[RP Notepad] 3/18/2010 Ratchet

[Solivar]

The Place: The goblin city of Ratchet, on the eastern coast of Kalimdor.

The Players: Dayari Antarios, a Forsaken rogue whose memory is not all that it could be at times -- and, at others, is as sharp as the knives he keeps about his person; Solivar Eventide, a Sin'dorei death knight who restlessly wanders the world, searching for many things he has lost and several things he has yet to find.

A dead elf walks into a bar....

3/18 20:40:56.101 Dayari says: You just missed somebody.

3/18 20:41:17.547 Solivar says: I did? May I join you?

3/18 20:41:20.279 Dayari says: Not the squid-head over there.

3/18 20:41:25.627 Dayari nods at you.

3/18 20:41:57.441 Solivar glances over his shoulder at the strange, blue one.

3/18 20:42:20.651 Solivar says: I admit, I have thought that it would not be comfortable to walk on their legs.

3/18 20:42:25.280 Dayari says: Everywhere in that city on the other side.

3/18 20:42:41.677 Dayari says: I wouldn't want to.

3/18 20:42:52.307 Solivar inclines a questioning brow.

3/18 20:42:59.638 Solivar says: That city?

3/18 20:43:09.937 Dayari says: The one with the shiny thing in the center.

3/18 20:43:58.827 Solivar says: Ah. I think I know of the place. I have heard of it, but I have not been there.

3/18 20:44:10.273 Dayari says: There's a nice bar.

3/18 20:44:36.534 Solivar blinks several times, rapidly.

3/18 20:45:07.295 Dayari says: Music. Funny air-gulpers. Some demon-thing.

3/18 20:45:29.190 Solivar says: I...do not think I was ever really one to tavern-crawl. I might be mistaken, but....

3/18 20:45:38.705 Solivar says: Who did I miss?

3/18 20:46:12.509 Dayari says: Who?

3/18 20:47:41.057 Solivar says: You said that I had just missed someone? Also, my apologies. I was meditating more deeply than I intended.

3/18 20:47:54.654 Dayari says: Oh, that's right there was someone here.

3/18 20:48:33.816 Dayari says: It was a small green thing....Goblin!

3/18 20:48:39.052 Dayari says: That's what they're called.

3/18 20:48:43.865 Dayari says: I get them confused sometimes.

3/18 20:49:39.330 Dayari says: It was asking for someone. Had I seen a "Knight of the Ebon Blade" or was it a "Blood Knight." It was one of those two. Said he was supposed to have some armor....

3/18 20:50:05.357 Dayari says: I'm sure it was a knight of something.

3/18 20:50:09.105 Dayari says: Silver Hand?

3/18 20:50:30.284 Dayari says: Oh well, whatever it was, it wasn't here.

3/18 20:52:11.180 Solivar , for an instant, looks as though he is attempting to have at least three separate and distinct reactions to this, and is not succeeding entirely at any of them.

3/18 20:52:53.470 Solivar takes a deep, steadying breath, and nods slightly.

3/18 20:53:06.866 Dayari looks at you.

3/18 20:53:36.529 Solivar says: Thank you, brother. I did not think I had commissioned anything but...I have not exactly been well-rested in the last few days.

3/18 20:54:24.400 Dayari says: Sleep is overrated.

3/18 20:55:44.798 Dayari says: Easier to do without.

3/18 20:55:56.796 Solivar says: At the moment, I would settle for a few minutes of restful thought.

3/18 20:56:26.956 Solivar says: Zul'Drak has not been good for my mind.

3/18 20:56:39.653 Dayari says: Trolls.

3/18 20:57:01.982 Solivar 's lips twitch back slightly, not quite a smile.

3/18 20:57:49.838 Solivar says: Less the trolls than the troll gods.

3/18 20:58:00.253 Dayari says: They have those. There was somethinga bout them...

3/18 21:00:01.710 Dayari says: Troll gods...Loa or something...

3/18 21:00:21.872 Solivar says: Jinjinn spoke of them when last we met. Have you seen him recently?

3/18 21:01:12.928 Dayari says: No, I don't think so. I didn't write anything down about it anyway.

3/18 21:01:35.539 Solivar nods.

3/18 21:02:10.265 Dayari says: I saw a lot of Scourge though.

3/18 21:02:24.112 Solivar says: Icecrown?

