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The Golden Age. Act 2: Converging Paths.


riariadne
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Useful Information?

Morris shuffled about in the cell still. "I'm s-sorry, there's just nothing else I know about, they r-really didn't mention much to me at all..." He started to panic when the party mentioned him being useless. "I swear I didn't mean to help at first, it's just his powers... his tome, it was golden, if that's helpful, but it wasn't any kind of magic I understood."

Ashley crossed her arms, stepping away from the glass. "Whatever he speaks of this control magic is impossible to prove. What we can prove is that he took up arms against the city, so releasing him right away is out of the question, so he'll be transferred to a more conventional jail soon if you're done with him. He certainly doesn't seem to be threatening enough to hold here." She gave the other prisoner a brief glance at that statement. "We prefer not to use here unless necessary. The suppressive magic is effective, but the close proximity to the castle can be troubling, yet there's nowhere better to hold these less trustworthy members of society."

Shop Meetings

"Staves? Certainly." Nathaniel went down to one of the aisles of the store this time, returning a few moments later with three staves to place on the counter for Kaya. "Here's the Heal staff you mentioned, and I'm sure you know the slightly more advanced Mend if you're already a practitioner. This last one is slightly more uncommon, Physic, but allows for aid from a distance. In that sense it's quite flexible in different situations. Which of them are you most interested in?"

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A drawn out, content hum and nod later, Raz snapped her fingers. "The self-proclaimed 'Time King', is looking for a specific few tomes and a few of the Gifts. While we knew of the latter... it might be worth at least something to keep both in mind. Maybe his troops are targeting places where the Gifts are rumored to be... or the Magi." Well, at least that'd be reason to show up here. To try and convince Regus out... maybe he had a trap laid in his wake?

"Well, maybe I'm not on the right track, it's hard to say as it is... but it should help." She waved to the others. "So what do you think? Should we head out? I think that's all we can get from this guy... good luck with jail." She turned for a moment to give a half-dismissive goodbye.

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"How utterly uninformative," Kolmar grumbled.  "Wonder what'll happen if 'His Majesty'," he spat out, "decides to clean up some loose ends.  Probably best to keep 'em locked up away from important things, eh?"

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"Wow, the last one looks very interesting. It would be very helpful in our journey, I'm sure of it. What do you think, Kaya...Kaya?" She turned to see Kaya turning back and frowning. Was something the matter? "Kaya...are you ok? Should we find a spot to rest?"

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"Buh? Oh, uh, yeah... These are nice I suppose. The Physic would be nice I suppose. I'm not sure if it's worth it but... I suppose we can consider it at least." Kaya walked over to the counter, and lightly touched the three offered items. Glancing back at Jovi, she did her best to smile in a reassuring manner. "Ah, no, I'm... fine. I need to talk with someone at some point but... I'll be fine for now, don't worry. Telmara, what do you think about the staffs?"

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Kaya did seem out of it... Whether or not it was to do with her visions or not, if they were important, Kaya would share them... Hopefully. With someone, she said... "Maybe me...?" she muttered, looking away. The store had a good selection of worthwhile staves, even if they were a bit basic. "Considering how often I've been healed by you... I would say you've got a considerable amount of magical power. Another heal staff would help supplement your stash, and a mend would cover any wounds we received entirely... With your magic as it stands, a physic staff would have considerable range, and is about as effective as a heal staff..." Telmara put a claw to her chin and started thinking.

"If you're willing to put up the gold for it, the physic would be very useful... It doesn't hold the longest charge, but it would give you plenty of options. And if you aren't up for spending that much," she eyed the shopkeep for a second, knowing he wouldn't be dropping market price on it, "then just another heal staff should suffice you."


"So more planning and conniving, as expected." The 'Time King'... How apt. And ridiculous. Titles like that were served only for fools and legend believers-- but mostly fools, who thought themselves above the norm. Surely Telmara had no ridiculous title for herself at her prime. And if she did, then perhaps she was quite the fool, as well.

