"She chose a song no one would know or know how to play or sing not thinking of the possibility that Elthana would wake when she became undead. Ginro you are quite sure that no other requests no matter how big or small they may seem came from Vox besides this box? Nothing sent her from Vox besides this request?"
Vin listens to Ginro's thoughts on Sam, but says no more himself at this moment.
As for Muir's comment, he looks dubious.
"That kind of sounds like Nivara was being sentimental. I mean, choosing a lullaby as the key. But that doesn't sound like her. If Elthana is the only other person that would know the song, could it be a trap? Check my logic Muir, but Nivara would not have needed the box to protect the phylactery until she had undergone the process to become a liche. Which means Elthana at that time would already have awoken, and Nivara would have known that".
Muir thinks for a moment "Hmmm you make a good point....Did she have the phylactery and was a lich first or was she planning this before becoming a lich? This is a sound line of questioning Vincent. For if she was planning this prior to being a lich than the lullaby makes sense in that it was a connection to her brother possibly....but on the other hand if she was a lich already than this box could be a trap....This brings me to a question for Elthana....This lullaby.....How do you know it? Your mother does not seem to be the sort to sing it to you knowing you were made for a specific purpose...."
Gewyn nods along as Elthana's voice joins in with his playing. After Ginro appears, he says, "Thanks for the accompaniment. I knew it was missing something."
To Muir and Vin, he says, "An artist may look at a chunk of marble and see the shape of a human within. The grain and the flaws are the canvas the sculptor may use to reveal the human within. That is how we all start. Over time, we may be worn down, battered, chipped... other forms may be carved into the original, or additions may be made with painted plaster until the human is obfuscated and a monster is born. But that original piece of marble, with its grain and its flaws that spoke 'human' to the artist, still lies wounded within. To put it in more philosophical terms, I believe such a strong desire to exist and persist as an immortal being requires one to feel their existence is self-justified. There needs be a strong feeling of I AM. And as mortal beings, whence can that sense of ego be derived but from the bonds and connections we form with others and our own past? If I have no tethers to the world, if there is no context to my existence, the question is not, how can I live forever and be all powerful. The question is, is there anything keeping me here? Or should I just... fade away." He clears his throat. "Speaking of course from an artist's perspective. Maybe we're just a particularly sad bunch."
Elthana is quiet for a moment, ruminating on the lullaby and barely registering what the others are talking about. But when Muir addresses her, she looks up, a little startled. "The lullaby? Well, Mori used to sing it to Nivara.. which is weird, I have a memory of that, before I became what I am. It was the last song she sang to my, I mean Nivara's baby brother before he died. It's like a memory we both shared before I became a fragment. This is the first memory I can tell that I have as Nivara. Such a strange feeling."
As Gewyn calls them a sad bunch, she can't help but smile.
Muir listens to Gewyn and acts like he understands "Quite right quite right"Then he turns his attention back to Vin "You bring up a good question. I am unsure of the answer. Does she somehow manipulate Vox before becoming a Lich or was she a Lich before she got to Vox? She had immense power when she confronted Lumithor, so it would make sense she was a Lich at that point. We know she visited a shrine in our world that we could visit to understand her power, but that means leaving here or splitting the group. It would make sense she was a Lich when confronting Vox and overpowering her if that is how it happened. So why the lullaby to open the box? Was it to feel human or something else and why is that the first memory of Elthana's.....Is it a trap? We don't know enough about Liches and Phylacteries. The only person we have helping right now is Goodall when it takes the strength of the other council members' knowledge and abilities. We are running into this when Nivara has had years and years to plan and is planning right now to stop us more than likely. For all we know, this lullaby when sung open the box and captures the next soul needed to feed Nivara...."Muir takes a breath and rubs his head "I am sorry for the mad musings of Muir. These are questions that are unanswered and yet we run full steam ahead without knowing enough."
"could the answer lie closer? Nivara must have visited upon Akiin when she first came here, I shudder to think how long she has been here if this all happened before the portals closed. Perhaps she visited upon other isles, I know that she was never here. Even if it was all that time ago." Ginro chimes in, "if she was not a lich when she killed lumithor and vox then she was already powerful before becoming a lich. I'm not sure which is more frightful..." He moves over to the table and begins folding away the papers.
