Previously, on Vale Quest

>>Rolling!
Unless otherwise stated, Vale Quest's Skill Rolls the first three posters' 1d100 rolls. If the main character is skilled with something, then the highest roll will be taken. If the main character is unskilled, then the median roll will be taken. Certain situations or levels of skill will change the DC of each roll, and if the main character is particularly unskilled/ignorant, the lowest roll will be taken.

Abel has a hunter's skillset, and recently learned swordsmanship. Can forage in forests, shrublands, grasslands, and marshes. He's also quite good at crafting, forging, and carving, due to knowledge given by Veez. He also has an ability called Tenacity, which allows him to succeed at any physical skill without needing to roll, though he has a limit of Tenacity points.
Tenacity: 2

Now or then, the players will be asked to roll a 1d6. These will be known as Event rolls, and only the first such roll will be received. This does not (usually) mean that high is good and low is bad, but it's simply a randomization factor.
Abel has elven glamour and knowledge bound into his upper arm, gift of Leez, which allows him to see through glamour and rarely forge things with perfect skill.
And finally, Abel is a Magus- something that even he doesn't understand in it's entirety. From what he can gather, the four spirits are bound to obey his bloodline due to his ancestors, and he has to ask for specific boons in a very specific language. Right now, Abel bears three boons- one boon is to separate a shapeshifter- or other moon and magic based creature- from their own 'Moon', making it so that the phases of the moon have no relevance to magic. The other is one that allows him to transport anywhere in the world as long as it has a body of water, though the incantation time is nearly an hour. The third boon is one that promises great destruction in trade for a tenacity point.

>>Inventory-
Currency: 3 Florin, 4 gold, 8 silver, 22 Copper, 630 Banknotes
Survival kit, Medical Kit, Lantern, Fishing gear.
Rations: As much as you'll need. (I'm sick of counting this.)
Dragon Bow, 30 arrows, 7 rowan, 5 silver, 5 cold iron, 10 dragonbone, 1 Kraken Sleep
Mateba Autorevolver, 3 rounds.
Sanctis Rifle, 6 slugs, 6 shells
Armor, Belts, Quivers, Sword, Wyvern
Potion Bandolier- Aqua Sanctis (full), Lantern Oil (Half), Strange Magic Phial (Minty! Full), Sturdy Alchemy Set
	Large Satchel (Empty),
	Large Satchel (Empty),
	Large Satchel (Empty)
Book satchel- Marsh book,
	Map Key: http://imgur.com/HS1Gdre
	Map of Region 10: http://i.imgur.com/auJbTcG.png
	Map of Region 14: http://i.imgur.com/I89Xklo.png
	Map of Region 9: http://i.imgur.com/wuzxlVM.png

>>Characters-
>Abel:
A young, fit man with short brown hair, unshaved dark stubble, blue eyes, Abel is our primary protagonist. He's currently wearing green scale armor, with iron rings underneath.

>Ariana:
A young girl with red hair, a brown cloak, and basic leather clothing, Ariana is a witch, traveling to learn about her powers. She has the Gift of Vermin, the Gift of Truth, the Gift of Shadows, the Gift of Living, and her final power, which is said not to be a gift... Void. Currently in Sanctuary, her gryphon familiar sticks with the rest of the group, so that she can give assistance if necessary. She's become a Nobilis, as well as head of the Catastra family, so she is trying to figure out how to deal with her new responsibilities- though, in her words, it isn't as bad as fighting a kraken.

>Cassandra:
A young woman with black hair, green eyes, and freckles, Cass is the last survivor of a changeling compound- a home, for part-blooded humans. She normally wears a green scale tunic, made of dragon scale, but underneath that, she hides her green and black striped tail, proof of the troll blood that resides within her. Ever since Thor has showed up, she's been beaming constantly, touching or kissing him as if to reassure herself that he was still there.

>Tannis:
A rather friendly young Maenad with pale blue hair, orange eyes, and the figure of a teenage boy. Tannis was born north of Lys, to a single maenad mother and her father, a sandborn nomad. She defeated Anakata in a duel, and lost most of one of her ears for it, and is a skiitaran princeps from her mother's side. She's recently admitted to Abel that she'd fallen in love with him, and since then, she's been rather cold to everyone

>Kale/Kelaris:
A centuries old elf who constantly grins and seems rather whimsical. He has soft brown skin and hair that's a green so dark that it's almost black, lightening into mint green near the tips. As an elf, he's incredibly graceful, slender, has long, pointed ears, and walks almost entirely on his tip-toes, his heels never touching the ground. He seems to have an ability revolving around illusions- one he calls 'glamour'. He's following the group due to an obsession with adventuring, it seems, and his lover lives in Lys, as a tattoo artist- but he once had an entire other life, it seems- A past that he doesn't want to unbury. Recently, he's... changed, his skin gone pale, eyes grey, and hair black, carrying a naked sword strapped to his back.

>Lyra:
A tall nordic woman, as well as Abel's sister, Lyra left home to join the Order of Kristoph soon after her mother's death. She's brash, active, and an expert swordswoman, apparently able to defeat most of the order templars alone. She wears a much lighter mail version of the Order Armor, and has a small kite shield for her own protection. She's an initiate of the order, and is apparently Crios's direct subordinate.

>Thor:
A badly scarred young changeling, Thor is a skiitaran guard, once living in the changeling compound with Cass. He's quite kind and seems to have greater strength of shapeshifting than Cass does- perhaps his troll blood is denser- and he's dove in front of his friends before to save them at risk of his own life.

>Astora:
A rail-thin woman with braided, she wears a long, flowing dress, and her hand is an intricately carved dragon's hand, made of obsidian and dark red stone. It burns with an inner light, shining through where the stone was thin. Ariana's sister, she wants nothing more than to watch over her. Astora seems rather confident most of the time, but at times she'll reveal that she's not as strong as she acts. She's interested in Abel romantically. She has the Gift of Flame, the Gift of Sight, and the previously undiscovered Gift of Vermin.  Astora is Nobilis, a title among the witches, due to her Gift of Flame and her familiar, a large red dragon. Her familiar is now dead, and though she remains soultorn, she's lately been in a rather good mood.

>Andalus:
An eccentric young man with dark hair, pale skin, and only one grey eye, Andalus is Princeps of Skiitara, the son of the emperor, and some sort of craftsman. He wears a thin set of plate armor, tinted blue by the cobalt and steel-based alloy he'd used to construct it, as well as a similarly-colored eyepatch over his missing eye, and an enormous metal crossbow on his back, with multiple cables. He speaks strangely, and much isn't known about him yet. His true title, one even he doesn't know, is that he is the Overseer, and his name? Daedalus.

>Sansa:
A young girl with short, perfectly trimmed brown hair and hazel eyes, Sansa is yet another witch, and she seems sternly responsible, but rather jumpy some of the time. Once part of a family that involved the 'bad kind' or Order Knights, she's since become adopted by Ariana and Astora as their sister. Her familiar is a brown and white goat, and her Gifts are the Gift of Vermin, Gift of Clay, and Gift of Flow. She seems to think badly of Abel, treating him poorly most of the time.

>Grump:
A large white unicorn, with the head of a goat, the tail of a lion, and a long spiraling horn. He's much smarter than he appears, has vague magical powers, and is incredibly fond of Abel, though he seems to dislike Hannah.

>Leez
A brownskinned, tribally tattooed elf with shining copper hair and orange eyes, she is Kale's 'lover', and rather predatory. She's brash, confident, and has a bad habit of saying things that cause other people to flush, embarrassed- she's almost a mirror image of Kale, opposite in all ways.

>Isalva:
A waifish, delicate girl, with nearly-translucent skin and dark hair. She's rather eloquent and well-spoken, but constant glee dances behind her eyes. Her father is Ezekiel Byrne, and she is Lyra's and Abel's half sister. Her tattoos are long, sprawling words in a foreign tongue covering her hands entirely, up to her elbows, and she happens to be a councilor of the Atlask nation and the ruler of Vann'ikal.

>Dirae:
An incredibly short, busty woman, with a permenant cold grin, pink hair, and with madness hiding in her eyes. She claimed that she was 'Gabriel's madness, his obsession, the part of himself he hates', and she's apparently thankful to Abel for ... something.

>Stirge:
A tall, powerful albino woman, with pure black eyes and a long black dress. Her eyes are constantly devoid of all emotion, and she seems to move and act rather dreamily. She is the same sort of being as Dirae, a 'shard' of Abel, the way Dirae is a 'shard' of Gabriel.

>Brenner:
The captain of the Silver Serpent, apparently a citizen of atlask and an adherent of Phell, he's a youthful, dark-skinned man, gray frizz for hair. He wore nothing but hodge-podge leather and cotton clothing, and had a strange bird-shaped tattoo on his forearm.

>Eldin:
A pale, weedy middle-aged man, with pale yellow hair, and a white shock on the left side. Old Maenad scars reach across his entire body, with pinker, newer scars layered on top. Eldin is a warlock with various gifts, and he's acting overtly against the Order of Kristoph. He has the Gift of Vermin, the Gift of Names, the Gift of Life, and the Gift of Tapping.

>Crios:
Sir Crios, a knight of the Order, mostly wears his traditional Order armor- gothic armor with a greathelm, and dozens of pouches and belts on his waist. The few times he removes his helmet, he's blond with twinkling brown eyes. Crios's aspirations are his own, but he always does what he believes is right. It was recently revealed that Eldin's plans were also partially his own brainchild.

>>Thread One-
Vale Quest opened up with Abel Barnes, a young hunter, traveling throughout the wilderness inside a large valley near his home village. He fell into some sort of ruins, and while trying to find his way out, he discovered a strange, unnatural sword that began to speak to him. When he went home, he discovered that his mother had died, and his sister had run off to join the Order, a magic-slaying group of knights. After a slight altercation with Gabriel, an old madman, he left to find his sister.

