Ash falls from the sky like rain over Dragon’s Cradle. Or maybe it is rain that's just tainted with the ever-growing cloud of ash that Mount Drakolt has been spewing in greater quantity by the day. As it hit the side of Cirice’s wagon it leaves dark smudgy stains against the wood, giving the wagon an almost polka-dot look. Hitia seemed to have no trouble with the abnormal weather, the demonic deer plodding along toward Skypeak Village without a care in the world. Perhaps her visit to Astrid’s house should have waited, but she means to make up for leaving Cantio behind in that botched delve of the dwarf home and her subsequent joining of the Mage’s Guild.

Besides, weird things are happening all over Charon, from crab invasions to massive waves and earthquakes, who knows how long before travel is much harder? A shiver runs down Cirice’s spine thinking of the dangers to come.

She shakes her head, banishing the dark thoughts from her mind. Ahead there’s a small village nestled into the side of a mountain where she finds a cute little spa with a hot springs. After a long dismal day of travel, a nice hot bath sounds perfect. She parks her wagon and heads inside, ready to enjoy a soothing soak.

Growing up on the Crescent Isles the idea of being naked in water with strangers is completely normal to Cirice and she slides into the steamy water wrapped in a towel with a happy sigh. Peeking around at her fellows she notices the bath is moderately busy, a certain pale woman in a veil catching her eye. The veil seems so stifling in an environment like this. She drifts closer, curiosity getting the better of her.

“Hi um… I was wondering… Does that make it hard to breathe in here?” Cirice asks with the innocent curiosity of a child.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Storm Rattled
Participants: Two or more
Location: Dragon's Cradle
Post Requirements: 7 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown, +1 Feather, +1 Lightning Catalyst
Description: While there is normally a massive cloud of ash and soot above the Ash Lands, strange volcanic activity has caused this cloud to grow in size, now breaching the border between the dry wastes and the electrically charged Cradle. This intrusion of ash has disturbed one of the regions mightiest creatures, the Arcuila, a massive elemental bird similar to a phoenix. A pair of these have been wildly attacking and even killing travelers as they pass through the area. These are extremely powerful creatures and must be handled with caution, but if something is not done their rampage may harm more innocent people. Find a way to eliminate or subdue the creatures.

    Her eyes opened a crack as she heard the curious moon elf speak. When had they gotten here? Had she fallen asleep? No matter, either way this spa was exceptionally relaxing. except for one thing.

"No, what makes it hard to breath in here is the mildew on the wall behind us. That or the commoners in the spa next door."

    A soft tch from a passing spa worker goes unheeded, it wasn't like she was lying. It was nice to talk to someone though, the innate desire for the noblewoman to make connections pervaded even her relaxation time. Besides, this young woman looked quite interesting. Were they tattoos or just paint was the question.

"It's a perfumed filter veil. provides a shield for myself from the decay of the world, and it's quite breathable to be fair."

    She sat up a bit from her napping position at the edge of the steaming pool, towel rolled behind her head now supporting her back as she turned to appropriately conversate.

"Now, if you don't mind me asking, what's up with the sigils? Are they permanent? I hope it isn't rude of me to ask."

    If this woman was a mage, perhaps she had hit the jackpot as far as random encounters were concerned. Father always said that while they shouldn't be trusted, a friendly mage could mean the difference between a pauper and an emperor.

Cirice looks beyond the veiled woman’s head, squinting at the wall to try to see the mildew she refers to and seeing nothing. She offers an apologetic smile to the passing worker and focuses back on the lady. “Commoners? Does that mean you’re a noble? Is that why you separate yourself with the veil?”

“Oh no it’s not rude at all! On my face those are tattoos, but on my arms…” She holds them under the water, some of the white paint starts to bleed and fade away. A couple of them stay around, the white ink standing out against her lavender skin starkly. The lines of the actual tattoos are precise and a little difficult to look at, sigils and runes from some strange foreign language. Demonic in nature and painful to perceive for too long. “Some of them I write when I need them and some are permanent. Its more convenient that making sure my spell book is always with me. Sometimes he wanders off.”

