2018-04-13: Tying Threads Together

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  • Log: Tying Threads Together
  • Cast: Seraph Ragnell, Sorey
  • Where: Volgran Forest
  • Date: April 13, 2018
  • Summary: Ragnell, after several weeks of on-and-off searching for Sorey, finds him in the Volgran Forest. The two of them catch up and discuss what to do going forward.




========================<* Volgran Forest *>========================

The Volgran Forest is the eastern frontier of the Rolance Empire. These ancient woods abutt the mountain ranges that divide Hyland and Rolance, and end at Glaivend Basin in the east. Travel through Volgran is dangerous, as monsters are common and ancient ruins can be found in the woods. The main routes are patrolled heavily by Imperial knights operating out of Lastonbell. Still, the beauty of these woods and their flowing creeks is a constant reminder of the bounty of Althena's Gift to Lunar.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeOoGRHkyNM

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<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

The last few weeks since arriving back on Lunar have been interesting, mainly in that Sorey and Rose have been laying low thanks to the war going on between the two major nations of Glennwood. Both nations are on high alert, and they are less than welcoming of strangers - and Sorey suspects that if he were to reveal himself openly, Rolance or Hyland would do their best to ensure that he would fight for their cause.
As the Shepherd was not particularly interested in getting involved in regular politics with two Lords of Calamity wandering around... it was best to lay low.
At this point Sorey is alone in the camp, Rose having wandered off to do Rose Things (tm) which he was relatively sure did not involve stabbing people. But there is a cheerful fire burning in the woods, and the air here seems cleaner and less tainted by malevolence than many of the regions between the war torn nations.
Sorey has clearly been doing some work to purify the area, to keep in practice if nothing else.


<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

Ragnell knew it was too much to ask to have Mikleo stay put in Lastonbell for too long. Quite frankly, if she'd been in his shoes, she would've ditched herself ages ago when she failed to produce results. She does feel bad about that, but... well, when she returned to the Rolancian town to find no sign of the Water Seraph, all she could do was sigh.
It's not like Mikleo can't take care of himself, either. Still, she did tell him she'd help him find Sorey, and it bothers her that she wasn't able to do so. If nothing else, she'd like to try to catch up with him to see if he was able to manage it on his own, considering she hasn't heard hide or hair of Sorey or the others across Rolance or Meribia. With that in mind, there's really only one direction to go... And so Ragnell heads back into Volgran Forest, with the initial guess that perhaps they'd ended up in Hyland instead.
She doesn't get that far, though. As she walks through the woods, dressed in her more Lunarian outfit (though still with hat and gun-belts), she notes that the Malevolence is significantly thinner here--practically nonexistent in some points. Then, past several thickets, she spots the light from a campfire... Soon she finds herself standing at said campfire, hands on her hips, smile dry as she shakes her head slightly.
"So *this* is where you've been," she drawls. "You know I've been lookin' all over for you, Sorey?" Her smile fades, and she hunkers down next to the fire. "...Have you met up with Mikleo yet, or no?"


<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Mikleo had found Sorey rather quickly, although it had been before the metaphysical knock on the head that Sorey had taken during his fight with the Lionoid Lord of Calamity had healed, so it was a welcome surprise for the Shepherd. He hadn't been sure if Mikleo had been alright, and seeing his friend show up had been... welcome.
The water Seraph is absent at this point, mainly due to the fact that he was off with Rose, ready to head back when she had found out what she needed to let Sorey know that it was safe to join them. Possibly because some stabbing had been done that Rose felt Sorey didn't need to know about. This leaves Sorey alone at the camp, where he is sitting in front of the fire with both hands extended.
As Ragnell walks up, the Shepherd has both hands extended, his eyes closed as he focuses on a swirl of fire that is spinning around its edge like a small, overly excited will-o-the-wisp. It twirls in the air, beginning to increase in speed up until the point that Ragnell speaks... and Sorey pauses, opening the eye and looking at the Seraphim for a moment.
"Mikleo made it back here a little while ago - he's off helping Rose with an errand, and I'm watching the camp for the time being." He doesnât mention that besides Mikleo, the only other Seraph here right now is Dezel - Lailah and Edna are both absent, off with Lailah and Cyre helping them out for the time being.
"Hello Ragnell - what brings you out there way?"
The flame slowly continues its spin, in a holding pattern for the moment.


