“Lord Hyacinth, we warned you these things would happen. You didn’t listen.”
The flicker of candle light outlined the scene. The two were sitting on opposite wooden chairs, sharing a rather lackluster meal. Lord Hyacinth looked unimpressed with his meager meal and uncomfortable seating. Aged clay walls were decorated with moons and suns, choking the room with the weight of their religious context.
”Well, surely there is a way to fix this!”
There was a scoff. The candle light shuddered. ”What do you think we’re doing? You humans are ever so hard to please. It will just take some time–”
”We don’t have time!!”
”And whose fault is that?”
”W-Well–”
There is the scraping of chairs. Footsteps. The priestess waves her hand, dismissing Lord Hyacinth. ”The chosen will arrive within the moon. We have little time for your foolish rudeness. There is much to prepare. Tell Daliah to clean the tables and take you to the guest quarters… and please do your best not to get in the way tomorrow.”
”What do you expect me to tell the King? The citizens!?”
”Tell them their leaders are failures. Tell them to end this petty squabble before it’s too late.”
That night, the sky was full of heavy clouds. The taste of ozone hung in the air but rain had yet to come. Rushing winds roughened the waves. In the distance, if one were on the ship’s deck, they could see the figure of an island made up of a volcano. Several other boats surrounded it but the boat approaching was easily the largest.
Under the boat’s hull were fourteen passengers. Only seven were even expected to make it out of this night alive, not that any of them knew that. Each was sectioned off in a private room and not allowed to leave. Their respective country soldiers locked them inside.
For Skagi Delling, it had been his mother’s request to send him here. She insisted it was a great opportunity, though she was unable to elaborate how. It had been offered by Lord Cherris with the insistence that the rewards were more than worth it. Skagi’s mother had no reason to mistrust Lord Cherris. That did not stop the concern of guards showing up to lead them to a boat late at night.
For Muzkane, it had been his mentor who asked if he would take on a commission for Queen Saphros. With such an offer being presented, it was hard to say no. Few sculptors ever got such an honor. When he was told he would receive instructions upon being brought to the queen, it likely never crossed his mind that he would be led to a boat by dwarven guards and locked away in a private room.
Trevor may have been the most comfortable… or, well, as comfortable as one could be when being led around by armed human guards. Orders from the capitol. It had been unclear what the end goal of those orders were, but the official stamp of approval was difficult to mistake. It was equally difficult to fake. That meant that, when he was told to go to a small port town and instructed to get on the boat there, it was impossible to mistake the orders as fake.
When the boat docked, the air was tense. Each person was brought out individually so that they had no chance to see each other. They were blindfolded before they were taken in through those massive, clay doors. As the last person was brought inside, a soft drizzle finally broke from the clouds. The wind picked up. For just a moment, the full moon cracked through the clouds.
Our story begins here, with fourteen people brought into a large atrium. It is not unlike a theatre, with boxes along the wall where masked figures watched the crowd below. There were tables upon tables set up with specific items. Some contained art supplies, notably including a table dedicated to sculpting. Not to mention the musical instruments and lined up weapons of the finest craftsmanship. Clay walls and floor were covered in religious memorabilia. At the very back of the massive room, there was a long, gray curtain which covered much of the back wall.
Standing on either side of the curtain were people in priestly clothing. One, a bald human, stood with his hands tucked together. The other, a thin and aging elf woman, kept her head held high and her hand gripped tightly around a piece of parchment. Those within the room, both in the wall boxes and on the main floor, were from a variety of places. Elves and humans, oreads and halflings. There were even several Undine, though they clung close together. A table at the center of the room was full of food. Some of it was extravagant. Some, less so. It was just as varied in culture as those that filled the room.
Disordered murmurs filled the room. Guards stood by the entrance, not letting anyone through. With little instruction and an unexpected wait, the ‘guests’ were left to mingle and explore.
