**Fresh from the Mountain Pass, at the threshold of Ash proper, along the perpetually cool shaded walk and cobbled-stoned streets of the Canopy, you find yourself in the Ebony District of the Guild City, and chances are you're weary from the long trip north, and chances are probably high that you've come to enjoy the discrete comforts of the legendary Boon Companion, but deeper beneath the canyon walls that encompass these shady streets, on the southwestern edge of the Path of Nine, you find your eye is drawn to a grand edifice of architectural glory: The Great Athenaeum of Ash, this is the home of the Initiates in the city of guilds.
A structure cut into the very rock of the canyon, the dusty red of the mountain absorbing the constant shade as to appear a deep black. The upper chambers and balconies run along the top of the canyon walls, looking down on four slender doméd towers that sit at the corners of the courtyard and mountain gardens that encompass the grounds, which are the coolest area of Ash during the day, the perfect place to enjoy a midday walk or to simply relax, for the rocks here receive the least amount of sunlight in the entire city. Inside the inner complex, you'll find an immense central chamber that is a repository of lore and knowledge, for here are kept the ancestral records, traditions, and histories of the kindir tribes and descendants of the Seven Sages. Numerous kindir can be found at any given time of the day or night, poring over ancient histories and forgotten disputes, but the main level, the one where you'll find the man who presides over all of this, is the central balcony. There sits Grand Prelate Perdito, an old gruff elf Initiate who has forgotten more things in his day than you've seen your entire life, well-appointed to the task of Keeper, the ceremonial title one inherits as head of the Athenaeum. While here, you would do well to remember that nothing escapes his watchful eye (he only has the one good one anyway).
There are many secrets waiting to be unearthed within the shadows of these most hallowed halls, they are simply waiting for the one who has the strength enough to seek them in the vault of memories and the vagaries of time that is the abyss of knowledge.**
A round-headed bald face kindir came strolling up towards the athenaeum clad in bear hide with a phoenix on one shoulder and a hound at his heel. The shade of the trees was a welcome reprieve from the sun that beat down on the rest of the guild city.
Adelmo- Let's see here....
The sentinel looked around for any signs of the old rouse he was after... and found beetles everywhere.
**Valentine, visibly disgusted by the behavior of the beetles, stepped lightly around the place.**
Valentine - "I suppose that under other... less erotic circumstances, this might be a nice place to live."
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
**Almost in response a great crunching noise went up amongst the click beetles. It seemed that what had once appeared to be a great mass of mating insects was actually someone going about the business of slaughtering them while the beetles responded by mating all over him.**
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
**As they looked on a surge of purple flame exploded out from the beetle-blanketed man, sending the blackened bastards twitching to the ground. He groaned as the gout of magical fire began licking its way through the rest of the insects, plucking bits of wing and leg segments from his coat.**
Gamble - "Aren't there criminals somewhere who could be doing this? Or child laborers? Or guild interns, or something?"
Valentine - "From what I gather, there are--but they're forced to do it. We, thankfully, are not... Mister..."
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
**A slight curve of the lip was all that suggested she may have heard his name before, but she knew his reputation as well as anyone in Bakara, by now.**
Valentine - "Astrid Valentine. You have a most unusual name, Mr. Highgrove."
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
**Gamble, who had by now taken off his jacket and begun whipping it to the wind to dislodge bits of shell, shrugged.**
Gamble - "See, I was going to take something more classical, like Astrid Valentine, but it turns out that one was taken. Quite taken indeed, as I now see."
Valentine - "My family does tend to be a bit particular about its name. More particular than most. But tell me, then, why does a man who has the... confidence to take a name like yours stoop to a place like this to begin with?"
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Gamble - "Click Beetle round up is a working adventurer's tradition. When you're first starting out you do it for the gold, and once you've been established you do it because you've been driven insane."
**He slipped his coat back on.**
Gamble - "But what about you? You certainly don't seem like the stooping sort yourself."
