Masters of Eothia 1-20

"And where would THAT person be? KEN." Crispy interrupted.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Pure arcane users are rare in this world. Those whom we know of are extremely powerful and dangerous. Your best bet would be to find an Artificer. The scientists of the arcane are the closest we have to understanding The Weave. The popular opinion is that magic users, along with their power, gain... Insanity."

He pauses for a moment.

"Actually, it's due to The Weave as to why I'm here. I've been notified by the 'higher ups' that there's been a disturbance in the weave in this area. Some strange anomoly has happened only recently and has left an unstable rift in The Weave, just outside of the old Rust City. I'm tracking this.. disturbance. Something to do with planar or time travel.

He turns to Dani. My investigation has led me to find traces of a purple/green moss left behind by something. It seems... Alien, Foreign to these lands. If you come accross any, be sure to let me know." He raises his eyebrow towards Dani as if indicating a way in which she is able to communicate with him. (Via Ki meditation rituals or something)

Danica saw the raised eyebrow and understood the gesture. She slowed her breathing, slowly extending her life aura towards him, and their auras slowly began to merge. She tapped politely against his consciousness, a silent indication she was ready to hear whatever he wanted to say. 

"And where would I find an artific-?" Crispy probed, getting more and more impatient by the moment, tugging at her collar and beginning to sweat. But then Ken said some words that triggered Crispy's memory.

The Weave.

Could it be?

Aerik? Is that how you got here?

Crispy remembered the weave, well. She experienced it first hand thousands of years ago in the Underdark, quite possibly on one of her first adventures. Lost. In the Underdark for months. Chubby, Evrik, Immo, Biggs, and..Lith. She stopped tugging at her collar and looked at Ken with wariness as he spoke. Shut up. Don't admit too much. 

The Weave.

Of course.

But why, Aerik? Why?

Not actually knowing what's going on Rosli's expression will sink upon hearing about the city of Rust. "I don't know if any of us can go back to the city of Rust... The whole city is going to be looking for us after the water disappeared."

"There isn't any city to return to." Ken says, sternly. "The natiave Thri-Kreen have taken back control of the land."

He looks back at Cora. "Powerful, more developed places usually have an artifier. They are almost as rare as inate arcane users themselves- but they do exist."

"So, what will you do now?" Asks Xolag, still sipping his tea. "It would seem as though this collared one- Cora, is troubled by this Aerik person. Will you persue him?"

Yasei: "I believe that the collar Cora-san has been forced to bear is some sort of spying device, relaying her every thought, vision, and sound to Aerik.  We are all at risk here.  My suggested course of action is to find an artificer who can remove the spying device."

Danica blinked at that. "Now there's a disturbing thought."

"Can't we just pick the lock on it?" Pulling out her new fancy theives tools Rosli will start inspecting it for some type of a keyhole or locking mechanism

10 Perception

"No, trashcat, it's MAGIC." Crispy says, frustrated. "Aren't you listening? And speaking of listening, **** YOU AERIK." 

She turns to Xolag. "I will be pursuing Aerik. Him and I were co workers in a time lost to the ages. I need to find out why he's here, what's happened to him. The Weave may have had something to do with this, as Ken may suspect. However..this is my burden to bear. I will go alone to find him. He knows I am coming. I must find the truth. Even if it kills me."

Danica spoke up. "And it likely will. Without allies you will fail."

“I am not aftaid of death.” Crispy says to Dani, over her shoulder. “Can you say the same? Besides. This is my problem and would be selfish of me to take you all along. Why be killed, too?”

Rosli will move to the opposite side of Cora and give her a nudge "Like you said before we're family you ain't going along... Plus when you finally open your present I'm going to need to see you put them to use." with a smirk and eyes almost glowing as she stares at the package in excitement. 

Watatsumi takes off and flies circles around Cora's head, until finally landing in her shoulder, where he nestles into her neck.  Yasei: "Looks like your family is coming with you, Cora-san, whether you wish it or not."

"Master Xolag...the Thri-Kreen owe us a favor.  Do you believe there are artifiers amongst their clans?  If so, we will make our way towards Rust post haste."

