Nerayda: ... and so she faked her own death to be with the one she loved! Isn't that romantic?
Kellan: It seems a not very well thought out plan to me. She didn't think about the consequences, or that she would get caught.
Ixya: Well, I think it's rather sweet, but I don't think it would be a very stable relationship. Rather sketchy, pretending to be dead and all.
Nerayda: Pfft. Neither of you have any sense of the romantic. Mr. Soshkay, what do YOU think?
Soshkay: Dear Lady, I think that a wise man does not disagree when a Lady Wizard declares something romantic. (slight bow)(All three wizards laughing... then suddenly they all go silent)
Soshkay: What?! What is it? Are you okay?
Soskhay: I see no enemy. You'll have to tell me where...
Ixya: (deep breath) No, General, it's all right. Asheron has entered the house. We felt him, that's all.Kellan: We've warded the house so that any magic done anywhere on the property is felt by us immediately. I'm sorry we startled you.
(sound of boots coming up stairs)
Kellan: And here he is now.
Kellan: Asheron, dear friend. Are you well? Was transportation with the cloak acceptable?
Asheron: (shakily) Yes... thank you. I hate flight, but this made getting there and back much easier. Thank you for loaning it to me.
Kellan: Any time. Are you well? You seem very pale, my friend. Here ... sit and tell us what you saw, if you will.
Asheron: I am... (sigh) even knowing what Firebirds are capable of, I was unprepared for the sheer destruction... I thought I felt them, and it was just as I suspected. They must've hidden themselves in the lightning of the storm last night, and attacked before the rain began to fall.
Asheron: General Soshkay, I am sad to report that the evidence I found matched your description of your missing party, and there were no survivors. I found the bodies of three adults and a child...Soskhay: (deep breath) The child you found... was it a boy child or a girl child?
Asheron: Honestly, General. There was no real way to identify... anything. I am only guessing it was a child because of the size.Soshkay: But there were two children. Sesshy and Colby... could the other have run away? Escaped? Perhaps we should be searching for...
Asheron: Frankly, General, Firebirds are know to... well, if one of them was a nesting mother, it makes sense that she would've taken smaller prey to... well, to feed her young. I am very sorry, General.Soshkay: Oh God.... Sesshy... Colby....
Ixya: Asheron, was this just a random wild animal attack?Asheron: No, there are no wild Firebirds left in Colorado.
Asheron: These were brought here... but I believe that whoever brought them here WANTED it to look like a random attack. Someone who didn't necessarily know that a random attack couldn't just happen here. Someone from a place where there ARE wild Firebirds, who would've taken their presence for granted...
Soshkay: There were always wild Firebirds around the Temple. There are wild Firebirds where Sey and I are from.
Nerayda: What kind of monster kills innocent children like that? (sniffle)
Asheron: In this case, a very POWERFUL monster. It takes a very skilled mage to control ONE Firebird... controlling three is unheard of. Someone that powerful would've been powerful enough to destroy the Temple... or to do so much specific damage to Sey's mind without killing her...Soshkay: So you're saying...
Asheron: (sigh) I'm saying an extremely powerful mage, from a location where Firebirds are native, suddenly attacking a party that was coming HERE only a few miles from the house. It means...
Soshkay: It means it's the mage who attacked Sey. And it means he knows she's here!