Looking for the Soulstone [Riparia] - Mike please

[Antin Siannodel]

Somehow the pixies had made it past Aslans forge without knowing it from where they came from, Taralon to Alleria Prime and now ending up in Riparia. The pixies were not the best navigators but at least they were very close now. In fact they were in a city that pretty much over looked the volcano now as they flew in over the city. They remained silent trying to figure out just exactly where they were. After half a candle mark of very little conversation between the two they looked at each other and nodded. More often then not they were thinking the same thing, seeing as one of their minds was copied and then put into the arcane shell of the other one. They considered themselves brothers though rather than one a clone the other…not a clone.

They quickly flew down to the streets where people were and asked the first person they seen. ”Serale we are sort of…well…lost. Do you think that you could tell us where we are-“

”Oh and we are looking for any information that can help us get to Aslan’s forge and what we need to do to get a soul stone”

The asked one after another. If they were ignored then they would try it on the next person, the exact same lines getting more and more excited each time.

[Mike]

The pair had come to Riparia, the city at the foot of Aslan's Forge. It seemed fitting that the melting pot of Alleria, due to its diversity of race and culture, be situated next to a very real pot...and a hot one at that. Though these days, the volcano was in a state of slumber, content to let life below in the city go unchecked.

Life itself in Riparia has certainly boomed over the eras. The last rebuilding of the city was but a memory now. The people here prospered, trade was good and life in general was just fine. Merchants came and went each brightening, bringing more products and commodities to entice the various peoples located here. Travellers passed through, adventurers in search of a new mission, and many many more all with a story to tell. For the most part, people came to Riparia because they wanted something. Usually it was crowns, being a trade hub after all. In Antin's case, and of course his 'brother', it was a soul stone.

Ah yes, the legendary soul stone. The prize sough by hedge mages, the stone was perhaps one the rarest things a person could task themselves to find. It was quite literally a case of stumbling upon one, so random was their placing around Telath. Either that or a reliable source might have told you about it. But then, a soul stone could fetch a great number of crowns. In Antin's case, he had found reason to come to Riparia in his search. Admittedly, it was his interest in Aslan's Forge, and Aslan himself that had drawn him here.

There was a story some eras ago of how a powerful and evil mage and tried to raise Aslan's Forge to destroy Riparia. That attempt had been thwarted, amidst a great battle on the slopes between orc raiding parties and a group of paladins. There were other stories that a lone elf had been the saviour of Riparia, that his soul had become one with a crow sent by Aslan himself. Stories no doubt with little truth to them. Perhaps.

It had taken a few people before the pair finally found one willing to stop and talk. It might have seemed that the average Riparian was rude, but unless you were buying or selling, people were too busy to stop and chat. For now though, they had found a young man carrying some wolf pelts, half-heartedly trying to sell them to passers by. He seemed to welcome the interruption Antin provided, his eyebrows raising at the mention of a soul stone.

"Serale mate. This 'ere be the city o' Riparia. Buy, sell, buy, sell, haha! Aslan's Forge you say? None but them dwarves go up there. Meebe you better off asking one of them. Find 'em in the north-east of the city, in their own little city, haha. Soul stone? What is that mate?"

[Antin Siannodel]

It was easily recognizable as a trade city, no other place could be as busy with people walking to-and-fro carrying items and talking to anyone that looked as if they were interested. This wasn’t Antin’s forte at all, he was used to either the quite life or an adventure filled one, not one with people buying and selling all day long. The numbers confused his head, crowns, and silvers, he only ever used bank notes and it wasn’t often that he’d have the right amount with him if he ever bothered to carry them around with him. He had some with him, folded up carried with him but these were for emergencies. He had learned long ago when he first arrived in Taralon by Nell that currency was always something good to have just incase.

When they finally got someone to pay attention to them the two smiled, they liked talking to people and got rather offended when others ignored the two. ”We see, buying lots of it! Dwarves eh? North east?” they both turned around a few times and pointed in two different, and wrong, directions and looked at the boy with a puzzling look as if to ask which way it was. They were lucky they made it this close to the forge.

”Soulstone you ask? It helps when we need it. You see my brother is a mazemage or whatever, and he wanted to take away one of them. I’m not to big on magicness but he wants to badly so I am here to help him!” he left out the fact that he was in fact made of arcana from the young man.

”Nuh uh! It’s called a hedgemage!” Antin corrected his ‘brother’ who just rolled his eyes. ”But yes, that is what I want to do. Do you think dwarves know anything about it? If they go up there I mean they might see it often yes?”

Eitherway, when they was done his conversation with this man they would fly off towards the area that they was told the dwarfs lived and ask "Do you know anything about the soulstone and how we can find one?"

[Mike]

The boy with the wolf pelts listened intently as the two brothers spoke. Their manner was somewhat entertaining. The lad wondered to himself if they might be twins, so alike did they look. Soon the conversation had steered back to the subject of the soul stone itself.