<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

Ragnell's red eyes flick from Sorey himself to the silver-blue flame of purification manifesting before him. Hmm... His control is good. Stable. She nods slightly to see it, then looks back at him. The news gets her to breathe a faint sigh of relief. "That so? Good." She tilts her head. "So Rosie's with ya too, huh? What 'bout Alisha an' the others? Y'all found each other or what? Or were y'all together this whole time an' I was runnin' around lookin' for ya for nothin'?"
What brings her out here, though? She half-smiles, expression wry, as she folds her hands behind her back. "Jus' wanted to make sure you an' your boyfriend were in one piece, that's all. Nobody'd seen ya, so I was... worried." She turns her head away, arms folded, at the admission; then, after a beat of silence, she looks back at the silver flame. "Been practicin', I see," she adds to cover up the moment that just passed. "You got that burnin' real steady. I can feel you've done a lot o' cleanin' house in the area, too."
A pause. Then she frowns thoughtfully at Sorey. "Have y'all been holed up in this forest this whole time, by the way?"


<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

"No, Alisha is off towards Hyland somewhere - we've not met up with her yet, but she seems to be alright, if worried... so I'm sure that we'll meet up in good time." Sorey trusts his Squires, and now that he's no longer suffering from his resonance deafness and blindness that he received from being overloaded by the Lord of Calamity, he's able to sense at least the general direction and distance of the Squires and Seraphim he's bonded with.
It's nice to know that people are okay - and that if the need arises, he can go to their aid.
Sorey doesn't say much in response to Ragnell's commentary regarding what he's been doing, or how long he's been laying low. He instead closes his eyes again, focusing on the flame. The speed increases, and after a moment it blurs into a circle of motion, the tiny flame a ring of light circling the fire. He keeps speeding it up until he feels like he has reached his limit, the ring beginning to show a distinct wobble for a moment before he slows it down again.
"Ragnell, you felt the power that thing calling itself the Lord of Calamity had. It was different from Lucia's malevolent aura, and the magnitude was even greater. I could barely even sense anything after being inside of its domain."
He falls silent, waiting for Ragnell to reply. Hiro's group had seemed like a terrible threat, but this... it was something much worse. If it had remained on Filgaia, Sorey doubted that the continent would remain uncorrupted by malevolence by now.


<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

Off towards Hyland. Ragnell nods. "Not surprisin'. I imagine as Princess, she figures she can do the best help over in her own country." Sorey doesn't specify about how the others are doing, but Ragnell leaves it at that. Either he knows and doesn't feel like sharing, or he doesn't know and so didn't mention it, and either way there's no point in pressing.
He also opts, instead of answering the rest of her questions or directly reacting to her commentary, to concentrate further on his purifying flame. Ragnell falls silent, watching the display, this time with a more critical eye. He's definitely improved compared to before, but...
"Hm?" She glances at him when he suddenly speaks up, but otherwise listens, then nods when she's done. "Yeah. Havin' that guy and Lucia in the same room made it excruciatingly clear: he wasn't jokin' around about bein' the Lord o' Calamity. Bein' in his domain was... choking." She glances back at the ring of silver-blue flame and its wobble before it slows down. "If you're bringin' that up... you sayin' you don't feel like you're strong enough to take 'im on?" she surmises. She nods. "Well... you're right. You're not."


<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

"Well, I felt that was rather evident from the encounter that we had," Sorey replies a bit wryly. "But you're not the first person to rub it in a bit, so I can't say it bothers me that much. Sensei always said that a failure is fine if you learn something from it - the only real failure is if you are not ready for the next battle with everything you've learned." The flame starts spinning up again, this time beginning to trace a curving path through the air that is clearly deliberate, instead of the somewhat random wobble that was occurring from too much speed being placed upon it.
"The frightening thing is that Hellion was somewhere on Lunar before, and no one really noticed it. The focus on Lucia was not surprising, given that she had such a powerful malevolence and the Church of Althena was focusing on protecting people from that, but..." Sorey opens his eyes, one of his open hands closing and the flame spiraling up into the air to vanish with a tiny pop.
"...if they were seeking her because of her malevolence, then why did this other Lord of Calamity go unnoticed? It suggests something is going on inside the Church that isn't just focused on protecting people - that Hiro's story about some dark power cursing Lucia may be true, and that the Church had knowledge of it in advance to start hunting her so quickly."
The Shepherd sighs. "I worry for Alisha if that's true - her devotion to Althena is a major part of who she is, and the suggestion that something is wrong in the Church... won't sit well with her."


