Lannia

[Tiberis79]

Lannia, Marnie, and Teris sat on the couches at the Friendly Arms, enjoying each other's company when a round of aged cheese was delivered with some mulled wine. Happy to see her patronage appreciated, she dug in. She offered the cheese to both of her companions. Teris held the cheese in his hands, but his usual distraction kept him from eating it.

This turned out to be a boon as the room began to spin. Both she and Marnie broke into a sweat and became gravely ill. The cheese had been poisoned, and if not for their stout constitutions and Teris's intervention they'd have likely perished. A waitress who took a nibble of cheese from the bottom of the round was less fortunate.

They found the girl mere moments after her death and Lannia was able to recall her spirit to her form. Teris neutralized the poison and Lannia healed her. When the confusion cleared, Lannia and Marnie questioned Bentley about the poisoned cheese.

The cheese had been meant for Lord Eugene Denton, who had never arrived. The cheese had sat in the kitchen and finally a mistake was made and it was served. The remaining cheese in the shipment, along with a copy of the ledger, was delivered to the fist as Lord Denton had an estate in the Gate.

Who knows? Maybe Lannia's Last Anchor will receive nobility as thanks, but she wasn't holding her breath.


A demon bear had been terrorizing the areas around the reaching woods. Derik got a mind to address this threat and provide a large bear rug for the school. He wanted Lannia along to track and skin it. Freya came as a healer and Ronja came for extra muscle.

The beast took the better part of a day to trace to its den. It made two fresh kills along the way. Upon entrance at the bear's den a gruesome discovery was made. The bear had become a man hunter and the den was littered with rotten human corpses. Once the beast was put down, the victims were identified as lathanderites. Identifying lockets were collected and returned to the temple in Beregost so that their families could be notified.


Lannia worked the massive pelt, cleaning and stretching it as she thought about their next mission. The warsworn...

The creature was massive. Even now she could feel the spiritual energy trapped in it. Like the waves of a passing boat, the energy of it broke against her in a steady rhythm. It was very large, and very powerful. She couldn't help but smile.

She'd had a hard time of late feeling like her skills had any purpose. Now this creature was almost calling to her. Her gifts were uniquely suited to end it.

[Tiberis79]

Lannia and Derik arrived at the townhouse the night before the mission. She never did get past pre-mission nerves, instead she busied herself. She cooked some rabbit stew, and made sure her warrior ate. He ate well and then was lost to her, deep in meditation. She left, and reminded herself how strong she had become by saying hello to the Yaun-ti queen. The next morning she walked in, she noted Ronja was already there, and Derik was still where she left him; meditating.

“Hello, my love,” Lannia cooed at Ronja then turned to her husband, “And Derik.”

This drew the normal smirks and chuckles. It was important to make people smile. It feeds the soul. She sat and listened as Ronja expressed her concerns about captaining the Relentless Storm if Vala could not make it in time. Eventually the pre-mission nerves forced Lannia to move to the docks and wait impatiently. The agents of the fist were already present which made her milling about on the dock twice as awkwardly painful. Eventually, everyone started showing up, congesting the docs.



They made their way together to the officers of the fist to do a quick run down again of the plans. She’d tried to give her normal greetings but a lot road on her this mission, she didn’t have her normal energy to give everyone the morale boost she was known for. Still, everyone there was a friend or family, and it lifted her spirits to see them.



Magnussen was as formal as always with her. As much as she liked it, this was the coast, not Rauthym. Here she was just Lannia, and she wanted him to feel at peace with her. It would help him adjust to the culture as well. As she watched him, every time she watched him, she remembered her youngest brother, Donnel. A pain hit her heart… Her two living siblings remained out there somewhere, just out of sight. Maybe the living brother was Donnel. The fact of the matter was that she just didn’t know.

She gave a few more hugs to Adallan and Michael, a blessing to Magnussen, and encouragement to Juniper. She boarded the vessel and began the wards she knew were wanted. She huddled the group and distributed a mass death ward. She left it to the rest to come forward if they had a need.



The two vessels were off, taken toward the most common grounds of sighting. Lannia could feel that they were headed in the right direction. Once the fog obscured their view her sight was the asset they needed, and she pointed them directly at the warsworn. She readied her bone crushing bow for bludgeoning damage, though she knew her real strength today would be in her divine magic and shamanistic abilities.



She sat aboard the vessel that was intended to be caught by the beast. Just out of sight she could feel the Relentless storm keeping distance. The harrier vessel, Derik called it. She had no gift for nautical terms. The massive beast rose from the ocean right where Lannia pointed them.

“Poan drnii pochyyty khueradrity dry lii vur drnii wyinieliliihu, ziniy chietymy lian nieratymy dry poedrdrchi vur driestniimy lian wunrakihumy ziehu, tyy un stcheunli mydrhuirakdrni wyhu drniunmy poedrdrchi. liean lian myniunichty poi vi poonchziehugo, liean lian pochetyi tyimydrhuyan lian irailian. liean drniymyi drniedr wunknidr, tyy myy ziundrni fiechyhu,” Lannia knew well Derik’s battle prayer.

Dimitry created a gust of wind, blowing the fog away so that everyone could see what so many already sensed. The large mass of corpses loomed like a small island, rearing a clumpy tendril like a serpent’s head. She reached out for the first strike, calling upon her shamanistic ability to weaken the spirits trapped in the warsworn and lower some of its defenses. A softer target was -desperately- needed.

The special ballista developed by Derik and Juniper were losed on the beast drawing it toward the Francesca. In the distance she heard a second round hit from Vala and Michael on the deck of the Relentless Storm. It was begun in earnest. An oily, decaying clump, fell from the creature and it advanced.

The battle raged, ballista flew, payloads of holy water were launched at the beast. She heard a thunk as Magnussen paced the deck, waiting for the creature to board, then made himself busy loading ballista when the need became apparent. She and Charisa pelted the creature with wave after wave of divine spells. Amelith’s epic arcane skills were presented as lightning split the sky and bits blew off the ever-weakening beast.

Luke sang of the sea, and sang of victory. Even as the boat rocked he rallied his comrades. Lannia could only guess at what was happening on the other ship but she could see and sometimes feel the impact of their assault from the other side. Dimitry’s meteors rained down at the mass.

She could lose arrows faster than most could swing a sword, but they just disappeared into the beast. As corpses and twisted hunks of metal spewed from the creature she drew dragon’s tooth and her heavy shield. She focused her efforts on divine spell work. Ice storm and sunbeam, over and over until she had only a single cast of each, holding it for the death blow.
Somewhere in the fray a stowaway was discovered but there was no time to consider the presence of the woman. Lannia used her epic summoning ability to call a Solar. He flew into the creature unleashing more divine magic and cutting at the creature with a divine blade.

Hellballs flew at the creature from Dimitry. More ballista bolts sang through the air. She heard the same impacting from the other side. The creature began to close and Charisa offered a blessing and prayer. It was almost upon them. A massive hunk of twisted metal flew at them striking Magnussen, Amelith, and Charisa.

More bolts. Salaria, Adallan and Derik fired. Amelith let lose a blast of arcane fire, another hellball from Dimitry. Luke continued to sing. She wondered at the fact that his voice never got hoarse. Though wounded, Magnussen kept the ballista loaded with bolts. More divine damage was dealt by herself and Charisa.

