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[Drayek]

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Quinn sat outside under a tree near the alchemy shop in Moonglow. It was a warm afternoon, which she spent inscribing scrolls for the various arcane guild shops scattered around the isle. Since graduating from the Lycaeum, she found it the easiest way to make gold. She looked up from the scroll she was working on, to a young girl lying on her stomach next to her drawing in a note book. Quinn watched her daughter Emily draw, she seemed so careless despite what many others in Moonglow thought of her.

Emily looked so much like him. People speculated he was the father due to how much time he spent with Quinn. Quinn wasn't sure if it was fortunate or not that he was seen with the Skulls during an invasion of the Lycaeum one day, for the gossiping stopped imediately after that day. However, even though people didn't speak about her or her daughter behind their backs, they still treated them differently. Things would be worse for her daughter as she grew up. She looked like her father, they feared her. What if she developed his obsessively inquisitive nature, or how he would push his body beyond its limits? How far would they go if she acted like him? They saw her almost like a flock of sheep would see a wolf cub. Emily was too young to understand any of this, only that some parents wouldn't let their children play with her. Quinn looked back to her scroll. How could she tell her child other parents think she's evil and don't want other children to play with her? The way Emily was treated by others bothered Quinn quite a bit. She didn't care what people thought of her, but to treat her child like this? It was unfair. Quinn picked up her quill again and continued to work on the scroll. Once she earned enough from inscribing, she would leave Moonglow with her daughter, so she could have a chance at life.

Memories began to flood her mind, the events of an evening several years ago ran through her mind.
"He told me about a man who offered him something if he became a talented mage. He read pretty much everything available to him in Moonglow, in that last year most of his time he spent trying to find something new to learn. I told him to leave Moonglow, he was just wasting his time, wasting his body away as he spent hours trying to find what material was left without eating or sleeping, wasting his mind as he tried to oppress anything he felt or thought outside of his studies... I don't think I ever saw him respond so well to anything else anyone had ever said to him. He looked at me in the eyes, I could tell from his expression he knew I was right. For once, he looked awake..." Her mind trailed off, she closed her eyes and visualized other happenings of that night.

Quinn rested her head against the tree she sat under and opened her eyes once more, looking to the sky.
"I'm not surprised he left... I wish he said goodbye, but he was never good with words let alone awkward social situations. I was new to alchemy back then, I didn't prepare the potion properly... I didn't boil the nightshade at high enough of a temperature, or long enough. He doesn't know he has a child. Part of me wants to go find him, but venturing onto Umbra is dangerous. I don't even know how he would react, or if being a member of the Skulls has destroyed any humanity in him. But maybe... Maybe one day I will look for him."

[Alessandra]

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Emily sat on the stoop in front of her house playing alone with her doll. It wasn’t a fancy doll… just something her mother had made for her to try to cheer her up. Emily looked up as a few of the town children went by and she smiled, but all they did was look away and continue on their way. She watched as they walked away and she shrugged her shoulders slightly. She was tall for her age, willowy, with dark hair and eyes that seemed older than her young 8 years. She saw more than other children, and she understood more than they did as well. She did very well in school, excelling although she rarely had to work at it. She was a happy child, despite the obvious stares of the townspeople and the lack of friends she had. She often times helped her mother by running the scrolls she inscribed to the various mages throughout the lands. As she delivered them, she often times read them and memorized them, not knowing what the words meant, but still finding them intriguing. She often wondered about her father, but after asking once and seeing the pain in her mothers eyes as she searched for an answer, Emily knew to leave well enough alone. Emily looked back down at her doll and wondered if she looked like her father. She had watched around town, and there was no one that looked like herself, not really even her mother. She stood up and walked to the ocean and watched the boats as they passed. Perhaps her father was one of those men on those boats out there… : she sighed and looked again and held it close to herself as she looked back out on the water. Someday… someday she would find him…
_________________
Ken: I don't put anything in my mouth I don't intend on swallowing...

Ken: I put it any way I want to, cause that is the kind of man I am...

Toni/Gwyn/Dae ‎(11:22 AM):
well I was doing Beo, but he annoyed me lol

[09:37] Leshok: i think dancing is like sex, don't let one bad partner ruin it for the rest of your life

[Kaelthir]

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Norture sat in Umbra reading a book. He was quite annoyed, the Umbran arcane shop didn't carry enough magery items in stock. Gathering the components he required for spells he was preparing had become annoyingly difficult and time consuming. On this particular evening, all he needed was some mandrake root. Nothing complex or out of the ordinary, just regular mandrake root. It vexed him this simple staple of magery was unavailable.

A voice interrupted his train of thought, he looked up and nodded to the female harrower, Isil. He nodded his skull as she spoke, half paying attention to her.
"If I go to Moonglow and bring her with, she could hold off anyone who might attack while I escape." he thought to himself. He wasn't sure if the invasion of the Lycaeum several years ago had left a lasting mark on the people or not. The invasion was nothing large scale, a few books were stolen and two scholars were taken as well. Nothing too big. None the less, he did not want to risk being surrounded by an angry mob.
"Do you want to know what really bothers me?" he spoke, slowly introducing the idea.
"What" replied Isil.
"There is a shortage of magery reagents in Umbra. This will not do, we should go to Moonglow and gather enough to last us until the next shipment." Norture said, selling his plan to her. She nodded and agreed and offered to open a gate there, away from the bank. He nodded and accepted, taking a gate would be faster than going through the moongate and going through the woods to use an alternative entrance to the city to avoid the bank crowd.

