The Orëska House

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nysander had been up a few hours to tend an experiment and the light of dawn had hit the dome in a dazzling array of colours this morning, rubbing his eyes he had a small shiver of premonition that he would have visitors for breakfast today. Sending a small message sphere to Wethis he ordered some additions to the usual table. The boy would be up soon and preparing it so he didn't feel too guilty.

Taking off his grubby leather apron and hanging it over a chair he sauntered his way down the many steps from the dome at the top of his tower, taking his time. Sadly although hardly wobbly from his centuries old age every now and again the Plenimaran beach incident left a weakness that refused to leave. It was frustrating when it hit and this episode had lasted a little longer than the previous and in this third week of self imposed 'rest' was starting to grate on his nerves.

Watcher business had been quiet since the Queen in her flawed wisdom had shut down his unofficial operations and his experiments were almost at an end. Without being able to go out and about or surfing he'd had far too much time on his hands recently.

How was it that another night had past with only a few hours sleep? Thero rubbed at gritty eyes, wishing the dull headache to pass. The idea of ignoring his alarm and staying in bed was tempting, but fleeting. Truth be told, it was his own fault; that blasted book was impossible to put down. Truly fascinating, though he somewhat regretted that as he wandered to Nysander’s rooms looking not much livelier than a corpse.

Entering the room, the young wizard struggled to stifle a yawn as he opened his mouth to greet his mentor. “Sorry..” Dragging his feet, he took a chair near to Nysander. “That book you loaned me. Utterly fascinating. I didn’t realise quite how many methods and theories there were behind it.” He went on in a way of explanation for his current sleep deprived state, though the clear passion for the book was evident.

“Do we have anything planned for the day?” As much as Thero tried to sound casual, his voice had a certain level of hopefulness behind it. Though he was tired, he was even more tired with the lack of things to do. Studying was important and he genuinely enjoyed it, but it had been too long since they’d really done anything of importance and he found himself feeling uncharacteristically impatient.

"Good Morning dear boy" Nysander smiled up at the young wizard, it was clear he was book hungover with darkish circles under his eyes. He'd once been that young and as eager to absorb as much information as he could. "I'm sure you'll eventually enjoy volume two then" finally hitting the floor of the workroom, "it's around here somewhere, i'll look after breakfast." The smell of fried ham wafted in, Wethis must have been up early to get it on the table so fast. He grinned as his stomach rumbled, looking forward to his meal and turned towards the dining room.
"i would hold out on any plans until later, something interesting may crop up over tea."

"Volume two?" The book he was currently was already a tome and a half, but nonetheless, Thero was sure it would be as interesting as the current one he was on. "Thank you. I still have quite a bit to get through. I don't believe there's more than one volume."

By habit, the younger wizard got up and followed his mentor to the dining table. Nysander's breakfasts were well known amongst the rest of the Oreska, and even beyond. For good reason too. Thero enjoyed them, even if they had become the norm, but since Plenimar... Well, a lot had changed. He had changed and come to appreciate some of the smaller things, including some of his mentors strange little quirks. To think they almost lost him.

"Oh?... You sound like you know something?" Thero questioned as he took a seat, hope rising in the pit of his stomach.

"All in good time." The older wizard poured them both some tea before sitting."I'm glad you are enjoying volume one. It was written by my old master Arconiel before I apprenticed to him. I encouraged him to start the next volumes in the work as well. I believe volume two has the translocation comparisons with Aurenfae spells you were looking for." He smiled as he sipped At the hot tea, trying to distract Thero was too easy sometimes.

"I would have liked to have met the man, he certainly sounded knowledgeable." Their conversation continued for a while, Thero occasionally sipping at his tea as he tucked into an oatcake. Recently it seemed easier and more enjoyable talking to his mentor, the young wizard had come to understand the older man a bit more and realised there was a lot more to him than goofy persona he so often paraded around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the walk over, Seregil had almost entirely forgotten that he hadn't slept in the last twenty-four hours. The fresh air seemed to wake him up, and he found himself appreciating the simple pleasure of talking to his talimenios on a leisurely walk. The skies had brightened up and although it was cold, it was crisp and cloudless as the sun shined down upon them, highlighting the golden tones in Alec's braid that he adored so much.

Not stopping, they headed straight to Nysander's tower, giving a few passersby a brief greeting. Seregil could already smell the breakfast before they even entered the room, and he was right, the walked had helped settle his stomach and a cup of tea or coffee was definitely in order. Pushing the door open, Seregil smiled as he spotted the two wizards exactly where he expected them to be at this time.