She could only vaguely hear the sounds of fighting on the other side from the relentless storm. The creature seemed to turn. Lannia presumed it now gave chase to the storm. It was their turn to draw its attention back. It was getting to far away from them, and bolts were falling short of hitting it. Their slower, more heavily armored vessel had to depend on the relentless storm to use it’s speed to escape while they attempted to draw it again.

They eventually closed to range and began pelting it anew. As… desired? The warsworn again turned its attention to their vessel. Divine spells, arcane spells bolts and holy water continued to rain on the creature. This time it looked like the creature would catch them, and a wave of enslaved spirits appeared. Lannia reached inward and weakened, then chastised them. Weakened, they had no defense for Charisa’s turn undead spell and were freed from the warsworn.

Lannia smiled at Charisa. Charisa smiled at Lannia. Divine kinship seeming to be struck they turned toward the signs of continued battle. The creature was on them, it wrapped several tendrils around the ship and close combat began.



Adallan’s hands smoked ant burst into flames. Derik drew warwake and holy fire engulfed the relic of Tempus. Lannia made contact with a tendril, blasting the undead mass with a heal spell. She watched an arm of the creature get harpooned and drug off the boat. She said her silent thanks to the crew of the storm. Magnussen and Derik took brutal blows.

Seeing Derik pushed back by the beast, Adallan lept over him and struck the tendril with a flaming fist. Derik braced as the creature attempted to crush him as Adallan threw blows from above. Luke attempted to hit Derik with a protection song and uttered a bardic curse at the creature. Magnussen flew into a berserk rage at another tendril. Salaria pelted the arm Magnussen attacked with arrows. Lannia and Amelith called epic lightning down on all the arms of the creature, back to back.

Derik shoved his holy blade hilt deep into the mass nearest him as the sounds of bolts cracked against the opposite side of the creature. Salaria seemed to disappear in the fray as another tendril was harpooned and yanked away. Derik’s relic of Tempus cleaved through the flesh like butter. Lannia made contact with another heal spell, gravely damaging the undead creature.

Angered the creature swung at Magnussen, flinging him across the deck but luckily not into the water. Magnussen clung to the edge of the ship. She saw people rush to his aid and that arm of the creature now was free to slither further unto the deck. Lannia was having none of that. She charged the arm and held the line. The mass launched a piece of plate mail at Charisa but she was able to find cover. A sword appeared from the mass nearest Derik and swiped at him, which Derik expertly blocked. The stowaway made herself useful, pulling Magnussen back on deck.

Adallan pelted the creature with a flurry of blows. Derik, seeming possessed, hacked brutally back at the creature. Charisa called forth an epic mass heal spell searing the creature and addressing the wounds of the crew. Dimitry hit the creature with a magic missile storm more powerful than she had ever seen, also unleashing some kind of giant hand to block the creature’s attacks. Lannia hit the arm closest to her with another heal spell, watching it sizzle beneath her divine grasp. Salaria pelted the creature with arrows from a bludgeoning bow much like Lannia’s own.

The arm Lannia faced gave a sick groan, swelling and attempting to roll over and crush her. It was a bit faster than Lannia could react to, but she threw her hands up trying to blast it with an epic mass heal. Magnussen leapt forward, attempting to hack the arm back off of her. The warsworn responded with more blades, hacking back at Derik and Magnussen from different arms.

"Get off of her!" Magnussen bellowed at the beast.

Derik and Magnussen managed to dodge its attacks while she concentrated, trying to get the spell off. The creature gave an angry belch and spewed a storm of blades onto the deck of the ship. Magnussen and Charisa were struck, but only glancing blows. Lannia had just about enough of that and fired her spell. The tendril was thrown off her, blasted near off the ship. The mass heal consequentially saw to the injuries sustained by Magnussen and Charisa.

Seers were precious and a protected class in Rauthym. Magnussen fell into a rage trying to rip the creature apart even once it peeled back off of Lannia. Derik also hacked it with is holy blade, and Adallan continued his wave of blows. Back to her feet, Lannia called another epic lightning storm to smite the beast. Salaria attempted to expose a weakness on the monstrosity with her kukri and Magnussen took advantage landing his axe. Suddenly the stow away proved useful again, summoning a massive spider spirit which tore into the arm before it.

The arm of the warsworn in front of the pair attempted a desperate lunge at Derik and Adallan and both were knocked back. Derik had seemed enraged before, and now he was rabid. Adallan now seemed affected as well. The massive arm before her, Salaria and Magnussen swung at them hard. Salaria dodged, Magnussen was pushed back, but Lannia caught the majority of the swing in her gut and was launched clear out of the boat.

Frantic shouts came from onboard the ship. The suit of armor Lannia was wearing looked like it should have drug her into the depths, but it was enchanted mithral and barely the weight of a padded shirt. She swam and seeing the warsworn closing in, called upon her favor with the spirits to invoke a protected spirit journey back to the ship.

"SOMEONE GET HER OUT!" She heard Magnussen below like a frantic animal. She supposed it probably looked like she had just disappeared in the waves. She rematerialized on deck, directly beside him, and placed a hand on his shoulder to let him know she was there and safe.



Derik and Adallan continued their assault on the arm before them. With a roar and wet rending of flesh, Derik’s sword bisected the warsworn arm in front of him. Luke Darius summoned a phantom bear then sent it off towards the nearest warnsworn. Dimitry let lose another barrage of meteors. Salaria let lose more arrows, as Magnussen hacked with his axe. Then a massive explosion rocked the beast and it blew into independent pieces.

A dismantled warsworn, not happy to see Lannia back on deck, made its lunge. Charisa attempted to taunt the creature away and then hit it with Hammer of the Gods. Magnussen laid into the chunk of warsworn before him rendering it little more than a pie of corpses. Caught in a rage from the warsworn’s aura, he continued to hack at the immobile corpses. Salaria took pause, staring at the young warrior’s violence.

All at once the remaining bits of warsworn called out to its trapped spirits for help and the deck was again swarming with the spirits of the dead. Magnussen breathed heavily, the warrior drew his axe out of the mass and howled. The creature's parts realed from the various attacks.

One of the lumps if warsworn called out and drug in the sick green fog. The spirits called on deck writhed in fear and pain. Various animated weapons rose up from the deck and hacked at the adventurers. When they bounced off protection from evil spells, they turned on the ship, hacking at the deck. A massive bit of warsworn strained to crush the ship but was unsuccessful.



More bolts flew towards the main mass of creature. It had been reduced in size to the point that she could see the mast of the storm on the other side, waves of explosions hitting the beast and widdling it away. Dimitry Focused on the main body with another hell ball of fire and acid. Adallan moved to another chunk of the beast pummeling it with a flurry of blows. Magnussen turned his attention to a spirit before him.

“How about this time i just throw You at it Mag?” Salaria offered with a grin. Magnussen responded with a crushing blow, completely obliterating a spirit shield before him. Derik turned to fight the animiated spirit-weapon nearest him, interposing himself between it and Luke. Lannia called to the spirits, weakening and then chastising them. The beast shuddered, and all over it, corpses fell away. Salaria drew her weapons and hacked another bit of the creature away.