What he found instead, in one of the neighboring villages was Ariana, a young girl tied to a pyre for being a witch, and Crios, a knight of the order who was trying to save her. After doing his best to help her, it was decided that Ariana would travel with him, so that she could return to her home. At an inopportune moment, she admitted she *was* a witch, just in time for Crios to return, to ask to join them. Abel agreed, and the three of them set up camp for the night.

>>Thread Two-
The second thread of Vale Quest opened up in a very, very strange dream, in which Abel had a long conversation with his sword, who, other than rambling and arguing with itself, gave him three bits of information- first, that there's more than one 'weapon', second, that the two spirits inside the sword can speak to everyone with such a weapon, and third of all, the blade allows him to become 'Real'.

Abel promptly didn't quite understand, and the dream ended. Ariana and Crios traveled with him for some time, and they all ended up in Sardin City, where, after the tourist-y stuff, he went to speak to his sister. But when he tried to meet her, something... strange happened. Gabriel had somehow 'taken his place', subsuming Abel's entire identity.

During all of this, Ariana's sister, seemingly a witch, confronted Abel and Gabriel. More strange things happened, and Gabriel was burned alive, before he vanished and reality went back to normal, as if Gabriel had never been there. After which Ariana's sister apologized for confronting Abel and left. Abel was finally able to speak with his sister for several hours, after which, he found Ariana standing outside, impatiently.

And then she claimed Gabriel had been watching her.

>>Thread Three-
After returning to the tavern, Abel had a talk with Ariana about her magic and her sister, who was now known as Astora. Among other things, Ariana finally explained why she was traveling- As a coming of age, to learn more about her gifts. After the talk, Abel and Ariana decided to cross the marsh, going to the capital city of Garamon to the southwest.
Soon after going to sleep, Ariana's Gift of Truth activated again, and Abel could once again speak to his sword. They explained very little- not knowing or not caring to explain much, other than telling him that the sword has no innate powers that seperates Abel from any normal person.

After awakening, Abel set out into the city to go shopping, trading in his mother's jewelry for a new bow, set of armor, a dagger for Ariana, and a few informative books, before meeting Crios for training. After a short hour, Abel learned quite a bit about swordsmanship, and he learned that Lyra, as well as Crios and the other initiates, were going down to Angvard later in the day.

Returning to the tavern once again, Abel and Ariana prepared for their trip, and set off, leaving Sardin behind.

>>Thread Four-
Traveling down to Heaminster, Ariana and Abel spoke with a hunter who convinced them something- to deliver some supplies to a certain location next to a nearby swamp, and they did, just to find a strange, red-robed figure nervously complaining that they were late. The figure, Cass,  gave them a place to sleep for the night before traveling south.

Together, Ariana and Abel spent the next day walking through the marsh, and that night, Abel noticed something strange. He noticed another red-robed figure, this one different than Cass, leaping about the marsh with supernatural strength, fighting strange clawed humanoid figures. Soon after, he watched the figure and a knight of the order fight, before returning to camp. As soon as he did, he saw that Cass had woken Ariana out and put out the camp fire, claiming that the order was near.

Abel was about to speak up, when another humanoid, similar to the one the robed figure had been fighting, bowled him over.

>>Thread Five-
The thread opened with Abel fighting off a ghoul, before placing an arrow in it's chest. the undead refused to die, and called for it's packmates, so Cass pinned it with her staff and the group ran. It was quickly learned that Cass wasn't entirely human, and that she lived with other part-blooded humans in some sort of communal home, hiding from the order. The very same order that had just found their hideout.

They spent the next hour running somewhere safe, and without eating or a fire, slept on the cold, hard ground. When they awoke, they kept moving, just to run into a strange ghoul- one that was animate, despite it being daylight, and wearing the armor and gear of a Knight of the Order. After a short battle, Cass was bitten by the ghoul, and something... changed. Her troll blood was roused, and going berserk, she battered the ghoul so badly that it was entirely unable to move, before she passed out, afflicted with the poison ghouls carry.

It took her an entire day to awake, during which Abel carried her through the marsh, but she quickly fought off the poison. When Abel slept, his sword decided to start training him in his sleep. The next morning, it was learned that at the rate they were going, they'd quickly get through the rest of the marsh in only another few days, much more quickly than any of them had anticipated, and Cass had explained that Ariana's sister had given her a similar talk than the one she'd given Abel.

Soon after, Abel explained about his sword and his dreams, and then the group slept for the night- it'd be their last day at the marsh.

>>Thread Six-
After a simple morning, during which an otter gave Ariana a ring, the group traveled out of the march, running into a strange caravan of scratched, scarred men, who asked for help righting their wagon. Abel declined, thinking that the three were bandits, and made their way on, eventually stopping at an inn, where Cass's troll blood acted up and she became incapable of speaking for some time.
In the morning, they found that the inn was completely empty, as if nobody had been there in years. They left as quickly as their feet could take them, leaving their payment on the counter, and left.
They passed through Hoheath and stopped for the night, during which quite a few things happened. Ariana learned another one of her gifts, the Gift of Shadow, and after she went to bed, Cass and Abel shared a very painful, acidic kiss. It didn't turn out well.
The next morning, Abel, Ariana, and Cassandra got to Garamon, quickly meeting the same blacksmith from Sardin, and purchasing a spear for Cass.
That's when the maenads attacked the Order headquarters, declaring that they were no longer accepted in Garamon. The man who declared the order wasn't accepted was the same one from the wagon, several days ago- A warlock by the name of Eldin.

>>Thread Seven-
Wanting no problem, Abel sidled out of the way when Eldin and his maenads overtly acted against the order, and the city's ruler showed up, asking what the problem was. It was quickly revealed that the ruler's daughter was a changeling, and so the lord let the maenads stay. Abel, meanwhile, went off into an alleyway to discuss with his companions where to go next, during which Eldin arrived, and they spoke for some time, during which it was revealed that Crios was also acting against the Order of Kristoph, and that Eldin and Crios were once good friends.

After Eldin left, Abel happened to see Gabriel creep into a warehouse, and followed them- apparently Gabriel had worked on finding a team to equal Abel's companions, and did so- Kalla, a strange, mad woman, and Cor, a bulky, angry man. Asking Eldin for help and recieving Tannis, the four of them decided to work against Kalla while they knew where she was.

As usual, things didn't go as planned. Kalla had some magic ability which blew open half the street, and Tannis was caught in the blow.

>>Thread Eight-
Putting down Kalla in two arrows, Cor the were wolf and Gabriel both attacked, called by the sound of Kalla's magic. After a short battle, Astora and her dragon familiar arrived to tear Cor apart, killing the near-immortal werewolf easily, and Abel bested Gabriel in a swordfight, after which Gabriel's body vanished. Taking the group to a tavern, Astora joined the group to reunite with her sister, under the grounds that Garamon was a warzone, and thus Ariana was allowed to meet her despite her coming of age ritual.
Abel's sword told him to give his blade to Ariana when he slept, and he did, and had a very strange dream that night- one that explained very little- Something about being nobody, and about being the forty-second, and about meeting a strange being his dream had called 'God'.
The next morning, Abel sparred a bit with Astora, while Ariana, Tannis, and Cass went out to find a map to the south, across the ocean.

>>Thread Nine-
After lunch, Abel went out to speak to Eldin, and got his first proper mission- to deliver a message to a maenad named Anakata, in Amberway. Astora, Tannis, Cass, and Ariana all decided to come with, so he spent some time at the store trading for more food and supplies, spending the last of his copper, and the group set out.
On their way past Kefford, however, a strange woman asked them for help finding her stolen 'skin', and she led them to a man's house. the man introduced himself as Argent, but something seemed strange about him, before he drew out a revolver- something that shouldn't exist- and revealed himself to be Gabriel, threatening to kill either Cass or Tannis. Abel didn't hesitate, and threw his blade at the man, killing him.

At the last moment, Gabriel explained what he and Abel were. Angels, he claimed, the light of immeasurable fervor in his eyes.

>>Thread Ten-
Gabriel dead, Abel had a strange revelation, where for some strange reason, he... knew about firearms, and firearm technology. Soon after the man's death, the woman, Scylla, started frantically seeking her 'skin', and during her search, she inadvertently set the cabin aflame. Escaping the flaming cabin, Abel and Scylla checked the man's old shed, where they found a large chest. Opening it, Abel found some coins and Scylla found a large sheet of fish scales, exulted- apparently this was her 'skin'. By this time, however, the guards came by, so Scylla distracted them and ran into the ocean, taking her true form once again- that of a mermaid.

Abel quickly left the town, and that night, had a talk with the high Astora, during which he promised to look after her and Ariana. After shenanigans with Tannis, they awoke, and Abel asked Ariana about her book. There were two disturbing revelations- a myth that the world was made up of 'shards', and that the two largest shards were angels- One evil, and one good. The other was a note from Gabriel, in a strange language only he and Abel could speak. One that said that Gabriel's plans were changed. Abel spoke with his sword- the sword that named itself, after more needling by Abel. One voice was Ares, or Mars, or Athena, and the other voice, the serious one that refused to name itself, was the Rogue. Other than that and the fact that they didn't know what would happen if Gabriel took ahold of the sword, they refused, or were unable, to say much else of importance.
After that, and a short, heartwarming talk with Cassandra, the group set off again to Amberway.

>>Thread Eleven-
Walking along the road for some time, the group eventually passed Altin without incident, but when they passed through Falshire, a strange, dark-skinned man with pointed ears who declared that Abel was 'perfect' and essentially pushed his way into the group, and demonstrated use of his elven Glamours on the order knight that came out chasing him- at least, until Astora burned the knight alive.

