my head talked about how they were to serve her, not their measly god. Then once she was satisfied with the destruction here, she turned her sights on thundercloud, I started flying towards it and in my head she said 'Kill Vox Tontritor.' After that, she showed me the deaths that were more related to me, almost yelling in my head that she gave them freedom and that was more than I could say for me." She wipes away her tears and looks over at the others sleeping, not sure if she could meet Sam's eyes again. "And that's when you woke me."
Sam frown at the tears. He hates tears. Emotions, really. All of them. Except for anger they've never really worked out for him in the long run... But this is Elthana and he can't just sit here and watch her cry. Sam reaches out gently and tentatively pulls Elthana close to him. "What she did is not your burden," Sam reminds her in a whisper as he squeezes her to him and then leans in and places a kiss upon the top of her head.
"I..." Sam starts but then closes his eyes a moment before starting again. "We'll do whatever we can to... Well I guess maybe we can't really fix things but we'll do whatever we can, eh? You, me, the rest of them. We'll do what we can..." Sam then just holds her gently until she pulls away or she has pulled herself together. He isn't sure what more to say so he just stays with her and quietly lends his support.
The watch moves along without incident, the hesitant but tender comfort found between the two lingers until the stirrings of serafina signals that the next watch shift is starting. As Elthana climbs back into bed and finds herself quickly falling into a disquieting slumber, Sam wakes Muir and the next watch begins.
Muir talks with Serafina for the first few minutes of his shift, asking about history and gently probing for information. She reveals that the moss fields that they walked through on the previous days and the point of the shattering itself used to be the center of a thriving city before nivara showed up, then in one day she turned the entire city undead and once done fled. Then came the shattering which wiped the city off the map entirely and altered the landscape of the entire isle forever.
Serafina then begins to ask questions of her own but after Muir's stumbling she reveals that the questions were pointed to Griff who lays awake in his bedroll. Revealing further that she has figured out his occupation and accusing him of several things, and the entire conversation becomes highly tense, until Griff outlines his severe disadvantage in this situation and his lack of a choice at being brought to the isle, Muir steps easily into the role of mediator. The give and take of information flows between the Aarakocra an d the shadar-kai as Muir sees to it they keep things fair and after the exchange of information theories begin to fall into place culminating in a plan, a plan that serafina tasks Muir with explaining to everyone when they wake.
The last watch closes out and everyone is awoken at least a little more refreshed than when they first went to sleep (everyone reduces one exhaustion)
Muir smiles at everyone groggily waking up "Good morning, Good morning. Quick sit here, eat and listen. Griff and Serafina have come to an agreement of sorts" Muir pauses and smiles at the two "After much deliberation during my watch they decided that it was possible they are not enemies, but instead pawns. Through questions, civil conversation and mediating by your truly, they seem to have agreed to put their hostilities aside...Why you ask? That's a great question Elthana, thank you for asking....Let me review several points. I will list them so you" On you Muir looks subconsciously at Sam "can follow. "
1. Nivara wanted a cure for death
2. She decided the Shadowfell was her way to do this
3. She spoke to Lumithor
4. She did not get her way and came to these isles destroying a whole city of people
5. Shortly there after she went to Vox Tronitor, the isles were destroyed, Lumithor killed, and Nivarra has not been seen since.
Yes but Muir there must be more, what details are missing? Another great question thank you Young Vincent. So in conversation the kobolds have a bounty for each one killed. Not captured for information but killed. The bounties are higher if the Kobolds are better preserved....PRESERVED! That word is important but we will revisit it shortly......The kobold are then sent to Vox Trontitor..So why would the god of this realm need dead Kobolds? Surely a God can see that these Kobolds are dead and trust in the leaders they have installed such as Djinn Akiin. So why must Vox have all these dead Kobolds? We have deduced it is 1 of 2 things....Nivara has made a deal with Vox for the dead Kobold to raise a dead army. You can't have an undead army missing limbs or decaying...PRESERVED.....
