Assumptions

A foxy early morning in Alexandria, an icy wind whisking up the pass leading past the Temple of Vardama and into the mountains. Not an ideal time to be up this way, for most, and Seldan is still yawning as he climbs the mountain road, headed towards the small clutch of shops just a bit further up the road, cloak pulled around him.

A disembodied voice comes from the sword at his left hip, an older woman with something of a nasal voice. "You have so many projects I cannot keep track of them all. What are you doing out here so early again?"

"I need to speak to the wizard up here," Seldan explains gently, with a note that says that this isn't the first time he's said this, nor is it the second. Or probably the third. "I must needs be able to prevent Kol Demontry from teleporting away, should he show himself again, and I have not yet mastered the fourth circle. I must also speak to the Vardamen about the ghost from that village."

The sound echos across the rocky pass, cutting through the chill wind and dim light. A sound of rage and frustration to those who know it. The sound of a mule. A stubborn one, with no intention of moving from this spot... for some unknown reason that only that thick skull can possibally fathom. "Shut up You Idiot." Bennet sighs, tugging at the mules lead, with no real expection for anything to come of it. The graying Vardaman stands by the side of the road, not exactly where he'd planned to spend the morning.

Olek is walking up the mountain road with his cloak pulled close around him. He looks chilled, and he's grumbling sourly, though nothing particularly comprehensible more than a foot away. Just generally complaining as he strides along. He knows Seldan, though talking to himself is a new thing, and he calls out, "They boot you out of your temple, too?"

Etan had been out on a walk this morning, his gaze off the mountain as he stares at one thing or another in his quiet contemplation. It was time for a break, his face red from the cold, even as his figure is buffetted by the viciously chilled wind. He doesn't cut an imposing figure, but there he seems to be off to the side of the road all the same. His grey clothing, and the emblem of a golden scale encased in a triabnle holds his cloak closed, offering a possible explanation as to what brings him out this way. "Do you need help, Brother?" Etan asks, his lips splitting in to a wide smile as he hears Bennet on his approach, focusing on the ruccus.

The grandmotherly voice answers, "Ah, I see. You really ought to master it for yourself, you know."

A second voice chimes in at this, this one a rough, older man with a definite khazadi sound. "Of course he should, Falia, but he needs to be ready as well. That Kol fellow was no joke, and he's a right bastard. Best be ready." And then a third, this one a deeper woman's voice, younger than the first: "You cannot be too prepared with such as that. If I'd known... I want a piece of whoever that mistress of his is."

The entire thing at Seldan's hip appears to quickly be devolving into a spirited discussion, and Seldan inclines his head to Olek. "No, thanks be to the Dreamer. This was better received than some other things I have brought to the Temple, and are not angry. I am told it happens, although usually ... it has but one voice. Were I to be candid, I would say that it relieved some." So distracted is he by the greeting, and the spirited discussion at his hip, that he doesn't seem to have noticed the mule or its Vardamen attendant yet.

Bennet glances up, nodding to Etan in greeting, touching a hand to his brow and shoulders in a sign of The Scale. "Only iffen ya speak Mule. Travel half the night, and just about come inta sight of the Temple, Idiot here figures we done traveled far enough. Half tempted to just leave him here, git my own breakfast." The rifleman idly bobs the mule between the eyes, who in turns tries to bite him. Amoung mule owners, this counts a signs of affection.

The approaching pair, with a few too many voices, get a curious glance, and a polite nod.

Olek noticed, but has similar dealings with mules and can't help much, so wasn't going to add to Bennet's troubles. He'll nod a greeting, though, as he says to Seldan, "You've got a whole argument in your pocket, then? I can hear it, but can't quite make it out. You got into some kind of a fight yesterday, I heard?"

"I know nothing of animals, but I offer all the same." Etan muses, though something about the others that are passing causes his attention to shift to that strange bits of discussion he partly hears over the wind. "I can take your place if you wish, and fight with the beast till it rests warmly near the Temple grounds." his words distracted as Olek's mention of trouble causes him to frown with a sigh. "Trouble cares not to break from the cold." he murmurs to himself, even as his offer stands to Bennet.

"...yes, that is a fair phrasing." Seldan pauses for a moment before making that admission, then looks down at the sword on his hip and puts a hand on it. "_Enough, please._" The words are polite, but firmly backed, and there is no answer. "Forgive me," he nods to all three of them. "I had not intended to disrupt."

"Yes," he adds to Olek. "Kol Demontry showed himself again. This time, with the help of others present, I was able to deny him his target and perhaps give him something to think on, ere he try such again. I do not think it will overly discourage him, but ...." He flexes his arm across his chest gingerly, his elbow bent, in a gesture clearly intended to stretch.