A profane energy began to fill the air, like it was readying a final desperate attack. The party rallied, blows and ballista bolts rained down. Having saved a final blast of divine energy just for this moment, Lannia launched at the nearest piece of the beast and let lose a divine strike of sunbeam.

And it was done…

Corpses fell away into the sea as the Warsworn fell apart and dark energy wafted out of its death throws. Lannia and Charisa immediately went to work banishing the remaining energies and commending those trapped souls on to the spirit realm where they might finally travel to their gods.

The party looked up to see the storm riding up alongside the Francesca. A howl of celebration broke over the exhausted groups. The Relentless Storm was barely damaged, and operated at full efficiency. The Francesca, having born the beast on its hull, was damaged and unable to move at full speed.

Derik raised his sword above his head, giving a roar to his god, “TEMPUS! RAAAAAAAAAGH!”

To be certain the rebuked energies of the warsworn stayed banished, Lannia called forth a final blessing of the spirits. The boats tided together and both crews mingled and celebrated. Exhausted, Lannia stowed her weapon and shield. She leaned back heavily against the mast and closed her eyes. Having performed all her rights for the dead, she asked Charisa to do the same. One can’t be to careful with a being of that size and power.

As they sifted through the corpses it became evident that the creature was centuries old. Lannia sat there a moment, and just took in a few relieved breaths. Finally shoving to her feet again, she did what every wife does after a battle, she looked for Derik in the confusion of the two mingling crews. She spotted him and moved wearily toward him. Seeming to sense her nearness he said, “If you'll excuse me for a moment...”

Lannia found herself wrapped in his arms, dipped back and thoroughly kissed. Luke, who had been enjoying a conversation with Derik, shook his head and laughed. Lannia hung in Derik’s arms contently, and when he righted her she curled into him, resting her head beneath his chin. Near all of her divine energy spent in quick succession, she was happily exhausted. Derik was not one to complain, resting his chin on the top of her head. They made their we back to the gate victorious.

[Tiberis79]

Sleep is fitful. The room was cold... She stood and lifted herself from her bed, making her way to the fireplace in a restless daze. Something tickled her mind, told her to wake and better take in what she was seeing. Her eyes slowly focused.

Cider sat, looking into the fire that was flickering unnaturally. His ageless gaze moved to her and he said, "Darkness and light is a battle that rages within us all. The brighter your soul, the more the darkness wants to claim you."

The fire burst and sputtered with spastic gasps. Her eyes bounced back and forth from it to the great spirit that always seemed to be with her. His rumbling voice continued, "You already know that hate cannot create anything. Hate only destroys. It rages against the light, and snuffs it out where it can because love creates, love builds. Darkness takes it's footholds and when we are weak it speaks of deals and powers... It claims souls."

The fire erupted outward and Cider just sat there, looking into her.

She woke up and sat up like a bolt in her bed, sweating and shaking. A persistent ache in her heart grew crippling. The monsters, drow, the dark signs, her brother, Michael and Vala, Teris... She had gone to sleep wondering if she was strong enough to fight all these battles. As she vibrated where she sat she now wondered if she could save herself.

The darkness is coming, and it knows me...

[Tiberis79]

Between drow, devils, darkness, and the near constant stream of people that seem to need her suddenly, Lannia wearily sits down at her desk. She needs to purge the negativity in her veins. It is venom that seeks to poison her. As little as she like to write, write she does.

With all the choas I must now deal with this... Gods I wish I weren't so bloody right about people all the time... I have a system for rating men. You are a male - barely qualifying beyond what dangles between your legs, a person - okay you have some redeeming qualities but only a fool would love you because your soul is weak and your eye will wander, and a man - a man knows love has rises and falls.

A man knows love will have periods of work and hardship. A man knows sometimes he just won't want to deal with his wife's habits. A man knows he will fight with her as often as he makes love to her. But a man remember what he fell in love with. Even when it is hard, even when he doesn't want to love her, he fights his way back to her. Forgiving her and forgiving himself, and with each bitter fall there is a soaring period to follow. Their love looks effortless from the outside, but inside the man knows he fought for her, and he holds her tightly against him.

Derik is a man. Praise to the Gods that I have such a man.

But this one... This one who leaves his broken wife in my care... He's no man. Bitterly I recall that by the second sentence he spoke I knew how to rank him; a person. Good in him, but his heart is weak and bitter. I looked between him and Derik and thought, "She chose this guy over Derik?" I pitied her without knowing her. This is the kind of man that gives you all attention and makes you feel special while his eyes watch the door for the next bed warmer. He looks for what he can't or shouldn't have and he takes it if he can. He holds it until people finally seem okay with it and then he drops it... Bored by the lack of intrigue.

Then on meeting her I could see that she was truly in love. I loved her for her complete devotion and thought that he didn't deserve her. I like him plenty, I want to add, and felt we had a special bond of friendship, but I still found him unworthy of her... An unworthy partner to any real woman. I hoped... I hoped against hope that I was wrong.

Then I met that other woman. She came bouncing by, trying to fight in heals of all things, pony tail and flirting with every man I saw near her. I miss strong Salaria, maybe I will go see her at the Muse. See what she thinks of this week, cheap little trollop in heals and plate. I've had a low opinion of her from the outset, which surprised me, as I am generally accepting of everyone... But when I saw her I though this is a woman dying for attention. This is a woman that will sell herself cheaply to get it.

I tried to put aside my first impressions as she got close to many of my friends and the Halls. Even when she lit up at Derik and near sneered when she saw me. Part of me couldn't blame her. I have not been myself with all the drow about. But my darker side I laughed at her. I almost wanted to dare her to try to take him from me. Derik is mine. Derik is a real man. I was actually ashamed of myself... Surprised by my near visceral reaction to her.

But more importantly... I was so in love with my Derik. Even with the way things have been, he put his arm around me and kissed me right in front of her. Derik probably didn't even sense what was going on. I don't think he meant to rub our love in her face, but gods if that isn't exactly what he did. Not from malice, not to display us, but because even as I am on the verged of breaking he loves me. He fights for me. He is proud of me.

He loves me like a real man. That's the kind of love those two now will never know. They'll make a great show of it. She'll prance about acting like a martyr for love. Acting like she's better than everyone who is treating her poorly for what she's done. What she doesn't realize is that we aren't just mad and her and him... We pity her. Just when people stop... Just when people accept them as a couple... He'll leave her like he left everyone else. It probably won't take as long as many of the others either... She's frankly rather boring. The peach looked ripe and easy to pick, but it's rotten and selfish on the inside. It pretends at honor and love but falls miserably short because you can't really love until you love yourself. A woman that would take a married man does not love herself.

She'll have only herself to blame for acting like she had some holy right to his love... Speaking words like Selune shines upon all loves... What might Selune say about someone who destroys love? Someone who steps into the middle of years in a bad time, in a low spot, and says, "The climb out is easier with me"? It must be bloody convenient to talk about forgiveness and patience and mercy when you are the one expecting it and acting like people are so beneath you for not "getting it".

Of course it is easier to rise out of the low spot with her. It's easy to get things that are cheap. Cheap also breaks easy, and loses that new smell quickly.

