Log View

Source	Contents
Amethyst	It's a path going through a forest. It's cold, too. How deep even is this forest, and how far in does this trail go? It's still visible through the marks left scorched into the ground, but this is fairly far away from Great Forks. Fortunately, such questions are about to be answered. Around a bend, in the distance is someone walking. And as she grows closer, there's various bottles and vials and pouches strapped to her, as well as a backpack of who knows what, and violet-tinged goggles. Signature ears are pointing forward, and radar-dishing around, keeping an ear on her surroundings. That definitely looks like a strange alchemist.
Bright Journey	There's certain tradeoffs that have to be made when tracking. They're minimal when there's actually something vaguely resembling a path, fortunately, but still, some concessions have to be made. For instance, trying to move with stealth slows most people down so much (and doubly so in armor!) that there's no way Bright can do so and have a chance of catching up to anyone. If the trail were at all difficult to follow, she's be slowed down even more. So, while Bright isn't running or announcing her presence, she's still faintly audible from some distance away. Between deepening mist, darkened sky, and the eerie quiet, this forest is more than creepy enough, at least right now. The soft sounds of someone briskly walking up from behind seem to carry like an army on the move, and if any forest animals were around, they seemed to be holding their breath in abeyance.
Amethyst	For her part, Amethyst's maybe not a master of nature, but she's been here long enough to be fairly familiar with the sounds and smells. And tho they are not in Wintersong as of yet, they are close. And maybe this is a chance for her to be more forest-guardian-like, as what one earth would bring someone way out here, deep into the forest? Walking along the very path she followed here! And the one she takes back to civlization. But as approaches, she discovers that it's none other than one of the folks she met in that meeting where she layed out her plan for own capture after she obtained an antidote. "Hey." Her formerly tense expression relaxes a little. But she's still very curious what would bring her way out here. "What's going on?" Concerned ears go back.
Bright Journey	When Bright becomes visible, she looks concerned and aware, and ready, though not eager, for battle. Despite the cold and misty evening, her hood is thrown back, cloak behind her flared epaulets. She has a few extra accouterments she was not sporting in the meeting, specifically two quivers of arrows (one on her back, one on her left hip), and an immensely tall bow in her hands. It seems equal parts silver and bone, and she has an arrow nocked, but not drawn, when she becomes visible around the bend. Her pink eyebrows raise in surprise when she sees Amethyst, and while she's not putting her weapon away yet, she does at least relax a bit and offer a bit of a smile in greeting. "Ah. Good evening...erm...Amethyst, right? I'm not sure who I was expecting, coming along here, but it was certainly not yourself." She looks left and right, trying to see if there's anyone else around, then her expressions oftens as she looks at Amethyst. "I remember you're an alchemist, are you not? Was that your house?" She sighs dramatically. "If so, the gods are toying with me."
Amethyst	There's a flash of something silver and a stirring of essence when Bright gets her weapon. Quick motions as Amethyst herself pulls back into more of a defensive stance. But seeing Bright relax, so does she. But she's still holding something in her hand. And then when mention that 'house', there's just this groan. Tired ears go down and just kinda flop around as she returns whatever she grabbed to its pouch, and runs her hand through her hair. "Yep." There's reluctance. "That was mine. Don't tell me you came all of this way out here looking for me." . o 0 (And to ask me what happened for heaven's sake.)
Bright Journey	At this point, Bright looks at least a slight bit less inclined to believe battle is imminent. She looks a touch more relaxed, though, not entirely, as she flips the arrow she'd had nicked back into her back quiver with a smooth, practiced motion. She doesn't let go of the bow in her left hand, however, as she considers Amethyst curiously. "I admit," Bright replies, "that I had some nefarious things rattling around in my mind when I saw that. Come to think of it, if it was yours, those thoughts might be -more- likely. Not about you personally, you understand, but that the cult we're hunting down might have found and destroyed it, mayhap to destroy evidence, or as revenge for not working with them..." She shrugs elaborately and puts her hand on her hip. "There's a lot of possibilities, of course. But rest assured I had no idea the place was yours and I was not searching for you personally. I just heard word of a skilled alchemist and I was hoping to have a word, or maybe buy a book or two on the subject."
Amethyst	"Well, I'm alright, and let's call what happened there at my shop a mistake more than anything else. And, well." The alchemical glimmers a little when she hears of her own reputation. "I'm glad to hear that I am known to be skilled. Well, I am at your disposal, whatever questions you might have." There's still worry and concern on her face, but at least she's smiling.
