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"Gods I hate this town in summertime," Tobias muttered to himself as he made his way down the stairs that led from the road down into the cool environs of the local tavern. Stopping to exchange a few pleasantries with Mausin, the tavernkeeper, and to fill his mug with the local beer, Tobias stomped the dust from his boots as he made his way upstairs, to the chambers that the Army of Fate used for their Headquarters. Shutting the leather hinged door behind him, Tobias looked around the large meeting room, the wood of the long table aglow with a rich gold from years of rubbing with oils, dim lamplight reflecting from it. The sight of blonde hair hunched over a scroll at the far end of the table brought a smile to Tobias's youthful face. "Lorien, heya. You'll go blind reading in this dim light you know." Lorien looked up from her study of the scroll, seeming to take a moment to recognize who was speaking to her. She smiled tiredly, "Hello Tobias. The light is fine, but I'll admit my eyes burn from a lack of good sleep lately." Tobias pulled one of the padded chairs away from the table and settled his lithe form into it, setting his black beer mug upon the golden table. "You too eh? My sleep has been riven by dreams of late as well." Lorien stood and walked to an antique sideboard, serving herself cool apple cider from far off Yaraq Cove. As she poured the fine drink into a crystal glass, she glanced at her comrade-in-arms, noticing he too showed signs of weariness in his eyes. Tobias leaned back into his chair, picking up his black mug and taking a long pull of the beer. Waiting for Lorien to take her seat again, he asked what it was she dreamed of. Lorien paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. A fine line appeared between her fair eyebrows, a look of concentration on her face that Tobias knew well from watching her hurl complex magics even while being attacked by creatures thrice her size. "First, all the dreams are horrifying, and if they are bad enough to scare me after all I've seen in this world, that says something I think, Tobias." Lorien stopped to grin at her husband quickly, before continuing. "They start off innocently enough, I am swimming in the lake of Silencia's Crater enjoying the cool water, the azure sky above and the cottony clouds. Suddenly the sky glows with a reddish tint, the clouds begin to tumble in like giant black tides of smoke. The air grows thin and cold, the water around becomes icy." Tobias watches Lorien's face carefully as she describes her nocturnal journey, the power of the dream obvious, even in the light of day, written in the strain in her eyes. Lorien continues, "Floats of ice begin to form all around me as the I struggles to stay above the waters and they converge and move closer closer and closer to me. I can't climb out of the water, I feel something below suddenly grab my leg, then I wake, sweat and the smell of fear all around me." Taking a quick drink of her cool cider to restore herself, Lorien shook her head slightly, her blonde tresses swaying around her neck. "Ah, 'tis just a dream, but more than a dream, do you know what I mean Tobias?" Tobias stood from the table and walked about the room, restless, as he gathered his own thoughts. Stopping at a narrow window looking out into the courtyard of the tavern, Tobias cleared his throat. "Yes, I do know what you are talking about. Like I said, I too have had some disturbing dreams of late, and think that there is a connection between them and these strange "possessions" by the Virindi, or whoever. Remember last night when that fellow attacked you? He was ranting and raving about how the Master wanted us to know that Grandmother was doomed? Then he attacked you, suicidaly as it turns out. Khas Volun attacked Emily the same way, Darvvin reports problems of his own with some force that attempts to control... and don't forget what happened to Lord Karnak, back in Frostfell." Glancing ruefully at his empty onyx beer mug, Tobias then looked up at Lorien as she sat at the far end of the meeting table. "Lorien, hear my dream and see what you think." "I am alone on a desolate frozen plain, the ground hard and blackened. Trees shriveled, dark and leafless.. Corpses litter the ground.. Total annihilation has struck the land of Dereth. It reminds me somewhat of the Obsidian Plains but I know I am standing just outside of Shoushi, you know the place, the road leading to Sawato? Anyway, the sky itself glows with a slightly red hue that has replaced the purple light we're used to. My feet begin to loose their feeling as I stare at the horrifying seen. The cold seeps into me, black and grasping tendrils like insane roots twist up my legs and bury themselves deep into my skin. I reach down at the tendrils helplessly, my hands simply pass through them..." Tobias' voice drifts off into silence as he looks out into the dry day, the fountain in the courtyard bubbling brighly, mocking his and Lorien's nighttime terrors.
Gwen - Tobias Esque - Unarmed Specialist - www.role-play.net/rick/ac/images/tobias/tobias.htm
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