And him... bloody gods-be-damned coward. I'd like to be angrier at him, but he just confirmed what I felt all along. He's charming and a good person... But he's not a man. Forever now in my eyes he shall be a coward. He ran from his true love at home, a woman devoted to him, and he didn't even leave clean. He made sure he had a nice warm body to bury himself in first. He left her with his nightmares, he left her destroyed and cold. She is dying in front of me from the mental link she can't severe to him, placed by the dragon's orb, and he lays in bed with his cheap new toy.

He says he is manning the north and giving her space, but he's just running. He's really just a bloody coward. Burying his face in forbidden fruit rather than facing the fact that all his wife ever did was love him... Now she's dying for it, and he's going to let her die alone. A real man would at least be here to care for her as the mental link rips her apart. A real man would face what he did.

Then again... He's not a real man.

He's a boy with a new cheap toy. Both of them acting like they are so benevolent in tolerating everyone's ire. It makes me sick. In time I will be able to to look at them and pretend I have faith in what they have. So will the rest of the coast, and when it falls apart that woman will be in my inn likely... In a similar state... And I'll take care of her.

Because that's who I am. As much venom as I sit here and spit... I take care of people, even when they don't deserve it. And I'll watch again... His next new toy, as I am collecting the broken ones he leaves behind. I'll clean up the mess... Because no one deserves to be just someone's left behind mess...

Damn you, Michael Dunn. I wish you had no redeeming qualities. It would be so much easier, but you are my friend... And you are a bloody, miserable, coward.

You are not a man.

She takes the note and leaves it for Derik. She doesn't hide anything from him. Her intent is to burn it later. For now she leans back in her chair and sighs. She'll still be taking food to the north watch. She'll still be working to help with the devils where she can. When they call, she'll give it all her heart and power to solve this crisis... But she needed to get that out. She needed to give her anger a form she could destroy.

Marius still has my brother.
I have a sister out there... Somewhere. Gods only know what she's been through...
Osric...
Teris...
Linela...
Suna...
Alirk...
Grim...
Vala...
All of my friends... They need me to be strong.

She hasn't seen Gaven... and can only wonder how he is after what happened to Miz... Bloody, fraking drow. Just how much alchemist fire would it take to burn that horrid hole to the an empty husk? She places her arms on the table and rests her head on them. So many people suffering. How can she help them all? She cries into her arms.

Tears are a gift from the Gods to let it spill out when the emotions are too big to be contained.

[Tiberis79]

She poured over the books given to her on the church of Selune. Her own goddess, Chuantea, was said to have come out of the early battles of Selune and Shar. While Chuantea had a festival of supreme indulgence, treading upon a marriage was hailed as vile; the work of Shar. That was what bothered her most about the attitude of that priestess. The idea that she was following her heart, and everyone should just forgive them as her goddess likely forgives her. Parading as if she was somehow better, a martyr of love, by baring the disgust of everyone around them.

At last... She found it.

"See me, the goddess of the moon, moonlight, and stars; beauty and purity; love and marriage; navigation and navigators; tracking, wanderers, and seekers; diviners and dreams; good and neutral lycanthropes; and autumn."

She read on...

"Celebrate in joy for our goddess is enthusiastic, vivacious, joyous, and majestic, given to action and dancing. Meditate in peace for she is subdued, motherly, tranquil and embracing. She shares our burdens; remote and weighed down by sadness at defeats and tragedies, even those that happened long, long ago. Fear her wrath when she shows it; aggressive and fierce and cold, and with little mercy for her enemies. "

So what might she impose this wrath upon? She found in a text from Dupar...

"Hear me, for I am the goddess of love and marriages. Act not against a love that has weakened but give it space to fail or thrive on its own. Marriages are sacred, blessed and alive, beneath my light. Any person who takes to them one who is married to another is not mine and does the work of Shar."

Now if only the gods actually seemed to act on the coast. So many paladins and holy people spouting their rhetoric. Yet, Tess still dwelled in the Halls of Inner Light as a Silverstar of her faith... How was it that Selune did not act in person on this sacrilege? Where was the great ancient goddess in this? Allowing that woman to trounce about all over one of Selune's own titles?

Goddess of Love and Marriages.

Instead of feeling better, she just felt sick all over again. She closed the books and placed them on the shelf. She looked at them hard and took her note from yesterday, burning it in the fire. She meditated and offered a prayer to both her god and a divine spirit.

That is that. Weather the Gods, the temples, or the people know it, I know it. It know what is right and I will let this anger in me die now... I see how anger has poisoned Msciwoj and so many others. The desire for someone to acknowledge they are right and that so many are fallen eats away at them. They fall into absolutes and good intentions and pave their path to Avernus. Not me...

I will let this go, and give her to her goddess. It is to Selune that she must answer in the end. As the mother of my goddess, I have to believe her judgement will be wise.

Great mother, grant me your flowers in spring, the wheat grass of summer, the amber of the fall harvest, and a bounty to see me through the winter. Provide nourishment to my soul as it needs to be fed to heal.

Earth mother... Great spirit... Grant me your tranquility. Let me be still and accept what is not in my control. Give me peace to believe that all things come round and all wounds heal.

Thank you... Great mother, for my husband, Derik. Truly a hero of your great vine.

[Tiberis79]

Another delivery of food to the northern watch. Think what she will of Tess and Michael, she continues to keep those at the post fed and ready for the threat. That's who she is.

The parties at her inn were not what she expected, but they went well. She has a few new friends, one of whom was also a victim of the Malarite. It is an odd thing to bond over, but bond they did over a shared terror and how they rebuilt themselves after. They continued to talk on about love and dignity and where they came from. Their stories could not be more different, and yet their bond was instant. Maur was a seeker of candlekeep and Lannia was venomously opposed to oaths given to organizations. It goes to show a common thread, a common goodness of spirit, may bind two very different people. She hoped to see much more of her, and reader Kerr in coming weeks.

In another boon to her spirit, a man she'd long ago adopted as a brother came back into her life. She was so moved to see him she could scarcely keep from weeping. Urth, her cutie, her fishing and wine buddy! He just walked into her home out of the blue and she had to stop herself from imprisoning him there. The coast had been hard on her these past months, with her brother still held by Marius, and a sister still somewhere out there, to see Urth suddenly made her feel like it would be alright. Now if only Betha, his sister and her adopted sister, would also show up.

These were her family... Derik, Teris, Ronja, Urth, Betha, Aidan, Gaven... It made her feel somehow stronger when they were near. Maybe it was another aspect of her avatar.

Tortoise; avatar of familial love, and protection. In what unseen ways do you move me?

[Tiberis79]

Cider and Lannia walked together down a game trail with the moon high on in an unnaturally clear night sky.

"To face the darkness," Cider started, "You must be stronger, but you cannot do that as you are."

A spirit dear pranced by. A dear's gate was normally graceful but the moments of floating hesitation, and landings that never quite connected were like a dance here. All around swirls of energy and sprays of color showed the presence of lesser spirits and new spirits trying to be born. And there were shadows... Shadows in the distance.

"You have done well to show your adaptability," Cider continued, "But there is a reason a sword has never quite felt right in your hand... Why spells of destruction don't connect... You must be true to yourself."