Bennet smiles, but shakes his head at Etan's offer. "Thank ya, but nope. Never forgive myself iffen put myself in a warm meal fore got my mount settled. Just ain't right, even with a lunkhead like Idiot." The Absolution perks at Seldon's words, frowning. "Kol. That's the vampire being causing trouble, right? Heard he'd showed his face again."

Olek ooooohs, realization striking. "Maybe that's why everyone at the Mithril Lady's Temple had their shorts in a bunch yesterday?" He nods gravely. "It was like a kicked antheap, let me tell you, and everyone getting sent out on patrols and all. Of course I get stuck with midwatch. Just now getting done," he explains.

Etan nods to Bennet's words, stepping aside to let the man handle his own. "I don't know this, Kol." his words neutral as he looks between those gathering here. "It has been near a year since I have come by these parts." this discussion causing visible unease, as the man seems as easy to read as a book. "Dare I ask, or do I need to make my way to the Temple with haste?"

Seldan nods. "That seems likely," he agrees with a nod to Olek. "I sought Telmentar's temple after the fight, and I saw little enough such, but perhaps it happened after I left." Likely how the Temple found out, then.

"No, he is well gone, I think, for now at the least. There are things that he yet seeks within the city, but I do not expect him to show himself again for a little while." He looks at the mule, but says nothing - animals are not his areas of expertise. "It is the same one that attacked your Temple."

Bennet sighs, and nods. "Twice now I missed 'im. Can say woulda done a grat deal had been 'round ta help. Vampires is tricky, tend to scoot away iffen ya git the upper hand. Putting them to Final Rest is a chore, and as I understand, this Kol is worse than most."

Olek nods about him being gone. "He's lucky he is, or I would have given him a piece of my axe. In the face." He grumbles his frustration. All the moreso because it likely wouldn't have done any good. That's the really frustrating part. "You may need to call Sandy in to deal with him," he says thoughtfully. "She kisses vampires and it kills 'em dead," he explains. "Saw it in the theater show."

Etan grunts in reply to the three, his arms crossing before his chest before muttering, "A burdensome chore it seems to be."

"There may be a means of preventing him from "scooting"." Seldan grows thoughtful, pulling his cloak more tightly around himself against the wind and stepping back closer to the wall of the road. "It is such that I mean to seek. Still ... there are other quandaries that I have, and perhaps you can aid me in this, for you doubtless have more knowledge of restless souls than I."

The sword at his hip pipes up, this time an old man's voice, crotchety and irascible. "Are we really going to talk about this?"

"_Yes._ Now _hush._" Seldan looks down at the blade, putting a hand on the pommel.

"A village reported to the Guild seeing a man with no skin walking around just outside of town. We were able to find the body ... it appears to have been subdued in a fight, then held down and flayed alive. What is needed to lay its soul to rest?"

Bennet snorts softly, but grins. "Kiss from Sandy might kill most things, but vampires is already dead. Ain't enough just to kill 'em. Need ta hunt 'em to their lair, or destroy 'em outright. Easier said than done. Wood stake can help, but gitting one into the heart ain't easy as the bards make it sound." He frowns at the news of a skinned man. "...with luck, proper burial will do it. Justice on the killer might be needed. And don't like the sound of a skin being taken, sounds like a set up to dark magics."

Olek huhs? He nods, though, about burying the poor fellow and hunting down the killer. "I'd as soon do that anyhow." As far as the Sandy thing goes, he says, "I'll swear in the show, she killed a vampire by kissing it."

"The body can be restored to help ward off the defilement." Etan chimes, his glance shifting between Bennet and Olek. "I do not know this Sandy, but now I don't think I wish too." a hand rising to rub at his chin. "This is troublesome news indeed, but there are things that can be done."

"Restored in what way?" Seldan asks automatically, reaching up to push a lock of hair away from his forehead that isn't there, being thoroughly pinned by a thin silver headband. "Sandy ... I would not be surprised if it were true, and would be equally unsurprised if it were not. I have met the woman a few times." He speaks carefully. "And ... she has helped me."

Bennet nods, and chuckles. "ther's a great many tales about Sandy. Reckon less than half are true, and that still leaves a lot to be impressed about."

Olek has not met Sandy, himself, so can only shrug. "Just saying what remember. The play was years ago, so the event must've been some time before that." He nods at what Bennet says. "Turning into a dragon, crapping rainbows. All of it's fantastic. Who can say what's so?"