But Muir this makes no sense, you say Sam?.....True there is something that does not make sense with this option....What would Nivara have that Vox would need? Surely a God wouldn't need something from Nivara...No there has to be a better option I said to myself. That option is Nivara has either captured or killed Vox. There are several reasons to believe this. Why would Vox need the dead? Vox does not but Nivara does. How would she get her playthings and experiments you ask Gewyn...from endless war. She has both sides convinced they are the enemies that she flies right under their noses. Serafina assures us that under her watch no Kobolds have attacked but yet Griff speaks of Kobold attacks....To the untrained eye an undead Kobold would look like a regular Kobold but there are differences....
Lastly Lumithor....Why would Vox strike down Lumithor who clearly did his job keeping Nivara out? Also Vox would know that Killing Lumithor would not release him from his duty to the Raven Queen and keep the Shadowfell seeled. Who would not know this? NIvara....
On top of all this the Raven Queen is weaponized, kobolds blamed for Lumithor's death, and accused of worshipping Nectryan...Who here has seen anyone in these parts worshipping that devil? No, neither have I and it's because it is a farce made up by Nivara to try to amass an army of undead soldiers to break her way into the shadowfell...unless she has somehow managed to get there through Vox's castle in the clouds." Muir takes a breath a blinks looking from each companion to the next before adding "So you see that is what we are up against...Luckily for us there is one that can help us with some of these questions....Lumithor's spirit. Be on your guard when we get there....We do not know what awaits us." Muir sits
On "you" Sam subconsciously flips Muir off and smirks.
Later, Sam stifles a yawn and stretch and instead turns to look at Muir. "No, you long nosed, floppy eared freak, I was asking how Nivara had an undead army..." but Muir had moved on already and Sam figured it wasn't really his question to ask anyway.
"Ok, but... What?" Sam asks. Turning to Elthana he leans in and whispers "Does that all match up with your dreams?" It was all very confusing but if Nivara killed a town and they all rose up as an undead army loyal to her, where do Kobold corpses come in to it?
"I still don't know what we are up against but first thing is first... We need to get the load stone before anything else, yes?"
Muir smiles and nods at Sam "Indeed and luckily for us the bones of Lumithor and his spirit are both where we are headed.....However, if Nivara is indeed running this realm as I suspect then she would know we are on our way there as well....or Vox....."
Vin is a little stunned by the conclusion that Muir, Serafina and Griff had come to.
"Muir, that is so far fetched as to seem a little ridiculous, but I can't help but think it is also brilliant. So Nivara wants as many dead as possible, she doesn't care that they are all preserved, she just needs enough like that to pose as regular kobolds to stoke the fires of war to create more opportunity for raising the dead? And you think she is experimenting on them as well?".
"They say Vox Tontritor sees everything. Perhaps they destroyed this isle trying to take out Nivara, seeing her threat and accepting the collateral damage? It obviously didn't work though, mind", he muses.
He then processes what Sam said, "What dream?". He looks to Elthana.
As he waits for replies, Vin digs into his backpack.
"I think it is time we used this on Nivara", he says drawing out his crystal ball. "Elthana, the closer to the person you are, the more likely it is to work. I think it is best if you do it, but it will take time for you to attune though".
Elthana listens to Muir and his conclusions and can't help but smile as the big ol loxodon sure got a lot of information out of the two of them. And she was impressed how Muir was able to get them to come to at least somewhat of an agreement, that was good news. Maybe Serafina wasn't out to plot her doom afterall.
But man, what information. It made her shudder to think how things were tracking, they had to stay here and fix things after the lodestone was sent back. At least she did, she couldn't help it, she feels partly responsible.
"I don't know if they are being stood up like statues," Elthana pipes up referring to the kobolds, "I'm sure she has a way to reanimate them.. I'm sure she has a plan." Turning to Muir, "I'm sorry I doubted you on the fact that Nivara was still alive, I just didn't want to believe it."
Her eyes go wide and she backs away a bit from Vin as he mentions for her to scry on Nivara. "She won't know I'm there, will she?" The fright she is suddenly filled with unnerves her. Then her features change as anger fills her, she has never let anyone make her feel this way, why is she now?