**Astrid might've pointed out the flamboyantly expensive gear Gamble was wearing, or the weight of the coin purse at his side, or the fact that he was Gamble Highgrove, and she knew full well that he wasn't exactly a working adventurer in the strict sense... but why be impolite?**
Valentine - "No... beetles are not my particular pleasure. As it happens, we--"
**She nodded respectfully toward the kindir, a friendly but not particularly warm smile on her face.**
Valentine - "--are searching for a bit of local color that has gone missing, a rouse by the name of Old Antioch."
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Valentine - "You know him? Then you're already well ahead of us."
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Valentine - "'Welcome' is perhaps not the right word; I, for one, would consider your assistance a personal favor."
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
A structure cut into the very rock of the canyon, the dusty red of the mountain absorbing the constant shade as to appear a deep black. The upper chambers and balconies run along the top of the canyon walls, looking down on four slender doméd towers that sit at the corners of the courtyard and mountain gardens that encompass the grounds, which are the coolest area of Ash during the day, the perfect place to enjoy a midday walk or to simply relax, for the rocks here receive the least amount of sunlight in the entire city. Inside the inner complex, you'll find an immense central chamber that is a repository of lore and knowledge, for here are kept the ancestral records, traditions, and histories of the kindir tribes and descendants of the Seven Sages. Numerous kindir can be found at any given time of the day or night, poring over ancient histories and forgotten disputes, but the main level, the one where you'll find the man who presides over all of this, is the central balcony. There sits Grand Prelate Perdito, an old gruff elf Initiate who has forgotten more things in his day than you've seen your entire life, well-appointed to the task of Keeper, the ceremonial title one inherits as head of the Athenaeum. While here, you would do well to remember that nothing escapes his watchful eye (he only has the one good one anyway).
There are many secrets waiting to be unearthed within the shadows of these most hallowed halls, they are simply waiting for the one who has the strength enough to seek them in the vault of memories and the vagaries of time that is the abyss of knowledge.**
To live is to hope, and while we breathe, we hope and live.
Adelmo- Let's see here....
The sentinel looked around for any signs of the old rouse he was after... and found beetles everywhere.
Adelmo- That could be an issue...
Valentine - "I suppose that under other... less erotic circumstances, this might be a nice place to live."
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Adelmo- Should we deal with these while we're here? Or just... leave them to it?
Adelmo set about looking for signs of old rouse movements, specifically grey fur.
Valentine - "...maybe... we ought to help him?"
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Gamble - "Aren't there criminals somewhere who could be doing this? Or child laborers? Or guild interns, or something?"
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Valentine - "Astrid Valentine. You have a most unusual name, Mr. Highgrove."
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Gamble - "See, I was going to take something more classical, like Astrid Valentine, but it turns out that one was taken. Quite taken indeed, as I now see."
Valentine - "My family does tend to be a bit particular about its name. More particular than most. But tell me, then, why does a man who has the... confidence to take a name like yours stoop to a place like this to begin with?"
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
**He slipped his coat back on.**
Gamble - "But what about you? You certainly don't seem like the stooping sort yourself."
Valentine - "No... beetles are not my particular pleasure. As it happens, we--"
**She nodded respectfully toward the kindir, a friendly but not particularly warm smile on her face.**
Valentine - "--are searching for a bit of local color that has gone missing, a rouse by the name of Old Antioch."
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
**Gamble gave Adelmo a friendly clap on the shoulder by way of greeting.**
Gamble - "I love that old bastard. During the city's construction he'd sit up on his hide legs and bark if you threw him an apple."
Valentine - "You know him? Then you're already well ahead of us."
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
**The beetles had receded enough for Adelmo to spot some tufts of silvery gray fur around what seemed to be an old service tunnel in the cliff face.**
Adelmo reached down to pick up the silvery tufts of fur, and gestured towards the tunnel.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Gamble - "Well, I'd be happy to help I suppose. Seems like a better use of an afternoon than beetle stomping anyhow."
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.