Etan thinks for a moment on Seldan's question. "One could try and restore its flesh, but thinking on it... that may not work." his words troubled, giving a shake of his head. "If the person was flayed alive, then the magic would not work, as it puts a corpse in to the same state it died." preoccupied with his own thoughts.

Seldan's lips twitch with amusement at the side-discussion about Sandy. "Were I to wager, I would say that most of those stories are exaggeration at the least. There is a half a dragon within the city, but it is not Sandy." The smile fades as he returns to the topic at hand. "If I can, I would lay the soul to rest and find those responsible, and just what they meant to do with it. A horrific act such as that must have a purpose, a sinister one."

Bennet nods. "Seem to recall somethign about a spell what lets you take the form of a person, body and spirit, by wearing their skin. Magic ain't my area, so not sure how would all work."

Olek hrms at Seldan's comment about Sandy. "Maybe," he grudgingly agrees. "As to the flayed man, I can't say, but any of the temples ought to be able to lay him to rest..."

"This is true, but I feel that his method of death falls in to our domain." Etan says to Olek, his hand dropping with another sigh. "I have not the authority to allow it myself, but I am sure my Temple would not turn the body away. Our kind deal with the unnatural that keeps the body from resting, and that is why I mention it."

Seldan shakes his head. "His soul yet walks, and thus would I seek the wisdom of the Grey Lady's faithful. I know something of such as they, but I know more of magic than of the soul. Yes, the bones must be brought here and given a proper burial, but I fear there is more that must be done."

Bennet frowns and nods. "If his ghost is walking, just a burial ain't likely to cut it. Any luck, still sorta sane, can ask staight out what he wants."

Olek nods to Etan, "The Mithril Lady," the Altheans, he means, "would not turn him away, either. But you are right," he agrees with Seldan, "if he's walking around with no skin, the Vardamans are probably the best choice for finding a solution."

Olek anyhow waves out, "Must return to the Temple. I'm late!"

Etan nods in agreement to Bennet. "The body can be tended, but the spirit is indeed another matter. It is beyond my ability, but there are others at the Temple who might can help." flicking his glance then to Seldan. "Has it spoken, or does the body just shamble?"

"It has not spoken, no." Seldan shakes his head in a definite negative. "It does not shamble, though. It moves swiftly enough, and it seeks to silently lead. There is one more place it wishes us to go, that we have not yet followed. I am certain that another clue lies where it goes.

Bennet nods. "Follow carefully. Even a ghost means to help ya might forget about the trap that killed it."

Zeke has arrived.

"I am of a mind to help see it on this course, but I do not know if I would be of much help." Etan's thoughts causing his glance to fall away from the group. "You seem to have one answer, but that might only lead you to more questions. Though, the truth still remains the same, and it must be investigated." his gaze rising with a soft smile. "I am Etan, and I offer what I can to help."

Bright laughter rings up the stone road on this wind-whisked, foxy morning, where Seldan and the two Vardamen stand chatting on the road, with a recalcitrant mule nearby. "An answer but leading to more questions is hardly new, Mourner. Such is the path of the Dreamer's wisdom. I am Seldan Padaryn, of the Silver Guard, and I am grateful for your advice and insight. Seldom are puzzles such as this easy to unravel, I am coming to discover."

Bennet nods politely to each. "Absolution Bennet Susson, Keeper of The Gate."

Down the road at a steady but slow pace comes a dark robed figure. A often enough sight in Alexandria, so not one to cause alarm. Indeed as this figure draws closer one can make out a blue-scaled snout poking from within the hood of the cowl, and the arched-back feet of a sith-makar. The toes on the left foot that peek out from beneath the cloak look odd however, and glimmer in the light and snow as though made of crystal rather than scale. Certainly it isn't blue scale.

"Sssa." Offers the figure. "Thisss one isss called Zeke, if we are offering greetingsss in the morning. Peasssce on your nessstsss." He nods politely, but in a very unsith-like manner to those around Seldan and then to Seldan himself with more familiarity.

Etan raises a hand to Seldan, smiling as he shakes his head. "Mourner I may be, but I do not like titles or names other than my own. My service is to others, not myself." his words coming to a halt as his glance turns to Bennet with surprise. "Forgive me, I knew not...." his sheepish words cut short as Zeke has made is entrance, and greeting. "Peace to you." he returns the greeting, falling silent with a flush.

Seldan turns in surprise at the traditional sith-makar greeting, and the familiar voice that delivers it, his smile not fading. "Zeke, peace upon your nest this morning. I had not thought that the chill up here would be to your taste." Some of that smile fades, though, as he watches the two Vardamen, and is replaced by furrowed brows of confusion. "It is a pleasure, both of you, and I am grateful for your insight."