"Good morning~ I hope there's enough to go around." Grinning, the older faie approached the dining table, happy to see Nysander hadn't any other guests this morning.

Walking beside the Seregil gave Alec time to admire the older man, his talimenios. Smiling to himself as they engaged in idle conversation, the young blonde briefly brushed their hands together.

They finally arrived, taking the route up to Nysander's tower and entering. Instantly the smell of fresh oat cakes and tea surrounded Alec's senses. Following Seregil in, he took a seat at the table, smiling and nodding his greeting to the two wizards. "Good morning Nysander, Thero."

"Good morning dear boys, do come in, i was expect visitors but not you! What a lovely surprise. I'm glad i ordered more oatcakes or there would be none left for you." he poured them both a cup of tea and gestured for them to sit at the laden table with a smile. His premonitions had been weaker since Plenimar but still accurate enough to help on occasion.

Sipping at his own tea and helping himself to a slice of fresh doughy bread and ham he glanced up at two of his favourite people. "Is this a social call or business?" he tried not to sound too eager at the idea of watcher business and tucked in to his breakfast.

Turning his attention to the approaching guests, Thero gave them both a nod as he swallowed down the last of his oat cake. "Good morning." Hopefully what Nysander had said was right, perhaps something interesting had happened. Watching Seregil take his coat off and sit down across from him, the young wizard noted the dark circles under the faie's eyes. Looked like he wasn't the only one sleep deprived.

~~~~

"Unfortunately business." Sat next to Nysander, Seregil decided to nab himself an oat cake before he really got down to business, slathering it in a thick layer of honey as he did so. "I found something I'd like you to take a look at at." Reaching into the pocket of his coat that he'd hung over the back of the dining chair, he pulled the leathery trinket out, trying not to get honey over it. Gently, he placed it on the table, away from any of the food.

"I found it on a lead last night, but that's not just it. He was dead, but not only two minutes earlier had I been chasing him through the sewers... And when I say dead, I mean weeks dead, months dead, even.." Taking a bite of food, he gave the wizard, or wizards, time to digest the information. "The guy was terrified of something, when he saw me, he ran a mile and I'd spoken to him several times before with no problems. I'm positive he doesn't know anything about me beyond Aryn Greer, so why run?" Of course, Seregil referred to the name of the homeless man he had been playing the previous night.

For some reason, now more than before, he suspected the papers Alec had found and the events of last night were some how tied in together, but he couldn't quite place it. Somehow, this leathery dried up scrap just screamed Plenimar.

"Alec and I both think it's organic, but from what, I don't know..." He wasn't even entirely sure he did want to know.

Smiling to the wizards as he seated himself, the young blonde noted how much better both of them appeared. After everything that had happened to each of them, it had taken time, but it seemed they all had been able to recover some. Though Alec still worried for everyone, especially his talimenios, things were truly looking up.

As Seregil explained his own findings and thoughts, the younger man couldn't help his mind drifting back to the events of his own nightrunning. It had been unexpectedly easy, he had scoped out the house a few nights ago as 'Lord Alec of Ivywell', using his lord identity to attend the party said nobleman had invited he and Seregil to. Unfortunately, Seregil had been investigating his own lead, which left Alec to attend alone. This wasn't troubling, though he had come across plenty of unwanted attention. He had discovered quite a bit about the man hosting the party, including a few suspicious details. He clearly knew a lot of people, including people who didn't reside in Rhiminee, and it would appear now, even past Skala. The younger nightrunner had also overheard talk of him being involved with transporting of cargo and goods outside of Skala, this wouldn't have been so suspicious at first, but with the information Alec had gained, this could ruin the man's reputation.

Returning his attention back to the older men, Alec nodded in agreement with Seregil's words. "Could it be, he was terrified of someone finding out he had such a thing in his possession? Or maybe someone already knew and he was running from Aryn, possibly thinking you might have been in on it, or hired to chase him even? But...this doesn't make sense...dead for weeks or months..it doesn't add up."

"Well, it's all speculation at this point, so...Let's see what we can find out eh?" Finishing up his sandwich and washing it down with tea, the old wizard rolled up his shirt sleeves and placing a hand over the object closed his eyes.

Swirls of colours assaulted his inner vision causing a little pain in his temple before dissipating into comforting blackness. Breathing deeply he let his senses reach out. A prickling began in his hand, followed by feelings of burning, images of blood running down stone and a bright blue eye staring at him and the voice of his nightmares, "come old man, old old man"

He went pale and snatched his hand away, breathing heavily now from the effort. "Diamagnos" he eventually whispered, now wishing he hadn't eaten, "and someone has been eating it..."

Watching with interest, Thero perked an eyebrow as Seregil pulled out something that looked akin to dried meat, or mummified remains. Though, if it were remains, then why had it been cut into pieces? Stranger yet was the story accompanying it.

Finally it seemed like they had something to focus on beyond studies, not that Thero was much involved in the nightrunner business, but he'd started to enjoy helping out where he could. That's not to say he wouldn't like to be more involved, it was just that he somewhat lacked in that skill set.

The thrill was short lived as he watched Nysander with concern, a chill running up his spine at the mention of another dyrmagnos. The young wizard had only ever seen the hands of Takarie Megraesh down in the Oreska Museum before their run in with Mardus and his dyrmagnos companion, Irtuk Beshar. Those memories were still like an open wound and he was sure that sentiment would be shared. "Eating a dyrmagnos?" The idea seemed preposterous. "But for what purpose?"