With Kale in tow, the group continued further, during which Abel, Ari, and Astora had a short talk about Gifts and the nature of witches' magic, a talk which abruptly ended when Abel asked about their parents.

When the sun started to go low in the sky, Kale mentioned that he knew some rather good shelter near, and so they went into the forest to find a large cave, after which Abel and Cass decided to go hunting together. After getting a few rabbits, Cass and Abel were about to have a 'moment', when Astora arrived, saying that they'd been gone long enough to get worried. The two of them didn't hesitate to shoo Astora away, and they went back to the cave some time later.

Now with an extra few rations, Abel tried to bring forth his strange, unnatural knowledge, and worked on making black powder, setting things up for the morning, and went to sleep with Cass.

Abel's dream, however... his dream didn't involve his sword's voices. His dream involved Gabriel.

>Thread Twelve-
Gabriel's first response to the strange dream was to rant and rave about getting his name back, and that he wasn't talking to Abel, but the being that hides behind Abel, blaming it- and him- for everything. Furied, Gabriel said a strange, eldritch word- one that caused the very dream to shatter and to cause pain for everyone involved, and it was something Gabriel claimed was his 'name'. Near the very end of the dream, Ares arrived and woke Abel up.

Suddenly remembering his alchemy experiment, Abel looked at his setup and quickly distilled things into a small pouch of gunpowder, apparently successful, and then the group left to Amberway once again. Apparently, Cass and Astora had had a rather heated argument, and so they were at one another's throats the entire morning.

During the walk, however, Abel tripped over a large slab of rusted metal- something Kale apparently recognized, afraid to the point of losing his elven grace. He quickly explained that they were the Forged, machines from generations back, used to wage war. They quickly sped on their way.

The city of Amberway wasn't a very prosperous city- Made mostly of slums. With Tannis's help, the group quickly went and found their way to Anakata. Anakata, a dark-haired, scarred maenad who had obviously seen her share of battle, led Abel and company underground, to a large, maenad-populated undercity, made of rotted wood. She recieved the message, and then decided that Abel would be the target of a celebratory Hunt. Using his small satchel of gunpowder to distract the cat-shapeshifters, Abel and company ran out of the undercity, just to realize that Tannis hadn't joined them. The friendly maenad came stumbling out of the alleyway not long after, covered in blood and carrying Anakata's tail. Apparently they'd dueled, and Tannis had come out on top. Because of that, they were all safe in the city.

The group made their way to an inn, and bandaged Tannis up, before Abel and Astora made their way out into the city to find a fishmonger, having a short discussion about her and Cass's argument.

Once back at the inn with some fish, Abel proceeded to have conversations with Kale about his past, Tannis about the ramifications of the duel, and then went to sleep.
His dream, as usual, wasn't normal, showing him a snapshot of Gabriel... and the Forged.

>>Thread Thirteen-
After a dream about his past, Abel awoke, and then went out to find breakfast with Kale. While wandering the city, after getting enough food for everyone, Abel purchased some bread and apples for Kale, and the elf promised 'something or other' in return. Eventually, Abel entered an alchemist shop, and purchased a sturdy alchemy kit, as well as enough ingredients to make quite a bit of black powder, if he got charcoal.

When they got back to the room, everybody save for Astora was asleep- and Astora seemed to have something wrong with her gift. When asked what's wrong, she explained that gifts weren't all blessings, and said it was just pain, before leaving the room herself.

Soon enough, everyone else was awake for breakfast, and Tannis suddenly remembered that she had to handle being the leader of the pride, and left. After explaining what had happened to Ariana, the two of them left, seeking Astora, and eventually found her atop a small abandoned church. Deviously, Ariana sent Abel through the shadows alone, sending him to the top of the church.
Once there, Abel and her had a conversation during which she revealed that she was reluctant to leave, but she had to for Ariana's sake. Abel talked her out of it, instead making her swear not to use her gifts. After telling him to call her Tori, Astora sealed up her Gift of flame, quenching the fire entirely, and the two of them climbed down and returned to the tavern.

In their room, Tannis was back, asleep, while a strange gray maenad sat, calling herself Galatea, and the maenad equivalent of regent. After a short question and answer session, Tannis woke up, and Galatea asked her a few questions about which orders were to be carried out. Once Tannis organized all of that, the maenad left, and the party started discussing where to go next. Most of the votes were tied or abstained from voting, so it was up to Abel to make the decision, and Abel chose the same thing Ariana did.
To take a ship south, to Atlask.

>>Thread Fourteen-
The group purchased passage on the Silver Serpent, and spoke with the captain, before going back into the markets to purchase a few things- mostly, some fishing gear, and some greens for Kale. Soon enough, they set sail, and Kale and Abel both worked on the ship to make it cost less for most of the day, until Ariana came belowdecks to tell them they were relieved. After that, Abel had a long talk with Cass about their goals and destinations before going to bed. Of course, he immediately had an unusual dream, and the voices in his sword revealed more- that the dreams themselves were memories of his past, and that Ares had done Something to him, long ago. During the dream, after being attacked by an eyeless mutant, he found a revolver, identical to the one Gabriel had summoned. Assembling it, he was promptly murdered, and then woke up... With the revolver in hand.

That's when the knock came on the door.
Astora was at the door, it turned out, and she didn't waste any time asking about what Abel thought of her hand. The answer Abel gave apparently wasn't offensive, and the two of them went on a walk across the ship, talking, during which she revealed more about living as a dragon-familiared witch, a 'nobilis'. That done, Abel went back to bed, his arms still sore from the work that morning.

>>Thread Fifteen-

The next day was mostly spent working, but there was an... incident, with Cass, while sparring- she'd revealed her nature to almost everyone on board. The captain and first mate didn't seem to care that she wasn't human, and explained that they'd carried refugees before. Sometime later, Abel went sparring against her and Astora, and after a humiliating defeat, bested each of them. After the spar, during lunch, he pulled everyone in the party aside to tell them of the revolver that had come from his dream, and about his dream itself. Ariana was rather paranoid about the mention of the kraken, so she and Abel went to speak to the captain about his dream. True enough, the captain heeded Abel's dream and prepared for kraken. After that, they asked around to find out what they could about krakens, but the only useful info they got was that krakens hate noise of any sort.

Soon after, Abel called in his boon with Kale, requesting that the elf tell him the story of his blade. Kale agreed, and he gave quite a speech- the sword was not made by fey or mortal hands. Instead it was made the same way the earth was, made to be found where it had been found. Rather disturbed, Abel went belowdeck to make some gunpowder, and ran into Astora, who was controlling her familiar in Garamon. He pulled her aside and taught her how to make gunpowder, making an entire satchel of the stuff, and then it started raining. Worried that it was the kraken instead of the storm, Abel went abovedeck with Tori, getting sopping wet, as well as learning how much she loved the rain. Eventually, the two of them retired for the night, and awoke to Kale's voice, proclaiming that the kraken had arrived.

And the Kraken responded, with a furious cry.

>>Thread Sixteen

Abel's first instinct when the kraken arrived was to rush to the boat with Cass by his side, and two sailors, while Kale started using his glamours to distract the beast. The four of them launched off into the water and started throwing javelins- but the Kraken was too large, and too powerful, even after Cass hit a vein, and the Kraken had destroyed one dinghy and was about to eat the second.  From the crow's nest back on the ship, Kale fell to the ground, unconscious. Abel, worried, did the only thing he could. He drew his revolver and fired a single shot, drawing the beast's ire, and he used his satchel of gunpowder, blowing the beast to kingdom come.

While underwater, he happened to see someone else there, unconscious, and pulled them out of the water. It was Tannis. She'd been knocked clear when the kraken killed the other two men in the dinghy, and he pulled her out.
For the next day or so, Kale recovered, while Tannis stuck close to Abel with little explanation, traumatised by the water. Among other things, she stuck with Abel on a short fishing trip, and spoke with the captain about living in Atlask.

Time passed, and Kale was able to walk in a few days, having overexerted himself with his glamours, and eventually, they reached Vann'ikal. Except, instead of paying the captain like they thought they could, the captain paid Abel for slaying the kraken, and the group explored the city.
Eventually, near the gates, Tannis recognized something, and led the group through it, outside to a large, char-black caravan, populated with bandit-looking fellows. With a grin, a hug, and a pounce, she tackled the eldest, calling him 'dad'.

>>Thread Seventeen
Soon after meeting Tannis's father, Talbot, the group returned to the city to visit it, keeping an aye out for all the tourist sites. One of said sites was the councilor's hall, a tall tower made of crystal and glass. Not long after entering and noticing a stained glass mural of Atlask's three gods, a mysterious figure arrived and started speaking to Abel about them, giving him a quick summary of the three. Eventually, a steward arrived, and chastised to the figure- it turns out that the figure was a young girl, the councilor, and ruler of the city- Isalva. She ignored the steward, and continued speaking to Abel for some time until her eyes lit up- she'd determined that Abel was the son of a figure she'd heard much about as a girl. Ezekiel Byrne, an adventurer who fought a dragon. Then, she mentioned that he was her brother.

Some time later, after hearing the story about how Abel's father and Isalva's mother met the steward continued wheedling at the girl, and after meeting Abel's companions, she had to go and the group returned to Talbot's caravan. Together, the group left Vann'ikal and started toward Lys. Time passed as Abel, Talbot, and Ariana spoke, before lunch arrived. Everyone left their own wagons and started to eat, until Abel noticed a strange, albino girl in the distance. He approached her, and it was soon revealed that she knew of his and Gabriel's 'game', and that she'd observed every previous 'game' they'd played, answering whatever questions she could. Eventually, they spoke of the voices in Abel's sword, and her eyes grew wide. She started shaking Abel around, ranting at him to wake up, before finally giving up and vanishing.

