Plans over Tea

A06: The Verdant Earth

It's Gilday, Pryntar 06 16:57:13 1021. The full moon is up. The tide is low and slack. The air is damp and cold, the sky a translucent grey, brighter to the south. Nothing casts a shadow.

---

Astaren has found himself a new home. Nestled up on the sofa he is sipping some tea while going over some charts and a couple of nearby books.

Ga'Elian parks his griffon outside and enters the cozy shop, a little bell jingling on the door. He heads straight for the proprietress and smiles at her, saying, "These herbs are quite fresh, Madam. This time of year, however, they are exceedingly rare, but I know where to find them." He glances around and says, "Oh... Hi, Astaren. Nearly done with those arrows, I reckon?"

Astaren glances up and nods to Ga'Elian, "Aye, nearly done with the batch. Just need to be batched in moonlight for a couple more days. Come join me, need to convince you to take on a near suicidal mission."

Ga'Elian exchanges his bag for a small coinpurse, says, "Thanks." to the shop owner, then strides over cheerfully to the sitting room and takes a seat in front of the Dreamer. He says, "Sounds about right up my alley. What's the quest?"

Astaren grins a moment, "I expected as much out of you. I am gathering resources, and putting together a small milita, to start doing guriellia incursions into Dragonier. Start fighting back Heth and all, and well do to that I am going to need some very good scouts."

A scowl passes quickly across the archer's face at the mention of Heth, but after the passage of merely a beat, he responds, "That's one of the things I like most about you, Astaren. You aren't daunted by tasks that most would say are unreasonable. I won't pretend that confronting the Firstborn doesn't send a shiver up my spine, but count me in. The gods certainly know that Dragonier's land is in desperate need of healing!"

"Evil grows powerful while we sit here comfortable in our tea shops." Astaren offers with a sip of tea, "We are going to be poking a hornets nest, but that is a nest that is going to grow bigger and more powerful if we don't poke it. Good people will die, innocent by standers will find themselves dead. Yet, I fear if we do nothing, the greater consequences will be much much worse. Also." He pauses as he puts down his tea cup, "This is not to defeat Heth, just weaken, keep things from getting worse. The Void dragon is near god level power. Ways are being sought out how to stop that, but in the meantime the lands become more corrupt, the forces bigger. Ever piece of land we cleanse, Heth will have to re-corrupt, each wraith, a new one created, every dragon-lich, another raised. I fear by the time we do find a means to truly fight Heth, the forces arrayed against us will be to much."

Ga'Elian says, "You speak with visionary wisdom and the foresight of the Sildanyar."

Astaren blinks a moment, confused for a second, "I am not sure about that. I just don't want to see everything overrun by undead and all good things in this world lost. I like sitting in my tea shops sipping tea and reading books. THe peace we have is a temporary respite for what is to come. I am glad you are with me. I am going to get Svarshan I hope, along with a few others. Start with a small miliata of trained mercinaries and adventurers. Need the right magical items to protect and fight against undead. Prevent them becoming undead and such. Still researching that area, but I have a few ideas. Going to be pricy, I suspect every ten men we equip will be near 100k gold, or more. Which is of course, why I am starting small."

Ga'Elian smiles and sits back a little, even though his poise is still anything but slouching. He says, "Svarshan is clearly an asset to such a venture. I suppose I should try to find some way to defend myself and my griffon against the attacks of those whose death energy saps away the energies of life. However, gold is harder for me to come by lately. I only ever get paid anymore when a Guild job is finished."

Astaren nods slowly as he considers, "A bit easier for me, but I craft. I am hoping to find some funding from some backers. Going to reach out to the royalty and a few others who can contribute"

Ga'Elian nods, "Well, it's certainly a worthy cause. At very least, I can't imagine the wights of Dragonier make a very lucrative market for trade."

Astaren smirks at that, "True, a lot of work to do, I will be in touch. I would brush up on your teaching skills. YOu are the best scoutt I know, but soon you will be leading some scouts, so going to need to train em right. Unless you already know a few."

Ga'Elian hmms. "Those I know are still mostly in the early stages of the skills. An effective scout requires both stealth and the ability to discover the information one is seeking. I know a few people who are really good at one of those, but even fewer who have mastered both together."

Astaren nods, "Aye, we will be training, in a very specific set of tactics and abilities for these missions." Picking back up his tea cup, "Otherwise, how have you been? Have not seen you for a bit."

Ga'Elian says, "I try to keep out of the City as much as possible, but in between hunting, gathering exotic herbs, and keeping watch on the surrounding wilderness, I've been slowly working on preparations for that trip into the Hells. I still haven't managed to actually pass on the full details of my reasons to Svarshan, but he seems content to join the party anyway. I think I might need to save up and make myself an Iron Circlet of Guarded Souls. I expect my target to mosty try to destroy me, but I want to cover all my vulnerabilities before I penetrate his home territory. Getting my soul trapped would be far worse than being killed. Anyway, I need to come up with 15,000 gold to make the Circlet."

Astaren nods slowly, "Indeed, may be time to start taking some of the smaller jobs around town, a few bounties and such as well." shrugging his shoulders as he leans back, relaxing into his seat, "I have a decent savings, but going to spend that soon to upgrade my rod."

Ga'Elian nods. "Yeah. People go on about how wealthy adventurers are, but I don't know about you, but it isn't cheap to get the stuff that one needs when we go against the toughest foes... like the undead population of Dragonier. By the way, speaking of undead, ever since Mandy allowed herself to be destroyed, have you noticed that the Golden Cookie Bakery has seemed to keep up a thriving business?"

Astaren tilts his head, "Yea, that is very odd actually. How did you all kill her anyways, never did catch that story."

Ga'Elian says, "Actually, I'm not certain of the details. I was absent, myself, from the final confrontation, but did spend some time dealting with the aftermath in terms of the release of her foul energies upon the surrounding wilderness."

Astaren shakes his head, 'More curious how you actually got her soul gem. I will have to ask around I guess." tapping his chin thoughtfully.

Ga'Elian shrugs and asks, "Have you heard any tidings lately from that dragon you resurrected?"

Astaren shakes his head, 'No, letting him have time to recover. He is on my list of people to talk to about Dragonier though."

Ga'Elian raises an eyebrow. "Oh, I guess that makes sense. He would be likely to have a personal interest."

Astaren sips his tea some more, "That is the hope, or at least can give us some guidance on where to start. Maybe some tips on how to fight dragon liches, the one we did fight was... brutal."

Ga'Elian says, "I can well imagine it was. It probably hadn't gotten bored with immortality yet."

Astaren shrugs his shoulders, "This was controlled by Heth, I don't think bored is a problem it will have. Just mindless duty and obedience to its master." Reaching for his charts and books he starts to put them away, "I should be going here."

Ga'Elian nods, "Yeah, me too. Erithamiel wasn't expecting me to stay long. Anyway, good seeing you. I'll look forward to hearing when we're going to kick off this quest. See ya." He rises and heads toward the door himself, throwing out a friendly "Farewell" to the shop owner on the way.