There is a single place of Alliel's realm that survives and that is is a crystal tower.  It was originally filled with books and potions but all of those were destroyed in the shattering leaving it a wierd realm of shifting lights and empty shelves and bins.  Outside is the realm she stole souls from so they might not be happy to see her (if there are any survivors) but probably won't recognise her.

Her people, the Alchemists, are best described as a cross between a pig, a warthog and a praying mantis.  Short, hairy with random chitinous plates they are hideous to behold in every sense of the word.  They normally wear red robes to hide themselves and carry short golden wands filled with various chemicals.

---

There is a strange, fallen world in Naggurtyi. Surrounding the Tower was a large desert of black glass, the center of the Realm held under superstition by the amphibious, many-legged creatures that dwell and worship on the fringes. They know great evil lurks within the center of the Dry, but they dare not brave it - not yet.

Alliel woke to claws bouncing up and down on her.  A small creature was attempting to retrieve something from a shelf above her head and she tossed the creature across the room with a thought.  She shook her head to clear it of whatever was causing it to be so difficult to think and stood.  Almost without thinking she picked up a slender metal rod that was lying against one wall and used it to lean upon.  It fitted her as if it was built to serve in that role and seemed almost a part of her.  Looking round her she found herself staring into a pool carved from obsidian and filled with a liquid that was matt black.  She lowered the tip of the rod into it cautiously and nodded sagely as the function of the pool returned to her.  She laughed, a sound that simultaneously rippled like silver and ripped across eardrums like a bandsaw and turned to the item she knew had to be there.

((Ack! choose a new avatar you look like balast!))

(No - This was always Alliel - Balast looked like a suit of armor.  I got halfway through changing characters to Alliel a while back and never bothered to change the image.)

((Oh, lol. Well then carry on. ^_^))

The pool of obsidian ripples with unease almost at hearing the laughter of it's chosen Lady. Otherwise the temple within the Tower is dark and unoccupied; most of the warriors bound to Alliel  would sleep in the higher quarters.

There, upon the altar, was what she was after: the sign of her Height, the dreaded Book.

Alliel smiles and moves her hands towards the book.  As she does so a strange wriggling starts in her fingers that seems to engulf them to the second knuckle.  With a slightly quizzical look she withdraws her hands and watches as the fingers fall off.  She regards the remaining stumps for just a second before they begin to regrow slowly.  She moves her gaze away and moves to stand close to the book before nodding decisively to herself and turning back to the pool.  Without a further thought she moves through the portal.

Seconds later she reappears with her fingers intact and walks over to the book and places one hand on the cover.

"By my Name and the powers of darkness I command you to answer me my servant.  Tell me of your nature and abilities."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:08, Tue 04 May 2010.

(Sorry, Alliel doesn't have a shapeshifting/crafting ability.. so I'm afraid I"ll have to veto the bone-darts unless you give me sufficient reason otherwise.)

I am the tome known as the Omnisprechtlin Augerstus. This is the most recent title given to me, but know that  I am written in no language known to man, spirit or God. I have the power to change the energetic currents of a being, change her moods, her abilities. I serve one master only, and that is myself. You cannot command me, godling.

The book's voice was booming, ominous, doomed and dark.

(Um how about )

"I cannot command you?  Fair enough.  Then can I negotiate with you?  I am Alliel, lady of the Dark Arts and I seek that which is beyond my ken.  If your language is unknown to all then I must rely on you as the translator correct?  In that case I must know your desires and thoughts and I beseech you to share them with you that we may come to an agreement." 

(Oh, shit, sorry. I've made too many of these mistakes, recently. It's fine.)

I wish only vengeance on he who wrote me, who worded me, who confined my broiling, twisting spirit to the letters, the blasted glyphs, within. I seek his eternal death. I seek my own destruction. If you can help me in my goals, godling, than I shall help you.

(Nah - it's too easy to lose track of small things.  Keep checking them - I don't mind ;)  )

"Something of your power is likely to have been forged by one with impressive power no?  Tell me then my friend how I may find the one who crafted you and his name.  I cannot promise to destroy him now but I can aim to do so in the future."

Then perhaps, godling, I shall keep it to myself. For now. You might pay me in murder, however, to hire my services. You have power, I see.

The Book's voice was black, wretched, but not unkind.

"Blood calls to you as well then.  Murder I do for my own ends but I can surely do it for you as well."