During lunch, he went out to one of the wagons and saw Astora there, staring down at her demon's claw, her Gift of Flame, and she'd been drinking. Together, Abel and Tori spoke for a time, before deciding to carve her hand into something prettier. And carve they did, Abel smoothing out the entire hand and engraving scales into it, making it glow with an inner light. It was beautiful, and Astora said so, before giving the hunter a kiss.

And then together, the two went back to lunch.

>>Thread Eighteen-
Lunch started with everyone in good cheer. Astora's newly carved hand cheered her up immensely, and the mood was infectious. Soon enough, lunch was ended, and the caravan set off again, going through the desert. Abel ended up in a wagon with Cass, Kale, and Ariana, and eventually, after Ari fell asleep, Cass confessed that she wasn't feeling well- she felt like she couldn't move on, and that Abel was avoiding her. Eventually, discussion turned to the changeling compound, and Abel realized that it's likely that some other changelings made it out. The order knights were in heavy armor in a swamp, after all. With Ariana, Kale, and Abel's support, Cass decided to ask Astora for help finding them.

Some time later, the caravan stopped for the night, and Ariana was doing something strange, in the middle of the desert, far from the campfire. A strange dance, humming a simple, single tone song, before something... changed. Her eyes blazed with golden light, and the sand swirled around her, joining her in her dance. When it ended, she was 'marked' with golden eyes, as she'd awoken another Gift. She couldn't explain it adequately, and didn't quite understand what it did herself, but with Astora's advice, they decided it was something quite powerful.

They went back to the campfire, and immediately Tannis lay in Abel's lap, drunk. They spent some time talking, before Tannis suddenly, and without reason, slashed open Abel's cheek. Apologizing, she ran off, and Abel, of course, followed her.

He found her on a dune clawing at everything nearby- the sand and herself, mostly, and explained that during the new moon, she got predatory urges, and launched into a story about how she'd lost control and mauled a sandborn some years back, causing her father to send her north to learn about maenad. Uncharacteristically, Tannis talked in depth about how the maenad treated her- how she was raised improperly, and that she was too human to fit in there. Eventually, Tannis decided to ask her father about how her mother controlled her urges, and abel went back to the fire.

Eventually, Abel and Astora went drinking, and Astora intentionally took some rosemary, claiming that the ale wasn't strong enough for her. She ended up laying back, hands in the air, babbling stories about the barbarians in the north and about her own coming of age, before falling mostly asleep. Abel carried her to her bed, and Tori grabbed him, asking him to stay. And stay he did.

He was entirely unsurprised when his dream starred both Stirge and Gabriel.

>>Thread Nineteen-

For once, Gabriel wasn't as much a prick as he normally was. During Abel's dream with Gabriel and Stirge, they spoke a bit, Gabriel giving Abel three important pieces of information; First, that they- everyone- was trapped by something the dream showed as a great, malevolent, dark object in the sky. Second, that he wasn't very happy with Stirge's existence- apparently he took offense at Abel 'drawing upon' stirge, whatever that meant, and planned to 'dredge up' his own memories. Third... that Stirge had killed Abel and Gabriel, once.

When Abel awoke, the group set off once again. While traveling, he asked Astora about what was going on in Garamon- little was, it seemed- the knights had attacked, taken losses, and fallen back, and were hesitating to attack again.

During the ride with the caravan, however, the group was interrupted by a strange, violet-eyed man. He came riding a dragon, but claimed he had no familiar, and requested, repeatedly, to meet the witch that had 'brought him back' with the Gift of Rebirth. Apparently, Ariana's lightshow the last night had done something.

After bringing Astora out and speaking with the man, it was revealed that he was a wizard- a person who had stolen Gifts from witches and warlocks, and it was revealed that the person that had killed him last was Abel's father.
Combat ensued, and Abel took a nasty blow from one of the wizard's gifts, but he killed the man, while Cass killed the dragon, going berserk, revealing her full troll form- a tall, powerful, lizard-like being of muscle and scale, claws on her hands, spikes on her tail, dripping acid from her long, sharp teeth.

Time was spent dissecting the dragon while Abel healed up, and while Tori suffered the after-effects of using her gift. Abel chugged his potion of Aqua Ignis, and arranged the wizard's body in a way to prevent it from rising again, adding rowan wood to his ashes. Eventually the dissected dragon was done, and Talbot was willing to carry it to Lys for the group, though once there, they couldn't take it any further.

Time passed, and the group arrived at Lys, Cass still sleeping off her berserking. The sandborn went to the farms, to help them weed and till, and the group decided to help, spending most of the day working- even Ariana carried water to everybody. That night, past sundown, Tannis grabbed Abel by the shoulder and asked him to come with her.

Tannis showed Abel the coast, the northern sea, and most of all, an old, dusty cabin, confiding in him that it was where she lived before her mother died. Opening a chest there, she pulled out strange silver bands, to be placed on the ankles, forearms, and upper arms, preventing her to change to maenad, so that it was easier to control herself. Together, the two examined the chest together, which was full of lace, jewelry, and other clothing- things Tannis decided was some sort of dowry. The most significant object in the chest was a strange pouch that zapped abel to prevent him from opening it. Opening it herself without trouble, Tannis pulled out a journal, determining that it was written in the Skiitaran tongue.
Together, the two made their way out of the cabin and back to Lys.

>>Thread Twenty-
After returning to camp and going to sleep, Abel had a strange dream of Lyra and Crios, talking about him, but he soon awoke without any answers. Together, he and the rest of the group went into the city, lugging along all the parts from the dragon, yesterday. With it, they sold the meat, and arranged for some armor to be made, before making their way to a tattoo artist. One who instantly turned into a wolf, and chased Kale.

As it turns out, the woman who owned the tattoo shop was Leez, Kale's elven lover. Other than trying her best to molest Abel, she told him that she and Kale once knew Abel's father, and gave him a tattoo of his sword and spread wings, representing this latest journey. Some time later, the group decided to go to the arena and fight; Tannis, Astora, and Cass all decided to fight as well, apparently having come to some strange sort of agreement.

>>Thread Twenty-One-
The arena opened, and Abel fought and defeated, in order, a man named Javik, and Tannis. But his next match was... strange. The enemy combatant was small, with a constant, maddened grin, and a habit of repeating the same words over and over. After Abel defeated her, she named herself Dirae, and explained that 'she was the part of Gabriel that he hated'. Then, worryingly, she pulled him close, and whispered in his ear. She told Abel that he 'did all of this, just for me'.

After that worrying fight and conversation, Abel continued rising through the ranks of the arena, defeating both Astora and Cass. Having won every match, he got quite a bit of winnings, and while celebrating, Ariana pulled him aside to go shopping. They ended up at a small foriegn sweets shop, and started talking about her history, her newest Gift, and then about Abel's romantic endeavours. Abel suddenly remembered one of his dreams with Lyra, and confided with Ariana that he thought his sister would soon arrive.

Soon after, Abel and Ariana made their way out to the city, and purchased gifts for Astora, Cass, and Tannis, just before hearing a town crier's latest news.

The councilor of Vann'ikal had gone missing. Isavla had gone missing.

>>Thread Twenty-Two-
After making his way back to the tattoo parlor, where everyone else was, Abel and Ariana started giving away gifts, before Abel told them about the town crier. Astora tried using her Gift of Sight to find Isalva, but no luck.

The group all decided to make their way north, to Tannis's cabin on the coast, and Abel spent some time teaching Cass archery, and then helping Ariana clean up all the dust. Kale made dinner, and everyone ate together, before he left to go spend more time with Leez, and then everyone else migrated to the beach itself, where Astora and Cass started swimming.

Abel tried talking to the obviously unhappy Tannis, and she pounced him, pinning his wrists down with supernatural strength, and biting into his shoulder, her instincts taking control, and she stormed away. Abel started to go swim, but when he saw Tannis's expression... He turned back, and pulled Tannis into a tight hug, preventing her from moving. He had a short, heart-felt talk with her and her place in the world, and she started crying, curling up, and fell asleep.

The next morning, the first noise that everyone woke up to was a loud bang as someone slammed open the front door, and Lyra called out. After a quick selfintroduction, she revealed Isalva had come with her, and that Lyra intended to take her adventuring.

>>Thread Twenty-three-
After visiting with Isavla and Lyra, catching Lyra up on the events that had plagued Abel all the world round, he sparred with her, learning that she'd become some sort of savant when it comes to swordsmanship. Some time later, a large, red dragon arrived- Astora's familiar. She dragged him up into the sky with it to tell him that she was very fond of him- and he responded that he was fond of her, as well. After landing, Dirae arrived, asking for the sword. And when Abel refused... the Forged attacked. Things happened quickly. Tannis was injured, a spiked tail through her torso, and Astora's familiar died, vanishing from existence as she collapsed. Lyra decapitated Dirae and started firing bolts, while Ariana did her best to help, pulling the injured Tannis into the cabin, and then tried to use her Gift of Shadow to save the group who were cornered by the forged, when Gabriel arrived to command the forged in Dirae's stead.

Abel's response was to slay a Forged in a single blow, and then leap over it, to chop Gabriel into bits.
Gabriel didn't quite care, and ordered his Forged to kill their captives-
when Ariana's final Gift arrived, making great spheres of nothingness consume parts and bits of Forged and Gabriel, her gryphon familiar landing by her side.

Astora regained consciousness- just long enough to repeatedly murmur about how cold it was- and to declare her hatred for Abel.

