It was a hot, muggy, and all-around miserable day to be marching through the Faewood in plate armor. Alistair found himself again grateful for the blood-red headband he always had tied around his forehead. It did wonders for soaking up the gallons of sweat that poured from his brow. He had briefly considered shaving bald to help with the particularly brutal heat of this year's summer… but Alistair simply couldn't bring himself to cut off his ear-length blonde locks. Besides, if he really did shave it off, by the time winter came, his scalp would surely freeze. Who knew? Maybe hair would never grow there again if he allowed that to happen.
No, Alistair would rather keep his scalp the way the Pillar-Gods intended. Nice and warm beneath a head of glorious golden hair.
He then gave a small curse as he stumbled over a twig, nearly falling face-first into a clump of brambles. There weren't any real trails through the Faewood unfortunately, meaning that this journey had been a truly rough one. It didn't help that their donkey had been killed by Fiends, leaving them to carry everything on their backs.
"Look," Elum began with a sigh "All I'm saying is that we have to hurry through here, we don't have the time to go sightseeing in these damn wilds."
Alistair sighed and nodded in agreement with Elum.
"You think I don't know that?" Alistair asked "We've been keeping on the 'path' this whole journey. Saying 'sightseeing' makes it sound like a grand old time, but trust me, I'm not liking this either."
Knowing that a Fiend could be lurking around every tree or bush didn't make the journey any more tolerable. The Fiendwall truly must have fallen for so many of the creatures to be prowling about these woods. Thankfully the Fiends had thinned out after the first couple days of this trek, but up until this point the fighting had been constant, as if the forest itself had sent all its fallen creatures to bring down any intruders that dare tread upon this faekin-cursed soil. Alistair might have put more stock in that theory had there not been evidence of Watchers fighting these beasts as well.
Watchers were the keepers of the Faewood after all, if they had intended to use Fiends to ward off visitors, the Watchers wouldn't be killing them off. Mysterious as the Watchers were though, Alistair truly doubted that they'd allow Fiends of all things to simply prowl about unopposed.
"'Sight-seeing'" Alistair mocked in a high pitch, making a rude gesture to Elum as he did so.
"Well I know one of us is." Elum said with yet another sigh, giving a lazy wave toward Twindil.
The half-elf woman was further ahead on the path than the majority of the party, walking through the woods with such a look of wonder on her face that it made Alistair struggle to find her sudden occasional stops aggravating. It wasn't even as if she took several minutes per stop, all she did was stop to lean over a flower or to place a hand atop a tree trunk. She looked almost… at home.
Swap the gleaming plate armor and oversized greatsword that Twindil wore with a Watchers cloak and some daggers, and she wouldn't have looked out of place. Well… maybe not even then. She was a large woman, only shorter than Alistair by a finger and maybe just as strong as he was. Her hair was spun gold, almost gleaming in the sunlight seeping down from between the broad leaves overhead. Her human parent must've been a massive man… or woman? Twindil did not seem to know herself, but Alistair didn't want to press the matter. He really wasn't all too curious about her lineage and he wasn't sure if it was a sensitive topic for her. Alistair would rather avoid making anyone cry, tears made him uncomfortable.
"She would sniff every flower in the Faewood and hug every Draoi-cursed tree if we had the time." Elum muttered under his breath, shaking his head as Twindil spotted a particularly large tree, quickly moving up to inspect it for a second before again moving on.
The crimson-skinned Ifrit likely would have insisted on traipsing about the Faewood just as Twindil did, had there not been urgent matters pressing them forward. Tuji was right on their tail, that freak was only a few days behind them at most. Not only that… but there was also the matter of the score they all had to settle with Kazon in the cursed Fiendwood. Kazon, more so than Tuji, was what forced them into passing through this forest. One couldn't hope to get to the Fiendwood without first passing through the Faewood… Unless they wanted to make a round-the-world journey across every Greatbridge to take a route through the Blastlands. That would be about two-hundred times more foolish, and Tuji would certainly catch them long before they reached their destination.
Alistair's brows knit together in frustration at their pursuit. It wasn't as if they wouldn't be able to defeat Tuji if they all worked together… The problem was that a few of them would certainly die in the resulting battle before the half-orc could be brought down. Others had tried to take down the madman in the past, their efforts in vain as they lacked the… special talents that Alistair and his friends had. He couldn't even imagine attempting to battle Tuji without the aid of Foundation… an ability that most people lacked.
He doubted that these Watchers could draw on the raw Golden Flame, or at least none of them could do it to Alistair's level. He dearly hoped that none of these elves would try and attack Tuji, or else they would surely be killed. What if that mad bastard tried to challenge the Watchers? The main reason that he and the party fled from the mad half-orc rather than outright deny the challenge was that there would be no way for any of them to turn it down once it was issued… Not easily, anyhow.
