As the dark clouds swirled around you even on this clear sunny day, blind to the beauty of this land, you couldn't help but play out in your mind the events of last couple of days.
You were attending the kingpriest's royal dinner party as the guest of honor, although considering you had been the guest of honor every time you dined in mixed company in Pintherastus for the past dozen, the title had long ago lost any meaning or prestige it may entomb. In fact, you had had a sneaking suspicious it had been meant as a tool to remind you that you were not one of them, you would always be an outsider no matter how much time you spent there or learned their magic ways. Not that it mattered now. Nothing matters now.
Fakes smiles and empty words were all around as always. Double talk, innuendo and court intrigue was the bread and butter of the evening. As always. But you had a feeling you wouldn't be seeing much of these for very long. Soon you'd be expecting to take up your duties as a kingpriest, or "Great Chieftain" as they say back home, of the Grasslands more actively if not seriously (nobody expected you to take them seriously since nobody made it a secret that they didn't take you seriously), soon you'd be marrying princess Helen, soon you're arcane tutelage would come to an end and you'd be leaving this city, soon you-
You had been snapped out of your musings by the sight of a human being allowed in the room by the guards. Unlike the more "wild" parties nobility tended to throw from time to time where it almost seemed like they competed to see just how diverse they could make it even if it meant conjuring imaginary beings, the royal parties were only for the nobility, which meant aside from yourself and a number of people you could count on one hand, it was a tengu exclusive event. That human was dressed in fine but practical clothes intended for the road, a uniform of some sort by the looks of it, and the decidedly lack of color and exaggerated decoration signaled him an outsider. Being allowed to intrude upon a royal dinner party like that were unusual so he drew the attention of everyone like a magnet so much so that by the time he reached the kingpriest the room had died town to a hush. There was a brief, silent exchange (clearly the kingpriest had been expecting him), a handing over of a scroll, a salute, and then the man simply left the room leaving behind the kingpriest to unroll the scroll and read it. The tension in the room grew as nobles sat at the edge of their seats, leaning in closer, barely containing their need to know what the message was about. You remember thinking the old coot was probably pretending to be reading the scroll longer than he actually needed to (his eyes had stopped moving back and forward) just for the heck of pausing for dramatic effect. What he said next knocked the wind out of you harder than that time you were still a kid and very foolishly accepted the Agni Kai challenge from Quroy, which very predictably resulted in him punched you in the gut then intimately acquainting you with the ground. Yes, you would not be seeing a lot of dinner parties like that anymore, though not for the reasons you had thought.
You could remember the ancient tengu announcing to the assembly something about how some time ago he had offered Helen's hand in marriage to the kingpriest of Ironia and he had just received his reply in acceptance. He had went on holding some speech about...something, unity, something, the rest of the nobles standing and cheering, but to you it had all become a haze, a, a, muffled noise in the background in the shock of the announcement.
Time, life itself, became somewhat of a blur after that. You remember keeping cool in public but demolishing your room in private in a very physical and visceral way you had thought you had left behind, that you were suppose to be above. Gave you plenty of practice for that mending spell you didn't think you'd ever need. You remember discreetly, carefully and very very cautiously bringing up the subject with the kingpriest, after all hadn't it always been an unspoken understanding that you would be the one marrying Helen? You had subtly (as far as you know) inquired if there was any chances of changing the arrangement and what would Helen say about all this? The first he hadn't even bothered to answer but the old tengu's attitude had been outright dismissive on the 2nd one "
Does it matter? She knows her duty. I told her just before she left so she can wrap up her PR tour quickly. It was a done deal from the start, that whole performance was just for the sake of the lessers. As if we kingpriests needed messenger boys to communicate with each other, hah! Don't worry, I'll get one of my other daughters to marry you. How about Hana, she seems to always cling to you like a little chick..." You felt sick. Hana was just a little girl, barely hit puberty. Yes, she always tagged along with you and Helen but she always called you her big brother and you saw her as nothing more than a little sister.
Time resumed again when word reached you that Helen had vanished and was nowhere to be found. Considering were talking about the most magical city in the world where the literally single most powerful man in the world had the best wizards in the world at the beck and call, that was no small thing. And worse, both them and the Ironians were calling off the search.