>Thread Twenty-four-

Things went quickly. Ariana brought the healer from Lys, who quickly got to work on Tannis, with Abel's help. Soon enough, Tannis was healed, and the healer herself left, apparently securing some sort of promise from Ariana in return. Abel went out to the battlefield, to examine the Forged, and Kale came with. The two had a short conversation, during which Abel intended to leave alone, but with a punch and some well-placed words, Kale convinced him to let the others choose to follow him.

That settled Abel set his eyes out upon the Forged, and one of the voices spoke up. Rogue was meddling, helping him. Rogue gave him two important bits of knowledge- how to construct a large, spider-shaped weapon out of the remains of the Forged, and where to go next. Either the palace of Skiitara, or Bastion, home of the Order.
He returned to the cabin, where everyone- save the unconscious Astora was- and they all made their decisions to stick with Abel, save for Isavla. Ariana promised she'd be back in Familiar form after taking astora home, and then tested out her Gifts, using her Gift of Shadow to send Abel some distance away. Once there, her familiar asked Abel if he could keep Ariana's new Gift, called 'Void', private from everyone. He agreed, and she sent him back.

Back where Kale and his lover, Leez (Or Veezelshia) producing a weapon for him, using magic to pull a long-hafted woodsman's axe out of the wood, and enchanting it with sunlight. Abel took everyone out to see the enormous spider Forged he'd made, and Rogue privately asked him to call it... gearworks.
Turn of conversation with Leez turned once again to Abel's Father, and she revealed something rather disturbing- he wielded the spear Abel had seen on the mural.

While showing off the book with the mural, Lyra asked for the book- it was faded, but mentioned angels, which Crios was researching. Soon after, Stirge arrived. She said that the end was coming- that the 'game was closing' and that she was offering help. She'd hide Abel from Gabriel's view, giving him time to gather strength. Abel then spoke with his friends, and decided to go to Bastion, instead of the Skiitaran palace.

Astora awoke, Isavla trying futilely to keep up with her as the soultorn witch rushed toward Abel, her hair lank and her eyes dead. She came and... gave him a hug. Apologizing for being broken, and cruel. A talk and a kiss later, she left, admitting that she loved Abel, and her and Ariana left, back to sanctuary, soaring north.

Stirge vanished, and the group decided their next move- to pick up armor from the blacksmith.

---
"Hush now." Ares said, patting Rogue on the head with a feeler. "It doesn't quite understand."
"I don't see how the knowledge may break it, though." Rogue responded, and looked down to the subject. "The knowledge of what and who it is."
"It's like us, in a way." Ares said, quietly. "It's about the story. About creation. To tell it would mean the end of the story."
"... I see." Rogue said. "Then I'll help it's story. Go away, I'm going to do some meddling. Be angry when I motion for you to return."
"Very well." Ares said, and drifted away.
---

>>Thread Twenty-Five-

After going to the blacksmith shop, speaking to Cass on the way, Abel got his new armor- and commissioned a set of grooved iron tubes, for use in gunsmithing, and then made his way to the ice cream shop, where Isavla, Lyra, and Tannis already were. While there, Abel brought up the fact that Lyra spoke Skiitaran and that Tanni's journal was in skiitaran- that Lyra could read it. It was soon decided to go out cave exploring, to have a picnic in one, and Tannis remembered one she'd been told never to go into. Abel, Lyra, Isavla, and Tannis all made their way into the cave, and met someone strange.

Gareth was a coal grey-skinned elf, and she seemed rather strange- rather sad. She'd known Tannis's mother, she'd said, and before that, she'd known Ezekiel, and had fallen in love with both of them.
She burst into tears while speaking of her inability to leave the cave, and her phobia of the open air, and Abel comforted her.

>>Thread Twenty-Six-
After some time in the cave, Gareth gave Abel a boon- a strange, cold iron crescent, and then the group decided to see if she could leave the cave-
And she could. Without any problems whatsoever. Only then was it realized that the crescent was sealing her in the cave. With her words, she slowly, carefully started to entrance Abel and his group.. and Isavla resisted it, slashing the edge of the crescent across Gareth's arm. After telling Abel to 'Tell Kalaris I said hello,' she vanished, the spell broken.

The group went to speak to Kale about what had happened, and about Gareth, and he... changed. Became angry, for a moment, when the name Kalaris was mentioned.
Lyra examined the crescent, and said that it'd been written on, by Kristoph of the Order. It said that 'if all is lost, bring this seal to the skiitaran principes', so the group quickly changed destinations, and slept for the night.

When Abel awoke, Veez was sitting in the same room, adding more tattooes to herself. Quietly, she explained about Kale's past as Kalaris, a skiitaran knight, until his family had died and something happened to make him bury his old name and identity. That done, she asked Abel for a promise. That he'd protect Kale for her, in her stead. She promised a boon in return- one like she'd never given before.

The boon was simple.
Most of her knowledge and all of her power.

>>Thread Twenty-Seven-
Abel thought about it for some time.

And then he agreed.
Leez reached into herself, drawing out all her magic and knowledge of creation, and gave it to Abel freely. Afterward, he wandered out and saw through one of Kale's glamours, easily, and then went to the blacksmith's shop. Taking some of the grooved barrels he'd commissioned, his magic took over, and with his knowledge of guns and his new ability to create things as well as a fae, he made a powerful, dual-barreled weapon, treated with Aqua Sanctis.

After buying some gifts for Isavla with Lyra, she and Abel returned to Leez's shop, and asked Tannis about her and Isavla. Apparently, the two had spent the night together. After talking more with Isavla, the group was done with their preparations, and went to the port.

Their time in Atlask was over.

>>Thread Twenty-Eight-
Several days after getting on the ship, there was a storm. It wasn't a natural storm- Abel's new power- the one he'd gotten from Veez- told him that it had been created by magic. He hardly survived, and the ship itself broke up, stranding Abel on a deserted, wooded island. He rescued Cass and Gearworks from the wreckage, but the other people on the beach were dead, including Grubwort, but Abel's other companions were nowhere to be found. Cass spent some time trying to recover, while Abel went exploring.

Abel met a unicorn on the island, who led him to a strange girl wearing nothing but leaves, a ragged tunic, and some rope... but she held a handgun. The unicorn wandered off while Abel was watching the girl, and soon enough, Cass arrived, the unicorn having led her as well, and she instantly recognized the girl as Hannah, another changeling from the compound. Hannah hid the gun in Abel's sight unknowningly, and Abel took the weapon and 'found' the two changelings, introducing himself to Hannah. Hannah introduced herself, and the unicorn as Grump.

Hannah explained that the island they'd washed up on was a day south of Amberway, and that she couldn't use any of her powers. Abel went hunting, bringing enough food for everybody, and then brought up the gun, asking Hannah about it. She admitted that a man had given it to her- the same man that stole her power, by cutting her intangible, near-invisible wings asunder somehow, with two allies- One Dirae, and the other a nameless woman with strange, scarred hands. Sometime after that, everyone went to sleep for the night.

At least, until Scylla woke Abel up.

---
Find CHARON. They are the key.
---

>>Thread Twenty-Nine-

Scylla had returned, babbling about the fairy song that caused the storm, apparently called by the sound, and she'd quickly found Abel there. After some discussion, she asked him how he intended to get off the island, and upon hearing that he intended to use a raft, she offered to bring the First Kraken- some sort of creature allied to Scylla's people, to take Abel, Cass, and Hannah northward. After she left to go speak to her mother about it, Abel taught Cass how to use the small gun Hannah had, and the three of them went to bed. Not long after, in the morning, Scylla returned, with a large aquatic creature, that spoke with bellows and song. It was revealed to be as intelligent as a person, and everyone climbed aboard- Save for Grump, who elected to stay on the island.

The proceeding trip was rather interesting. Scylla revealed that her people sung underwater in order to communicate, and gave Abel a sample, with rather... uncomfortable results. Abel, Hannah, and finally the First Kraken proceeded to sing as well, Abel's song being particularly strange, but Cass refused to sing, flat out. Scylla ended up rather enamoured with Abel's singing, but before anything else could be done, Ariana's familiar arrived, apparently searching for Abel this entire time.

Ariana revealed that everyone else, including Captain Brenner, had survived, and were waiting in Amberway for Abel and Cass, fearing the worst. After discussing a few things that happened in Sanctuary, as well as revealing that her body remained there, Ariana left again, back north, to tell the others.

More time passed, and sometime before sundown, they arrived at the beach just westwards of amberway, the First Kraken having carried them the entire way, almost faster than a boat would be able to. Scylla said her goodbyes, and gave Abel a single, magic arrow, crafted from kraken stomachs and able to incapacitate any living being for a day.

Abel, Hanna, and Cass got off, Gearworks following behind, and the group made their way toward amberway, while Hannah stressed about the sparks of light that served as her wings, especially about the Order seeing them. Experimentally touching them, Abel found out that they were intangible- though they gave off quite a shock- and gave her a bag to wear to hide them.

Finally, after two days, Abel reunited with his companions.

All but Astora, that is.

>>Thread Thirty-
After catching up with the party, someone knocked on the door- Gabriel had come to parley. He even offered to returne Hannah's power to her- and return it he did, simply to pull Abel aside to tell him that he was... giving up. That Abel had won. That, if Stirge was right and this was the last game to play, that Gabriel might as well go all out.
When Abel asked what his next plan was, Gabriel's only response was to smile, and declare his plan to dominate the world with his army of Forged, before turning into a strange woman, and then try to kill Abel. A single shot to the forehead killed her, and she flickered from existence.

Abel told the party what was going on, and they decided on a plan. Tannis would warn the maenad about the Forged that were soon to arrive, while Lyra arranged for a courier to take a message to Crios. Kale, Cass, Abel, and the sleeping hannah made their way out of the city, purchasing a wagon and making their way into the forest, while Ariana waited for Tannis and Lyra to finish their jobs before taking off into the sky.

