RP:Distressing Recollections

From HollowWiki

Synopsis: Nasada and Diryon meet once more in the Mage's Library. Pleasant conversation turns to unhappy revelations.

Characters: Nasada, Diryon

Location: Xalious, Mage Tower

Date: Jan. 27th, 2016


Diryon enters the library again tonight, his eyes darting about to catch a glimpse of anyone who may be studying here even at this hour. Nasada's - or Raevyn, as he knows her - abrupt departure last night left him with concerned, and it's she that he seems to be looking for in particular. Passing by several unattended tables and towering aisles of books, the mage winds his way through the library toward the table they sat at last evening, curious to see if she's perhaps in the very same spot tonight.

Nasada hadn't really been seated too long. In fact, she looked fairly exhausted; Her posture was slouched, breaths heavy, hair hanging loosely over her face. What had she been up to? Both tomes from the evening previous sat upon the table to her right, both seemingly untouched. Beneath them seemed to be some sort of leather article. A bag perhaps? It looked fairly new and unused. With both hands coming up to brush her hair back, the neophyte in training caught Diryon's approach. Tucking large chunks of hair behind her ear, she offered a pleasant smile and a wave of her fingers.

Diryon flashes a quick smile at Nasada. "Here again tonight, huh? You've got the books still, I see." He drops to a seat across from her own at the table, noting the presence of this new bag but not inquiring about it just yet. "Are you all right? You sped out of here pretty quickly, last night." His eyes shift from the bag to meet the woman's own. "Just wanted to be sure you're feeling all right. You look a bit tired."


Nasada 's right eye shut, thumb and index finger held roughly an inch apart as she answered. "Just a wee bit." Of course this was to the last of his observations. "Been a very, very long day. I've been up the mountain a little and even ventured out to Larket. I learned so much! Some good. Some not so good." With a more relaxed smile to fall upon her lips, Nasada reached for the Historical oriented tome and addressed the magi's first concern. "I'm fine, really. I slept like a big baby. Those cots in there. Amaaazing." A wink. "I'm not sure I had the chance last night, but I really wanted to thank you again for your help. You really made my night. I would have been lost searching for these things!" she exclaimed and patted the first book. "Anyhow. How are you? Sleep well?"

Diryon isn't so sure of Nasada's attempted reassurance, but he declines to pursue it further for now. Instead, the young man smiles once more. "Glad to hear you slept well, then. What did you learn, exactly?" Glancing from the woman to the book and back to her again, Diryon sits up and crosses his arms with a nod. "Yeah, I slept fine. I usually crash at the inn over in Larket. Pretty nice place, really, and not too far from the locales I'm more familiar with. I've yet to explore beyond the mountains here, or the south east....I hear the swamps lie there, and a desert oddly enough."

Nasada 's nose wrinkled and her slender brow lifted. "The Larket Inn?" A shudder ran along her shoulders. "Well! I guess I'm starting with the not-so-good news." she laughed. "Apparently, as a woman I met earlier informs me, Larket has a rat infestation. Well. More-so... rat-like creatures that murder people and spread disease. Twelve people, Diryon. TWELVE. All dead. And! And! A MISSING CHILD! Can you believe it?!" She was a tad excied and it showed; She was getting those unimpressed stares again. Quickly she quieted down. "I was staying at a ranch just north of there. Not any more. I don't want to be dragged out in the middle of the night and murdered. I'll be bunking up on the cots for a little bit longer it seems..." Unlike her more quiet disposition the evening before, Nasada seemed a lot more out there. Maybe life was returning to normal? Well, as normal as it could get.

Diryon lifts a brow as well at this information. "Rat creatures? First I've heard of that. I imagine they keep away from the Inn and more well lit areas. Stands to reason, anyway." The mage brings a hand up to his chin to stroke in thought, humming softly. "It's definitely something that has to be taken care of, and I can see why you're afraid. They'll need brave, capable indivudals...and not just to cull the creatures, but to stop them from entering altogether. They'll have to be cut off from the source, which possibly means underground." He pauses, realizing he's rambling a little bit. "Anyway, you'll be staying here now, then? It should be decidedly safer around the mage tower."

