Trothgard Embasy, Fryday, Chyril 27th, Early MT - Hex

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Hex da`Bergliin
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Trothgard Embasy, Fryday, Chyril 27th, Early MT - Hex

Post by Hex da`Bergliin »

The Trothgard embassy looked looked as it should, a short, squat military like building. Hex found the streets cooler in the early dawn and the merchants and peddlers moving about had paid her no mind or little attention. She had let Langredoc and Eyrekra work on what ever they were doing. With the Dragon as a base of contact she would be able to find them again, and for the most part, she was easily recognizable.

There was much to do on this day. The answer to the future lay in the past and the past she needed to know lay in the building known to her as a library. She would need help there as her reading skills were not as proficient as they could be.

Aside from all that Hex was very interested to know who was actually representing Trothgard to the Caesar. As far as she knew, that answer would be no one.

[OOC: description from Archives :wink:]

Inside the lines of the building were the standard Seven Isles imperial, but the addition of lush furs and austere braziers in the hallways added a uniquely Trothgardian touch. By the entrance, in what seemed to be a sort of altar enclave, a circular web of woven gut decorated with shards of a crystal whose deep blue seemed familiar and several elaborate feathers twirled lazily in the trail of incense that filtered up from the stick burning on the ground below.

Two women, one younger and heavily armed, the other middle-aged, with the weather-worn face of a warrior and the no-nonsense look of an experienced diplomat, were discussing something in the hallway as the Roses entered. Their conversation immediately ended the moment they spotted the two young women.

"Good day to you," the younger woman greeted them, in a formal voice. "I am Iorna da'Waelkyrige and you are welcome to the Embassy of Trothgard. What business have you here?"

Hex looked the woman up and down before answering.

"I am Hex, known now as the Witch of the North, Priestess of the Ice Queen, tell me Iorna, whom is in charge here?"
~
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Post by Grey Wolf »

The elder woman looked at Hex and with a short nod, left the tall warrior alone with the Witch of the North. “I will leave you to your work.” As she left the female warrior turned to face Hex and nodded curtly. “It is an honor to meet you at last, Witch. I am Iorna, and you may speak to me, or wait here while I go see if Lady Ambassador is available. Either way I will need to know what your business here is so I can relay it to her.” There was a feather in the woman’s hair marking her as unmarried and carried a speak even inside the Embassy, number of beads adorning the braids at her temples. Behind her a door to the other parts of Embassy lay, but to get there, Hex would likely need to get past Iorna, who was not interested in moving out of the way.
The diplomacy is the art of saying "Good dog", while you are searching for a big rock.
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Post by Hex da`Bergliin »

Hex looked at the woman understanding the dynamics of the situation, amused though that her reputation had preceded her.

"I am here seeking shelter and a place to lick my many wounds. I am here in this town to learn more about the ones from beyond the wall and I am here to see whom is left in charge to tell them of news from home. Much has changed as I am sure you know and depending on where they lay their allegiance I am here to offer my services."

Hex casually leaned against the wall of the alcove.

"I suppose I shall wait here while you decide if I am to meet our ambassador."

Hex crouched and played with the pups ears while she waited for Iorna to respond.
~
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Post by Grey Wolf »

The tall warrior woman hesitated but a flicker, her swift decision betraying her for a fighter rather than a philosopher, her body shifting aside as a hand motioned towards a door in the back. “I’ll take you to see the Ambassador. She is preparing for today’s Council meeting.” Without waiting for a reply she moved towards the door in the back, and then down a long hallway, deer skins covering its walls, drawn taut across wooden frames, images of Trothgard’s past painted upon them. She paused before a third door to the left and knocked, leaning close to the wooden surface. A flicker later a muffled reply came and she opened the door and stepped in, holding it opened for Hex and waiting for the Witch to enter. She took position behind Hex, the door behind Iorna, as the other woman in the room looked up from the papers before her, arching her brow and glancing at Iorna for a flicker, before turning her icy blue gaze at the visitor. “Yes, what can I do for you?”
The diplomacy is the art of saying "Good dog", while you are searching for a big rock.
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Post by Hex da`Bergliin »

Hex looked slyly back to Iorna as she took up her defencive posture. Hex would have done the same thing. Turning her attention to the woman before her Hex took a step forward to address this, ambassador, a woman that Hex was somewhat surprised to see, at all.