3/18 21:02:48.422 Dayari says: Probably.

3/18 21:02:57.954 Dayari says: No, there wasn't any snow.

3/18 21:03:56.925 Solivar says: Were you in Northrend? Or closer to home?

3/18 21:03:59.258 Dayari says: It was inside something.

3/18 21:04:05.314 Dayari says: Castle or tower or something.

3/18 21:05:09.843 Dayari says: There was a school in it.

3/18 21:05:37.336 Solivar says: Mmmm...Oh! A school for sorcerers?

3/18 21:05:45.718 Dayari says: The cult kind.

3/18 21:05:53.600 Dayari says: Lots of Scourge.

3/18 21:05:58.782 Dayari says: Found this robe there.

3/18 21:06:31.709 Solivar says: Scholomance? It must have been. I think I remember the students wearing those...

3/18 21:06:48.771 Dayari says: Sounds right.

3/18 21:07:19.831 Dayari says: Found some other things. Skull on a pole, but I threw that away.

3/18 21:07:44.309 Solivar says: When I was...more freshly scourged...I remember being in that place.

3/18 21:08:02.056 Dayari says: Hunh.

3/18 21:08:23.551 Solivar rests his chin in his hand for a moment, eyes going half-lidded as he thinks.

3/18 21:10:31.190 Solivar says: Many of us were, if I remember correctly. I woke there...

3/18 21:10:43.254 Dayari says: Bad place.

3/18 21:11:21.313 Dayari says: Worse to the East, I think.

3/18 21:12:32.182 Solivar says: Kel'Thuzad had a remnant fondness for the place -- I am not certain why. But once Naxxramas was built, and then Acherus, we were all redeployed.

3/18 21:13:03.840 Dayari says: Liches. Used to speak to a Forsaken I knew, in his head.

3/18 21:13:27.801 Solivar says: Yes, they are obnoxiously fond of that.

3/18 21:13:45.281 Solivar 's eyes close completely for a moment.

3/18 21:14:00.494 Dayari says: Sleep is overrated.

3/18 21:15:03.914 Solivar says: I know...I know.

3/18 21:15:34.574 Solivar opens his eyes, his expression not so much weary as sad.

3/18 21:15:48.238 Dayari says: Someone talking to you?

3/18 21:16:25.597 Solivar says: Sometimes I think so. Do you still hear...Him?

3/18 21:16:31.745 Dayari says: Hear who?

3/18 21:17:43.662 Solivar gestures in a northerly direction.

3/18 21:18:06.224 Dayari says: I heard that bug thing in my head, I think.

3/18 21:18:26.303 Solivar says: *Him.* ....Bug thing?

3/18 21:18:50.714 Dayari says: It was underground. With a bunch of bugs, but different.

3/18 21:19:48.353 Dayari says: Just for a little bit..."they are outside the cycle" is all I remember.

3/18 21:20:13.064 Solivar says: The Nerub'ar? Or the ones in the south?

3/18 21:20:35.626 Dayari says: Something with them. But not quite them.

3/18 21:21:51.625 Solivar nods slightly.

3/18 21:22:13.721 Dayari says: But that's not a him, not really. Who's your him?

3/18 21:22:49.532 Solivar says: There are a considerable number of unpleasant things in the dark places beneath Northrend. Most of them do not seem to trouble with keeping out of your head, given half the chance.

3/18 21:23:29.338 Dayari says: Really?

3/18 21:23:59.048 Solivar says: ....The King. Do you...ever...still hear him?

3/18 21:24:10.378 Dayari says: No...I don't.

3/18 21:24:25.561 Solivar says: And, yes. It was an occupational hazard of being stationed in Northrend for any length of time.

3/18 21:25:25.099 Solivar says: We practically knifed each other in the kidneys for the chance at a billet in the Plaguelands -- it stank, but at least the only thing likely to molest your inner most being was Kel'Thuzad and, well, he'd already done that once already.

3/18 21:26:01.157 Dayari says: Hmm. I don't think I ever had that experience.

3/18 21:26:32.932 Solivar says: Be glad.

3/18 21:27:11.473 Dayari says: I remember the stars.

3/18 21:28:07.644 Dayari says: Looking at them at night.

3/18 21:28:47.686 Dayari says: Don't think I ever had to fight anyone for it.

3/18 21:29:25.095 Solivar says: The stars....

