Acqua Alta

[yukonhorror]

"Ariellana, it seems like almost 3 years since we have been together, even if it has only been a week or so. I understand you must stay, and I wish you luck."

[Umiushi]

This is the two hundred ninety-third Acqua Alta main post. Players' posts in either thread are due by 11 pm, Saturday, February 11th. The next main post will appear by 11 am, Monday, February 13th.

Dolan grins sheepishly, and doesn't move to join Rogur, Yrisz, and Zephyr.

"When you told that story to me in the inn, Zephyr, half of me thought you were just trying to cover for some kind of smugglers' cant, and would jump me as soon as we reached a blind alley. I'm glad I listened to the other half, instead. We really did it, didn't we?

"This may sound crazy, seeing as I don't speak the language, but I think I'm going to try my luck here. Hey, Karu doesn't speak it either, and here she is! If Ariellana can use one bodyguard, then she can certainly use two. A crazy decision for a crazy land doesn't sound too bad to me, and I think I'm already picking up one or two words of Elven."

[Malk0lm]

"Thank you Dolan, you will be a welcome addition!"

Ariellana wishes the party godspeed and turns to face her future in this tumultuous land.

[Ithelryn]

"Oh good bye to Dolan, with two such bodyguards as you and Karu, what should Ariellana fear...ok, a bit here...but...we shall miss you two on our travels, but it's a fortunate number three," Yrisz says breathlessly as she buries Dolan an embarrassing long hug.

After that she stands aback fondly looking on her three departing companions as they stand aloft. "My Sehanine light the true paths for you three as you wonder in so strange a land," Yrisz whisper almost to herself again blessing staying members of the group.

[Malk0lm]

Noxias couldn't remember when he returned to the rooms occupied by the Sodalitas. In truth there was very little he could remember. He clearly remembered feeling lucky when he happend across one of the few taverns here in the Vale. He remembered thinking that a quiet nip of the spirits before attending whatever event Eirin Tuwi was supposed to put on wouldn't hurt anything. He was sure he remembered chatting with Mindock then taking his leave. Then things started to get a little fuzzy.

He remembered an open door, yes he was sure of that, and entering it; but he couldn't figure why he would just invite himself in like that. Then, maybe, there was a flash of light, his body engulfed in the familiar magical fire that he so often cast himself. He definitely remembered the pain of it and of the tip of his blade protruding from underneath his ribs. Then blackness punctuated by Koy's arms holding him and Elpy's tearful face. That last bit, he knows, must have been a hallucination.

All in all, not so bad. He was resting in a soft, fluffy bed, surrounded by the aches, stinging, and sudden twinges that comes with having been magically cured of great injuries. Sevati is here, and so is Mindock and Rigoro. However they are slumped in their chairs currently "asleep."

[Malk0lm]

Noxias' throat is as dry as Rigoro's wit. It must have been burned quite badly beforehand. His first course of duty is to take a drink. He forces himself to sit up in the bed and makes it half way before immediately regretting it. Sevati notices and rushes to pour a glass of water. "Nox, you should rest! Here let me," she says warmly, standing and handing the drink to him; she remains standing and leans forward to inspect his healed wounds more closely. Noxias' sick feeling returns immediately, but this time due to the overly nice treatment of Elpy's sycophant in chief. "Something is not quite right here," Noxias thinks to himself.

Sevati's voice wakes Rigoro and Mindock. "Hey, Nox!" Mindock begins, "glad to see you are awake."

"Blow yourself up again with another one of your expirements?" Rigoro teases while Noxias drains the glass of water.

Noxias throws Rigoro an unfriendly glare. Rigoro stares back with fish-like eyes in return. His lack of tact is made up for by his predictability. "What happened to me?"

"Elpy and Koy found you laying on the ground, burned to a cinder with a sword wound and brought you back here," she says, a bit too cheerfully.

"Maybe you'd like to explain what happened after you left me in the tavern?"