"What can you do for me? Not much really. I seek a room to rest and heal some wounds. I ask for advice on how I can obtain information of the history of our Isle, I understand there is something of an library in this town and I ask of you if you know of recent events in Trothgard."

Hex paused a flicker, tilted her head a touch and smiled her wicked smile, like a wolf toying with her prey.

"I guess I am also here to ask whom or what you serve, given the circumstances."

The infliction in her voice made it clear that she was not going to be dismissed, shewed or otherwise intimidated until she had her answers.
~
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Post by Grey Wolf »

Ina da'Yrsa's loyalty was easily found given her blood ties with the late Kona, though she did not offer such knowledge directly, the lines at the corners of her blue eyes becoming more pronounced as she stared at the injured witch before her. "We can offer you a bed in the guard quarters, or pay you a room at an inn should you find that more to your liking. I fear we do not have our own healers, so your wounds will have to be treated by someone else. Might I suggest the healers at the Temple of the Mother here?" The Ambassador's voice was calm and gentle, without a hint of anger in it, her eyes gazing into Hex'.

"I think the best place to learn history of Trothgard would be in Trothgard itself, but seeing how you are here, I will assume you had a very good reason to leave and that going back is not an option in a foreseeable future. That limits your search to two locations within the city. Imperial Archives being the first, with Repository possibly containing more information, especially from non-Imperial sources, though I doubt you will find much on Trothgard from outside sources."

Then came the final question and the only reaction to it was the sound of Iorna shifting behind Hex, Ambassador's face remaining impassive and emotionless as it had been from the start. "I am aware of the seriousness of the current situation on our home isle and while I have my own sources, you are free to share any news you bring, for which I will be very grateful." There was a short pause, before she added. "As for who or what I serve, I think that neither do I see the need for such a question, nor do you have any right to ask such a question before stating your allegiance first."
The diplomacy is the art of saying "Good dog", while you are searching for a big rock.
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Post by Hex da`Bergliin »

OOC: Sorry for the delay, RL and all that. I should be back on track in a week or two. I would like to give a real good detail of the Trothgard story bit I do not have time tonight. I just wanted to get in here to let you know I was still here!

IC:

Hex did not blink.

"Perhaps you find my question crass, so be it. I will tell you all I can of what has and what will happen on the isle. I am loyal to Ijskoningin, the one true Ice Queen and to Trothgard, the land itself."

Hex paused and plumped herself down on a pile of skins.

"I have meant no offence but I will not lend my aid willingly to a rebel, even if the cause is for the repelling of those from beyond the wall. There is too much ice through the pass for that. Nothing is clear to me anymore. My friends are enemies, my enemies my friends. I trust only the Ice Queen as being true. So either you are with him or you are not, it is as simple as that for there is no Kona, no people to lead and nothing more than chaos on our beloved isle. I have not seen or heard of a priestess since the slaughter. The three wise men in the cave were right, nothing will ever be the same again..."
~
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Post by Grey Wolf »

Where Hex’ initial words caused Ina not merely to frown, but to actually growl low, though it was short lasting when the injured warrior woman before her revealed that Kona was indeed dead and that the Priestess’ were no more. “I do not know who this him is, but I can assure you I would have nothing to do with those who slay my kin and kill the priestess’ of Ice Queen. My loyalties are to Trothgard as it were when I left, when Kona ruled over that land in the name of our Goddess. That she no longer is alive matters not, as I am sure Ice Queen will choose another Kona when the time is right. I’ll ask the Council to send aid tomorrow, and I shall ensure that proper order is restored. And then I will seek the one who killed Kona and end his life myself.” The woman’s blue eyes burned with rage, though her face was no longer red, color draining out of it instead. Her voice was calm and emotionless, and despite the terrible urge to do so, she did not cry.
The diplomacy is the art of saying "Good dog", while you are searching for a big rock.
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Post by Hex da`Bergliin »

Hex picked at a flake of dead blackened skin on her hand. Beneath the frosty white of her skin was revealed. She had survived the fire from beyond the wall only by the cruel generosity of those more powerful than she. She could survive the frozen north by herself, wield dangerous and powerful magic and kill men and eat their souls like they we rabbits in an hunters snare. Yet, she felt every bit a pawn.

Hex looked into the rage of Ina and saw there the passion of Trothgard.

