>>4130206

>Take your own advice and sleep.

It might seem harsh to push the realization of his absence on Iron Reed when he had no control over it, but you couldn't risk him finding out about it in the morning with battle only a few hours away. He needs time to come to terms with the realization that it isn't his fault, to process the situation before he has to draw his bow, and to understand what is most important in the present. You know this from personal experience; when you lost a fight against a much stronger Exalt, before you were even inducted into the Silver Pact, and found yourself diminishing in skill thereafter. Shadow of Eagles broke through your rage with his words of wisdom, opening the path to amelioration once again when you realized it wouldn't have mattered if things went differently. There is no failure; only learning. Cheap noodle-shop-window wisdom, perhaps, but if it's good enough for you then it's bloody well good enough for a Terrestrial.

You do sleep in the end, brazenly leaving open your window though there's no starlight to let in, and in the morning you rise feeling mostly revitalized from your exertions. Mostly. You're at your very best under a rising moon, but it's not as if one night of slaying took that much out of you; you're still more than a match for any warrior in the fae army. Whether or not the Dragon-Blooded will be able to keep up with them is another matter, but you trust in Iron Reed's ability to lead his soldiers. The plan is a good one; almost good enough to let them win on their own. With you here, unless something goes incredibly awry, victory seems all but assured.

>>4130210

You rise early, donning your moonsilver armor, flourishing your sword in the mirror before sheathing it and grinning in pre-emptive smugness. You look fearsome as ever - maybe more so that usual. Just wait until your anima's flaring; that'll be guaranteed to give the goblins a fright.

Moving down the stairs to the great hall where you dined the previous night, you find Iron Reed clad in superheavy jade plate, a powerbow on his back and the glint of vengeance in his eye. He wants the fae to feel every pointless injustice they put upon his people returned manifold; with your help, he will. Single-minded revenge, after all, is your specialty.

"Raven!" he greets you familiarly, last night's events seeming only to have bolstered his verve. "I trust your sword is sharp this morning."

"It never dulls," you reply honestly, reaching out to grip his wrist in a gesture of camaraderie. "And the soldiers'?"

"Ready and eager," he asserts, looking past you to the open gates of his castle. Armoured men and women are moving out the doors, Dragon-Blooded satrap guards striding alongside mortal militia down into the city toward the gates. The gathering of an army, though logistically beyond you, is something you've always been fascinated by; the dry wood about to burst into flames; the excitement that spurs their hearts to beat faster. It makes you smile in the way you tend to when there's killing to be had.

"Then let's not keep them waiting." You break into a jog that becomes a run before you're out of the gates; as soon as you clear them, your wings are out and you're flying over the city to a roar of acclaim from the populace. It's the sort of thing Shadow would have you do, were he here; embolden them with the sight of the argent angel. Fists are raised skyward in triumphant reverence towards your splendour, accompanied by more exultant shouts. For good measure, you unsheathe your sword with a sound like breaking thunder and flourish it, holding it so it catches the sun just right, before wheeling East to join the soldiers of Wild Light. The distant sky shimmers, promising Wyld adversity soon to come.

You can hardly wait.

>Wait for Iron Reed and his entourage on the ground
>Keep flying overhead
>[Write In]

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>>4130206
>What do we say to the God of Dead Quests?

>>4130213
>Keep flying overhead
You have the ground, and I have the skies.

>>4130213
>keep flying, the sky is your domain

Welcome back Helvegen, you had me worried for a bit.

>>4130213
>Keep flying overhead

>>4130213
>Keep flying overhead

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>>4130213
>Keep flying overhead
>Spears shall be braken, Shields shall be splintered! A sword day! A red day! Ere the sun rises!
I missed you, glad you're back

>>4130206
Hey. I remember you! That first thread slapped, why'd you suddenly lose players?

>>4132095
Everybody loves Tim. He has potential. But this guy? His schtick is fully formed. The stakes of his battle were explained in a bit of a rush. Anticipation is fuel for quests. Maybe QM needs more foreshadowing of what could befall Silver Raven or his home.

>>4130213
>Keep flying overhead
HE'S BACK

>>4133277

Hello! Thanks for your feedback. Honestly, I agree completely, and I was more than a little nervous about shifting the gears to this 'flashback' story in the Scavenger Lands for this very reason. It could definitely have been done a lot more gracefully.

My hope is that the course and ending of Silver Raven's story will add stakes (and some more nuance!) to Tim's in the present. I myself enjoy writing Tim more than Raven, and I'm eager to get back to him, but hopefully this bit isn't outright terrible.

If it IS, please let me know. A quest is supposed to be, at the very least, entertaining, and I need to know if I've gotta step my game up or if the current direction isn't working.

Will post later tonight.

>>4133674
Silver raven is cool and all but I would limit it to maybe one of the four satraps and the final battle so we get an idea of what he is like, what his powers are, what enemies he faced, and what the stakes were before getting back to Tim. Flashbacks are good for building dramatic tension and lore but can kill the urgency of the quest if they go too long. This is just a suggestion and I’m not a professional writer or anything like that tho, so you keep doing you man and I will keep reading.

