Surraruthru and spellhoarding (Surraruthru)

[Iron Dragoon]

I thought that was its range to you? If not, I'll revise and post again.

[Anastasia]

On rereading you're correct. My mistake.

Hanna's in her bed with Tannin sitting nearby. "So then, I told the eladrin that Purple-"

A throat clearing from Hanna stops him as she sits up. "Surraruthru. Elena said you needed to talk to me?"

[Iron Dragoon]

"Indeed. 27 paid me a visit with a warning and a... present."

At this, Surraruthru reaches into his shirt and pulls out the feather, holding it up.

"He gave me this and said I would need Hanna's luck. He said a mysterious 'they' were coming for me. 'They' are apparently the Crawling Ones. That's about as much out of him as I could get about who or what they are. Along with warnings to hide and be wary of them."

[Anastasia]

This gets Hanna to slowly sigh, exhaling long and hard. "He's mentioned that in regards to Jaela before. He even gave her a ritual to repel them, though I've never seem them personally."

[Iron Dragoon]

Surraruthru nods.

"He mentioned Jaela. Says they watch her from the gaps. I couldn't get the reason why they were after her out of him, but apparently, they want my death and have a use for me after. Do we have a record of the ritual? Perhaps we could either enhance the scale of it... Or maybe reverse engineer it. If we can figure out how it blocks perception, we can narrow down the list of things that hunt prey using that method... Cross reference that with the title of Crawling Ones, maybe a divination or an inquiry to the gods..."

Surraruthru trails off, running possibilities through his mind.

[Anastasia]

"Yeah, it's all shit anyway," Tannin says, "Now you ask me, 27's an entire armory short of an army. Don't put too much time into his babblings, it's all a waste."

Hanna clears her throat, "We've never seen these crawling ones anyway," she says.

[Iron Dragoon]

"I'm not so sure. He gave me a warning before that proved useful. I'm sure it's not an exact thing, but there's probably a little to it. Does anything of the ritual he gave Jaela still exist? Even if it's nothing, I'm sure a Slaad take on a ritual may prove interesting."

[Anastasia]

Before either can reply, Calleigh comes through the portal and into the room.

Go ahead, Yuth.

If you haven't seen, Tryll's seeking you out from his thread so they're merging, Iddy.

[Iron Dragoon]

I saw, but I'm not able to look up the reference of the book at the moment and it's still a bit until lunch. If someone wouldn't mind pasting the relevant info, I'd appreciate it. It was that one about a knight, IIRC.

[Anastasia]

Do you recall the title of it?

[Iron Dragoon]

I believe it was this:

Lost Lore of the Abyss: The Quartered Lion

This series of books is written with a great deal of repetition and reinforcement. The entire writing style is highly ordered, as a preface explains this is desirable to better hold the often mutable lore of chaos.

The Quartered Lion was once known as the Lion Knight. A brave champion who defied the Abyss again and again, he ultimately took the mantle of a hellreaver and went to the Abyss to challenge the demons on their home ground. It is known he ultimately failed, falling in battle to Orcus. The demon prince was unwilling to let the knight's soul go free, so he took it and the knight's broken body. Arms and legs were removed and replaced lifeless grafts from an undead dire lion. In his spite, Orcus raised the knight as an undead nightmare and loosed his now corrupted soul out into Thanatos.

The Quartered Knight is a dreadful opponent. He wears ruined plate mail and has a pair of lion's maws for arms and lion's legs for legs. He attacks his enemies viciously and tears them apart with his twin maws. He grows stronger and fatter with each one, now a great round mass that reeks of death. He wanders Thanatos, an object of amusement for the greater demons and undead that rule that horrid place.

I may be misremembering.

[Yuthirin]

"Surrurururururooroo!" Calleigh shouts gleefully, zipping over to fly in circles around Surraruthru's head. "We're going to Sylica! You wanna come!?"

[Anastasia]

Thanks Iddy.

"Hey, you're interrupting," Tannin says, "We were having a con...actually, you know what? Go on," Tannin kicks back, "Courre's better than 27."

[Iron Dragoon]

Surraruthru gains the same put-upon face as when he saw 27 earlier.

"Calleigh. Tryll. 27's given me a warning that something he's named the Crawling Ones are coming after me. What's this about Sylica?"

[Yuthirin]

Calleigh lands on top of Surraruthru's head, bending double at the waist so she's looking him in the eye while also upside down. "Don't be grumpy, mister fairie dragon! Bugs crawl all the time, so we can probably get some while you're in Sylica!"