#replace that one mortal portal guard when they come of age

[rivilu]

What if i become incredibly self indulgent and add Titania and Oberon to my Tav's lore. They canonically exist in dnd apparently so what if.

[mogwaei]

[Dragon Age: Ouroboros Codex - Precipice]

~

[Fen’Harel ⚔ Ouroboros]

The bad ending.

(codex text below cut)

“You are my dream. When you think yourself a nightmare, becoming or living one…remember that.”

He gripped her one hand, heart lurching, “How would you stop it? If it exists within me?”

Her mouth twitched, briefly in to something forlorn, “Let our tower protect you from it. You say I am a knight? Then you will have my sword and shield. Slip through the secret door and be free. I will follow, when I can.”

The simplicity of her answer stunned him into a silence of deep contemplation and he could only watch her walk away, returning to the camp alone. A tower to protect us from ourselves. Swords to cleave through the darkness. A secret door for the two of us.

That night when he lay alone on his bedroll, Fen’Harel dreamed of a knight in the Fade that shattered a crumbling pillar holding the sky apart from the earth. As the heavens crashed into the land, through the chaos, heedless of the danger around them, he witnessed the knight gather the pieces of the pillar, which became a lantern in their hands. Then, without looking back they secreted the lantern away to a place built in a remote reach of the world. Far though the knight ran, they were pursued, for the pieces once holding apart the domains were highly sought after. He could not discern their hunters, whether they were armies mortal or mindless darkness, he knew only that they were intent on destroying their quarry in totality and finality.

Within the walls, the Knight prepared, shutting and barring all the doors and drawing up the bridges. Ghostly sentinels patrolled the battlements and he overheard talk of setting wicked traps and calling forth vicious beasts from the Fade to guard the inside.

He felt a wrenching sorrow when at last the enemy arrived at their threshold and beat upon the walls with steel and magic. He did not know why, for any of it.

He found himself gripped by the dream as he watched the walls finally give way and the invaders flooded inside. He followed behind, through the ruined portcullis and into a wide courtyard, only to find that the shadowy invaders had come to a stop, emanating a perplexed air. He saw why.

There were no traps nor grotesque guardians. Of the sentinels there was no trace—perhaps an illusion all along.

Instead, they were greeted by frescoes adorning every surface, painted with pigments no mortal in present could possibly imagine. A thousand beautiful scenes that shifted and changed before his very eyes—mosaics made of gems and glass and stone glinting as though each piece contained its own soul. Gardens flourished all around that could only have been grown from dreams themselves.

The ache sank ever deeper, where no sword could reach as he watched the army disperse in search of the Knight and the Pillar-Made-Lantern. He seethed with anger, as they tore apart the sanctuary they had made. But he was powerless to stop them and he was filled with hate as desolation replaced beauty. Though he did not understand why they sought to capture the two, nor the enmity between the sides, he hoped the pair would not be found.

After following what appeared to be the leader of the force, it seemed his hopes weren’t for naught.

They encountered a hidden door, overgrown by syl’sils. His throat constricted as the rare and fragile blooms were crushed and torn by hacking sword and clawing gauntlet.

When the door was finally revealed, only then did the hateful trespassers cease their assault.

For the secret door was already cracked open. They had escaped after all.

He treaded forward, not quite believing what he was seeing propped up against the wall, just to the side of the portal.

But before he could get a closer look, the cobblestones dropped under his next step and the dream collapsed around him.

When he woke, his cheeks were wet and he had no explanation why.

[keptin-indy]

Exalted: Saigoth Gates 11

The circle hits Essence 2!  And starts a good old fashioned dungeon crawl, complete with dragon.

