Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick followed Sizzi into the main room, back by the receptionist’s desk. Anhelia was not there. Instead, the young man Erick had seen before was there, trying to deal with an angry customer he was woefully ill-equipped to handle. He caught Sizzi’s eyes, and whisper-shouted to her for help. Sizzi shook her head, mouthing, ‘Sorry,’ and kept walking.

Up the main staircase, they walked; Sizzi leading the way.

Every step they took, Erick felt dread settle onto his shoulders. Ophiel trilled in quiet flutes. He may not have understood exactly what was happening, but he understood about as much as anyone. Whatever had happened could not possibly have been a good thing.

The war room was not located up any tower, but was instead down at the bottom of a staircase, past a few deep, well lit, yet empty rooms. There was not a shadow to be seen, down here; not even under Erick’s own feet. An archway at the end of the hallway held a thick pair of deeply red doors, but those doors were open. A flurry of activity rustled papers and scratched on chalkboards beyond. Raised voices spoke of shadelings and danger, and of … Magical items? Gifts? Points?

Erick glanced back to Poi as they walked. Poi, in turn, had about thirty lines of intent radiating from his head, and a grimace on his face. He glanced to Erick, but said nothing. Erick held his questions close as he followed Sizzi into the red room.

It took a moment to take in the sight of so many people working fast and speaking at each other, though from the threads of intent in the air, there was a lot more happening below the noise.

Largely, the room seemed divided into two sections. One section was situated around a strong wooden longtable, where magically-powered screens floated at one end, near the wall. There were chairs scattered around the longtable, and near the viewing screens, but nobody was there, yet. The other part of the room was filled with desks and individual floating screens, and the people who likely controlled those screens. That half of the room was full of people, but almost none of the screens held anything except for solid colored light; likely the colors of whoever had cast those spells. They were still in the set-up stage, if Erick was reading all of that right.

Zago blipped in at the head of the longtable, opposite the viewing screens. She immediately turned to Erick. She said, “Take a seat. Hold your questions, please. There’s no immediate rush to action, but there will be heavy decisions made today.” She added, “Sizzi? Please wait to the side with the others.”

Erick glanced to the side. Anhelia and a few other people from the Mage Guild stood to the side of the room, against the wall, watching the unfolding mess in front of them. Sizzi went to Anhelia and began whispering with the wrought woman. Kiri stepped to the side, near to Sizzi, but not next to.

An orangescale man who Erick barely remembered as Tamarim, walked from the crowded viewing screen area, to the seats sitting beside the main screen. He sat down, speaking to the room, “Main view is coming on right now.”

The largest screen in the center of the rest, flickered from orange to blue sky, orange sands, crystal agave and mimics, no doubt, and a blot of black on the horizon. The view moved closer. The dark blot slowly resolved into a city made of shadows—

Poi said, “Silverite and Killzone are arriving now.”

The air next to the longtable blipped silver and black; Silverite, the silver dragonkin-shaped Mayor of Spur, and Killzone, the completely black orcol-shaped general of Spur’s Army.

Silverite said, “Attention, everyone!”

The room went silent.

She continued, “The city is called Candlepoint, and the threat of this location has been downgraded from imminent danger to threatening. As you were.”

At least two guys visibly relaxed at their desks on the other side of the room. A few others just nodded, and turned back to their discussions. All around the room, viewing screens flickered from solid colors to images of ‘Candlepoint’; from the sky, to the streets, to the walls, to far away. Erick watched as shadelings walked across dark roads or hauled colorful fruits across the view, or spoke with one another.

All at once, in every single interior view, the shadelings turned to the camera.

Erick felt his blood freeze as a collective gasp went through the war room. [Hunter’s Instincts] went on, instinctively.

Without doing anything else, the shadelings returned to whatever they were doing; harvesting fruits, feeding their babies, talking to their neighbors, talking to adventurers—

Erick watched a shadeling behind a market stall, characterized by a gentle shadow that licked across their skin, talking to an adventurer on the other side, characterized by their heavily guarded stance and distinct lack of shadows; compared to the shadeling, the person was a riot of brown leathers and bright pink skin and white hair and color. The adventurer looked to be trying to sell something to the shadeling; a pile of rads, perhaps?

Erick pointed across the room, whispering, “What the fuck is happening there?”

Killzone spoke without the comforting twang to his voice, “It’s commerce, of a sort. They require rads, and then sell… we’re not quite sure what they’re selling.”

Poi said, “Mog and Merit are arriving, now.”

The air blipped grey in one area and orange in another; Mog and Merit, already on opposite sides of the longtable.

Mog took a seat. Merit took a seat on the opposite side.

While Poi stayed to the side and Kiri had already made herself a nonspeaking fixture to the side of the room, Erick took a seat at the longtable, next to Mog. The large orcol smiled a bit at that, but on the other side of the table, Merit mouthed, ‘I need to talk to you about more scanning’. Mog switched to a glare at nothing in particular. Zago sat down on the other side of Erick. Killzone took his place at Silverite’s left hand side.

Silverite looked to the air as she sat down at the head of the longtable. A tendril of intent flowed out, then back.

The air blipped on top of the table, near Silverite, revealing the pixie, Fillarina. She spoke to those seated, saying, “The archmages send their representatives.”

There were just enough seats left for three more blips. One blip was opalescent, revealing a hovering, pearly ovoid without any defining characteristics. The other two blips were black and blue; a hovering, dark jumble of star points the size of a head, and a hovering blue blob, with air bubbles trapped inside. All three of the new arrivals were about the same size.

Ophiel trilled on Erick’s shoulder at the new [Familiar]s, but quietly; he knew something important was happening.

Silverite began, “Fillarina. What have you uncovered?”

Fillarina stood atop the table, saying, “This shadowy city is called ‘Candlepoint’. They claim to be something of an adventuring town, but this location is also a means for them to put their new magics out into the world.” She flicked a hand up, toward the main viewing screens. “These new magics are either created through wizardry, or through divine magic, and since the source is the Dark Dragon, it’s probably wizardry. Whatever the case, they’re gamechangers, and everyone is interested for varying reasons.”

The main screen changed, revealing a carved section of Candlepoint’s walls, that looked more like a treatise than a proclamation. This particular section was to the right of the open archway; the city’s main entrance. Based on the people in view standing in front of the proclamation, reading right alongside Erick and everyone else, the walls of Candlepoint were easily ten meters tall.