A Veiled Journey (Part 9)

"There is but one boon that we desire of you, Dawncaller," Seldan puts in, his gaze unwavering in the face of the once-king's angering. In truth, there is a piece of him that screams to yield before it, but he ignores that piece in silence, instead taking on the mien of the alabaster pillar he often uses. "That boon is that you consider what is being said to you. For do not we stand with you, and desire the same as you? But how shall we achieve that, without acknowledging the truth of where we are? For what do you see, when you look past the illusion that surrounds you?"

GAME: Acedia rolls diplomacy: (15)+10: 25

Serene's left eye flickers.. not quite a twitch.. and her expression shifts faintly to one that might indicate she swallowed something sour. Yes, this kind's presence is oppressive. Almost blinding. Yes there is a power here nigh on incomprehensible to mere mortals. So Serene focuses on something else, instead. An urge, turning into an image in her mind, of simply slapping this elf in the face. Which, of course, cannot be done either. So playing the farce is the only route forward. "Your... magnificence.. there is more here than meets our eyes. We beg of you to help us see what hides about us."

There's a rising tension. It rises, rises. Menesil is clearly agitated, and why not? This here is a man, a King, who is clearly unused to challenge. So locked into the depths of his delusions, his spirit seems unable to fathom that the question is even asked in the first place. Your complete submission is what's demanded, expected.

But the confusion, you've played to that well enough, the seed of doubt that lingers within him.

"There are traitors everywhere," he lowers his voice, "but you -- you seek to enlighten me to their true nature. We watch for them, full of their self-dealing lies and delusions. They would poison all that we accomplish, all that we sacrifice, sweat, and bleed for."

He lowers his gaze in thought.

"Tell me."

Zeke falls silent here, allowing someone with greater knowledge of what is necessary, and better diplomatic skills than himself to lead the way. Namely his kin - Seldan. He has offered what he can to this. His chastisement, his forgiveness. There is little more for him to say beyond that.

"A wise King listens to his advisors. We do not offer advice lightly nor would we challenge you without cause. You are correct, we wish to enlighten you. To help you see through the woven story that is meant to blind you." Acedia pauses, glancing at Zeke, and Seldan. "He is wiser than I, and knows more of what is occurring here than we do. Trust in him."

GAME: Seldan rolls sense motive: (1)+19: 20 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Malik rolls Sense Motive: (16)+17: 33
GAME: Seldan rolls sense motive: (13)+19: 32

Her hostile urges abate slightly as Serene watches the king finally lend his ear to the efforts spearheaded by Seldan and Zeke to bring him to see if not reason then at least some semblance of cooperation. Rather than muddle the conversation with voice from too many directions, she falls silent again as she, like Zeke, trusts Seldan to use the right words.

Malik, for his part, kneels down, resting his arms on his knees as he studies the delusional royal. He shares a significant glance with Seldan, raising a confused eyebrow, as if opening a book in a language that he can't quite read, but has enough pictures to look familiar. Almost there, but not quite.

Seldan relaxes, infinitesimally, at that seed of doubt, and Acedia's assurance draws the very smallest of smiles, that fades when he turns his gaze back to Menesel. "An illusion, within which we stand, my king. An illusion designed to lure us into actions which avail us naught, that keep us from seeing that which they are truly about. And it has worked. Great forces now move against your people, that which will destroy your people, do you not cast aside the illusion _now_. Do we help you to see what has been done, there may yet be a chance."

He is somehow both big as legend and the smallest man you've ever met and somehow those things remain true at the same time. It's almost like double vision. You can see beyond the illusion of his presence now, just enough to get a sense of the man behind it, a tortured and scarred psyche, raw and in pain -- pain never ending. It is here and present, the signs all around you.

And yet, the legend persists. The story over everything else, and it holds him together.

"An illusion. Ever has our enemy relied on trickery and deception to drive us apart. We know the truth, though, you and I. Great sacrifices remain needed if we are to prevail. Tell me, who seeks us now? Is it the summoners? Have they placed one of their agents amongst our number? Ever have they been jealous of we, for the labor unloved and die unmourned and in silence. Mortality is for lesser creatures. We, we immortal beings of spirit, know not the tragedy of death and never shall we."

A Smile. A great smile. Beatific and wondrous. It commands the room.

"Enlighten your King further."

His eyes are now on Seldan and he's conspicuously avoiding looking at Zeke for whatever reason. "I see what I have always seen. My court, my rule, over which I preside as the sun presides over the earth. I am the sun, the Dawn, and you, my children, are the rays which dance upon the surface of the pedestrian world and bring light to all that I cherish. The sun of our people shall never dim." His eyes wander towards Acedia and then Serene. There's an uncertainty, a fear. Just a flash of it. Still not looking at Zeke.

GAME: Acedia rolls sense motive: (19)+5: 24 GAME: Seldan rolls sense motive: (12)+19: 31 GAME: Serene rolls sense motive: (16)+28: 44 GAME: Zeke rolls sense motive: (1)+4: 5 (EPIC FAIL)

Zeke notices that the king is not looking at him, but he has no idea why not. He is after all sith-makar, and humans are very different in their expressions and their scents than are the People. He searches for something to say, something that might offer enlightenment to this man, but no words come immediately to mind. As is his practice when in such situations, he falls to silence. Yet he does not allow the weight of Menesil's presence to weigh upon him. With effort he bears up underneath it. The loss of the kings radiance is a blow unlike any he has ever felt before. Or perhaps it hits a bit close to home for the Sith. His eyes flicker to Seldan. There seems a plan in place there, and he waits it out.