"I wish I could. I remember a door, and some fire, and Elpy crying." An audible gasp, overly dramatic, escapes from both Mindock and Sevati as this last bit, but it is quickly stifled. Noxias rolls his eyes.

"You must have been imagining things," Rigoro says placidly.

Sevati, finished with her examination, take a step back to sit down. She realizes too late that her chair is no longer in the same position it used to be and falls hard to the floor. She immediately pops back up yelling at Rigoro. "Curse you Rigoro and your damned Mage Hand! You can be sure I will be reporting this to Elpy!" the previous cheeriness has been razed. If her words were spells Rigoro would surely be a dismembered corpse by now.

Rigoro meets her gaze for a moment, and then his eyes move elsewhere, apparently bored. His face betrays nothing.

Mindock's mouth is covered and Noxias can't tell if it is in mirth or astonishment.

Sevati storms out, no doubt in search of Elpy.

Mindock stands, "Now that Elpy's lapdog is out of the equation, what do you say about us finding you something to eat?"

Noxias' stomach growls a response before he can utter a single word.

[Umiushi]

This is the two hundred ninety-seventh Acqua Alta main post. Players' posts in either thread are due by 11 pm, Saturday, February 25th. The next main post will appear by 11 am, Monday, February 27th.

"Not quite so fast, morons." It's Elpy, standing in the doorway, Sevati towering behind her. Koy visibly cringes. The halfling must have been on her way back, already.

"The first thing you want to do to a man stabbed through the gut is pour this hellhole's food down his gullet? If you two weren't so dim, I'd say you were trying to finish the job on him."

"What you need," she swipes the glass of water out of Noxias's reach and dumps its contents on the floor, "is this." She takes the glass to a table near the bed, where a number of medicinal and ritual supplies have been hastily gathered. Uncorking two flasks, she carelessly pours them both into the glass. The resulting muddy mixture hisses loudly.

Walking back to the bedside, she apparently ignores her earlier admonition and jabs Noxias in the stomach with her elbow. At least she didn't use Blitzen, her axe, for the deed. When he gasps in pain she unceremoniously empties the glass into his mouth. Choking and spluttering, Noxias immediately feels his extremities go numb.

"Nighty-night, Noxias," Elpy says grimly, "I've got a surprise for you tomorrow morning."

"What surprise are you..." are the last words Noxias remembers. He thinks Mindock was speaking. Then he's somersaulting down an endless sequence of glowing, orange portals.

Now he's standing next to Tanisaornkuld's travel circle, inscribed for some unknown reason in the base of a wide, muddy pit. He's wearing his traveling clothes, even wearing his backpack, and seems to be leaning on Rigoro and Mindock's shoulders. It's early in the afternoon. Feeling him stir, Mindock straightens up.

"You're finally back?" he asks, "I was afraid Elpy's potion was going to have you doing the walking corpse act all the way through. We couldn't even get you to sit up this morning. Fortunately, the foreigners are still trying to trade for some trinkets. They're dirt poor, you know? At least we can say our goodbyes, now. Um, if she lets us," he adds as Elpy, crouched down with Sevati next to the circle, looks up with a grimace.

She glares at the three of them for a moment, and then nods curtly. Koy, who was standing a short distance behind them, walks up shyly. She's carrying Noxias's spellbook, and holds it up for him, as if waiting for him to tell her what to do with it.

"Pick a page and start memorizing," says Elpy, "I'm sending you off to the mortal world with a group of losers. Well, maybe they won, but whatever. Don't come back early." She gets back to sprinkling powder along the outlines of the circle, "I just don't understand people who need to relearn their spells every day . . . is it because of early senility?"

[Malk0lm]

Koy, who was standing a short distance behind them, walks up shyly. She's carrying Noxias's spellbook, and holds it up for him, as if waiting for him to tell her what to do with it.