Zeke peers at Etan with some interest. "Thisss one feelsss asss though one isss interupting." Perhaps he is, but Seldan's greeting is warm enough and Zeke draws his cloak more fully about himself against the chill and wandering eyes. "Thisss one wassss in need of a brisssk walk. It hasss been... a long few dayssss." This is his explanation as incomplete as it is, but he doesn't linger on it. Instead returning the conversation to what it was. "Have you need of the insssight of thossse that ssserve the death-singing dragon?"

"There is no interruption, just those meeting by chance in the chill." Etan's words coming easier as he looks between Seldan and Zeke. "I feel perhaps I am the one to linger too long, though I will mention that matter to others, if it is alright to do so, Master Padaryn." giving the two a bit of berth, as he turns to be on his way. "I will not keep you longer."

"You would have my gratitude, Mourner, were you to do so." Seldan nods immediately, raising a hand in farewell. "Stay warm." With the Vardamen leaving, he turns more fully to Zeke. "I do, on a few matters. A Guild job has a few of us attempting to lay a ghost to rest, and the manner of his death demands that those responsible be found as well."

"A long few days? Can I help?" He sobers some at the question. "There is much to be done, but the least I can do is lend you an ear."

Etan has left.

Zeke also raises his right claw in farewell, though it holds a staff as well so the motion is somewhat encombered. "Farewell." With that word he returns his attention to Seldan ducking his head somewhat to hide it better beneath his cowl. "Thiss one had an unpleasssant encounter with a dissstraught parent of a patient. Nothing more. Ssssuch doesss make one think however, on how much one isss doing againssst the forcess we fassce. Perhpass thissss one might be of aid to /you/ though Ssseldan?"

Seldan listens without comment, only nodding slowly. "It can seem that we are not doing enough, to those who know but little of what must be done," he agrees. "Yet do I scarcely know more. I now know who is responsible, but that avails us little, if we cannot stop it. This much do I know ... until we learn the secret of how the demons can dismiss it as quickly as they do, the choice for a cure lies in risking death, or a bargain with a demon. Its true study must be magical in nature, for tales suggest that it is a magic by which it is dismissed."

The sith-makar blinks. "You sssspeak of dealsss with demonsss, what isss thissss?" He sounds concerned, as well he might be hearing such. After all demon deals are not to be taken lightly. "Hasss ssome dessspirate ssssoul gone to a demon for a cure?"

Seldan lowers his head, closing his eyes, a regretful affirmation. "It is so. Some have been forced into it." He leans his shoulder lightly against the stone wall by the edge of the road, pulling his cloak more closely around him as he explains. "It seems that there is more than one demon active in the area, although I think that they work towards the same end. They offer assistance. Curing the plague. Banishment of things plaguing a town. Fertility."

"All of these things, they ask only a favor to be later named, but at least in the case I know of for certain, the person was given little option but to strike the bargain. Surrounded in a hall full of them. From her tale, they wished to extract only the favor. The mark of this favor? A snowflake scar, somewhere on their person. It is Her mark."

Zeke shakes his head. "Thisss isss ill tiding, but thisss one thinksss you have the wrong of it. Thisss one knowssss that ssssome bear thisss mark, that made no ssssuch deal with a demon. Are you ssssure then that the mark issss of the favor then?" He seems far less certain than when he initially began speaking. He shakes his head again, though it is more at his own thoughts than anything he has said as of yet.

Uncertain silence hangs in the air. "A mark of Her ownership, perhaps?" Seldan hazards. "I do not understand how it is that ...." He trails off. "How did she enslave Eclavdran, a Duke of the Hells ... unless Zeheir did it, and she is the benefactor? Perhaps Mal has the right of it, and she is nothing more or less than Zeheir's wife." He, too, sounds uncertain.

"Thisss one thinksss thisss more likely perhapssss. When the plague wasss young we thought a... mage? made it." He says the word mage uncertainly. A softskin word that he is clearly unaccustomed to and uncertain he is using in the proper way. "That thisss mark wassss their sssymbol. To tell othersss that thessse... people belonged to them. Sssslave ownerssss do sssuch." He shudders from the tip of his snout to the base of his tail but continues on.

"Did not thissss Zeheir have the demon in hisss tower? It sssoundssss then ass if he wassss the one that enssslaved the demon then? Though... thisss isss the firssst thisss one hasss heard of hisss wife?" This is a question and a statement at once.

Bennet has left.