Bright Journey	"Heck of a mistake," Bright answers with a small smile, "considering how much firedust there was. But it's impolite of me to pry, no matter my curiosity. A lot of my questions are things we already discussed the other day, in truth. I was looking for a separate opinion about some of the alchemical processes, especially this poison, and, well..." Her voice trails off for a moment, and she gets a rather rueful look on her face. "I was really trying to find someone who was completely unrelated to the situation, someone I could ask things of without sounding like I was questioning anyone's alchemical acumen and, well, trying to find something to -do- while you all collected the ingredients. Of course, that plan has spectacularly fallen through." She chuckles quietly. "Thus why the gods are toying with me. "While I -am- interested in someday taking up alchemy, the fact is I have a -lot- of interests now and it seems I gain more every time I run across any of you all. I am already buckling down on my archery, for instance, though my first love and best talent is still diplomacy, negotiation." She gets a wistful look. "Well, best talent, anyway. I've yet to find my love again. But that's a topic for another time."
Amethyst	"Love is quite a tricky thing." Amethyst says, nodding. "Well, I have plenty of books on Alchemy. Tho, most of them are written in high realm, and come from The Realm. A few others come from around Creation specializing in their locales." "But I have good news about the poison. Not only have I all the ingridents to replicate it, but I also have an antidote now, thanks to the efforts of myself, Rishi, and Hoarfrost. Now we just need to bait them into taking me, and we should be set."
Bright Journey	Bright smiles just a bit as Amethyst replies immediately to the love and books thing. She's not upset at all, or she doesn't look it. Just slightly amused. Instead of addressing that, though, she nods in understanding as Amethystr starts to explain the situation. "I'm...well, I can't call myself 'fluent like a native' in High Realm, but I do know that and several other languages. Most books will not be a real problem. I've even learned some Old Realm, though I think I might go cross-eyed reading that stuff. Direction languages, not so much, though. "As for poison, that's great news. I won't lie, though, I'm still worried about your safety. Everyone else going in has, shall we say, hidden talents? But I think you were sort of chafing at that a bit, unless I misread the situation. Are you sure you'll be all right?"
Amethyst	"Everyone's worried about my safety. But I assure you that I'll be alright. Tho this poison is potent enough to affect the Chosen, it might not have the strength to truly keep us under. But at the least it'll make /doing/ anything very difficult. Hmm, I should actually experience what it's like to have the stuff in my system before we go there, come to think of it." Amethyst speaks as tho she's exalted herself. And given all the fuss she made, she was most certianly not one before.
Bright Journey	At this, Bright tilts her head to one side a bit, a burning curiosity obvious on her face as she considers Amethyst before her. Still, she's obviously not so gauche as to ask, since she simply replies with, "Well, try not to make me a liar, if you could." She gets a cheeky little grin. "I heard tell you're a very good alchemist, and I'm going to assume 'dying from your own poison that you administered on purpose' is not high on the list of accepted alchemist obituaries. So if you could at least try to stay alive I'd rather appreciate it." Bright Journey taps her chin thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, perhaps we should be sure of the plan. You and your team are infiltrating, correct, and the rest of us are going to be outside ready to ride in when we're needed. I need to talk to Tenzen, too, and perhaps Silk about cleaning up all those tails the cult keeps setting on us in town. Perhaps we can blind them long enough to make sure they don't know what you're up to."
Amethyst	Amethyst's own wide ears are curious, trying to discern what it is that she said. And then she realizes. "Oh! I didn't tell you. In the time between I've taken my second breath." Amethyst poses dramatically and conjures up a ball of water in a flash of dark blue and violet. And then she just tosses it into the air as little droplets of mist rain back down. "I am a child of Danaa'd." She grins widely. Happy ears go up. "As for the plan, it's me, Spring, and Rishi infiltrating. And then the rest of you will trail us and break in when we give the signal. Once inside, we're going to investigate and see if we can find my father and free any other captives along the way. Then you guys will come in and strike so that we can all escape." Amethyst explains. "Me, Tenken and Hoarfrost have met up sometime before this in his temple. And since I've been staying out of town, I doubt they have any idea what's happened to me. And I wish them luck if they try to actually breach the defenses of the Demasne that Frosty and I have been living in. All we need now, is a surefire way to bait them into attacking me."
Bright Journey	Bright's silver eyes widen, and her small smile widens as well, apparently honestly happy. "Well! The gods really do work in mysterious ways, don't they? Congratulations! You didn't really say it out loud, but I could kind of tell you were feeling a touch out of place among everyone else in our big meeting. Not that your skills are any more or less valued, I assure you. I am not a priest, mind you, but I see it as sort of a validation of your talent and efforts, and especially of your importance to what we're doing." She chuckles again. "So, you know, please be doubly sure to not die from your own poison. Especially as a child of Danaa'd!" She laughs out loud. Bright pause a moment to listen, nodding and absorbing the plan's details. She thinks for a moment, but really, it seems from her knowing expression that she already has a couple ideas. "Well, I was just talking about blinding them. We can use the same principle to get them to at least follow you--after all, they have to know where you are first. If you don't pick up a tail when you get into Great Forks, you can swing by the temple and probably pick up one. As for baiting them to capture you, what would make them want to take action? Knowledge of their little poison might do it but I'm not sure you want to play that card in the first hand."