"I have no other purpose to serve, here. I would be perfectly fine with heading out, or turning in to one of the offered rooms."

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"Certain tomes as well? Perhaps the Magi would have more knowledge on them than we do." Aaron shrugged. This was more of a Raz or Telmara thing than it was for him. Tomes were far from his field of expertise... whatever that was. Still, they did seem to be getting a clearer view of the situation. "It's low risk, high reward for them, wouldn't you say? That Dimitrius fellow simply vanished, and the sand soldiers seem to be expendable." 

He nodded towards Morris, before continuing. "Our only lead turned out to be of fairly low value as well." He coughed rather violently after Raz's last comment, with the hand covering his mouth hiding quite the smirk, with Kolmar's quip only making matters worse. After a few seconds of collecting himself, he straightened up, before addressing Ashley. "We'll leave things to the city guards, then. Thank you again for your hospitality, milady." 

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"Oh... Yes. I think we have a mend staff... Velvet might be holding on to it for us. The physic... Well, how much do these two cost?" She gestured towards the heal and physic. Mentioning Velvet had reminded her that the demi-cat might have her own stock of staffs for sale, so if the price seemed unreasonable, she could always just talk to her friend. She might do that either way if she decided to not get the Physic. After all, she needed to be looking out for the group. And that included Velvet now too, so it was important. Important... What was wrong with that vision? Something still feels off about it...

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Dismissal

Morris didn't seem to have the courage to answer Kolmar's pointed question, and after a few moments of quiet Ashley clapped her hands, Sir Ronald appearing swiftly again and unlocking the cell door when she pointed to it, binding Morris's hands before taking him away. "Perhaps he'll reflect on his cowardice and loyalty to gold in jail. In any case, I hope that was at least somewhat conductive to finding a new place to go on your journey," the Duchess began, probably ready for another longer tirade, before Ronald returned again.

"Duchess Mazzarin, I gave the prisoner to one of the other guards since I was relayed news. Duke Reid and Sir Maximus were attacked during their travels... it seems to be by this wizard again. Sir Maximus is apparently very injured, and is being kept for healing in Madrigal, and Duke Reid is returning as soon as he can. Jotun had three important tomes stolen, apparently while the more public attacks took place, including the one Duke Reid had sent for further studying..."

"What?!" Color drained from Ashley's cheeks as she heard the news. "But, the two of them... and that tome, this is terrible. That certainly explains the bizarre behavior of these four attacking people, but if Fordright suffered so much during a decoy plan, what are we to do?"

"Er, I don't meant to alarm, Duchess... but there were important weapons stolen from Koerm as well, at a similar time..." Ronald continued. "And... lastly there was even almost an event at Madrigal. But, it was thwarted by the Knights as well as the visiting Dionetian soldiers, yet there was nothing to catch but sand again. Sorry, but better you know than not... Duke Reid should be back in two days' time."

The duchess shook her head in dismay, seeming lost for words after she had so many to speak before. "Well, I have much to attend to now... you are all still free to stay, of course, but I need to address this much changed state of affairs. Your theory certainly seems more confirmed now, Miss Raz, so make of that as you will."

Heal and... longer heal

Nathaniel moved the mend staff away from the counter before answering Kaya, gesturing to the two staves in turn. "Heal staves are five hundred gold. The physic staff will cost you one thousand two hundred gold."

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"Maximus was the one we met in Madrigal, wasn't he?" Aaron looked directly at Raz. "He didn't look like a pushover... Timaeus must be getting stronger, if they couldn't keep him in check. Either that, or his sand army had simply overwhelmed the lone knight, but they'd seemed to be fairly flimsy in their own encounters. How many would be necessary to give Maximus a real run for his money?