She giggles, mirth in her eyes, as she tries to remember how Leandros introduced himself and she tries to replicate it. “I’m Cirice, Cirice Lunestre of Shingetsu, in the Crescent Isles.” She scoots down into the water a little deeper, “What is your name?”

   
"I don't need the veil to distinguish me from the rabble. My stature and presence does that for me." At least she hoped. It was a hidden fear of hers to be mistaken for a commoner, having spent much of her life suffering to maintain the separation. The ever-present ash dust that permeated the atmosphere here had desperately made her want to sneeze since she had even stepped into the pool, but such basal reactions were unfitting for those above. Hidden discomfort was always preferable to visible weakness.

    A slight tilt of the head as she speaks of her spell book as a person, but Gwen brushes it off as a quirk. So she was in fact a mage, interesting who you could run into at the spas in these far flung places. Tattoos seemed like a practical choice for spellcasting, one that she had not considered. Gwendolyn made a mental note to look into it once she got back home.

"Lady Gwendolyn, of the Frost Gale Mystwuds. An easy pleasure to make your acquaintance."

    It was nice to make some "seemingly" normal introductions when compared to Morrigan, Fish, or Astrid. Tension maintained as she waited for the other secret ball to drop, but so far this was perfectly pleasant to say the least. Her thoughts were interrupted by a flash of lightning in the distance, illuminating a the cloud of ash spewing from the mountain nearby. A few seconds passed before the thunder slowly rolled over the spa itself, prompting a few society bathers to take notice and begin to pack up.

"Great, never seem to be able to escape the storms. A little rain never killed anyone, besides, I find rain whilst in the hot springs to be even more relaxing. I wouldn't be opposed to your company."

“I didn’t mean like that, I meant like actually separating yourself physically.” Cirice giggles, “It's lovely to meet you Lady Gwendolyn! I like Frost Gale, the snow there is quite beautiful! We don’t get snow in the Crescent Isles, its quite beautiful”

The storm picks up and people start to leave, but the cool rain hitting the hot spring water just serves to make more steam, providing a sauna-like atmosphere to the spring.

“I agree, its almost like being in a sauna as well. Thanks for letting me hang out with you.” She settles in a little deeper in the water with a happy sigh, “Tell me about yourself, if you don’t mind. You’re pretty, and refined, what do you like to do? Are you a mage as well? Or perhaps you travel as a dignitary?”

The winds pick up, playing about the walls around them with a roar and tossing towels around the bath. A few more people run inside for cover, but there seems to be no real danger as of yet. Just a storm raging above. More lightning streaks through the sky with a crash of thunder.

“Hmm… Wow that is quite the storm… Are there thunderstorms like this where you’re from, Lady Gwen? We get them as hurricanes from time to time.”

She closed her eyes and leaned back as the rain hit her face and steam rose around her. This was almost perfect, relaxation, only a few people around and they were actually interesting. Though, she wasn’t quite used to talking about herself all that much. A slight blush burned under her veil, and she hoped it would go unnoticed.



“Ah, well, I wouldn’t consider myself a magician of any severe sorts. I only know a handful of spells… I’m a Paladin of Alvina, the patron deity of my family. I represent them abroad as sort of an emissary. Off the clock now, of course” She offered, with an slightly awkward chuckle in there. Why was she so embarrassed? This was part of the game, maybe she was off of it today.



The lightning crackled above here, causing her to open a nervous eye. She had only survived her last encounter with full on lightning with a lot of magical assistance from Astrid… She didn’t know the capabilities of her new acquaintance quite yet, but it almost seemed like a brazen mocking of Avasha to lay in a pool of water during a full on lightning storm.