"Yes Ina, you will do these things and I shall do them with you. I left the isle because ... well I was too close to the fire. I had lost perspective and I needed to refocus. I was fighting a battle blindly without all the information I needed and still need. I came here to learn, find weakness in my enemies armour."

Hex picked at some more skin. They had said that she will see the end, see all that she loves, hats and knows turn to dust. Her bones still hurt but the strength was already coming back.

"I need to wash and rest and I would like to go with you to this council. As far as I know I may be the last priestess or at the very least, the last whom can still draw upon the favour of the Ice Queen. I would like to see for myself how seriously they take us and this threat."

The flakes of snow in Hex's eyes fell upon dark memories and pain. The pup licked her and brought her back to the present.

"Yes little thief, Ina will hear your story too."

Hex licked her lips.

"So lets begin with the stupid men dressed in white and that flying ship of theirs..."

Hex did not embellish nor leave out too much but she did not want to put this woman to sleep. She gave her a blunt and honest account, from her point of view, of what has transpired on the frozen isle in the last two years.
Last edited by Hex da`Bergliin on Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
~
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Post by Meridiuz »

OOC: Hex is actually talking to Ina right now, not Iorna ;)

IC:

Ina's face remained expressionless as Hex told her she wanted to go with her to the council, something that is not a very light matter. She would have to think about it. She remained silent all through the story. When Hex was finally finished Ina looked straight into the priestess' eyes. "I honestly do not know if you are the only surviving priestess, but I do know this. You are not alone in your battle. The Covenant of the Secret Fire has every intention to find out who is responsible for this." She paused, knowing that Hex had probably never heard of the covenant before. "We are running out of time and that means there isn't time for the normal way of doing things. I will tell you all I know and then we shall see how we can all join the battle together." She paused again, before actually telling what she knew. "We know that Skaali attacked the temple and killed the Kona and the priestesses. What we do not know for certain if he actually controlled the White Ones as well. All the signs lead to him, but we don't believe he would have the power to actually control them."

She stood up and walked over to a desk in the corner. There would be a lot of things to talk about and even though Ina could be a cold hard warrior, she felt like she could use a drink. She quickly filled up two mugs with mead. Walking back over to her own desk, she placed one mug in front of Hex and took a big sip out of her own. "So tell me..how well do you know Eyrekra?"
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Post by Hex da`Bergliin »

Eyerka...The girl brought a smile to Hex's lips as she took the mead.

The girl. Like individual flakes that fell into a field and formed a sheet of snow, the past had become as interwoven in Hex's mind. She took a long haul on the mug.

Hex's mind started to un-weave the woven thread.

The Ice Queen awoke me from a slumber and I boarded a ship and came home as fast as I could. Home felt stagnant and there was something rotting under the ice. The murder of a priestess and men being told by a man that they to had power. Without a doubt this was the early work of Skaali.

Then came the call North, the battle with the men in white and their flying ship. The Guardian, his was a mission to find hope in the battle against their foes, the White Ones. They had stirred and the Queen was silent. He had found not hope but death.

Then she came? Did she or was it a trick of those in the ice? Skaali was not as strong as he is now. No, his power does grow or his ability to use it properly. Then came the tricks of ice, my surrender to the hunt and civil war.

The white ones came on my heels into my home. Those tainted shards and the pain. That infernal song and the summoning of the beast. The girl, she fought like a she devil...


Hex took another swig of the mead.

"Eyrekra has a warriors heart and she has devotion to the Queen. She has been tested in battle and stood without fear but the thought of life still has its fears. I know nothing of this Covenant of the Secret Fire but I am all ears. As for Skaali, I do not think that he controls the White Ones, he either wants to control them or destroy them. That is his pattern. I travelled with Skaali for many turns of the moon, he is crafty, sly and works his worm into their heart. He can be killed and perhaps I should have done so, but I am sure that he does not control the White Ones. Did he have anything to do with their return? That I have no answers for."
~
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Post by Meridiuz »

Ina, though not showing it outwardly, felt a surge of relief at having Hex's first hand observations of her time in Trothgard. The woman had been away from her homeland, and even in hearing of the troubles she felt closer by speaking to the Witch. Kona's death pulled at her, but she kept up her politician's facade. Emotions would have to wait until later when they could be properly dealt with. For now, her mind had to be set toward this current matter and what would be done about Skaali.