“The thri-kreen are a primitive race. They deal with weaponry from bone and rock. You won’t find any artificers there.” He throws a look towards Ken, as though he’s hiding something from you all. Ken gives Xolag a look back and nods slightly, with a shrug.

Xolag stands to his full height and his eyes narrow on each of you. His next words carry gravity to them. “The Masters Academy is a top secret, top tier organisation which recognises individuals who have mastered their art. Whether it be for deadly reasons or artisan reasons, the Masters Academy can recruit any individual who is able to pass their exams or prove themselves by other means to obtain a Masters License. We refer to such individuals as VIP’s. This license allows VIP’s to be contracted for certain jobs or ‘missions’ the Academy needs their expertise with. He pulls out a badge which looks as if it’s made from Adamantine with Xolag’s credentials embossed on it. The embossing magically changes every 3 seconds, listing his achievements. You see it says “Xolag- Champion of the Realm” at the top which doesn’t change.

The Masters Academy was founded, because it’s chairman realised that strong individuals of this level should be managed and supported. Individuals seek a Masters License is to be included and surrounded by strong, like minded people chasing the next challenge, or to simply gain the benefits which accompany a Master’s license. This encourages strong individuals to work for the greater good, rather than start their own agendas.

You’re still a ways off from registering on The Academy’s radar. It may be something for you to aspire to, but that’s not why I’m telling you this. To the south, lies the coastal city of Novartis [meaning new trade]. It is the most developed city in Eothia to date. It is hard to gain access to, but if you can get in, the Academy has a small building there within the Library. There, you may find an Artisan worthy of removing your collar.”

Immediately Rosli will start to stretch/flex "Well if you're champion of the realm and I'm champion of your guild doesn't that mean I'm pretty strong too?" a smirk will begin to crawl across her face "I'm also pretty good at getting into places I shouldn't, it's kind of my thing."

The cat was so distracting, Crispy didn't realize Rosli had given her a gift. Once they were outside, she'd check it out, and if it was a practical joke, there would be no witnesses when Crispy murdered the feline. She almost asked why Rosli was being nice to her, but Yasei's reptilian pet went on her shoulder.

"This isn't about me, this is dangerous. We all might be killed." She told Yasei. "I don't..I don't want to lose you again. I can't take it anymore." The last part was almost a whisper.

From that moment on, she heard nothing else, and was preoccupied about Aerik, where he came from, and how she was going to stop him.

Ken speaks up; “Well, I wish you all the best in your persuit of this villain- errr, old friend. Dani, remember to keep an eye out for any of that funny purpley green moss and keep in touch. You’ve done well so far in aquiring yourself some strong allies. Those who try to make it alone in this world do not get very far.” He offers a deep bow to Xolag as well. “The purple worm’s teeth will be left in your storage and the body has been put to good use. It fed a lot of mouths, so the troublesome beast ended up being useful in the end.”

Xolag nods slowly as Ken walks out to the balcony. He turns, gives a salute to the party and after a slight crouch down, dissappears in a powerful leap off the side of the building. Xolag looks at you all curiously as he settles back down in his arm chair. “The sting dagger has been confirmed to still exist by druids in the spider silk woods. It’s located in the Spider’s Hollow. An intricate web of tunnells constructed by a vast number of arachnids under the rule of the mother spider- The Huntsmen. The tale of the sting dagger is that it was forged by an adventurer who got cornered in the Hollow. He made the dagger using the spider’s own sting and venom intending to fight his way out- only to find the spiders were immune to the sting of the weapon. It’s been sought after by the odd hunter who has come through here- none have escaped with it. It would seem your friend is also in persuit of the dagger. It is... one of the trickier artifacts to obtain, but being a magically enhanced artifact, it is well saught after.”

Crispy absent mindedly opens the gift the cat gave her.

Yasei: "One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.  It would appear that spiders are on our road towards our destiny.  Master Xolag, might you have access to any armor and weapons which we could outfit ourselves with, improving upon our existing makeshift equipment?  Especially equipment that might counteract a spiders venom?"