3/18 21:29:33.910 Dayari says: Yeah. When the dust wasn't there.

3/18 21:30:05.119 Solivar 's eyes close again for a moment.

3/18 21:30:55.526 Solivar says: I remember camping on the strand below the monastery...they call it the Scarlet Monastery now...

3/18 21:31:02.840 Dayari says: Bad place.

3/18 21:32:10.910 Solivar says: We went there for midsummer one year -- the light touches early there on the first day of summer. Not as early as Quel'Thalas, but earlier than most places.

3/18 21:32:48.817 Dayari says: Sounds nice.

3/18 21:32:58.265 Dayari says: I like the Gnomes you find there.

3/18 21:33:25.593 Solivar says: It was. And...now there are murlocs. And Scarlet worker ants.

3/18 21:33:51.021 Dayari says: I found one in the Gallows' End Tavern the other night.

3/18 21:34:08.916 Solivar says: A crusader? In the Gallow's End?

3/18 21:34:26.771 Dayari says: Tied up in the cellar.

3/18 21:34:37.650 Dayari says: Good place to keep them. I don't like them.

3/18 21:35:36.749 Dayari says: Oh, I brought the book!

3/18 21:37:08.261 Solivar is, once again, having a fairly complicated expression.

3/18 21:37:20.341 Solivar says: I had no idea Renee was so...Never mind.

3/18 21:37:34.771 Dayari says: It was in Dalaran.

3/18 21:37:44.552 Dayari says: Seemed like a strange place for safe-keeping, but there it was.

3/18 21:38:05.399 Solivar blinks a few times, as though ridding himself of a mental image, and attends again.

3/18 21:38:37.742 Solivar says: Well. Dalaran is likely safer than some places. May I have it?

3/18 21:38:45.639 Dayari says: Yes, yes.

3/18 21:39:15.050 Dayari says: See, I knew I could keep it safe.

[Dayari hands Solivar the book he's brought.]

3/18 21:40:43.698 Solivar looks up from the pages of the book in his hands.

3/18 21:41:05.709 Solivar says: ....Dayari, I believe that this may be the wrong book.

3/18 21:41:32.403 Dayari looks down.

3/18 21:41:42.285 Dayari says: Really? I thought I found it.

3/18 21:41:54.515 Solivar pushes it across the table.

3/18 21:42:29.208 Dayari says: It is a book. And I found it. I could have sworn that was it.

3/18 21:42:50.270 Solivar says: ....Though, admittedly, this is a horrifying tome in and of itself.

3/18 21:45:14.921 Solivar says: I am trying to remember what you said...

3/18 21:45:20.087 Dayari says: Said about what?

3/18 21:45:57.964 Solivar says: The book. It was like poison, but you could not put it in a bottle -- so you put it somewhere without eyes. A storage vault?

3/18 21:46:12.810 Dayari says: I have a few places I use for that....

3/18 21:47:36.192 Dayari says: Some are busy though.

3/18 21:48:15.451 Solivar says: It is not wholly necessary that I have it yet....In fact, I would almost prefer that we keep it contained unless there is more than one of us present.

3/18 21:48:23.915 Dayari says: I wouldn't have put it in the busy ones.

3/18 21:48:30.913 Dayari says: I could have written it down?

3/18 21:48:56.458 Solivar says: Do you have any of your notes with you?

3/18 21:49:03.459 Dayari says: Plenty.

3/18 21:49:15.390 Dayari holds open a bag filled with scraps of paper.

3/18 21:51:19.827 Dayari says: I can look now....maybe I have the note with me.

3/18 21:51:36.906 Solivar says: ...If you would not mind?

3/18 21:52:06.323 Dayari says: I can look.

3/18 21:53:13.819 Dayari holds up a [A Blank Scroll]

3/18 21:53:24.601 Dayari says: I should use that later.

3/18 21:53:43.579 Solivar says: Agreed.

3/18 21:53:54.842 Dayari tosses aside a [Hastily Scribbled Note]

3/18 21:54:06.291 Dayari says: Hmm...has to be here somewhere.

3/18 21:54:48.681 Solivar roots about in his own pack as well.

3/18 21:54:50.164 Dayari holds up a pice of paper.

3/18 21:54:58.896 Dayari says: I can't read this one...

3/18 21:55:10.443 Solivar says: ....May I...?

