RP:Only Scratching The Surface Of The Problem

Part of the The Whisperer In Darkness Arc

This is a Devout's Guild RP.

This is a Warrior's Guild RP.

Summary: Khitti finds Rorin supervising the cleaning of his room at the Warrior's Guild HQ in Frostmaw, and ends up only filling him in on some of what's going on in Venturil.

The Royal Academy Of Aramoth, Frostmaw

The hall within the warriors guild was full of hustle and bustle as helpers came to and fro to assist in divulging the room of its contents. The PIlgrim's den was being trounced and put out of its contents after his return from the depths of the Guardian Blade's mystical innards. Truly it looked as if a stark raving madman had gone and died and finally his belongings were being put to good use and distributed among the community. Rorin himself stood among the madness and pondered at how his own mind had turned against him so here in the cage he made for himself where the corruption had begun to take over his body. While he gave orders as to what was what and where or to whom it should go he rested his eyes on the notes he had taken that filled pages of vellum with black scrawl and splatters like screams and sputters breaking through to make sense of it all on a table at his bedside. Perhaps in the future study of such magical diseases it could aid someone so he bound them up and took a last look at where he had been before he knew where he was going. He had changed through it all, not meeting the terrible end that the fates had metered out for him, but finding his own path through hell to get back. He'd cut his hair, for one, from his shoulders now down to fuzz on the sides and a young warrior's mohawk going straight up the middle. His eyes were the most peculiar part of the change as they were like the golden orbs of an eagle and sat under his still heavy lidded and down turned eyes as if he wore a permanent expression of a sad or wistful smile that captured the essence of someone caught in a far off dream. They were at a contrast with his black-sapphire hair and his moon pale skin but seemed somewhere at home with his pointed ears and hauntingly beautiful looks. His fingers traced the marks upon the next page while his thoughts were swept somewhere far away and the activity of the room buzzed around him without much regard.

It was not often that Khitti came to the Warrior’s Guild headquarters. With the Tranquility having its own armory and training room, she never ventured this far when she needed to spar, either with herself or one of Brand’s crewmembers. But, the hustle and bustle of Cenril was not what she needed today. Not on the ship--even though she missed her son Dominic--and not at her bakery. The wintry air is all that she wanted to keep her company. She needed to clear her mind; things in Venturil were getting worse… Things with Gabriel were getting worse. If she didn’t keep a clear mind, then she wouldn’t be able to keep Gabriel out of her head. Had he heard her during that meeting with Encara, Lionel, and Valrae? She couldn’t be sure, but she definitely regret drinking as much as she did. The templar took her meal in the dining area, then left to head out to the training dummies outside. The strange goings-on in the hall stopped her though, a crimson brow raised. “What the frak is going on down here?” The guild members seemed not to hear one of their high-ranking officers as she called to them, and it prompted a frown. With a sigh, Khitti headed down towards Rorin’s room, her olive-green line of sight settling on the young half-elf, “Where the heck have you been?” She tried her best to mask her concern, covering it with a stern tone, though that furrowing of her brows told differently. “The whole lot of you went your separate ways again after the meeting…” Khitti almost seemed hurt, maybe a bit disappointed.

Rorin idly thumbed the silver knight's badge pinned to the underside of his lapel, that odd burden given to him to Lionel, though the thought of giving up his responsibilities never crossed his mind. One of his pointed ears twitched and he could feel someone coming amidst the fray. His newly golden eyes went to the door, "Khitti? I didn't expect to see you here," he stuttered in surprise. He looked towards her previously well pregnant belly and then back towards the impactful expression on her face. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot to keep in contact with you!" He exclaimed as if it had just crossed his mind, and with his eyes looking about the room, it seems as if it had. "I sort of just figured you would call if we were needed," he hadn't considered what the gravity of it was towards her personally, "I've been so busy trying to pick everything back up from when I was gone, i've hardly had the chance to talk to anyone." His face expressed his regret fully at having been so far away before he looked towards her again and apologized. The young man was doing his best and hoping that she wouldn't take it out too hard on him.

Lionel’s second-in-command followed Rorin’s line of sight down towards her stomach. It took her a second, but she figured it out, her lips twisting into a smirk, “The kid’s been out for awhile now. Starting to think I should’ve brought him with me during that meeting in Sage. It might’ve helped to put in perspective the kinds of things you all should be fighting for.” Khitti side-eyed Rorin’s room for a moment, then nodded, “I get it. It probably wouldn’t be so bad if the other’s hadn’t disappeared too. No clue where Kelovath is at--probably hiding out somewhere away from Larket, especially since Macon decided to show his ugly face in Cenril awhile back.” The redhead leaned against the wall, just near the door to Rorin’s room, “Hildegarde’s got her Queen duties. Leone’s got the high priestess stuff. Zahrani did end up going to Aedrebyrg with Meri and Encara and I.” The corners of her lips twitched downwards, her attention shifting back towards Rorin, “Things are not going well in Venturil. At all.” That darkness that’d been creeping up on her again since this whole thing with Venturil began returned, rearing its ugly head in the form of a concern-creased forehead and her line of sight faltering from the paladina gain. “I’ve had to go summon Lionel from the depths of whatever solitary hell he placed himself in to keep us all free of Kahran’s attacks for a time, but I’m still not very confident about things.”

Rorin had no idea how long it had been. The tracking of time escaped him as his life became more complex but it was good to remember the lives of others were just as full. "Kelovath..." the golden knight, the shining hero of Arkhen, ostracized by Macon's madness. Rorin had always wanted to meet him as an inspiration to the Path. "How did the reconnaissance mission go? And the quarantine of the coast, has it been effective?" Normally he'd keep up on those sorts of things. There were plenty of other plans rolling through his mind though and keeping in contact with the other paladins was going to have to be a bigger part of his plate.