She saw herself coming toward therm. She stared into her own eyes, and then watched herself take off toward a shadow with sword drawn, struggling to cut it down. Then luminous being appeared on the horizon. There was a crack of lightning as arrows flew past her doppelganger each hitting the shadow and felling it in seconds. More shadows appeared, more arrows split the sky. Her doppelganger fell, and the shadows converged on the light. The light split and a ray of divine light pulsed outward from it. What shadows didn't vaporize as the brilliant light passed through them, the second light seemed to rip apart like some wild beast.

She took off toward the light and cider followed. As they drew closer the light faded and a form came into view. It was her... But not her, and at her side was a Telthor wolf. The new her seemed to pulse with an inner glow, and deeply peaceful energy. The more luminous version of her, held out her hand and she took it.

She felt the light seep into her, and opened her eyes. That day she seemed to be in a hurry to go everywhere. Parts of her knowledge of magic were just... gone. She wasn't alarmed or afraid, it simply was as it was meant to be. She drilled her archery and by the end of the night was shooting better than she ever had. Maybe not with as much power or as quickly, but her arrows connected far more often.

When she trained with Derik, he kept stopping. He looked confused by her, saying she smelt different and her stance was different. Something was not quite the same. He finally placed it.

"You smell like you used to," He said with a sort of nostalgic reverence, "When I first fell in love with you. It's like... Waking up."

Waking up... Yes, it was like waking up. Opening your eyes to the light to fight the darkness.

[Tiberis79]

Already having felt a bit weakened and on a new path she proceeded with the planned communion. There were many in attendance, which made her nervous. You tell people a thousand times "Don't breach the circle" and "Don't cast any spells toward us" but with every person added that chances that someone will intervene in a catastrophic way are increased. This communion was already complex as it was.

A dying curse... Each any every one of them is different and you have to fully understand each one to undo it. This communion was planned to speak to the spirits about the past, and uncover the story behind this curse. It was risky, to say the least. The curse being transferred, spread, or the communion garnering the attention of malevolent spirits were all high on the list of probabilities.

She was the shaman... The "expert", if one can be an expert on something that changes every time you encounter it. As many times as she said, "This could go badly." She still felt like people just expected her to make it okay. These things go badly, all the time, even for the strongest and oldest shaman. They went badly in new and grim ways. No one could fully predict it, not even with a lifetime of research and training.

So she did all that she could. She trusted her inner guide, and she trusted herself. She said her prayers, she performed the rituals, and she gave the instructions. It wasn't enough.

The black... bottomless... Emptiness... It just kept going. She was nearly lost to it. After seeing Osric contort in horrific pain, limbs bending into unnatural positions, she opened the veil and stepped in to confront the spirits in their truest form. She was alarmed to find that she did not step into the spirit world as she knew it, but into pitch black. There was no up, no down, only pure, black, nothing.

She could not have told you how it happened, but just when she thought she was lost she got ripped back into the physical world. Her body took form and was flung like a doll away from Osric. Osric was thrown in the opposite direction. She heard cracks as her body met the stone wall of the cave. She felt sick and drained, but she had to help Osric.

She opened her eyes and they focused just enough to see that people were already tending to Osric on the other side of the cave. The arm that she had lifted toward him dropped. Her force of will to help him had kept her conscious. Without that need, she simply collapsed.

She hadn't even registered yet that she was bleeding from the eyes.

[Tiberis79]

Lannia slowly regained consciousness in Derik's arms. Lannia opened her eyes slowly, the heal potion Halron gave her working through her. She stood at ground zero of the abyss and then... She jumped in. The shamaness was indeed severely weakened. Her eyes moved slowly, as if even that motion was taxing.

"There's nothing in there," she rasped out, "A layer of pain, hopelessness, and then... nothing. Infinite nothing in all directions; an endless black. Yet, there is no direction... A direction is something. There was no up, no down, no left or right. I was alone, and nearly lost myself to it."

She looked ashamed for a moment.

"I," Her voice tremored as she spoke, "Could not have known... Is Osric alright? I'll try... I'll face them again if he can tolerate it."1

She shoved to her feet and wobbled, she attempted to enter spirit form and... Nothing. She tried again... Nothing.

"No," She gasped out as she wobbled, "No..."

She looke back at Derik with panic in her eyes.

"I can't enter spirit form."

Those present could not empathize, but she had lost a significant part of herself and her power. Like a swordsman losing his sword arm, a piece of her had be lopped off. She tried to look into the veil, a critical skill to later enter it for a spirit journey, and she could not. She hit her knees.

"No..."

[Tiberis79]

Days of training... Night and day. Hour after hour until she collapses.

Finally, she can see into the veil with clarity. Finally, she can enter spirit form again and journey through the spirit world.

"A failure is sometimes a blessing in disguise," She remembered her grandfather saying, "We learn the most about who we are and want we are meant to be when we face defeat. You cannot truly know a person, until you have seen them suffer in grace."

And so she suffered. Night and day, day and night. She re-trained herself in the direction she was meant to bend. Then when she called out to Cider one evening...

"Isn't he normally see-through?" Derik asked, confused.

Lannia openly gaped at Cider, who stood before her. Not even her grandfather had been able to call a spirit into physical form. There he stood... Cider in the form of a Telthor wolf. Telthor's were normally garudians, who died protecting the land. She'd heard of shaman calling upon the spirit of the land, but Naq'pote himself? The great hunter? Did this mean Cider, in his many thousands of years once died to protect something, or did it mean the spirits gave him physical form to protect her?

Cider seemed just as surprised. He smacked his fleshy lips together and shifted on his feet. It was an odd thing to watch an ancient spirit doubt his reality. Still his appearance was supernatural. He gave off a soft glow and Lannia wondered what trouble it might bring for those that did not understand to see him. Still, in a place where Celestials were pacted and came on command to a human's side, it might not be too bizaar?

[Tiberis79]

Restless, she set out in the early hours of the morning again. She and her merry band had bested the warsworn, the nightwave, and the ghost ship. Now they had this new evil to consider.

The darkness is coming... And it knows my name

She ranged deep into the woods and made a fire. There she sat and thought on her many worries until the sun broke the treeline.

Cider had returned at some point. She had upset him earlier that day. She looked over and him, and he lower his head toward her. She placed her forehead against his and sighed.

"You were right, of course," He grumbled, "But I doubt that is what you are thinking on out here in the woods alone."

---------earlier that day------------------

"An evil cider," Derik teased as he cut down one vampiric wolf and then another, "Couple of them."

"Pretty sure it is comments like that that make him grumpy," Lannia scolded.

"I'm giving up," Derik grumbled, "I compliment him, he's smug. I say anything else he's offended."

"You know he is just jealous of you... right?" Lannia sighed.

Lannia then looked to her side where she could see Cider. He had not yet made himself visible to Derik. Cider Snarled and Lannia barked at him, "WHAT? It's true!"

Derik looked at her curiously, "In what way? It's not like you're the same species for that sort of thing and he's around you pretty regularly, even physically now."

Lannia rolled her eyes, "It has nothing to do with mating. He's watched over me since before I was born! Just think about it."

"Still is as far as I can tell," Derik grumbled as they fought through a mass of yeti's.

"Like any good... Father," Lannia explained.

"You are a seer," Cider growled at her, "But do not presume to know my feelings."