~~~~~~~

The older faie's intuition had been correct, this definitely was something worthy of the concern he'd felt from the previous night. An icy feeling froze him for an instant as he looked toward his talimenios, knowing the suffering he'd been through at the hands of such a creature. The memories of that time came flooding back and he knew that all of them were feeling the same.  To think that he almost had to kill Nysander that night, an unbearable thought, it was now a strange relief that Mardus got his hands on the helm instead. Not to mention what Thero had been through and the state of Micum's leg after the fight.

"If a dyrmagnos wasn't bad enough, I'm not sure I want to meet the thing that managed to dice one up and decide it would make a good meal.." Though his words were edged with humour, Seregil couldn't quite pull off the joke with such a pained expression.

Sparing Alec one more sympathetic look that spoke volumes, he turned his attention to Nysander. "Are you okay?"

As Nysander finished speaking, the young Dalnan felt an icy cold sensation overcome his body. He fought back the urge the shudder as the chill ran across his spine. He glanced over to Thero briefly, looking into the young wizard's eyes as if communicating his own discomfort, and making sure the other man was okay. He tried to appear as reassuring as possible and drew his attention back to Nysander for a moment, nodding slightly. Every previous thought he had was now gone, he couldn't focus on his own information, his mind was distracted with memories and visions.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Alec did his best to focus on the task at hand. He felt a pang of concern and soon sympathy flow across his mind, sensing it was through his bond with Seregil, he glanced at the older man, smiling softly, showing his tali that he would be okay, expressing comfort and worry for the other man across their bond. He knew that the Aurenfaie's way of trying to settle the atmosphere was awkward and mostly not expected to work, but it provided a distraction and comfort in Alec's mind none the less.

Turning to Nysander, the youngest of the four appeared focused and determined once more.

The previously jovial wizard had appeared to have shrunken down to nothing but an old tired man. The morning suddenly seeming darker in the room, even the mural around the room seemed to be going dim in sympathy. Nysander was lost in his own thoughts of that beach in Plenimar and the evil of the necromancers that had so nearly destroyed the world.

He came back to himself with a start when Seregil addressed him. "I will be fine, dear boy. Thero, you have a talent with this kind of thing, see what you can sense." He hated to admit that his powers were failing him and used his apprentice as an excuse to gather his thoughts. Steepling his hands in front of him, elbows on the table, mulling over the questions, he finally addressed the room, " I have no idea of the customs or processes of the dark ones of the necromantic arts, amongst some primitive tribes they believe that eating the flesh of the dead confers some kind of power. It could be that they believe a similar thing?" he couldn't keep the disgust from his voice. "If only we knew more, it would be of some help, but i fear that this pertains to something dark. How can this be happening again, and so soon?" he mused.

The previous relaxed atmosphere was now gone, it was clear everyone was strained by this sudden change of events. The expression on Alec’s face when they turned to glance at each other said everything, but as per usual, the young man pushed on through it, not allowing himself to succumb to the dread.

Hearing Nysander’s request, Thero briefly paused, not sure he wanted to see anything that desiccated lump of dyrmagnos had to share, but he quickly pushed the fear aside. This was important, and something he could potentially help in, just as he’d hoped for. Reaching over, he fished the scrap of leathery flesh up by the attached cord, avoiding eye contact with anyone as Nysander continued. Silently inhaling to calm himself, he placed the object directly in his palm, focusing all of his attention on it.

