Post by Alenea Hanali on Aug 22, 2020 11:38:15 GMT
19 Eleasis, 1497
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The aquamarine glints in the light as Alenea turns her pale hand in the moonlight, her green eyes staring down at the platinum band. Her stomach clenches as she replays the moment she twisted Zogot's metaphorical arm behind his back.
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"Thank you for my hair, you may recall... our agreement was that I'd get all my stuff back, and I recall you still have my ring," Alenea says to Zogot as she pockets the vial of her hair.
Zogot goes to open his mouth to disagree but Alenea cuts him off before he can respond, "Before you continue, I have to ask... How is Donovan doing?
"Donovan? You mean the head priest of Umberlee?"
"Oh no, the countess' butler, I thought you both knew each other," she says and gives him a knowing look.
"Yes. Ah." Zogot turns quickly from Alenea and digs around in a drawer, "Donovan is fine, yes. Let me get that ring for you right away."
---
She frowns and slips off the ring, sliding it into her pocket before turning back to the collection of empty vials and the bulging waterskin sat on the desk in front of her. Pulling down a pair of goggles and slipping on a thick pair of gloves she picks up the waterskin and flicks off the cap. A trail of smoke leaks out of the opening and she slowly begins to empty the contents out into a vial. She stares into the shimmering orange liquid as it pours and remembers the dragon egg.
---
Alenea sits astride a large egg in a clearing deep in the angelbark forest. To one side Wanda stands slowly munching from a bag of sweets as Cyclone inspects a discarded satchel emblazoned with the harp of Milil. Beside her a giant footprint is pressed into the earth.
"Theres definitely something in this thing," she calls down to the group as she leans over a perfectly smooth hole punched into the shell, her eye lined up to stare inside. "I don't know if it's like, a really early along baby dragon though... There's no yolk in there, just something small at the bottom?" She thinks for a second. "Do dragon eggs have yolks?" She leans down to look into the egg again. "I dunno if this stuff is amniotic fluid or whatever the stuff in eggs is called. It's sort of shiny. I could put a mage hand inside to investigate but we might end up scrambling a dragon egg." She laughs to herself, "Imagine how many people we could feed with a scrambled dragon egg!"
To one side Jaezered looks up at her with interest, "Scrambled dragon egg sounds delicious."
Wanda looks around into the bushes, eyes searching for anyone who might be listening, "I'm sure for anyone who might be listening to us that we are definitely not going to be scrambling any eggs."
"Oh yes of course." Alenea looks down at Jaezered with semi-feigned disgust, "That's an awful idea... but we're in agreement that this stuff doesn't look like egg stuff so I'm going to poke around inside."
A few moments later a small wooden hole punch emerges from the hole balanced on a spectral finger. Alenea picks it up and looks it over.
"It's a hole punch? Someone must have used this to make this hole. I'm going to try and get some of the liquid. Has anyone got an empty vial?"
Wanda perks up. "Oh, I do!" she starts to root in her bag before pulling out a health potion and chugging it, the slashes across her side closing up as she gulps before passing it up the Alenea.
"Good idea, thanks!" Alenea takes it before turning the vial upside down over the hole and pushing liquid out of the egg up into the vial with her mage hand. She holds it steady for a second and takes a breath before quickly flicking it over and stoppering the vial with her free hand. She holds it up to the group and stares around, impressed that her plan worked.
She stows the vial as Ruk rushes over with a waterskin, pouring out the water and presenting it to her. "Get me some too, this stuff might be valuable."
---
Job done she looks warily at the empty waterskin, uncertain whether she'll trust drinking from it anymore. The vials sit arrayed in front of her, the orange King's Water sitting peacefully, its terrible purpose hidden within.
She unstoppers one of the vials and drops in the scraped off edge of a gold coin, watching the liquid fizz as the gold dissolves. She grimaces at the implication.
---
"Porgo?" Alenea attempts to yell, her voice still hoarse from the curse, "Are you out there?" The forest around them is silent, only the echo of her voice calling back to her.
"I don't think he went anywhere," Cyclone says, gesturing down at a step of footprints that stop abruptly beside a giant clawed indentation in the earth, "I think he got... taken. By whatever left this..." She points at a large golden scale lying on the floor.
"He got swooped?" Alenea asks, ducking down and looking around at the sky.
"Swooped?" Ruk asks before throwing his owl into the air, his eyes glazing over as he searches the skies. "I don't see anything."
"We should probably get back then..." Alenea says, "We might not be able to find Porgo, but we can at least finish his job and collect the flowers for Zogot."
---
Alenea pats the flower tucked behind her ear and smiles for a second, thinking of BB and how she might like the grove in the Angelbark.
She carefully checks the stoppers are secured before putting the vials away in her bag and standing up from her desk. A twinge of pain runs through her back and she tenses up. Grimacing she pushes her chair to the edge of the room with her foot and begins to stretch, reaching out to the ceiling and then down to the floor to work out the remaining pain.
---
Alenea coughs as Wanda drags her over to the desk on one side of the temple of the two faiths. "What are you doing to me?" she rasps out before she falls into another coughing fit.
Zogot leans across the table and looks her over, "Doing to you? Oh oh, are you Alen.. Alan.. Alenea? You were meant to come back for the ritual but you never turned up," he says as Alenea looks around awkwardly, "That ritual went so badly by the way, but whatever." The minotaur shrugs. "I told Porgo it was fine but he was adamant we track you down."
Alenea tries to speak but just wheezes before falling into a fit of coughs and doubles over as pain shoots through her spine.
"I sent him off into the woods to gather flowers but he hasn't come back yet." the Minotaur holds his head in his hands, "And he's the only one left, things have been so tough since everyone left and went back for the war. It was just me till I took him in." He looks up and sees Alenea pointing at her throat, "Oh do you need some help?" he asks and waves his hand over her.
The elf stops coughing and tests her voice, "He.. Hello," she coughs a few times before continuing, "So if we go and find Porgo, you'll give me my hair back and lift whatever curse this is?"
"Yes! You can have all that back if you find him."
Alenea's eyes twinkle as she hears him say that and she attempts suppresses a grin, "Okay so, I can have all my stuff back if we find him?" she says and sticks out her hand to shake.
Zogot reaches down with his much larger hand and shakes hers, "Err... Of course!"
At this Zuk pipes up and begins to pull a large roll of parchment from his bag. "Probably best to get this all down in writing," he says as he begins to scribble out the agreement. "And if we can all just sign here," he gestures to a spot on the contract, "and here."
"What about the rest of us? Do we get anything?" Cyclone asks. "We're all here to help Alenea of course but..."
Zogot gestures around him, "The church doesn't have much as you can see," he says his voice echoing around the large empty room. He thinks for a second, "Perhaps I can bring you back to life for free if you bring the diamond?"
Again Zuk begins to scribble on another sheet of parchment and holds it out for Zogot to sign.
"Another? You and Porgo will get along with you very well!" Zogot says as he signs the contract.
---
Pain relieved and the day's work stretched out Alenea heads to bed, a knot of guilt in her stomach as she thinks over whether taking back the payment for her own resurrection was a good move.
Maybe sell the jawbone and donate some gold to the temple? I don't really need it and the left over cash could go towards the scribe works, she thinks as she frowns to herself, looking across the room at the sharpen bone dagger sitting on the table. Don't really want to lose it though... Does make me look a bit devillish though.
She turns over and closes her eyes. Maybe I could try and track down his lost followers? she thinks before drifting off to sleep.
