The Quality of Mercy (with Whitebrand)

[MasterGryph]

"Spirits of the valley, you say," Rose muttered disbelievingly. Her tone was tinged with disappointment that that was the best excuse he could come up with.

"It's true enough that there's nothing here" Rikki muttered, of course meaning the cave. She did seem a bit unnerved by the "elf's" demeanor. But was it his imagination, or did she just sniff at the air? Come to think of it, she smelled rather like a rat herself...

Their first thought was that no one would venture far from civilization without some sort of weapon. His lack of one led to suspicion... but in the case of the frontliners, it was suspicion that this man was some sort of illusion. Rose and Rikki had ways of telling that there was indeed a person standing in front of them, but this went unvoiced.

"...Got anything more detailed to say?" Indy asked when several seconds of awkward silence and disbelief did not make the suspicious person disappear.

"Do you actually live in these woods?" Rikki spoke up.

[Whitebrand]

“Then I will be more explicit,” the disguised dragon said, stepping closer to the group, unafraid. He focused on the rogue. “The rat spirit that guides you will lead to your doom. The male human will be driven from this valley in mortal terror while his counterpart will become an adoring slave of the ruler of this place. Your fate is clouded,” he added, staring at the mage. “But equally unpleasant.

“This place is our home, not yours,” he finished. “You have been warned. Your fates are now in your hands.”

With that the elf turned around and walked into the forest, quickly vanishing into the trees.

[MasterGryph]

"...That was him," Rose stated when they were reasonably sure he couldn't come back at a moment's notice.

"So that's it," Rikki muttered, "Explains why he didn't smell like he lived among trees."

"Wait, then why are we letting him leave?" Indy exclaimed in confusion, "We did hear the same thing, right?"

"Yeah, I'm never going to "adore" a creep like that," Claire fumed.

"The facts haven't changed. We're not adequately prepared. Gaps in his knowledge aside, we can't underestimate him," Rose repeated, before breaking out in a smirk, "We don't need to take it lying down. But in the meantime, I think we need to find another "intermediate step" to start with."

"...Alright, we're leaving," Rikki ordered. She wondered though, just what the dragon was expecting to see. She was a lot of things, but not a ghost...

[Whitebrand]

Clever, overconfident brats, Brand thought.

Ah well. Message received. At least they would be leaving. For now. He retreated deeper into the woods and waited. They didn’t need to see him taking off.

They would be back. He knew their type. Possibly with reinforcements. Or cannon fodder. Better weapons. Maybe.

[MasterGryph]

The adventurers' path would take them back near a certain farmhouse on the way to the roads. But that probably wouldn't be a problem.

---

Mayu was hanging out in the open when Whitebrand made it back. "How did it go?"

[Whitebrand]

“Newbies who haven’t figured out how to work as a team,” Brand said. “But cunning. It was kind of amusing, really. They saw through my ruse but I had to spell out the danger they were in. Equipped with the basics and not much more. Unless they get really lucky they shouldn’t be a problem.”

He took his human shape with a relieved sigh and walked over to Mayu. He rubbed her head behind her ears and the tension seemed to go out of him a bit. He looked around.

“I’m glad to see your common is so much better,” he told her. “Where’s everyone else?”

[MasterGryph]

"I was worried they left you in a bad mood," she responded, her relieved tone clarifying her stilted sentence.

"The library and the gym, mostly," She answered, "Brie is researching some things you mentioned. Bianca is teaching some weapon katas."

[Whitebrand]

"Then let's look in on Bianca, shall we?" Brand said, scooping Mayu up onto his shoulder...regardless of her current form. He happily carried her on his big shoulder on his way to the gym.

[MasterGryph]

The thought crossed the kitsune's mind that this position would be simpler if Brand was in a giant instead of a human shape. That was amusing, but also awkward in its own way. Rather than try to bring this up, she reverted to fox form as they moved.

Bianca and Maurice were trying to cross-reference the dragon's story with a book on the history of a Desert region, but it wasn't clear whether they'd found the right one. They hadn't noticed his entrance just yet...

[Whitebrand]

“The pharaoh who built the pyramid passed four hundred years ago,” Brand clarified for them when he spotted the book they were reading. “At the beginning of the mass migration from the deeper desert. The city was called Anon-Phesos. His curse put an end to the flow of the waters that fed his city and kingdom. We came along much more recently...about forty years ago. The waters began to flow again after the curse was lifted. Today the people are moving back into the area again, from what I hear. You won’t find them mentioning us specifically, though. They didn’t really like having a bunch of crazy foreigners coming to their rescue.”

