Gifted (Episode 3)

Lucian, Keltos, Killian

Having accepted the token, each of you individually begin to hear a faint distant and intermittent knocking sound. The sound get closer and closer, as the darkness gradually recedes.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Realizing it is the sound of someone knocking at your chamber door, you opens your eyes to find you are in your quarters.

"Breakfast will be served in the guest dining hall in one hour." Comes a voice through the door.


Radu, Natrix, Tajuri, Kris

Having accepted the token, each of you individually begin to hear the sound of a second heartbeat. It draws you closer and closer, as a warm crimson glow intensifies in the darkness.

"Come. Closer. Champion." The soothing feminine voice calls to you.

Continuing forward, you pass through a portal that opens and closes regularly to the beat of the second heart. Inside you discover an ancient, ornate, scroll tube hanging in the air in the middle of a roughly circular chamber, with four of the curious portals about the circumference.

"Accept this, my reward. May it strengthen you and empower you as a Champion Eternal."

Tajuri glides over to the scroll case and reaches out her free hand to take hold of it. "Your gifts are most generous and welcome. Would that you may reveal yourself so I can know to whom I owe my thanks."

Kris takes the ornate tube in hand and bows. "Much gratitude for these gifts." She says looking around her. "I hope that they are still with me when I wake...and Tamblyn is still by my side?"

Radu reaches out and carefully takes up the scroll tube. He turns it over in his hand. "This is beautifully-wrought," he says. "Who are you?" he calls to the voice, then turns his attention back to the object, looking for a simple way to twist it open, curious as to the contents.

Radu, Tajuri, Kris

Having received the gifts, a figure appears before you.




"Zycassya is my name. The city and I are one."

Instantly, there comes a loud knocking sound and each of you are awakened. The small heart-shaped token is in your possession, but the ancient ornate scroll tube has vanished.

Radu finds, instead, he is clutching three heavily runed crossbow bolts.

Kris and Natrix suddenly are aware of the knowledge of a new spell.

Tajuri discovers a new invocation in her arsenal of hexblade abilities.

Scene 3: Breakfast & Conversation



The predominant conversation this morning at the guest dining hall table are curious dreams that, apparently, all the champions experienced during their rest.

Radu sits between Rosie and Ruby, swirling a cup of dark red emulsion and looking at those around the table before speaking up. "Judging by the whispers and slight discomfort I see amongst some of you, I wonder if you too had troubled dreams yester-eve."

Lucian had struggled with breakfast. As usual after terrible nights, his stomach rebelled easily. It would have been easier if Useless and Marengo hadn't been involved. But they had been. Useless was currently curled on his lap, aware of his moods like always. Lucian couldn't stop the odd reflexive check he did every so often, and reached for his companion. He would have to check on Marengo before nightfall, at the latest. Radu's comment pulled him back to the dining table mentally, and he glanced over. "Oh, so it was a T'Lorn thing? Or a champion thing. Delightful, either way."

"Both troublesome and benevolent." Tajuri replies from down the table. "There are more than our memories and fears at play in the dreams we experience it would seem. The dreamworld, I dare say of T'Lorn, is as real as the one we walk in our waking hours."

"You may be right, Tajuri. This being that orchestrated my dreams, if real, indicated they were the city of T'Lorn itself, manifest. It may be a worthy question for Lord Orb, or one of the others governing this place."

Keltos eats sparingly but says little, instead listening intently and nodding in interest ever now and then.

"Same old dreams." Killian says, with a shrugs and stuffs a fork full of food into his mouth. He chews and swallows, then adds, "Oh—the voice and the heart trinket were a new addition. Yep! That was different."

"My dreams were both upsetting in parts and then also surprising in others." Kris joins in the conversation and then looks to the young dark-haired woman beside her. "I am most glad to find that when I awoke, reuniting with my friend was not but a dream." She leans towards the newcomer. "This is Tamblyn. We are friends since our days at the academy. We reconnected last evening when I discovered she was performing at a tavern in the city."

"Tamblyn, is it? Welcome. You were performing here, in T'Lorn? Have you been here long?"

"My experience was much the sssame, Krisss. Dreamsss both terrifying and enlightening, and a reunion in the morning. The two closssessst to my cold heart are in T'Lorn, though they are far from each other'sss heartsss. You all will meet them sssoon. Thisss living city ssseemsss to provide the desssires of our heartsss. I sssussspect we may have to return the favour in blood... hopefully of othersss. And welcome, Tamblyn, to our new circle."

Lucian raised his glass to welcome Tamblyn, the drink the only thing that wasn't trying to come back up, as Useless stuck his head over the edge of the table to look. He gave a little chirp hello before he dropped back down again. Natrix's thought of returning the favor in blood didn't sit well with him, so hopefully they didn't. Mind you, they could quite possibly die. That would cover it.

"Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone." The young woman speaks and turns toward Radu. "Yes, Tamblyn. Nice to meet you sir. I have been here for a few months now, or at least my body tells its been a couple months. I am still having trouble knowing how much time passes here in T'Lorn. I have been performing at The Runeblade, after arriving aboard ship: The BellaHarpy."

Her excellent hearing catches the chirp of the little pseudodragon and she glances over to Lucian and Useless with a grin.

"Friends reunited, a beautiful notion," Radu says with a thin smile whilst swirling the contents of his cup, "I shall need visit this Runeblade. Is it the type of establishment that often offers live entertainment?"

Tanblyn nods in response to Radu's questions of the RuneBlade. "Besides musical performances of course, they feature pits fighting, and Ummm...companionship." She elaborates. "Oh..and gambling."

As the table conversations are continuing, Chamberlin suddenly enters the room and moves to the end closer to the doors. "Morning Champions. I trust that your sleep was restful, but eventful?" He interjects. "Your presence is requested in the training courtyard in an hour. I will send a servant to guide you there, seeing as its your first visit there."