Muir takes a breath and calms his nerves. He begins to go through his head before speaking confidently again
"Thank You Ginro...Let us review what we know.
1. She left our world after visiting a shrine of Nectyran and her brother passing away. 2. Her discovery led her to come to this world, presumably, where she passed through the portal...We don't know if she had help from her husband but coming her she must have met Akiin. What was said? I think before ascending on the Nivara we should talk to him. 3. From there she went where? We know she went and visited Lumithor where he did not let her through the gates to the Shadowlands. 4. She blew up an isle but could not kill Lumithor. This we know because Vox did this by all the accounts heard here due to Luumithor being a traitor....So when did she become a Lich....She was not a lich when she visited Lumithor. 5. Here is where is what we know becomes presumptions...She travels to Vox after blowing up an island and convinces Vox that Lumithor is a traitor and begins her plans....Did she convince Vox or become Vox and smite Lumithor? She needs a phylactery a strong enough soul for it to feed upon, Mornlyf, and a device to hold the phylactery all while performiong a very strong ritual. 6. Her plan has taken how many years Ginro since she had you made this device and Shenoh to make Mornlyf?
On top of this is Elthana becoming alive....That is when Nivara became a Lich....that's the piece we forgot we had....So Elthana how long have you been alive?"
"if she came through the portal when it was still open, that was around 4,000 years ago. But vox asked for the phylactery only a couple hundred years ago." Ginro responds
Vin tries to keep up with the conversation, with all the timelines and Gewyn's philosophy, and one thing stands out.
"So Nivara destroyed what is now the shattered isle, took down Lumithor, killed and subjugated Vox Tontritor, created her Mori duplicate, and started forming her undead army well before she became a lich. And now she is a lich her soul is in this 10ft cube box implanted in Vox's skull, and all we have to do is get past a vast army of undead, open the box, hope Nivara's soul doesn't overwhelm Elthana, and kill arguably the most powerful necromancer ever", he tries to sum up.
"Do we know if freeing Nivara's soul weakens her? Does it undo her being a lich, or does it just make her vulnerable to being killed for good?", he ponders.
“Yes….now you understand my extreme worry and this is on top of Sam being drunk and violent, Elthana’s overwhelming connection to Nivarra, Gewyn’s philosophical ramblings, and the djinn not yet on the same page”
"the Djiin will all be on the same page, very shortly aside from Gojin but that is another matter... and the vastness of this situation is not lost on us, don't worry about that. Once shenoh has her isle in order you'll have a couple million troops at your back as well as assistance from the others, magic from us, tactics from Duun, and whatever Akiin can come up with."
At that moment a fair pop can be heard, and in a blink there stands a young girl, seemingly a similar age to Vin, clad in the same white science robes that are familiar to those of this isle. She clears her throat and smiles, giving the group a polite curtsey and addressing Ginro, "sir the time, the death giant's passage will be upon Duun shortly" Ginro jolts at the reminder becoming suddenly animated and stands "ah yes, sorry about that, everybody stand up! Your seats and beds are about to be gone!"
Once everybody stands Ginro clicks his fingers and as if changing the slide on a projector the background of the group changes to the familiar teleportation room. The orb sits still in the center of you as you all adjust to your surroundings once more.
To the side of the teleportation circle stands Sam, looking exhausted, and Ömertyr, who looks more frustrated than anything else, the giantkin stands up from his position on the floor grumbling something in giant, before nudging Sam and stepping into the teleport circle.
Muir's eyes open at the sound of death giants. He gathers himself after teleporting out of their sleeping quarters and back to the teleportation room. He immediately asks "Death Giant? Are we going to see them? I have an important question to ask that could help us"
Responding to Muir, "I have been alive around 25 years, which is about 100 years here. Does that help with your timelines?" All of this was making Elthana's head spin. And hearing aloud the concern of Nivara's soul overwhelming her? Gave her the chills, but she doesn't say anything aloud.