"Then your opinion is that he does not have the power?" It validated her original idea, and she took comfort in her instincts. "Nor do you have opinion on how they came to return?" She took a sip of her mead, beads clanking against one another in a gentle rhythm as her chin lifted. A fair skinned hand set down the tankard on her desk before it busied itself with grasping a quill, though she wrote nothing. Skaali doesn't have the power... he couldn't have done it unless he gained much in my absense. The idea of it tormented her. There were so very few who were capable of summoning the White Ones.

Icy blue eyes affixed to Hex again, this time they weren't as severe as they were upon her entry. "We've lost so much, Hex - Trothgard and the Covenant," she looked down at the quill she held in her hand, flicking it absently, though it was only a distraction to the conversation, one she put down so that she might concentrate on her visitor again. "We - the Covenant of Secret Fire - were supposed to protect Trothgard and the Old Ways of the Ice Queen. It is vital that we keep these new gods away and keep the power of the Ice Queen intact, less we lose Trothgard to Sjovolkor. Would you help us with this? We can offer you a great power and training under the Elder - Xermetia."

Ina reached a hand across her desk, and stared deeply into Hex, as if reading her very soul. "If you wish to join us, then give me your hand."
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Post by Hex da`Bergliin »

Hex finished the mug of mead in a single long pull. Wiping her lips with the back of her hand Hex looked hard at the woman in front of her. In a fluid movement Hex stood to face this woman.

Hex, battered by fire, driven from her homeland was being offered a chance not only to be a part of the reclaiming of her home land but to assist in its rebuilding, the reclaiming of the faith and assistance in her own development. In short what more could a girl ask for.

Giving that hand forward meant a lot of things though, it meant that Hex would have to step up, to take the responsibility that would come with all that she would be given. Her hand twitched, this was going to be neither a short road or a easy one. Hex did know what this was though.

Hex extended her pale white hand to Ina.

"I have given my soul to the Ice Queen and my heart to Trothgard. To give my hand to you and to continue on a path already taken will be my pleasure and a task I look upon as a duty not to be taken lightly. Whatever you ask of me will be yours."

Hex stepped forward and extended her two white hands. They stilled showed her old battle scars and her callouses from years of holding cold steel. Now they twitched with the energy of faith.

"Show me..."
~
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Post by Meridiuz »

Ina could both sense and see the faith in Hex - and as the young woman reached out her hand, and then paired it with her second. The Covenant sorceress grasped beyond her right hand to her wrist with a vice-like grip, taking no pause at Hex's word, nor seeming to acknowledge anything beyond her outstretched palm. The Witch wanted for Ina to show her the way, and the theatrics were about to begin. Linked, as if in greeting, Ina rose from her seat, stepped around her desk and drew Hex in closer, sliding her hand up from wrist to just below the elbow so that their bodies became just a hands-width apart. Though Hex's arm was wider there, Ina's long fingers wrapped deftly around the muscle with a pressure that was more a reminder than anything meant to be painful.

"I join you, Hex, to the Cause of the Covenant of the Secret Fire;" she started. The air around Hex's ears began to crackle and snap as the pressure changed with a wave of heat emanating from their contact point - those mirrored hands. "To the War against the New Ways and the Protection of the Old Ways," she continued. Hazy lines, often seen in the distance on hot rocks, waved and the world beyond blurred, and then came the pain. First, it was a tingling, burning on her skin as if from being exposed to the sunlight too long on a summer day. Then it worked itself deeper, within her skin - lower, into tendons that stretched like fire elastic bands pulling the heat from her joint down her arm to her wrist. "To Xermetia and to the Ice Queen, Herself - I bind you."

Ina released her hold on Hex's arm and where her palm had been placed there remained a flaming symbol in bold bright red. It was simple in design, an equilateral triangle with a verticle line down the center. As flickers passed by the intensity of the color dimmed to a dull brick, then to a dark crimson until settling in black then seeming to pool into her very skin as if soaked up by a sponge so that only the memory of the mark remained.

"If you ever need reminder of it, pass your other hand over your arm, and it will rise again," Ina said as she stepped out of Hex's personal space to a comfortable distance. She remained standing. "I will speak to the Imperial Counsel, I will ask for aid. Iorna will go with you back to Trothgard to meet with Xermetia and begin your training."
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Post by Hex da`Bergliin »

For Hex it may have been not unlike the sensation of being trapped inside and ice berg. Ice cracking in her ears so loud that she thought she would deafen and heat that soaked into her bones like frostbite coming out too fast. Hex wondered for a flicker and only a flicker what winding road the Queen had laid out for her this time.