3/18 21:55:32.676 Dayari says: If you can...

[Dayari hands Solivar the note; Solivar hands Dayari an only slightly bloodstained new pen.]

3/18 21:56:23.477 Dayari says: Oh, a pen. I could use one of those.

3/18 21:57:33.563 Solivar tilts the page this way and that and finally turns it entirely around.

3/18 21:58:40.981 Solivar says: I believe it is a list of things you intended to do.

3/18 21:59:03.960 Dayari says: Hmm...should have looked at that more often.

3/18 21:59:32.654 Solivar says: Well, you could have completed the list.

3/18 21:59:33.854 Dayari says: Oh well. Couldn't have been that important.

3/18 22:00:09.895 Solivar massages his eyes.

3/18 22:00:17.877 Dayari says: Sleep is overrated.

3/18 22:00:46.754 Solivar says: I know...I know.

3/18 22:00:59.851 Solivar smiles a little wryly.

3/18 22:01:22.880 Solivar says: Perhaps it is for the best that the book remains misplaced for now.

3/18 22:01:32.894 Dayari says: I'll look for the note. Or the book. One of them.

3/18 22:02:06.555 Dayari says: Or both. I could have kept the note with the book, to remind me.

3/18 22:02:46.745 Solivar says: .....True.

3/18 22:03:22.870 Solivar says: Did you...look at the book after I gave it to you?

3/18 22:03:23.121 Dayari says: Or I could have put the book and the note far apart, so no one else would find both.

3/18 22:03:32.768 Dayari says: Look at the book. Yes, I think so.

3/18 22:04:21.508 Solivar looks genuinely alarmed.

3/18 22:04:39.887 Dayari says: Was I not supposed to? Maybe I didn't...

3/18 22:05:01.583 Dayari says: Cover was strange looking and not like a real book.

3/18 22:05:19.646 Solivar says: No...no. I did not tell you not to look at it -- I did not think that far myself. I apologize.

3/18 22:05:54.221 Dayari says: It was hard not to look at it.

3/18 22:06:18.199 Solivar says: Do you recall what it said?

3/18 22:06:29.195 Dayari says: I don't think it said anything on the cover.

3/18 22:07:58.560 Solivar nods.

3/18 22:08:34.454 Dayari says: I didn't open it though. There were bad things in it, I remember that.

3/18 22:08:56.516 Solivar says: Yes, the cover was blank -- and you are correct, it did not look like a normal book. Good. That is very good.

3/18 22:09:28.209 Solivar says: I am not certain *I* want to open it without someone else's supervision.

3/18 22:09:54.198 Dayari says: Why, isn't it just a book?

3/18 22:11:35.847 Solivar says: I am not so certain that is is, no.

3/18 22:12:03.308 Dayari says: Oh. Then it's a good thing it's hidden somewhere safe.

3/18 22:12:28.571 Solivar says: Or, rather, yes it is a book. But, as you have said, books do not change their writing of their own accord. For that to happen, some sort of magic must be at work.

3/18 22:12:45.582 Dayari says: No, the writing stays put, even if the books don't.

3/18 22:13:07.361 Solivar says: Granted -- it showed me something...helpful...the night we found it.

3/18 22:13:14.642 Dayari says: It did?

3/18 22:13:22.424 Dayari says: Maybe I should look at it then?

3/18 22:13:31.788 Solivar says: ...Yes, it did.

3/18 22:13:50.784 Solivar is, for an instant, fiercely, visibly torn.

3/18 22:14:11.746 Dayari says: No, I shouldn't look at it?

3/18 22:14:24.478 Solivar says: Do not tempt me that way, brother. We cannot be certain yet if the origin of this thing is malignant or benign.

3/18 22:14:59.036 Dayari says: Oh. That's a good point. The troll was supposed to read it...Jinjinn.

3/18 22:15:04.253 Solivar says: Should you read it, and should some harm befall you because of that, I....would regret that greatly.

3/18 22:15:33.179 Dayari says: Best not to read it, definitely.

3/18 22:16:05.040 Solivar says: Yes. If Jinjinn can read the trollish-seeming writing at the beginning, it may tell us something useful.

3/18 22:16:14.436 Dayari says: Wonder where he is.

3/18 22:16:16.304 Dayari looks around.

3/18 22:16:19.102 Dayari says: Not here.