Nasada seems to cringe at the thought of these creatures. She wasn't fond of normal rats to begin with. "Mmhm. You bet. At least, until I'm strong enough... " A slender arm is lifted and flexed like some sort of vying warrior, a low giggle ringing out in the mage's direction. "Anyhow, you are right. I really hope they locals get a handle on the situation. My friend, erm, I guess mentor, Artia mentioned some sort of guard they have going on. She has hired knights and some others to fend the creatures off. Guarding corpses and whatnot. I would love to help, but I'm afraid I would be absolutely useless." The girl looked defeated as she huffed. One day she would be a powerful magi of sorts! "Just promise you'll be careful out there, yes? I don't have many friends currently, and I don't want see any one hurt." The cover of the book most interesting- yes that very book that caused her distress, was flipped open. She wasn't really reading per se, just flipping through random pages as she thought more on the things she had learned.

Diryon grins at the woman's rather cute attempt to flex her muscles, "Oh yeah, you know Artia then? She's a nice lady, for sure. We're pretty good friends, I guess you could say. I've not seen her in a few days now, but she's probably busy in Larket." At Nasada's request for him to stay safe, the mage waves a hand in polite dismissal and grins once more. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I can always place a ward on my door if I there's any real threat, and I'm not afraid of any of them approaching me from a distance. Giving a mage any amount of distance in a fight is a poor idea, as they would find." With a confident smile, Diryon changes the subject. "That reminds me, I've entered to take part in a tournament up in Frostmaw. I don't care for cold weather, but the competition should be great fun. I've a good deal of confidence in myself as a caster, so I'm curious to see how far I can go."

Nasada nodded enthusiastically as she continued to flip through pages. "She saved me. Truly. She took me into her home and gave me food, shelter and access to a bath. Oh my. Heeeeeaveeen." She paused, "You know, I haven't seen her either. I do hope she's okay." Wow! There is so much to go through, Nasada thought as she panned over the pages filled with text; A few odd illustrations here and there to highlight important points. As Diryon spoke of his ability and an upcoming tournament, she immediately ceased her browsing, both eyes wide and surprised. "A tournament? Really? That is so neat! I would love to come watch you compete." A big, sure of herself, toothy grin was aimed at the blonde magi. "i'll umm. Root for you!" One open hand came to rest by her lips, a lengthy breathy exhale mimicking the sound of a cheering crowd. "Di-ry-on! Di-ry-on!" She giggled afterward. "I'm sure you will do rather well."

Diryon catches a glimpse here and there of pages that Nasada flips by, although his view from the other side of the table is somewhat limited. When she offers her rather enthusiastic support, the mage cannot help but erupt in a fit of quiet laughter. "Well, thank you! I'm certain I'll not let you down, if you choose to come watch. The aim is to win the entire thing, of course, otherwise there is no point in entering at all." The mage nods, a familiar grin on his lips. "I'm hopeful there will be good competition, and preferably in the form of fellow spellcasters."

Nasada continued to leaf through the pages. Creation. Gods. Land. War. War. War. Heroes. Gods. War. There was a lot about war. "I would imagine as much, really. I mean. Could you imagine a warrior going up against someone with arcane abilities? They would go home with a surely defeated ego." War. War. Peace. Councils. Technological advance. It seemed to go on forever. "How many participants are there? Is it... an arena sort of thing? I've always wanted to see arena combat. Heard so much about it, but I was never allowed to go. "Young girls don't need to be seeing that sort of violence!"" she echoed in a very makeshift imitation of her mother. "Sure, but casting off your only child because of stupid beliefs is any better." She rolls her eyes.

Diryon smirks, raising a quick little objection. "Some warriors are quite good at fighting mages and other casters. They are very vulnerable from a distance, of course, but once they get up close, it's bad news for us mages. There is the occasional warrior that has armor resistant to magic, and that is when it gets very annoying. No one article of armor is immune to magic, and there's always a way around it all, but it makes things quite complicated." Moving on to her other questions, Diryon hesitates. "I believe it's something similar to an arena, but the location supposedly isn't fixed. It's a unique setup. I'm not sure how many participants there are, exactly."

Nasada lifts her gaze to meet Diryon's; pallid blue irises almost glimmer in the dim lighting. "Ooooooh, mysterious!" Pondering the rest of his explanation, she conceded with a slight nod. "I... never really thought about that. I sometimes forget that just because one has special powers, that it doesn't mean they are invincible. I guess there are solutions to every problem; As there ways for even the less magically inclined to even the odds." She flipped another page as she added, "At any rate, I would definitely love to come root for you. You are very wise and I am sure that this will really bode well for you.And just think, if you win, I will know a celebrity!" Nasada winked and flipped yet another page.


Diryon forgoes any futher discussion on the technical aspects of fighting, instead nodding his head with a smile. "Thank you, Raevyn. I'll let you know where the first bout is to be held, and I should hope you'll be there." He glances at the book now, gesturing toward it. "Have you found what you were looking for in there? May take a little time, I suppose...it's quite a hefty tome. Very comprehensive, from the looks of it."