This time you confronted her old man with no pussyfooting around and demanded to know why and what was going to be done about finding Helen. Turns out her last known coordinates was Cruilla, which was deep in Arcania (a place already considered neutral ground between the Kwon-Yuu and the Alliance). Both him and the Ironian kingpriest felt uncomfortable sending any noticeable force or attention drawing reconnaissance so close to the Kwon-Yuu's strongest stronghold so soon after signing a peace treaty with them for the first time in 400 years.
You however, were having none of this bullshit. You were ganna find Helen even if you had to do it alone, and consequences be damned.
You paid to have a magical message sent to the nearest town that sold hoverships, bought the ship over the globes (
ooc: basically on the internet) and charged to have someone sail it up you here, at the base of Pintherastus, while you bought the rest of the supplies you'd need for the journey.
With grim determination you left the city and headed down for the settlement near the base of the mountain where all the petitioners and "unworthy to live in the city but might be needed on call" people live or peddle their trade.
It was too late in the day and the hovership hadn't arrived yet so you intended to check in the inn in the meantime.
MEANWHILE...
The cold mountain air blows your hair back, the many scents it carried tingle your nose and spark your imagination. You couldn't help but grin. How could it
possibly have taken you this long to came to this conclusion?
Endless hours of the same, repetitive, mind numbing mundane tasks. Filling out forms, arguing with the same people over the same stuff every day, in that same dingy, stuffy little office.
It was only after you had a panic attack one day when you had failed to recollect a detail in a story your old man had told you, stories you cherished above all else and gave meaning to your life, that you had finally decided to get up and leave it all behind. Throwing caution to the wind and unleash your curiosity form its cage of complacency.
So now here you were, atop the tallest mountain in the world in Pintherastus, the world's epicenter of lightning!
...well, almost. You were at the base of the tallest mountain in the world, unable to afford the gondola up to the city (the preparations and the trip up to this point had already cost more than you had expected), the guards had not let you use the road, and
as one local had told this pushy, animated, hyperventilating tourist, this time of the year P'und, the patron Exhalted of these lands, was on his way down south, taking the vast majority of lightning storms with him (hence the clear skies).
Still, it's not like you were just ganna give up at the 1st obstacle that came your way, were you? You figured this "epic sojourn" you intended to undertake wouldn't be easy otherwise everyone would be doing it and it wouldn't be so special anymore now would it? You figured a stop at the tavern and mingling with the locals a little, learning what's what wouldn't hurt. And you weren't disappointed. The "unworthy" people in the city who only got to stay there until their menial job was done then got kicked off the mountain until they were needed again, had absolutely no qualms about spilling any and every juicy bit of news, gossip, rumor and dirt they could dredge up from the top.
Turns out Helen, the 1st Princess of Pintherastus and a much beloved public figure by the common folk, has gone missing during her goodwill tour visiting the war-stricken places throughout the Alliance to distribute tengurian aid. Word has it she was last seen in Cruila and then nobody knows what happened to her.
"
Aye, that's what they say an' everyone knows it" said the dwarf as he told you the story, the same story you could hear being echoed from many other tables in the now jam-packed tavern. He had silver, greasy hair clumsily hangs over a skinny, lively face, pot bellied yet his arms were brawny. He clearly appreciated the attentive audience you've been, practically hanging on his every word, but then he leans in a little, looks left-right and motions all conspiratorially like for you to lean in as well. "
But that ain't all, it ain't. Now I may be just a carpenter, snobs think they're so smart but not all things can be fixed, made or maintained by magic eh? A, a ha ha ha! *nudge nudge* *hearty slap on the back/shoulder* But y'see I got a buddy o' mine that works over at those ball starers. Ya know, those guys that talk to balls and other people with balls hear them? And they charge you for it. Anyway, he saw something veeeeery peculiar," but just as he was getting to the good stuff his bulging gray eyes, set gracefully within their sockets, turned to watch fondly over the spirits in the hand of another man over at the next table. Then fell sadly over his own, empty cup.
Just then the doors of the inn violently flew open, as if someone had practically kicked them in. The loud bang of wood hitting wood caused every person in the room to abruptly stop talking and look at the intrusion.
A man of grim determination, palatable aura of power and barely contained rage strode into the room ignoring all eyes on him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:41, Sat 11 May 2019.