The frown that’d found its way onto Khitti’s lips took a much more grim turn when the young half elf asked about Aedrebyrg. “There… wasn’t much left in Aedrebyrg. Lots of sickness and gore.” The memory of getting pounced on by one of those that were left and forced to drink the tainted blood flashed through her mind. The past had repeated itself, even though she hadn’t known it at the time. “There were three… two greydusk and an umbrawisp--those races from the Shadow Plane. One of the greydusk and the umbrawisp, they were mutated.” Like Lydia. Like that thing she became after that failed resurrection. “They were massive and almost certainly the ones that created the gore there--they might’ve been one of the first to turn. They were definitely from that island.” Khitti crossed her arms, brows furrowed, that frown still in its place as she eyed the floor in front of her, “The last one, the other greydusk, he actually spoke. He said he knew we’d be back. Because our types always come back when we hear ill news.” Sigh. “The town burned, Rorin. It was for the best. We -had- to make sure that plague was gone. If anyone got out before things got too bad, they’ll have something to come back to. I sent terramancers there to rebuild once the fire had died out and managed to find a priest of Selene that would come all that way from Rynvale. But, now, we must turn our attention towards the other byrgs. Two of them, at least. The third one is a work in progress.”

The dark expression told him more than enough and memories of nightmares not his own sprang to life in his head. He clutched at the symbol of Arkhen around his neck, the silver charm labored with a blue gem that swirled and pulsed with a strange glow. It seemed to suck in all the light around them, the air grew heavy, and his stomach turned. A woman's lilting voice crept through the air as the blue gem became a burning focal point resting on his chest. 'Twisted shadows steeped in blood, from the land without sun, though turned to ash and burial burned, the smoke and shadows forever turn.' As quickly as the strength came to the gem so did it leave without a further word as to what it may mean. "Phalia," Rorin spoke quietly, identifying the voice as the spirit of the Guardian Blade who had finally awakened on his departure from the island. "Perhaps she feels the need to warn us. What's this third burg you spoke of? I know little of Venturil, only that which I studied in preparation to a quest there for the aid of Eirik with handling a problematic witch, one which he said was stealing and eating children."

If it was possible for Khitti’s brows to furrow anymore, they likely would have as Phalia’s voice rang out. Normally, disembodied voices didn’t alarm her, nor talking weapons, but this one did. The way she spoke reminded Khitti of the Shadowseers in the Shadow Plane and their maddening riddle-like prophecies, that of which Khitti--and Brand--had been a part of. Khitti stared at the pendant on Rorin’s neck, a shiver running down her spine. “It… um…” It took her a second to gather her thoughts, a shake of her head given before she turned her attention down the hall, away from Rorin, “There’s a bubble there, similar to the one in Cenril that the witches put up to protect people from Kahran, except it’s been made with a powerful, ancient dark magic. It’s not our focus right now, no matter what goes on in there.” Of course, she knew what was going on in there, and the katana on her back glowed a deep red as if to protest her lack of saying something, the templar giving Tenbatsu Kaji, and the spirit within it, a glare.

Rorin allowed his mind to race as the effects of Phali's words swept over her. The meaning of it all escaped him except for that vague sense of constant bad-omen-ness and it only grew worse as Khitti spoke to him. "Perhaps it should be our focus then. If Phalia would seek to warn us, and the magic there is truly as dark and powerful as you say, then it could be something of truly awful importance." His eyes swept the ground as if he could find there some sort of answers. "Let us dispatch a reconnaissance team once more then. Perhaps only a few people, if less. If it's possible to know what's going on there then we need to do it." He thought of his training ahead of him and the recuperation of his power in the favor of Arkhen and whether or not he would be gong on any missions any time soon. The thought was vastly outweighed by his worry over what the dark forces of evil could be brewing out there. Everything was at risk and there was little they could risk not putting on the line or be willing to lose.

“No--and that’s an order,” Khitti said firmly and without hesitation, on the matter of going to Diernebyrg. “No one’s setting foot inside that damned bubble until I’ve got a full plan in place.” The position she held, as third-in-command in the Warrior’s Guild, and as leader of the Paladin’s Guild, was not something she liked to flaunt, as some perhaps would. This showed in the manner that she tried to lose the rigidness in her posture and the sharpness of her tone, a sigh uttered not long after. “Look, Rorin. This is not a Kahran-level crisis, but it’s certainly up there and I’m done throwing people to the proverbial wolves, myself included. When I say bad things happened in Aedrebyrg, I mean it.” The redhead frowned, “This rabbit hole is deeper than it seems and I’m already pretty far down in it and I won’t bring anyone else down there with me until I can figure things out.” She side-eyed his room, then looked to the half elf again, “Focus on getting yourself sorted out. You were in that sword for a while and you’ve been out of the loop of things for even longer. Take a little bit of time for yourself and come back to me when you know you’re ready. I will be keeping a close, personal eye on the goings-on in Venturil. You will be one of the first that I come to should things take another turn for the worse.”

There was something unexpected in Rorin's expression at her commands. He seemed to rebel, internally, as his eyes tensed and he resisted grinding his teeth. He wasn't sure what about the impending doom and being told not to investigate it grated him the most but perhaps it was his rather teenage state of mind or the gut wrenching feeling that he wasn't being told things that were going horribly wrong. It took some time for him to reply, and he did so slowly, begrudgingly at first, "yes, leftenant. Of course." With a deep breath he gathered his composure and resumed a tightly formal stance. "I will be around. Contact the rangers in Kelay if you need word. The path of my pilgrimage grows convoluted indeed. Farewell, K." He seemed to dismiss himself quickly from the conversation and return to his things, his chambers nearly empty as the relics and books and signs of his residence were divied out and wiped away.