Seldan, too, draws a deep breath, reaching deep within himself, for any scrap of knowledge gleaned from a youth spent in the household of courtiers, from a mother who taught mercy in word and deed, from a grandmother who taught cunning. Although he was shielded from the workings of the court, a few tidbits remained, and the voices of the ancestors within suggest more.

"Do you, my king? Do you see what is, or do you see what those who would bring you down have you see?" He pauses, treading carefully in his wording, chewing over every word he speaks. "I cannot say what it is that blinds you, my king. It is none that you or I have faced directly before. It is another, and I cannot describe it, only feel it. It is here. Now."

"It is here," Serene echoes Seldan's claim, lips pressing into a line as her gaze shifts partially away from Menesil. Her sword hand twitches as the back of her neck prickles. Then the lips curve ever so slightly. "It is here and does not wish you to see, my king."

The Goblin is obviously looking for words. And judging from her expression, she is not finding them.

She glances at Zeke, and then Seldan, and the others. Glancing back to Mensil, she lets out a small breath.

"If you seek true enlightenment, then let us move beyond words."

Acedia offers up her right hand. "Let us not speak, let us show you what they do not wish you to see. If you have doubted anything these past centuries, take my hand, and I will show you. And remove all doubt."

Stjepan stands there, quiet, like he's a pillar on the hall. He's pretty good at that -- saves his voice for shouting later, right? His brow furrows, and he looks off-balance, like he's been displaced slightly. Or he's just looking at a puzzle piece that just doesn't seem to fit. Studying the king, his eyes glow blue softly as he seeks more information.

Stjepan's mouth opens unconsciously as he looks into the air with his glowing eyes. "Longevity."

<Telepathy> Seldan -> Malik: She warns me. Gird yourself, for it comes.

Has there ever been a king free from paranoia?

Playing into it seems to be working on him. Enemies everywhere, treachery everywhere. He listens, his youthful seeming brow furrowed. His radiant nature remains undimmed. It is integral. He is myth. He is legend. That can not be overstated.

He leans towards Seldan, slowly listening to him, taking in his and Serene's words. Then he looks slowly around.

"Here, you say? Perhaps it is true, then, the summoners have infiltrated..."

And then Acedia has approached and offered up a hand. "A king has no doubts," he tells her, "for doubt is antithetical to the nature of rule. You know that, cousin." But the extended hand is studied and he reaches out to grasp it.

"We can never doubt," he continues, "for doubt opens the door to failure to act. A king is action. A king is action. A king is action..."

His grip tightens hard. Fear. Cold fear. Coursing through him.

The ground starts to shake.

Malik rises to his feet before the ground starts to shake, giving Seldan a glance. Almost like he felt it coming before it happened. "Prepare yourselves," he tells the others, hands already working on the beginnings of a spell. "It seems our options for a peaceful resolution are exhausted."

"Your faith in us is rewarded, my king." Seldan, who had appeared largely impassive, abruptly relaxes into a different sort of tension, the balanced moves of an experienced warrior. "We have flushed it! It comes! Gird yourselves!" His hand is already going for his longsword.

Zeke moves. Acedia is too close to Menesil, and Zeke knows not the source of the danger. Within Menesil? Without? The source of the problem lay within the king himself, but in this illusion... He grabs Acedia, and pulls her close to himself, hissing at the rumbling and settling her near himself so that he can grasp his quarterstaff with both hands. It is not really after all something to help him walk, but rather a weapon to be used to defend.

He pulls a ring from his vestments and pushes it into Acedia's hands. "Wear thisss." He tells her firmly, his voice brooking no argument at the moment. He has no way of knowing what form this danger will take, but he will do what he can to defend the others, and so he hovers near them protectively.

Serene unlimbers her shield, settling it on to her arm as she shifts her weight to keep her balance upon the shaking ground, then draws her Dragonier forged blade as she half turns to spread her field of vision about... "Be prepared to defend him," she says, "And be prepared to... otherwise." It is clear she doesn't know quite where the threat is going to manifest either.

GAME: Acedia rolls sleight of hand: (2)+11: 13

The Goblin winces slightly as the King tightens his grip, but part one of her plan seems to have worked.

Then she finds herself being lifted and pulled close to Zeke. Her stubby little fingers don't come loose from Menesil's hand, and she squirms in the Sith's grasp.

"But!", she spits out with a huff, being tugged in two directions. "Ow!" Her annoyance is clearly registered in her expression, but she blinks at the ring that is offered to her. She nearly drops it, but with a bit of awkwardness, she slips it onto her thumb.

Menesil's grasp doesn't falter. Trying to pull Acedia away is like trying to pull someone away from a drowning man. It doesn't work. It just makes things messy. Still, Zeke is able to help them into the ring for their protection.

For the first time in an age, Menesil rises from his throne and takes faltering steps away from it, eyes going to Zeke with widening horror. "What .. what are you?!" he asks, as if the illusion that made him see only his court has faltered.

"Who are you?! You're not mine. None of you are mine! Let me go!" He's still holding Acedia's hand anyway.

"I'll have your heads for this! What have you done?!"

At least you can still understand him, somehow.

The ground shakes harder still. It cracks.

...oily blackness begins to rise up through those cracks in the ground, oozing up over the walls all around you. The light that had suffused this place is now being consumed in darkness. The sun swallowed up by eclipse.

"GO,' rings a voice. The woman you saw earlier. The manifestation of the Veil of Llyranost itself.

"Flee back whence you came! He will know the way," it says of Menesil. "He wakes from the Dream, but now the chains that bind him will pursue you. Confront his demons, and help free all from shadow."

-TBC