Lannia looked to her side again and coolly stated as fact, "I know how you feel."

She then looked back to Derik, "You are the boy that stole his baby girl away."

Cider glared at her. It was only one of two times he had ever glared at her. She stared him down, daring him with her eyes to say she was wrong.

"So what you're saying is I'm the disreputable thug that led his daughter astray?" Derik asked, almost amused.

Cider snarled, disappearing into the veil beyond sight and Lannia frowned to herself. Derik canted his head, curious as he could not see Cider, "What are we frowning at?"

"He's gone into the veil," She answered, "Guess I dimed him out a little too much."

"Well, he'll be back," Derik shrugged, "He always is."

"So, cut him some slack," She rounded on Derik, "He's been watching over me since before I was born and now he suddenly has to share me, and accept that you are my very best friend."

"Alright, fine," Derik lamented, "I'm sorry."

"Make sense?" She smirked at the chided 6'6" warrior and kissed his nose from her higher vantage on the slope. Derik smiled and stucks his tongue out at her a little.

Lannia could only smile and say, "You are my everything..."

--------------------------------------

Lannia leaned in and hugged Cider gently.

"You were all I had my whole life until I came here," She murmured, "I don't appreciate you enough."

"You are," Cider started, for the first time ever sounding a little choked up, "The closest thing I have had to offspring. I am ancient, and I have acted as a guardian in the spirit realm as long as ancient memory can serve. Your life, from the time your energy was coming together in the spirit world until know has been but a second to me; The most glorious second I have witnessed... You will pass into my realm, perhaps in the way may spirits who walk do, or you may pass on to Chauntea, but you will eventually be beyond me... and I will have new wards to protect."

His tone was solemn, grave even, "I have never been tasked to guard just one for so long, let alone one that could see me... Talk to me... Yet... I find myself dreading that the time at the end will be too short. You are right... I... I don't want to share you, but I must. It is your nature, and a shaman's calling to give themselves to the whole of the world. I am so very proud every time I watch you fulfill your purpose. Yet... I know you need me less and less."

"I need everyone," Lannia said with a sniffle, "I need everyone right now. I keeping doing what I must but I am crumbling."

Cider became tangible, his Telthor fur was soft against her face as she began crying, "Something is wrong with Linela... I just know it. I haven't been able to help Osric. I still don't know where my one living sister is or even which sister is alive. My brother still languishes in the hands of that foul beast, Marius. That Dasha girl and Cylissa may be lost... I've no time for poor Teris, and I've not sat and talked with Aidan in ages. Can I do anything right?"

Cider whined and curled his head over her shoulder, as close to a hug as the large wolf-like beast could muster. Lannia continued, "All I can do is wait on the right opportunity. I know I am doing all I can. I know I am, but I feel the darkness closing in all around me. Now that thing is in Derik's head too! Why am I so much stronger and still feel so powerless?"

"Powerless?" Cider almost laughed, "Without your ability to weaken malicious spirits your friends would have been eaten by the nightwave, their boat split by the warsworn, or they would have sunk with the ship at the ghost ship for sure... They'd have put only minor dents in it. Without your love, I do not believe Derik would have completed his holy quests. You gave him a true purpose, and a home to come back to. So without you, the one person on that ship that could really do damage, would not have been who he is... He might not have even been sane."

She continued to weep into his fur. Cider moved his head to rest it on top of hers, "You have always been too hard on yourself. You have done so much for so many, and yet you still manage not to see your worth."

He withdrew slightly and they shoved his massive head under hers lifting her chin, "You are Lannia Ranloss... Spellbow and Spirit Who Walks. Hold your head up."

He sat back and looked into her tear soaked face. He sat erect and proud as he said, "You are... Bunnybow the vicious, bane of tasty animals and... talker to snarky spirit dogs."

She burst with laughter as he parroted Derik's title for her. If a wolf could smile, he was smiling.

"Uwetsiageyv," Cider murmured adoringly, "My... daughter... The darkness comes and it knows your name. It -should- know your name, and be afraid. For you and your husband are its end."

"You know Aidan will have kittens if you ever call me daughter in front of him," Lannia teased, "I am legally his."

"You are legally his," Cider agreed, "In my heart you will always be mine, but the reality is that we both must share you with the world. You belong to the whole of it. That is the purpose of your gifts."

[Tiberis79]

A dream... Howling... Howling in the distance...

Cider stopped howling and looked at her, only he looked more feral somehow. She was sure she started the dream as a full grown woman but suddenly her arms weren't long enough, and she was small. It went from night to a spring day. A little red-haired girl played in woods too lush for the normal vegetation of Rauthym. This was Chauntea's blessing.

Then she began to see it through Cider's eyes...

The wolf looked at the little girl and stalked closer. He growled and she giggled. The wolf stood tall and halted its posturing. It was clear the little troublemaker would not fear him. He padded over to her. She reached up for his fur and he leaned his head down against hers.

For a moment, their souls... Were one.

He looked down upon the happy, squealing child, who seemed to think it was some great trick. He wasn't surprised by her jovial, fearless spirit. He'd watched her from the beginning. He'd appeared to her now, the first time, as a test.

She passed, just as he expected. She was not as strong as her grandfather... But there was always something a little extra special about this one. This... Lannia Tannen.

He curled around her and ruffled her hair. She had already gone too far from her settlement, so he entertained her here to keep her from going further. There were darker things, deeper in the woods, that would love for her story to end prematurely.

Lannia returned to herself, slowly rousing from her sunset vigil. This was her daily meditation, and she kept praying would bare fruit. Cider sat in front of her. As she opened her eyes, he looked into her.

You remember...

He didn't have to say it. She heard it from his heart. She smiled and placed her forehead against his. He grunted lightly, feeling her deeper ill-ease.

"Soon," He said, "Soon seer, be patient. The veil will reveal what you need, soon. I will be right here, beside you as always."

[Tiberis79]

"DONNEL!" She bolted upright hand outstretched.

Derik was up in seconds as well, drawing her in and purring softly. She sobbed bitterly into his chest. Cider appeared and crawled into the bed on her other side. Neither of the pair considered the oddity of a massive telthor wolf crawling into their over-sized bed. This was their reality.

She laid back, Cider curled protectively around her from one side and Derik on the other. Both of them cooing and trying to sooth her back to sleep. She stared up at the ceiling, replaying the day the started so simply and ended in such trauma.

It began like any other day. Normal morning activities... A little fishing, a little running around. Still she had a pit in her stomach and she was out of arrows. As she was preparing to travel by plant to Nashkel to pick up some nicer arrows from the gifted fletcher there, she ran into Iris.

They laughed and joked. Their friendship had always been an easy one in spite of striking differences. Iris had beautiful, polished nails, Lannia wore rough leather gloves over her chipped and over-worked fingertips. Iris was an only child, and a half elf... Lannia was every bit of human and one of 8 siblings. Iris grew up well-mannered, and Lannia was born a barbarian. Still they had always shared a certain generosity of spirit.

The conversation turned to family. While Lannia recounted what she could remember, a pit formed in her stomach. She talked of her mother and father, of 4 sisters and 3 brothers. She didn't say, "But all but two of them are dead... And those two? I've no idea where they are."