It was simply a part of their nature, something that couldn't be simply ignored. These Watchers though, they wouldn't be prone to such a thing… not unless there was one among these sneaky elves that were like Alistair and his friends. He doubted that any normal Watcher would outright accept a challenge from the man either, but who was to say?
After all, Alistair did not know how these Watchers did things, not many people did. He knew that they at least wouldn't attack on sight… One would have to harm the forest in some way to provoke that kind of response. Poaching was a big one, though Alistair had heard that if someone appeared to be on the brink of starvation, the Watchers may let the poaching slide. Wasn't fair to let someone die of starvation when there were plenty of bunnies hopping about. Yet, maybe that potential rule only applied during the winter months, when the forest could not yield any sort of fruits or berries to pick.
The Watchers wouldn't let anyone get away with cutting down the trees though, everyone at least knew that much.
That old elf Theopalu dragging his feet up ahead of Twindil would know better than anyone of course, as he used to be a Watcher himself years back. At least that was what the geezer had claimed before they had hired him. Alistair had never before met an elf that had borne wrinkles before having met Theopalu at that tavern in Grayshane. Despite the deeply furrowed wrinkles, however, the old elf bore no silver hairs in his long black locks. Alistair was only in his twenty-fourth year, but already he had some silver strands.
That was normal though, as Alistair himself was a human, yet Theopalu had to be thousands of years- no, maybe even older than that to be an elf and have wrinkles. Alistair, and indeed his other companions had been wondering themselves as to just how old Theopalu must have been… Not that the old codger would spill the beans on anything pertaining to his past, of course. He wouldn't tell them anything about the Watchers either, not their rules or how they acted upon finding outsiders. It was positively infuriating how much Theopalu held back, what if Alistair stepped on a branch and got an arrow in the throat for snapping a piece of a tree? It would be nice to know at least what not to do, but Theopalu refused to say a word about anything that didn't relate to what they had hired him for. It was either that or Theopalu couldn't, or more likely wouldn't, tell them anything that might tread upon Watcher secrets.
All the old elf wanted to do was guide Alistair and his friends through the Faewood… then finally, into the Fiendwood. The demanded price for such a dangerous undertaking? To head into a land where no man has ever returned? Kazon's lair and the origin of Spiralling Death?
Food. That was it.
No coins or jewels, nor favors or potential deals with Alistair's people, just food. Alistair narrowed his eyes at the old elf; there was something more to the strange faekin than just being old, he just knew it. The sheer confidence that Theopalu placed in himself to be able to pass through the Fiendwood unscathed was what got him hired in the first place… that and his apparent age. Who was to say? Theopalu could possibly be even older than the Fiendwood itself.
"You alright Alistair?" Kid'ka asked, appearing like a pale phantom at Alistair's side "You look uh… not alright?" He finished in an unsure tone.
About a head shorter than Alistair and as pale as spirit, Kid'ka looked to be the type to stay inside all day. Yet that pale almost silvery skin was the result of exclusively hunting during the nighttime. The dark-haired Kid'ka looked to be suffering worse than even Alistair was, based on the deep red tinge of sunsear on his cheeks. Thankfully, Alistair had become used to Kid'ka's sudden appearances long ago, else Alistair might have tried to bring his war hammer down upon the smaller man's head.
"I'm alright, it's just… how can we really trust Theopalu? We know nothing about him or why he agreed to do any of this. It's suspicious…" Alistair said honestly, making sure to lower his tone so Theopalu didn't hear "Supposedly all he wants is food, but I don't believe that for a damn second."
Kid'ka adjusted the red cloak he wore as his dark eyes found the elder elf "He's alright, he just eats a lot."
Indeed, Theopalu had proven capable of devouring with ease plates an orc warlord would have had trouble downing. Yet there were plenty of other ways for a former Watcher to get food… So why take such a dangerous job in the Fiendwood? He focused his attention on the old elf ahead once more, seeing the elf stop a moment to pick up a particularly large spider. Its leg span was nearly the size of the elf's head…
Alistair felt a cold shudder of revulsion as he watched Theopalu's jaw unhinge to swallow the poor arachnid whole, the old elf barely stopping to chew his unfortunate morsel as he continued to move along.
"He uh…" Kid'ka began nervously as he too looked away from the elf's back "He eats a whole lot. It's just how he is."
"It's ridiculous is what it is." Alistair replied, unable to keep some bafflement from his tone "It. Is. Not. Natural." He continued, pausing for emphasis.
"Some of the things we can do aren't exactly natural either, my friend." Elum told him with a small laugh "I feel it might be a bit much to say that our old feeble elf's appetite is strange when we can do things only talked about in stories."
Alistair turned his head to lock eyes with Elum, his icy blues meeting Elum's fiery reds.