<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

"I wasn't aimin' to bother ya, so good," Ragnell replies just as wryly. She nods as he continues, though, noting both his words and the new pattern of his spinning flame. "Your sensei's a smart person." If he already understands all that, then there's nothing else she needs to say to him on this matter. That's promising.
The topic evolves from there to what the lionesque Hellion's existence signifies, both for the Church and for Lucia and her crew. She glances up to follow Sorey's flames as he works with them, but otherwise listens to what he has to say. As she does, she nods slowly every so often.
"...So you noticed it too, huh. Turns out you're a pretty smart person too." She flashes him a teasing grin. It soon fades. "It's true, though. There's been shady shit goin' on in the Church of Althena for a while. Centuries, even. The last Lord o' Calamity disguised herself as a priestess of Althena. I thought when the Goddess re-awakened, She'd put a stop to the Church's nonsense--figured all these stringent new rules were part o' that--but..." Her red eyes flick to one side. "Accordin' to Hiro, Lucia was cursed by a powerfully Malevolent bein' called Zophar. If he could do that, then he might have subordinates who've infiltrated the Church--possibly all the way to th' top. That's just a guess on my part, though; I haven't checked the Church out personally. I ought to change that."
And of course there's the matter of Alisha. Ragnell nods at that, too. "She's tougher'n' I gave her credit for at first... but everyone's got their breakin' point, yeah. You thinkin' of sittin' on this for now, then?"


<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

"Sitting on it?" Sorey asks, raising an eyebrow. "I don't have any proof that there is anything wrong, but I'm also not a member of the Church of Althena either." He chuckles after a moment, shaking his head. "It's a point that I think a number of people don't actually get - despite being the Shepherd, I'm not one of Her followers. So the Church doing wrong or right is something I'll address when it needs to be - not before, and not later."
He turns, looking off into the shadows of the forest for a moment before he adds, "You don't gain anything by avoiding the truth - no matter how painful it can be, you should confront it head on and come to grips with it. I've come to realize that people avoiding what is in front of them is often one of the things that can lead to them creating malevolence within themselves - if you lie to yourself about what you want, your desires, your dreams, the dissonance can only give rise to dark powers."
Another moment of silence, and Sorey adds, "But that doesn't mean that people should be doomed to drown in darkness, or be killed because a dark power overtook them. No matter who they are, Hellions deserve a chance to be saved. That's why I'm training - because even he deserves a chance to live free of that dark curse that makes him so terrible."


<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

"...Yeah, I was talkin' 'bout 'Lisha, not the general public," Ragnell points out, raising an eyebrow back. "You're the one who said he was worried 'bout how she might take those suspicions o' yours." Still, if he wants to address the matter of the Church's potential corruption in his own time, that's fine by her. They've both got their own priorities, and each of them have to be taken in turn.
'You don't gain anything by avoiding the truth...' He really is a smart kid, she reflects. Wise, for someone so young. Is it because of all of the Seraphim in his life, or...? "So you *will* be tellin' her, then," she concludes, either way. But then he turns the topic in another direction, to wanting to give Hellions the chance to be saved.
Her expression turns thoughtful, assessing. "...." It's not really a surprising sentiment, of course. Sorey had promised Edna that he'd help her try to find a way to purify Eizen, save him from his Fell Dragonhood. Someone who made a promise like that sincerely would obviously want to save the Lord of Calamity from himself, too.
"...If that's what you want t' do," she says quietly, "then there's somethin' I think you'd be interested in." She turns her head towards the skyline, in the direction of Lastonbell--or more accurately... "There's a tower people're callin' the Nameless Spire in the Biroclef Range. It's sick with Malevolence, an' the one behind it is a powerful Hellion who's holed up in it. I've checked it out a couple times, an' he's not on the level of our Lord o' Calamity, but he's nothin' t' sneeze at, either. If you can purify him, you'll definitely get that much closer t' matchin' *that* guy." She looks back at Sorey. "If you're interested, I can show you th' way or draw you up a map. Your call."