Hex nodded as the triangle faded.

"Yes, I look forward to meeting Xermetia and to beginning this next leg of my journey. I can only believe that this is the path that fate, and out Queen has laid out for me. I only need a new suit of chain and a few days rest before I return but I would like to shadow you on some of your diplomatic journeys. The opportunity to use how to wield one's words can be almost as powerful as one's steel."

Hex clenched he fist and opened to a palm again.

"I am no longer Hex da`Bergliin as I shall ever be. I am the Witch of the North a weapon of faith but know this, I am no fool. I take those curses upon me and make them my strength."

Hex looked into Ina's eyes with her own eyes of a storm. In a way she thought this was all be design, to cull the weak form the heard and she was a wolf. She was also no fool for she knew that she would need to bring a pack of dogs to her homeland and she wondered what effect that would have on her people.
~
[i]The [b]Kona[/b] is dead, long live the [b]Witches[/b][/i]
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"Perhaps you can come along for some meetings, but I shall see what officials I have to meet with," she began, but it was Hex's next words that brought the severity of her eyes. "The Witch of the North?" Ina asked sharply with the feral eyes of the wolf that Hex thought of even now. "What games do you play, Hex, that you betray your family name and take on that of the Kona?" Though she knew the old Kona to be dead, it was to Aesa that the prestige would now fall - unless someone else were to rise to take the crown of the isle of the North.

"If a name you must have, then it shall be a name that I give you - Witch of the Rocks, for you've taken to the calling here away from our snowy home. Do not forsake our Kona, nor your family nor the Ice Queen, Herself." Her harsh blue eyes remained cold. "You are weak right now, Witch - but you will learn the runes and you will learn the words and then the true Witch of the North will come." She leaned her weight into her desk and crossed her lean arms over her chest. Appraisingly she looked over the would-be priestess before her. "You will have the power to do great things or horrible things, Hex - the path is yours alone to follow, but bear the curse and prepare for the Ice Queen's wrath should this power tempt your heart to a calling that is against her will."

Ina turned from Hex, then, to write something on a sandy colored piece of parchment. Her handwriting was full of elegant hoops and swirls and designated that Hex was to be given a chainmail from the Embassy storage as well as the Gauntlets of Vyrd. The end of the short note was signed with Ina's name. "Give this to Iorna on your way out and she'll make sure you get everything you need as well as a room to stay in until you leave." It was dismissive, and meant to give Hex the impression it was time for her to move on.
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Post by Hex da`Bergliin »

Hex would take the letter for the chain mail, nod her head and give a sly smile.

They have called me many things, the name you give me will fade like the rest and I fear the wrath of none...

Hex, first and foremost is and was a solider and in the end she would take an order as good as any and she knew when to step and when to stroll.

During the time that Hex was in the Citadel she took it all in, the smells and the stench, thugs, murderers and those weak enough to be victims. The city was unlike anything that she had really seen before. The council was as she had thought it would be, powerful people who had soft flesh and hard hearts. The Lady Sosa stood out from amongst those whom Hex thought as weak and in the end the army would march, with Hex and her new gauntlets headed back to the land of a frozen hell, her home.

Ina was a hard woman, a strong woman and on top of all that smart. Smart enough to know that a woman like Hex could only herded and trained for trying to control her was like tyring to heard ally cats. Ina has something that Hex wanted, and needed. Not only for her but for all that she was trying to do. Perhaps this woman could see what Red Warriors seemed to be able to, that under all her vileness and wickedness, Hex was only tyring to do right by her people and her god.
Last edited by Hex da`Bergliin on Tue Jul 22, 2008 6:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
~
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Post by Meridiuz »

As Hex walked out of the room, Ina emptied her mug of mead in one big gulp. Things were moving fast now and there were a lot of uncertainties. Too much.... Never before had she accepted someone that quickly into the Covenant and it had been a long time since she had recruited someone. But she followed her own instinct on this one. She knew that Hex would be of value to them.

She sat down and inhaled deeply before continuing to prepare for the Council meeting. There was a lot to be done.

OOC:
Thanks for the thread!

the chain mail and the gauntlets are added to your inventory!
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