Gwendolyn squatted low to be eye level with this rusted hunk of metal. It’s speech so far has been garbled and random, with little of interest actually being siphoned from it. Naught but riddles and gibberish to her. The hell is “Honor bound, thy names found broken,

Seek the heart, a true love spoken.” Supposed to mean anyway. Was this embodied hunk of metal trying to hit on her? She was already engaged, thank you.



Luckily, the camp surrounding the knight had largely gone quite for the night. The workers and researches all snoozing comfortably in their bunks. But nooo. For Gwendolyn, the New Moon, and a soft blue light from her maul were her only companions. And of course, the knight, but that hardly counted.



“Graven one, Castellan, Desolate Knight, Todd, whatever they call you these days. Speak plainly, lest a new dent be brought upon your helm.”



The only response was more gibberish. Something about moss and a companion. She rolled her eyes, and stood back up, brushing dust off of her dress as she did so. It would be a long night at this pace, perhaps she could sneak off for a nightcap and have the camp be none the wiser. Who would tattle on her… that?





Guild: Mage's Guild

Participants: Exactly Two

Location: Sunshade Glade

Post Requirements: 5 posts per person, 200 words per post

Reward:

+1 Renown - Anyone

+1 Mystical Archive ticket - Guild Member

+1 Towards Guild Quest requirements - Guild Member

Description:

This entity claims to have been here for thousands of years, having laid dormant while history passed them by. If this is true, then there should be references to this Knight somewhere, mentions of them in obscure text. However, based on things the Knight is saying, it seems as if they may have gone by many different names throughout history, names which can be found in random text that seemingly have no connection to each other. The Mage's Guild is asking members to help by being the ones to speak to the Knight, asking them questions, cross referencing their words and trying to understand the truth.



Additional Information:

It seems this Knight is trying to warn us of something, a presence who has been here with them, dormant and quiet. However the same energy that has brought the Knight back seems to have done the same with another. Who could this be?

Hylltywyll chuckled to himself as he watched Gwendolyn grow more and more frustrated by the cryptic speech of the knight. She was having such a bad time here and he hadn't even done anything yet. He could just sit back and enjoy the show as the knight did his job for him just by speaking in riddles. Maybe he should try speaking more cryptically sometimes. It would probably be a fun new way to mess with people, and it looked pretty effective if this was anything to go on.

He remembered Gwen from the last time they'd met, and he was happy to see that she was not enjoying herself. The last time they met had also been the very first time, and it hadn't gone well at all. He didn't like Gwen and he knew she didn't like him, which he only found amusing. He didn't care to try and make friends with her. That was unnecessary for a creature who was so comfortable being solitary.

Watching the knight annoy her was fun, but it did make him feel a little left out. Where was the real joy in causing mischief if you weren't the one causing it? No, this wouldn't do any longer. He wanted to get in on the action himself.

"You're really bad at this, huh? You must not like riddles." Hylltywyll taunted, his voice sounding directly in Gwen's mind as he hid in the shadows, smiling deviously.

---

Mind Parasite
One With the Shadows

Goosebumps pricked up her spine as the voice called out from her subconscious. A familiar feeling to be sure, and a wholly unwelcome one if memory served her right. The gremlin from the forest. She couldn’t remember his name, but she remembered the sheer disdain held for him.



“Riddles and cowards are alot alike” She said to the dark grove around her, hopefully not enough to wake the camp. “Hiding their true selves behind cheap tricks. Show yourself, pest. You find yourself lucky I am bound to nonviolence in this place.”



Gwendolyn’s eye’s strained at the darkness of the treeline, the dim blue light that hovered behind her did little to help. It was true that the guilds had tied her hands a bit. But of course, there was still the little loophole she had found in his spell the last time they had met. Though the ache in her forehead had bothered her for the week afterwards, might be wise to save that strategy for a last resort.



“What do the guilds think is going on…” She muttered in frustration at her predicament, before picking her head back up to shout/whisper at the treeline. “What know you of riddles anyway, some secret knowledge only delinquents have access too?”



Behind her, the knight continued it’s dull mutterances, the words softly echoing in the trees.