Muir smiles "It is ok...To be certain, I don't know if any of this is correct or not, we will have to speak to Lumithor's spirit....The three of us" on us he motions to Serafina and Griff "believe this theory is plausible. If none of this comes to be true, I will seriously have to reconsider the ways I go about researching these portals and phenomenon. The war they have fought for centuries does not make logical sense if this is untrue in some way." Muir quiets at the notion of using the orb of scrying. He remembers Hermes bringing this up and decides to wait a moment to allow Vincent to answer
"If it works, a small invisible sensor appears close to her which will follow her. Through that you will be able to see and hear her for 10 minutes. The more familiar you are with her, and the greater the connection to her the better, which is why you are the perfect person to do this", Vin replies.
"If she is able to see invisible things, she might spot the sensor, and she might guess it is you that summoned it. She would be able to talk to you through it then, but I am not certatin if she has the capability to do more", he admits.
"You don't have to do this if it makes you nervous. I will try myself in that case".
"Will spying on Nivara help with what we are about to do?" Sam asks. "Like do we think she may be around or actively opposing our trying to get the load stone? 'Cause if not, do we want to poke at her before we accomplish that?"
Serafina seems highly interested in whether the group will decide to scry upon nivara and anxious at what it might mean, she nods along to Sam's suggestion of waiting.
Griff on the other hand seems impatient to see the outcome of the proposed scrying and is willing to delay the inevitable lightning field crossing, if only for a short while.
Elthana hesitantly takes the crystal ball from Vin, eyes flickering to Serafina but not letting her nod to waiting stop her as her anger has taken over. Her need to know and possibly see and prove that Nivara is actually here... the idea was almost overwhelming.
Under her breath she whispers, "Please don't see me."
Elthana holds the ball out in front of her and starts casting the spell. The shadow elf's eyes roll into the back of her head and turn misty white as her vision leaves the group and enters the spell.
Vin looks at Sam, "I understand what you mean, but the problem is we don't actually know. Nivara seems to be the threat here, and having no idea where she is and what she is doing leaves our mission exposed. I hope doing this is the right thing, and won't cause more trouble".
As Elthana takes the crystal ball from him and prepares to cast the spell, he can't help but say, "Tell us what you see as you are scrying".
Gewyn wakes up with a snort a couple shortly before Muir's monologue. At first he is confused. It should be his watch, so why is everyone up? Then he sees Sam yawning, and his slowly waking mind pieces it together. "Sam, you bastard," he says, trying to prepare a witty scolding. But he simply follows with "... Thanks."
Gewyn nods along to Muir's assessments. "I mean, a lot of things have felt off about this whole thing, and the Mornlyf immediately stood out as peculiar. I can't think of any explanation that explains away the peculiarities half as well as the ones you have provided."
While they talk about the possibility of scrying, Gewyn fiddles with one of the rings on his finger, unable to ignore the fear in Elthana's voice. "Listen, I think I side with Sam on this one. It may be best to hold off on potentially provoking her until we have the lodestones- lodestone, I mean. But El, if it would give you some peace of mind... I've been using this ring to..." he glances over at Serafina. "... to keep certain things about me private. It shields ones mind. No one can look into your thoughts, nor can they talk to you through them." He slides the ring off and offers it over to Elthana. "If you think it might help ease some of your worries, you are welcome to borrow it."
As Elthana slips the offered ring on her finger hoping that it helps, she casts the spell and her eyes turn misty white and swirl reflecting the same misty white swirl which now begins to move inside the ball.
As soon as an image starts to appear on the ball it flashes and begins again, over and over, never quite showing the group what Elthana is seeing, the flashes pick up their pace, quickening as the spell drags on.
Elthana, with her senses elsewhere begins to flinch and show visible signs of pain and discomfort as the flashes now strobe, lighting up her face, the pace crescendos to a solid white light after nearly ten minutes of uncertainty and then it finally releases Elthana who drops the ball and cannot help but clutch at her head with pain.
Sam pays no attention to the images in the crystal ball but instead focuses on Elthana. As she starts to show pain and distress Sam moves behind her. He's tempted to support her or whisper to her that she can stop if she needs to... But magic is delicate shit and Sam figured it was really best he not interfere. Still, he stood at the ready and when she finally releases the ball he is there to put a gentle hand on her back to support her, or catch her if need be.
"Are you ok?"