[Game Thread] Chapter Seven: Bloodlines

[dalarangreen]

Brood nodded her head at Mrith's comments. "I don't know the name of this coins owner, but if what you say is true, my meeting with Wainraith won't be avoided, for better or worse."

Brood takes back the coin after Mrith is finished examining it. Regardless of how things turned out, she was glad Brood had shared with Mrith. It had been fruitful, at the very least.

"If nothing terrible happens, I'll be sure to let you know the result of the two coins reunion..."

Brood looked into the fire once more, "Mrith Jenn'la Rudaa of Yesterwind, it has been a rare pleasure sharing with you this evening. I hope that we cross paths again." Social formalities were never Brood's strong suit, but she could tell that the time of their interaction was closing.

"May the Shadows guide you in your hunting."

Closings shared, Brood began to seek out Shadow, whom she had last saw helping with the repairs. The first part of her search had been completed: now Brood would have to wait for Wainright to arrive at the party.

[Blue]

She presumed that if anything terrible did happen she'd likely know about it. Quite rapidly too.
"Brood of the First-Born Tal'gos, may you live long and die free."

She'd then seek L'arabiel. Tempting as staying by the fire was.

[Makenshi]

 

Bane laughs as well. "Well, she definitely has an affinity for shadows. It took us a while to convince her that not everyone has a 'Pe'er' in their shadow after last time. As things go, I'd imagine that she'd take you up on the offer, but then babes have a tendency to get attracted to new and shiny things, so who knows."

While Tinker thinks on the suggestions provided by Nallaul and Tavrin, muttering to himself as he does, Bane dips his head again in response to Nallaul's comment. "Thank you. I'd try to return the compliment but I'm afraid I don't know the meaning of your name. I speak the language, more or less, but its almost a thousand years removed by now."

 

L'arabiel seems surprised by Mrith's approach, giving her a formal dip of the head in greeting. "Yes, of course. Even if the mantles of their respective sins will be passed on, it will be without their raw power. I must admit I was worried when I heard that Xu'deln went with Acedia, but I am hardly an expert on these times yet and from what I've heard this Acedia is quite unlike the one that I knew."

She frowns at the dragon's theory on the Godlings. "I'm sorry, different realities? Do you mean like the realms that I and the other Zodiac came from?" It would occur to Mrith that, having only been recently returned to life, L'arabiel may not be familiar with the Oracle, let alone with the exact way that her visions worked compared to other seers.

Rising looks thoughtful. "It would explain some things about them, mainly our collective ignorance." He shakes his head. "But how could Children be among their number if that was the case?"

L'arabiel shrugs. "Converts perhaps? Whatever their origin I find myself cautiously optimistic. Given the damage they have inflicted and the good they have done, I'd rather believe that they are being honest about these 'bindings'. True Magic was never my speciality though, I always felt it was too risky to use and, in truth, I lacked enough of an aptitude with magic to realistically pursue it. Perhaps Alistair will be able to enlighten us, if he deigns to reveal himself."

 

It was easy to find Shadow due to her being suspended a good 10ft or more up in the air inside her shadow. They were finishing up with some repairs to one of the less intact homes in the village while there was still some light. Mostly by utilising the many, strong tendrils that they were seemingly able to grow at will. Without her help, they probably wouldn't have been anywhere close to finishing the work before nightfall, but as it was, it seemed pretty much complete as far as Brood could see.

If the Children there were at all uneasy interacting with the unknown Godling then they didn't show it and Shadow, for her part, seemed at home calling out and chatting away to the Children as they worked. Like the time she had witnessed her speaking when bound by the shadow before, there was a certain echoing quality to her voice, but it didn't stop her from being understood and the Children seemed as unconcerned by it as they were by her.

When Shadow noticed Brood nearby she, for lack of a better term, 'slipped' out of her own shadow, dropping deftly to the ground and dusting herself off as she moved to approach her fellow Child. Meanwhile, her shadow continued to work as before, seemingly unimpeded by her absence, just as Shadow herself seemed unimpeded by being separate to it and still lacking a shadow despite the light hanging low on the horizon casting lengthy shadows elsewhere.

"Brood." Shadow smiled. "I'm glad you came. I hope you plan on playing some music later on?"

 