As Muir asks about the death giants like he knows what is going on, she raises an eyebrow, "Did I miss something here? And what is the matter with Gojin?"
She watches Sam and Ometyr and wonders what has transpired over the last 8 hours...
Muir scribbles a few things down in his journal before looking back to Elthana and answering her question about Death Giants "Yes, apologies. Nivara turned into a Lich not too long ago but has been here for 4000 years by my account. What has she done in that time? Perhaps those that deal in death will have some perspectives or insight. I assume Death Giants are called as such because they deal in undead things and not because they go around killing everything they see. I am hoping they can help us."
"from what I know of Ömertyr's sister, she has been quite reclusive for the past few hundred years. She may be able to help but the small shard of an Ilse she calls home is difficult to keep track of, from what he tells me, I believe that is purposeful. She is however passing by Duun within an hour's travel of his isle, and that passing is happening very soon. If you are to journey there then you'll all need to depart shortly.
So I'd there anything else you'll need from me before you journey further?" Ginro offers with a curious smile.
Muir nods to Vin "No, you are right....I didn't mean undead as in liches and raising zombie kobold armies. I meant the dealings with the undead and death, not the creation of them, if that makes sense."
Turning to Ginro "I need to check on the Rocs before we depart to make sure they are alright but also to make sure they understand that they will be taken care of while I am gone, if that is acceptable to you?"
(Not sure how much of that conversation happens before everyone stands and thus is teleported back to the "real world" and how much after so...)
Sam blinks at the suddenness of the groups arrival and just nods silently when Ömertyr says something to him in Giant. Ömertyr then nudges Sam into motion and he quickly moves alongside the Giant. Sam side a running translation, perhaps a bit of a summation, of what he hears as the two move towards the main group.
"We are rather pressed for time, it seems, if we want to try to catch and recruit his sister," Sam notes. "But you do what you need to do..."
"I'm sorry, I don't think I ever did get your sister's name?" Sam then asks Ömertyr, switching back to Giant.
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"She chose a song no one would know or know how to play or sing not thinking of the possibility that Elthana would wake when she became undead. Ginro you are quite sure that no other requests no matter how big or small they may seem came from Vox besides this box? Nothing sent her from Vox besides this request?"
Vin listens to Ginro's thoughts on Sam, but says no more himself at this moment.
As for Muir's comment, he looks dubious.
"That kind of sounds like Nivara was being sentimental. I mean, choosing a lullaby as the key. But that doesn't sound like her. If Elthana is the only other person that would know the song, could it be a trap? Check my logic Muir, but Nivara would not have needed the box to protect the phylactery until she had undergone the process to become a liche. Which means Elthana at that time would already have awoken, and Nivara would have known that".
Muir thinks for a moment "Hmmm you make a good point....Did she have the phylactery and was a lich first or was she planning this before becoming a lich? This is a sound line of questioning Vincent. For if she was planning this prior to being a lich than the lullaby makes sense in that it was a connection to her brother possibly....but on the other hand if she was a lich already than this box could be a trap....This brings me to a question for Elthana....This lullaby.....How do you know it? Your mother does not seem to be the sort to sing it to you knowing you were made for a specific purpose...."
“How could she control Vox and request the box before being a lich?”, Vin asks
Gewyn nods along as Elthana's voice joins in with his playing. After Ginro appears, he says, "Thanks for the accompaniment. I knew it was missing something."
To Muir and Vin, he says, "An artist may look at a chunk of marble and see the shape of a human within. The grain and the flaws are the canvas the sculptor may use to reveal the human within. That is how we all start. Over time, we may be worn down, battered, chipped... other forms may be carved into the original, or additions may be made with painted plaster until the human is obfuscated and a monster is born. But that original piece of marble, with its grain and its flaws that spoke 'human' to the artist, still lies wounded within. To put it in more philosophical terms, I believe such a strong desire to exist and persist as an immortal being requires one to feel their existence is self-justified. There needs be a strong feeling of I AM. And as mortal beings, whence can that sense of ego be derived but from the bonds and connections we form with others and our own past? If I have no tethers to the world, if there is no context to my existence, the question is not, how can I live forever and be all powerful. The question is, is there anything keeping me here? Or should I just... fade away." He clears his throat. "Speaking of course from an artist's perspective. Maybe we're just a particularly sad bunch."