"Pick a page and start memorizing," says Elpy, "I'm sending you off to the mortal world with a group of losers. Well, maybe they won, but whatever. Don't come back early." She gets back to sprinkling powder along the outlines of the circle, "I just don't understand people who need to relearn their spells every day . . . is it because of early senility?"

"Oy, Mindock, where are we?" Noxias slumps off the shoulders of Rigoro and Mindock and trys to stand up while holding his battered ribs. "Hand me my staff," he holds out a weakened hand and waits for Koy or someone to move it closer. Noxias doesn't dare take a step for fear of falling into the mud, he'd rather stand here forever and die than give Elpy the satisfaction. "Thanks," he says quietly after it's handed over. Now a bit more confident, and able to use the staff as a crutch, he moves toward Koy. Opening the book in her hands he turns to inscribed Flaming Sphere page and begins studying the characters silently. He moves closer still and whispers to her. "Koy, you were always such a nice person, how did you get mixed up with these two?"

[Umiushi]

This is the two hundred ninety-eighth Acqua Alta main post. Players' posts in either thread are due by 11 pm, Tuesday, February 28th. The next main post will appear by 11 pm, Thursday, March 1st.

Koy casts a fearful glance at Elpy, "I-- I don't know. Everyone knows you didn't kill Vectis. Why is she doing this to you?"

"We're at what passes for Tanisaor's travel circle. Maybe you don't remember, but this is the very circle we passed through yesterday. What a desolate, destitute countryside this place is, to think they would put the very gateway to their home in what amounts to a hole . . . . " Mindock's droning explanation is deliberately pitched to cover for your quiet conversation with Koy, but it doesn't work.

"Koy, you're mumbling!" Elpy thumps her axe loudly on the ground, "Stop that and come help with the outlines. No, set your shield down! No, no, I don't care that you're not allowed to walk more than five paces from it. Are demons going to come out of the sky at six paces? Oh forget it; stand over there and hand the vials over to those of us who--don't drop your shield on the vials! That is three thousand ducats' worth of antimony you are trying to smash up, and I'm going to need all of it."

A heavy weight settles on Noxias's shoulders, in the literal sense. It's his packed and folded tent. Rigoro shrugs, "Don't mention it." He gestures, and the spellbook, hastily set down by Koy, floats into the air, its pages fluttering. "Where were you at?"

"So, right," says Mindock, searching for words, "Well, goodbye Noxias. Don't let yourself get killed over there. Come back and we'll swap stories over a few drinks. The little lady said she'd explain everything once you were sent off, so I guess I'll have something to share with you when you return."

[Malk0lm]

"So, right," says Mindock, searching for words, "Well, goodbye Noxias. Don't let yourself get killed over there. Come back and we'll swap stories over a few drinks. The little lady said she'd explain everything once you were sent off, so I guess I'll have something to share with you when you return."

"Mindock, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but whatever Elpy says, you know will be a lie. I told you the truth. I walked to the plaza, saw a door, thought I would take a look, then bam," Noxias says emphatically while punching his own fist, almost dropping his staff. "That's it. Don't let her make me a criminal."

Noxias finishes reading his passages and gently takes the book and puts it into his pack. He can see that Elpy is serious about casting him out and pinning Vectis' death on him. "Damnit! What can I do?" He thinks to himself. "She carries the authority of the guild. I'm too weak to fight her without help. Then again, returning to the Solditas Magicalis with her would be just as bad as being cast out."

Noxias waits and prepares. When he hears his travelling companions approach he gambles on one last question; "Elpy, why did you kill Vectis? What threat was he to you? And, why did you do it in Bakkish's apartments? What were you looking for?"

[Umiushi]

This is the two hundred ninety-ninth Acqua Alta main post. Players' posts in either thread are due by 11 pm, Saturday, March 3rd. The next main post will appear by 11 am, Monday, March 5th.

Mindock turns to Noxias, confused, "Um, Noxias, she found Rigoro and me pretty close to when you left the tavern."

