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[Grignag]

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Izrem stood atop Umbra bank and cast his gaze over the assembling transports as his caravan was produced. Mining equipment, disposable slaves, entropic command wards and several metal poles heavily inscribed with dozens of runic symbols; among other things. For most of the populous, who knew better than to look too close at Ebon Skull operations, it would appear as nothing more than another mining operation to collect more minerals, gems and other such resources to feed the ever increasing demands of the Order's war machine and rituals. One in a dozen that often departed the city.

However, there was much more to this one. Dropping down from the roof, Izrem approached the foreman. A simple man by the name of "Izual" who had a flair for strange tasks and knew how to keep his mouth shut. Reaching into his robe and withdrawing a rolled up scroll, Izrem passed it to the man.

"Here are your instructions. Proceed to the Void Islands and send scouts to take small scrapping of the residue and use that to attune the entropic command wards. You have a week to do it. Do not attempt to put the other arcane materials to use until I and the rest of the Scholomance arrive. Until then, pose as a normal mining crew while you prepare the command wards. This scroll contains some of the basic incantations you will need to activate and inactivate the occluding sigils currently in the cave. It will only work a few times, so do not waste them."
Izual nodded and took the scroll carefully, while Izrem reached into his robe and pulled out another one. "This scroll contains the orders I just gave you. You are prone to whimsy, so I figured it best if I created a copy for you. Do your best not to lose them."
Izual quirked an eyebrow as he took the second scroll, his eyebrow raising only further as Izrem produced yet another scroll from his robe. A slight sigh escaped Izual's lips.
"Your pay." Izrem stated simply as he handed the third scroll over. Izual took it with a much more pleasantly surprised look and bowed his head as he received it. "Depart as soon as you are ready."

As the caravan pulled out of the city, Izrem continued to watch it from the distant plateau of Charnel Hill. As he did so, one of the lesser and largely insane wraiths he kept around materialized near him.
"Massssterr... was it so wise to be so open about your movementsss?"
Izrem tilted his head, his eyes peering invisibly out from the shadows of his ever darkened cowl. "Am I really being questioned about matters of wisdom by a rejected wraith?"
The shadow creature recoiled as if expecting to be unwoven from reality that very moment, but Izrem merely chuckled.

"Why would I be worried? Who would stop us? Sanctus? Hardly. Their fervor is great but their might is too small to truly oppose us. Stonegate? The Blue Lotus? Please. They are more than likely so wrapped up in their own internal matters that they have forgotten we exist. Or at least that we do anything more than sit in our mausoleums and cackle at the walls all day. No one will oppose us with sufficient force to stop us. We will collect yet another weapon to wield against all of them. They just don't know it yet."


As Izual continued his march, his withdrew the scroll containing the instructions and looked them over.

The strange residue that has been found has been determined to have entropic properties that could prove most useful to our causes and in the furtherance of claiming the whole of Malas. However, it is beyond your ken to work with it. It would destroy you. Hence why I have made these preparations for you. Your duties are simple.

1) Set up camp upon the void island within Umbran lands and begin to engage in the normal mining operations.
2) Send runners to identify the spots that have been identified. Collect mild samples, nothing more.
3) Apply the samples along with the reagents I have given to you upon the Entropic Command Wards. This will produce the protective field we shall require to research the phenomenon at length.
4) Use the deactivation scroll to turn off the Occluding and Eye sigils. Place the command wards in the designated spots and then reactive that sigils. You will have limited uses of this scroll. Do not fail.

We shall come for you in a few days time. Be prepared to receive us.
_________________
Femmies?! HOWAH!

Can't we all just get along? No? Excellent.

[Bishimi]

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“Soke!” Crawler burst into Bishimi’s office, dragging his statue of stone behind him, giving little thought to formalities. The Soke looked up at him from his papers, annoyed at first, but seen the concern in the Shidoshi’s eyes and asked him what was wrong. “I have been doing as you instructed Soke and I believe I may have found something…” Crawler stopped mid sentence and cocked his head as if listening to something intently. “Fine Borris… –we- found something you may be interested in Soke and…” He stopped, again, listening. “Soke, have you been keeping hydrated?” He asked with a sigh and a shrug pointing to Borris as if to blame him. “I have Crawler now please, continue.” “See!” Crawler continued as he looked at his stone friend “You’re going to get me in trouble! Just be quite!”

After taking a moment to collect his thoughts the Shidoshi started again. “As I was saying, we have been watching Umbra much and came across a most interesting gathering recently. At first we thought they were just going mining again, they seem to do that a lot, but this time struck me as different. There was a man standing on top of the bank I never seen before during such operations. He watched very closely as everything was gathered. He looked very important; I apologize as I was not able to get a name for you. This important man approached another on the ground, we think this second man will be the one to lead the gathered group. The leader referred to him as Izual. As Umbra is mostly shadows it was not hard for us to get close to listen to the conversation. I do not know how much of the conversation we missed, Borris can be slow. When we got there the first man began to hand over scrolls to Izual. A copy of instructions then what was said to be his payment. After that Izual left with the caravan.”

“I see,” the Soke began. “it is a shame you could not get..” His words were cut off as a scroll hit his desk and Crawler finished his sentence with a tone that told of a grin hiding behind his mask.“That copy of instructions?” Bishimi read the note over with little understanding of the words inside. “Magic..” He sighed. “I have never been a fan. How did you acquire this Shidoshi?” “It was not hard Soke there are so many downtrodden that walk their lands I did not think another would draw attention. I gathered a dusty old robe and crossed paths with the leader of the caravan on the road. After I bumped into him a few did put their boots to me but he did not seem to notice the scrolls absence.” “Good Shidoshi, very good.” Bishimi continued “I have one last job for you, this scroll speaks of magic I do not understand but I have a feeling some mages of StoneGate might. Take this to King Myrddin or Merci-Chan and explain to them what you have seen as you did me. I am sure they can figure out what to do with this information.”

“Hai Soke” Crawler said as he glanced at his stone friend “Bow idiot!” The Shidoshi sighed at the rock as if it was simply ignoring him and apologized to Bishimi as he drug his friend from the room and made his way to StoneGate Valley.

[Grignag]

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Ambushed?

A part of Izrem laughed at himself. "Have you truly become so blind and self-satisfied with yourself that this possibility did not occur to you? Didn't what happened to the drow quarter and the words of Gorhun raise any alarms in your mind? You are not nearly so invisible and your enemies watch you for a moment weakness."

Izrem subsumed those thoughts as he re-focused his mind. The defends had been unable to salvage much from the ambush. What concerned him most were his notes...

He imagined that most would simply dismiss them as the inane babbling of an Oblivion-warped Drow and pay them little more mind. But that same voice popped back into his head chiding him for being too comfortable. Undoubtedly most outside were willing to dismiss him as a foolish and brainwashed cultist with delusions of grandeur. But there were some that knew better than to take him too lightly.

Returning to the Well of Souls, Izrem sat and began his meditations. Whether or not Stonegate had an idea of what he was up to would be irrelevant. They didn't know when he planned to move... and the books wouldn't tell them how. Beginning to chant, the whispers from the well echoed up into his mind. Ideas and plans began to swirl, silencing that nagging tone some part of him wished to push forward. This was not a step back. It was just a step to the side. Izrem understood Entropy. It changed its ways. It adapted. It overflowed. So would he. He would move forward. And in the end, victory would belong to Oblivion.
_________________
Femmies?! HOWAH!

Can't we all just get along? No? Excellent.