"We can't let that slip!" Alistair whispered sharply "You know what could happen to us if we're found out. It's best to avoid speaking of it entirely." Alistair finished, taking a deep breath and looking to see if the trees had ears.
In this forest, who was to say that they didn't?
Elum then looked to the branches overhead, straining his eyes likely in an attempt to discern any Watchers tailing them. Kid'ka cleared his throat and promptly wrapped his arms around both Alistair and Elum's necks. Before either could react, Kid'ka quickly began whispering, making sure to keep his eyes planted firmly ahead.
"Three of them overhead, five behind. Don't look!" Kid'ka rushed out in a hushed tone as he pulled Alistair and Elum's heads back down.
Alistair hadn't been able to discern anything amongst the trees when he made that glance… Besides Nolvi dragging her feet behind the rest of them. Not too far to be at risk of being snatched away by Watchers or forest creatures. The woman thankfully hadn't noticed the interaction ahead of her, but then again, that girl wouldn't have noticed if a flaming frog had jumped up her skirt.
Thanks to his foolish reaction to Kid'ka's words, the Watchers surely knew that the party was aware of their presence. Hopefully, that would not provoke them in any way, Alistair would hate to have to summon Baomiel just to fight Watchers. They did not deserve to feel the angels' teeth grinding them to paste.
"Yeah I love you both like brothers!" Kid'ka yelled in the most forced tone Alistair had ever heard in his life "I just like hugging you, is all, you can… uh, now you can go off of my arms…?"
The poor man wasn't exactly the best with words, but Alistair decided to play along "Yeah, of course. Love you too." Alistair said through clenched teeth as he quickly shrugged out of Kid'ka's grasp.
Elum however, was not as… gentle.
"Do not touch me, you reek of pig guts and sour fruit!" Elum shouted, poking Kid'ka in the chest and forcing the other man back a few steps.
Kid'ka, for his part, looked innocently confused a moment before he finally replied with "But you smell like sulfur. Like… it's bad, like really bad."
"Yeah, you do smell like butt-rock." Alistair laughed forcefully, roughly patting Elum's shoulder "Now let's keep going please!" He whispered harshly through clenched teeth as he not-so-gently pushed Elum along.
Twindil had turned to look at them, a blonde brow raised before all three simply smiled and waved. The last thing they all wanted to do was get a talking to about 'Afina's Tranquility' and how peace must be upheld at any cost. Sometimes that peace had to come about through a thorough beating, thankfully none of them had pushed Twindil to that point yet, but he could tell her deep well of patience was being strained.
Not that Alistair would just allow Twindil to bend him over her knee and paddle him of course. It was just a confrontation he'd rather avoid. He looked past her to see a break in the trees… a field? Theopalu paused a long while before passing into that breach in the trees, for what reason, Alistair didn't know. The old elf had only stopped in his tracks when it was time to let them sleep, and there was still a decent amount of daylight left…
It was when he drew closer that he saw it. A giant steel… egg? Had smashed through the grassy field, splitting the soil beneath it in half. No, this wasn't an egg… could this have been one of the falling stars? Had one landed in the Faewood? Curiosity drew him forth, and Alistair soon found himself standing only a few paces away from the metal mass. It had shot through a few trees when it crashed, based on the fact that the trail continued on past where the star now sat.
Something had dragged it out of the woods and back into the middle of this field… but what could have been strong enough to do that? Maybe the Watchers had all worked together to haul it out? Perhaps they had used one of their moving trees? Yes, that had to be it. But then… Why was it still sitting here? Wouldn't they have taken it somewhere more secure to study it?
"A strange omen." Twindil muttered "I hope it means we're on the right path, Afina willing." She continued as Elum rounded the star.
Alistair was still staring at the front of the thing… Why did the 'star' have what almost looked to be a door? There was a strange device next to the sealed entrance, embedded into the wall, bearing nine letters atop what appeared to be miniature pressure plates. No, not letters, those were Saiharan numerical digits! All the way from one to nine. Was it some kind of security against intruders? His brain continued to work as he stared at the thing, the gears in his head whirring at full speed. Perhaps it was similar to that of a combination lock?
Yes, that had to be it. One likely had to push the pressure plates in the correct order to get the egg to open. If that were the case, what was the combination? More importantly… where was the creature that knew the pattern necessary to open what seemed to be its lair? Alistair's eyes found Kid'ka, the man standing next to a trail of heavy bootprints set deep into the torn soil. Heavy boots certainly to leave that kind of impression, and what a boot size! The footprints were larger than even Alistair's torso, and he was not a slight man.
This was clearly no star or meteorite… it was something else. Something had fallen with this steel egg-shaped contraption, and it didn't seem to be home at present.