The next morning saw the group discussing the logistics of their journey after West discovered that his faithful Stormwind Rider was bigger than it had previously been, but not quite big enough to carry the entire circle.  Mazatl volunteered to take the slower agata and meet up with the others in the Lap.  To avoid notice, the first group would set down outside the densely farmed region surrounding the city and hire a cart from a local to take them in the rest of the way.  Krait mentioned incidentally that he was both from the Lap and wanted for theft from the brother of the new emperor.  West exasperatedly dyed Krait's hair and made him a disguise.  Once the group arrived at the city, they found it bustling and prosperous with token guards stationed around to protect the happy populace, including some dematerialized spirits of varying sorts stationed at major crossroads.  Being the center of a new empire had been good for the Lap and the more civic-minded party-members lamented the necessity of taking out an obviously effective ruler.  The group rented rooms at an inn, where Krait summoned a couple of perroneles for both Twilights over the next couple of nights and explained what he knew about how the Lap and the Ragaras there functioned.  Half of the group was horrified by the system of indentured servitude, but less so when it was framed as compulsory military service.  Shashaka was delighted by the forested game preserve on the Penitent’s arms and West wanted to encourage the illegal industry around blackmarket chatchkes.  Ragara Aluru was known before his coup to be both a terrible gambler and a corrupt politician who used him position to pay off his gambling debts, but neither trait seemed to be at play in his rule anymore.  He only rarely made public appearances, leaving the day to day running of the city to Cathak Sigip, one of the other former co-satraps.  Much less useful was the other co-satrap, Peleps Tuchet, who was useless politically but very popular with the people for his approachable manner and excellent parties.  Additionally, the Lap technically still had a king, Vellish Makatrie III, who was now even more of a puppet ruler than he had been under Realm rule.  Shashaka scouted the grounds around the palace, a converted administration building rather than a fortress, and found it to be largely unsecured, with guards at the major entrances and dematerialized demons milling about as backup, but still many obvious ways inside for someone of her skillset.  West suggested attending Cathak Sigip’s court to get the lay of the land and find more information on their quarry; Naran wanted to go directly to the head of the Penitent, where they suspected the control room for the Sword was; and Krait wanted to slowly summon his own demon army and have them quietly replace the existing demon army.  The last suggestion was given the consideration it deserved (e.g. none) and the circle settled on scaling the two-mile-tall statue to look for a door.  

The party crept its way through the restricted game preserve (with the Night caste ironically coming closest to being caught), but the light of the full moon was too bright to risk riding an agata upwards, meaning they had to climb (with Shashaka basically carrying West the whole way).  After the long ascent, they were rewarded with an amazing view of most of the South, slightly marred by the two dematerialized blood apes who watched, but made no move to attack.  West plotted the lay of the dragonlines and found them to be unnaturally ordered into intricate patterns.  Krait suggested the most likely place for a door in a giant statue from the age of Solar rule to be at the castemark, at which point the apes attacked and were summarily dispatched.  Ardor volunteered to check out the forehead since Shashaka had been slightly injured by the apes and discovered that the featureless rock responded greedily to the gift of her essence.  She gave a significant amount to the statue and was rewarded with the opening of an impossibly bright portal like a Zenith castemark opening and shedding its light upon the entirety of the direction toward the Pole of Fire, lighting up the sky like a small sun.  With any chance of stealth destroyed, the circle quickly jumped through the doorway into a warm, sunlight-filled meditation room sized for something much bigger than mere humans.  Something like the dragon that put its head through the door they’d just entered through and demanded to know  who and why such mortals had entered this sanctum.  West was extremely deferential to what he recognized as a directional censor, but Krait was offended that it would call them mortals and Naran set about making friends as usual, though he refused to give his real name.  Naran observed that the sanctum did not belong to this dragon and that the circle had evidently done him a favour by opening it and deserved a little consideration for that.  The dragon begrudgingly agreed and introduced himself as Wong Bongerok, Censor of the South.  During this discussion, Ardor wandered around the huge room and discovered a dragon-sized writing desk and a human-sized scribal assistant’s desk, as well as a bare, 200 foot tall pillar and a stairwell leading down.  She waved Krait over to look at the desks and he discovered mortality reports from the Great Contagion and a letter summoning Censor Swan Dragon to fight a sudden incursion of Rashka.  The chamber did not appear to have been touched since.  Naran secured Wonk Bongerok’s goodwill for him personally and permission for the circle to explore the Penitent while the dragon privately celebrated finally getting his claws on the seals of office he’d been denied for so long.