She lifted her hands and stared at them, flexing the fingers.

"I am a huntress in truth and my prey is the world itself.  The time has come to distil the world through my own power until it is refined into the pure element that shall be exalted.  Can you tell me anything about the world outside this tower?  I know something is wrong out there but I am unsure what has happened to this tower and place."

I cannot. The Book was almost sad in its proclamation of impotence, a strange sobriety having overcome it. It is beyond my purview. I can tell you that beyond the wasteland that grips this tower are lush forests filled with fruits and strange creatures, but beyond that.. I cannot.

Alliel smirks at the book.

"Even that is useful information.  I know more than I did a second ago and for that I thank you.  Now I feel that I need to stretch my limbs.  We will speak further when I return."

She turns and heads down the tower to the main door and out into the outside world.

Outside, upon the black sands surrounding the Tower, it was deathly hot, the obsidian sun casting down an intense heat upon the land. There was nothing else about her - not even the scuttling of scorpions or the slithering of snakes.

Alliel looks around her calmly, her eyes tracing the line of the horizon for any sign of something to aim towards before she turns and begins to walk directly northwards trying to mark her trail as she goes by releasing a bright pink dye from her finger.

The dye was the colour of infant's blood and it left a stain upon the sand. There winds were still, and the dust of the desert would not be moved. The sun, pitch black despite it's heat, did not move. Soon, it became sweltering hot, the sands began to thin, and Alliel saw the distant, jagged mountains of the North. It was twisted grey stone now into of obsidian sand, and Alliel saw small life scurry beneath her as she walked.

Seeing small animals Alliel bent down and became as still as she could waiting until they got up enough courage to approach her.  She watched carefully to see their form and nature trying to see how aggressive they were and what natural attacks and defences they had grown.  These beasts could be the core of an army if their nature was sufficient to serve her needs.

They were small - no bigger than a man's foot - but seemingly placid. They were often smined, had many eyes and legs, but otherwise harmless - though, it would be noted, their barbs were immediately poisonous. It seems they had to protect themselves from larger predators.

Alliel knelt and tried to coax one of the beasts across to her so she could examine it more closely and in more detail.  If she succeeds she takes it back to her tower for a more complete examination.

It was a small arachnid, about the size of a hand, with dozens of eyes all about its body - except in the case where it held a vicious, fanged mouth. They were not very fast, and did not even try to escape Alliel.

Alliel stores the creature in her tower and finds one of her Alchemists and informs him that he is to complete a study of the creature, what it eats, how it reproduces and how quickly it grows.  She warns him about getting bitten by the spider and then leaves him and heads back north heading out beyond the place where she found the spider still leaving her dye trail.

The Alchemist nods slowly, snarling and snapping to itself. It takes the small, poisonous beast and took it to the study-chambers within the Black Tower.

Balast soon came back to the scraggy area, filled with black stone, where the poisonous creatures dwelt.

Alliel continues northwards keeping her eyes open for other species that might live in this area.  Something told her she could use as many different species as she could find.

Alliel soon climbs past the blasted rock, the blackened hills, and below and beyond the dark sands of the desert she finds, beneath her as she is atop the hills that surround the desert, a luscious, entangled, wild jungle. It was filled with all manner of flora, some with wicked spikes while others held beautiful flowers or precious fruits. The jungle itself was still.

Alliel considers the jungle carefully.  Such a place should be full of small life and the fact it wasn't pointed to some sort of predator - a good thing for her if less so for the animals that should be here.  She carefully looked around for any sign of life most specifically tracks or signs of places where creatures had moved through the jungle.

Outside of the jungle's reach there were no tracks or prints of any sort against the black dirt. A bitter wind howled from the mountaintops, and the jungle rustled, all at once.

Alliel started reforming her throat to amplify sound then let out a resounding roar of challenge to call out whatever was in the jungle.  This was her land now and she would fight to preserve it.

The wind grew stronger, colder, and the trees almost shook with fear. Besides that answer - if it could be called as such - there was nothing.

Alliel hesitates no longer and walks forward slowly into the trees trying as best she can to avoid going close to the stems of the trees themselves and examining the ground she is walking on closely before each step.  It is just possible that the threat here is the trees themselves rather than animals.

The ground was moist brown, the roots a deeper shade. The stems were of a hundred vivid colours - red, yellow, purple, orange, blue, green, others and others - and their flowers were magnificent. There seemed to be no animals about, no birds shrieking or insects buzzing. It was entirely unusual.