Who and Where? Brood: Talking with Shadow. Mrith: Talking with L'arabiel and Rising. Adam: Talking with Sublime. Nallaul: Talking with Bane, Tinker and Silverforge. Silverforge: Talking with Bane, Tinker and Nallaul. King Vulcar of Halva, Vulcar's fiancéePrincess Celes of Shali, Cypher is the eldest of the Sword's three Children but also the least seen. This is because she is a Face in the Dark (see classes thread), meaning she has spent most of her time infiltrating Fiendish churches and cults. In her case, she infiltrated the Church of Deimos in Sharak and even spent a time as King Kaeyin's religious advisor. At some point during this she become pregnant with and bore a twin daughter and son of Kaeyin (although neither he nor anyone else was aware of them) who have been raised by the Children in the Dark when she is not around. As a Face in the Dark she is highly skilled at divine magic, stealth and subterfuge. Being a Godling she is also among the most powerful of mortals although not quite a full-fledged God.Cypher of the Firstborn In'ira and her twin toddlers, Ismael and Miya: Inside one of the tents, where the babies/toddlers/younger children mostly seem to be. Most often shortened simply to Bane, he is the middle-child of the three but also the tallest and bears a striking resemblance to his grandfather, Vulcar Halva I, the man who founded Halva and the First Halvan Empire. Bane's Gift is for understanding magic items, which are somewhat of a speciality of his and generally what he spends most of his time doing outside of freeing slaves, striking out against the Fiends or otherwise performing his duties. He is an Eye in the Dark (see the classes thread), meaning he is skilled at stealth and arcane magic. Being a Godling he is also among the most powerful of mortals although not quite a full-fledged God.Balor-Bane of the Firstborn In'ira: Talking with Tinker, Nallaul and Silverforge. Min is the youngest, most reckless and most immature of the three, having only passed her Swordright in the past few years. Unlike her siblings, she has embraced her psionic heritage and uses it in combination with the sublime way, having had a lot of training in both from various other Children. Min is a powerful Wilder and a highly skilled Swordsage, as well as having learnt how to further manipulate psionics by being an Elocator. Being a Godling she is also among the most powerful of mortals although not quite a full-fledged God.Min of the Firstborn In'ira and her sword-brothers, Toy and Geld: Mingling with other Children. One of the original investigators and without doubt the most high profile of them even before the investigations were revealed to the world at large during Chapter Five. He has made a name for himself for shouting at or otherwise picking fights with powerful and/or influential people, including a few Gods, most often by trying to call them out on their behaviour. As well as having fostered a close working relationship (if not friendship) with the King and his soon-to-be Queen, Morgan is also a childhood friend of Kala (one of the newest Gods in Aheka), a former pupil of Esiard Emlyn and, as has been revealed recently, not only currently in a relationship with Minloth Zilira but also responsible for freeing her from the binding that had been placed on her to serve the Halvan royal family for almost a thousand years. Despite this recent prestige he still maintains a network of friends and allies from all walks of life throughout Halva.Archmage Morgan Wainwraith, Kala was a deaf-mute Seer long thought to be the reincarnation of Airis, partly because she was innately talented at using divine magic with little to no training from a startlingly young age. It has recently emerged that she is in fact the daughter of Airis and Malvain, broken free by Malvain and entrusted into the care of her half-brother Malhas (see Other) who stunted her natural gift in order to better hide her. Her true power was unlocked by Fisali and she has since steadily grew in strength and power, with her political influence, especially to the worshippers of her parents, likewise growing and growing. Since becoming a Demi-Goddess, Kala has displayed powerful divine magic, with a particular knack for using glpyh and symbol spells as well as healing magic. She has even proven capable of resurrecting the dead, however it appears to tax her in some way.Kala, Malhas is a son of Malvain born around a century ago or more (exactly when is unknown), although he has never been very widely known, even among his father's own followers. His most notable act was masquerading as his father in order to provoke an alliance of Deities (good and evil) to fight and slay Malvain. Malhas has recently claimed he did so because Malvain was planning some sort of world-spanning war which, given the separate machinations of Zera to do likewise, could very well have been a catastrophe. Malhas has recently emerged as being the one responsible for hiding Kala's true power, as well as keeping an eye on her by masquerading as a worshipper of Airis by the name of Kahlas. He has been helping her out since, although the two do not always see eye to eye. Malhas is a highly skilled and varied user of both arcane and divine magic although he full abilities and limits have never really been tested.Malhas and a Drow Demi-Goddess who was thought dead. Most notably, she is both the ultimate female ancestor of the Halvan dynasty/had been bound to serve them into recently by powerful magic and the mother of Coiya Halva, the second ever King of Halva and better known now as the Sword in the DarkMinloth Zilira: Yet to arrive, but expected to arrive together. Didina Reid is a beautiful young Tiefling woman, most notable because of her large horns which she habitual decorates with jewellery. Although she was born to the former High Council member (but still influential Council member) Alleron Lyrason her father not only disinherited her due to her obvious Tiefling nature - claiming that she was not his daughter - but has repeatedly hired people to try and kill or otherwise deal with her. Didina has survived against these attacks in part due to having forged her own network of allies/friends and in part through her natural psionic talents. Eventually, this gained the King's attention and he not only named her a Lady but also took lands and wealth from her father in recompense, all in order to recruit the Mindbender and Thrallherd to aid in investigating the attempt on his life. Despite being a powerful Telepath, Didina dislikes fighting which has only intensified recently with the death (and revival) of her closest friend, Misa Serokai (see below). She has stressed that she was hired to investigate, not to fight, so it unclear how much she intends to continue to help with current events, especially with their original task having been completed once they confirmed it was Zera behind the assassination attempt. As a Telepath, Mindbender and Thrallherd Didina is highly skilled at using Telepathy powers and mind-effecting powers in general. Didina revealed that she had contacts/friends in the Church of Inanna much earlier in the story, however it has recently emerged that not only did she have some sort of contact with the Cult of Acedia but had some form of interaction with Acedia herself that she avoided talking about. It is because of this that she did not join the rest of the party in confronting Acedia and later getting involved in the battle between several Archgates and several of the Unknown Gods.Lady Didina Reid and Misa Serokai is a generally scruffy-looking young Arian woman, however as the daughter of the long-serving Arian ambassador to Halva she was born and raised in Halva. She was brought into the investigation in part because of her close friendship with Didina Reid but also because of her own minor seer abilities. Namely, that having been born blind she has greatly refined the Serokai's natural precognition to allow her to experience the world through what she describes as some form of 'touchsight', more feeling it than seeing it, as well as sometimes getting vague premonitions of danger. This form of 'sight' even allowed her to recognise the incredibly powerful mage known as Shade, who ordinarily can not be recognised unless he wants to be due to some sort of magical amnesia effect that he constantly emits. Misa was not only killed, but reduced to dust during the most recent Fiendish incursion upon Aheka however the newly ascended Demi-Goddess Kala was able to not only restore her but cure her blindness in the process - something that Misa has refused in the past as her people believe it is a distraction from the true sight she has mastered and fears her abilities will fade as a result. She stayed behind with Didina when the party left to confront Acedia and her forces.Lady Misa Serokai: Just arrived. Archgates Mirik Orn, Selene Jual, Sei'Theofan Rudaa, Shara Segali, Sei'Raeth Segali, an Alainn: Mingling amongst the Children. Anorde and Celi: Yet to arrive (will arrive with Ashen Black). A (literally) ethereal looking woman with blonde hair, one green eye and one blue eye that appears to float/fly about, passing through most physical objects and attacks (which is likely where the name comes from). Has a very unusual appearance (pale skin, wings, clothing that appears to have melded into her skin). Like her siblings and unlike all the other Unknown Gods, she has outright admitted to/claimed to be a daughter of Airis and Zera, which has earned suspicion from many (most importantly Jester of the Demon's Moon). Other than her incorporeality she has mostly displayed powerful divine magic, potentially even reviving the recently slain (Revivify) and using various high-level healing/restoration spells to aid others.Airiel the Unbound: In one of the larger buildings, helping tend to injured Children rather than joining the festivities (so far anyway). The most striking of the 'Un' siblings because of his uncanny resemblance to his father, Zera, save for the blond hair and blue-green eyes of his mother (Airis). Fortunately for him, Zera's face isn't widely known outside of the Sei and high-ranking military types. Fought with and killed Gula by taking an immense beating and then somehow 'transferring' his injuries onto Gula once Gula tried to use a God-killing poison on him. As Gula was dying Tinker (see below) used an unknown artifact to steal and store his divinity. He has displayed powerful psionics, in particular having repeatedly absorbed injuries from those around him to heal them and transferring both these and his own injuries onto Fiends. Against both Gula and Jester (see the linked to Chapter) he has displayed not only an incredibly resilience (i.e. taking lots of damage) but an incredible ability to rapidly heal himself when he chooses not to transfer his injuries. He has also displayed another former of magic using an unknown tongue, mostly by simply calling out a single word/short phrase, however exactly what it is is unknown.Airin the Undying: Using his psionics (in particular telekinesis) to help the last of the rebuilding/fixing going on. Like her sister, Airza's appearance is highly unusual as she not only has stone-like and bronze-coloured (actually bronze, not just tanned) skin with patches of incandescent scales on it but also pitch-black cracks running all across her body forming strange symbols all over her body. Her having one blue eye and one green eye doesn't register nearly as much as it normally would as result. She was mostly active in the Fiendish Planes before helping to defend her brother from Jester (see the end of the current Chapter). Unlike her more magical siblings, Airza has shown simple but brutally effective overwhelming force when she has fought, mostly using her fists and/or an oversized bastard sword, as well as an ability to not only rapidly heal herself but simply shrug off most forms of damage in the first place. In the unlikely event that a Binder meets her, they may recognise that her appearance and certain other abilities are a result of Binding magic.Airza, the Unbroken: Mingling with the Children. At first glance, Arte doesn't look very remarkable, and unlike his sister, Sublime, has shown a tendency to hang back and strike from afar rather than get into the thick of fighting. He also tended to kill almost exclusively with practical, quick bouts of magic, rather than toying and humiliating his opponents as his sister did. Most notably, the two of them killed Superbia, with Arte countering any of her attempts at magic and even seemingly to re-direct her attempts to teleport away while Sublime killed her in (otherwise) single combat. Has displayed a large variety of both arcane and divine magic, even sometimes combining the two, but has mostly worked with his sister, Sublime to compliment her focus on fighting. Like her, he hasn't really shown much in the way of 'support', with even his divine magic being used for almost exclusively offensive purposes.Arte: Gone to look for Rapture or 'one of the triplets'. Boss' appearance is by far the most intimidating of the Unknown Gods. Not only does he bear an uncanny resemblance to Deimos (same hair colour/general build, but different eyes and a skull mask that covers the top of his face rather than the bottom of it) but his entire body is covered in writhing, living spiked chains that he not only fights with but uses to move around on. He has almost exclusively shown up in Phare in the recent fighting, specifically their capitol Feid, helping to fight the Fiends, albeit in an incredibly brutal fashion and usually while cheerily singing inappropriate songs in the process. For those who who have been/were recently victims of particularly nasty people (especially those using a position of power to avoid paying for their crimes) he may have revealed himself as much as a few years before the current events, coming out of no-where to either kill the person in question or confer some sort of compulsion-laden mark on them to force them to 'atone' (with the compulsion often being rather sadistic in nature). All such targets of his have been nasty pieces of work and he tends to arrive and leave in an abrupt fashion. Apart from using the spiked chains wrapped around his entire body like combat tentacles and brutally ripping things into pieces he has also shown a smattering of sorcerous magic (albeit, not very high level), some powerful invocations and a knack for striking at weak points.Boss: Using his chains to help with the building/repair work. Lady is the most visible (literally) of the Unknown Gods, mostly because her appearances tend to be heralded by her exuding waves of blinding light from her body. What makes her obvious affinity for light more unusual is that she is a dusky/grey skinned Drowtouched, wearing mostly white with some grey and black. She first emerged as Deimos and the Fiends attacked the Drow underground but subsequently moved across Aheka turning up in various places to help out. Each time usually using not only her light powers but mass telepathy to announce her presence, threaten the fiends or rally the people. Along with her (seemingly innate) light-based powers, she has also displayed powerful offensive psionics and sorcery, as well as occasionally fighting with a sword.Lady/Sulion: Using her psionics/magic (mostly telekinesis) to help the rebuilding/repair work. A tall grey-skinned Drow-touched man wearing goggles, a tattered wide-brimmed hat and a long overcoat filled with various bits and pieces. He has mostly only shown up in order to use some sort of device to strip Gula, Ira and Superbia of their divinity before they were killed, however he has fought a little as well. Tinker has displayed skill with a pistol, the use of various magical items (most notably the one that appears to drain divinity) and the occasional use of high level arcane magic.Tinker: Talking with Bane and Nallaul. Faces, as he has generally introduced himself recently, is an incredibly skilled shapeshifter that has only recently been revealed as being 'Mask' (see People of Aheka). His 'default'/diplomatic form is a young man with dark hair wearing a mask with a simplistic stylised grinning face on it. Although he joins the other Unknown Gods in confronting Jester in the most recent Chapter his other antics are otherwise unknown. It seems likely he has masqueraded as others to either use the chaos to spy or sneak up people. Even his 'Mask' persona seems to be just another persona, as he acts much more reserved and unassuming in his 'grinning face' guise. Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods he is not only unknown to them but the Family he claims to belong to (the Harlequins) is similarly completely unknown. Other than his shapeshifting he hasn't really displayed any real skills as Many Faces except for being very good at pretending to be someone else, however as Mask his using a variety of skills/magic led people to believe he is a Chameleon (i.e. capable of using a wide variety of abilities/magic depending on the situation). Given the revelation of his true power this may have been an inaccurate assumption.Many Faces: ??? Rapture is an unusually tall elf-touched woman (6ft+) wearing the traditional mismatched armour of the Children in the Dark who carries a halberd with magical runes and markings carved into it like a staff would have. Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods she is not only unknown to them but the Family she claims to belong to (the Dervishes) is similarly completely unknown. She has displayed not only great skill with using her halberd in battle, but also appears to use it as a focus/aid to both high-level offensive arcane and divine magic.Rapture: Mingling with the Children. After the Lady in the Light, Shadow has been the most noticeable/seen of the Unknown Gods, mostly as a result of engaging in a very public fight with Invidia in Feid. That she has been fighting by using some sort of shapeshifting 'shadow' that surrounds her and tends to take on large monstrous forms with great fluidity certainly helped make her noticeable. She also revealed herself to the Children before the current events, specifically Teaches Humility (a former PC who you can find in the Lords and Ladies thread). Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods she is not only unknown to them but the Family she claims to belong to (the Avengers) is similarly completely unknown. She has mostly relied on immense physical prowess to fight, combined with the fluid shapeshifting, reach and natural attacks of her 'shadow beast armour/suit thing', but using the occasional bit of arcane magic (usually to banish Fiends from a distance).Shadow: Talking with Brood while her 'shadow form' continues to help the rebuilding/repair work, mostly with tentacles/brute strength. Except perhaps for Many Faces, Snark is the most unassuming of the Unknown Gods. He wears the typical mis-matched armour of the Children in the Dark and, unsurprisingly predominantly fights with a sword, but if anything he's a little shorter than average and definitely shorter than most of the other Unknown Gods. Most notably, he seems to only speak by quoting sayings, bits of scripture or even parroting what other people say around him (often mockingly). He has generally accompanied Lady, both among the Drow and on the surface, but occasionally split up from her to deal with threats by himself. Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods he is not only unknown to them but the Family he claims to belong to (the Silencers) is similarly completely unknown. He has shown himself to not only be a skilled swordsman but a practitioner of the Sublime Way, including some supernatural uses of it (mostly Devoted Spirit manoeuvrers/stances). He has also displayed minor magical abilities, great skill at stealth and a keen eye for weak spots.Snark: Mingling with the Children. Sublime is by far the most talkative of the Unknown Gods, although this mostly takes the form of boasting, mocking and generally being an annoyance in any way she can while fighting. True to her boasting, she is a strikingly beautful woman with long dark hair, pale skin and clothing that while cut to allow her freedom of movement is obviously ornate, high quality and designed to also show off her physique. Although she predominantly fights with a sword it has the ability to rapidly change shape to suit how/who she is fighting, mostly taking the form of various melee weapons but sometimes pairs of them or even a metallic bow that creates its own entirely metallic arrows to fire. She most notably killed Superbia in (mostly) single combat (her brother countered Superbia's magic and attempts to flee, otherwise not engaging her) but also swathes of other demons. Even against Superbia Sublime maintained her cocky arrogance, constantly belittling and mocking the Goddess as they fought and claiming that she was disappointed with how weak Superbia was before beheading her and using her decapitated head as a make-shift flail against her own forces. She appears to fight for the thrill of fighting and/or to prove herself superior as far as has been observed. She has almost exclusively fought physically, bar some supernatural uses of the Sublime Way, and mostly at melee, but of particular note is not only her use of archery but that she somehow appears to be able to use the Sublime Way with it. Her skill, particularly with the Sublime Way, is quite frankly equal parts terrifying, awe-inspiring and unequalled as far as most people will have ever seen, making her boast of being 'Perfection Personified' more understandable (but still very arrogant).Sublime: Talking with Adam near the heads of the slain Sins (which are on poles nearby) and joining in with nearby celebrations. The oldest of the Hybrids, having been created when a Succubus stabbed the Paladin of Trinity, Nero Ardin, sixteen years ago without knowing the true nature of the dagger. He appears as a dark-haired, pale-skinned and plainly dressed Shalian man, making him much more unassuming in appearance compared to the two other Hybrids. Like with all of the Hybrids, those who meet his gaze feel like it almost pulls them in, with their pupils appearing like starry voids. Nehrahk has spent the past sixteen years secretly converting his own army of Fiends (and Fiend-blooded creatures) from the various Fiendish planes, using his influence over Fiends to try and turn them into a force for good. All of these Fiends have his mark (a series of smaller and smaller equilateral triangles within one another at different angles) somewhere obvious on their body (usually the forehead). He has been operating out of his own demi-plane attached to the Plane of Shadows and is known to a few in the Children of the Dark, but was otherwise unknown until now. Although obviously attempting to be a force for good Nehrahk has made it clear that his intention is to protect Aheka from Fiends - not to get involved in internal Ahekan affairs - so he is not to be counted on to fight Zera. He has displayed the ability to both make and 'unmake' matter on a variety of scales, from creating clothes to entire demi-planes and not just disintegrating objects/beings but, according to his own description, unravelling their very presence in reality (making it impossible to restore/revive them).Nehrahk: Unknown if he will appear. The newest of the Hybrids but has quickly become the most well known as he moved across Aheka during the recent troubles slaying swathes of Fiends with little effort while also holding off/repelling Fiendish Deities as well. He has auburn hair, tanned skin and golden eyes that resemble rolling, whirling liquid fire. Like with all of the Hybrids, those who meet his gaze feel like it almost pulls them in, with their pupils appearing like starry voids. He was created when Lekan Alyyryk of the Kashyyn, a Tyyrykan who had been helping the PCs to investigate the assassination and then Zera in general, elected to sacrifice himself in part because of a prior meeting with the Oracle having convinced him that doing so was for the benefit of Aheka as a whole, even if - by his own personal beliefs - it would not only destroy his soul but prevent the eventual reincarnation that his people believe in. Lekan came to the PCs attentions because his identical brother was used to try and assassinate the King - by Zera as it eventually turned out - however it emerged that it was due to Zera's mental manipulations. It was also discovered that the Blue Woman was in fact originally Lekan's sister - with the three of them being triplets - and is being controlled/manipulated by Zera. His brother and sister had both been trying to infiltrate Zera's operations before they were discovered and Zera twisted them to his own ends. Still being 'newborn', the full extent of Lekkar's powers are unknown, however he retains Lekan Alyyryk's psionic abilities (albeit, greatly amplified) as well as possessing an affinity for innate fire magic. In particular, he appears to use it to move around, either appearing in a blaze of fire from out of no-where or sometimes literally exploding from out of Fiends during the recent troubles. Just as Nehrahk has an affinity for manipulating Fiends and the Blue Woman has an affinity for Trolls, Lekkar's influence seems to revolve around Seers and, more broadly, humans to a degree as he has shown some sort of empathic sense towards humanoids as a whole - such as being able to tell that the Drow were being enslaved and slaughtered after looking at a single Drow.Lekkar Alyyryk: Unknown if he will appear. Coiya/the Sword in the Dark: With the babies/toddlers, along with Vulcar, Celes, Cypher and Future. Dancer, Keeper of the Blackbone: Speaking with the Children near Sublime and Adam/checking out the heads of the slain Gods. Breaker, Keeper of the Firstborn: Disappeared into another building with Strider. Mercy, Keeper of the Last-Breath: Speaking with Ruin on the other side of the central bonfire to Mrith and Brood. Wit, Keeper of the Oldblood: Approaching Nallaul, Tinker and Bane. Strider, Keeper of the True-Dawn: Disappeared into another building with Breaker Ruin, Keeper of the Wildsoul: Speaking with Mercy on the other side of the central bonfire to Mrith and Brood. Future, Keeper of the Young-Blades: With the babies/toddlers, along with Vulcar, Celes, Cypher and Coiya. Rising, Keeper of the Waking Dream: Speaking with L'arabiel and Mrith. L'arabiel: Speaking with Rising and Mrith. Name: Location. If there's anyone else from the People thread (or for the vets, that you've met before) that you're keeping an eye on/want to meet then let me know and I'll add them here if they're expected to attend and update when they arrive.

