An Unexpected Visit
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(( There's simply no way to explain all of the background leading up to the encounter below. The camaraderie, hatred, romance, suspicion and backstabbing that had occurred between the main actors might have impressed the Peltarch Senate had any of it occurred in the open. When Lucid and I started reminiscing and looking through old logs a while back, I thought it'd be fun to write up a story about one pivotal moment. Enjoy! - mirror ))
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At dawn, the archdruidess approached the south gate of Norwick silently and invisibly. A wolf padded softly at her side. Raisa paused before the heavy wooden doors and broke off a piece of vervain root to chew. The colors of the world shifted in the eerie way that she knew meant a headache was forming, as if she did not already expect the prior evening's stress to trigger one.
The Circle meeting had lasted most of the night and, as had become typical, little was achieved. Even as Jerr stepped up as emissary, the negotiations between Norwick, the Keep, the Circle, and the yuan-ti were on the verge of collapse. The drow had been raiding the woods not far from the Circle's home, and no one knew which would be worse: for the drow to capture the yuan-ti orb or the reverse. Though all this weighed on Raisa's mind, the Circle allowed itself to be disrupted by a petty squabble. A gypsy camp elder in cat shape had snapped at a saurial under the Circle's protection. Fadia, one of the Circle's elders, stood prepared to defend the saurial with force. Most of the druids and protectors present tried to calm the three down, but the bonds that were breaking were too old and painful to be restored with mere words. The situation ended with all parties scattering to the far corners of Narfell.
When the others had gone, Raisa and her husband, Wolf, made their own plans in secret, invisibly passing even the Keeper on his way to the Glen. The archdruidess was intent on speaking with the Chancellor of Norwick, which the Circle had all but forbidden her to do. He had been seen wearing the collars that the yuan-ti used on the saurials to control their minds. His recent opinions on the looming war were seen by some as yuan-ti directed sabotage. Yet Raisa felt she knew him better, having seen what she took to be his true self. The Chancellor was weak-willed and so obsessed by power that even a cleric of Corellon refused to intercede when Raisa asked. That the Chancellor would lash out with his new found power was predictable, especially if he thought he could acquire one of the Nar control orbs.
The vervain cooling on her tongue awakened Raisa from her reverie. She knocked on Norwick's gate to break the invisibility spell. A raven that had been circling overhead came to a silent rest on her shoulder. The wolf gave a yap and stood on its hind legs. When the sound of flesh and bone twisting subsided, a man stood where the wolf had. Wolf opened the gate and husband and wife made their way toward the great hall.
Wolf eyed the guards uneasily as he and his wife entered. “Hi Lucid,” he said flatly.
Lucidious Corvance glanced over from where he stood consulting with his advisor, Fendon. The Chancellor's hand rested on the hilt of the longsword he'd been seen polishing and admiring of late. For an instant the druids could see him frown, but it was swept away quickly and replaced with a disingenuous smile as as the pale elf bowed his head.
“Hello, how are you both?” he asked without meeting their eyes.
“Well." Raisa bowed her head in return. "There is something we should discuss. If you have time.”
The Chancellor pulled his hand away from the hilt of his sword, letting his cloak cover it from sight. He nodded. “Of course. Here? Or some place more private?”
“More privately may be the best,” Raisa stated with her thick Rashemi accent.
“As you wish,” Lucidious said. He turned to his advisor. “Fendon, I will return shortly. Tell Mord to wait for me.” He turned back to the druids. “Come with me.”
Lucidious led them into the recently relocated chapel, still called Fred's though the Friar had fled Norwick many years in the past. When they reached the top of the narrow wooden stairs,Wolf looked around the upper room. It was plain for something few had seen.
“We won't be disturbed here,” said the chancellor with a small smile as he locked the door. “Not many have the key to this floor. It should do well enough.”
The room went quiet. The pleasantries fled their company as soon as witnesses were gone. Wolf stood at Raisa's side as ever. Her constant protector, a full head taller than the other two and wrapped in a stoic silence. The raven on Raisa's shoulder kept one inscrutable eye on the chancellor as it always did in the elf's presence. The archdruidess herself let her staff support her weight. She closed her eyes and waited for the strength to come to her. Behind her eyelids, the lights pulsed while the headache lodged itself between her thoughts. When the strength rose, she fixed her gaze on Lucidious, solidly, and her expression hardened like stone.
“Open my eyes?” she began, trying to restrain the anger bubbling beneath the surface. “You said I should open my eyes?”
Confused and caught off guard, Lucidious glanced to Wolf for help that did not come. “Pardon?” the elf asked, giving Raisa an odd look.
“I am told with certainty that you said I should open my eyes.” Her voice gained confidence and an edge of that hidden fury as she continued. She knew to pick the next words carefully. “In private perhaps.”
Lucidious shifted a foot back and narrowed his eyes. Penny, he thought. He'd said that to Penny in confidence. She must have told Fadia who'd in turn told Raisa. She would hear about his displeasure, he decided.
“What is this…” he asked, turning to Wolf again.
Yet Wolf was silent, and Raisa continued. “I have been pained with sights beyond words. I have collapsed under visions I can described to no one. And you want me to open my eyes? No, you do not even ask me. You whisper. You mock. And you shrink in my presence.”
Lucidious pressed his lips tight and looked to the floor. His white face was growing red.
“And why, Lucidious? You even asked me not to name my goddess in bidding you farewell. Yet in the Keep you looked to me like a child begging for approval.” Raisa started to speak words she had dared not. A voice urged her on. Tell him. Tell him. The light in the room seemed to intesify to her. The fair skinned before before seemed a gnat in comparison to the vision. You are an ethran of Bhalla, the voice whispered. Archdruidess. High priestess. He is nothing. She stared at him directly, her eyes alight like bonfires, and she waited until at last his gaze matched hers, his anger just as evident.
“Do you want to know what I see when my eyes are open?” she asked. “I see the death rattle of a broken empire. I see scavengers fighting over the bones of Narfell That Was and calling it treasure. That is what I see.”
Raisa went quiet, but her eyes remained on the pale elf. The red fled from Lucidious's face, but a deep scowl remained. He brushed aside a few stray strands of hair from his face and looked to her feet. He looked up at Wolf, but the druid's guarded expression gave him no answers.
Raisa spoke again. Softly but no less urgently. “Do you think you can simply march on the yuan-ti, take their orb, and become a hero?”
“Hero?” Lucidious scoffed. “Hero!” He leveled a finger at Raisa and spoke with a dark tone. “You are blind! By the…” When the words failed him, he whipped his gaze to Wolf and glared.
“By the...?” Raisa asked pointedly. She had the Three to swear by. What had he?
“Get out.” Lucidious said and lowered his voice. “After I have taken Rando's head, I will speak with you again.”
Raisa bowed her head. “I was trained to be the heart of my people. You will find pushing me is not easy.”
“You have no choice! Damn it!” Lucidious shouted.
“There is always a choice,” Raisa said as she and Wolf descended the stairs.
“I disagree,” Lucidious said to the empty room.
~:~
Outside, the druids headed toward the woods at a quick pace.
“Went well,” Wolf said in Common-accented Rashemi.
“Better than I hoped,” Raisa said, reaching to rub her temples.
“What does he mean by 'no choice'?”
“He thinks he has the answer. The only one. He thinks he can control an orb. Touch one without being corrupted.”
“This much I figured out,” Wolf mumbled. He'd hoped to hear more of her thoughts, but he had grown used to her half-answers and knew better than to pry when the headaches were upon her.
The two left Norwick under the same heavy silence with which they arrived. Whatever might result from the morning, there was no going back to the way things were now.