Through the gate, they wandered up to the alchemy shop. Alchemy was losing popularity in Moonglow years ago when he was but a student, none the less he figured they should go and see if the store had improved at all. Unfortunately, the shop was still as underwhelming as it was before he left Moonglow so many years ago, having only the most basic alchemy supplies. He hissed annoyedly as they left the shop, continuing down the road towards the actual magery shop.

Towards the next crossing in the road was a child playing with fire. His bones shuddered slightly, despite being cleansed of Seryas's taint he was still uncomfortable being near fire. However, as he neared he noticed the child appeared to be of Jhelomian descent. He recognised the skin colour and features of the child, tannish skin with dark brown hair and eyes, uncommon features around Moonglow. Even more uncommon were Jhelomians interested in the arcane, he thought back to his own childhood and the trouble he had trying to learn magery. He was the only one during his time as a student, he could remember how strange it felt to be alone. Other kids would joke about him and his accent for a year or two after he began his studies at the Lycaeum, the jokes died down after he taught himself to speak with a Moonglow accent. He began to wonder if the many alchemy experiments he conducted to try and "cheat" mortal needs, such as food or sleep, was another reason why the mocking stopped. His skin eventually began to lose its colour, eventually he began to look more of a sickly beige. If only the alchemy shop was properly stocked and had better equipment....

He regained his focus and realized he was staring at the child, hearing her call for her mother. The girl didn't have a Jhelomian accent, he wondered if she was actually from the isle itself. He looked towards the girl's mother, recognising her as an old friend. A number of realizations quickly came over him, his head flooded with thought. He was the only one who looked like the child around Moonglow... And the woman, his friend, his only friend, he became quite close with during the last few weeks he spent at Moonglow. It had been eight or nine years since he left Moonglow, approximately the age the child looked. Completely taken by amazement, he finally took a step forward and spoke.
"...Quinn? Is that you?" he said softly, tilting his head to the side slightly as he studied her. A shocked expression came over her face, what other obvious member of the Order of the Ebon Skull would know her name?
"...Norture?" She eventually asked him, watching him closely. He replied with a slow nod of his skull. For a few moments, they stared at each other quietly, before Norture spoke again.
"That girl.. is she... mine?" He slowly asked, looking to the girl who was now hiding behind Quinn.
"...Emily... This is your father." Quinn said after a few moments.

Norture stood with them for some time speaking, learning about his daughter. She was quite a bit like him, having a natural like for the arcane and feeling out of place in Moonglow. She had so much potential, he couldn't just let her talents go to waste in Moonglow, he wanted to bring her back to Umbra with him.
"Quinn, is there anything keeping you here, do you like Moonglow?" he asked her.
"No... Not really. I was planning on eventually moving back to Britain." Quinn replied, shaking her head.
"Come with us. Come to Umbra." Norture said.
"Ah... uh... I thought of going before... but I wasn't sure if you would recognise me or not... If you had become a mindless slave of evil, like a lot of the ledgends of Dagger Isle go." Quinn answerered uneasily. Emily tugged on her mother's robe, asking where Umbra was, however she was now quite focused on Norture.
"I am still myself... I might look different, but you knew me in life. Surely you must agree this suits me more." he replied. She nodded slowly, having known how he tried to defy mortality, and not being able to access any books that would teach him how to do it properly. Noting her nod, he continued, "I want to be with you... And Emily. I could teach her."
Emily looked up at him quickly, scowling slightly.
"I am learning good from momma!" she said, and attempted to cast a sixth circle spell. Norture chuckled, the girl's ambition impressed him. Emily looked back to Quinn, "I don't like it here.... they are dumb here."
"Neither do I, Emily." Quinn replied to her, looking down at her. After a few more exchanges of words, the group of them left for Umbra.

Norture stood near Quinn and Emily, watching as they reacted to the landscape surrounding the Cathedral.
"The trees.. Why are the trees naked momma?" Emily said as she looked around at the forest surrounding them.
"Because they're dead." Quinn replied to her, examining one of the large mushrooms that grew in the Umbran area.
"Oh.. do they need water?" Emily asked, before turning around and spotting one of the giant mushrooms herself. "Look at this! It's as big as me momma!" she exclaimed with wide eyes. Norture watched her, pleased. She would do so much better in Umbra. He then motioned towards the Cathedral and invited them both in. Emily looked up to her mother and inquired as to what was worshipped there. Quinn looked to Norture, then back to Emily and said it would be best for him to answer. Within the Cathedral Norture began to explain the ideals of the Order, however Satih Ogara who had been watching stepped in and began to help. Norture nodded and sat down, as Lord Ogara welcomed them to. It was quite an honor to have the Ancient of Corruption offer to explain the religion. Ogara presented the ideas quite well, he still had old charming personality. Emily seemed to really enjoy speaking with him, and seemed to grasp the ideas being presented. Norture took Quinn's hand with his own, pleased with the turn of events that evening.

Later on that evening, the group of them left for Umbra. Emily was equally as enchanted with the city as she was with the grove surrounding Charnel Hill. They continued to chat outside of the inn for a while, until Norture asked if he could speak with Ogara in private. The Ancient nodded and said to meet him at Charnel Hill, then told Quinn and Emily he would take them to a room they could use at the inn. Norture slowly walked back towards Charnel Hill, Ogara had been quite helpful this evening, and most likely could use an explination as to what was going on. He began to think through everything he had learned of the arcane, and started to plan what he would teach his daughter first. Someday, she would become a powerful and respected mage, as he was.