The Northern Glow

[Feff]

As the sun begins to set, a reddish glow can still be seen on the northern horizon. It frames the sight of a lone woman sitting on a rock, leaning forward towards a recently built campfire. The scene is idyllic, the fire crackles noisily in the calm night, a slight breeze occasionally sends the flame flickering and sparks into the wind. A small cast iron pot rests on a stand by the fire, slowly simmering the contents of the pot, the air begins to fill with the smell of the aromatics from the pot as birds chirp from the trees nearby.

Leaning back on her rock seat, the red-headed woman looks back to the north, a big grin breaking out on her face. Suddenly that grins turns into a scowl as she whips her head around to look back across the campfire. She replies to some otherwise unheard question, speaking out loud, "I don't care if it was unnecessary. It was enjoyable and about time that I got to release some tension. There hasn't been any fun since the end of the war!"

The only response to the woman's odd comment seems to be the breeze and the crackle of the fire. She scowls fiercely again, "Well it was worth it, I don't care what you say!" She goes back to staring into the fire, occasionally stirring the cooking stew. The silence continues for awhile, but the woman doesn't speak again. Occasionally she looks across the fire at something, but doesn't say anything more. Her face occasionally contorts as though thinking through some difficult concept in her head.

As the sun dips further over the edge of the world, the red glow continues on the north, only slowly fading as the night carries on.

[Zee]

As the woman stares idly over the fire from somewhere behind she hears a man clear his throat. "Beg pardon. The master summons you, he expects you for breakfast on the morn." With that he slowly creeps into the firelight fumbling into a small leather pouch on his side he sits down a pair of acorns on the ground near the womans feet. Catching her eyes he gives a half hearted smile and shrug before setting a third acorn on the ground nearby by and stomping on it. As soon as the shell is broken the man vanishes entirely only the cracked pieces of the empty acorn shell left behind.

The woman sees the acorns sitting on the ground, something she had grown familiar with by now. All the magical prowess her summoner possessed and he finds it amusing to implement such magical talents in the oddest of ways. The last time she was summoned it was a pair of slippers that she had to tap the heels together. Although, that one was quite amusing to see Ingto, her summoners messenger using the pink slippers.

[Feff]

The woman lets out a sneer at the timid man, unable to restrain the contempt for the lowly male messenger. She leans forward, grabbing the two acorns and sticking them in a pouch. She ignores the crumbled acorn but can't help but let out a laugh as she thinks about the incident with the pink slippers and Ingto. Oddly the laugh seems to have an echo from across the fire but silence resumes as the laughter dies out. Within minutes the stew is ready and the woman spoons herself up some of the stew, eating it slowly, and moving it away from the fire, but keeping it close enough to keep warm. After finishing her stew, she rinses it out some, setting it near the pot again and then lays down a short ways from the fire. She reaches out with a hand, and when she pulls it back a ring is now on her finger. Speaking the activating word, she disappears from sight.

A short while later, the woman reappears, moving over to the fire and grabbing up the bowl, apparently going for seconds. She hungrily eats, then rinses out the bowl and the pot before curling up by the fire with a small book. After several hours and with the fire starting to burn a bit lower, she again goes through the process of somehow summoning the ring and disappearing from sight, reappearing several minutes later to again take up a position by the fire, stoking it and reading her book again.

With the coming of the morning, the fire has almost burned out through the night as the woman pulls out the acorns again. Setting them on the ground, she mutters under her breath what sounds like a count down, then stomps down on the acorn, the other one smashing about the same time and with that the woman vanishes, leaving the remains of the three smashed acorns and the still smoldering fire in her wake.

******************

She appears in a carefully-tended garden, a now familiar place to her from previous jobs. She looks around, looking for the man that she knows is always somewhere waiting for her to appear.

[Zee]

The woman was indeed right and she spots the messenger sitting on a bench. His held down by the dark bags under his eyes, if he slept recently it wasn't much. As he sees the woman arrive he stands promptly and smooths out the creases in his robe. Bowing slightly he indicates for the lady to follow him, leading her down an all to familiar lavish hall past several closed doors and into the dining area. There sits a table already well stocked with fruits and breads. Glasses and plates set out for four guests. Ingto motions for the woman to sit down as he takes place across from her near the head of the table which could easily hold twenty. Before long Ingtos master strolls through the door opposite the end of the room from which they entered. An older man with long gray hair and bushy beard. Dressed in robes designed much like Ingtos but far more ornate. He sits down at the chair at the head of the table and as soon as he does the cooks begin bringing out the warm portions of breakfast. Bacon, ham, eggs, cider, milk, almost anything to be desired, a breakfast fit for a king. In a calmly manner the man speaks as the cooks set the food out around the table and he cleans his hands in the provided water basins. "I trust my man did not intrude upon you with my summons?"