Abel purchased a wagon and two horses with Kale's Glamour help, and the four of them set off toward Kale's barrow, which was a great, open-ended cave with a burbling brook, a strange, dense box, and a book for Kale. While talking, Abel spoke of Tannis's strange seal, and Kale recognized it- A princeps' seal, representing that she was the daughter of one of Skiitara's nobles. Kale collected all of those things he was looking for, and then rested. Ariana soon arrived, Lyra and Tannis on her back.

Kale seemed... melancholy about what was to come.

>>Thread Thirty-One-
Some time after awakening, the group set out, once again reunited. For some time they traveled and spoke, until it occured to Abel that with Ariana's Gift of Shadow, he could use her familiar's shadow to a portal to Sanctuary, and to visit for some time. He asked her about it, and she responded that he could- but she wouldn't be able to send him back for a few days. He responded by giving a gun to Cass and Hannah, Gearworks to Lyra, and then diving in, coming out some hundred miles away, next to Ariana's real body.

The Catastra estate was large, full of ancillary rooms and ancient beyond belief, as Ariana showed him around. She explained how things had changed since her Coming of Age, before showing him to Astora, who was currently crushing a mousy brown haired girl in a game of chess. Abel crept up and surprised her just as she was winning the game, and the next game, played against her and lost, as Astora distracted him at just the wrong times.

Wandering off, Astora showed abel more of the house, making her way to the kitchen to try to make him something and burning the eggs, badly, before just sighing and making some soup for the two. Abel asked her to show him her favorite place in the mansion, and she proceeded to go far down, down into the dungeons, into a great, foreboding grey door. Opening it, the room seemed to... sense Abel, and a strange, flaming sphere came to life, bearing a humanoid body made of towering flame, and implying it knew the future. After some arguing and blustering, the humanoid being- called the Heart of Flame, or Onyx- revealed that it held an artifact near, giving it freely.

The artifact, held by the Heart of Flame, held by Onyx, far below the Catastra was, of course, the hammer from the mural.

>>Thread Thirty-Two-
Astora continued her tour for some time, showing Abel to the atrium, and then the tower, before diving into a short explanation of the other noble families, and how the tower in the center of sanctuary worked, before moving to the baths, where Abel and Tori took a short soak, before Abel wandered off, alone, getting lost.

It wasn't long until he walked into a goat, which he immediately figured out was Sansa's familiar, who led him to the kitchen proper. Abel spent some time talking to her about her coming of age, and gifts, before Astora arrived and pulled him aside, asking him for help with her hair- she explained that she and Abel needed to look nice for dinner, because it was to be Sansa's adoption, and because there was going to be a crone in attendance. Soon after making sure he was shaven and braiding Astora's hair, Abel and her spent... some time together, interrupted when dinner was complete.

Together, the two of them went into the dining hall, and the crone, Cat, who instantly told Ariana to 'get on with it', prompting Ariana to formally adopt Sansa. Before the ceremony was even completed, however, Cat pulled Abel aside to tell him something- that she had a duty to pass a message along to Kristoph's descendent- apparently Abel. The message was this; 'The twin keys need to meet the twin seeds. The hammer for the sentry, and the spear for the seer. Only then may the angel become whole, and bear the strength to consume the shards', and she implied that the 'seeds' were both male and human.

Her message delivered, the crone waved and trudged off into the brewing snowstorm outside, saying something about how Abel should take care of her granddaughter.
He returned to dinner- and was instantly shocked at how similar the crone's eyes were to Astora.

>>Thread Thirty-Three-
During dinner, Abel and Ariana spoke some about how things were going on with the others, and then she and Sansa went to bed early, Ariana tired due to overusing her Gift of Shadow.
It wasn't long until Abel and Astora finished their own meals, and the two of then snuggled up in front of a roaring fire, mugs of hot chocolate in hand, having a discussion about Abel's mission... and finally, meekly, Astora asked for at least tonight, and the two slept together for the first time, ending up in her bedroom.
Abel's dream wasn't a normal one. Through various metaphors, he explicitly *saw* Astora's connection to her dead familiar, and did his best to fix it up, but something... changed, when he awoke. Astora's claw didn't pain her as much- but it pained Abel. Her Gift of Sight drained him as well- For whatever reason, he was sharing her burdens. After figuring that out, and explaining it to her, the two went back to sleep for the night.

When Abel awoke once again, Tori was gone, a note in her place- she'd gone to go shopping- and Sansa was hammering on the door, with breakfast ready. At breakfast, she explained that she didn't like Abel, not having had good first impressions of him, and someone rang the doorbell to the mansion, which instantly panicked Sansa, terrified of marring Catastra's name so soon after earning it, and she answered it.

Behind the door lay Callisto Primm, and his barghest familiar, who essentially barged in without asking to be invited, and who Abel didn't like immediately. Sansa acted strange around him, and abel decided she'd been affected by some sort of Gift similar to that of the Gift of Vermin, and seperated her from Callisto, speaking to him some about his purpose here. Through the bullshit, Abel read that Callisto intended to use his Gift to win over Astora, soultorn as she is, defenses weak, and force her to marry him through the Gift. When Sansa came back, Abel pulled her aside, and was miraculously able to convince her about the man's gift and intentions- but too late.

Ariana and Astora had returned, and when Abel rushed toward them, the barghest was in the way, delaying Abel just long enough for Callisto to get off his question, amping up his Gift. Astora rejected him out of hand, and when Callisto tried again, she got... very angry, tearing his face open with her claw and *demanding* he leave. As soon as he and his familiar did, she gave Abel a grin and a kiss.

Then she asked for help bringing in the food.

>>Thread Thirty-Four-
After dragging in all of the food, and talking with Astora some about the visitor, Abel was dragged off into Sanctuary by Astora, who wanted to show him the city, first taking him to an alchemy shop, where a strange elf fairy hybrid worked, and introduced herself as Persephone- She was obviously much older than the ten years old she looked. While Astora showed him florin, the sort of money the hybrid preferred to use, Abel was struck by it's similarities to the strange frame around the mirror in his dream. When he mentioned it, and asked the girl more about it, she gave him a cryptic grin, and asked him if he touched the mirror. When he responded that he had, she giggled.
And then the elfairy hybrid told Abel that he had the ability to steal Gifts.

After buying some supplies for more black powder, Abel and Astora made their way to the tower, and met Jane, a Giftless with a large python as his familiar, who showed them down to the menagerie. In the menagerie, alongside the wolves, bears, and rodents, there was a scrawny, lithe unicorn named Malloy, who demanded Abel unveil his tattoo. When he didn't, the unicorn stabbed him in the shoulder, healing his wound with the horn, but threatened to do it again. When Abel finally unveiled it, the unicorn touched the tattoo with his horn, and Abel could clearly hear the unicorn's voice, asking Abel to say hello to Grump, as well as asking for the 'cute girl to feed him sugarcubes', which Abel relayed to Jane, before they moved on to see the Wisps.
The wisps were entirely boring, for the most part, until Abel poked at one and it brought up an illusion that even he couldn't see through- a realistic, snarling wolf. Jane explained that it was a self-defense mechanism, and that they really liked rowan wood. When Abel waved about a rowan wood arrow, the wolf suddenly became... a very revealing Astora, wearing little but red silk, who kissed everyone on the cheek- including the real Astora.

The group continued on to the library, where the Giftless in there- Marigold, her name was- yelled at Jane until he went back to the ground floor, before asking Astora and Abel what they wanted. It was soon revealed that the strangely intelligent white Barghest wasn't her familiar, but it's own creature named Mutt. Her true familiar was a rhinocerous hiding below a pile of books, which begged the question of how it got into the library.

Abel, of course, asked for someting on Angels and Forged, and recieved a book on the Forged first, reading it and learning more about them, and finally the barghest gave him a faded, nearly blank book, with writing in the back, written by... Cyan, The Bone of The Earth, who told Abel that he wasn't an angel- not in the way he thought- and to find the spear and bring it to a man in Skiitara.

That's when Astora asked Abel if he could read the strange dots and dashes that was written on the page.

>>Thread Thirty-Five-
After making their way out of the tower, Tori and Abel made their way down to the forge, talking about Tori's past all the while, until they arrived there, and Abel had decided to make something for Tori- a small brass pocketwatch, he decided on, as well as spending some time building more shells for his rifle. That done, Astora fell asleep, and so Abel woke her up, carrying her in his arms as long as he could- which, as it turned out, was all the way into Haven, a strange bar meant only for nobilis, it seemed.

There, Abel met many of Astora's friends- Namira, the part-werebull barkeeper; Kev, a small, weedy warlock in black with two wolf familiars, and Cedric, a soft-spoken, enormous man who gave the sense that he felt no emotion. Some time after a conversation, Kev's sister arrived, Kee- and she brought with her her 'girlfriend'.

Who just so happened to be Gareth, hiding under a glamour. After explaining what she was to no avail, Abel finally got frustrated and brought out his cold iron arrows, believing that they would break the glamour around Gareth.

Gareth's own response was to leave, saying that she didn't like the place, and Kee followed her. After a short conversation about what Gareth does to her victims, Kev finally brought up his two familiars, allowing Astora and Abel to ride them to track down Gareth.

And they tracked her down- right into a trap, with Gabriel, Dirae, Anakata, a heavily glamoured Kee, and Gareth. They were ready for him, and Abel only had himself, Astora, and Kev's two familiars.