Elthana is quiet for a moment, ruminating on the lullaby and barely registering what the others are talking about. But when Muir addresses her, she looks up, a little startled. "The lullaby? Well, Mori used to sing it to Nivara.. which is weird, I have a memory of that, before I became what I am. It was the last song she sang to my, I mean Nivara's baby brother before he died. It's like a memory we both shared before I became a fragment. This is the first memory I can tell that I have as Nivara. Such a strange feeling."
As Gewyn calls them a sad bunch, she can't help but smile.
Muir listens to Gewyn and acts like he understands "Quite right quite right" Then he turns his attention back to Vin "You bring up a good question. I am unsure of the answer. Does she somehow manipulate Vox before becoming a Lich or was she a Lich before she got to Vox? She had immense power when she confronted Lumithor, so it would make sense she was a Lich at that point. We know she visited a shrine in our world that we could visit to understand her power, but that means leaving here or splitting the group. It would make sense she was a Lich when confronting Vox and overpowering her if that is how it happened. So why the lullaby to open the box? Was it to feel human or something else and why is that the first memory of Elthana's.....Is it a trap? We don't know enough about Liches and Phylacteries. The only person we have helping right now is Goodall when it takes the strength of the other council members' knowledge and abilities. We are running into this when Nivara has had years and years to plan and is planning right now to stop us more than likely. For all we know, this lullaby when sung open the box and captures the next soul needed to feed Nivara...." Muir takes a breath and rubs his head "I am sorry for the mad musings of Muir. These are questions that are unanswered and yet we run full steam ahead without knowing enough."
"could the answer lie closer? Nivara must have visited upon Akiin when she first came here, I shudder to think how long she has been here if this all happened before the portals closed. Perhaps she visited upon other isles, I know that she was never here. Even if it was all that time ago." Ginro chimes in, "if she was not a lich when she killed lumithor and vox then she was already powerful before becoming a lich. I'm not sure which is more frightful..." He moves over to the table and begins folding away the papers.
Muir takes a breath and calms his nerves. He begins to go through his head before speaking confidently again
"Thank You Ginro...Let us review what we know.
1. She left our world after visiting a shrine of Nectyran and her brother passing away.
2. Her discovery led her to come to this world, presumably, where she passed through the portal...We don't know if she had help from her husband but coming her she must have met Akiin. What was said? I think before ascending on the Nivara we should talk to him.
3. From there she went where? We know she went and visited Lumithor where he did not let her through the gates to the Shadowlands.
4. She blew up an isle but could not kill Lumithor. This we know because Vox did this by all the accounts heard here due to Luumithor being a traitor....So when did she become a Lich....She was not a lich when she visited Lumithor.
5. Here is where is what we know becomes presumptions...She travels to Vox after blowing up an island and convinces Vox that Lumithor is a traitor and begins her plans....Did she convince Vox or become Vox and smite Lumithor? She needs a phylactery a strong enough soul for it to feed upon, Mornlyf, and a device to hold the phylactery all while performiong a very strong ritual.
6. Her plan has taken how many years Ginro since she had you made this device and Shenoh to make Mornlyf?
On top of this is Elthana becoming alive....That is when Nivara became a Lich....that's the piece we forgot we had....So Elthana how long have you been alive?"
"if she came through the portal when it was still open, that was around 4,000 years ago. But vox asked for the phylactery only a couple hundred years ago." Ginro responds
Vin tries to keep up with the conversation, with all the timelines and Gewyn's philosophy, and one thing stands out.
"So Nivara destroyed what is now the shattered isle, took down Lumithor, killed and subjugated Vox Tontritor, created her Mori duplicate, and started forming her undead army well before she became a lich. And now she is a lich her soul is in this 10ft cube box implanted in Vox's skull, and all we have to do is get past a vast army of undead, open the box, hope Nivara's soul doesn't overwhelm Elthana, and kill arguably the most powerful necromancer ever", he tries to sum up.