"If this thing is made out of this kind of metal…" Kid'ka muttered, knocking on the pod "Then it isn't natural, whatever it is." Echoing Alistair's thoughts.
"There's a window on this side!" Elum shouted "I cannot see through the black glass, but I believe that is because it is one-sided!"
"What do you think, Baomiel?" Alistair thought to his eidolon.
"It is certainly not a star. The stars are not so simple as dots in the sky Alistair, though you know that by now." The angel's voices replied, two bestial and angelic tones layering over one another as it spoke.
"Do you think you would be able to break inside?" Alistair thought to Baomiel.
"Perhaps… but do you really have the time for fooling about with this… thing? Tuji closes on you even as we speak, but if you insist, then we can try."
"I'm going to summon Baomiel." Alistair said aloud to Twindil, who licked the small scar at her lip.
He knew her long enough to know that meant she was nervous "I have the sanctioning papers but… but if they look too closely…" She whispered "Then we'll have no choice about what comes next. Perhaps it would simply be best to leave it be, Alistair."
"Calm down now," Elum began, rounding the steel egg to come standing right next to the door "Maybe we can figure out a way inside without summoning your… friend." The ifrit finished after a short pause.
"I do not think you would know the combination to that pad, and breaking the glass at the front of the thing would likely prove to be futile, lest I summon Baomiel." Alistair said, drawing closer to the otherworldly thing.
"Why do you think that?" Nolvi asked silently, her eyes not moving a hair from the ground at her feet.
"This contraption, whatever it is, fell from the skies with nary a dent." Alistair explained "Elum also says that the glass at the front is not broken… who knows? Perhaps it can't be broken by natural means." Alistair replied, rubbing his chin.
"Why waste your time with this thing? Leave now before the Pillar-Born comes to find you deliberating." Baomiel told him, its tone bordering on commanding.
"It fell from the very stars themselves… what lay within could help us defeat Tuji, or even Kazon" Alistair thought back "Who knows what could lay within… can you really tell me that this contraption would hold nothing of use?"
"You would be thieving from whatever creature lives there. Who knows? Perhaps it is within, pondering the best way in which to slay us all should we breach its lair." Baomiel replied, his tones warning.
Twindil then shook her head "It would be best to move on, we've dallied enough as it is."
"Twindil, please at least let me attempt." Alistair nearly pleaded, stepping closer to Twindil till they were only a pace apart, his voice turning to a whisper as he continued "The papers you carry could convince a Contextualizer." He continued, putting a hand on her shoulder before leaning closer "It fell from the stars, it could be of the very Pillars themselves, who knows, maybe there is something within that can…" Alistair hesitated, sparing a quick glance at the trees before looking back into Twindil's eyes "Something to halt the madness. I know it's not likely, but I have to at least look, please."
Elum and Kid'ka stared at the two of them, inching closer, likely in an attempt to hear the words that were being exchanged. Nolvi and Theopalu though? Theopalu squatted toward the edge of the clearing, having found another large insect to devour. It was a fist-sized beetle this time, and the ever-hungry elven geezer wasted no time cramming it down his gullet. It didn't even look like Theopalu had made an effort to chew…
And Nolvi? Completely unresponsive to her surroundings as ever. It was hard to believe that such a petite woman could potentially kill with a look.
Twindil licked her scar again, shrugging off his hand and looking toward the steel egg for a long while before finally saying "Announce your intentions. Let the Watchers know what you're going to do, and make sure they won't take offense. They are here, I am sure of it, waiting to see what we'll do." She finished with a worried sigh.
Alistair smiled and gave a small nod, stepping back and raising his hands high in the air, readying to proclaim his intentions.
"Watchers!" He shouted, his voice echoing through the trees "Hear me, for I know you are there. I am from the Atheyare caravans. Like the rest of my people, I have an eidolon. I know not what you may have heard about us, but I am sanctioned! I do not wish to offend, but I desire to know what is inside this thing!" He continued, gesturing toward the steel egg "If you have any objections, speak them now to avoid conflict with us! If you say nothing, I will take that as consent to my actions."
Alistair waited for a reply, the others in his group, save Theopalu and Nolvi of course, began pensively scanning the trees. After a few moments of pure silence passed, Alistair took a deep breath and began the summoning. His forehead burned, the budding horn beneath the headband seeming to strain against the cloth as he willed Baomiel to come forth. If the Watchers attacked them, Alistair would feel no guilt in retaliating. They had plenty of time to voice any complaints and hadn't, that was on them, not Alistair.
Perhaps they wanted them to crack this thing open? Did the Watchers not have the means to open the egg themselves? What if they were simply waiting for the contents to be revealed before trying to seize the goods for themselves? Alistair shook his head, he would deal with it if that came to pass… now, time to bust this thing open before whatever lived here returned.