"That is so," Seldan agrees. "Zeheir is thought to have engaged in magical research in an attempt to cure his wife, who had come down with a plague. He is later known to have made of himself a lich. I do not know why, but I think it likely that he wished to extend his research by extending his lifespan."

"Thissss ssseemss logical." Zeke agrees quietly, seemingly in contemplation. "Ssstrange that sso many turn to evil for sssuch. Thisss one wondersss then... Did he catch up thisss demon in hissss youth, or after he became one of the undead? Did they bargin together and that isss how they became together in thissss tower? Wasss it in eminity or in conjunction that thessse two found themssselvesss?"

"I would need to seek Mikilos to be certain," Seldan begins, "but I am told that Eclavdran requested release from the tower in return for a favor. A bargain might have left it free to go upon the wizard's death, so ... an entrapment seems more likely. Demons grow in power also, over the course of a thousand years, do they not? How it is, then, that She, a smaller demon, has a greater demon working towards her ends? Your question might as easily be turned to the relationship between the demons."

"Thisss isss true." Zeke nods again, finding himself once again in agreement with Seldan. "If they were not in conscert with one another, then it isss likely that thisss Eclavdran did not know very much about what Zeheir wasss doing. Thisss might leave a demon very curiousss yesss. And yesss, even a demon growsss in power over a thousssand yearsss. A great deal of it, it isss likely. Thisss revilation that ssshe, thisss misssstressss, isss a demon isss new to thisss one. Are you scertain that ssshe isss?"

"Not ... completely. Certainly Zeheir's son and his companions are ... of another origin, one that is unclear to me. I in truth know little of her, and that is doubtless how she desires it. Still ... she referred to herself as Yukia, the one time she dared show herself in the city, and Menel's description of how he came to be her prisoner spoke to me of ancient tales, of the snow maiden that would lure men to their deaths atop snowy mountaintops." Seldan looks away. "You aid me greatly, by pointing out the things that I do not yet know for certain, and must learn."

Zeke ducks his head though Seldan may miss it looking away as he does. "Thisss one doesss what one can. We can ill afford to make jumpsss to conclusionsss or to leave a ssstone unturned that may aid usss in finding our way."

"I cannot rule out that She is Zeheir's lost wife, though I have no evidence. But ... were she to be so, certain things might fit. Think not lightly of yourself, Zeke. Your wisdom guides me, when perhaps others are loath to hear me out." Seldan sighs at that. "So many things want doing, and so many things tug at my attention. In truth, I have been too lost in my own concerns of late, and must needs set those aside. The fault is not yours, that little has been done."

"It issss. For I too have ssso many conscerns that lead me away from thisss one. Perhapsss if thisss one tended to the moment lesss we would have our anssswersss." Zeke moves his hand as if to spread his arms, but the left never moves as the right one does. He does not draw attention to it in such a way. "Thisss isss all we can do it ssseemss."

Seldan says, "None of us can stand against such as this, alone, Zeke. Those who can, and will help, must be roused and persuaded to act. They must be told what we know, and perhaps they can learn more, things that I would not know to look for. This, perhaps, can I do." Seldan straightens himself, unconsciously. "I have been ... seeking to carry too much of this myself, I think.""

"Thisss one agreesss. It isss not your burden alone to carry. Let usss aid you. Where we can." Zeke nods his head to Seldan again. "Only tell thisss one what thiss one can do."

"You are of greater aid than you guess, my friend. A wise ear that re-examines my assumptions, and aids me in constructing the picture. It is now clear to me that I must needs learn more of Her nature, and that Menel may not know enough to aid me. Kol may not know, and may not care." Seldan's Myrrish accent is thinning somewhat, as he speaks at length. "This much is clear to me now - that he is truly her puppet. Watching him move, when he confronted Menel - he moves as does a puppet on a string."

"You think ssshe actually movesss him?" Zeke blinks at this, seeming slightly confused. "How could that be ssso?"

Seldan shrugs, the gesture expressive. "I cannot say. Is such a thing possible?"

"You would have to assssk sssomeone wissser in sssuch magicsss than I. But thisss one thinksss not. He isss a powerful vampire. Thisss one can think of nothing but a god that could control sssomething ssso completely ass that." Zeke shakes his head very seriously indeed. Indeed, the very thought seems to disturb him.

"A disturbing thought, indeed. But, I shall ask." Seldan finally stands upright, though, shivering in the wind. "I would find you later, Zeke, to discuss this further. I shall think on what you have said, and seek more information, but for now, I have other business that I must see to, ere the day slips from me. "Peace be upon your nest, Zeke."