<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Sorey wouldn't be surprised if Alisha hasn't begun to guess herself, but there will come a time when they need to address the problem. He's not happy to spark a crisis of faith in the princess, but she did promise that they were going to help, and if the Church being wrong was a serious problem... well, they would deal with it head on. There's nothing else to be said in that regard, really.
The idea of testing himself against a Hellion... it isn't *bad* per se, but. Yes, there is a but there. And although Sorey doesn't say it out loud, he rolls it around in his head for a long moment. "If you can draw me a map, I can take a look into the problem if we're in the area. For the moment though Rose and I have found a few other problems we need to look into." As opposed to a Hellion that is off in the middle of nowhere, not threatening anyone.
Sorey had learned the problem with that when they had confronted Eizen very briefly before being teleported to Filgaia. Seeking the power to purify malevolence was one thing - walking into a trap or fighting a Hellion with unknown power was something else, and he wanted to not only be prepared, but make sure that other people were not in danger while he was off chasing a wild hare. Malevolence threatening many people was certainly a higher priority.
"I would also recommend staying out of Rolance, Ragnell. Rose and I are hearing rumors that something is going on out there - and the aura of malevolence coming from the country is surprisingly strong. The strongest I've felt in an area that wasn't that mess back on Filgaia in Krosse."


<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

Ragnell waits as Sorey mulls over the idea of purifying that Hellion. When he accepts the offer of a map, but makes it clear it's a low priority, she barks out a humorless laugh. "That so, hm?" Then she shakes her head as if to sweep all that away. "What other problems are those? If there's somethin' I can help you two out with, I don't mind doin' it, probably. An' if it turns out I do, I'll tell you straight up."
She reaches back into her belt-pack to pull out several sheets of paper and a pencil, then gets to work drawing something--and also copying something over. She pauses at his warning to stay out of Rolance to eyeball him. He might have meant well--perhaps he even probably did--but considering she's been hoofing it across Rolance and Meribia trying to find him this past month or two, even if he wasn't *her* top priority, it rings condescending to her ears. "Duly noted," she says curtly, opting to let it slide for now.
She returns to her drawing transcription; it doesn't take long for her to finish. Soon she rolls up to her feet, then puts away the copied papers and hands Sorey the map, decently detailing the Biroclef Ridge, X marking where the Nameless Spire is--along with something much older. "This other stuff," she says, "I found inside that Spire. I jus' made a copy for myself, so you can keep it. What you do with it is up t' you, but I think it just might be relevant t' your interests."
The pages in question might be difficult for Sorey to read, but being fluent in the Ancient Tongue, he should be able to manage. They aren't just in an old language; they're also heavily encrypted with a military code. The language itself seems to be an ancient Glenwood dialect from a region that would one day be part of Rolance, but predates the empire itself. Some of these pages have also been heavily vandalized and written over in some mad scrawlings, but there's a particular passage that can be made out, specifically some sort of military message:
 '... They say she did not lift her weapon even once. That she blew away an entire detachment of knights with little but a wave of her hand. That she is some manner of monster, capable of thwarting entire armies on her own. That she is a Shepherd.
 'Regardless of the veracity of any of these claims, it is clear that her presence on the battlefield is one that has been swiftly and disastrously felt. Whatever she has done, House Capulus has been delivered a severe blow; with the routing of their main forces and the surrender of the Duke, they have been effectively removed from the fight. Their stake in the fate of Glenwood has been obliviated.
 'They have done us a service -- the Capuluses would have become a pressing danger for us before too long -- but we cannot look at it as such. This is a clear and present danger that will soon be turned our way. I have sent to you as much information as I could obtain on this (SCRATCHED OUT INTO ILLEGIBILITY), my lord, but there is very little to be found. She is no noble. She is a commoner from a small nothing village, not even of money. She has no right to the throne. She stands to gain nothing. I am unclear how she gained such standing or how she has proved to be such a dangerous tactician. But what is clear is that House Dragonia has obtained a very dangerous asset. And we must figure out how best to deal with her before we stand to lose everything.
 'Your loyal servant,
 '(NAME HAS BEEN BLOTTED WITH INK)' 
Ragnell watches Sorey as he accepts the pages for his reaction, sharp-eyed and unsmiling.


<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

For some people to have trouble with ancient tongue isn't too unexpected - but Sorey isn't one of those people. While he might not have complete mastery of it, he is far more familiar with it than the vast majority of the population. Enough that he gets an odd exclamation mark over his head when he senses the presence of the ancient monoliths, at least.
He looks over the paper for a long moment, pondering it and why Ragnell would want to give it to him. He didn't doubt there was a Hellion there. And the information is quite interesting, suggesting that this is something that had occurred quite a long time ago and the Hellion there was both old and quite powerful.
"You must have ventured in fairly deep to find all of this," he states, considering the documents for a moment. It certain would be useful if they ever needed to go in there and figure out what was going on. "I appreciate it, and if we're in the area I'll make sure that we at least take a look and see if there's anything that we can do." It would be a shame to let the hard work Ragnell and likely a few others had put in go to waste.
"Sadly, I wish I had more details that I could tell you about what is going on off in Rolance. But there's been rumors of a persistant rainstorm that has been falling there for quite some time - it moves around somewhat, but seems anchored out by the capital and has been ruining the harvest there for quite some time. It seems to be a part of why the tensions between Hyland and Rolance have escalated so much as of late." He looks at Ragnell and raises an eyebrow, curious as to her opinion.
"It sounds like the sort of thing excessive malevolence might cause, and a lot of the goods Rose has seen coming out of central Rolance seem to have higher than normal amounts of malevolence. If people are eating food that is heavily tainted with malevolence... it can lead to problems. I think we need to look into it."