[Feff]

Ignoring the fourth seat, the woman seats herself, nodding out of respect as the older man comes into the room. She takes some of the different foods onto a plate, "He did not intrude any more than he always does. The acorns were an interesting twist on your transportation, but I far preferred Ingto in his pink slippers." She grins at the man that obviously needed to get some more sleep.

She settles back into her chair, a confident, almost arrogant air to her. The arrogance is amplified when looking at Ingto but she's rather respectful of the older man sitting at the head of the table. "There is a job you wanted me to perform?"

[Zee]

Ingto as always remains mostly silent while in the presence of his master. Well used to jabs by employees of his master he pays little heed as he idly drinks at his orange juice. The older man at the head of the table nods as he places some of the food onto his plate. "Yes. I have need again of some of your special, talents. It seems one of my men has taken a horrendous interpretation of my orders." He waves a hand almost in dismissal of those thoughts. "He will be dealt with. But that is not for you to concern over. I have been trying to gather up a band for the job I would like for you to lead. Most of them will be here rather soon I should assume."

The old man pauses for a moment to take a drink of the milk he had poured. "I need an item. Do you remember the rod I had you collect for me?" He waits for the woman to nod before continuing. "There is a head to it that I have yet to recover. A gem that fits on the top, shaped like a triangle. I have little doubt that the journey will be both long and dangerous. If you wish to undertake though, the rewards are unlike anything you may have previously received on your jobs." With a gesture from the older man the wall behind Ingto fades away revealing a room behind. Swords, armors, golds, gems, books, bottles. What can be described as no less than a giant mound of treasure easily ten feet high and three times as many wide. "As much as you can carry from there, or I have a few select items I would be willing to part with as well."

[Feff]

The woman turns her attention fully to the old man, completely ignoring Ingto's presence as the old man goes on about her task. She can only smirk at the fact that a man would interpret orders horrendously enough to need to be taken care of. "What type of band is this that you're gathering? Are they going to be dimwits I need to lead around by the hand or are they going to be competent enough to take directions?"

She glances over at the treasure room, her eyes taking a quick inventory of the goodies and one side of her mouth twitches up in a smile. "Seems you are going all out for this gem headpiece. I take it that it's another item I don't need to know more about other than it's appearance..." She takes a bite of a piece of ham, thinking for a bit, "So what sort of protection will this gem have? What kinds of defenses are we going to be expecting or would you rather tell the lot of us all at the same time?"

[Zee]

The old man chuckles. "Oh most of them should be intelligent enough. Getting them to let you point them in the right direction on the other hand may prove more difficult. I'm afraid I don't know a lot about what kind of defenses this thing will have. I'm afraid its in a location with a veil even I cant pierce. Although I would expect very heavy defenses. Monsters galore, probably some traps, the environment itself, and I wouldn't be surprised if they even have their own dragon."

[Feff]

She shrugs her shoulders, "Oh well, I've gone into situations with worse intelligence than this." She leans back, pushing her plate away, "So when are we supposed to be leaving and do you have a map or directions to this gem of yours? What kind of length of trip are we looking at, and what is the composition of the group going to be?"

She waits for a bit, listening to his answer and then simply adds in, "Any additional information I should know or would be helpful to completing this?"

[Zee]

The old man at the head of the table shrugs. "Unfortunately we are lacking in further information and a priest for this venture. I believe you should be ready to leave in a few days. I'm going to continue working on the priest until you depart but it doesn't seem likely. I've a map to get you there, and a means to start you closer to your goal than leaving from here."

[Feff]

The woman shrugs off the comment about the priest, pushing her chair back, looking ready to stand, "Well then I won't leave you sitting here talking to me as you seem to have other tasks to keep you busy. However, I would like to be shown to my room. Will lunch and dinner arrangements be the same or should I dine in my room?" 

She looks ready to stand up, having grabbed a couple biscuits to take with her when she leaves the table.

