The Golden Age. Act 2: Converging Paths.

[riariadne]

Ancient Texts

Kolmar following close behind, Velvet lead the way to the library, which immediately proved to be locked still. "Oh, I didn't think about that... hiding from the fighting, probably," Velvet commented. It took about a minute before the doorknob turned a bit, a young woman peeking her head out. "Is it all over? You guys don't look like invaders, and um, probably would've just broken the door anyway, but this is a bit of a strange place to be right after a battle. Well, come in. Please put your weapons down here." She opened the door for them, pointing to a small weapons rack. "This is the Veiro Public Library, and we don't exactly have any visitors right now... did you have anything you wanted to find here in particular?"

A Prophet's Farewell

"Yes, that power comes only with seven. But, I don't suspect you'll be too disappointed with having to possess all of them, Kaya- after all, they are artifacts from the dragons themselves, so even barring that power, they are quite useful. And if you weren't prepared for the possibility you'd have to fight against others to find the Emblem anyway, you were very naive in partaking in this quest of yours to begin with, and I think you're smarter than that. You speak of Velvet, the demicat, do you not? I've met her twice before today, I believe, and she's very odd. I see why Regus is so curious about her when he's fascinated with all that goes on in Grunan, and..."

She held her hands against her head again. "Yes, I see... how very interesting. I see but possibilities, but I'll be keeping an eye open for information that might be useful for you, Kaya. Perhaps I'll even put a word in for you with my dear brothers, seeing as Regus is who you wish to meet, isn't it? Yes, he knows more about the Horn of the Dragons, though exactly how much he won't tell even me, and neither of my brothers are as susceptible as others are to my tricks of prophecy or reading thoughts. I don't think he trusts me with the precise details, maybe he thinks I'd let too many other people know. Ahahaha... he's probably right- I do say too much for my own good, sometimes. Well, well, if you're to reconvene with your group, then I'd probably best be on my way, too. I was actually on my way to speak with my other brother. He's not very far from here. If you're lucky, he might even speak with you... I believe Raz would be fascinated to see him again, and the rest of you would likely be interested in meeting with him the first time. Farewell, Kaya." With a wave and a puff of smoke, Shylah vanished once more, the white raven appearing on Kaya's shoulder for a moment before taking to the skies.

[scorri]

Kaya reached up to touch the shoulder Shylah had landed on before smacking her forehead. "Ah! I forgot her feather... Next time I guess." She sighed, and slowly started to make her way back to the rest of the group. It seemed like Velvet and Kolmar had headed off somewhere on their own, so she made her way over to Raz and smiled. "Well, we survived. I have some information that might interest you as well. While I was talking to Shylah she mentioned her other brother was nearby. It seems we might run into him sometime in the near future if we're lucky. She said that you'd be interested in that for whatever reason." She was curious about it, but if Raz didn't want to share, she didn't need to do so. After passing this information on, her next target was Thalia, but that could wait for a moment.

[eclipse]

Kolmar desperately wanted breakfast, but APPARENTLY someone else could function without food or rest, especially after that battle.  Even so, the librarian wasn't at fault.

"Ya got anything from the Lost Age?" he asked bluntly.

[Juliette]

Velvet waved at the librarian as they were allowed in, dropping off a couple of daggers at the rack. "All the ones left started running away, I think. Glad to see that a lot of places stayed safe even with how hectic it was. We were actually hoping to find something about the invaders, and hits seem to say we should be looking up anything written a little before or after the Lost Age- and during, if that's somehow an option. So if you could direct us towards anything you have here like that, we'd really appreciate it."

[SB.]

"The Lost Age..." Aaron couldn't help but sigh. That would explain things, while also giving them more answers than questions. How did it come to be that so much knowledge was lost? Kolmar seemed to take inspiration from this knowledge somehow (Aaron didn't claim to understand how the miscreant's mind worked), but it just made the Lionheart wielder feel stumped. "I suppose we'll have to wait and see what their next move is before we understand the attack." For now, this whole incident just seemed shrouded in mystery, and there was no sign of things changing any time soon.

[Xinnidy]

"Her other brother, is it..." As much as Raz was unamused by Shylah's presence again, she couldn't deny that the prospect of seeing Noctus was a fun novelty. "It's been far too long, and who knows if he'll actually show his face... Then again, you can expect anything out of the Magi." She nodded to Kaya, followed by a sigh. "Shylah certainly enjoys poking me with little notice... I've met her brother in the past, but it was very long ago." Why get Kaya involved? Raz couldn't guess that one.

[riariadne]

Brilliant Texts

"Well, the uh... catty girl is right that we don't have anything from the Lost Age, but I'm sure we have some things surrounding the time period. Hmm, let's see, you err... you do seem to be the fighting type still, so I guess that's somewhere to start? Follow me, then." The librarian guided the two towards a section near the back of the library, gesturing towards a specific shelf as she stopped. "We have military records here, some new and some old," she began, much more familiar with the contents of the library than having any grip on the battle that had raged on before. "About midway through this shelf here would be close to what you're looking for, I think, in terms of time period. If not, the two shelfs to the left also contain books somewhat like this. If you'll excuse me, I'll, err... well, be reopening the library, as it was."

Velvet started to look through the books as soon as they arrived. "'Formations of the Wind Age' doesn't seem to be quite what we're looking for, I don't think... 'The Evolution of Battle-mages', 'How Foreigners Changed Combat on Titan', 'The Greatest Military Leaders of History', maybe 'Forging through the Ages' could be something... 'Occult Techniques: the Power of the Strange in Warfare' seems a bit out of place... 'The Armies of King Nicholas', maybe? I guess if it was as simple as looking at titles, we'd know about this already. Hmm. How about you pick one and then I'll pick one to start skimming through?"

Arrival

"I've met Noctus once myself," Thalia spoke. "It was after I was announced as acting leader for Madrigal that he appeared within the castle, entirely ignoring all sorts of the magical defenses that are within it. Not that magically defending an area is entirely feasible, but there are alerting charms and such that he wasn't affected by at all. To my understanding, he doesn't like interfering directly, or maybe somehow can't, yet he thought it was important to give me a lot of advice for when I'm in charge, and he's never spoken with me again or given any indication he wants to do so. But he would definitely be a useful ally if he ends up changing his mind about being so passive. Maybe we'll really see him again, but I'm not so sure."

She turned her head suddenly as footsteps could be heard to the south, then louder as more armed troops arrived than had been present even during the battle, the colors of Balor, Ibis, and Trine split into distinct sections. "Finally, they're here..." Among the group were each of their province's leaders, all fairly easy to tell apart. Damas was as armed to the teeth as his soldiers, wearing armor not dissimilar to them and carrying a vicious axe. Eliza was dressed significantly more for proper meeting situations, but still kept a spear about her- not out of place, considering the circumstances. Lastly, Reid wore classic robes denoting his spot as an Archsage, a tome in hand as he continued on ahead of the others.

"An all clear with no sight of the enemy whatsoever in Veiro. Handled impressively as usual, Commander!" Duke Reid greeted her, stowing his tome. "Though he may claim to be King, his military might certainly seems to be lacking in comparison to the Knights. Why, several soldiers of his tried fleeing and ran into us. Safe to say with what little of them there were remaining we dispatched them with haste. Ah, but you others don't quite look the part of Knights of Madrigal. I am Archsage Reid Mazzarin, Duke of Trine, joined by my esteemed colleagues Duke Damas Glaivor of Balor and Duchess Eliza Rhodes of Ibis- but who might you all be?"