~MTWC

[Alphaeus]

Silverforge A warmth crept into the man's face that illuminated his features at Bane's comments on the girl. "That would be wonderful...a student of mine own, as opposed to merely other trainees. Well...I must be off. Always have a bit of a job here or there, you know." He nodded to the three of them. "A pleasure meeting you all. I am certain that the two of you I that I have just met will become better acquaintances as time goes by." With that, he set off over to the location Bane had indicated earlier. He walked up behind Miya, moving with the silence of death. As she played, he moved so that she was engulfed in his shadow. The shadow itself seemed to wrap around her tiny form...nothing notable at a glance, but the girl seemed to be particularly startled and pleased with the change. As her eyes widened in happy surprise, he bent down and scooped her up in his arms. "Well now, what little girl do we have here? Would she happen to go by the name of...Miya? And might she just possibly have been waiting for a playmate by the name of...oh, I don't know...Pe'er?" She had been around him enough when he was in different forms to know that Uncle Silvy didn't always look and sound the same, so Silverforge took little care around her. He loved Ismael too, but Miya was undoubtedly his favorite. With the girl wrapped in one arm...and his shadow seemingly normal now...he walked over to Cypher, giving his usual head-bow to the King and the Princess. He tapped Cypher lightly on one shoulder, leaning close to speak into her ear. "I hope you don't mind if I let Miya and Pe'er have some fun for a bit. I also would like a word with you whenever you have the chance." Turning to the Royal couple, he smiled broadly, shifting Miya's weight slightly. "Master Tavrin Wolvera, and a pleasure to finally meet the two of you."

[Makenshi]

Inside the tent were many Children and many children, although the latter generally outnumbered the former. Coiya and his group were also hardly the only ones here visiting/playing with the babes, all of whom were rather young here. The older babes were likely in another tent, with Miya and Ismael being amongst the eldest here.

While Celes and even Vulcar to a lesser extent seemed surprised to see the stranger approach the the twins are about two years oldtoddler Coiya and Cypher were familiar enough with him that they didn't even bat an eye, even when Miya squealed in excitement. "Per!" She tried to hug the shadow with...well, predictable results as she fell flat on her face instead. Undaunted, the precocious toddler clambered back up, still grinning, only to be scooped up by the druid.

Cypher, who had taken to wearing her mask less and less after having revealed her cover on Aheka, smiled at the pair of them. Ismael glanced in their direction for a moment before returning his attention to his shadow-wrapped grandfather. More specifically, he seemed to be poking and prodding at him curiously, which the God didn't seem to mind.

She raised an eyebrow at Silverforge's request. "Of course."

When he turned his attention to the royals, Miya took to poking, prodding and pulling at his own (to her) new face, just as curiously as her brother was with Coiya. Both the royals and Cypher smiled at the little girl's antics, although Vulcar's was more restrained than the other two's. Just as Vulcar is about to respond to Silverforge's greeting, Coiya interrupts. "As much as I know you like your faces, secrets and lies have no place among King Vulcar is a descendant of Coiya (something which the Children know by now), who himself was the second King of Halva before he abdicated and left Aheka to wander the planes, which is how he eventually came across the Children. He also has the same grey eyes that mark both Coiya's children/grandchildren and the Halvan royal familyfamily, especially at a celebration like this." His tone wasn't exactly reproachful, but it was clear that he expected Silverforge to introduce himself properly, rather than by using his current name, although that likely didn't mean that he'd expect him to change his appearance.

~MTWC

[Alphaeus]

Silverforge Two centuries can do many things to a soul. One of them is the teaching of patience. Having spent decades upon decades working with the fiends while he slowly planned an escape, more time planning revenge, and then decades more being either highly secretive or training young Children...patience was something Silver was more than capable of exercising. Thus, Miya's antics in regards to his new persona were met with a brief chuckle and little more. When Coiya spoke, Silverforge bowed again, moreso than he would for any other being. "Forgive me. I have a habit of being on guard, for ears are everywhere." Turning back to Vulcar and his fiancé, he gave a somewhat crooked smile. "For a more proper introduction, I am Siblee--" Here he paused as Miya pulled one corner of his mouth and cheek out to the side, presumably to see if this was some kind of mask. After carefully extracting her tiny fingers from his skin, he continued. "I am Silverforge "The Nightbringer" of the Wild-Souls, head and founder of the family of the Darkborn." He nodded to his shadow. A section of it split off, rising up to take a humanoid form beside Miya. "This is Pe'er, my companion...a shadow elemental, and at least currently Miya's favorite 'pet' if you will." He glanced from Cypher to Coiya and then to the royals, and shrugged, interjecting before they could reply. "While I prefer to be less abrupt, if I am to conceal no secrets right now I will flatly say there is someone among this celebration with Fiendish connections...and playing very much the fraud. Hence my hesitation to desist from my role." It occurred to him briefly that his "role" would likely mean little to Vulcar and Celes since to them he would have been just another Halvan. Then again, it was probably safe to assume they could make some kind of connections based off of Coiya's words.

[Acathala]

"I wasn't aware shadows could be incontinent." Nallaul says in an attempt to be funny. He looks at Tinker and asks. "Did that help? Nallaul, problem solver to the gods has a nice ring to it. What are you looking to do with the lightning?" Perhaps he should have asked that before helping.

[dalarangreen]

Despite being unfamiliar with Shadow, Brood--like the other children--did not find the Godling's tentacled shadow particularly unnerving or strange. In fact, Brood was more surprised that Shadow made a point to interrupt what she was doing to come greet Brood.

"That is most of the reason why I am attending the party," Brood replied, affirming Shadow's question. "It is good to see you under less strenuous circumstances, Shadow."

Brood paused before continuing.

"I haven't seen Humility in a long while... Rumor has it she has been training with you. How is she?"

[Blue]

Rising looks thoughtful. "It would explain some things about them, mainly our collective ignorance." He shakes his head. "But how could Children be among their number if that was the case?"

Mrith felt a little silly, now realizing that the notion wouldn't be familiar to her yet. Rising's comment had her tilt her head on to the side.
"They are Children, yes, but I understand that they hail from Families nobody knows? Wouldn't that be another telling sign? Different... or alternate... world... so different circumstances leading to different Families."

Talking about Shade brought back the idea that he was probably involved with those godlings. What with that contraption that sucked the divine out of people. She remembered seeing more of that Crone-binding ability, an art that had apparently been invented by Shade... perhaps more of his pupils?
"I'd be surprised if he wasn't behind their arrival. Not just because of this... True Magic."

Not long later, she would drift back to her favored subject; "L'arabiel, as you come from another world in a time long gone, would you perhaps have knowledge of the world of the dragons? Would you know where we come from?"

[Makenshi]

 

Vulcar and Celes incline their heads in return. "A pleasure to meet you, I am King Vulcar Halva II, also known as the Young King."

"Likewise." His blonde haired Fiancé spoke up next, smiling warmly. "I am Princess Celes of Shali." Even though Silverforge wasn't very knowledgeable of Freeborn nobility, he was aware that attacks by Shali's neighbour, whom they have gone to war with several timesSharak and their Fiendish allies resulted in the death of most of the Shalian royals. Given that, it seemed likely that Celes would not only be Queen of Halva but of Shali in her own right as well at some point.

Originally Posted by Silverforge

"While I prefer to be less abrupt, if I am to conceal no secrets right now I will flatly say there is someone among this celebration with Fiendish connections...and playing very much the fraud. Hence my hesitation to desist from my role."

While Celes looks alarmed at the news the other three are much more reserved in their reactions. Granted, with Coiya and his featureless 'shadow form' it was practically impossible not to be reserved. Still, he was also the first to reply. "What exactly is it that you mean by 'Fiendish connections' and 'playing the fraud?"

[Assuming that he passses on what Faces said, for the sake of moving things along, though if you want to play it differently I'll edit this to reflect that.]

Coiya and Cypher looked more thoughtful than concerned after the explanation, with his fellow Face being the first to probe further, although as usual it sounded more like she was thinking out loud. "He was very specific about saying 'Fiendish Origin', even after you sought clarification. That is a rather broad description, especially among the Children, and even if you ignore them, Fiendish blood is not exactly rare among the Freeborn."

"Personally," Vulcar cut in with a frown, "I'm starting to become rather annoyed at the antics of these Unknown Gods, some more than others admittedly. What exactly is stopping him from interfering? They killed three Fiendish Gods, so they can obviously interfere with them."

"Perhaps this 'Fiend' is connected with Zera?" Celes suggested.

Vulcar didn't look convinced. "We can't rule that out, but there's been no evidence that Zera is working with any Fiends thus far, but as Cypher said, 'Fiendish origin' is too broad a term for my liking." His frown deepens before the young king lets out a frustrated sigh. "Well, regardless of his motivations, it will need to be looked into. If you need help rooting out dishonesty then I can recommend one of my investigators: Her being a Lady would be news to SilverforgeLady Didina Reid. Not only is she naturally gifted at such things, but her psionics allow her to pierce through various deceptions and protections that should aid you in your search."