Nasada lifts a shoulder in shrug as she inattentively flips from page to page. "I am not sure what I am looking for, exactly." she stated plainly. In truth, there was something gnawing at her. She had suffered various blackouts and very vivid dreams of odd structures and locations she had not seen before. With Mikaia confirming that there was a tower indeed somewhere in the Xalious Mountain, she just could not shake that feeling that she were somehow linked to this land. Without any context or reasoning, she blurted out. "My eyes. They used to be green, you know. Bright. Beautiful. Green."

Diryon lifts a brow at her reply, his eyes narrowing briefly, almost imperceptibly. The abrupt statement about her eyes causes the mage's confusion to deepen, and he tilts his head slightly aside. "Green?" He meets her eyes quickly. Blue, to be sure. "They changed? When did this happen?" It seems the mage's prior suspicion of Nasada was not entirely misplaced. There appears to be far more to the woman that meets the eye, and Diryon is curious to learn more.

Nasada nodded slowly, as she stares back into his own. "A little over one year ago." Something deep down troubled the young woman, evidenced by the act of drawing her bottom lip inwards and nervously chewing upon it. "It all started with that stupid stone. Why did I pick it up? Why didn't I just sell it to that merchant? It's their fault." she rambled, mostly to herself. Her voice fell into hushed tones, just audible enough for the mage to hear. "I haven't told anyone this. Not the whole thing, at least. I just... maybe if I get it out, it'll help?" She wasn't sure what exactly it was, but Diryon seemed to bring some semblance of comfort. He could be trusted, couldn't he? "I was on my way home. Mother and father, they tasked me with making a usual round of deliveries to the local city. I've done it many, many times before. Never an issue. I recall an explosion earlier that day, the ground shook with a rumble. But it was over so quickly that no one thought anything of it." Those corpse-like blues fell to the table as the vivid memory came back to her. "I was a just halfway home, when something... that.. thing, caught my eye. It was surrounded by dying bush fires, sitting in a little crater of its own. It was so beautiful, Diryon. A little stone. Smooth, glassy. Amethyst in color. it was no bigger than my fist." Her fingers curled in on themselves to illustrate her point.


Diryon stares quietly at Nasada, any trace of amusement vanishing from his features while he listens to her rambling. A smile briefly reappears when she speaks of confiding in him, and to this he makes a quick reply. "Sure. Don't worry...I'll not tell anyone, that I can promise. Anything spoken stays between you and I." Falling silent, he listens intently when she tells the story of finding this mysterious stone. "And your eyes change after you picked it up?" He places his hand to his chin, a pensive look upon his features. "Along with other changes, if I might assume. Do you still have the stone? Did it react in any specific way? I have a few ideas as to what it could be, but I'll need a few more details first."

Nasada shook her head fervently. Her lids opened wider, her appearance began to grow just a bit on the eerie side. "It gets worse." Taking a deep breath, the woman continues on with her tale, each word eliciting more hurt and perhaps, even anger in her voice. "I wanted to keep it. There was something special about it. The amethyst color. It was kind of like a fog. When I tapped upon the stone's surface, I could see flashes of a blue energy beneath the fog. I just had to get it home. So... I walked on." A pause was taken as she further tried to recall the next events, the event she would deem as that which changed everything. "Midway through my journey a horse drawn carriage headed my way. I had not seen it before, so I could only assume that they had come from afar. It was beautifully crafted, and those inside were seemingly fairly wealthy. I guess... one of them noticed the stone as they passed and stopped me in my tracks. He wanted to buy it from me and I declined. Multiple times. He seemed understanding and even wished me luck as they rode off." She finally looked up at Diryon as she continued. "It wasn't much later. Perhaps near the end of my journey, when these two bandits surprised me. They leapt from the woods, demanding the stone. Which to me, was fairly peculiar... because the damned thing was in my satchel!" Anger bubbled forth. "How did they know, Diryon? How?! I'll tell you. They had to be the friends of that damned merchant!" Her face twisted, a defeated sigh escaping. "They dragged me into the woods, just out of sight. One managed to put his greedy little paws on the stone, but I fought back. With my magic. I guess they did not like that, because the last thing I recall was the damned thing being struck against my skull. I felt it shatter." Here she would pause to allow the words to sink in, one pale set of digits lifted to trace the scar upon her forehead.

