| The Eye of Eternity |
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| Prologue |
| Finding Footing |
Featuring
In these in-between spaces life continues. Ordinary men and women turned into something otherworldly by conspiracies of fate and coincidence. One month's time would serve as breathing room between the arrival of these new players onto fate's stage, and their introduction to the bigger picture… — The Professor
Almas, Andoran: Seriphos
Two weeks following the sinking of the Infernis and the rescuing of slaves from the Aspis Consortium, Birch and Seriphos are acclimating to their new places in the world. For two weeks now, Seriohos has been performing his duties as an initiate of the Eagle Knights, while also maintaining an understudy position with a dwarven smith named Voras Olode. All the while, Seriphos has been working to craft weapons for the new individuals in his life; troll-tusk hilts for a pair of swords belonging to Birch, and an elegant rapier for Knight-Marshall Reinn.
In his training with the Eagle Knights, Seriphos had been personally tutored by Knight-Marshall Reinn. Her instructions focused on her unique defensive fighting style, as well as incorporating arcane magic into her swordplay, a style that she felt Seriphos was well suited to. In their training, Reinn was focused on getting Seriphos to be able to control his unique aspect of lightning.
While Reinn preached the message of passion controlling his inner magic — the anger that he felt when Nuvo was injured — Seriphos did not wish for his inner power to be controlled by rage alone. Instead he cleared his mind and attempted to focus on the energy within himself and channel it outward. Much to Reinn's surprise, he was successful. Curiously, when Seriphos focused on the energy within himself and the sigil on his chest, he felt as though he recalled words spoken to him long ago.
"…we can turn it into a weapon. If she won't do it for us, than at least you should know well enough how to manipulate it. We can use the artifact we found, interconnect the two, and end this war in one swift motion." — Unknown speaker
With focus and concentration, Seriphos was able to command the lightning within himself to emerge, firing a bolt of electricity at the target Reinn had instructed him to. With that success on hand, Seriphos had completed the first step of his training. In return for aiding him and giving him the opportunity to join the Eagle Knights, Seriphos gifted Reinn with a hand-crafted rapier of remarkable craftsmanship he forged for her.
Almas, Andoran: Birch
Birch has been occupying himself in his residence at the Cathedral of Gozreh on the Avenue of the Gods. Here, in a winterized tent on the cathedral grounds, he has been acclimating himself to the cold environment of Almas and gathering necessary medicinal supplies to prepare for an eventual journey to Razmiran to follow the path of the owl-masked man. Birch has also sought out replacement weapons to defend himself with, as his ceremonial arms are long since lost in Arcadia. Suitable replacements were found in the mercantile district, where exotic arms from Tian-Xia caught his eye. While the wakazashi and katana of the Tian samurai is not quite unlike the taiaha and great terbutje of his homeland, their paired use and style serves his purpose, much as the hankyu (Tian shortbow) serves to emulate the range of the atlatl.
At the Cathedral of Gozreh, Birch met with an elven cavalier named Areilyn and his bear Urun. In their conversation, Birch learned that Areilyn was tied to a group known as the 'Children of Golarion' that believed in removing the taint of technology and artifice from the world and a return to nature. Despite not seeing, philosophically, eye to eye the pair bonded over having a close connection to their mounts. Areilyn offered to teach Birch some of the finer points of mounted combat.
Life has a curious way of connecting points together. Seemingly unrelated events, each and every one, a part of a greater schematic that a single component never knows the full scale of. Birch and Seriphos are merely components, and soon enough their place in the great schematic would be revealed to them. — The Professor
| Previously | Castaway |
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| Continued In | Lacrimosa |