"Nothing unusual about it," said a voice behind Alliel. It belonged to a long, dark-haired youth with pitch black eyes and a trustworthy grin. He was dressed in simple blue leather and held a small, silver pistol in his right hand - though not as an act of aggression. His skin was deathly pale and his hair as wild as the jungle in which he lived.

Alliel smiles broadly at the youth.

"Well I suppose that depends largely on your definition of unusual doesn't it then?  One tends to define unusual based on your own experiences so if this is how it always has been you would consider it unusual.  My name is Alliel, and I am a traveller of sorts.  I recently wandered into this land and was as I believe you have guessed slightly perplexed by the lack of animal life in this area.  Is that usual?"

"Of course," said the man, shrugging. "They're scared of me, I believe. A few still remain, in the deeper parts of the jungle where even I do not dwell, but even then.." He smiled, removed a flask fro within his vest. "Where are my manners? A drink, kind sir?"

Alliel takes the flask and gives it a quick swirl before drinking  a quick swig of the liquid.

"So you are a hunter of some sort?  I'm surprised that you feel it worthwhile to hunt smaller things like insects and the like."

She pauses for a second her eyes fixed on a distant point in an unfocused way.

"However I must have failed to catch your name friend, do if you feel able make me acquainted with it."

"I..."

The man stops, looked at Alliel, swallowed and narrowed his eyes. Very slowly his hand more firmly gripped the pistol. He smiled all the while.

"That is interesting. I am Nors of the Jungle. You have walked into my jungle - know that all that enter here return changed. Do you feel changed, friend?"

Alliel burst out laughing, an outburst that lasts quite a few seconds before subsiding.

"I am impermanent and yes I have changed.  However I suspect from your expression that my change is not quite what you were expecting.  Tell me Nor - why would you think I would be changed?  What would the nature of the change be?  I can assure you the change that has manifested is quite impressive if you wish to see it.  However I suspect that I may need to be honest with you."

She clamps down hard  on the end of the gun trying to clamp the tube closed.

"Now can we talk as equals and friends without conflict?  That could just as easily have been your neck if I so choose.  I am Alliel, Goddess of Alchemy and Mistress of the Blackest Sands to the south of here." 

Nors jumped as the gun snapped close. He dropped it suddenly.

"I see," he said, smiling. "You are like me. Psychic. And you are the beautiful mistress of the blackened tower.. I have often wondered as to who owned that particular temple of majesty." He bowed, took Alliel's hand, kissed it. "How do you do?"

Alliel gives the man a tight smile and reaches for him.

"Oh I think we can do better than that can't we."

She pulls him into her and kisses him deeply on the mouth.

Nors fell into the kiss, taking Alliel passionately, but soon broke off, choking, as whatever he'd tried to give to Alliel fell into his stomach. He grimaced, and then smiled very softly, looking at Alliel with new eyes tinged with fear and, perhaps, respect.

"I... I see, very clever," he said. "You must have realised that I am.. Mad, and that - yes - I wished to convert you. You do not feel.. like one of us. And yet you have drunk from me, and I have kissed you. How could you not have changed?"

He seemed a little panicked at the prospect.

Alliel laughs.

"I am Mistress of the Dark Arts and believe me even the mad must bow before some of my arts.  But enough of that for now.  I have no problem with you remaining in my realm and if anything would encourage it.  There is much I can learn from you I am sure.  However if you wish to convert me you should try words and not trickery.  I am not averse to being converted you understand merely wishful to avoid making foolish decisions.  Come, I must return to my tower and would invite you to accompany me.  I am sure there is much I can gain from talking to you and possibly much you can gain from talking to me."

Alliel turns and speeds back to her tower irrespective of what the other god does.  She needs to get to the Methodes portal to receive the daemon.

The Mad God follows Alliel back to her tower. They cross the black wastes, and eventually reach the foreboding tower itself.

Picking up the Hookah daemon Alliel turns back to the Mad god.

"Now understand me - my goal is power and that is my drive above all else.  I know the mad have power to offer and that they also fail to understand what power is in its most simple and direct form.  If you are here to convert me tell me what power is to you."

She gestures with the Hookah daemon to the Methodes gate.

"This daemon wishes to gain power and we are in agreement that such should be of mutual benefit.  Can you offer as much?"