 

Nallaul's attempt at humour doesn't seem to translate for Bane, who seems confused by the comment, while Tinker isn't paying attention at the time. Even when the wizard spoke to him directly his reaction was rather delayed.

"...wait, what? Oh, right. Don't know really." Tinker shrugs non-committally, letting out a yawn. "You'll have to ask Mrith about that, she just wanted to know if it would be possible to utilise the multitude of lightning strikes across the Storm Spires in some capacity. Now that I've got a bit of spare time I thought I'd mull it over, though now that you mention it I probably should ask her exactly what she wants to do with it. I'd rather not be responsible for some sort of giant death bolt machine sitting on top of a mountain, no matter how appealing the challenge to make such an item would probably be."

 

"That is most of the reason why I am attending the party," Brood replied, affirming Shadow's question. "It is good to see you under less strenuous circumstances, Shadow."

Shadow smiled, albeit tiredly. "Yes, well, this is the first time I've been able to relax in a while." She glances back to the building they were fixing. "Well, I mean it will be at least. Truthfully its...nice to be back among fellow Children again." There is a slight pause before she adds. "Well, Children I'm not actually related to that is."

Brood paused before continuing. "I haven't seen Humility in a long while... Rumor has it she has been training with you. How is she?"

Shadow's face falls a little at the mention of Brood's teacher. "Not really, no. I spent a little time with her a short time ago but she had a few close calls with Invidia. I imagine that between that and the danger that Ciin will seek her out in order to replace the Sins' numbers she is likely keeping a low profile. I know I would."

 

Rising seems almost as confused by the mention of alternate realities and worlds as L'arabiel was, likely because he too would have no reason to be familiar with such concepts. He even looked a little sheepish about not understanding. "Sorry, I'm not sure I follow."

Originally Posted by Mrith

"I'd be surprised if he wasn't behind their arrival. Not just because of this... True Magic."

L'arabiel nods in agreement. "True. It does sound like something he would do. The only reason I'm not entirely convinced is that he seems to dislike working with Gods even more than he used to from what I've heard. Not that I entirely blame him, given his experiences." She lets out a frustrated sigh. "Honestly, waiting around, hoping he'll show up. It's almost as annoying as hoping Val'erin would show his face, or at least a face we recognised."

Originally Posted by Mrith

"L'arabiel, as you come from another world in a time long gone, would you perhaps have knowledge of the world of the dragons? Would you know where we come from?"

L'arabiel shakes her head. "Sorry, not really. The Dragons are well before my time, well before even the Crone's time, and even they couldn't agree where they came from. The Crone was the mother of the 'Precious' Dragons, as well as a few offshoots like the Endless and their respective 'Primal' Dragons, but even they were far from the only Dragons in the Nine Realms." She cuts back in quickly. "Ah, that is where we came from, the Nine Realms. Truthfully, there are far more than nine in the cosmos, but there are effectively nine 'material' realms like Aheka. There used to be more, but they were...lost." It's obvious by her tone and expression that she's not just talking about 'misplaced', and perhaps even being euphemistic about what happened to these other 'realms'. More importantly Arte's cutting himself off at 'Ni-' when referring to where L'arabiel came from seemed to indicate that he, at least, was somewhat aware of that world.

 