Diryon feels that his suspicions may indeed be confirmed as he listens to more of the story. Once Nasada finally gets to the end of it all, the mage nods slowly. "That's not an ordinary stone, of course, but you know that. It possessed some great power...or maybe even someone's soul or essence, especially if it inspired such changes in you. Either the bandits were in league with those merchants, or it was something that could...sense." He pauses now to look back up at the woman, "So, the stone broke? What happened after that?"

Nasada swallowed hard. "I think..." she started, eyes glazing but slightly at the thought. "I think I died." With this she turned her gaze back to the table. "I thought it was a dream. I really did. A horrible, twisted dream. I found myself in some sort of...pit. That's the only thing I could think of. A multi-layered pit. And upon each layer, were the most gruesome and horrible things I have ever had to bear witness to. People were being tortured, Diryon. Men. Women. Children. It didn't seem to matter. People were flayed alive. Some forced to cannibalize others. It was my own personal hell..." It was obvious that this 'dream' weighed heavily upon he psyche. "I remember plummeting soon after, into an abyss. A pit of murky blackness. I stood in a pool of sorts. It was cold. And that stench!" she paused to make a face. "Putrid! Rotten! I remember standing there feeling helpless... and then, suddenly, I felt myself pulled backward into the murky pool. That thick as molasses liquid, it filled my lungs and I drowned in it." Nasada's gaze meets Diryon's. "Or, at least that was the dream. I woke up after that. It had been raining. It was cold. So... I went home."


Diryon stares at Nasada when the latest chapter in this story is told. For one of the few times in his life, the mage is admittedly dumbfounded. "...Very interesting, and disturbing I'll admit. The changes started after you woke up, or sooner than that? I don't know what to make of your story, to be honest. I've heard of stones containing souls or essences of others, or even host demons residing within them...but nothing quite like your case. It's outside of my realm of expertise, unfortunately." He pauses with a sigh, "Were there any other changes outside of your eye color and the dream?"

Nasada first answered his questions, slightly worried as he spoke of souls and demons. "I am unsure. I think it happened sometime in between. You see..." Again she bit her lip. "Three days. They said I had been gone for three days. They noticed right away that I was different. My eyes. Beautiful. Green. Now corpse-like and blue. My skin no longer kissed by the sun. It had lost all color and become pale. Everything just seemed so bleak after that. I didn't want to eat. I didn't want to talk to my friends. Go for my lessons. Nothing. Everyone just... whispered and talked behind my back." These words were spoken with a slight anger in her tone. "I slept. A lot. And in those sleeps, terrifying dreams of things I do not understand. Over time I had forsaken all responsibility. I... started to spend my time in the graveyard. All of it. And then I met a man." Her eyes watered as she thought back to those events that would be her undoing. "He came to me. Offered to teach me gifts of a... forbidden nature. I knew it was wrong, but he was the only one that didn't see me as some sort of freak. He was not mean or evil. He just... wanted to help me." Her lids fell upon one another; The floodgates opened, the tears began to stream down her cheeks. "And you know how they repaid him? ...They burnt him alive. Like some sort of evil witch. They tied him to a stake and burnt him alive. They made me watch! How could they make me watch?!" The tears streamed harder, her anger clearly evident. "And then they branded me? Cast me from my home with nothing but the clothes on my back? How dare they?! I... I... I wish them all DEATH!" That last word, shouted, brought about a very strange incident. As if reacting to her fit of rage, any candle within a fifteen foot radius snuffed itself out. There were hushed whispers from the few odd magii that had stuck around to study. It was just a coincidence, wasn't it?

Diryon 's features turn decidedly grim at Nasada's words. Such a look is a rarity from the usually confident and good natured mage. His eyes widen slightly when the candles all around them are snuffed out at her shouting, knowing in that instant there is much more to even this story that meets the eye (or ear, in this case). "You have a right to be angry, of course." He pauses to stand, forcing a reassuring smile onto his lips as he moves over to Nasada's seat to offer his hand. "But it's getting late, and you're quite tired. I'll help you try and figure out more about this soon, very soon...don't worry, I won't tell anyone, nor will I be frightened and avoid you. Come along...the dorm sounds good, doesn't it?

Nasada inhaled deeply through her nose; And like a small child she sniffled, one hand lifted to brush the tears away. Sleep. Sleep would be good. She felt awful for having reacted like that. For just putting everything out in the open. Diryon had his own troubles. He didn't need hers, she thought. Taking the young mage's hand she slowly stands, forcing a smile as she murmurs. "I'm sorry. I. You're right. I'm tired." As they made way to the dorm, she turned her head toward the blonde mage and said, "Thank you for listening..."