"Do we know if freeing Nivara's soul weakens her? Does it undo her being a lich, or does it just make her vulnerable to being killed for good?", he ponders.
“Yes….now you understand my extreme worry and this is on top of Sam being drunk and violent, Elthana’s overwhelming connection to Nivarra, Gewyn’s philosophical ramblings, and the djinn not yet on the same page”
"the Djiin will all be on the same page, very shortly aside from Gojin but that is another matter... and the vastness of this situation is not lost on us, don't worry about that. Once shenoh has her isle in order you'll have a couple million troops at your back as well as assistance from the others, magic from us, tactics from Duun, and whatever Akiin can come up with."
At that moment a fair pop can be heard, and in a blink there stands a young girl, seemingly a similar age to Vin, clad in the same white science robes that are familiar to those of this isle. She clears her throat and smiles, giving the group a polite curtsey and addressing Ginro, "sir the time, the death giant's passage will be upon Duun shortly" Ginro jolts at the reminder becoming suddenly animated and stands "ah yes, sorry about that, everybody stand up! Your seats and beds are about to be gone!"
Once everybody stands Ginro clicks his fingers and as if changing the slide on a projector the background of the group changes to the familiar teleportation room. The orb sits still in the center of you as you all adjust to your surroundings once more.
To the side of the teleportation circle stands Sam, looking exhausted, and Ömertyr, who looks more frustrated than anything else, the giantkin stands up from his position on the floor grumbling something in giant, before nudging Sam and stepping into the teleport circle.
Muir's eyes open at the sound of death giants. He gathers himself after teleporting out of their sleeping quarters and back to the teleportation room. He immediately asks "Death Giant? Are we going to see them? I have an important question to ask that could help us"
Responding to Muir, "I have been alive around 25 years, which is about 100 years here. Does that help with your timelines?" All of this was making Elthana's head spin. And hearing aloud the concern of Nivara's soul overwhelming her? Gave her the chills, but she doesn't say anything aloud.
As Muir asks about the death giants like he knows what is going on, she raises an eyebrow, "Did I miss something here? And what is the matter with Gojin?"
She watches Sam and Ometyr and wonders what has transpired over the last 8 hours...
Muir scribbles a few things down in his journal before looking back to Elthana and answering her question about Death Giants "Yes, apologies. Nivara turned into a Lich not too long ago but has been here for 4000 years by my account. What has she done in that time? Perhaps those that deal in death will have some perspectives or insight. I assume Death Giants are called as such because they deal in undead things and not because they go around killing everything they see. I am hoping they can help us."
“That is quite the assumption, that death relates to dealing with the undead. Probably best not mention that to Morris”, Vin chimes in.
"from what I know of Ömertyr's sister, she has been quite reclusive for the past few hundred years. She may be able to help but the small shard of an Ilse she calls home is difficult to keep track of, from what he tells me, I believe that is purposeful. She is however passing by Duun within an hour's travel of his isle, and that passing is happening very soon. If you are to journey there then you'll all need to depart shortly.
So I'd there anything else you'll need from me before you journey further?" Ginro offers with a curious smile.
Muir nods to Vin "No, you are right....I didn't mean undead as in liches and raising zombie kobold armies. I meant the dealings with the undead and death, not the creation of them, if that makes sense."
Turning to Ginro "I need to check on the Rocs before we depart to make sure they are alright but also to make sure they understand that they will be taken care of while I am gone, if that is acceptable to you?"
(Not sure how much of that conversation happens before everyone stands and thus is teleported back to the "real world" and how much after so...)
Sam blinks at the suddenness of the groups arrival and just nods silently when Ömertyr says something to him in Giant. Ömertyr then nudges Sam into motion and he quickly moves alongside the Giant. Sam side a running translation, perhaps a bit of a summation, of what he hears as the two move towards the main group.
"We are rather pressed for time, it seems, if we want to try to catch and recruit his sister," Sam notes. "But you do what you need to do..."
"I'm sorry, I don't think I ever did get your sister's name?" Sam then asks Ömertyr, switching back to Giant.