As the circle made their way down the spiral staircase that served as the Penitent’s spine, they found themselves growing heavier and more sluggish.  West explained that the Penitent’s chakra points were laid out like a real human’s and their descent down the spine brought them closer to the gate of Earth at the base of the spine.  Once they reached the chakra itself, filled with ancient machinery, the weight became oppressive and painful, so after an examination of the mechanisms, the group retreated to where it was merely uncomfortable to discuss their options.  West said he could work the machines in theory, but that control of them had been disabled, likely from the hearth room of the manse, if manse it was.  He did have the ability to release the earth lock on the control room, meaning there were probably four more locks at each of the corresponding chakra points (wood at the crotch, water at the stomach, fire at the heart, and air all the way back up at the throat, leading up to the control room's "logical" location above the Penitent's head), each guarded by the same concentrated elemental energies that made the Earth one so painful, and that they’d need to disable them all to reach the central command.  Unfortunately, the circle-member most able to deal with such energy was Mazatl.

[heartslogos]

pull the morning out of the night [81]

Dorian wakes to a hand covering his mouth - not the first time, to be honest -, and the cat-like mirror eyes of an elf above him - now that one is a first. The spell in Dorian’s hands doesn’t quite dissipate so much as it’s cancelled out and the hand presses firmer against his mouth.

The faint light from the hand held to the elf’s face quickly resolves the situation.

Ellana holds a half-illuminated finger to her lips.

Both sides of her face appear to be her own.

Dorian nods slowly, cautiously, and Ellana draws back, pulling her hand away. She’s covered in a traveling cloak, and she moves quickly to the next bed to repeat the process with Krem, gamely dodging the half-reflexive punch the man throws out before waking fully.

Dorian wants to ask what’s happening but Ellana moves silently and quickly, gesturing for them to get dressed - tugging at her own cloak and pointing at them - and then to follow her she indicates her head towards the door before sliding out as softly and unnoticeably as she came in. A very strange and particular sort of dream, Dorian thinks.

Krem glances at him and Dorian shakes his head.

Not a clue.

These days, no one has a single clue to be found or scraped together or bartered about.

(There was a man that Ellana lost, this Dorian knows. Dorian thinks that his name was Mahanon. Dorian thinks that this Mahanon was also a slave of the Raven Twins. Dorian thinks, Dorian guesses - that he wasn’t just killed. Ellana did not experience something so clean and quickly ended as the loss of a loved one to death. Kill is probably not a strong enough word for what this Mahanon was made to do. Kill is probably not a word Ellana would go to war over.

He does not think that the word kill would have driven her this far or to this extent.

Dorian hesitates to use the word murder. It seems too uncanny. Too much an unkindness. )

Ellana is waiting, hood drawn up in the living room - Stitches and Grim are the last to join them.

Ellana slowly raises a hand and spells out in the air - in the common of the rest of Thedas -

“We are leaving.”

To Dorian’s knowledge there is still one last day left, and the closing ceremonies.

Ellana waves her hand to erase the glowing words in the air and replaces them with new ones.

“We go ahead. The others will declare war. We cannot be here for it.”

Dorian’s eyebrows raise in surprise - if they were going to declare war over Ellana’s behavior, and what Dorian understands of her metamorphosis, he thought they would have done that four days ago.

Varric gestures at Ellana.

Ellana shakes her head.

“Flemeth will cause this war,” Ellana writes out, “Come. We go. We cannot speak here.”

Dorian resists the powerful urge to ask, Will we ever speak?

Dorian wonders, increasingly often, how many of Ellana’s promises she intends to keep - not in general, there is something about Ellana that screams to the bitter truth of keeping an oath. Ellana will keep every promise she has ever made for better or for worse. Even the ones she does not like. There is a quality about her that says she will grind her teeth and put her head down and dig straight into the nastiness of it. But she will do it. She will drag herself by the hair to do it. What Dorian wonders is not whether or not Ellana will keep it. He wonders if she will keep those promises in their lifetime.

There is a myth Dorian remembers about the Wolf and the slow arrow.

There is more than one way to keep a promise.

Ellana pulls up her hood and they silently follow suit.

This is not the time or place for questions, and they know it. As before, they are blind and have no real options to choose from.

Ellana guides them through the twists and turns of the darkened halls. By miracle or divine - literally divine, he thinks - intervention, they run into no one.

Ellana leads them to the grand eluvians they came through before,  where a pair of Sentinels - Dorian recognizes one as a Wolf and the other as a Crafter - stand guard and bow before her.

“It is ready,” The Wolf’s Sentinel says, “They are waiting for you and your house on the other side.”

“I do not see you or your house, your are but passing air to me,” The Crafter’s Sentinel says and both of them turn to activate the gate.