Who and Where? Brood: Talking with Shadow. Mrith: Talking with L'arabiel and Rising. Adam: Talking with Sublime. Nallaul: Talking with Bane, Tinker and Silverforge. Silverforge: Talking with Bane, Tinker and Nallaul. King Vulcar of Halva, Vulcar's fiancéePrincess Celes of Shali, Cypher is the eldest of the Sword's three Children but also the least seen. This is because she is a Face in the Dark (see classes thread), meaning she has spent most of her time infiltrating Fiendish churches and cults. In her case, she infiltrated the Church of Deimos in Sharak and even spent a time as King Kaeyin's religious advisor. At some point during this she become pregnant with and bore a twin daughter and son of Kaeyin (although neither he nor anyone else was aware of them) who have been raised by the Children in the Dark when she is not around. As a Face in the Dark she is highly skilled at divine magic, stealth and subterfuge. Being a Godling she is also among the most powerful of mortals although not quite a full-fledged God.Cypher of the Firstborn In'ira and her twin toddlers, Ismael and Miya: Inside one of the tents, where the babies/toddlers/younger children mostly seem to be. Most often shortened simply to Bane, he is the middle-child of the three but also the tallest and bears a striking resemblance to his grandfather, Vulcar Halva I, the man who founded Halva and the First Halvan Empire. Bane's Gift is for understanding magic items, which are somewhat of a speciality of his and generally what he spends most of his time doing outside of freeing slaves, striking out against the Fiends or otherwise performing his duties. He is an Eye in the Dark (see the classes thread), meaning he is skilled at stealth and arcane magic. Being a Godling he is also among the most powerful of mortals although not quite a full-fledged God.Balor-Bane of the Firstborn In'ira: Talking with Tinker, Nallaul and Silverforge. Min is the youngest, most reckless and most immature of the three, having only passed her Swordright in the past few years. Unlike her siblings, she has embraced her psionic heritage and uses it in combination with the sublime way, having had a lot of training in both from various other Children. Min is a powerful Wilder and a highly skilled Swordsage, as well as having learnt how to further manipulate psionics by being an Elocator. Being a Godling she is also among the most powerful of mortals although not quite a full-fledged God.Min of the Firstborn In'ira and her sword-brothers, Toy and Geld: Mingling with other Children. One of the original investigators and without doubt the most high profile of them even before the investigations were revealed to the world at large during Chapter Five. He has made a name for himself for shouting at or otherwise picking fights with powerful and/or influential people, including a few Gods, most often by trying to call them out on their behaviour. As well as having fostered a close working relationship (if not friendship) with the King and his soon-to-be Queen, Morgan is also a childhood friend of Kala (one of the newest Gods in Aheka), a former pupil of Esiard Emlyn and, as has been revealed recently, not only currently in a relationship with Minloth Zilira but also responsible for freeing her from the binding that had been placed on her to serve the Halvan royal family for almost a thousand years. Despite this recent prestige he still maintains a network of friends and allies from all walks of life throughout Halva.Archmage Morgan Wainwraith, Kala was a deaf-mute Seer long thought to be the reincarnation of Airis, partly because she was innately talented at using divine magic with little to no training from a startlingly young age. It has recently emerged that she is in fact the daughter of Airis and Malvain, broken free by Malvain and entrusted into the care of her half-brother Malhas (see Other) who stunted her natural gift in order to better hide her. Her true power was unlocked by Fisali and she has since steadily grew in strength and power, with her political influence, especially to the worshippers of her parents, likewise growing and growing. Since becoming a Demi-Goddess, Kala has displayed powerful divine magic, with a particular knack for using glpyh and symbol spells as well as healing magic. She has even proven capable of resurrecting the dead, however it appears to tax her in some way.Kala, Malhas is a son of Malvain born around a century ago or more (exactly when is unknown), although he has never been very widely known, even among his father's own followers. His most notable act was masquerading as his father in order to provoke an alliance of Deities (good and evil) to fight and slay Malvain. Malhas has recently claimed he did so because Malvain was planning some sort of world-spanning war which, given the separate machinations of Zera to do likewise, could very well have been a catastrophe. Malhas has recently emerged as being the one responsible for hiding Kala's true power, as well as keeping an eye on her by masquerading as a worshipper of Airis by the name of Kahlas. He has been helping her out since, although the two do not always see eye to eye. Malhas is a highly skilled and varied user of both arcane and divine magic although he full abilities and limits have never really been tested.Malhas and a Drow Demi-Goddess who was thought dead. Most notably, she is both the ultimate female ancestor of the Halvan dynasty/had been bound to serve them into recently by powerful magic and the mother of Coiya Halva, the second ever King of Halva and better known now as the Sword in the DarkMinloth Zilira: Yet to arrive, but expected to arrive together. Didina Reid is a beautiful young Tiefling woman, most notable because of her large horns which she habitual decorates with jewellery. Although she was born to the former High Council member (but still influential Council member) Alleron Lyrason her father not only disinherited her due to her obvious Tiefling nature - claiming that she was not his daughter - but has repeatedly hired people to try and kill or otherwise deal with her. Didina has survived against these attacks in part due to having forged her own network of allies/friends and in part through her natural psionic talents. Eventually, this gained the King's attention and he not only named her a Lady but also took lands and wealth from her father in recompense, all in order to recruit the Mindbender and Thrallherd to aid in investigating the attempt on his life. Despite being a powerful Telepath, Didina dislikes fighting which has only intensified recently with the death (and revival) of her closest friend, Misa Serokai (see below). She has stressed that she was hired to investigate, not to fight, so it unclear how much she intends to continue to help with current events, especially with their original task having been completed once they confirmed it was Zera behind the assassination attempt. As a Telepath, Mindbender and Thrallherd Didina is highly skilled at using Telepathy powers and mind-effecting powers in general. Didina revealed that she had contacts/friends in the Church of Inanna much earlier in the story, however it has recently emerged that not only did she have some sort of contact with the Cult of Acedia but had some form of interaction with Acedia herself that she avoided talking about. It is because of this that she did not join the rest of the party in confronting Acedia and later getting involved in the battle between several Archgates and several of the Unknown Gods.Lady Didina Reid and Misa Serokai is a generally scruffy-looking young Arian woman, however as the daughter of the long-serving Arian ambassador to Halva she was born and raised in Halva. She was brought into the investigation in part because of her close friendship with Didina Reid but also because of her own minor seer abilities. Namely, that having been born blind she has greatly refined the Serokai's natural precognition to allow her to experience the world through what she describes as some form of 'touchsight', more feeling it than seeing it, as well as sometimes getting vague premonitions of danger. This form of 'sight' even allowed her to recognise the incredibly powerful mage known as Shade, who ordinarily can not be recognised unless he wants to be due to some sort of magical amnesia effect that he constantly emits. Misa was not only killed, but reduced to dust during the most recent Fiendish incursion upon Aheka however the newly ascended Demi-Goddess Kala was able to not only restore her but cure her blindness in the process - something that Misa has refused in the past as her people believe it is a distraction from the true sight she has mastered and fears her abilities will fade as a result. She stayed behind with Didina when the party left to confront Acedia and her forces.Lady Misa Serokai: Just arrived. Archgates Mirik Orn, Selene Jual, Sei'Theofan Rudaa, Shara Segali, Sei'Raeth Segali, an Alainn: Mingling amongst the Children. Anorde and Celi: Yet to arrive (will arrive with Ashen Black). A (literally) ethereal looking woman with blonde hair, one green eye and one blue eye that appears to float/fly about, passing through most physical objects and attacks (which is likely where the name comes from). Has a very unusual appearance (pale skin, wings, clothing that appears to have melded into her skin). Like her siblings and unlike all the other Unknown Gods, she has outright admitted to/claimed to be a daughter of Airis and Zera, which has earned suspicion from many (most importantly Jester of the Demon's Moon). Other than her incorporeality she has mostly displayed powerful divine magic, potentially even reviving the recently slain (Revivify) and using various high-level healing/restoration spells to aid others.Airiel the Unbound: In one of the larger buildings, helping tend to injured Children rather than joining the festivities (so far anyway). The most striking of the 'Un' siblings because of his uncanny resemblance to his father, Zera, save for the blond hair and blue-green eyes of his mother (Airis). Fortunately for him, Zera's face isn't widely known outside of the Sei and high-ranking military types. Fought with and killed Gula by taking an immense beating and then somehow 'transferring' his injuries onto Gula once Gula tried to use a God-killing poison on him. As Gula was dying Tinker (see below) used an unknown artifact to steal and store his divinity. He has displayed powerful psionics, in particular having repeatedly absorbed injuries from those around him to heal them and transferring both these and his own injuries onto Fiends. Against both Gula and Jester (see the linked to Chapter) he has displayed not only an incredibly resilience (i.e. taking lots of damage) but an incredible ability to rapidly heal himself when he chooses not to transfer his injuries. He has also displayed another former of magic using an unknown tongue, mostly by simply calling out a single word/short phrase, however exactly what it is is unknown.Airin the Undying: Using his psionics (in particular telekinesis) to help the last of the rebuilding/fixing going on. Like her sister, Airza's appearance is highly unusual as she not only has stone-like and bronze-coloured (actually bronze, not just tanned) skin with patches of incandescent scales on it but also pitch-black cracks running all across her body forming strange symbols all over her body. Her having one blue eye and one green eye doesn't register nearly as much as it normally would as result. She was mostly active in the Fiendish Planes before helping to defend her brother from Jester (see the end of the current Chapter). Unlike her more magical siblings, Airza has shown simple but brutally effective overwhelming force when she has fought, mostly using her fists and/or an oversized bastard sword, as well as an ability to not only rapidly heal herself but simply shrug off most forms of damage in the first place. In the unlikely event that a Binder meets her, they may recognise that her appearance and certain other abilities are a result of Binding magic.Airza, the Unbroken: Mingling with the Children. At first glance, Arte doesn't look very remarkable, and unlike his sister, Sublime, has shown a tendency to hang back and strike from afar rather than get into the thick of fighting. He also tended to kill almost exclusively with practical, quick bouts of magic, rather than toying and humiliating his opponents as his sister did. Most notably, the two of them killed Superbia, with Arte countering any of her attempts at magic and even seemingly to re-direct her attempts to teleport away while Sublime killed her in (otherwise) single combat. Has displayed a large variety of both arcane and divine magic, even sometimes combining the two, but has mostly worked with his sister, Sublime to compliment her focus on fighting. Like her, he hasn't really shown much in the way of 'support', with even his divine magic being used for almost exclusively offensive purposes.Arte: Gone to look for Rapture or 'one of the triplets'. Boss' appearance is by far the most intimidating of the Unknown Gods. Not only does he bear an uncanny resemblance to Deimos (same hair colour/general build, but different eyes and a skull mask that covers the top of his face rather than the bottom of it) but his entire body is covered in writhing, living spiked chains that he not only fights with but uses to move around on. He has almost exclusively shown up in Phare in the recent fighting, specifically their capitol Feid, helping to fight the Fiends, albeit in an incredibly brutal fashion and usually while cheerily singing inappropriate songs in the process. For those who who have been/were recently victims of particularly nasty people (especially those using a position of power to avoid paying for their crimes) he may have revealed himself as much as a few years before the current events, coming out of no-where to either kill the person in question or confer some sort of compulsion-laden mark on them to force them to 'atone' (with the compulsion often being rather sadistic in nature). All such targets of his have been nasty pieces of work and he tends to arrive and leave in an abrupt fashion. Apart from using the spiked chains wrapped around his entire body like combat tentacles and brutally ripping things into pieces he has also shown a smattering of sorcerous magic (albeit, not very high level), some powerful invocations and a knack for striking at weak points.Boss: Using his chains to help with the building/repair work. Lady is the most visible (literally) of the Unknown Gods, mostly because her appearances tend to be heralded by her exuding waves of blinding light from her body. What makes her obvious affinity for light more unusual is that she is a dusky/grey skinned Drowtouched, wearing mostly white with some grey and black. She first emerged as Deimos and the Fiends attacked the Drow underground but subsequently moved across Aheka turning up in various places to help out. Each time usually using not only her light powers but mass telepathy to announce her presence, threaten the fiends or rally the people. Along with her (seemingly innate) light-based powers, she has also displayed powerful offensive psionics and sorcery, as well as occasionally fighting with a sword.Lady/Sulion: Using her psionics/magic (mostly telekinesis) to help the rebuilding/repair work. A tall grey-skinned Drow-touched man wearing goggles, a tattered wide-brimmed hat and a long overcoat filled with various bits and pieces. He has mostly only shown up in order to use some sort of device to strip Gula, Ira and Superbia of their divinity before they were killed, however he has fought a little as well. Tinker has displayed skill with a pistol, the use of various magical items (most notably the one that appears to drain divinity) and the occasional use of high level arcane magic.Tinker: Talking with Bane and Nallaul. Faces, as he has generally introduced himself recently, is an incredibly skilled shapeshifter that has only recently been revealed as being 'Mask' (see People of Aheka). His 'default'/diplomatic form is a young man with dark hair wearing a mask with a simplistic stylised grinning face on it. Although he joins the other Unknown Gods in confronting Jester in the most recent Chapter his other antics are otherwise unknown. It seems likely he has masqueraded as others to either use the chaos to spy or sneak up people. Even his 'Mask' persona seems to be just another persona, as he acts much more reserved and unassuming in his 'grinning face' guise. Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods he is not only unknown to them but the Family he claims to belong to (the Harlequins) is similarly completely unknown. Other than his shapeshifting he hasn't really displayed any real skills as Many Faces except for being very good at pretending to be someone else, however as Mask his using a variety of skills/magic led people to believe he is a Chameleon (i.e. capable of using a wide variety of abilities/magic depending on the situation). Given the revelation of his true power this may have been an inaccurate assumption.Many Faces: ??? Rapture is an unusually tall elf-touched woman (6ft+) wearing the traditional mismatched armour of the Children in the Dark who carries a halberd with magical runes and markings carved into it like a staff would have. Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods she is not only unknown to them but the Family she claims to belong to (the Dervishes) is similarly completely unknown. She has displayed not only great skill with using her halberd in battle, but also appears to use it as a focus/aid to both high-level offensive arcane and divine magic.Rapture: Mingling with the Children. After the Lady in the Light, Shadow has been the most noticeable/seen of the Unknown Gods, mostly as a result of engaging in a very public fight with Invidia in Feid. That she has been fighting by using some sort of shapeshifting 'shadow' that surrounds her and tends to take on large monstrous forms with great fluidity certainly helped make her noticeable. She also revealed herself to the Children before the current events, specifically Teaches Humility (a former PC who you can find in the Lords and Ladies thread). Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods she is not only unknown to them but the Family she claims to belong to (the Avengers) is similarly completely unknown. She has mostly relied on immense physical prowess to fight, combined with the fluid shapeshifting, reach and natural attacks of her 'shadow beast armour/suit thing', but using the occasional bit of arcane magic (usually to banish Fiends from a distance).Shadow: Talking with Brood while her 'shadow form' continues to help the rebuilding/repair work, mostly with tentacles/brute strength. Except perhaps for Many Faces, Snark is the most unassuming of the Unknown Gods. He wears the typical mis-matched armour of the Children in the Dark and, unsurprisingly predominantly fights with a sword, but if anything he's a little shorter than average and definitely shorter than most of the other Unknown Gods. Most notably, he seems to only speak by quoting sayings, bits of scripture or even parroting what other people say around him (often mockingly). He has generally accompanied Lady, both among the Drow and on the surface, but occasionally split up from her to deal with threats by himself. Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods he is not only unknown to them but the Family he claims to belong to (the Silencers) is similarly completely unknown. He has shown himself to not only be a skilled swordsman but a practitioner of the Sublime Way, including some supernatural uses of it (mostly Devoted Spirit manoeuvrers/stances). He has also displayed minor magical abilities, great skill at stealth and a keen eye for weak spots.Snark: Mingling with the Children. Sublime is by far the most talkative of the Unknown Gods, although this mostly takes the form of boasting, mocking and generally being an annoyance in any way she can while fighting. True to her boasting, she is a strikingly beautful woman with long dark hair, pale skin and clothing that while cut to allow her freedom of movement is obviously ornate, high quality and designed to also show off her physique. Although she predominantly fights with a sword it has the ability to rapidly change shape to suit how/who she is fighting, mostly taking the form of various melee weapons but sometimes pairs of them or even a metallic bow that creates its own entirely metallic arrows to fire. She most notably killed Superbia in (mostly) single combat (her brother countered Superbia's magic and attempts to flee, otherwise not engaging her) but also swathes of other demons. Even against Superbia Sublime maintained her cocky arrogance, constantly belittling and mocking the Goddess as they fought and claiming that she was disappointed with how weak Superbia was before beheading her and using her decapitated head as a make-shift flail against her own forces. She appears to fight for the thrill of fighting and/or to prove herself superior as far as has been observed. She has almost exclusively fought physically, bar some supernatural uses of the Sublime Way, and mostly at melee, but of particular note is not only her use of archery but that she somehow appears to be able to use the Sublime Way with it. Her skill, particularly with the Sublime Way, is quite frankly equal parts terrifying, awe-inspiring and unequalled as far as most people will have ever seen, making her boast of being 'Perfection Personified' more understandable (but still very arrogant).Sublime: Talking with Adam near the heads of the slain Sins (which are on poles nearby) and joining in with nearby celebrations. The oldest of the Hybrids, having been created when a Succubus stabbed the Paladin of Trinity, Nero Ardin, sixteen years ago without knowing the true nature of the dagger. He appears as a dark-haired, pale-skinned and plainly dressed Shalian man, making him much more unassuming in appearance compared to the two other Hybrids. Like with all of the Hybrids, those who meet his gaze feel like it almost pulls them in, with their pupils appearing like starry voids. Nehrahk has spent the past sixteen years secretly converting his own army of Fiends (and Fiend-blooded creatures) from the various Fiendish planes, using his influence over Fiends to try and turn them into a force for good. All of these Fiends have his mark (a series of smaller and smaller equilateral triangles within one another at different angles) somewhere obvious on their body (usually the forehead). He has been operating out of his own demi-plane attached to the Plane of Shadows and is known to a few in the Children of the Dark, but was otherwise unknown until now. Although obviously attempting to be a force for good Nehrahk has made it clear that his intention is to protect Aheka from Fiends - not to get involved in internal Ahekan affairs - so he is not to be counted on to fight Zera. He has displayed the ability to both make and 'unmake' matter on a variety of scales, from creating clothes to entire demi-planes and not just disintegrating objects/beings but, according to his own description, unravelling their very presence in reality (making it impossible to restore/revive them).Nehrahk: Unknown if he will appear. The newest of the Hybrids but has quickly become the most well known as he moved across Aheka during the recent troubles slaying swathes of Fiends with little effort while also holding off/repelling Fiendish Deities as well. He has auburn hair, tanned skin and golden eyes that resemble rolling, whirling liquid fire. Like with all of the Hybrids, those who meet his gaze feel like it almost pulls them in, with their pupils appearing like starry voids. He was created when Lekan Alyyryk of the Kashyyn, a Tyyrykan who had been helping the PCs to investigate the assassination and then Zera in general, elected to sacrifice himself in part because of a prior meeting with the Oracle having convinced him that doing so was for the benefit of Aheka as a whole, even if - by his own personal beliefs - it would not only destroy his soul but prevent the eventual reincarnation that his people believe in. Lekan came to the PCs attentions because his identical brother was used to try and assassinate the King - by Zera as it eventually turned out - however it emerged that it was due to Zera's mental manipulations. It was also discovered that the Blue Woman was in fact originally Lekan's sister - with the three of them being triplets - and is being controlled/manipulated by Zera. His brother and sister had both been trying to infiltrate Zera's operations before they were discovered and Zera twisted them to his own ends. Still being 'newborn', the full extent of Lekkar's powers are unknown, however he retains Lekan Alyyryk's psionic abilities (albeit, greatly amplified) as well as possessing an affinity for innate fire magic. In particular, he appears to use it to move around, either appearing in a blaze of fire from out of no-where or sometimes literally exploding from out of Fiends during the recent troubles. Just as Nehrahk has an affinity for manipulating Fiends and the Blue Woman has an affinity for Trolls, Lekkar's influence seems to revolve around Seers and, more broadly, humans to a degree as he has shown some sort of empathic sense towards humanoids as a whole - such as being able to tell that the Drow were being enslaved and slaughtered after looking at a single Drow.Lekkar Alyyryk: Unknown if he will appear. Coiya/the Sword in the Dark: With the babies/toddlers, along with Vulcar, Celes, Cypher and Future. Dancer, Keeper of the Blackbone: Speaking with the Children near Sublime and Adam/checking out the heads of the slain Gods. Breaker, Keeper of the Firstborn: Disappeared into another building with Strider. Mercy, Keeper of the Last-Breath: Speaking with Ruin on the other side of the central bonfire to Mrith and Brood. Wit, Keeper of the Oldblood: Approaching Nallaul, Tinker and Bane. Strider, Keeper of the True-Dawn: Disappeared into another building with Breaker Ruin, Keeper of the Wildsoul: Speaking with Mercy on the other side of the central bonfire to Mrith and Brood. Future, Keeper of the Young-Blades: With the babies/toddlers, along with Vulcar, Celes, Cypher and Coiya. Rising, Keeper of the Waking Dream: Speaking with L'arabiel and Mrith. L'arabiel: Speaking with Rising and Mrith. Name: Location. If there's anyone else from the People thread (or for the vets, that you've met before) that you're keeping an eye on/want to meet then let me know and I'll add them here if they're expected to attend and update when they arrive.