>>Thread Thirty-Six

Combat started quickly. The dead rose, apparently under the thrall of Kee's power, and Abel brought his rifle to bear, shooting down two of the undead, Dirae, and Gareth. Injured and writhing on the ground, Gareth finally agreed to help Gabriel- though her name was Sky, now- apparently forced to do so by the evident threat of Abel. Cedric arrived, and with his powerful Gifts, he held the forged at bay just long enough for Abel to become a threat. As soon as Abel was, though, Sky sighed and sent everyone away. Abel blustered, demanding Kee back... and surprisingly, the woman sent her back, before vanishing.

As soon as everyone else made their way back to Haven, Abel tried to deactivate the forged, but apparently Sky had trapped them, as they burst into an explosion. Abel just barely lived, due to Tori's help, and learned he was immune to her Flame. Soon after, the two made their way to Haven, and drank. A lot. He and Tori also spoke to the other Nobilis for some time, before heading home to the Catastra estate.

Once home, Tori gave Sansa and Ariana some alcohol, before passing out, while Ariana gave abel the bad news- Eldin was dead, and the maenad pride had fractured, spreading across the countryside. Some time later, Tori woke back up, and directed Abel to the baths, where the two spent... a very warm night together.

The next morning, Astora cut Abel's hair, while a happy Ariana and a hungover Sansa made breakfast. During which, both Astora and Sansa said that they wanted to speak to Abel before he left again. When he went alone with Sansa, she confided in him that she didn't dislike him to the extent she did- and that was all she had to say. When he went to the atrium to speak with Astora, she just had one thing to ask- she was formally inviting him into the Catastra family, as her husband.

Abel agreed, promising to come back after Sky was taken care of, and then went through the shadow, ending up somewhere east of Nerull, the city on the border of Skiitara.
Everyone greeted him, except when Kale started to... his noticed the unwrapped tattoo on Abel's arm- the symbol of his promise to Leez. His hair went black, skin pale, and eyes gray, and his voice changed to something colder.
Kale had once again become Kelaris.

>>Thread Thirty-Seven-
Now on the edges of Skiitaran territory, the group, now including Tannis, Hannah, Cass, Lyra, Ariana, and Kale's new, twisted self, Kelaris, they entered the city of Nerull, going through customs and exchanging some coins for the currency Skiitara now used, and entering the city proper. There they bought a map of the heart of Skiitara, and then spent some time wandering- there they met a strange girl, blindfolded and meditating with a wooden sword. Kelaris's first response was to attack her with a training sword, and the two of them sparred for some time, Kelaris ruthlessly striking the girl repeatedly.
Some time later, she removed her blindfold, and revealed that she was the imperial princess. Anala.

She spoke strangely, but spoke english well enough to be understood, and explained that she was training of her own accord before she was sent out into the wilderness for a year, without being able to speak to a single living being. Abel gave her some tips, and asked if his father had visited Skiitara. Her response was, simply enough, that she didn't know, but her brother, who was either somewhere near Skiitaris, the palace, or some place called Vigil, would.

The group left the city, heading westwards toward Skiitaris, and spent some time speaking. Abel told them of the heritage the crones told him of, as well as the strange prophecy that Cat had given him. During the conversation, Abel asked if anyone knew what Charon was.

In response, Hannah confided in him that she'd had a dream about a man calling himself Charon, or Krisoph, and that he'd told her she was the seer.

>>Thread Thirty-Eight-
Late at night, Abel had a short talk with Cass, a spar with Kelaris, and was simply walking with Tannis, before he saw someone... strange, dancing at the top of the hill, her dress and long hair flowing out around her.
When Tannis and Abel investigated, the woman was obviously inhuman, and faceless, but very kind, petting Tannis and kissing Abel on the cheek. When he asked who she was, the woman responded that she was the spirit of wind- the Breath of Air, and Tannis was somehow her 'daughter'... And that's when Abel got the idea to dance with her.

His hands on her hips, he fell aloft, carried by the Gift of Flow, and the two spoke. She revealed that Abel was a 'magus', whatever that meant, and said that there was a way to help Tannis with her nature- a scroll, in Vigil, with the spirit's name on it. As the dance closed, she leaned inward, and whispered her name- Vermillion.

Some time later, Abel woke up to Ariana shaking him awake, saying that he'd slept in for quite some time, and gave him a ride back to the moving wagon.

While in the wagon, Lyra offhandedly mentioned that she wanted a new sword, and Kelaris mentioned the Gauntlet- a skiitaran dungeon meant for wannabe warriors or knights, who gained the right to take up powerful weapons from the skiitaran armory if they succeeded, and Lyra was instantly interested in it.

The wagon didn't take long before it reached Skiitaris, and the group entered the palace, the crescent in hand. Kelaris, seemingly lost, stole a maid from one of the hallways and interrogated her about where to go, and where homecoming princeps should live. The maid, reluctantly showed the group to a wing of the palace meant for homecoming princeps to stay- and apparently, that meant that Tannis had a place to stay, despite being uncomfortable with the idea of having servants.

The group eventually met with the captain of the grand knights, at a loss of which princeps to speak with, and revealed the message engraved into the crescent- but she was just as lost as the party was.

But then after that, she revealed that she knew Abel and Lyra- from letters. From her brother.

Captain Brina Byrne was Abel and Lyra's aunt.

>Thread Thirty-Nine
Abel and Lyra spent some time talking with Captain of the Grand Knights, Brina, who also happened to be their aunt. She was able to tell them of Ezekiel's childhood, where he was raised, and finally where he met Amelia,  their mother. During that conversation, Brina mentioned the elven Grand Knight Abel and Lyra were traveling with, and they named him Kelaris- a name the captain knew, as one of the grandparents of an Emperor Pelaris and a pseudo-legendary warrior.

The two decided to take the Gauntlet, so that they would have a choice of ancient, possibly magical weapons, Lyra seeking the ancient blade of Kristoph. She entered first, and came out of the gauntlet with paralyzing poison rushing through her veins, and all the fingers save one on her right hand missing, chopped off to lure ghouls away. After besting Kelaris in a fight by throwing a manticore at him and stabbing him with the manticore's tail, she collapsed, unconscious- and next it was Abel's turn, a one-armed Grand Knight sponsoring him in Kelaris' place.

Taking his sword, he crept in, and met his first manticore. Prepared for combat, he raised his weapon- and the manticore turned a bright yellow, happy to meet Abel, treating him like the young hunter had a Gift of Vermin or something similar. Not taking the manticore's help in vain, Abel went through the gauntlet, slaying the numerous ghouls between the entrance and the goal.

At the very end of the gauntlet, though, the manticore strayed too closely to Barghest territory, being burned alive by hellfire. Abel killed the beast, suffering a bite to the arm, but was able to reach the goal and make his way out. Once on the surface, the one-armed Grand Knight was there, ready for the duel. Abel fought as well as he could, even injured, and almost defeated the knight. At the last moment, though, the knight disarmed him and put his blade up to Abel's neck- before saying he'd passed the gauntlet.

The Skiitaran armory was full of multiple abnormal and powerful weapons, and Abel looked through them all, before finally finding one he thought would be useful. Wyvern, it was called, created by the Will of Water. It was said that, as with the spirit's tumultuous emotions, Wyvern would someday turn against it's wielder.

Together, with Wyvern in his hand and Kristoph's blade in Lyra's, the two left the Armory.

>Thread Forty-
After talking with Tannis, Lyra, and Kelaris for some time, it was decided to leave Skiitaris in the morning and travel north to Vigil. Ariana gave Abel a letter from Tori, and after he wrote one back, he went down and out of the palace to forge a few things, making needle-filled shells for his weapon, some holsters, and finally, three brass fingers, that work the same way the Forged do. He brought them back up and Lyra tested them out, and they seemed to work, though they'd take practice to learn how to use.

During that night, it seems that there was a misunderstanding between Lyra and Tannis- namely, that Tannis viewed bellyrubs as coming onto her, and responded in kind.

The next morning, however, Tannis made sure to explicitly inform everyone how she'd interpret that sort of thing, and everyone set off, north, toward Vigil. Cass and Hannah explained a bit about Thor- namely that he was badly scarred. Halfway there, they ran into a young man who spoke strangely, naming himself Andalus. He quickly discerned that Kelaris was his own ancestor, and that Ariana's familiar was just that- a familiar, rather than a true gryphon. Abel gave him the crescent and told him a bit about the events, and Andalus eagerly said he'd help, for there was 'Little else for me to do, in these troubled times.'

That's when Hannah raised her gun, and pulled the trigger.
Luckily, Abel had removed the firing pin several days ago, and the hammer clicked down on the bullet to no avail.

>Thread Forty-One-
After interrogating Hannah for some time, it was revealed that the spear was somewhere in Vigil's lake, that Crios was the sentry, and that Hannah was responsible for the destruction of the changeling compound- she'd been captured by the Order Knights and turned the compound in for her own safety.

Among other things she revealed was that she bore a Shard of Dirae, something she didn't want to lose no matter what, and Abel- with Stirge and Kelaris' help- pushed the idea at her, making her spill everything about Sky that she knew. She was also responsible for the storm that had caused the ship to crash when sailing up from atlask. Finally, Abel went to the rest of the group and asked what they thought he should do. Half of them voted to take her shard, her 'heart', and the other half voted to kill her.

Cassandra voted to kill her, her fury tightly reined.
Kelaris didn't vote, but he did the dirty work, urging everyone to stay away from the wagon for a time.

Some hours later, after Stirge had vanished, the group arrived at Vigil, in low spirits, but as they entered, a guard spoke up to Cass, and he'd called her 'Sandy'.

Cass tore off Thor's helmet, and started spinning him about, deliriously happy.

>Thread Forty-two
After Cass and Thor started speaking, and after Cass introduced everyone, Abel went down in the archives to find the scroll that Vermillion had talked about, Tannis following him, citing a 'weird feeling' about Abel looking around.