Ellana turns to them, and in the darkness of the early morning Dorian cannot make out the face she makes before turning away again.

The portal ripples to life, and Ellana walks through.

They follow, and are immediately set upon by hands guiding them towards mounts.

“We must hurry,” A Wolf’s sentinel says as Dorian is rushed up onto a stag. “We are to close all eluvians leading to the other realms and then lock the ones to the higher temples. The Ascendant must be in place before then.”

“In place?” Bull asks.

“She must be seated on the throne of the Wolf,” Another sentinel says, “She must hold the realm until the Wolf returns.”

“I thought you lot were trying to avoid war,” Krem says.

“Just because we are doesn’t mean the rest of them aren’t,” A sentinel says. “Enough talk. We go.”

“Mythal intends to announce her Ascendant’s identity,” Ellana says barely audible over the sound of hooves, pulling her mount close to theirs as they begin to ride through the darkness, “Normally it is not a cause to go to war. But you have seen Mythal. You know she is not of the people of Arlathan.”

“She’s human, you mean,” Skinner says.

“Once, perhaps,” Ellana says, “When she became Mythal she became divine, as I become divine. Not elf. Not human. Something else. But once she was a human woman from your lands.  It was after she received Mythal’s divinity that she rose to join us in Arlathan. This was almost six hundred years ago, roughly. I do not remember much of it, aside from the scandal and the pity. Mythal’s entire house was in shambles for centuries before and after. Mythal’s lands have been out of sorts for a very long time, it is only recently that they have returned to something close to the glory they had in the previous ages.”

“Six hundred?” Stitches repeats, “You remember something from six hundred years ago?”

Which of course, prompts the question -

“How old are you exactly, Ellana?” Varric says.

Because it is strange to think of someone as ageless - somehow it means that they will always exist, have always existed. But to look so young and to be so timeless - you forget. Dorian forgets, frequently, that these people are immortal, long lived - and then they say something like six hundred years and such and his world tips to the side just a bit.

“I will be reaching my tenth century mark soon,” Ellana answers, “I was around four hundred at the time and more focused on my studies. The world of politics was not one I had been truly indoctrinated into yet.”

“Tenth century?” Dorian repeats, “As in one thousand years?”

“Give or take,” Ellana says. “My age isn’t what’s important here. Mythal intends to announce the one who will take her place. It will be a mortal human. I know not the identity other than that she is one of her many daughters existing in the lower realms and that she is a mage.”

“Maker’s balls, cock and arse,” Krem says.

“Throw in liver, spleen, and gall bladder,” Ellana says. “Because it gets worse. And to talk about the worse, we need to be inside friendly walls. Ride.”

[dailykhaleej]

COVID-19: Kerala readies to receive stranded Indian citizens from abroad

An artist attracts graffiti to ‘thank coronavirus warriors’ on the wall of the Ernakulam Normal Hospital, in Kochi on Tuesday. Picture Credit score: ANI

Thiruvananthapuram: Having put up a powerful battle in opposition to COVID-19, nursing again greater than 400 sufferers to good well being, the Kerala authorities doesn’t need to decrease the guard in its battle in opposition to the “invisible enemy,” whilst 100 days have handed for the reason that nation reported its first case from the state.

The anticipated return of 1000’s of non-resident Keralites (NRKs) from varied international locations from Thursday has additionally given rise to anxiousness, with the federal government eager that optimistic circumstances mustn’t see a soar and appears to have readied its blueprint to deal with the doable big arrivals.

To date 427,000 Keralites stranded in varied international locations, together with over 9,000 pregnant girls, have registered with the Non Resident Keralites Affairs’ (NORKA) on-line portal. About 100,000 from different states have additionally registered for his or her return.

These with expired go to visas, the aged, pregnant girls and critically sick are among the many giant numbers of people who find themselves ready to return.

“Around 27,000 institutions, including hotels, resorts, hostels, schools, lodges, stadiums and even auditoriums have been identified where we can accommodate around 1 million people. Space has been found,” State Dwelling Secretary Vishwas Mehta stated.

Greater than 2,100 expatriates from Kerala in Gulf international locations are anticipated to be airlifted on Might 7 and intensive preparations are underway on the Kochi worldwide airport to receive them.

Exit social distancing norms and a 3 phased dis-infestation plan on the Cochin Worldwide Airport Restricted are being put in place, stated a spokesman.