“No, I can’t quite say that we do. Mostly blizzards, and an Avalanche every year or two from the mountains. I could only imagine a hurricane though… Gale winds and waves the size of our manor, sounds terrifying.” Said directly before another clash of lightning rips down from the sky, touching a tree only about a kilometre away.



“Do storms always move this fast?”

“I’ve never heard of Alvina…” Cirice says with sparkling, interested eyes, “I’m a cleric of Mother Moon!” She’s always glad to meet other people of faith, especially of faiths she’s never heard of before. “Tell me of your Alvina? Please?”

“Avalanches sound much more scary than a hurricane, I imagine being buried alive is quite similar to drowning though…” She ponders as she glances up at the sky following Gwen’s nervous gaze. “Hmm… It does seem to be moving quite quickly… Faster than the winds even..”

As she speaks of the winds they pick up more, Cirice’s brow furrows. It seems unnatural.

As that thought crosses her mind, a loud cry splits the air, louder than any thunder. Then with a crash a massive bird perches on the fence behind them, talons digging into the soft wood as it begins to splinter.

Bright red and crackling with electric energy the bird cries out again with its loud shriek echoing off the pools of the hot springs. Its bright eyes scan over the inhabitants as the remaining patrons scream and scramble towards the door. One poor soul is too close to the creature and is quickly grabbed in its vise grip.


Cirice jumps to her feet, the towel she had wrapped around herself doing its best to cling to her wet form. This isn’t ideal, but that man will die if they don’t do something! In a flash of violet light her sword is in her hand¹. She points towards the bird and the runic tattoos on her arms flare to light as the bird’s grip loosens and drops the man².

“Run!” She screams, heading towards the temporarily weakened arcuila.

---

1 Bonded weapon spellblade
2 Desperation

    “Oh, Alvina the Grand is a local deity. It has been said that he takes the form of a large feline, who prances throughout the Mystwud turning snow into mist. They say he is the source of my families magic.” Her nervousness goes away quite a bit due to speaking on a subject she finds herself passionate about, even if she is holding back quite a bit of information. The ability to relax however, is diminished whilst she listens to the elf speak, the both of them following the suspicious storm.



    The cry rips across the sky as the thunderbird crashes through the storm to wreak havoc throughout the spa. Gwendolyn reaches into a particularly dense cloud of steam to withdraw her smoking maul Enlightened Redolence from thin air. [1] Her muscular yet lithe form stands ready in a shin deep part of the pool, Two-handing her weapon and ready to fight. The rain coursing down her body did leave her wishing for clothing though.



    She dashed forward, water splashing around her feet as she crashed through the pool towards the man-grabbing thunderbird. She see’s the electricity crackling through it’s spiky feathers, experience with Astrid showed it was getting ready to bolt, literally. Her weapon shone brightly a split second before coating her in a brilliant shield. [2] A huge bolt of lightning rips from it’s mouth, striking the woman dead on.



[1] Bonded Weapon

[2] Divinities Blessing

“Lady Gwen!” Cirice shouts in horror as a bolt streaks down from the sky to hit her new friend, but as the blinding light passes and she sees that the paladin is safe she’s relieved. And angry.

She leaps out of the bath as shadows begin to ooze from her form like coils of smoke¹. The longer they engage in combat with this creature the more people have the opportunity to get hurt. In order to protect people they need to hold the creature’s attention and take it down as fast as possible, and she knows just the technique for fast. Her training with Cyran and Gerhart had taught her how to use her sword well, and this power was meant to protect.

With blinding speed, Cirice gets right into the face of the angry arcuila which tries to swipe at the bold moon elf to no avail. Almost too quickly for the eye to see she plunges her sword into the bird’s flesh. Once, twice, thrice, just as Cyran taught her, aiming for the throat, the belly and the general area of the heart, seeking vulnerabilities and exploiting them². As her weapon makes contact the electrical static of the bird dims as shadows cling to the deep gashes, dark red ichor staining her blade and the tiles below the creature as Cirice flits away too fast for the bird to so much as retaliate³.

