The road to Gervasiel

[Sareth]

"No..." Lillith forced out between shuddering breaths. She wiped her nose and eyes with the back of a hand, and shook her head. "No... Not elves. They are... were... They were all humans here." She sniffled. "I can feel their spirits still. They were afraid." She buried her face in Brad's chest, shuddering.

[Drannin]

Argus looked at Lillith with concern. then stared around the area, confused. "Alright... so Lillith doesn't think this is something that elves would do." If only because there wasn't a half-elf here. "Then why is an elven ceremonial spear sitting around like this? Someone had one sitting on his shelf? Some sort of relic picked up and carried around as a curiosity?"

Of course, there was always the possibility that the weapon had been dropped by one of the attackers. But why would any human carry around something like that if they had death and destruction on their mind? Drusia indicated that it wasn't a practical weapon... so why?

[Graybeard]

Something wasn't making sense to Sister Rose.

"Okay, ancient elven ceremonial weapons I get," she said. "But what I don't get is why a wooden artifact, which might have been made 10,000 years ago yet doesn't seem magical itself, is sitting here on top of the ashes of a village-sized fire that burned up everything else in sight, flammable or not. Am I the only one here who finds that odd?"

If Brad felt it odd, he wasn't saying, being far too busy comforting Lillith (a duty he found quite enjoyable, although he'd have preferred that Lillith wasn't feeling so much distress). As for the others ...

[Drusia]

"Elven make," Sister Rose repeated hollowly. "Please tell me it's not something that other elf would have been carrying..."

I shake my head. "Definantly not carried by a ranger. Like I said, this is a cermonial design - not at all practical in actual combat. Well, unless you're manning a shield wall, I suppose, but that isn't generally part of elven tactics. Too easy to fireball."

It occurs to me that Rose and Argus saw me use my Durus Flamma, albeit briefly, when I put down that Errant that tried to stab Lillith. Then again, with everything going on, they might not have noticed the details of my knife. I'll keep that in mind.

"Does anyone want this?" I ask, holding up the spear. "Cause, if not, I say we leave it here. That way, if anyone comes looking for it... they'll find it undisturbed." And anyone who could have done this, I really don't want to meet in person.

-- Drusia

[Sareth]

Lillith uncurled from Brad, turning to look at it. "Ah... I..." She swallowed. "May I?"

[Graybeard]

"May I?"

Sister Rose started to move to intercept the spear. She wasn't quite sure why; if Drusia said it was inactivated, then it couldn't do her any harm ... could it? Still, something didn't seem quite right about Lillith putting her hands on the thing.

In any event, Brad beat her to the punch. "I -- I really don't think someone as peaceful, as gentle, as -- good as you should handle something like this. Let me, please. I'll feel better holding it for you, and even using it if it comes to that." He put a surprisingly steady hand on the shaft ... and turned to Drusia.

"Er ... if you don't mind me asking, how do you use this thing? I mean, I know how to use a spear, but how about the glowy thing at the end? I ... may need some instruction."

[Drusia]

"May I?"

I raise both eyebrows. Not really what I expected to hear. I still think it would be better to leave this thing here so no one knows we found it. But, if she really wants to see....

Brad steps in. I hand it to him. Probably better, he's less likely to try to stab me with it.

"Er ... if you don't mind me asking, how do you use this thing? I mean, I know how to use a spear, but how about the glowy thing at the end? I ... may need some instruction."

"You plan to use it?" I ask. Brad nods. "Right. Somehow I doubt it. First, you'd need magical training, which so far as I know you don't have. And secondly, Durus Flamma weapons, like this, are extremely difficult to use. They increase the strength of your senses so every light is glaring, every sound is blasting. Even with centuries of experience, the things still give me migranes if I use them for more than a few seconds."

-- Drusia

[Graybeard]

[OOC: I think Poe said somewhere that humans and half-elves don't get the sensory-bombardment thing from a Durus Flamma that elves do -- not that Drusia-the-elf would know that, since as far as the elves know, humans don't use Durus Flammas. Meanwhile, I really shouldn't do this from work, but this was too tempting to pass up...]

"Oh, I can do some magic," Brad said, and he suddenly began to concentrate on the strange weapon, his eyes crossing with his effort.

"Indeed he can," Sister Rose confirmed as she watched him. "We in the Church get rudimentary magical training so we can do some things in our church services." Not to mention the Mage/Priest Wars, so I won't. "It comes easier to some of us than others, but we can pretty well all do simple things like healing, comforting, and so on. Brad already helped Lillith with a Comfort spell and me with some sound manipulation, so --" She broke off, seeing what was happening with the Lancea.

Brad's exertions had left him panting, but the purplish crystal at the end of the thing had undergone a transformation -- just a little transformation, but a transformation nonetheless. It was no longer the faceted crystal that had caught Rose's attention. It now extended maybe two inches beyond its regular shape, and had a definite edged shape to it. It wasn't nearly as menacing as what Drusia had casually waved around earlier, but it was clearly usable as a weapon.

"See?" Rose smiled at her cousin; he could always use some confidence building. "I knew you could make the thing work. But you're probably working too hard at it. Just relax, do what comes naturally, and I think you'll be amazed at how big your spear can be. I --"

She broke off again as she realized what she'd just said, and turned away from Brad (and Lillith), blushing red as a beet.

[Drannin]

Argus blinked, then moved quick as lightning to clamp his hand over Harker's mouth, which was already open to give who knew what kind of comment. He coughed.

"Interesting weapon," he acknowledged. "Bet it has quite the edge on on it." Argus thought back to Drusia's 'demonstration' not too long ago.

He still wished he had a yuuki staff. Or any kind of staff, really.


(OOC: EDIT- oops...)

[Graybeard]

OOC (my emphasis added):

Argus blinked, then moved quick as lightning to clamp his mouth over Harker's mouth, which was already open to give who knew what kind of comment. He coughed.

And I thought I was the one who'd written a gross-out...