Forsaken Lands

** Nefir and Gibble meet in Val Miran **

Nefir rides in.

Nefir nods.

You smile at her.

Nefir curtseys gracefully for you.

You say 'Oh... my, what a sight indeed, yes.'

Nefir peers around herself intently.

You say 'Well met.'

Nefir looks at you.

Nefir says 'I'm Nefir, the moon priestess.'

You say 'Gibble Bramblestock is my name, yes.'

Nefir says 'We are an ancient cult, perhaps forgotten.'

Nefir says 'Pleasure to meet you, Master Bramblestock.'

Gibble goes silent as he closes his eyes, concentrating as if to remember something.

Gibble's eyes open quickly, 'Nope, don't remember anything myself.'

You say 'After the shifting, I think we should, erm, discuss the rather large griffin in the room, if you know what I mean, yes.'

Nefir says 'Time has a way of easing down everything.'

Nefir says 'Griffin?'

You say 'A saying some have, yes, but perhaps not others, no.'

You chuckle politely.

Nefir smirks.

You say 'Merely a way of pointing out a hanging unease or tension between persons, yes.'

You smile happily.

Gibble plops down on the fountain, his staff laid over his knees.

Nefir says 'You wish to speak about the Empire?'

You say 'Of the Empire and myself, specifically, yes.'

Nefir nods at you in agreement.

Nefir says 'Please go on.'

** Gibble and Nefir talk politics and come to an understanding between themselves, before the topic shifts **

You say 'My pursuit of the tainted ones, and those of Vellichor, is my top priority.'

Nefir says 'Now, of more grivious matters.'

Nefir gasps as she realizes what you did.

Nefir says 'Indeed, those cursed Vellichor.'

You say 'What matters, hrm?'

Nefir says 'Yes, those cursed moonlight thieves.'

You nod in enthusiastic agreement with Nefir.

Nefir says 'Civil society has no place for those who wish to bring down the world.'

You say 'They directly interfere with the signal, yes. Though I have not seen any as of late, though I too have not been as present as I wish I could be.'

Nefir says 'Signal?'

You chuckle politely.

You say 'My life's work, yes. I could go on about it, though you may die of old age before I finish speaking of it.'

Nefir says 'I rather not.'

Gibble mutters under his breath, 'Me and my verbosity...'

Nefir says 'Is this about the relay-stone ?'

You shake your head.

You say 'No, though that is another peculiar happening.'

You say 'Many things have been changing as of late, yes.'

Nefir nods.

Nefir says 'For one, I have awoken after centuries of rest.'

You nod at Nefir.

Nefir says 'And so should have my sisters.'

Gibble looks about the area, 'You have sisters? How nice. I am an only child myself, hrm.'

Nefir says 'I'm saddened to know that you are an only child.'

Nefir says 'I mean my fellow Lunareth sisters.'

You say 'Ahh, of course, yes.'

You snicker softly.

You nod at Nefir.

You say 'It is not common amongst Gnomes, no, but it has allowed me to focus on my studies, yes.'

Nefir says 'I have yet to see any of them, but I have heard of rumors of their presence.'

Nefir nods at you in agreement.

You say 'I shall keep an eye for them, and should I see any, I will speak your name so perhaps they might find you, hrm?'

Nefir says 'Thank you.'

You say 'After such a long rest, I am sure it is a confusing time to come into.'

Nefir says 'Quite so.'

Nefir says 'But returning to the Vellichor...'

Nefir says 'Do you have any knowledge you might share of how these thieves are bypassing the moon ward?'

You say 'I was there at the forming, yes. A lich, Tiashrila, lead a group, one vampire, one unliving, to return the moons, yes.'

You look up toward the moons.

  Lysenties hangs in the sky, nearly full and still growing.
  Nercuros hangs in the sky, new and dark.
  Dyphrities hangs in the sky, half-lit and fading.

Nefir looks up into the sky.

Nefir says 'Well, that was praise worthy of them.'

You say 'On that day, Selavyth appeared, and since, they have been stealing the power of the moons for their own uses, yes.'

Nefir grits her teeth and fumes with rage.

Nefir says 'That is not.'

You say 'A lich at the head, a crusader and avatar, vampire, undead, and a sycophantic bard on its tails, yes.'

Nefir says 'Aquitous, Baeric, Morcado, Tiashrilla'

You say 'And Siphi.'

Nefir says 'The bard.'

You say 'And Israeth.'

You say 'Those are the members I know of, yes.'

Nefir says 'This Aquitous? Who was he?'

You say 'A dwarven crusader avatar, I believe, yes.'

You shake your head in dismay.

Nefir says 'And Baeric is the Dwarven Paladin, correct?'

You say 'He too is a crusader.'

You say 'But he was once a Paladin, yes.'

Nefir says 'Hum....'

Nefir sits down and thinks deeply.

Nefir says 'I think Tiashrilla is deep in hiddin.'

You say 'Good.'

Nefir says 'She has not been felt in a long time.

Nefir says 'I have seen Morcado and Siphi not long ago.'

You say 'Though it seems Malgrath has been raised in her place.'

You mutter quietly to yourself.

Gibble mutters under his breath, 'A score to settle with that one, yes.'

Nefir says 'Malgrath?'

You say 'Another Lich, though of the Syndicate.'

You say 'You are likely to cross paths with her, as she was marked a criminal last I saw.'

Nefir says 'Yes, I know of him. He told me he was a follower of Selavyth'

Nefir says 'But I suspect he trully follows no one.'

You say 'A follower of Death at the least, and more directly, of the Cycle, yes.'

Nefir says 'Why do you think he also steals moonlight?'