She lands near Gwen, shadows still spilling off her like steam, "Are you okay?"

---

1 Fiend lvl 2: Abyssal Infusion - speed and strength are doubled for 3 posts
2 Cyran's Haunting Blade - deal 3 double damage attacks to vital areas and get out too quick to be attacked in turn
3 Whip Sword: Crestfallen - passives: does dark damage and has magic blocker, creature can't cast for the next post

    Everything was happening so fast, she hadn’t even realized that she had basically just been struck by lightning. The elf lands near her whilst billowing shadows, and she honestly took a second to find an answer. Her aura dissapates, a short blinding light followed by a healing glow covers the two, while temporarily blinding the Thunderbird. 1



    The discharge of her shield brings her back into the fight. “Yeah, I’m good now” she shouts, running back towards the bloodied bird with renewed fervor. An electric blue whip is pulled from the waters of the spa as she approaches, sending goo and water shooting behind it as she whips the goodle around and catches the bird on its leg.



    It attempts to fly away, the fight it had found apparently being too much for it. But it’s newfound anchor found it’s trajectory going straight back into the midst of the spa’s pool. Electricity surged from it’s passive charge down the goodle and up Gwendolyns arms. She grit her teeth, baring the impact of the shock, and shouting out to Cirice.



“DO IT. End the fight!”1. Divinities Blessing Ending
2. Ooze Whip BR hearth

“Good!” Cirice nods, watching her new friend manifest a strangely somewhat familiar looking whip from the water, it almost reminds her of… But before she can finish that thought the bird starts struggling and trying to flee and Gwen is telling her to end it. “Right!”

Blinking into the air high above the creature, Cirice brings her blade to bear, ready to end the creature with the finishing blow her beloved had taught her, but before she can fall and land the blow, something hits her midair, knocking the wind out of her and flinging her into the pool with force^1,2. As Cirice hauls herself to her feet, the remnants of her towel fall away to reveal a trio of deep gashes marring her form from shoulder to hip diagonally across her torso. Above the constrained arculia a second has appeared and it seems even angrier than the first. The mate.

“Oh fuck….” Cirice curses as her blade begins to glow, the gashes on her body closing up enough to not hinder her too much as the fight wears on³. “Hey Gwen? I’m going to need you to be fast or we may not manage this.” She shouts, sending a beam of purple energy towards the paladin, blessing her with enhanced speed⁴.

---

1 Blink
2 Gerhart's final Strike (not actually used)
3 Spellblade sharing essence to heal
4 Quicken on Gwen

Her eyes widen as another angry Arculia appears above the scene. This was bad, she looked between the two thunderbirds as the dots connected. Shit this was really bad… Gwendolyn opened a hidden panel on her maul, and the fuzzy horse grass she had smuggled in there for relaxation purposes fell out into the pool. Frustrated, she withdrew what she actually needed, two Seeing Salts, one of which she threw to Cirice.



“Crack this! Then sniff it, it’ll help with what comes next!” She shouts across the pool to the partially injured woman. Maybe it was her short-sightedness, but where did Cirice’s towel go? Hells, why wasnt SHE wearing a towel. This wasn’t the time to be prudish, suck it up buttercup and get smashing. The Goodle dissolved around the birds leg, freeing it of constriction whilst Gwendolyn prepared her attack.



Another bolt of lightning streaked from the sky as the flying bird hurled a thunderbolt at the woman who had been restraining her mate. The water pooled around her feet sizzled from the charge as Gwendolyn dove with impressive speed away from the impact. Dipping her maul into the water, she channelled all the heat and magic she had available to the head. Huge plumes of fog erupted from the spot, sending an already misty spa into full sauna territory. She cracked the Seeing Salt just as she hoped Cirice would, and got to work.



