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Harper Pritchard · Adventurer Joined: 05 Oct 2012 Posts: 35

“I began these for posterity. Funny how intentions transform your reality. Iron jaws stand a few feet away granting passage to those who have figured out the secret to admission. Sometimes a disembodied arm with protruding radius and partial ulna will creep through, the nerves alone keeping them going. Occasionally, I will look up from you to meet a pair of eyes barely clinging to this world. It is a breather they seek. A moment they think will save them from the fate they themselves elected.

Tissue is a collector’s item within these walls. The strands of muscle, skin and sinew hold the path to so many forms of knowledge. I was a student once. But eventually all must graduate. Lessons learned behind rose colored mace and shield glasses give way to implementation. The screams have resumed and I pay them no more than a casual heed.

It is a different city than it once was. Even on the outskirts of the main road, they feel it. That piece of tether vibrating at a different frequency. It’s the blue part of the flame where the color seeps into the darkest of hues. Past the periwinkle. Past midnight. Past prussian. For certainly, enough soul has been spilled upon the stones but that is not what troubles me. It is the counter-balance which weighs on my thoughts.”

Congealed blood and smeared fingerprints line the outside of the leather. With no more than a whisper, the book closed and she set her quill beside it. An index finger taps the front twice before footsteps lead off echoing no more against the tiles.

Harper Pritchard · Adventurer Joined: 05 Oct 2012 Posts: 35

“Three-wide they stand encircling the runes. They rely heavily on non-verbal communication and it is only through my years of following in their robe encased steps that I understand. Isaiah tilts his white head down with his eyes level with Emil’s. Grey robe to grey robe I hear it before I actually see their mouths move.

Nevin stands a full foot and a half taller than I. Even in only the glow of the necromantic symbols I see his shadow. It fills the space between them placing me just off of middle. Bowing my head I recite. Lessons learned by leave of flesh are not forgotten. Nevin’s blood red robe billows with an unseen wind and I turn to face him as surely as if he had requested it aloud. His gnarled hands reach for my hood and pull it back. It takes a little more effort to cleave it from my back as the liquid has become a red mass of cells and fabric. I remain still but the parallel slats have left their mark. Nevin lifts his head and I twirl slowly. The satisfaction is clear upon his lips and yet his eyes remain focused. Below me the runes illuminate, shining brighter as the fabric is tossed upon them.

”Three-wide the sound is soft and strums to a louder beat with an increasing even tempo. It is then that I too smile. My head swims though fleeting before it falls backward. I know my lips have parted but I dare not speak. I dare not interrupt. The sacrifice and boon travel in reciprocal circles. I’ve paid. I received.

Retreat is not the right word to use. It’s more of a dismissal sending me on my way. My task is set.”

Harper Pritchard · Adventurer Joined: 05 Oct 2012 Posts: 35

“The educated will tell you that the trees here are barren due to lack of sunlight. The townsfolk will tell you the trees got off easy. I’ve never held with the theory of ignoring what you feel for the sake of a more plausible explanation. Sosaria is filled with a plethora of plausible but improbable creatures and affectations.”

Scratching through the last two sentences, quill is put to paper and she begins again.

“Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it isn’t real. Necromancy alone defies what by definition is supposed to happen. Amy was in the window as she often is yesterday. I know her knees must have been flat against the rack to hold such a position. She said nothing though. She just watched as I walked past. It was on my mind to ask her what caught her attention. After all, I was a common sight within her station but I had lingered too long at Dragonstorm as it was and Gravewater lake would not keep. Not this day.”

Removing her quill from parchment she closed the journal and tucked both items into her leather pack. She flipped the cover and drew the strings, securing them with a knot. Wincing, she wove her arm through the strap on the back and slipped it on. Quick-stepping down the stairs of the outpost, she crossed the shadow stones of the western bridge.

Harper Pritchard · Adventurer Joined: 05 Oct 2012 Posts: 35

She sat with her legs crossed on the sand. Her shoes were placed tightly on top of each of her knees with the blood smeared journal perched on her interlocking shins. The pace of the quill ebbed and flowed with her thoughts. Moments of passion made the dark blue feather tip flit quickly against the barely-there breeze while moments of quiet contemplation saw it placed against her pale pink lips, poised high enough to break the stream and low enough to return at thought's speed.

Parchment cuts wove their way from the meat of her fingers to the back of her wrist before disappearing under the dark cloak of her arms. Telling to any onlooker, no one dared get close enough. The hunched shoulders under a fabric of shadow and bits of bloodied bandage would ward off all but the most desperate of thieves. Not that she would have noticed anyone coming up, so lost in thought as she was.

“The task was almost too simple at first. It looked like any other lake. It's touched partly by grass and partly by sand but the water is dark and keeps with the pattern of most bodies of water. Looks can be deceiving. I followed the edges round. I spread out. I took notes. Nevin’s requests were fulfilled. No normal body of water houses what lay to the south. They came in droves from a structure only seen in history lessons. Wrapped in the same cloth Amy uses to tend wounds and reeking of fluids long since divested on the material they swarmed. It turns out there is no reasoning with these creatures and I am not skilled as Nevin is, so control was a moot point. Had it not been for my small amount of mage skill, I would have succombed.

There is a level of determination I admire. They are singularly purposed. Their minds are on one thing. My mind is on many more. Yes there are parts of this tranquil lake that call to mind another clearing: another paladin filled park. But there is far more beneath. My notes are completed including the samples of aquatic life, some of which are malformed and I believe I found one that is poisonous. Possibly more. I wonder what ~~they....~~

Quickly the word they is scratched out with an angry back and forth slash before she continued.

“What Nevin’s next task will be for me. Perhaps I will finally get to ask Amy what caught her attention?”

Harper Pritchard · Adventurer Joined: 05 Oct 2012 Posts: 35

"I've begun work on the library. I find I'm needing more space for the journals. Umbra's history is expansive and when you take into consideration the first person accounts... those who are left; it amounts to a great deal. I've been requested to do some research on one of the many nearby crypts. Some of the townsfolk have talked of rustling. In a town dedicated to necromancy you would think that was normal. Umbra's history dictates there is far more than Necromancers that walk these shadow-stone roads. Perhaps I'll take some time at each of the town monuments while I'm out there. I'll leave word with Clio that I'll be gone for a few days. That also means packing a bedroll and I don't believe I have mine any longer. I'll have to see to the provisioner before I head out. "

Tapping the quill against the journal she reached for a free flowing sheet and began to make a list of things she would need.

"Maybe a trip to the arena would be good as well..."