~MTWC

[dalarangreen]

Brood looks inquisitively at Shadow. From her previous encounter, she knew that Shadow often let hints of things she wasn't supposed to speak about in her conversation. And they tended to be less cryptic than what was shared by Faces, at least...

"Related to?" Brood asked, hoping it was enough to get Shadow to elaborate.

When the conversation turns to Humility, Brood's face shows disappointment and concern. She should have realized that Invidia would be after his "daughter". Humility hadn't told her much about her ancient past (and Brood knew better than to ask her directly), but she had heard enough from the other Children to get the general gist of things. It did not sound in the least bit pleasant. And now, with a godawful lord of Fiends chasing her... Humility was shouldering a lot.

"May the Sword protect her when she sleeps."

She paused thoughtfully, "But if anyone can thwart her pursuers, its Humility. She is not one to ask for help, but I imagine she will find a way."

Brood had hoped that Shadow might be able to tell her more about her old teacher and mentor, but it seems like that was not anything that was going to happen soon. She looked up at the stars before her next question formed on her lips.

"Speaking of help, how did all of you Godlings stay hidden from everyone for so long? And none of the Children in the main families that I have talked to have even heard of some of the clans you all hail from..."

[Alphaeus]

Silverforge He nodded slowly in time with Vulcar's words. Setting down Miya so she could play with Pe'er, he sighed, keeping his face cheerful as was his habit despite disliking the situation. "I don't like the vagueness of this either, that can be certain. I have worked successfully off of less information than this, but there is a great deal that can be said for 'Fiendish origin.' As to why Faces couldn't do this himself..." He shrugged, one hand running his fingers through his hair irritatedly. "I have no idea. Perhaps he is using this to test me and my abilities before entrusting me with more...in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this was merely a false alarm to see how I handled it. Or maybe he is known to this target by some magical means, though how such a master of deception could be outmatched I fail to see. Both you and he have pointed me to Didina -- forgive me, Lady Reid. I have interacted with her before, though only in a casual business relation." Bowing to the group in his usual manner, he waved to Pe'er, who blended back into his own shadow, followed my Miya. "In light of this, I will go seek her assistance. If you'll excuse me..." Turning, he strode away after giving Miya a brief pat on the head, back towards were most of the people were located.

[Blue]

"Sorry, I'm not sure I follow."

"Hm. Maybe I'm not the best one to explain this. Essentially, the idea is that there are uncountable version of this world where different things happened. Say, there is now probably one in which I tried to explain it and one in which I did not. There is someone in Aheka who can simultaneously experience every moment of her life in every variations of the world in which she exists. Yes, quite the notion to wrap one's head around."

The only reason I'm not entirely convinced is that he seems to dislike working with Gods even more than he used to from what I've heard. Not that I entirely blame him, given his experiences."

"Perhaps they weren't gods, in the beginning. Similar to Zera, they have a device that drains the divine out of gods. Perhaps they took some for themselves to make the process easier."

After L'arabiel explained the unknown origins of the dragons, Mrith was pleased to realize how little the knowledge shocked and saddened her.
That ancient, eh?
So, further beyond Crone, and now even more variations than she thought. Before the Precious kind. And yet more further back, no doubt. That was exciting but severely limited the options to get even the broadest lines of the genealogies now. Quite possibly, the very first were from one of those worlds that were lost. There would be none but the creators to answer this, now, she suspected. What great fortune that in her lifetime she would likely have a chance to converse which most of them and perhaps unearth knowledge lost for eons. She began to feel the pressure of it. Her legs got weak suddenly, and she steadied herself to recover with all the grace she could muster.
"...that would be good news, actually. I would love to know more about those 'Endless' and these 'Primal' Dragons' you mentioned. I have not met those kinds in Aheka, to date. Not to my awareness, at least."

[Makenshi]

 

"Related to?" Brood asked, hoping it was enough to get Shadow to elaborate.

"Mmmm? Oh, I'm sure it's been mentioned by someone to someone else already, but Faces and I are twins. We're also related to Rapture and Snark, the other two Children amongst our group and who are, themselves, siblings." Shadow smiles. "I doubt you'd ever believe that Snark is Rapture is around about 6ft-ish - tall for a woman - while Snark is a good 3" shorter than her.actually the elder of the two though." She nods in agreement with her fellow Child's assessment of Humility, her smile growing wider.

Brood looked up at the stars before her next question formed on her lips. "Speaking of help, how did all of you Godlings stay hidden from everyone for so long? And none of the Children in the main families that I have talked to have even heard of some of the clans you all hail from..."

Shadow's smile faltered here and she let out a long sigh before answering, her tone noticeably more guarded and reserved than before. "That is more difficult to speak of, and something which we'll be discussing later." The corner of her lips crooked up in an almost hopeful half-smile. "It's mostly for the benefit of the Archgates and other powerful Freeborn, but you're welcome to attend as well. We're just waiting for all the concerned parties to arrive and then we'll find a building or tent to speak in."

 

Miya was more than happy enough to exchange one toy for another as she started to chase after the shadow elemental while the adults talked. For the most part, everyone appeared to be in agreement over the peculiarities of Silverforge's mission but, equally, no one even hinted that he shouldn't look into it regardless.

Silverforge had to spend some time mingling around the village before he fond who he was looking for amongst the throng of Children. Granted, it would probably be more accurate to say that she found him.

"My, my, my." Didina's familiar, soft-spoken drawl drifted from amongst a group of admiring Children. The crowd parted a little, revealing Didina and another young Freeborn Note - Silverforge wouldn't have met her back in Sharak, and so doesn't know who she is.woman with darker hair sitting with her on a large stump. They both had drinks in hand, probably courtesy of the Children around them. The pair of them were dressed in fashionable Halvan dresses, the darker haired woman's was a muted golden colour and rather conservative while Didina's was, unsurprisingly, much more provocative and revealing, and in what Silverforge had noted to be her i.e. the colour/style in the picturefavoured colour before (or at least the colour she seemed to dress in the most).

Didina had the same predatory look on her face that she wore the first time he'd encountered her. "Fancy meeting you here, Master Wolvera. I wasn't aware that attendance here was such an...open invitation." She smirks at what could be a subtle barb, but it was far more teasing than malicious. "Or did I underestimate your connections back in Sharak?"

 

Originally Posted by Mrith

"There is someone in Aheka who can simultaneously experience every moment of her life in every variations of the world in which she exists. Yes, quite the notion to wrap one's head around."

Rising seemed to be in two minds about frowning at the concept and smiling at the intrigue of it all. "Fascinating, will she be attending? I think it'd be an interesting experience."

L'arabiel is quick to answer the question before Mrith can. "Ah, if its who I think it is, then she is currently protecting most of the remaining Seers of Aheka from Zera. Unfortunately, it means she has shut herself off from the world with an artefact of Alistair's design. She won't emerge until Zera is dealt with and even went so far as to leave the country in the hands of a Vampiric Demi-God."

That seemed to settle Rising into being 'intrigued'. "Well, now I'm even more curious. Lalian Shedeth, I assume?" L'arabiel nods. "Hmmm. Perhaps he'll have some insights into the matter, I'll have to ask him if he arrives." If Rising was at all put off by Lalian's being a Vampire then he seemed to be very good at hiding it.

Originally Posted by Mrith

"I would love to know more about those 'Endless' and these 'Primal' Dragons' you mentioned. I have not met those kinds in Aheka, to date. Not to my awareness, at least."

L'arabiel smiles briefly. "Yes, well, that would be because there aren't any here, or there certainly shouldn't be anyway." She frowns for a moment, seemingly in thought. "I guess the only way to explain it is to start at the beginning, or at least their beginning as I know it." The Goddess took a quick look around and, not finding anywhere else suitable, took a seat on the ground. "It could take a while to explain it all, especially with your obvious curiosity." She said by way of explanation.

"Well, to begin with, The Endless are all Crone's children, each of whom embody one of the four primal elements (water, wind, earth and fire), physcially and spiritually, as well as being wholly made from their element and capable of reincarnating through their chosen element if slain. They are forces of nature more than Dragons any more, and as a result widely worshipped by druids, rangers and like-minded groups and individuals." L'arabiel smiled fondly. "They're a bit of a odd bunch, truth be told. Sometimes a little withdrawn and standoffish, but they have long been staunch defends of the realms and are always concerned about those who dwell there, even if they don't always show it. More importantly, long before I was born they had become entwined with the natural world and the very Realms themselves, making them one of the most widely acknowledge and worshipped Deities in the Realms, which otherwise tended to favour different Deities and/or groups of Deities."

By this time, Rising had sat down as well, along with a few other Children who were nearby and appeared interested. "Draconic: The Endless StormWer'sultana Kepesk, also known as the Northern Star, was the one I was most familiar with for what will become obvious reasons. He's typically made up of clouds of varying colours and shapes, often coruscating with lightning bolts, with two yellow-white orbs for eyes, that seem to contain a miniature lightning storm of their own. While they can all technically change their shapes and sizes he tended to work in extremes. Either he'd practically fill the sky or he'd be small enough to sit on your shoulder, at least when I knew him."

As L'arabiel spoke, it was obvious that there was something freeing about speaking of the worlds she came from for her. "Draconic: The Endless SeaWer'sultana Qumado, also known as the Western Star, was probably the one I knew the least, being the most withdrawn and isolated. He's typically made up of some combination of flowing and churning water, ice and steam, with deep blue icy eyes." She chuckles. "The most troublesome of the four is Draconic: The Endless SunWer'sultana Siksta, also known as the Eastern Star, although 'troublesome' is relative in this case. He was the marginally more aggressive and combative one, and usually the first to fight, but he likewise tended to be the first one to stop and try for peace. Unsurprisingly, he's typically made up of rolling, dancing and ever-changing flames of various hues of blue, orange, red, yellow and white, with molten orbs for eyes."