Checking temperature of arriving passengers might be undertaken, whereas the method of putting in thermal scanners on the arrival space is on.

“Entire synthetic/textile wrapped furniture were replaced with temporary plastic chairs,” the spokesman added.

Accolades for the state

The state has been incomes accolades from many quarters for the way in which it has handled the pandemic, however the authorities doesn’t need complacency to creep in.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has again and again sought to drive dwelling the purpose that complacency can’t be afforded regardless of a seemingly higher present.

“We cannot say we have crossed the danger mark or that the danger of community spread no longer exists. We need to be very careful”, Vijayan had stated.

State Dwelling Secretary Vishwas Mehta stated: “The threat is not over. For the simple reason that till we get a vaccine, this (coronavirus) will continue all over the world.”

He additionally attributed the upper restoration – 462 of the 499 sufferers Kerala have been discharged after therapy as of Monday – to rather more “scientific manner” by which it has taken up its battle in opposition to the pandemic, which has claimed 1,694 lives within the nation. The state has been receiving plaudits for having seemingly “flattenened the curve” of COVID-19 circumstances and the “Kerala model” has additionally been debated, even in some worldwide fora.

“The recovery in Kerala is fast. We are hovering down. When compared to other states, the number of positive cases, deaths and those under surveillance are coming down in the state. No one is tackling the pandemic as scientifically as we are doing,” Mehta instructed PTI.

Want to watch out

Nevertheless, individuals want to be extra cautious and never be “irresponsible in dealing with the invisible enemy,” he stated, whereas underlining the necessity to use masks and keep social distancing.

Requested if Kerala had flattened the curve, the state Nodal officer for infectious illness, together with coronavirus, Dr Amar Fettle stated it requires knowledge for an extended interval, apparently to come to a conclusion.

“But overall, the curve has flattened. However, this is no time for relaxing. This is no time for lowering our guard. As there are news we have ‘flattened the curve’, people have started coming out in the open without using masks,” he stated.

Masks necessary

Kerala has made sporting masks necessary and has imposed a advantageous of Rs 5,000 for repeat offenders.

The teachings learnt in the course of the outbreak of the 2018 Nipah virus, which claimed 17 lives in Kozhikode and Malappuram, together with that of a younger nurse, got here in useful for the state in getting battle prepared to face COVID-19.

Well being minister Ok.Ok. Shailaja has stated Kerala started its preparations vis-a-vis CCOVID-19 when experiences emerged of its outbreak within the epicentre Chinese language metropolis of Wuhan in December final.

In addition to the primary affected person, two different medicos from the state who additionally studied in Wuhan, examined optimistic for the virus early this yr. All of them have recovered and had been discharged in February.

The state had many medical college students learning in Wuhan and knew that they’d be returning. One among the many returnees was the nation’s first case of the an infection.

Two others from Wuhan College, hailing from Alappuzha and Kasaragod, additionally subsequently examined optimistic for the virus. All three had been cured and discharged in February.

Spike in infections

There was a spike in infections since March 20 when 37 circumstances had been detected and the graph peaked on April eight with 259 circumstances after which there was a downward pattern.

The second wave of infections hit Kerala on March eight when a three-member household in Pathanamthitta arrived from Italy and examined optimistic, together with two of their shut family members.

Subsequently, 4 others, together with nonagenarian Thomas and his spouse Mariyamma (88),the mother and father of Moncy who had returned alongside together with his spouse and son from Italy, additionally contracted the virus.

All of them had been cured and discharged later.

The aged couple’s restoration was described by consultants because the “rarest of rare” since excessive mortality charge is mostly seen in older individuals globally due to the an infection.

There was a spike in infections since March 20 and the graph peaked on April eight with 259 circumstances after which there was a downward pattern.

Three fatalities have been reported thus far, two of them being aged over 65 years of age and having varied different well being points. The opposite was a 4 month previous child woman.

Fettle, who was an important a part of the state equipment in preventing the Nipah virus, stated social distancing and use of masks is a necessity to battle the pandemic and folks should guarantee they put on it the second they step out of their homes.

Requested how the state was preventing the virus compared to different states, Mehta stated it “is much, much ahead.” Nevertheless, in a explanation for concern, many who had been asymptomatic are amongst those that examined optimistic later and the well being authorities are cluless concerning the supply of their an infection.

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