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Kaya hesitated and then picked up the physic staff. "I'll take this one. My heal staff still has some power left in it after all and this could be really useful." Digging in her pouch, she pulled out the correct amount of money and handed it over to the shopkeeper. "There, that should be enough!" Waiting for him to count it, she looked over at Telmara and Jovi and quietly asked, "Could I actually... speak with both of you after this? Something... not quite right happened. And I need some other opinions on it besides mine."

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Things certainly took a turn for the grim shortly after, the news delivered by Ronald gracing a frown. "Well, I didn't want it to happen that quick, even though now I'm proven right." It also meant Timaeus was amassing power yet faster, with the new acquisitions. "The sand images have been getting stronger over time, I noticed they were harder to fell today. If we associate that to his power, that means it's growing fast." She nodded back at Aaron, "At least for now, we have to assume his goal is to grow stronger as quickly as possible, so that his threats hold water. Then he'll try to impose his authority." That was Raz's current guess, at any rate.

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Joviana's eyes widened as she Kaya told her that something was troubling her. "You don't have to ask, Kaya, of course we can talk. There must be a lot going n in your mind right now."

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The physic was a good choice, so Telmara didn't see reason to try and stop Kaya's purchase. It was rather expensive... But things here seemed to be. How unfortunate for them. Ahh, there it was. Telmara smiled a moment. "Of course. You can talk to u-us... About whatever you want to. Something not quite right, though? Was it s-something with your visssions?" Telmara flinched back after talking, poking her tongue out and staring at it. "S-Sorry..."


"Wonderful. Do you suppose we have time to stay at all then, Raz? If he's growing stronger so much faster, it seems pressing that we go to where he may strike next as soon as possible... Sleeping on the road may be hard for some of the group, but if it's for the best..."

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Amassing Power

"Well, he seems to be alarmingly successful with his goal of gaining this power, if he's to defeat the finest lancer in Fordright," Ashley agreed solemnly with Raz. "I must set to the city's affairs, and especially its defenses. Not including Sir Maximus's Iraxen, we hold another weapon with storied history in the city." The duchess gestured towards the person in the now-lone occupied cell. "That is Zodiark." The figure moved somewhat, but it was impossible to discern anything about them beneath a strange navy blue cloak. "We know almost nothing about him, since his cloak is impossible to remove. He doesn't eat, probably doesn't sleep, and rarely speaks, but he was caught as a prolific assassin using the dagger known as Nightfall. And never does he explain himself beyond saying it's for the best, and occasionally asking to be set free."

"Of course, letting him free would be absurd," she continued after a brief paused. "The last person he killed, and the reason he was found, was Duke Therum after his renouncing the Black Queen. Nightfall was confiscated from him, but unlike Iraxen, we have not entrusted it to the use of someone skilled in our services... it is too dangerous. I shall have its location changed to a different secure location immediately. I am sure Lady Elizabeth in Fernait is on guard of her Windrunner now. And Commander Thalia holds the Balmung, the most powerful sword." She frowned. "But those are the ones we know of. There may be other powerful items across Titan we are not privy to the information of... and the tome he stole from Jotun was the Cosmic Dream, which my husband found and archsages were researching in Jotun under safe conditions. It is frightening to behold, from the one display I was privy to."

The young duchess paused for a few moments to catch her breath. "That said, I suggest you stay the night still. Depending on your direction headed, we may be able to grant you extra supplies. If you wish to track down Timaeus, and you think Veiro the best place to visit for that, we could also provide transportation freely in the morning. Whether there is your priority, or if you want to go to Jotun, or elsewhere- that all depends on your own plans, but the duchy promises to aid as much as we can."

Simple Transaction

"The physic staff for you, then." Nathaniel handed over the staff after counting the gold, his expression at last somewhat more positive with the completed sale. "I wish you luck on this journey of all of yours." The talk of visions seemed to be rather beyond him, and he didn't ask more, simply looking towards a book behind the counter that seemed to be one of the few non-magical volumes in the store.