>>4130221
>>4130248
>>4130855
>>4131264
>>4131868
>>4133638

>Keep flying overhead.

The wind blasts through your wings, doing nothing to prevent your soaring onward over the great forest in which ppen battle is to be joined once and for all. The ranks of Glowing Leaves stretch out below you, rows upon rows of iron-hearted soldiers prepared to deliver your justice. Well, their justice, but it's really yours. You've given them the opportunity to have a stab at it, after all. If victory is won today, it will have been almost entirely of your making. Looking down upon them, you can hardly recall that you were mortal once - and those would be memories that you'd sooner forget were they not so instrumental in fostering your flame of hatred.

So caught up in these musings are you that the sudden changing of the wind nearly slips your notice. You look up and squint, honing your vision to surpass that of an eagle, and spy a flock of what appear to be frightened wind gods whirling through the air towards you. They are still far away enough that you wouldn't be able to see them without your power, but their frenzied flight makes you suspicious. Are they escaping a raksha? An exalt? Or perhaps another god?

The snap of titanic jaws around the terrified divinities answers every question you might have had.

Suddenly you're not quite as sure of yourself as you were a moment ago. Your breath catches in your throat and your eyes widen, partly in astonishment, and partly at the rousing prospect of meeting a decent challenge at last. Somehow you doubt your mortal associates down below will be quite as sanguine as you are, but they probably deserve to know nonetheless. Folding your wings, you dive five hundred feet down to find Iron Reed issuing last-minute commands and encouragement to his soldiers. You're not subtle about your approach, the sound of your beating wings prompting him to turn to you.

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>>4133856

"Joining us Terrestrials on the ground, Lord Raven?" he asks, reaching back to draw from his quiver and signal the advance to begin.

"Not for long," you mutter gravely. "You have to get all the mortals out of the center line at once. File them off into the forest. These closed ranks are going to get them all killed."

"What?" His brows furrow in disbelief. "But that goes directly counter to plan. It would be exactly what they want us to do. They'll ensnare us with guerilla tactics and illusions if we don't stick together."

"We haven't got much of a choice," you inform him, your voice threatening to rise involuntarily given the urgency of the situation. "Iron Reed, they have a dragon."

His sun-bronzed face goes pale, the grip on his bow faltering for a moment. "...I don't suppose you mean a Dragon-Blood."

"You know what I mean. They wanted us to come out here, satrap. They expected me. That poor assassination attempt and city infiltration was a ploy to make us think we were on the edge of victory."

"But... the fae princeling! You killed their leader!"

"I killed a sacrifice designed to boost our egos and have you send your soldiers in full force, playing on the fact that my being here was already nudging you towards that decision. That princeling wanted the glory of killing me, and they were given the chance to get it by someone who wanted me specifically dead - and if not, for this to be the result of my survival. Why didn't they send assassins after you and your generals as well, targeting only the newcomer? Someone wanted things to finish here from the moment they knew I was in Wild Light - not to mention, it all smacks of discipline, and the faerie are dreadful at sticking to plans. I doubt this series of events was conceived by a raksha."

Your eyes narrow dangerously, gazing off through the trees. You can feel it now - a massive power rumbling through the earth, heralding the arrival of one of the most fearsome creatures in Creation.

>Have Iron Reed stay to lead his soldiers to safety while you battle the dragon on your own.
>Assume a bestial shape and challenge the dragon with Iron Reed on your back.

>>4133862
>Assume a bestial shape and challenge the dragon with Iron Reed on your back.
Is this the beginning of Creation's highest-rated buddy cop show?

>>4133862
>Have Iron Reed stay to lead his soldiers to safety while you battle the dragon on your own.
Raven hogging the spotlight again kek

>>4133862
>Have Iron Reed stay to lead his soldiers to safety while you battle the dragon on your own.
Let’s buy them time

>>4133862
>Have Iron Reed stay to lead his soldiers to safety while you battle the dragon on your own.

A good lesson for Tim: always expect the other shoe to drop.

>>4134561
>A good lesson for Tim: always expect the other shoe to drop.
What does this even mean ?

>>4133862
>Have Iron Reed stay to lead his soldiers to safety while you battle the dragon on your own.

>>4134578
Paranoia is power

>>4134080
>>4134094
>>4134561
>>4134643

>Have Iron Reed stay to lead his soldiers to safety while you battle the dragon on your own.

"Listen close, satrap - we've got moments to pull this off." You speak quickly, clipping the ends of your sentences as you stare down the doom approaching through the forest. "Let's turn the game on its head. They want me? They'll have me. I'll dance with the dragon while you command your soldiers out of the woods."

"The fae illusions will be easier to see through on open ground," he agrees, and at once turns to address his generals. New orders spread through the forces of Wild Light, who, to their credit, respond immediately and begin a measured withdrawal, spreading out through the trees as the laughter begins. It's gentle and melodic at first, like a choir of glass bells chiming through the leaves, but steadily loses its charm, descending into a maniacal cacophony that reveals the true nature of its utterers. Subhuman parasites come to gnaw at the edges of the world and claim what rightfully belongs to you.

