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Post by Geoffrey Ravenhurst on Oct 19, 2020 15:40:28 GMT
"This way..." Wrugar seemed like a decent fellow, but suddenly Herneiros regretted bringing a giant. Still, he lead them east.
He makes a note of the six riders but frankly had no clue who they might be or who might have sent them. Herneiros imagined that they had traveled from somewhere the Wild Huntsman had never been... and hopefully traveled somewhere he never intended to go...
Hopefully, the three forces were far more interested in each other.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Oct 20, 2020 16:41:52 GMT
Two of the riders pull off from the rest and Herneiros feels their presence as a pressure right between his eyes. Their black armor absorbs more than reflects the moonlight. They get to within a hundred meters or so of the retreating adventurers before stopping. The lead rider stopped and removed his helmet before calling out to the night ringing with the sounds of distant battle. “Evander?” He called putting in a voice that was almost human. “Finally come home?”
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Post by Geoffrey Ravenhurst on Oct 21, 2020 16:50:17 GMT
Herneiros stopped. His face went pale for a moment... it was happening.
He untied the sack of Mist salt from Snowfalls and tossed it to Wrugar. He spoke
low enough he hoped the riders could not hear. "That should keep the Mist denizens away if you pour it around you. Demetrius, use your senses to try to avoid patrols. Everyone, if you go south and east a little, you'll find the main road with signs leading to Lake Erabeth. I'll catch up to you, but I need to handle some personal business first."
Herneiros turned to the approaching riders. It was obvious they could sense him, but only from a short distance. So he would need to buy the others time to leave.
***
"Do I know you, stranger?" Herneiros asked atop Snowfall...
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Post by The Forgotten God on Oct 21, 2020 17:10:06 GMT
The rider sat on his dark steed and pulled the hood of his cloak back. His face was ashen in the moons’ light, and his leonine features and snow-white hair were almost a preview of the decades to come for the archer. “You’ve always known me,@ the older man said. “Since the minute you came to this world.” The second rider remained still and silent.
Elias Rosecroft dismounted and walked toward Herneiros. “It’s good to see you...son.”
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Post by Geoffrey Ravenhurst on Oct 21, 2020 17:38:45 GMT
Herneiros stared at him. He wanted to deny it... declare he could have been the child of any other settler... not even from Palerose. But it was true.
He looked like his father. Like Herneiros himself. But perhaps... perhaps Herneiros had misinterpreted the evidence. Perhaps Elias Rosecroft was not so sinister as the cellar and the church had suggested.
"Aye... I went to the house in Bastion first... and then harassed a cartographer about the nearest settlement. Palerose seemed the obvious choice..."
He knew from the cellar that his father must be a great sorcerer, with a far greater range of powers than Herneiros himself. So he was trying to play it cool.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Feb 1, 2021 1:36:06 GMT
The old man grunted. “I knew you’d be able to trigger the basement’s enchantments,” he said, his voice a powerful baritone. “Any son of mine should be able to do that much.” The second rider sat impassively on his own dark steed. “Your friend did not have the same art,” he noted. “But something else...” his voice trailed off in a half formed thought before he refocused his attention on Herneiros. “You’ve grown strong. Strong enough, perhaps, for what needs doing. Strong enough to displace those who have oppressed us.”
The distant sounds of conflict continue on as the rest slip away unseen. “But destroying our enemies has a price. It cannot be negotiated with or bartered down.” His hair crackled with a bluish electricity at random. “But much like preparing a banquet, the more effort hou put in, the greater the satisfaction at the end.”
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Post by Geoffrey Ravenhurst on Feb 1, 2021 1:45:56 GMT
"Banquet..."
It was a strange word in Herneiros’s mouth. It had just occurred to the man born Evander Rosecroft that his highborn father had come from a very different upbringing... but still, here he was in the cursed Mist Herneiros had grown up in. Why?
"Our enemies?"
Herneiros... no, Evander, tried to consider who that might be. "Do you mean the Empire? I have seen some of it already... it is rotting like overprepared fruit as we speak..."
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Post by The Forgotten God on Feb 1, 2021 1:54:32 GMT
Elias laughed in a tone so powerful that boulders rocked slightly nearby. “Innuria is of no concern right now. Calliope and her wretched paladin will see to that. No,” he continued, “the Mistlords. The mindless beasts gifted the power of gods by a trick of fate. Even now their shambling cretins battle in. A war neither can win. They are begging for a form hand. They just lack the capacity to realize it.” He made a flipping motion with his wrist and the Kraken appeared inside a faint blue circle. “This is your quarry,” he said. “The least of them. The only one who can touch the shores of Innuria while pitiful Bastion’s spells hold. His power should be ours,” he concluded. “Then the dragon, then the Scorpion, and then at last humanity can bend to the true rulers of the earth.”
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Post by Geoffrey Ravenhurst on Feb 1, 2021 2:28:38 GMT
"Aye, I know the Kraken well by now... it will not be my first time stalking it... and I have already gathered allies to the task."
Evander turned to the second man. "I gather you are Adam. I found your cradle at the old manor..."
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Post by The Forgotten God on Feb 1, 2021 2:44:27 GMT
The second rider turned very slightly toward Herneiros but remained silent. “That is not your brother,” he said. “His time is too...valuable to spend on an introduction.” He was silent a moment. “You think your friends have what it takes to destroy the Kraken?” He sounded...skeptical. “Their blood is weak. Their souls are weak. The squid will devour the lot of you.” His voice seemed quite matter of fact. “You need to come home, Evander. The Mist oozes power. I have claimed it for my own. Nothing can stop the ascension of House Rosecroft.”
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Post by Geoffrey Ravenhurst on Feb 1, 2021 3:34:25 GMT
Evander frowned. This was all clearly more complex than first impressions revealed. Also, whereas Leuwinmorgh had raised his son to be a humble and good man, Elias Rosecroft obviously had very different expectations in mind.
But still... the Mist Lords were a threat. And this was perhaps the only means to discover the truth of his own heritage. There were still so many mysteries unresolved... so many challenges the Wild Huntsman couldn't leave untackled. Evander turned to look in the direction of his companions traveling away and considered simply mounting Snowfall, leaving this nightmare alone. Herneiros, the Wild Huntsman, could still choose a relatively mundane life with his new friends, find happiness guiding settlers and hunting lesser beasts alongside his elven family...
But deep inside Herneiros would still be an aching regret at never learning the truth about Evander Rosecroft and where he came from.
The sorcerer mounted Snowfall and studied the man who had more or less created him, before finally asking, "Where do we begin?"
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Post by The Forgotten God on Feb 1, 2021 3:41:07 GMT
Elias smiled and turned his horse about. “You don’t send minnows to kill a shark,” he said, stirring the skeletal beast into motion. “You send a bigger shark.” And with that the trio rejoined the dark riders and headed swiftly into the Mists, which somehow seemed less dangerous than it had a moment prior. It almost felt...friendly.
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