You say 'Oh I don't think he does, no.'

You say 'Just that he has taken the mantle of Lich from Tiashrila, or in her stead.'

Nefir nods.

You say 'But I have seen Malgrath speaking directly with Selavyth on more than one occasion, yes.'

You say 'That one, Selavyth, seems to like interfering with this plane, yes.'

Nefir says 'We have spoken with the Avatar of the moon.'

Nefir says 'She is quite worried about the theft.'

You say 'Unsurprising, given how it was brought into the realms by the thievery of the moonlight, hrm.'

You chuckle politely.

You say 'I'm sure she is, as she is the one that lead it to begin'

You cackle gleefully.

You say 'Or so I have pieced together myself, at least.'

Nefir says 'You mean to say that Selavyth was the one who started this theft?'

You say 'Started, perhaps not. Heavily aided in its completion, I believe so.'

Nefir says 'How come?'

You shrug.

You say 'Her arrival was tied to the actions the Lich took in returning the moons.'

You say 'I do not believe in coincidences, no.'

Nefir says 'Did she arrive before the moons?'

You say 'WITH the moons, so far as we could view her.'

Nefir says 'Isn't it only natural that the avatar of the moons was also freed with them?'

You say 'But who is to know what meddling and interference was done in areas we cannot see, no.'

Nefir shrugs helplessly.

Nefir says 'I sense your distrust in her.'

You say 'That is a possibility, one I have notated to explore, yes.  Perhaps I will be proved wrong and that will indeed be the case.'

Nefir shrugs helplessly.

You say 'Theories are just such, until proven one way or another, yes.'

Nefir says 'It was her who told me they were stealing through the failing ward.'

You smirk.

You say 'I am sure she did... I'm sure she did...'

Nefir says 'Perhaps I should question the source directly.'

You say 'It is easy for them to create noise in the signal, but I have spent a long time focusing out that noise, and seeking the signal, yes.'

You say 'I would be interested in what you learn, yes. Another point of data is rarely a bad thing.'

Nefir says 'Noise? Signal?'

Gibble pulls out a large volume from his pouch and thumbs through so many pages filled with notations, diagrams, and sketches you can't make them all out.

Gibble lands on a page, briefly reads it, makes another notation in the margins, before closing the volume and returning it to his pouch.

You nod at Nefir.

Nefir says 'I can't make anything of that.'

You say 'Every living person has their will, the signal. And elements intefere with out that signal transitions into various actions, the noise.'

Nefir blinks innocently.

Nefir says 'Yes... '

You say 'Myself, as once an Invoker, was under the impression that the arcane was how to make my will, be.'

You say 'And you, a Cleric, find it through your devotion.'

Nefir says 'Yes, that I understand. Your previous guild made the elements manifest through magical means.'

You say 'These are layers of noise, a filter, between the intent, and the effect.'

Nefir says 'Go on..'

You say 'For those of the arcane, the will is obscured by the components required of the arcane.'

You say 'For those of the divine, it is redirected, through the god and the caster is but a vessel.'

Nefir says 'You found a way to peek before it?'

Nefir says 'Or behind it'

You say 'Neither. To remove the filter completely.'

Nefir says 'And what was the end result, with the filter gone?'

You say 'My will, is direct, the signal is pure, uncompromised.'

Nefir says 'Is it much diferent from the invokers guild.'

Nefir says 'Your new ways, Gibble?'

You say 'Similar results, different approach, yes.'

You say 'You can think of my philosophy as a thread of yarn.'

You say 'For those of my Tower, the thread is solid, uninterrupted, directly from the mind to the effect, no interruptions.'

Nefir nods.

Nefir says 'Do enjoy more success against the liches, than previously?'

You shrug.

You say 'I have not reached my goal, of correcting the broken signal.'

Nefir blinks innocently.

Nefir says 'But didn't you filter it?'

You say 'For those that are tainted like them, that "yarn" or thread, is completely broken. The signal from the mind to the effect never arrives.'

You say 'Instead, the corruption and decay derive the effect instead.'

Nefir says 'HAaaa!'

You say 'I have not yet found the method of repair, no.'

Nefir says 'Well, if you excuse me.'

Nefir says 'I must return to my work.'

You say 'And those that have been directly touched by the gods, the Avatars, the thread is knotted, the will is there, but the touch of the god has instead directs the flow from the effect to their mind.'

You nod at Nefir.

You say 'Of course, of course.'

You say 'I've gotten to my speeches again, haven't I.'

You chuckle politely.

You say 'I did try to warn you.'

Nefir smirks.

You snicker with her about your shared secret.

Nefir says 'Allow me a final question.'

You say 'Of course.'

Nefir says 'Do you view Selavyth, as you view the avatars of Erelei?'

Nefir says 'You do not have to answer, if you do not wish to.'

You say 'I do not view the gods themselves in any way, no.'

Nefir nods.

You say 'And not like the avatars at all.'

Nefir nods in enthusiastic agreement with you.

You say 'It is the mortal will I have devoted my work to, yes.'

You say 'But the gods do have effects on that, it is to what level they do, I take issue with.'

Nefir shrugs helplessly.

You say 'So far, Selavyth has not directly interfered with that, absent my theory on the moon thieves.'

You say 'Many branches to investigate, as always, yes.'

You smile at her.

Nefir says 'Yes, we should meet once we have new information on this theft.'

You nod in enthusiastic agreement with Nefir.

Nefir says 'Until then.'

You tip your hat to Nefir.

Nefir curtseys gracefully for you.

You bow before her.
Gibble meets Nefir, a Lunareth, and philosophizes.