Hylltywyll was far enough away that most abilities to sense his presence wouldn't reach. He knew plenty of abilities that could counter his magical stealth. He'd experienced them used against him, and he was more cautious for it. As a fellow member of the Mage's Guild, he knew this lady would have access to some magics even if she sounded too stupid for them. How she got into the guild, he didn't know. Then again, most people would say the same about him.

He stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry at her, the shadows silencing and hiding it so she wouldn't even know he'd done so, but it still gave him some satisfaction. Making the sound directly in her mind also brought him even more satisfaction.

"I'm not a coward, I'm just not an idiot like you. You have to be smart to trick others, and the less those tricks cost, the better, stupid. I'm not going to show myself to someone threatening to bash in the helmet of another Fae. How very nonviolent of you." He scolded her mockingly.

"And riddles aren't secrets. If the answer to a riddle was a secret, it wouldn't be a riddle at all. That'd just be a password or something." Hylltywyll scoffed, offended she would insult riddles in such a way. He was great with riddles and wasn't pleased to hear them compared them to the language of delinquents, which he was also very familiar with, but they were two wildly different things.

---

Mind Parasite
One With the Shadows

The slight annoyance of the *pbbbt* only served to garnish the true source of her smugness at this moment. This idiot had just given her information, the knight was a fae? Perhaps she could… persuade him to give her some more answers, that when morning came she could walk into camp as though a huge breakthrough occurred overnight. Genius! We’d just have to bait the hidey creature into revealing all it knows. You did indeed have to be smart to trick others, creature I cant remember the name of.



“Ah, you must be right then. But such a cryptic riddle might as well be a secret to mankind. No creature could divine it’s answer without knowing it to begin with…” She said, taking her eyes off the treeline, to instead pace wistfully in front of the discarded armour. A fae huh…



“It had mentioned something along the lines of Honou-“ She began, only to be interrupted by the armours crackling voice. ““Honour bound, thy names found broken, Seek the heart, a true love spoken.” Slightly startled, she gathered herself to speak again. “yes, That. Obviously these fae have great reverance for names. Perhaps the armour had dropped his name on the ground and that’s how it broke. We just have to pick up the pieces!”



It truly was genius. Those who considered themselves smart wouldn’t be able to help but correct a supposed imbecilic guess.

"You really don't know anything about Fae, do you?" Hylltywyll asked in an amused tone mixed with a hint of his own smugness and a dash of taunting.

He might have let one little tidbit of information slip, but he wasn't a fool. The fact that this creature was a Fae was already the talk of the Mage's Guild. How it must have been able to be here only after the shattering of the Sol Stone, and what this might mean for the study of magic. Hylltywyll had heard all those old bags of dust talking nonstop about it whenever he skulked about the guild hall.

He was a little offended no one thought to ask him about it, the Mage's Guild's very own resident powerful Fae being. That was just rude. He had enough of it, and decided to see this knight himself, and he could see they were correct. It was definitely another Fae. A broken, twisted one, but a Fae.

"You can't drop a name on the ground, idiot. I'd bet you don't know anything about Fae names, do you?" He taunted Gwen some more, his voice as smug in her mind as ever.

He moved through the shadows, keeping a distance from her, but circling to the other side so he was on the opposite side of the knight from her. He wanted to take a closer look at him, but also didn't want Gwen to be able to detect him. He slowly moved closer, waiting until he could see any reaction from her possibly noticing his presence.

Her eyebrows furrowed as her eyes twitched in egotistical annoyance. This shadow gremlin just called her an idiot -in her own mind-. How dare they. She could only pray that it could not also read her mind, or her entire ploy would be for naught. It’s voice sounded quite smug at the moment though, just another small push would give her everything she needed. Gwendolyn took a deep breath and collected her composure.



A small chuckle escaped her mouth, before the edges of her lips curled up in a poorly disguised smile. “You may be right, I must admit the hidden rules of the Fae may be lost to us. Who could possibly hold the answers to such cryptic questions.” Inflate it’s ego a bit, and then smack it with the real questions.