3/18 22:17:41.236 Solivar says: No...I was hoping, but...I understand his reluctance. If he truly feels himself betrayed by the gods he followed, we might be asking him to cause himself pain in our assistance.

3/18 22:17:57.431 Dayari says: Mmm...Trolls.

3/18 22:18:13.395 Solivar says: But, at this point, I do not see another way to learn what we need to know.

3/18 22:18:37.339 Solivar says: Not without involving others -- and I hesitate to do that, as well.

3/18 22:18:59.347 Dayari says: Not all Trolls are to be talked to.

3/18 22:21:54.329 Solivar says: ....No.

3/18 22:22:08.793 Dayari says: Used to be none of them were for talking.

3/18 22:23:27.693 Dayari says: Ate people and threw axes, sometimes in that order.

3/18 22:23:40.859 Solivar says: That is true. The ones I have met of late have, with a few exceptions, been very civilized. Remarkably so. Or, perhaps is seems remarkable because...I was always raised to expect so little.

3/18 22:23:55.236 Dayari nods at you.

3/18 22:23:58.353 Dayari says: I think I was too.

3/18 22:24:28.231 Solivar says: As you say. Axes. Eating. Not necessarily in that order. My uncle....

3/18 22:24:46.976 Solivar 's face goes still, his eyes somewhat distant.

3/18 22:26:05.208 Dayari says: Your uncle?

3/18 22:26:39.070 Solivar says: My uncle Ashten'ar was a Farstrider during the Second War. He survived the joint assault by the Horde and the Amani trolls on the bordermarches...but he was captured and kept as a prisoner of war.

3/18 22:27:06.546 Dayari frowns.

3/18 22:27:27.991 Solivar says: He...did not return...entirely intact, in either body or mind.

3/18 22:27:42.389 Dayari says: I think they were good for that.

3/18 22:28:44.868 Solivar says: And...I remember....

3/18 22:28:57.985 Dayari says: I didn't want to see Trolls for a long time. Tirisfal Glades was quiet and free of most of them.

3/18 22:30:00.868 Dayari says: Hmm...I think I should go back there sometime. I was there earlier this evening.

3/18 22:30:56.257 Solivar says: One summer the Amani raided into eastern Lordaeron -- we were on training exercises and were called on to assist the senior nights in evacuating the towns closest to the border with Quel'Thalas.

3/18 22:31:33.764 Dayari says: Bad place.

3/18 22:31:41.079 Solivar says: Zul'Aman? Holy Light, Dayari, that place is hideous.

3/18 22:31:50.827 Solivar shudders slightly.

3/18 22:32:23.737 Dayari says: I don't know if I've been there.

3/18 22:33:11.845 Solivar says: One of the Amani raiding parties attacked while we were encumbered with stubborn villagers who didn't want to abandon their nearly harvestable fields.
3/18 22:33:20.876 Dayari says: I think I should look for the book. Before I forget.

3/18 22:33:50.551 Dayari waves goodbye to you. Farewell!

3/18 22:34:09.798 Solivar waves farewell.

For a long moment, Solivar sat unmoving, eyes opened but unfocused as he watched Dayari depart with senses that required no physical input to use, gifts that allowed him to insinuate his own mind and will into undead flesh and necromantically enchained souls, feeling the power that animated them both growing more and more distant until his sword-brother's presence vanished entirely. Dayari was, indeed, moving north with admirable, if somewhat alarming, speed.

If the book is a trap of some sort, and it catches him, what will you do?

There were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of such subtle snares scattered about the world -- the Scourge had spent the long years of the King's dormancy working diligently at many tasks: waging wars in His name, conquering or subborning the free peoples of Northrend and converting them to His worship, insinuating itself into the governing mechanisms of nearly every nation in the world, spreading the seeds of the its cults in many unsuspecting gardens. The book felt like such a thing but at the same time, it did not -- the power clinging to it, the magic infused into its pages, possessed a texture, a flavor that was both familiar (you drank deep from that well in Icecrown, the knowledge whispered softly, coldly inside him, but it was not your master's gift to give) and unlike anything he had tasted before (there are many things that lie still and restless beneath the skin of the world -- you have known them, and they will seek to know you).

"Dayari, I should have told you to destroy that thing," Solivar whispered, entirely to himself, and rose to continue his own journey.