“You will find mention of the White Palm Oasis and The reappearance of the great sage, Martek,” he added. “Two things we also had a hand in.”

[MasterGryph]

""Oh, I'll look for that then," Brie responded, flipping through pages to look for a certain date range.

"Rude of them to gloss over an ally's actions against their interests. I suppose that's what Bianca's efforts are about," Maurice commented, "...What happened out there?" Maurice asked, after taking a few seconds to see that Whitebrand looked healthy.

[Whitebrand]

“Ran into the party,” Brand said. “Warned them. They left but they’re stubborn. They might be back. Nothing too traumatic.”

The history book was finally turned to the right page.

“The final days of Anon-Pharos were overseen by Pharaoh Amon-Re, son of Potep-Re. In the years surrounding the death of his father, Amon-Re ordered the construction of a great pyramid as a monument to his father and as his own final tomb. So zealous for this project that Amun-Re taxed and worked his people for the duration of the project.

“According to legend, the day the pyramid was completed was also the day of his assassination. The pharaoh warned his tired and angry people that the “stopping of his heart would end the flow of the rivers that fed them”. Among the upraised fists was one with a spear and that evening the rivers ceased their flow.

“In the space of a few weeks life in Anon-Pharos became untenable. In two months the city-state was abandoned and left to the desert. This had the effect of splitting the remaining desert civilizations in half, with the now-waterless region between earning the name The Desert of Desolation. The political stability of the region would plague the entire area for many years to come.”

[MasterGryph]

"... He certainly doesn't sound like a good ruler," Brie commented after reciting the paragraphs, "That dying curse though... I can believe it happened, but I wouldn't have if I was there at the time. How could it have been set up?"

"Well, curses aren't fair," Maurice commented, "I admit, I would think that the suffering of the people would be capable of a stronger curse than Amon-re's desire not to be assassinated."

"Maybe it's the divine right of kings that enhanced the effect?"

The noblewoman waved it off, "No such thing, not really. That's just something "we" made up to keep the farmers quiet. Most gods I've heard of don't care a smidgen who the king is most of the time. If some divinity tried to call in the part of the deal they're supposedly owed... come to think of it, I don't know what would happen." she trailed off.

[Whitebrand]

“Well tradition held that their kings were at least heavily favored by the divine if not at least party celestial themselves,” Brand said with a shrug. “He invoked the curse, the gods punished him by being unable to move on until we robbed his tomb, and the curse was lifted. You’d think the folk would be grateful but...well we were a kind of a rowdy bunch. Not exactly the holy warrior types they tended to revere.”

[MasterGryph]

"...Come to think of it, it does sound like they paid more attention in general back then," the noblewoman muttered, before speaking up with a, "Even so, three separate agendas, and then you came along and resolved it for them. I suppose that says something about outside perspectives."

[Whitebrand]

"Wait until I tell you guys part two," Brand said. "Lost treasures, hidden cults, prophecies...we had it all."

He grinned.

"And I still have the Star Gems to prove it."

[MasterGryph]

"Here?" Brie responded, "Is that... dangerous?"

"I'd like to hear the rest sometime," Maurice admitted.

[Whitebrand]

Brand smiled even wider and shook his head.

“They aren’t cursed,” he said cryptically. “Their owner pretty much wanted us to have them. About five hundred years removed. You’ll find out all about it in the next installment, don’t worry. In the meantime I can show them to you. They have a place of honor in my hall.”

[MasterGryph]

Maurice hmmed, "I would like to take a look. What do they do? ...Or is that a secret?"

Mayu, still perched on Brand's shoulder, seemed to perk up at this question. Perhaps this was because she was curious about other types of magic than her own.

[Whitebrand]

“No secret,” Brand said with another shrug. “Follow me.”

He led Maurice into his treasure hall and to a large display case with five massive gemstones in it. A ruby, a sapphire, a diamond, a black crystal and a polished white ovoid resembling pearl or marble, each the size of her fist.

“The Ruby is Mo-Pelar,” Brand explained. “It holds...or at least held...the power of healing. The sapphire is Dan-Pelar. It point the way to a specific city in the desert with a ray of light. Useful for navigation. The diamond is Sha-Pelar. A weapon against the undead. It is said to have a piece of the sun in its heart. The black crystal is Khan-Pelar, which wards off the effects of poison. The white gemstone is Rhys-Pelar. It also was a navigation tool, leading the way to a magnificent tomb. Their role in history is complete now, so I keep them here.”