The Mad God, Nors, shrugged and spoke confidently. "I can offer power. The Mad are more than you know. We offer a fraternity of allies, a cause with which we are all bound. When Yggdrasil crashes to dust, we can offer the escape to another world. We offer a broken mind - for not only will you be able to think outside of the box, you will be able to think even without such a box even existing. We offer enlightenment. If nothing else, we offer direct communion with the Destroyer of Humanity, the Crawling Chaos, Nyaher'Thoyep. There is immediate power, and there is the path that will lead you to literal and figurative greatness. If you do not wish to take it, I understand, and will leave. If you do, I am here. This is a broken, blasphemous world. Destroy it with us."

Alliel gives Nors a tight smile.

"You see power as survival then?  Power as coming from others perhaps?  I know the Mad can offer power like no other.  You are the one true threat to the tree and you are not a threat through numbers precisely.  Your message needs to ring clear through the tree showing the bankruptcy of those fools who cling to these collapsing branches and cower amongst the rotting leaves.  I will join you if you wish but I will attempt to show you the reasons you have failed before.  First let me work with this daemon to complete something and then I would hunt with you before I join you.  It is time to deal Yggdrasil its death blow and maybe just maybe the hand that wields the blade that slays the tree will be ours."

Turning back to the Hookah daemon.

"You are here now daemon, here at the source of the portal.  Can you take me to the place you spoke of?"

"Of course," said Nors. "I am happy to wait, and even happier to learn of any wisdom you, O Horrible One, wish to pass to us, the Mad. I will wait in your Tower, if that is acceptable."

The hookah seemed pulled to the Gate of Methodes, the demon trapped in that formed eager to get to work. It shimmered and danced, a thousand colours, in front of them.

"Require.. power, a power," said the hookah. "A sacrifice of.. power.. to make the Gate.."

Alliel gives a sigh and looks at the hookah with a wry smile on her lips and a resigned expression.

"What kind of a sacrifice are we talking here.  I have some reserves of divine essence and I could spare one for this endeavour if you like.  If that would suffice draw from me and open the gate. If something more significant is needed tell me now."

Alliel feels the vampiric Hookah rob her of a sizable fraction of her potential power. It leaves her painfully, burning her wrists and neck as it does so. She lets out an involuntary sigh.

The Methodes Gate flickered with excitement, a prismatic portal filled with an array of alien colours. It expanded, grew hungry, swelled up, bloated with power.

"This is the Polymethodes Gate, Alleel," said the Hookah Demon. "I have recovered my - words. Some of my words. But not my form - there was not enough power to expand both the Gate and myself fully."

Alliel gives the daemon a smirk before placing it on the ground.

"Well consider carefully then how I might find others to hunt.  For each third god that meets my requirements I will give you one more piece of divine essence.  The more help you give the more power both of us gains."

She turns and enters the polymethodic gate.

Then she returns  and looks at Nors.

"So it begins my friend.  Now I need souls, at least 40 of them to start.  Given you seem to have denuded the northern areas of this realm are you aware of any locations I could go to to obtain such souls.  After I have them we can begin to hunt other gods."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:43, Mon 19 July 2010.

(Your other paradox shall go to the to the Age of Odin)

(Also your records have been fixed)

"Unless you count the amphibious, cowardly creatures that exist on the outskirts of this Realm, then no; there are no more souls you can drink," said Nors. "But if that is enough.. there would be more than forty.."

Alliel smiles.

"I am sure that they would be quite sufficient for my purposes but I caution you to understand.  I don't drink souls, I meld them.  I fashion them into something else for my own purposes.  Stay here if you like or come with me if you wish but now is the time to hunt and gather the power I need."

She turns and departs in the direction of the outskirts of the realm getting more precise details from Nors if needed.

"I will remain here," said Nors. "I am curious towards your spirit in the pipe. Perhaps we will talk.. or perhaps I will explore the temple fittingly devoted to your cruel beauty."

Alliel walks west, this time, and soon she leaves the black wasteland that is the boundary that surrounds her Tower and enters softer, purer desert-land. White sand envelops her feet and the dull sun suddenly becomes angry-white and blisteringly hot.

In the distance, tucked between a small mountain range, she can make out the blurred image of a walled city. A hallucination, a simple mirage.. ?

Alliel considers the city image carefully.  Then she concentrates deeply and begins a process of interesting morality.  Once completed she sits down to rest slightly while considering something.