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Kaya winced as Telmara started talking about visions in public, and quickly smiled at the shopkeeper. "Thank you and good luck to your business." She then headed straight out the door, waving for Telmara and Jovi to follow her. When they were outside, she turned to them, and quietly asked, "Please don't mention my abilities in public, ok? I don't really want it known. People might take it the wrong way or want to use me for my powers or any other thing that could possibly go wrong with them knowing. It was probably fine here but just please be more careful in public."

That being said, she glanced around. It seemed like a relatively quiet location, but still she moved a bit further away from the shopfront before continuing. "But... yes. All my life, I've known that my powers came through dreams and that they showed the future. Someone confirmed to me that my dreams are always true as well. Then I had that vision after our first battle. It was different than what I'd seen before and Noctus mentioned that this might not have the same reliability that my dreams have. Well... I had another one. And... this one seemed to be of the past." She was trying hard not to let it show, but she was starting to get scared. Her dreams had always been a constant in her life. But now her powers were changing beyond what had ever been expected and she couldn't even trust them anymore. What was happening to her?

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Kolmar kept silent as Aaron and Raz conversed - he had his own theories, but this wasn't the time to lay his cards on the table.  Besides, Ashley was more than free with her info, so why give her reason to stop?

Still, to say so much in the presence of another prisoner?  Either she is very dumb or very confident.

"I ain't got objections to your offer to stay the night," Kolmar replied.  Maybe I'll figure out which one it is.

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I really don't think you have all of that to worry about from a shopkeep who doesn't know the first meaning of the word in context, but... "Okay. Sorry." There would be no point in arguing that save for empty pride, and Telmara was only prideful about her magic. If it would let Kaya get over it faster, then all the better.

"What happened in it? Magic is very odd and the same things that happened one day may not apply the next. Case in point," she said, gesturing to herself. "So, if what happened in your vision wasn't anything alarming, then... It's probably some new facet of your abilities taking shape as you improve yourself. I would wager..."

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Joviana awkwardly looked the other way as her companions began talking about visions again. I don't think she was supposed to let it slip in the shop...

Once they were outside again, Kaya shared her troubles with Joviana and Telmara. She nodded her head throughout, understanding what made Kaya feel troubled. "I understand what you're saying. For all your life, you've only known of visions of the future, but now, you have a vision of the past! That's definitely a mysterious occurrence, but I suggest not to think a lot about it. I can't think of why that happened, but I do know that all of us fear change. You should try to set that fear aside, because it'll cloud your thoughts a lot more than you'd like." 

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Apparently she had done a worse job at hiding her fear than she thought. Her shoulders sagged as she replied first to Telmara, then Joviana. "I... I"m sorry too. I shouldn't have gotten upset, there was probably no harm in you saying something there. I just... I want to be careful. There are probably already rumors flying about our group and some of our stranger powers. I want to try and avoid having seeing the future added to those rumors. Or... seeing the past. Maybe you're right, it's just me growing. But none of the Order ever mentioned anything like this happening and you'd think they would know..."
 

She paused and then continued to Joviana, "But you're right too. I can't let my emotions get in the way... I should meditate maybe. It was always a good way to clear my mind... Ah, right, first, the vision. I saw him. Timaeus. Or at least at least someone called that. He and three others were at a table. One was the blue haired woman we fought. Two I didn't recognize. A blonde woman named Roxie who was most likely a mage, and a bald man with scars under his eyes. He wasn't named. They were talking about an archsage and how he needed to be stopped. Someone that Timaeus had been an apprentice to, I think. But it was strange... Timaeus didn't want the power. He was trying to get Roxie to lead. Talking about finding more people and bringing them in. A mountain warrior and a spy to get them into the throne room... Plus three others. He said that the nine of them would save the people."