Rising continued to pay rapt attention, along with those Children who had joined them. "And the last of them, Draconic: The Endless LandWer'sultana Thaczil, also known as the Southern Star, was the most relaxed of them for the most part, but by far the worst of them to deal with when he was genuinely angry. He's typically made up of stone, mud, dirt and even various plant life, with pitch black pits for eyes."

"As for the Primal Dragons, well, they're the children of The Endless, just as Precious Dragons are the children of The Crone. You can probably guess what they're like, more or less, from the descriptions of their parents, but I imagine that the most important difference between for you would be that their natural magic is divine rather than arcane. More akin to a druid's or a ranger's than a wizard's or a sorcerer's."

 

Who and Where? Brood: Talking with Shadow. Mrith: Talking with L'arabiel and Rising. Adam: Talking with Sublime. Nallaul: Talking with Bane, Tinker and Silverforge. Silverforge: Talking with Didina and Misa. King Vulcar of Halva, Vulcar's fiancéePrincess Celes of Shali, Cypher is the eldest of the Sword's three Children but also the least seen. This is because she is a Face in the Dark (see classes thread), meaning she has spent most of her time infiltrating Fiendish churches and cults. In her case, she infiltrated the Church of Deimos in Sharak and even spent a time as King Kaeyin's religious advisor. At some point during this she become pregnant with and bore a twin daughter and son of Kaeyin (although neither he nor anyone else was aware of them) who have been raised by the Children in the Dark when she is not around. As a Face in the Dark she is highly skilled at divine magic, stealth and subterfuge. Being a Godling she is also among the most powerful of mortals although not quite a full-fledged God.Cypher of the Firstborn In'ira and her twin toddlers, Ismael and Miya: Inside one of the tents, where the babies/toddlers/younger children mostly seem to be. Most often shortened simply to Bane, he is the middle-child of the three but also the tallest and bears a striking resemblance to his grandfather, Vulcar Halva I, the man who founded Halva and the First Halvan Empire. Bane's Gift is for understanding magic items, which are somewhat of a speciality of his and generally what he spends most of his time doing outside of freeing slaves, striking out against the Fiends or otherwise performing his duties. He is an Eye in the Dark (see the classes thread), meaning he is skilled at stealth and arcane magic. Being a Godling he is also among the most powerful of mortals although not quite a full-fledged God.Balor-Bane of the Firstborn In'ira: Talking with Tinker and Nallaul. Min is the youngest, most reckless and most immature of the three, having only passed her Swordright in the past few years. Unlike her siblings, she has embraced her psionic heritage and uses it in combination with the sublime way, having had a lot of training in both from various other Children. Min is a powerful Wilder and a highly skilled Swordsage, as well as having learnt how to further manipulate psionics by being an Elocator. Being a Godling she is also among the most powerful of mortals although not quite a full-fledged God.Min of the Firstborn In'ira and her sword-brothers, Toy and Geld: Mingling with other Children. One of the original investigators and without doubt the most high profile of them even before the investigations were revealed to the world at large during Chapter Five. He has made a name for himself for shouting at or otherwise picking fights with powerful and/or influential people, including a few Gods, most often by trying to call them out on their behaviour. As well as having fostered a close working relationship (if not friendship) with the King and his soon-to-be Queen, Morgan is also a childhood friend of Kala (one of the newest Gods in Aheka), a former pupil of Esiard Emlyn and, as has been revealed recently, not only currently in a relationship with Minloth Zilira but also responsible for freeing her from the binding that had been placed on her to serve the Halvan royal family for almost a thousand years. Despite this recent prestige he still maintains a network of friends and allies from all walks of life throughout Halva.Archmage Morgan Wainwraith, Kala was a deaf-mute Seer long thought to be the reincarnation of Airis, partly because she was innately talented at using divine magic with little to no training from a startlingly young age. It has recently emerged that she is in fact the daughter of Airis and Malvain, broken free by Malvain and entrusted into the care of her half-brother Malhas (see Other) who stunted her natural gift in order to better hide her. Her true power was unlocked by Fisali and she has since steadily grew in strength and power, with her political influence, especially to the worshippers of her parents, likewise growing and growing. Since becoming a Demi-Goddess, Kala has displayed powerful divine magic, with a particular knack for using glpyh and symbol spells as well as healing magic. She has even proven capable of resurrecting the dead, however it appears to tax her in some way.Kala, Malhas is a son of Malvain born around a century ago or more (exactly when is unknown), although he has never been very widely known, even among his father's own followers. His most notable act was masquerading as his father in order to provoke an alliance of Deities (good and evil) to fight and slay Malvain. Malhas has recently claimed he did so because Malvain was planning some sort of world-spanning war which, given the separate machinations of Zera to do likewise, could very well have been a catastrophe. Malhas has recently emerged as being the one responsible for hiding Kala's true power, as well as keeping an eye on her by masquerading as a worshipper of Airis by the name of Kahlas. He has been helping her out since, although the two do not always see eye to eye. Malhas is a highly skilled and varied user of both arcane and divine magic although he full abilities and limits have never really been tested.Malhas and a Drow Demi-Goddess who was thought dead. Most notably, she is both the ultimate female ancestor of the Halvan dynasty/had been bound to serve them into recently by powerful magic and the mother of Coiya Halva, the second ever King of Halva and better known now as the Sword in the DarkMinloth Zilira: Yet to arrive, but expected to arrive together. Didina Reid is a beautiful young Tiefling woman, most notable because of her large horns which she habitual decorates with jewellery. Although she was born to the former High Council member (but still influential Council member) Alleron Lyrason her father not only disinherited her due to her obvious Tiefling nature - claiming that she was not his daughter - but has repeatedly hired people to try and kill or otherwise deal with her. Didina has survived against these attacks in part due to having forged her own network of allies/friends and in part through her natural psionic talents. Eventually, this gained the King's attention and he not only named her a Lady but also took lands and wealth from her father in recompense, all in order to recruit the Mindbender and Thrallherd to aid in investigating the attempt on his life. Despite being a powerful Telepath, Didina dislikes fighting which has only intensified recently with the death (and revival) of her closest friend, Misa Serokai (see below). She has stressed that she was hired to investigate, not to fight, so it unclear how much she intends to continue to help with current events, especially with their original task having been completed once they confirmed it was Zera behind the assassination attempt. As a Telepath, Mindbender and Thrallherd Didina is highly skilled at using Telepathy powers and mind-effecting powers in general. Didina revealed that she had contacts/friends in the Church of Inanna much earlier in the story, however it has recently emerged that not only did she have some sort of contact with the Cult of Acedia but had some form of interaction with Acedia herself that she avoided talking about. It is because of this that she did not join the rest of the party in confronting Acedia and later getting involved in the battle between several Archgates and several of the Unknown Gods.Lady Didina Reid and Misa Serokai is a generally scruffy-looking young Arian woman, however as the daughter of the long-serving Arian ambassador to Halva she was born and raised in Halva. She was brought into the investigation in part because of her close friendship with Didina Reid but also because of her own minor seer abilities. Namely, that having been born blind she has greatly refined the Serokai's natural precognition to allow her to experience the world through what she describes as some form of 'touchsight', more feeling it than seeing it, as well as sometimes getting vague premonitions of danger. This form of 'sight' even allowed her to recognise the incredibly powerful mage known as Shade, who ordinarily can not be recognised unless he wants to be due to some sort of magical amnesia effect that he constantly emits. Misa was not only killed, but reduced to dust during the most recent Fiendish incursion upon Aheka however the newly ascended Demi-Goddess Kala was able to not only restore her but cure her blindness in the process - something that Misa has refused in the past as her people believe it is a distraction from the true sight she has mastered and fears her abilities will fade as a result. She stayed behind with Didina when the party left to confront Acedia and her forces.Lady Misa Serokai: Amongst a group of Children, talking to Silverforge. Archgates Mirik Orn, Selene Jual, Sei'Theofan Rudaa, Shara Segali, Sei'Raeth Segali, an Alainn: Mingling amongst the Children. Anorde and Celi: Yet to arrive (will arrive with Ashen Black). A (literally) ethereal looking woman with blonde hair, one green eye and one blue eye that appears to float/fly about, passing through most physical objects and attacks (which is likely where the name comes from). Has a very unusual appearance (pale skin, wings, clothing that appears to have melded into her skin). Like her siblings and unlike all the other Unknown Gods, she has outright admitted to/claimed to be a daughter of Airis and Zera, which has earned suspicion from many (most importantly Jester of the Demon's Moon). Other than her incorporeality she has mostly displayed powerful divine magic, potentially even reviving the recently slain (Revivify) and using various high-level healing/restoration spells to aid others.Airiel the Unbound: In one of the larger buildings, helping tend to injured Children rather than joining the festivities (so far anyway). The most striking of the 'Un' siblings because of his uncanny resemblance to his father, Zera, save for the blond hair and blue-green eyes of his mother (Airis). Fortunately for him, Zera's face isn't widely known outside of the Sei and high-ranking military types. Fought with and killed Gula by taking an immense beating and then somehow 'transferring' his injuries onto Gula once Gula tried to use a God-killing poison on him. As Gula was dying Tinker (see below) used an unknown artifact to steal and store his divinity. He has displayed powerful psionics, in particular having repeatedly absorbed injuries from those around him to heal them and transferring both these and his own injuries onto Fiends. Against both Gula and Jester (see the linked to Chapter) he has displayed not only an incredibly resilience (i.e. taking lots of damage) but an incredible ability to rapidly heal himself when he chooses not to transfer his injuries. He has also displayed another former of magic using an unknown tongue, mostly by simply calling out a single word/short phrase, however exactly what it is is unknown.Airin the Undying: Using his psionics (in particular telekinesis) to help the last of the rebuilding/fixing going on. Like her sister, Airza's appearance is highly unusual as she not only has stone-like and bronze-coloured (actually bronze, not just tanned) skin with patches of incandescent scales on it but also pitch-black cracks running all across her body forming strange symbols all over her body. Her having one blue eye and one green eye doesn't register nearly as much as it normally would as result. She was mostly active in the Fiendish Planes before helping to defend her brother from Jester (see the end of the current Chapter). Unlike her more magical siblings, Airza has shown simple but brutally effective overwhelming force when she has fought, mostly using her fists and/or an oversized bastard sword, as well as an ability to not only rapidly heal herself but simply shrug off most forms of damage in the first place. In the unlikely event that a Binder meets her, they may recognise that her appearance and certain other abilities are a result of Binding magic.Airza, the Unbroken: Mingling with the Children. At first glance, Arte doesn't look very remarkable, and unlike his sister, Sublime, has shown a tendency to hang back and strike from afar rather than get into the thick of fighting. He also tended to kill almost exclusively with practical, quick bouts of magic, rather than toying and humiliating his opponents as his sister did. Most notably, the two of them killed Superbia, with Arte countering any of her attempts at magic and even seemingly to re-direct her attempts to teleport away while Sublime killed her in (otherwise) single combat. Has displayed a large variety of both arcane and divine magic, even sometimes combining the two, but has mostly worked with his sister, Sublime to compliment her focus on fighting. Like her, he hasn't really shown much in the way of 'support', with even his divine magic being used for almost exclusively offensive purposes.Arte: Gone to look for Rapture or 'one of the triplets'. Boss' appearance is by far