A peculiar scent began to creep into the edges of the clearing though. She sniffed the air, and turned back to inspect the bushes. Gwen could smell it, the deep astral magics of a master magician. It was still not enough to pin him down, but he was obviously trying to get closer. Gwen cared little for the sanctity of the armour, as long as the creature would give her the information she wanted. A casual return to pacing took her steps closer to the edge of the clearing that went towards the camp.



“Since you obviously aren’t an idiot, enlighten me. What do you know of the Fae that can advance our research here?” (1)She says, her own smugness masked under a guise of ignorance.



Thank You for your Candor


The longer you engage someone in conversation the more likely that they will be to reveal some private or secret information. Your skill to guide and lead conversation as made you an expert information gatherer. A conversation that lasts for three posts will subconsciously force the other participants to be truthful while talking. At the end of three post you may ask the conversationalist one question that must be answered truthfully.

"The rules of the Fae weren't so hidden. Everyone just forgot them." Hylltywyll answered, silently chuckling to himself at the thought of how irritated Gwen would be with such cryptic answers knowing she was already so annoyed by the cryptic ramblings of the knight she'd been trying to get information out of for so long. "Every Fae holds the answers, but whether they want to give them to someone like you is a different question."

As he neared the knight, he smelled for a moment the powerful light magic coming from Gwen before she backed away toward the edge of the clearing. It wasn't as powerful as his, of course, but as the scent came to him he felt the all to familiar grumble in his core of hunger. No, he'd deal with that later. He didn't want to risk being attacked by her. From their last meeting, he knew she was prone to violence even against her allies. She's crazy. She'd try to kill him. He could defeat her, but it'd just be less trouble to not have to in the first place.

"Hmph. I know a lot about the Fae that could probably advance your research, since you don't know anything." Hylltywyll began his taunting, not wanting to give any actual information, but before he knew it, he felt compelled to let something slip. "Fae aren't born with names, we earn them or steal them." He said smugly before blinking and realizing what he'd said.

He grumbled to himself silently, mad that he'd actually given some possibly useful information. Did she do something to mess with his mind? He hadn't sensed her casting any spell.

Gottem ,she thought, as the fool of a forest creature revealed more information to her. Gwendolyns smugness levels were reaching a peak that only utter humiliation could bring her down from. Her steel boots tinked together as she turned on her heels, approaching the knight, and presumably the creature from the smell of it. The ache of magical hunger panged within her, but socially dominating this little gremlin came first. Even the mere act of her approaching should send it scurrying back into the shadows.



“Ah, of course. Thank you, creature. The Fae are such interesting subjects of study.” She says dismissively, before crouching back in front of the rusted suit of armour. “Is that what happened to you then? Did someone steal your many names?”



The suit paused it’s ramblings for a moment, before the visor on the helmet began to move once more. “There…Is…Another…Here…Waiting…Watching…” her face of curiosity turned into mild annoyance. That wasn’t what she had asked about at all, how rude. “Yes yes, I am aware of the little creature in the woods. I had thought he left, but it is not news that he is present." She stood back up, kicking at it’s rusted feet before muttering “Useless…”

Hylltywyll growled in annoyance, but the sound was lost as the shadows soaked it up and silenced it. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of letting her know he was annoyed by what just happened by growling in her mind. He would get back at her for this.

He wouldn't be afraid of getting near her now. He refused to back away as she neared him to crouch in front of the knight. The scent of her magic was stronger, along with the grumbling of his stomach. It might have even been audible if that sound wasn't also magically silenced by the shadows around him.

She wasn't only rude to him. She was rude to the knight as well. Hylltywyll wouldn't normally care how anyone treated someone other than him, but this time was different. He felt like she wasn't just insulting someone else, she was insulting the Fae as a whole, insulting him. He condescending attitude toward the knight irked him. She was taking the seriousness of Fae names too lightly. She hadn't even mentioned his name either, if she remembered it. This bitch!

Hylltywyll suddenly appeared out of nowhere, clinging to Gwen's back. He lunged at her neck, aiming to bite down and start draining her magic, killing two birds with one stone. Feeding his craving for magic, and feeding his craving to teach her a lesson in just how dangerous Fae can be.

---

Blink
Wicked Desires