Conversations kept coming back to her family recently and it was like needles in her soul every time. She convinced Iris to write to her elven mother, whom she'd not seen in person in some time, and then disappeared into a swirl of leafs. She stepped out, somewhere outside of Nashkel, away from the gaurds that would like arrest her for her magic.

She bought arrows and continued about a rather mundane day. She said hello to some friends, and checked on her consignments.

As she was walking away from Mudds, she ran into Marnie, who was sporting yet another set of brand new clothes. She smiled at her dear friend, and he greeted her with his usual exuberance. She loved how seeing people he knew always lit up his face. He was always just genuinely happy to see you.

It was time for her meditation. Same daily meditation, and she feared the same lack of results. She invited Marnie along. He had done some monk training, and enjoyed a good meditation too. They stopped at the Last Anchor for a drink and talked for a bit. Then Derik arrived home. It was such a normal day.

Then her eyelids grew heavily. Moving felt like wading through mud. The feeling of exhaustion was so sudden she instinctively reached for the bar to steady herself, even with Derik already standing behind her with his arm around her.

"It's only midday," She yawned and leaned heavily into Derik's arms.

The conversation continued aroudn her, but is seemed to blur with her vision. She caught only pieces. Derik and Marnie picking on each other as usual. They were like a pair of squabling... brothers...

"Cider, did you let her dig into fields of weird flowers again?" Derik joked with the Telthor

"Didn... do... any-thing," She mumbled and became dead weight in Derik's arms.

She was vaguely aware of the concern that surrounded her. Cider pacing. Derik inspecting her. Marnie confused as to weather she needed help or if this was some human thing. He eyes rolled toward Derik, her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton " Just going... To close them... A minute... So... Heavy..."

She was complete out and unaware of the shimmering light that enveloped her. She awoke standing on a beach at spring time. Derik, Marnie, and Cider were there. She looked down the beach and her jaw dropped. She knew this beach, and she knew the two children playing on it. The group watched in awe as a very young little Lannia frolicked on the shoreline with a brother whose head with shaven.

That's right... They had lice that year. Somehow she'd not managed to get them. Her grandfather said it was part of her gifts. She teared up as she watched her and her brother play. Her brothers looked a lot alike except for their hair and it was shaven off. She struggled to remember which brother she gave a shell necklace to, trying to pull the name from the foggy memory of a 6 year old.

The kids ran back toward the mainland, disappearing before Lannia could give chase. She felt her will returning, she could leave this vision, but she refused. The scenery seemed to blur in certain directions, so they followed in the direction that seemed clearest. They were attacked on the way by lesser spirits.

Lannia was baffled... Why were they attacking? Had they not called her here and even brought Marnie and Derik with her?

Smoke rose in the distance and a chill ran down her spine. She knew this was the past. She knew she couldn't doing anything and still she ran toward the flames. Derik and Marnie were right on her heals.

She came to a halt at a familiar scene. Her grandfather... Her... Marius...

Marius dominated her grandfather with a spell, trained his eyes on little Lannia, and then turned back to her grandfather. " ... Kill her."

She made herself watch again, as her grandfather attacked her and then incinerated himself to make it stop. She did it to honor his sacrifice, clutching her arm where a scar still marked his cutting blow to her. This time Derik witnessed it, and Marnie with him. They saw with their own eyes the horror of that day. They saw her terrified six year old face. They saw it... And some part of her was ashamed, naked.

"Oh dear gods...." Derik breathed out.

Little Lannia and the grown woman watched her grandfather die together in horror. Then little Lannia turned to face the drow.

"So does a brave man pass," Derik murmured, watching Lannia's grandfather pass into dust.

" ... you did that to grampa? You ... you did that to him?" She shrieked.

Marius scowled as he realized his prize is lost. He ignored the girl before him, turning instead to his enchanter, barking at him, "How could he resist my spell?"

" ... No one could have predicted --" Zachary started.

Little Lannia would not be ignored. Her eyes alight with fury as she summoned the spirits of fire. Older Lannia watched sadly and narrated her own capture, "It was way more than anyone my age should have been able to do."



The area lit with flame. She could still remember the remarkable heat. But the girl, little Lannia, was untrained, and the effort took too much. She collapsed, looking to the distance. Lannia stiffled her tears and explained, "... and I... Couldn't sustain it..."



"You were a child," Derik reassured.

They watched the figures collect the little girl, broken and bloody, and then dissolve from sight. They remained there a moment, confused. Where was the brother? Why had the spirits chosen to show her this scene again. Then they saw movement to the west and followed, only to be attacked again by spirits. Still, Lannia would not be denied.

Voices echoed as they dispatched their attackers stopping Lannia in her tracks, "The Darkness is coming... And it knows your name."

Derik spat venom back at them, "Then cower from it! COWER BEFORE IT!"

She smiled, remembering Cider's words and now Derik's equal confidence. She bellowed, "I am Lannia Ranloss! It should know my name!"

Derik and Lannia looked at each other, smiling. They drew strength from each other as they always did, "I am Derik Ranloss... I am the Blade that Burns! I am the Bullwark! I stand in the Middle! Come and perish!"

"I am Lannia Ranloss!" She echoed, "I am the spirit who walks!"

She did not finish her title, spotting more movement in the distance, "There!"

The scene shifted again and they were on the shoreline. A drow carried a struggling boy. Derik looked at him hard, trying to gauge the boy's age.

"10," Derik said, "Which brother was 4 years older than you?"

They watched the boy, beaten and roughly loaded into a rowboat. Lannia was too shocked to answer Derik at first. Her powers trembled inside her and Cider faded from view.

"He's about 10 there," Derik said again, "So, that should tell us which brother... You were 6."

"Oh gods," She breathed out in horror, "It's Donnel."

Once more, the scene changed around them.

"Oh gods... Gods... It's Donnel...," she repeated.

Of her three brothers the most tender-hearted, the weakest by northman standards. Her father was constantly vexed and worried that he would not grow to be much of a man. Her mother was always hiding him behind her apron strings.

"He was such a sweet boy," She felt tears falling again, "Barely every left my mother's side except to play with me."

The looked around, and Lannia instantly recognized the scene as one of Marius's satellite fortresses. She felt the blood drain from her face. Her stomach twisted. She wondered if you could vomit in spirit form.

"He must have... Seen her die," She said somberly of Donnel and her mother. She then forced herself forward. As they navigated the corridor, a spirit converged upon then again, but this time, it did not attack.

"Darkness comes and it knows your name. Turn back, Spirit that Walks. Turn back."

They argued, Lannia made herself vulnerable opened her arms as she attempted to bargain with the spirit in a non-threatening way to be allowed to continue. Marnie and Derik were not ready to show such trust. Their weapons remained at the ready.

"You do not understand. This path shall only lead to sorrow. Darkness comes and it knows your name. Turn back. Turn back."

It echoed again and a again.

"Darkness comes and it knows your name. Turn back. Turn back."

Derik lost patience, barking at the spirit to help or get out of the way, the ground shook beneath their feet and they were attacked. No matter how many spirits fell to them, they kept coming in an infinite storm.

"ENOUGH!" Lannia roared and took spirit form, breaking away.