What Abel eventually found, called by a feeling that wasn't entirely his, was the great, thick scroll, covered in runes that he didn't know how to speak- but they were runes he understood from the witches' mirrors. Looking into the scroll, Abel somehow read it, and learned what it's purpose was. It carred a single Spell, one for seperating a shapeshifter from their Moon. He used it on Tannis, with her permission, and the maenad passed out.

As soon as he came out of the archives, he didn't have much time to rest. He learned that Orichalicum was actually a strange, highly-technological object called a Power Core, and as soon as he came to that realization, the Forged attacked.

Sending Cass and Thor into the water, Abel used Wyvern against Dirae and her gauss rifle, but Dirae wasn't playing around- she kept Cheating to heal herself, and fully intended to kill Abel. With a clever stab to keep Dirae from recompiling, the girl vanished, and Abel started to clear out the forged, until Thor returned from the lake with the spear in hand. That's when Sky arrived, gauss rifle in hand, and shot Andalus.

However, Thor leapt in the way, as Abel slashed Sky's hands off, and she and her rifle vanished. Thor had a cold iron needle in his lung, but Abel was able to pull it out via magnetic theories even he didn't quite understand, utilizing Andalus's power core and crossbow, and Thor lived.

But he almost didn't.

Abel, finally, with the spear and the seer, gave the former to the latter, and something... Changed. the spear itself vanished, and Abel's avatar gained the ability to become the spear at will, as well as... feeling more complete.

The rest of the day was spent drinking or singing, and that night, in bed, Tannis made her way under the sheets, offering herself to Abel. He rejected her, and she... quietly left, hurt by Abel's response.
The next morning, Abel went and found Tannis out next to the lake, in cat form, being very silent. Abel went to explain what sex meant to humans, and in response, Tannis told him that she loved him, ranting, before making her way off into the marsh.

Alone.

>Thread Forty-Three
After writing a letter to Astora and waiting for Tannis to return, Abel went tinkering with the Forged as everybody else started getting ready to leave, and apparently the booby-trap was too complex for Abel to remove, causing a massive explosion in the sky when he threw the exploding orichalicum, and decided against tinkering with the others, getting on the wagon alongside everyone else.

Tannis was silent, and refused to allow herself to be petted during the wagon ride, and Abel and Thor spoke some about protecting people, and about making sure Cass made it out of things fine. The group voted which way to take to Bastion- to go north across the mountains, or take a ship south. Opting for the faster option, the group voted to go south- and to try and talk Captain Brina into allowing the group to take a warship and soldiers.

When they arrived in Skiitaris, the entire group, save Abel, Ariana, and Tannis went their seperate ways, and Ariana quickly forced Abel and Tannis to speak again, dumping one in the other's lap and flying off. The two spoke about Tannis's plans, after everything was over, and about the affects of breaking Tannis's Moon has on her. Eventually, she curled up in Abel's lap- still human- and fell asleep, before... Abel asked Rogue for advice.

<Rogue, you went too far.>
<No, I didn't.> Rogue responded.
<There's such a thing as too much meddling. You know that as well as I.>
<... She would have helped.> Rogue said, his voice quiet.
<She would have just used sorcery, you know->
<No, Ares. you don't understand. She would have listened, and helped how I did. With her words. The girl is part of me, just as all of this is part of you.>
<... What did you *do*, rogue?>
<Tannis will not die to Anakata, not if I can help it. I... used one of the girl's leftover twists of fate.>
The resulting silence between the two Outsiders was long, and solemn.
<Why?> Ares finally snapped.
<Because she doesn't need it, and she would use it for the same thing I just did.>

Some time later, Lyra woke Abel and Tannis up, and told them that the ship was ready, and that the captain was mad. Taking Gearworks aboard, Abel saw that she was right. Sardriel was a blind changeling, at least *part* fairy, and his ship was a slab of iron that shouldn't even be able to float, yet did, apparently due to a steam engine in the back and a piece of Onyx, the Heart of Flame. Sardriel was rather eccentric, and seemed the sort that straddled the line between genius and insanity, using his fairy powers to empower the steam engine. For the rest of the night and most of the day after, they sailed, until Abel woke up to Astora laying next to him.

It turns out that the Crones were meddling again, having sent the nobilis all over the Free Cities, and sending Astora, despite soultorn, through the shadow to Abel. She jumped at the chance, and now was on the Jormungandr alongside everybody else.

After passing along the coast of the overtaken Amberway, Tori met Andalus, and apparently...

They knew one another from somewhere.

>Thread Forty-four
After talking with Andalus and Astora for a time, it came to light exactly what had happened between the two- Astora had been traveling in Skiitara, and apparently the princeps had considered her hand 'active magic'  when he'd met her, causing some sort of chase scene as Astora fled the country.

Together with Astora, Abel spoke with Kelaris, and then went to spar with Cass, to practice with the Avatar's new ability to become a spear. He defeated her, and then Thor, causing such a display of mastery of his new weapon as to move Kelaris to tears.

Some time later, Abel and Astora spoke about Tannis, and about what to do to make her feel better, and Astora decided to go speak with her alone. While she was gone, Abel did another spar- except this time switching weapons with Lyra, and lost, badly. After the spar, Astora came back- except she had a scratch on her face. Apparently Tannis didn't want to talk to her.

After passing Garamon, Abel told the catastra sisters about his Spells, and then Astora spilled the beans about the strange connection between her and Abel, and finally, Ariana shared that she had Void- a Dark Gift, Tori called it. As soon as that talk was over, Abel and Tori made their way to Sardriel, asking him to lead them to Onyx, and lead them he did- they were soon in front of another piece of Onyx, asking them what they wanted.

What they wanted, of course, was the locations of other scrolls. One scroll, Cyan's, was apparently in the Vale, and the other, Magenta's, was in Bastion. It refused to give the location of it's own scrolls, and then said two things; first, that there was soon to be a battle abovedeck- and the last thing it said was that Astora was bearing Abel's scion.

In other words, Onyx said that Astora was pregnant.

>Thread Forty-Five
Bastion was under attack. Forged kept assaulting, and for each one killed, another one appeared. Time was getting low for the Order Knights inside, and so Lyra freaked out, climbing atop Ariana's familiar and urging it to fly to the castle.

Abel, for his part, quickly organized the skiitaran soldiers into a force to be reckoned with, and marched to battle-
Just to get slaughtered to a man. Three groups of soldiers died on the spot, and Abel ended up surrounded, but the remaining group of soldiers was able to lead a significant amount of Forged into ballista range, where they made short work of it.
For Abel's part, he almost died several times, until... Astora stoked her Gift of Flame, causing more and more of her arm to burn up with white flames, evaporating the brass scorpions on the spot. Her claw grew, reaching all the way up to and past her shoulder. She was incapacitated, however, and when trying to get out when still surrounded would be impossible- If it weren't for Gearworks.
Abel ordered Gearworks into the fray, and took the opening the brass spider made for him and Astora, rushing back to the ship, where Gearworks exploded, taking care of most of the remaining Forged.

The battle all but done, but with foes still in the fortress, Ariana and Lyra burst out through the wall of Bastion, bringing with her a handful of Order Knights- one of them being Crios.
But they didn't have time, because one of the other order knights had been controlled by Gareth, and stabbed Crios. As he lay dying... Abel gave him the hammer, and the Sentry became the Guardian.

Crios's last words were to his daughter. Sansa.

Recovering from the aftermath of the battle, Stirge arrived, and told Abel that the next step for him was to slay each shard, and then Sky, with the avatar. Then she offered up her own neck, and Abel sliced it open. The last thing she showed him was a map, revealing where Sky's base of operations was.

Some time later, celebrating the 'successful' battle, Tannis noticed three people flying above the fortress- Cedric, Kee, and Sansa. Waving them down, Abel told Sansa what her father had said, and then asked Kee why they were here. As it turned out, Persephone had told the crones about Abel, and that he needed the strange boon scrolls. The crones, in turn, ordered the nobilis to find these scrolls, and bring them to Abel.
Kee brought the scroll from Bastion to Abel, and he read it, meeting Magenta for the first time, who told him a small amount about his mother, and explained what the scroll did- it allowed Abel and his companions to transport anywhere there was a body of water, if he incanted the entire thing with a good idea of where he wanted to go.

Deciding to find the third scroll they knew of, somewhere in the Vale, Abel incanted the Spell, bringing most of his companions with.

And then they arrived, climbing out of a lake and coughing, in the vale.

Abel and Lyra were home.

>Thread Forty-Six

After arriving in the Vale, Abel and Lyra decided that the first thing to do was to go home. After speaking with Kalveer about what had happened, the group went to the cabin and slept for the night, finding a strange, magic potion under the floorboards. Abel spent that time re-carving Astora's arm, and the next morning, they chose to leave quickly to avoid Helda.

After wandering the vale for some hours, they ran into some familiar wolves that had stolen Abel's food, and then the pit where Abel had found the sword. After checking it to make sure it didn't have anything, the group continued on to Bulwark.

It took quite some time to check the place for traps, of which it had none, and then to find the scroll. Except that it wasn't a scroll, but a dense, humongous tablet, to heavy to carry. Abel read it, gaining a boon with a cost- one that would quench a 'little fire' inside of him, in trade for great destruction.

The third and final scroll found, the group deliberated for some time, before finally deciding to appear close to Sky's base of operations, but far enough away that they didn't appear surrounded by foes. Abel proceeded to chant, and the Boon took them off, to places unknown.

<This is almost over.> Rogue said.
<It is.> Ares said. <I worry, though.>
<What about?>
<That the ending won't be very satisfying.>
<... You still have *his* twist of fate. You could use it, here, if you wish.> Rogue said.
<No, no. I'm saving that... for after this.> Ares said.