"Me be in the business of selling this here pelts. Though not much call for them in this weather. As for your soul stones. Well, you might as well try the shop just behind me. That be Jenson's book shoppe, but everyone knows he be of the arcana types, you know? Yeah, meebe he can 'elp you kind sirs. Now, I better be on me way. Nice making ya acquintances. Serale."

The lad had neglected to offer more information on the dwarves themselves, instead heading on his way and trying to sell those thick pelts again. Sadly, nobody seemed interested at all. The weather was quite warm indeed. For now Antin and Antin had the next lead in their search. This Jenson might be able to steer them in the right direction.

[Antin Siannodel]

”Hmmm” the both said as they scratched there head watching the boy who was talking to them walk away. They nodded at each other the same thought going threw their heads. They could try going to the shop and then the dwarves if they had to. Yes that was the plan. They didn’t need to communicate this verbally the grins on each of there face proved enough to them that they were thinking the same thing.

So off they fluttered pounding their four wings (well 8 between the two of them) threw the wind until they got to their destination which wasn’t far at all. Hopefully the door would be open or a window so that they could enter the building. The weather surely permitted it so they looked. If they found one they would fly threw the window, if not they would knock at the door as hard as they could to try and get someones attention.

Either way, the response that they had in either case was a quick and excited ”Serale! We are looking for Jenson, we heard he might be able to help us”

”Yeah! We are looking for a soul stone. Do you know where he is?” the real Antin would ask and then tilt his head (If he was talking to a male) ”Are you him?”

[Mike]

The heavy oak door was closed, much to the chagrin of the two brothers. But their dismay was short lived when they spotted a window open on the first floor of the two story building. Fluttering inside, they found themselves in what they might well have expected any bookshop to look like. There were glass cabinets with frontward opening doors that housed some of the more expensive and rarer books. As for the main selection, they were lined up along tables with some chairs dotted around for those that wanted to read some pages before purchasing.

The place had a few people present, flicking through whatever title had garnered their interest. As for Jenson - or at least their best guess at who Jenson was - he sat behind the counter where he flicked through a book with one hand, while sub-consciously swatting at any flies that came near with a rolled up parchment. Indeed, there seemed to be a few flies buzzing around, as was the case in such warm weather.

The two Antins drew near and, before they could speak, they had to manoeuvre quickly to avoid the fast approaching parchment as Jenson tried to swat them. Looking up, he realised his mistake and was quick to place the parchment down and then raise his hands to plead his innocence.

"Forgive my little sirs. For a moment then I thought you were bluebottles, come to circle my head and test my resolve. I am Jenson, keeper of this shop and ready to answer any queries you may have."

With his greeting, he eyed the two with interest, noting that they were probably twins by the looks of them. At the mention of a soul stone, he became increasingly interested. He looked around at the other customers to see if they were listening, then leaned in a little closer and spoke almost in a whisper.

"A soul stone you say? How interesting. Hmm. How is it you came to Riparia to seek such a prize?"

[Antin Siannodel]

They had made there way in, that was one step and now the next was locating the man known as Jenson. ”That’s him, it had to be” the clone said pointing to the man behind the counter. The other Antin nodding clearly assuming the same thing and they flew off towards him. However when they reached him the most unexpected thing happened, he swatted at them! This caused the two to nearly go into a fit until he clearly made it obvious that he hadn’t meant to do it, and even more so when they found out that this was indeed the man that they were looking for.

Another one for him Antin thought to himself about his…other self. Perhaps Odyleon had done something to make him think faster, or see things that even the real Antin couldn’t see. ”That’s not a problem, an honest mistake. It is a pleasure to meet you” Antin grinned as did his clone then they inquired about the soul stone.

”We flew all the way, straight from Taralon with only a few stops. We’ve come because he” he pointed his thumb at his ‘twin’ then continued, Couldn’t make up is mind on what sphere he wanted and now he had two. He wants to rid himself of the other-“

”So that I can concentrate on one of the spheres. I am only an initiate but I don’t want to get halfway threw something and not be able to continue. I hear that high level Arcana took a lot of mind power and if you are to reach the status of Archmage it has to be only one sphere that you know, otherwise…well I dunno it’s what I was told. We heard of the soul stone and how it could help but not much more then that. Do you know anything?” He asked cutting into his brothers sentence.

[Mike]

Jenson listened with much interest as the 'twins' recounted their story thus far. Antin had come in search of the soul stone in order to 'remove' on of the spheres of arcana that he had previously taken on board. To focus on one was the path of the archmage, and there could be no compromise. While Jenson himself was schooled in many subjects, no user of magic was he. But he still knew a thing or two. Standing up from his chair, he pulled his cloak around him despite the warm weather and then motioned for the two fae to follow him.

They came to a section of the shop that had some rather large and old looking books. Jenson browsed through them before picking one out. It was large and bound in fine leather that had been coloured red. On the front was woven a strange symbol like and orb with two long snakes flying around it. The pages were thick as Jenson began to turn through them. As he proceeded with his search for whatever information he though to be in there, he offered another question for the fae while they waited.