Alliel could smell the heaviest spices, the rich aromas of sex and coffee, the stench of life...  much further than could be possible within the wasteland, towards the mirage-like city.

Alliel sets out towards the city following her nose carefully and using it to keep a nostril out for any sign of life in the area.

The city is overpowered by the smell of heavy salt and waterweed. Moss and the stench of still water. The natural odour of sewage, butchery, sex and spice and life. The city was inhabited by life - this much was obvious.

As Alliel grew closer to the city she saw that it had tall walls made of bleak grey stone, perhaps quarried somewhere nearby. The sands became whiter, sandier, dustier and then rockier; soon she was walking on arid land, not desert and yet unfilled with life.

Alliel starts looking about her carefully looking for signs life had once existed here.  This place seemed to be curiously like the northern jungles in being profoundly unnatural in many ways - almost as if it were being affected by some outside force.  She stride forward keeping a watchful eye out for the inhabitants of this place.  As she moves she begins mentally to tear at the ground around her sending up clouds of dust to show her presence and warn of her coming.

Alliel occasionally saw tufts of the harsh desert weed, and the occasional dust insect - the place was not entirely devoid of life. As dust consumed the area around her, she sensed no shifting of smell from within the city and could see no blurred images betraying its inhabitants. Soon - very soon - she would be at the large open gates of the thing.

Alliel began to get the first sensation that something was dreadfully wrong with this land.  Almost like her coming had changed it in ways the natural inhabitants couldn't cope with.  She continued onwards into the gates letting the dust of her progress surround her.

The gates were tall, made of strong wood, cracked in the heat. They were closed, and no guards were present. No sign of life made itself obvious nearby.

Alliel smiles grimly at the closed gate and then walked forward and knocked upon the gate seven times.

The grand gates did not open. Alliel felt that there was none to open them. The city itself had been completely abandoned, it seemed. Wind crossed the desert, and the sand rose in protest.

Alliel snarled and turned to the gates.  With a slight change of her hands to provide claws and hooks she commenced the climb to the top of the gate ready to see what might be seen when she could survey the city inside.

The wood was chipped and cracked in the heat, and the climb was tough. Nevertheless, there were plenty of hand- and footholds in the gate, and soon Alliel was atop the wall itself. Below, she could see parched stone, broken streets, cracked buildings. A disarray. Once a civilization, of sorts.

The city was entirely empty. No corpses. Only dust and silence.

Alliel raised her head and howled.  Her voice rang out over the city.  Something was hunting the people and places of her realm and while she had no particular attachment to them they were HERS.  She let out a second howl then lifted her nose and began to hunt.  She would find the people of this city.

Even as she moved bricks and forgotten objects about, it was clear to Alliel that no illusions existed in this place. As she searched the huge, seemingly empty city her keen senses occasionally caught whiffs of something muddy, decrepit and foul.. but they were only wisps of a scent, and they were gone as quickly as they came. Something horrible hid in the city.

Alliel bares her teeth in a snarl before moving onwards.  Mud implied water, foul implied waste and something this large in the way of cities was likely to have both.  She looked around her for sewers or waste disposal zones and entered a house or two to see how they has disposed on refuse.

There were pits all about the city, but none of them contained waste. As for the stench she had caught a whiff of earlier.. maddeningly enough, she didn't experience it again. The city was rather compact. Most buildings (made of stone mined, it would seem, from the mountain quarries) had multiple levels, and there were signs, however forgotten, of inhabitants. Something drove the people of the city out.

Alliel looked about her with some puzzlement.  This was a living city recently enough that the smell of sex was still lingering yet was now completely deserted without any sign of death by violence.  She moved to the closest gate (other than the one she had entered through and checked to see if there were any scent trails leaving the city.  If not there she checked all the rest of the gates and did a complete circuit of the walls.

There were no other gates except for the giant one that Alliel entered. Commerce didn't seem to be high on the list of priorities for the inhabitants of the city. There was nothing at note on the walls, only more lingering hints of aromas long gone. There was nothing in the city - no one. Only silence.

Alliel went across to the pits and examined the smells around the edges carefully.  This must be the entrance to a hole unless the people had either disappeared or flown away.  Nothing else was left.

She started to dig in the pit.

(Forgive me, which pit? The mining quarries at the mountains?)