She tried to remember if there were any more details that she should mention. "They were in a hall... Much like the ones my father's keep castle had. And they were talking about how there was no time to be wasted... It just was so strange... To see the difference between the man in my vision who was trying to give up the power, the leadership role and the man we encountered who is demanding to be called King and doing whatever he needs to do to get what he wants..."

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"It's okay, Kaya. I said I was sorry. Don't worry about it... I'm not scowling or anything, this is just my face. If you were worried about that..." She hoped that the woman wasn't, she couldn't exactly control her eyebrows without eventually straining herself. "I'll be more careful from now on. And, are you the first person to be having any? If they've never mentioned anything like this happening, th-then maybe they just didn't know that it would happen..." That seemed to be a decent assumption, for how things were going.

But seeing this sort of specific thing, from the past... And of their lovely time lord, no less. "I don't really know what all of that is supposed to mean. If he's d-different than he used to be, something obviously happened to him. Just depends on what... If what you saw is t-true, then he might be as unwilling a pawn as some of his men are..." It was a bit silly to think there was someone stronger than a person who could control time. What was above that? Space itself? It was hard to think about.

"You'll be fine, I think, Kaya... Thank you for telling me... U-Us." A scaled finger awkwardly started to twirl her hair, almost blushing. "Should we tell the rest of the group...?"

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"Yes Kaya, meditation might help you control yourself. I know that it helps me greatly." replied Joviana, before continuing, "That's some interesting stuff that you've seen. Timaues trying to stop an Archsage? We definitely need to learn more about him. I definitely think that he'll be relevant to our journey, considering how we bump into his goons often."

Pausing for a bit, Joviana thought about Kaya's narration. Something felt off about it, and Joviana wanted to know more. "Pardon me for asking this, but how are you sure that this is a vision of the past? Throughout your description, it was never clear to me as to when this took place. Also, if this really was from the past, then...I can't help but think about this Archsage that you mention. Maybe we need to learn more about them, whoever they might be. Ah, I guess I'm distracting us from our main goal, I'm sorry."

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"I... I suppose I don't know. For sure. But it wouldn't make sense for it to be future or present. He's already taken leadership of his group... I don't know why he would say that he couldn't if he'd already had power before." She frowned, starting to doubt herself even more. "I... No, I think this is something important to focus on. I want to find the Emblem, yes, but if my visions are starting to show me this too... I have to believe it's important. Archsage... Telmara, do you know anything about an Archsage? I know you... well is there anything you know that might help us?"

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"So what he got was the Cosmic Dream... Hmm." It was a bit sudden to hear of all these weapons being potential targets, especially considering the time mage's tactics. Why was it worth going all the trouble? A trick related to regaining his power, perhaps? One thing was certain, they couldn't hope to race against time and succeed, they'd need to make an accurate choice instead.

"Rushing it is a bad idea, Mikhaila. We're going to wear ourselves down trying to catch up with somebody like that." Raz sighed, smirking at the warrior woman and Aaron. "We have Kaya as backup, at least. Maybe she'll get a lead with a vision of hers... anyways, it's best if we go find her now, then we decide. I'll keep the option of Veiro in mind. Thank you for the information, Ashley." She bowed to the duchess quickly, "I think we should be leaving right now to prepare."

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"Visions of the past? How very interesting, Kaya." Velvet strolled around the corner of a nearby building, hidden beneath her hood again. "Sorry for eavesdropping a bit at the end there! I can't help it, us cats have very good hearing, though I can safely say nobody else is really around. I've got a few new useful acquisitions from the marketplace, I got rather lost in the time I spent there, but it was probably worth it." She shook at the pouch by her waist, though it didn't make a very distinctive sound due to its nature. "Your tattoos and your Order are all focused on the Gifts, aren't they? Maybe your visions have been changing because you've been exposed to some of them now... well, I have no idea if that's how that would work, but it's just a theory. As for... Archsage? I think I've heard of one of those guys, but I wouldn't know much else about specifics. I don't think it's a title for just any one person, at least."

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