Her ranged options were limited without that cannon dad had promised her, so she advanced on the quite confused grounded bird. Coating the head of the Enlightened Redolence steel maul with another potion from her hidden stash, she gave the bird a bloodied bonk on the head, knocking it out cold for the time being.
2 Eagle Sight potions
Bog Fog
Ooze whipe 2/3
Sleep poison

Catching the Salts Gwen tosses her way and following her instructions to crack and sniff, Cirice’s vision is enhanced considerably. She rotates a ring at the top of her sword’s hilt, transforming the blade into a whip made of smaller blades¹.

“Let’s ground this blasted bird!” Cirice shouts, feeling the shadowy energy starting to leave her. With a final burst of speed and strength she leaps towards the flying bird. Her whip wraps around one of the legs, biting deep into the creature’s flesh and holding fast. With the last of her enhanced strength she slams the creature into the ground below it, onto the head of its mate and engages the ring once more, instantly pulling the creature towards her as the whip rips free with a sickening slice.

A screech of pain echoes against the walls of the bath as the creature tries to get its balance and leap back into the air, but before it can thick black tendrils of barbed shadow erupt from the ground around it². Restrained and covered in wicked brambles the bird struggles, pulling the barbs deeper into its flesh as it bites and claws against it’s bindings. Cirice’s wounds begin to heal further, looking almost back to normal as the arculia is sliced and diced.

“I’ll hold it! You finish it off!”

---

1 Crestfallen: When the pins are released the internal wire fashioned from the webbing of a crystal spider unwinds itself and allows the now segmented blade to attack much like a normal whip would. This weapon has a reach of fifteen feet and can wrap around objects like a whip to grapple while slicing. If the ring is rotated again while the blade is extended, it will instantly retract, if it is grappling an object or person it will pull it close to the user.

2 Stinging Nettles: You cause sharp, thorny vines to sprout from the ground in a ten foot square, making it hard to walk through. Anyone who passes through this terrain will be cut by the thorns and will find their movements restricted, unable to boost their speed or leave the ground. If anyone gets cut or injured by the thorns, the caster will heal all surface level wounds, such as scratches and cuts.

    Seeing through the fog as though it were daylight, better than she could normally even, the opportunity was clear. She reached into the hidden compartment of her maul one final time to retrieve three small blackpowder orbs. The Thunderbirds writhed on the ground as she enacted her slightly flashy plan.



    Flicking out both wrists, one threw the orbs and the other reactivated the Ooze whip, she lashed out and wrapped it around the torso of the one still awake. Using the elasticity to pull herself in, Maul in hand, she heaved high for the final strike. One swift downswing brough the firey head of Enlightened Redolence down on the creatures, breaking and igniting one and then all of the orbs at once.



    The explosion was significant, blowing water and the fog out of the pool and almost fully incinerating both of the birds. Gwendolyn was blown several meters backwards, landing in a hot tub at the far end of the enclosed space. Severe burns covered her the vast majority of her torso and legs, and her maul was damaged enough in the blast as to not heed her call. She gasped fruitlessly, it was almost impossible to breath with the pain renewed on each breath.

Holding the bird in place as Gwen makes her final strike, Cirice barely has time to brace for the incoming explosion before they are both thrown backwards. The hot water makes the fresh burns on her body feel as if they’re alive with pain and raging against her. It takes all that she can manage to stay conscious. But she can’t drown. Not again.

Hauling herself out of the water with tremendous effort, Cirice surveys the destruction. The birds are handled, smoldering away in the crater that Gwen had created. Her body was covered in sever burns all down her arms and torso and as she started the process of healing herself she had to choke back a scream¹.

Where’s Gwen…? She realizes that the paladin is likely worse off than she is and casts a frantic glance around the baths to try to find her. There, floating in the back and looking as terrible as Cirice feels is the lady, and though she’s only half-finished healing herself Cirice runs over and pulls her up, filling her with the gentle soothing moonlight of Mother Moon¹.

“Gwen? Gwen?!?” she asks frantically, “You’re going to be okay, I’ve got you!”

---

1 Massive Healing