[Zee]

The man nods to Ingto indicating he show the lady to her room. "We will be having both here, you may join me or dine wherever you like on the grounds." Ingto then leads the woman to her room, exceptionally lavish and filled with many of the things she stated that she enjoyed or requested from her previous visits.

[Feff]

Giving a respectful nod of her head to the old man, she follows Ingto, not even giving who she sees as a servant a nod, after all he is only fulfilling his function. She shuts the door behind her, going over a quick inspection of the room, looking for any type of magical scrying device, hole in the wall, or other such tricks to spy on her privacy. Satisfied that she doesn't find anything ((taking a liberty here)), she casts a quick spell on the room, an alarm spell to notify her if any being enters the room or attempts to magically look in on the room.

Satisfied that she should have some protection, she sits down on the bed, and calmly states, "That should be good for now C."

No sooner are the words out of the first woman's mouth that a seeming duplicate of her appears in the center of the room. She shakes her hair out, looking over her body and giving herself an uncontrolled patdown, checking to make sure she is all there. The second woman grins, "Thank you Eve, I was needing to make sure nothing was disrupted by our employer, but I seem to be all in one piece and without anything missing."

The first woman, Evelyn, lays back on the bed, stretching out, "Well take some time to move around visibly while you can. You heard the old man, seems like we might be out awhile this time, and needless to say I won't really be trusting any of these others and further than I'd trust a grunt soldier." She grabs a pillow, putting it under her head, "I'm going to take a nap though."

The second woman, Caiomhe, just nods, "Don't worry about me, I'll make myself busy. Sounds like we might be able to do something interesting again. No more burning down villages to appease your need for entertainment."

Evelyn snorts but doesn't bother to respond, closing her eyes and trusting in her sister to keep watch of the room.

[Zee]

Morning arrives with no fanfare for the two women in the room. A knock on the door and they hear Ingtos voice, from behind the door he addresses them. "It is time. My master bids you to join him at the table. Unfortunately I can not escort you as I am needed else where at this time." Faintly behind the door they can hear the mans footsteps moving away from the door, not waiting to see if they acknowledged his message or not.

[Feff]

The woman returns to her room after the rather uneventful breakfast, once again going about implementing her magical and physical sweep of the room. Only when she's sure everything is as it should be and the door is thoroughly locked, she plops down on the bed, her cue both mentally and physically for her seeming clone to reappear inside the room. Caiomhe reappears, stretching like a cat and shaking out her hair.

She moves over to a chair, sitting down with a relaxed sigh, "Seems like this group he put together is even more random than we're used to. The big guy can be useful, but of course it will be better to get a look at him outside of the magical confines of this place. The elf seemed to certainly fit the mercenary mold he usually brings in, but the other woman and the man with her seemed out of place. Not sure what purpose those two will serve."

Evelyn nods along in agreement, having already heard her sisters analysis of the group but nothing spoken out loud. The words rang true though, "At least we'll have another woman with us, maybe even have that competent looking frail one that was sitting by the behemoth. Whatever though, we'll have another woman with us regardles, so that means this trip won't be all that incompetent."

Evelyn lays back, closing her eyes, "What sort of reward do you think we'll be offered prior to the trip? Something useful you think?"

Caiomhe shrugs, the motion unseen by her sister, but it causes a ruffle against the back of the chair, "Who knows with the old man, usually they are pretty useful. I still wonder where he acquired all this magical paraphernalia. I didn't think the Thardferrians were this rich in magical items, but then look at all the changes over the years. The incompetent forces brought in prior to our army left behind enough magic to enable these backwater yokels to even be on part with some of our ranks."

Evelyn snorts aloud at the last comment, "Dear sister, I believe I'm starting to rub off on you finally. We should have returned years ago. I don't know who's idea it was to stay away for so long, but at least we were able to be part of the fighting this time."

The other sister groans, "Not everyone shares your enthusiasm for destruction and flames sister. Oh well, for as much good as that did us, we still got soundly beat and had to scratch to retain a few handholds. If not for that treacherous bitch, we might've conquered more of this land. Then we wouldn't have to be relying on any Thardferrians for any form of entertainment or employment."

Evelyn turns her head to look at her sister, all grins, "At least the entertainment and employment seem to be running together these days..."

The two share a laugh, then settle into a bit more banter, relaxing while they pass the hours.