In reply to Master Divine (msg #72):

Post 68 above.  They have to be the answer to the missing people.

(Ah, yes, of course. Sorry!)

Alliel found the digging reasonably easy, as the soil, despite being heavy, was still loose enough to be shifted. Several feet into the earth she found whatever it was that she was looking for: a long cord of silver, weighted with a large ruby.

Alliel considers it for a second totally nonplussed and then goes to the next pit and starts digging.  If she finds another gem she continues digging until she has dug up all the pits.

All the pits were dug up. Each one contained silver cord and a jewel - rubies, diamonds, emeralds, topaz.

Alliel sits down with the gems and concentrates.

The jewels did not contain the strange frequency that usually betrayed trapped souls.

Alliel curses and starts collecting all the gems and cords.  If she can't find the people that were here she'll settle for whatever wealth she can eek out of the place.  Having collected the gems she turns and heads back to the tower.

Weighted down as she was by the collection of precious gems and invaluable metals, Alliel's trek back towards the Tower was a slow one. The people of the city were nowhere to be found. The entire filled Alliel with a strange, almost alien feeling - unfathomable dread. The sun, high above, filled the realm with blinding light and oppressive heat. The sand crunched softly underneath her feet.

Alliel continued.  There was nothing here she could use.  Whatever had taken these people would still be here and without the souls she had no interest in remaining here to find them.

She soon saw the comforting sight of her Black Tower, a blackened alter scraping the sky itself. She could continue and reach the Tower in little time - or perhaps she would like to travel somewhere else?

The moon was cold, alien, high above..

Alliel continued back to the tower.  She needed to dump her load and consider what to spend it on.

Within the dark coolness of the tower was lithe, raven-haired Nors of the Jungle. He smiled at the arrival of his friend, and his grin doubled in size when he saw the captured loot.

"Jewels," he said, his eyes shining. "And treasure! This was in the city?"

"Yes" Alliel hisses at Nors.  "Lots of treasure, lots of jewels, lots of holes but a surprising lack of SOULS."

"I went there looking for souls, not holes or jewels or treasure.  As I seem to recall you sent me there saying there would be souls there.  Care to explain the lack or should I see what happens if I boil your blood in your veins?  Maybe there is no urgency in your world but in mine there is some urgency.  Can I suggest you select a world where we can go together and either hunt a god or find souls and quickly."

"Hey, hey, hey," said Nors of the Jungle. "Back down, sugar. No need to get antsy. It was an honest mistake. I was there only.. thirteen moons ago, and they were there. Bustling. A city of souls. I have no idea what happened to them, and I hold no responsibility."

He grinned.

"Sorry you didn't get your fix," he said. "But I don't see how this is my fault."

Alliel merely nodded.

"Since apparently my suggestion is not to your liking feel free to leave.  I have important things to do and I imagine you have more incompetence to perform - preferably in another realm."

She palms her darts and starts loading each with a different strain of poison.

Nors of the Jungle nodded. Alliel knew that his intel was, at the very least, meant in good faith - the rogue wouldn't dare lie to a creature such as her.

"Very well, I will take my leave, honey," he said, spitting his tobacco. "Mind if I take some of these, uh, these useless trinkets?" He shrugged. "For expenses. And such."

Alliel smiles grimly.

"Of course.  Choose any five you wish as a favor from me.  Such things are of no real import, metal and jewels are worth money but not power.  Power is a far more elusive prey and money can only buy its semblance."

She holds out the jewels and the ropes to Nors.

"There, choose as you will.  The rest I will offer to you if you can find the people of my realm and restore them to their rightful place intact but I doubt you can, what god could search for those as disappeared as these people?"

Nors took:

1. A ruby the size of his fist
2. A sword forged of silver and star-stones
3. Two bars of orichalcum, the metal of hidden things
4. Two tiny stones that shone in the darkness
5. A long, golden rope

"Thank you, milady," he said, surprisingly respectful at the end. "I will search for your people, if I can." Nors of the Jungle wrapped up his items carefully within his cloth sack and left. "Fare well, sugar."

Alliel smiles and nods and returns to the polymethodic gate and the hookah daemon.

"Power has been acquired, power that is sufficient I believe to reopen the gate and possibly even to expand yourself fully but more than that I have knowledge that guides my power.  If I grant you this power will you open the gate to the location and time of my choice - to provide me with that which I suspect you know I already have?"