the most intimidating of the Unknown Gods. Not only does he bear an uncanny resemblance to Deimos (same hair colour/general build, but different eyes and a skull mask that covers the top of his face rather than the bottom of it) but his entire body is covered in writhing, living spiked chains that he not only fights with but uses to move around on. He has almost exclusively shown up in Phare in the recent fighting, specifically their capitol Feid, helping to fight the Fiends, albeit in an incredibly brutal fashion and usually while cheerily singing inappropriate songs in the process. For those who who have been/were recently victims of particularly nasty people (especially those using a position of power to avoid paying for their crimes) he may have revealed himself as much as a few years before the current events, coming out of no-where to either kill the person in question or confer some sort of compulsion-laden mark on them to force them to 'atone' (with the compulsion often being rather sadistic in nature). All such targets of his have been nasty pieces of work and he tends to arrive and leave in an abrupt fashion. Apart from using the spiked chains wrapped around his entire body like combat tentacles and brutally ripping things into pieces he has also shown a smattering of sorcerous magic (albeit, not very high level), some powerful invocations and a knack for striking at weak points.Boss: Using his chains to help with the building/repair work. Lady is the most visible (literally) of the Unknown Gods, mostly because her appearances tend to be heralded by her exuding waves of blinding light from her body. What makes her obvious affinity for light more unusual is that she is a dusky/grey skinned Drowtouched, wearing mostly white with some grey and black. She first emerged as Deimos and the Fiends attacked the Drow underground but subsequently moved across Aheka turning up in various places to help out. Each time usually using not only her light powers but mass telepathy to announce her presence, threaten the fiends or rally the people. Along with her (seemingly innate) light-based powers, she has also displayed powerful offensive psionics and sorcery, as well as occasionally fighting with a sword.Lady/Sulion: Using her psionics/magic (mostly telekinesis) to help the rebuilding/repair work. A tall grey-skinned Drow-touched man wearing goggles, a tattered wide-brimmed hat and a long overcoat filled with various bits and pieces. He has mostly only shown up in order to use some sort of device to strip Gula, Ira and Superbia of their divinity before they were killed, however he has fought a little as well. Tinker has displayed skill with a pistol, the use of various magical items (most notably the one that appears to drain divinity) and the occasional use of high level arcane magic.Tinker: Talking with Bane and Nallaul. Faces, as he has generally introduced himself recently, is an incredibly skilled shapeshifter that has only recently been revealed as being 'Mask' (see People of Aheka). His 'default'/diplomatic form is a young man with dark hair wearing a mask with a simplistic stylised grinning face on it. Although he joins the other Unknown Gods in confronting Jester in the most recent Chapter his other antics are otherwise unknown. It seems likely he has masqueraded as others to either use the chaos to spy or sneak up people. Even his 'Mask' persona seems to be just another persona, as he acts much more reserved and unassuming in his 'grinning face' guise. Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods he is not only unknown to them but the Family he claims to belong to (the Harlequins) is similarly completely unknown. Other than his shapeshifting he hasn't really displayed any real skills as Many Faces except for being very good at pretending to be someone else, however as Mask his using a variety of skills/magic led people to believe he is a Chameleon (i.e. capable of using a wide variety of abilities/magic depending on the situation). Given the revelation of his true power this may have been an inaccurate assumption.Many Faces: ??? Rapture is an unusually tall elf-touched woman (6ft+) wearing the traditional mismatched armour of the Children in the Dark who carries a halberd with magical runes and markings carved into it like a staff would have. Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods she is not only unknown to them but the Family she claims to belong to (the Dervishes) is similarly completely unknown. She has displayed not only great skill with using her halberd in battle, but also appears to use it as a focus/aid to both high-level offensive arcane and divine magic.Rapture: Mingling with the Children. After the Lady in the Light, Shadow has been the most noticeable/seen of the Unknown Gods, mostly as a result of engaging in a very public fight with Invidia in Feid. That she has been fighting by using some sort of shapeshifting 'shadow' that surrounds her and tends to take on large monstrous forms with great fluidity certainly helped make her noticeable. She also revealed herself to the Children before the current events, specifically Teaches Humility (a former PC who you can find in the Lords and Ladies thread). Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods she is not only unknown to them but the Family she claims to belong to (the Avengers) is similarly completely unknown. She has mostly relied on immense physical prowess to fight, combined with the fluid shapeshifting, reach and natural attacks of her 'shadow beast armour/suit thing', but using the occasional bit of arcane magic (usually to banish Fiends from a distance).Shadow: Talking with Brood while her 'shadow form' continues to help the rebuilding/repair work, mostly with tentacles/brute strength. Except perhaps for Many Faces, Snark is the most unassuming of the Unknown Gods. He wears the typical mis-matched armour of the Children in the Dark and, unsurprisingly predominantly fights with a sword, but if anything he's a little shorter than average and definitely shorter than most of the other Unknown Gods. Most notably, he seems to only speak by quoting sayings, bits of scripture or even parroting what other people say around him (often mockingly). He has generally accompanied Lady, both among the Drow and on the surface, but occasionally split up from her to deal with threats by himself. Like the other self-confessed Children in the Dark among the Unknown Gods he is not only unknown to them but the Family he claims to belong to (the Silencers) is similarly completely unknown. He has shown himself to not only be a skilled swordsman but a practitioner of the Sublime Way, including some supernatural uses of it (mostly Devoted Spirit manoeuvrers/stances). He has also displayed minor magical abilities, great skill at stealth and a keen eye for weak spots.Snark: Mingling with the Children. Sublime is by far the most talkative of the Unknown Gods, although this mostly takes the form of boasting, mocking and generally being an annoyance in any way she can while fighting. True to her boasting, she is a strikingly beautful woman with long dark hair, pale skin and clothing that while cut to allow her freedom of movement is obviously ornate, high quality and designed to also show off her physique. Although she predominantly fights with a sword it has the ability to rapidly change shape to suit how/who she is fighting, mostly taking the form of various melee weapons but sometimes pairs of them or even a metallic bow that creates its own entirely metallic arrows to fire. She most notably killed Superbia in (mostly) single combat (her brother countered Superbia's magic and attempts to flee, otherwise not engaging her) but also swathes of other demons. Even against Superbia Sublime maintained her cocky arrogance, constantly belittling and mocking the Goddess as they fought and claiming that she was disappointed with how weak Superbia was before beheading her and using her decapitated head as a make-shift flail against her own forces. She appears to fight for the thrill of fighting and/or to prove herself superior as far as has been observed. She has almost exclusively fought physically, bar some supernatural uses of the Sublime Way, and mostly at melee, but of particular note is not only her use of archery but that she somehow appears to be able to use the Sublime Way with it. Her skill, particularly with the Sublime Way, is quite frankly equal parts terrifying, awe-inspiring and unequalled as far as most people will have ever seen, making her boast of being 'Perfection Personified' more understandable (but still very arrogant).Sublime: Talking with Adam near the heads of the slain Sins (which are on poles nearby) and joining in with nearby celebrations. The oldest of the Hybrids, having been created when a Succubus stabbed the Paladin of Trinity, Nero Ardin, sixteen years ago without knowing the true nature of the dagger. He appears as a dark-haired, pale-skinned and plainly dressed Shalian man, making him much more unassuming in appearance compared to the two other Hybrids. Like with all of the Hybrids, those who meet his gaze feel like it almost pulls them in, with their pupils appearing like starry voids. Nehrahk has spent the past sixteen years secretly converting his own army of Fiends (and Fiend-blooded creatures) from the various Fiendish planes, using his influence over Fiends to try and turn them into a force for good. All of these Fiends have his mark (a series of smaller and smaller equilateral triangles within one another at different angles) somewhere obvious on their body (usually the forehead). He has been operating out of his own demi-plane attached to the Plane of Shadows and is known to a few in the Children of the Dark, but was otherwise unknown until now. Although obviously attempting to be a force for good Nehrahk has made it clear that his intention is to protect Aheka from Fiends - not to get involved in internal Ahekan affairs - so he is not to be counted on to fight Zera. He has displayed the ability to both make and 'unmake' matter on a variety of scales, from creating clothes to entire demi-planes and not just disintegrating objects/beings but, according to his own description, unravelling their very presence in reality (making it impossible to restore/revive them).Nehrahk: Unknown if he will appear. The newest of the Hybrids but has quickly become the most well known as he moved across Aheka during the recent troubles slaying swathes of Fiends with little effort while also holding off/repelling Fiendish Deities as well. He has auburn hair, tanned skin and golden eyes that resemble rolling, whirling liquid fire. Like with all of the Hybrids, those who meet his gaze feel like it almost pulls them in, with their pupils appearing like starry voids. He was created when Lekan Alyyryk of the Kashyyn, a Tyyrykan who had been helping the PCs to investigate the assassination and then Zera in general, elected to sacrifice himself in part because of a prior meeting with the Oracle having convinced him that doing so was for the benefit of Aheka as a whole, even if - by his own personal beliefs - it would not only destroy his soul but prevent the eventual reincarnation that his people believe in. Lekan came to the PCs attentions because his identical brother was used to try and assassinate the King - by Zera as it eventually turned out - however it emerged that it was due to Zera's mental manipulations. It was also discovered that the Blue Woman was in fact originally Lekan's sister - with the three of them being triplets - and is being controlled/manipulated by Zera. His brother and sister had both been trying to infiltrate Zera's operations before they were discovered and Zera twisted them to his own ends. Still being 'newborn', the full extent of Lekkar's powers are unknown, however he retains Lekan Alyyryk's psionic abilities (albeit, greatly amplified) as well as possessing an affinity for innate fire magic. In particular, he appears to use it to move around, either appearing in a blaze of fire from out of no-where or sometimes literally exploding from out of Fiends during the recent troubles. Just as Nehrahk has an affinity for manipulating Fiends and the Blue Woman has an affinity for Trolls, Lekkar's influence seems to revolve around Seers and, more broadly, humans to a degree as he has shown some sort of empathic sense towards humanoids as a whole - such as being able to tell that the Drow were being enslaved and slaughtered after looking at a single Drow.Lekkar Alyyryk: Unknown if he will appear. Coiya/the Sword in the Dark: With the babies/toddlers, along with Vulcar, Celes, Cypher and Future. Dancer, Keeper of the Blackbone: Speaking with the Children near Sublime and Adam/checking out the heads of the slain Gods. Breaker, Keeper of the Firstborn: Disappeared into another building with Strider. Mercy, Keeper of the Last-Breath: Speaking with Ruin on the other side of the central bonfire to Mrith and Brood. Wit, Keeper of the Oldblood: Approaching Nallaul, Tinker and Bane. Strider, Keeper of the True-Dawn: Disappeared into another building with Breaker Ruin, Keeper of the Wildsoul: Speaking with Mercy on the other side of the central bonfire to Mrith and Brood. Future, Keeper of the Young-Blades: With the babies/toddlers, along with Vulcar, Celes, Cypher and Coiya. Rising, Keeper of the Waking Dream: Speaking with L'arabiel and Mrith. L'arabiel: Speaking with Rising and Mrith. Name: Location. If there's anyone else from the People thread (or for the vets, that you've met before) that you're keeping an eye on/want to meet then let me know and I'll add them here if they're expected to attend and update when they arrive.

~MTWC

[Acathala]

"Well I have to say goodbye for now. I need to speak with The Sword In The Dark." Nallaul said to the pair. He followed the god to the assembled royalty. "Good day royals! My lord Coiya can you spare me a moment?"