Amethyst	"It means something to hear that from one of the sun's chosen." Amethyst says, smiling herself. Happy ears go up. Also 'sun's chosen' is certianly not a word a honest Immaculate would use. A lot has changed in the little Dragon, surely. But then Exaltation always changes folks. "As far as baiting them out? What if they thought they'd have the upper hand against me? Or maybe I can convince them that we're a big threat. I'm going to have my alchemy shop rebuilt sometime soon. That might be a good time to attack me, when I'm first setting up my new shop, or maybe while examining the eye talisman. It's gonna be right where the old one was, and if they don't know where that place is, or that I'm staying there, maybe they aren't the threat that we think they are."
Bright Journey	Bright nods slowly as Amethyst speaks, and the wheels are practically visibly turning in her head. She doesn't seem fazed by the Sun's Chosen moniker, though. Perhaps she's not quite as up on Immaculate lore, or just has her mind on other things. She certainly does respond, however, to the speculation on strategy. "Upper hand -could- work, but they might be more cautious with that kind of thing. I'd call it a last resort. I'd rather put them in a position where they -have- to act and damn the consequences. Kidnapping someone is something they do all the time, but they know you have powerful friends, even if they don't yet realize you're more dangerous than you appear as it is. Furthermore, this will be easier if we can do it -before- they realize you're a chosen of the dragons. They must assume you have some use already, just because of what all of us have been doing, but the quicker the better in this case." Bright snaps her fingers, a loud, echoing click in the quiet forest. "That's it. What if we put out a rumor suggesting that the reason your shop burned down, and the reason you're rebuilding it so quickly, is because you're hard at work developing an antidote to a deadly poison or disease that's started to make the rounds? That's far enough that ordinary folks won't know what's happening, but close enough that the cult will surely assume it's about them. Or at least won't be able to take the chance. I know it's playing that card early, but hopefully suggesting it's not yet created will help, and I can't think of anything that would get them moving faster."
Amethyst	"I think that sounds like a great idea. And it's not like I've formally announced that I am a Dragon yet. Tho anyone who'd spent any length of time in the workshop behind the scenes would've noticed the strange withering marks on everything as she accidentially flared her anima hotter than her worktable could handle. Essence fever is a potent drug. "And I'm also amassing resources, clearly indicated by the fact that my new shop will be much grander than my old one."
Bright Journey	Bright Journey slowly nods, thinking still. "I don't know enough about alchemy--really, I'm only a decently skilled herbalist--to really be able to help in that way, but the strength of this is while we might not know -when- exactly thery'll make their move, we can control where. Your new shop seems like the place to be." She grins. "Just so long as we have more sawdust than firedust hanging around. I'm half afraid they might try to do something to your shop. Possibly again."
Amethyst	"Well, it'll be made out of stone, something tough enough to withstand my anima." Amethyst explains. "The trouble with not knowing the when is having Rishi and Spring around at the time. Tho I'm sure Rishi wouldn't mind staying with me, the point is that she needs to be in my pocket, or, maybe failing that, scurring along and sneaking in with me. This could go fairly far south if we're not careful, as I'm sure if they can restrain my father they can also restrain me. And I doubt they'd let me keep my alchemy equipment."
Bright Journey	Nodding in reply, Bright crosses her arms and looks at the misty ground. "They surely won't! They may dose you right away, too, before or after interrogation. We need to make certain you're not alone once that rumor gets spread. It's your best chance at safety once things are set in motion. The only reason this plan makes any sense is if you have Lunars with you, so we have to do everything we can to be sure they stay put and with you. I'm sure you'll have plenty of that antidote--I'm assuming with the Lunars, since they'd find them on you--and we'll need that to rescue those people. And to get you back on your feet if they go that route." Bright looks around at the forest, those wheels still turning. "Is this are a reasonably safe place to talk? We're a good half a day from Great Forks, at least. This might be where we all need to get things finally set and the plan put into action."
Amethyst	"The Wintersong Forest proper is definitely a safe place. You should've seen the hell it took me to find it the first time." Amethyst says. "It wasn't a great time. But now that I know the way I can take you there. It'd make sense for us to gather there and talk. I'll gather Spring Wind and Rishi and Hoarfrost and anyone else I can round up. For now, shall we?" The alchemist makes the move to continue down the path
Bright Journey	With a firm nod, Bright steps forward and joins Amethyst. She still has an eye out for dangers from without, but if she has apprehension any more from Amethyst herself, she's certainly not showing it. It looks like it's time to put plans in motion...