"No, no, it's okay, Mindock," calls Elpy, "Let him think what we wants. Oh, except for the part about Vectis being a threat to me. That's laughable; I'd just as soon have killed the old geezer because he snored too loudly when he was sleeping off a drunk. I'm not the one who did him in, and that's what's unforgivable. When I catch the culprit, they'll know the pain and fear that comes from crossing the Sodalitas Magicalis.

"As for you, if you don't know why I'm sending you where you're going, then use your time in that dull country to figure it out. I hate explaining things to people. Oh, great, they're here." She claps her hands impatiently, "Sevati, Koy, hurry up!"

Having finished their purchases, Rogur, Yrisz, and Zephyr are escorted back along the causeway leading from Tanisaornkuld. Instead of a misty valley, today you are surrounded by the lively, roiling waters of a lake that comes up only a few feet below the path. The clouds in the air and the small whitecaps in the lake look suspiciously like dancing figures, and the sun is as strange as ever, but it is as beautiful and cheerful a day as you could hope for.

Once again, they enter the tangled and fragrant forest that begins on the far side of the path, and come to the vine-covered depression that leads to the teleportation circle. As they descend, they see the surviving members of the Sodalitas Magicalis gathered below, including Noxias, who is once more on his feet.

Vajutsun and the guard remain at the top of the pit. "This is where we part ways," Vajutsun says. "My journey is overland, but I won't be leaving until tomorrow." Without any further words of farewell, the two of them turn from the lip and are out of sight in a moment.

"Well," says Elpy, staring at the modified circle critically, "I guess we're ready to begin. Don't dawdle once we complete the ritual, unless you fancy spending a lot more time in Tanisaor."

[Palpatim]

Rogur steps up to the circle and mutters, "You don't have to tell me twice." He eyes Noxias with undisguised curiosity. Anyone who can so greatly piss off one of the inhabitants of this realm was deserving of some kind of special consideration.

[yukonhorror]

"No offense, but I can't really say this has been fun. Almost dying has never been my favorite activity. Thank you for all of your help. If a young man named Polon ever comes this way, tell him his father wishes his safe return back to Beilston Mound." Zephyr joins Rogur on the circle with thought of his home plane in mind.

[Umiushi]

This is the three hundredth and final Acqua Alta main post. Players' posts in open threads are due by 11 pm, Tuesday, March 6th. The next main post will appear shortly in the Acqua Alta Finale thread.

Elpy fixes Noxias with a withering glare, "Do not even consider leaving that circle when the path opens. Your body is going through no matter what. I don't care whether your dignity follows suit." She gestures vaguely in the party's direction, "These are your new companions, while you're spending time with them. I don't remember their names, but some of them aren't hopeless. Probably." She turns towards the party, "This is Noxias. You haven't met, but you saw him last night, so it should be good enough."

She allows herself a hint of a smile, "I remember your willingness to help track down Vectis's murderer. For a genius such as I, it should be no great task. However, I'll take your desire to be of service and loan you this member of our order by way of thanks. Now to work. I'll take you back using the sigil phrase Erszebet always used: S-C-O-Y-J-U-S-Y."

The two elves near Noxias usher him into the circle, as politely as possible. Robur, Yrisz, and Zephyr join of their own accord.

"Polon, is it?" Elpy shrugs when Zephyr brings him up, "I'll give him your message if I see him."

Standing beyond the circle's boundaries along with Sevati and Koy, the halfling mage sets to work. You recognize a strong similarity with the ritual of the Amber Room. Once again, there are eleven lit candles around the circle, though their flames are ghostly and blue in the sunlight. Instead of the pebbles that Yrisz held, Sevati accompanies Elpy's recitation with the clacking of small shells strung about her fingers. Elpy herself does not echo the words Zephyr used. Instead she says, "I stand with my sisters and brothers in the Sodalitas Magicalis as a proud magician of the lineage of house Runegate. The ancient, secret signs of my guild and my house promise that the door to the Amber Room will always open for me. Thus it is so, at this time, in this place!"