The calmness he felt was ripped from him in an instant as his mind was assaulted by indecipherable flashes of visions and colours. The temptation to drop the wretched scrap crossed his mind as he felt his hand burning under the crackled skin of the dyrmagnos. Forcing more energy into it, he pushed on, trying to pull out what he could. A few moments later, the young wizard hastily put the scrap back down, swallowing hard as he tried to calm himself. The darkness he felt was a little too familiar for his liking.

Opening his mouth to speak, he realised he needed a couple more moments to gather himself back up. “It’s as Nysander says, it’s definitely from a dyrmagnos. It’s hard to see anymore than that about the dyrmagnos itself, but I did see a young man, perhaps in his early twenties. Presumably the lead you were following?” He looked at Seregil as he spoke. “He was eating it..” Looking down at the scrap, he turned it over, showing an edge with several marks in it, which were hard to make out in the gnarled flesh. “I think around the time you found him… But.. Are you sure he’s dead?” Pushing the scrap closer to the others, Thero was secretly glad to get it away from him. “He bought it from someone here in Skala, but whoever it was left no trace on it…That’s all I can get from it.” With his last words, the wizard sounded apologetic, having hoped he could have helped a bit more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The idea of eating the dead made Seregil’s skin crawl. “That’s possible, but the real question would be what kind of powers would come from eating a dyrmagnos?” If eating the dead gave someone power, then a dyrmagnos would be a whole new level.

Suddenly Seregil’s attention turned to Thero who had just taken up the leathery flesh in his palm. The wizard looked pained as his eyebrows furrowed together, it was hard not to sympathise with the man at this point. Waiting eagerly, he hoped there would be something more to work with from Thero’s sightings. The fact that Nysander still appeared to be struggling was a concern in itself, but now wasn’t the time to worry. He was still here and Seregil appreciated that each day.

Once the wizard finished, Seregil listened intently, trying to piece together the information. “Yeah, he was twenty exactly.” Even though he had guessed as much, he couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose at the idea of his lead having eaten some of the crusty old flesh. Though it was Thero’s next words that really threw the older faie. “Of course I’m sure. He couldn’t get much deader…” A feeling a dread overcame him as a suspicion popped into his mind. They would need to pay the sewer another visit if the body hadn’t already been found. Either way, they needed to find it.

Glancing over to Alec, another idea popped into his head. “It could be a long shot, but we should look over those documents you found again.” There was sure to be multiple people trading with Plenimar in Skala, but it was worth investigating nonetheless.

The young faie felt his stomach lurch at the thought of someone eating one of those....creatures. What could possibly urge someone to think eating a dyrmagnos was a good idea? Then again,, if it did possess powers and abilities...he supposed some people might be stupid or desperate enough to try it. Now they just had to figure out which Seregil's lead was.

Swallowing back his sudden queasiness, Alec tried to ignore his hands shaking underneath the table, his skin was ever so slightly paler. Frowning at his reactions, he shook it off. Listening intently to Seregil and Thero, something clicked. He knew then as he looked towards the older faie, that he had the same idea.

"It's worth a shot as any. There's more to it, he was acting very suspicious at that party the other night...and having found those documents, who knows."

As dreadful as this entire situation was starting to look, Alec couldn't help the sudden flow of excitement, he knew Seregil would feel the same. This was something else for them to investigate. After all that they had been through, they needed something to take their restless minds of of other things.

For all the disgust he had over necromancy, Nysander had to admit that this was more watcher business and he relished it. For all he was retired and had been some years he still kept going on, much to the annoyance of Thero.
“I think you have the plan correct, no need to panic just yet. We need more information.” He patted the younger man on the arm, knowing how horrible the experience just now had been, “For now, I shall seal up this thing and keep it somewhere safe until we have need of it.”

The wizard took a swig of his strong tea to wash the bitter taste from his mouth. “Investigate the dead man, the scavenger guild might have taken him in or the gate runners dropped him off somewhere. A careful examination might reveal something. The noble you were already digging into, be careful, we don’t want Phoria getting wind of anything, he might have connections.”

The last thing they needed was the Queen poking her nose in causing trouble. He knew full well the boys could take care of themselves but Nysander still worried over them no matter how skilled they were at their profession. “Thero, I think there might be a book on Necromancy in the library, Velen might know where it is or the librarian, I suggest you find it, if you can, the tome might provide something useful while I lock up this vile thing. I see the reason to not have such knowledge easily available but sometimes it would be useful to be able to know where to find it.”