"An archmage in training hmm? Most interesting. But tell me, please. What will your chosen sphere be on this path of wisdom you seek? More importantly, do you two have names by chance?"

[Antin Siannodel]

The pixie followed the man after a brief look at each other, they were a little confused as to why a jack was needed but they didn’t ask any questions. The man must have known what he was doing as it seems he has been here a very long time. They watched as he fingered carefully threw the boom that he had chosen and Antin answered ”I’m not really sure. To be honest with you I can’t remember anything about one of the ones that I know. My memory was lost, but I was told that it was Elementalism, the other one that I do know for sure if Mysticism, so maybe if I get that one taken away by the soul stone then my memory will be restored?” Antin scratched his head and srugged his shoulders.

”Ah yes, how rude of us we didn’t even tell you our names. It is Antin” he smiled looking over the man and onto the pages that he was flipping through. He didn’t explain any further and neither did Antin. Instead they were silent letting the man look for the page that he was seeking.

[Mike]

As Antin - whichever one it was - spoke of the spheres that he might have had, Jenson listened and nodded with much curiosity. These were a strange little pair of fae for sure. Jenson had questions, such as what spells could he cast. Surely the fae would be able to work out what spheres he had by the spells he knew? But any questions he had regarding the spheres came second to the one about their names. He nodded as the second Antin spoke of their names.

But he waited expectantly for the second one to give his name also. Looking at them curiously, he prompted them for another answer. "And you name?

[Antin Siannodel]

The one that he pointed to, the real Antin scratched his head then he giggled. They hadn't told him yet, he was likely confused, he had a right to know in a way, he was willing to help them out and as such they shouldn't lie to the man. "Well uh...you see." he looked at his other half, he knew he sometimes didn't like the story being told for he was the clone, but the short nod let Antin know it was alright. "Technically we are the same pixie. The only difference is that one of us is made of mana, while the other one was 'born'. So as you can see...we are both Antin" a grin crossed their faces.

Then the clone spoke "One of us is a clone"

[Mike]

"Amazing", Jenson replied in disbelief. He looked at them both with a critical stare, wondering if they just might explode in front of him or something. But any initial fear of the unknown was quickly replaced with the thirst for knowledge. Jenson was truly marvelled at what he saw and heard before him. A clone? Made of mana? Quite impossible. At least, he never would have thought such a thing could be done.

As if forgetting the soul stone for the moment, Jenson pressed on with his own questions, asking how such a thing had come to pass. Were their minds connected at all or linked in some manner? What happened if they were to become separated? And, of course, which one was the clone? It was up to the 'brothers' if they chose to answer all his questions, but as one had thought, perhaps it would have been beneficial to give Jenson some information. He seemed a likeable fellow and, if they gave him his answers, he might have worked a little harder at offering them some of his own.

After all. nothing was free in the trade town of Riparia.

[Antin Siannodel]

Antin scratched his head then nodded ”We will answer your questions, for the most part, if you can guarantee that you will help us. A promise is to be made, otherwise, well we will have to come back and tell you at some other time as we really want to get going.”

If Jenson said yes the two would alternate talking telling him how Odyleon the mystic had created a spell that would scan ones memories and put them into a shell of a body that he also made. They told him how they were linked to each other’s mind only by the power that was drawing from the birthed Antins and flowing into the clone. If they were separated then the clone would disappear forever as it wouldn’t have any energy to drain from peoples. They however didn’t talk about which one was real and which one was a clone, it seemed to be a sensitive issue.

OOC: sorry so short and well...not that great.

[Mike]

Jenson explained that while he might not necessarily be able to offer them the answers they needed, he would at least try his best. With all concerned happy with the arrangement, the twins proceeded to tell their story. A most intriguing one it was too, at least to Jenson who soaked up their words like a sponge. No fool was he though, and it was quite apparent that he should not press the matter of which was which. Nor could he make a guess himself, so alike they were.

In any case, they had upheld their end of the bargain. Now it was his turn. Returning to the book that he had taken from the shelf, he began thumbing through it again trying to locate the relevant passage that he knew to contain something regarding the elusive soul stones. If there was one in Riparia, he knew of no such thing. But that was not to say that it did not exist. He continued his search, but rather than let the two fae sit there and wait, he tried to keep them talking.

"Okay. Is there anything else you can tell me of the soul stone at all? Like, who sent you here to find it? Do you know anything at all that might help?"

[Antin Siannodel]

The two pixies thought scratching their heads. ”Well nobody had sent us per-say but we had heard about the stone that takes away magic! I don’t think it’s in the city, no but where…uh”

”It’s in Aslans’ Forge I think. But we don’t really know of anyway to get it, what it looks like or anything like that. That’s why we came here, to make sure that we had the information before following blindly into a volcano. But I think that’s pretty much all we know…”

”Is there anything on the pages about it?”