<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

"I did," Ragnell confirms, giving him a slight nod. "Oh, an' one last head's up on the matter--you know Ida? Ida Everstead-Rey? You mighta heard she's a Hellion now? She ran afoul o' the Hellion in the Nameless Spire, an' now she's got a hate-on for 'im. She intends on goin' in there an' killin' him for somethin' he did to her an' hers. Not sure o' th' details 'bout what exactly it is he *did*, but I heard it straight from her, so there's no mistakin' her intentions."
Rumors about a persistant rainstorm. Ragnell rubs her chin in thought. "I've seen that... Felt Malevolence from it, too. Usually skirt 'round it when I see it, but I've stopped by Pendrago a couple times when it cleared up for a while." She makes a face. "Don't know just how bad it gets, but if that's your top concern, guess I got nothin' to complain about."
It's true the longer that goes on, the worse the local crops will spoil, and the more agitated the locals will get. Attacking a neighboring country to get crops to replace it *is* a logical next move, and if he's right and the food *itself* is tainted... then it'll just get progressively worse, snowballing and snowballing until finally it's an avalanche of angry people calling for the blood of their neighbors if it'll provide fertile soil for more food--that will itself no doubt be tainted. Looking into it and nipping what's there in the bud is a smart call.
Ragnell half-turns, tipping the brim of her hat at him. "I'll sniff 'round about it if I get the chance, an' if I find anything out, I'll send ya word." ...So, definitely not leaving Rolance, it sounds like--at least, not for good or for an extended amount of time. "'Til then, I'll leave ya t' keepin' camp. Later, Sorey. Tell the others I said hi." Then she turns and starts to head back towards Lastonbell, though her pace is leisurely enough that she can stop if the young man has anything more to say.


<Pose Tracker> Sorey has posed.

Sorey nods once as Ragnell confirms that she'll be taking a look around. "I appreciate it - another set of eyes looking at a problem is always welcome, and it might turn up something that the rest of us have missed." He pauses for a moment, and then adds, "I'm glad to see that you're alright, Ragnell. I was worried that you might have started to draconify when you were exposed to the Lord of Calamity's domain like that. Mikleo told me even he was having some trouble, and he had me as a vessel close by."
He hadn't heard about Ida turning into a Hellion - that was unfortunate, and if he saw her now he knew that he should try and purify her. But there were always so many problems cropping up, and much of it was a cascade of one thing leading into another. Trying to get ahead of it was a problem, and ultimately Sorey felt that he was going to have to go after the source. Which meant he needed to train more, because he felt the Lord of Calamity was deeply involved in the spread of so much malevolence across Lunar.
And then there was this... Zophar. Not the first time he's heard the name, but it's probably time that Sorey took a closer look into it. Among the dozen or so other things that he needed to check out. The Shepherd sighs, and pulls out his notebook of things he needs to talk about with Rose and have her people look into.
He does, however, keep an eye on Ragnell to see if there's anything else she wants to say... and to see if she moves out of the area, or sticks around to watch him train. He doesn't mind either way, but he certainly isn't going to let his guard around her like he does Mikleo.


<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.

"No problem." Ragnell then crooks a half-smile when Sorey expresses he's glad she's all right. "You're a sweet kid. Nah, it was hard, no doubt, but I managed. Havin' somethin' to focus on--somethin' that needs doin'--always helps..." She turns away, eyes steeling. "An' there's always somethin' that needs doin'." A light shrug. "As you well know, I'm sure."
Fortunately for Sorey, Ragnell does indeed leave the area. As she said, there's always something that needs doing--and if she wanted to watch him train, she could've always done so from next to a nice warm campfire. No, soon her presence is gone as she reaches Lastonbell and passes through the town, and Sorey is left to his training... and his notes and thoughts.