The room brightened a little as the old wizard’s mood lifted, he didn’t want to scare his three boys with the fears of an old man that could be totally unfounded. He knew they were skilled, clever and could think for themselves but he was still concerned over their safety.

It took Thero a brief moment to compose himself again after the insights. They had left him feeling as though there were a thousand spiders crawling all over his bare skin. “I’ll see what I can find out.” At least the idea of doing some research helped ease the ill feeling at the back of his mind. As troublesome as this all seemed, there was a little spark igniting and replacing dread with the thrill of watcher duties. This is after all what he’d hoped for.

~~~~~~

Simply nodding to Nysander, Seregil knew the piece of dyrmagnos flesh was safest here under the older wizard’s protection. “We’ll take care, you have my word.” Finally picking the oat cake back up, he turned it in his a fingers a few times before taking another bite. It just didn’t seem to taste the same after the thought of eating the dried up crusty flesh of a dyrmagnos, even with all the honey, it tasted bitter in his mouth.

Placing the food back down, Seregil turned his attention back to Alec. “I guess we’re going to be busy for a while. There’s no sense in wasting time.” As much as he’d liked to have stayed and chatted to Nysander and Thero a while longer, a sense of eagerness and duty had him standing and putting his coat back on. Quickly he took a few more sips of his tea to keep him going and then moved onto farewells. “We’ll keep you updated. Let us know if you find anything, won’t you?”

Smiling to Nysander with slight concern, the young dalnan nodded. "We'll be careful, try not to worry, and make sure you both take care of yourselves." Looking over to Seregil, Alec's concern returned as he watched the other man intently. He definitely appeared put off by the conversation they all had. He would make sure the other man ate once they were back home and had cleared their minds.

Standing, the young blonde turned to Thero, giving him a look of sympathy before turning to fetch his own coat. Perhaps they would all be able to meet under more casual terms soon. "As Seregil says, we'll make sure to keep you both informed. Please look after yourselves." With that said, he turned to follow the older faie out.

Muttering a spell under his breath, Nysander pulled a flask from the store room and made it appear on the table. He really didn't want to touch the skin again and used his knife to carefully place the flesh inside the jar. It turned black where it touched the silverware. The parchment lid was already inscribed with the sealing protections and all that was left to do was inscribe the last sigil of closing and obscuration and it would be safe and hidden from prying eyes, both physical and magical.

"Luck in the shadows dear boys" he barely registered the company leaving as his mind was already racing with ideas and possibilities. For all it was horrible, this was watcher business and they all loved for this.

"And in the light." With that, Seregil was out the door, making sure Alec was following behind as they left the Oreska. First stop was back to The Cockerel to gather what they needed and come up with a plan... Or for Seregil to share his plan rather, and see what Alec thought.

~~~~

Finishing up his now lukewarm cup of tea, Thero stood ready for a day packed full of research. Hopefully the book would be easy enough to get his hands on. Before leaving, the young wizard spared the other man a final plance, deciding not to say anything to distract him from his thoughts. Swiftly he turned to leave, feeling more alive than he woke up this morning.

"thero, should you find the book, be careful not to start reading it. I have a feeling that you can't just open a book on necromancy like a normal one." Still staring at the jar Nysander completed the sigils and the it blurred in the light as if the light itself were trying to bend around it, and then it was gone from view. The old wizard picked up solid empty air and magicked it away to his fault in the cellars with a word.

A few hours had passed and Thero was finally heading back to the tower with a rather large battered old tome and a headache painful enough to take down a man twice the size of him. He’d been sent in circles trying to find the damn thing, pointlessly looking through endless shelving and boxes that were coated in heavy layers of dust making every inch of his body itch. Not to mention the sneezing. It had turned out he’d spent the first couple of hours looking in the wrong place. All in all, he was he a foul mood.

Crossing the atrium, he clutched the book closely, willing the headache to pass, his expression sour but focused.

"Thero!" a strong voice called from the door as it was closed by a servant. Micum was brushing off some dry leaves and stomping his feet, wincing briefly as his injured leg twinged with the effort. His greying red hair glinted in the well lit entrance hall with it's dragon mosaic, "I wish the rest of the country was as spring like as the Orëska House. Bloody cold and miserable outside the walls."
Picking up a backpack from behind him he strode over to the darker wizard, "What have you been doing? It looks like you've been crawling in spaces between the walls!"