The Rest of the Story
It's Tariday, Pryntar 07 13:42:20 1019. The full moon is up. The tide is low and ebbing. The air is damp and cold, the sky a translucent grey, brighter to the south. Nothing casts a shadow.
A08: Northern Banks of the Tornmawr
Ga'Elian is sitting by a campfire on the riverbank, singing an old Sylvanori song about the transition from winter to spring. Beside him, Erithamiel sits, his eagle-like head staring out at the river while his lion-like tail lazily swishes back and forth.
GAME: Ga'Elian rolls perform/sing: (5)+10: 15
Some require fires for heat or light more or less than others, but heat and light are conspicuous in the dim and cold. Aya appears from beneath the span of the northern bridge, walking unhurriedly in the general direction of the campers.
Ga'Elian watches Aya approach and cuts off his song. He nods and says, "Hey there. How go things?" <sildanyari>
Aya looks from the creature to the fire and finally to the syl. "Hello. Things go well enough, but the evening is very young. They could get better or worse quick enough. You two look to be comfortable enough..."
Ga'Elian smiles. "Quite. I know Erithamiel is looking forward to more wild game being out and about as the season changes." He pats the beast affectionately.
"Of course. I'm sure he likes to hunt and eat," Aya dips her chin. "At least he doesn't starve or need to hibernate in the cold."
Ga'Elian replies, "No. In fact lately, the City seems to be producing rather more rodents than usual, and he is quite willing to help control the surplus."
Aya eyes the griffin again. "I expect he is. One rat wouldn't even be a bite for him, so they'd go quickly." Back to Ga'Elian, a brow arches. "And what of you? Are you helping devour rodents?"
Ga'Elian chuckles, "Only when it suits me. I'm not above eating one off the cookfire now and again, but when I'm in these parts, I tend to eat at pubs where I have a chance to hear of the goings on in the City, Especially when I'm taking care of matters with other adventurers and the like."
Aya ahs softly and nods. "I see. That would keep you more informed than sitting here, it's true.
Ga'Elian looks up, "Well, apart from that business with Jaquetta, just that Selerik seems to be finding things a bit off lately about the City's buildings. I wouldn't know about that, though. In my tribe, we don't build too many permanent structures."
"That business was rather surprising," Aya admits. "I'd no idea that the lost package you found had so many interested parties. Jaquetta, the Artificers, even the Alexandrian Watch."
Ga'Elian says, "Yeah. I certainly never expected it to be anything like what it turned out to be. To think that she was planning to bring back Altima as an undead." He shudders. "Of course nobody really knows if she's even dead or alive, but it doesn't make the scheme any less chilling that someone believed they could bring it off and was so willing to try."
Aya arches a brow. "Oh? She was? I wasn't aware of that. Yes, I've heard that Altima's fate was never verifed. It would be hard to revive someone who wasn't dead, if that were the case. Do you know how or where she hoped to do this?"
Ga'Elian shakes his head. "Not a clue as to how, that is, I haven't got the foggiest notion of the necromancer's craft. As for where, all I know is that Jaquetta's co-conspirator believed it would be somewhere in the vicinity of Alexandria."
"Whatever became of her co-conspirator?" Aya now asks after a brief, thoughtful hum. "I know no more about necromancy than the obvious, myself."
Ga'Elian shrugs. "On that score, all I know is that a dispatch was sent to Dun Mordren with great haste and secrecy some days ago so that royal officials there could take him into custody. Secrecy in part because they didn't want him to escape capture, and partly because the officials here didn't want to set off a public panic about the rumors of Altima. Just watch the Tribune. When they announce the arrest, I believe they'll keep silent about her."
Aya ahs, a soft sound. "Well, it seems they've found him, if not already arrested him. No opportunity for bounty, alas. It's been rather quiet, lately. Beasts must not be the only things that hide or hibernate in the cold."
Ga'Elian nods. "Well, I suppose everything comes and goes, even adventuring."