"Lannia, through the door!" Derik ordered behind her and through the door she went. Curiously, the spirits stopped attacking as soon as they were through, but Derik slammed it shut behind them anyway.

There a new scene unfolded. Her brother was full grown now, bloodied and tied to a post. A mountain of a man wielding a vicious whip stood over him. Marius watched on cruelly demanding her brother pay for his insolence. She covered her mouth at the scene before her and forced herself to watch the torture unfold. Around her brother's neck still hung the seashell necklace.

When Donnel passed out finally from the torture, the torturer complained that it was too soon and walked off. Derik fixed on the man with a strange fascination, but Lannia was too fixed on Donnel to notice.

She placed her forehead against Donnel's, weeping for him. Weeping that he was languishing in this way and this was just a vision... There was nothing she could do.

" ... sister?" Donnel asked suddenly.

Lannia nearly tripped over herself with surprise. Tears streamed down his face. His expression was one of aching agony and shame.

"Save me, please," he begged.

Lannia placed her forehead back against his and began to sob pitifully. Derik moved up and placed a hand on her shoulder, "She is safe, Brother."

"I'm coming," She pleaded desperately, "I'm coming as fast as I can!"

Derik nodded, "We come for you. If we have to tear this place apart with our bare hands.... we come for you."

The sound of an arrow loosing reached her ears just as the arrow itself slammed through Donnel's chest. Marnie looked around in confusion trying to see the unseen archer. Lannia's eyes went wide in shock. Donnel's eyes bulge and his mouth opens wide in a silent scream as his body goes still. Derik whirled, warwake slinging into his hand from its scabbard. A figure fled out the door, somehow unseen.

"No... no no no..." Lannia cried impotently. She tried to grab the arrow and her hands passed through it as she continued to mutter in shock, "No... No no... Donnel? Donnel?!"

"Save me, sister ... before it's too late ..."

His voice echoed in her ears as he faded from view.

"I'm coming, don't die!" she wailed at the emptiness and fell against the wooden post, sobbing into it.

"Gods... please don't be what I think just happened..." Derik muttered and gave chase with Marnie after the footsteps down the hallway.

She pushed up off the post rubbing her eyes furiously and took off after them with a feral growl. They all skidded to a stop at the exit. Lannia stared... Stunned... Into her own eyes. Derik cursed, he seemed to almost expect it. He would, he would know the accuracy of Lannia's arrows. Marnie watched in shock and horror.

"No...," She breathed out. She drew her bow and trained the arrow on herself howling, "NO!"

The clone looked back at her, voice is filled with sorrow as she spoke, "Darkness is coming ... and it knows our name."

"I will NOT allow this to come to pass!" She howled at herself, "I will NOT!"

Derik growled at the vision, "Darkness is coming... and will have to get through me to get to her."

he vision merely stared at them. Rage filled Lannia at the vacant, hopeless stare she wore. She shook all over. Finally she snapped and roared, she loosing the arrow upon herself, missing the vision as it faded from sight. Everything started to peal away.

Her eyes flew open, but she did not move from where she had been laid on the couch at the anchor. She stared at the ceiling, willing it to be a dream. Derik spoke, dispelling her notions.
He remember it too, so a dream it was not. John told them they had settled over there only moments ago...

Here she was, woken up again that night. Her mind did love to torment her... It played over and over. She fell back to sleep whispering again, "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

It began like any other day.

[Tiberis79]

Lannia rummaged her old storage and found it; a set of armor designed after her grandfather's ceremonial gear. She'd worn it once to confront Uther, and now she felt compelled to wear it again.

I'm coming Donnel.

She also pulled out an amulet she'd found and saved for the sea beasts. It was every bit as useful now. She clasped it around her neck and looked in the mirror.

She had faced the beast alone, she had stood in the front, she had found forgiveness and she had recklessly thrown her life in harms way to save friends... None of it had terrified her, and she thought maybe she had conquered her fear but now...

She saw the terror in her own eyes, she felt the twist in her stomach. All at the thought of going to that place where she might see him.

Marius...

He was a outcast of his race. A male who dared to lead his own house. He lived on the ragged edge with his patchwork army. His had his slaves, a few male drow tired of being beneath matrons, and alliances with the Zhents? She was still trying to digest that. The torturer in her vision was in Copperglen all those years ago. Derik was sure of it. She would have been 13... Maybe 14? Which made Donnel 17?

Gods... Donnel could have helped destroy Copperglen...

She shook her head and wiped a few tears away. She and Derik made light of all the strings their fate shared. This was not a string she wanted to share.

She still didn't know why Donnel was taken in the first place. Marius wasn't in the business of taking children normally. They required too much work, so he only took the exceptional. Why? Why did he take a timid 9 year old who was always hiding behind his mother? Why not the able-bodied warrior, Connor, who was almost a man? Why not the sly and crafty Feris? Donnel had to have some talent they'd missed, but Marius had not.

She went to rescue Donnel tonight... Likely she would face him under Marius's spell and she had no idea if she would face a strong sword or intense magic? Was he a shadow walker? Would she even see him coming? This could be a trap... It probably was.

Her grip tightened on her favorite bow, and she sheathed her favorite sword.

But that changes nothing.

She set out for the day, freezing in the doorway at what she could have sworn she heard. She forced herself to start moving again. She had work to do.

Darkness is coming... and it knows your name... It echoed again.

[Tiberis79]

Lannia does not leave Donnel's side, nor does she sleep that night. As the members of the halls tend him, she does not impede them, but she is never far. Her eyes are always on him, as if she expects he will evaporate. Her heart remembers the boy he was...

Donnel, the brother that was always hiding behind their mother. The northman's son that didn't like to fight or pretend to sword fight with sticks. This was Marius's berserk Tannen enforcer? What had Marius seen in him that everyone in his family had missed?

She sniffled a bit... She couldn't blame him for not remembering her, but she'd hoped the boy that spent year 10 years hiding behind their mother, would recognize her spitting image. The first time Lannia remembered her mother it was chilling. Every pane of glass she walked by, every puddle she looked down into, she saw the spear wielding ranger... Imogen Tannen.

She could feel her jaw muscles flex with frustration. Couldn't that work for her? Just once? Couldn't someone recognize her and help her in some way because she was so clearly Imogen's daughter... Her mother was a great ranger that passed miles healing the sick and tending the elderly, not with magic, but with natural medicinal skill. Lannia longed for that skill now, as she watched on. Oh sure, she was more skilled than most, but her mother was sought even where magic failed.

Marius stole that training from Lannia, the shaman training she'd have gotten from her grandfather, and the warior training she'd have gotten from her father. She'd always stumbled toward the future that was stolen from her blindly, and could not help feeling she was not half the person she was meant to be.

She had Donnel back at least... Her senses still tingled at that. It was too easy. It was just too easy...

She pulled out some ceremonial beads and started tying them into her hair. Her mother used to try to weigh down her wild hair with beads, small bones, and feathers. Her mother's hair style, and her grandfather's ceremonial armor. Something had to jog his memory.

She sat by his bed again and as poor as her singing skill was, she sang to him, his lulaby. Imogen was always singing it to him. Admittedly her voice was probably worse than normal for lack of sleep... But this was all she had for him right now; a song.

She sang it, even as the attendants began to shoot annoyed glances they thought she would not see.