You are Lunar Exalted, a master of the world in a way other exalts could only dream of. These creatures are so far beneath you as to have descended beyond contempt. Their shapes race past you, murderous and fleeting, intent on those behind you. The battle on the ground is up to the heroes of Glowing Leaves, now; your opponent is ahead.

At the centre of this great forest, there is an immense tree, formed from a fused cluster of the mightiest of its kind brethren. Standing several hundred feet high, it has perhaps borne witness to the glories of the First Age, its boughs reaching heavenward like a supplicant to the gods in Yu-Shan. Rooted here for centuries at least, it has served as a symbol of eternal hope to the people of Wild Light, paths of phosphorescent fungus along its arms glowing at night as if to guide the way of those it watches over.

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>>4137499
Knowing this, you watch with the same sense of inevitability as witnessing a wayward carriage crash into a fruit stand, as the arboreal lord of the forest is uncrowned by an explosion of flame whose heat you feel from a mile away. It'd be awful to see if you cared about such things; your only concern is with the cause of its demise.

Emerging in hellish splendour from the cloud of cinders that remains is a truly monstrous beast, a nightmare of burning fangs, ruby scales, and wings that cover the sky like sails aflame. They bear its serpentine form aloft, defying gravity as easily as if it weighed nothing at all, and the roar it lets out tears nearby trees from the earth.

"Finally," you mutter, flipping your sword into a reverse grip. "Some good fucking prey."

There is an incredible, euphoric moment before battle is joined against an impossible foe - and it is, quite, impossible. Fighting a dragon, of any kind, is the virtual equivalent of battling a natural disaster. To challenge a fire dragon with a sword ought to be tantamount to stabbing an erupting volcano and expecting it to stop.

Nevertheless, you will stand in its way.

Your muscle mass triples. Another pair of wings rips out of your back. You grow three feet in height. Your hair bristles with silver feathers. The dragon's fire breath comes hurtling towards you like a meteorite, and you prepare to...

>Block it!
>Blitz it!
>[Write In]

>>4137500
>Blitz it!

>>4137500
>Blitz it!

>>4137500
>Blitz it!

>>4137500
>Blitz it!

>>4137581
>>4137621
>>4137655
>>4137762

>Blitz it!

Single Point Shining Into the Void Style is one of your favourite martial arts, just because of how brilliantly it lets you dispatch your enemies. The more ferociously they come after you, the harder your reversal of their aggression. Dragon-flame crashes through the trees, striking with physical weight that fire ought not have; were it not for the moonsilver adorning your raiment, you'd be standing naked before the onslaught. The heat inspires a savage grin to spring to your lips, and enlivens your spirit. With your body bolstered to its very limit, you sheathe your sword again, shift your stance, and then blast off like a rocket.

The sword comes shining forth in a perfect flash, drawn between seconds, and carves more deeply and cruelly than any mundane blade. The fire dragon howls in shock and fury as it is injured by a little bird man who is now blurring along its flank, sword arm extended as he drags out the wound to the very tip of its tail before racing on into the air. It's caught so off-guard that it crashes into the earth, its body dissipating into a sea of fire... that engulfs an entire retreating Talon, charring a hundred soldiers to death.

Whoops. No skin off your back, though. The cries of agony and horror from below are the symphony to which your awesome victory is being arranged, anyway. That, and the roaring of flames that is quickly turning into the roaring of a dragon.

From where you hang in the sky, your keen eyes pick out a shape dancing among the flames, a beautiful ornate staff spinning in their hand as they weave the fire to match their dreams. They are inured to the blaze, it seems, spinning and stepping as gracefully as the finest girls of Nexus. Yet the more you watch the way they move, the way they sing, and the shapes the flames are taking, the more sure your suspicion becomes.

That's no raksha.

The inferno begins to come together again, great columns of it spinning together like red-orange ropes. Before another wingbeat, it is a dragon again, erupting skywards to engulf you in its jaws. It is time, you decide, to be somewhere that isn't here. Your silvery blur vanishes into the monster's maw, but you've made good on your decision and are streaking away, with your enemy only a second behind you.

>Dive low into the trees. You might be able to confound it with your superior maneuverability and take it by surprise.
>Get a few yards on it before turning to face it head-on. You're not in the habit of fleeing from your enemies anyway.
>Lead it out across the open fields. When it turns to deal with the soldiers shooting arrows at it, you can double back and blindside it.

A/N: In case any of you have been wondering (or thought otherwise), I'll make this clear now: Silver Raven can, unlikely as it is, die during this part of the quest. His story being told retroactively doesn't mean he's invulnerable.

>>4141150
>Get a few yards on it before turning to face it head-on. You're not in the habit of fleeing from your enemies anyway.
That dragon's breath can cover a wide area, so maneuvering through the trees is useless -- detrimental, even, because the trees give us less room to move. The only way to stop it is to kill the controller of the fire, and that means going through or bypassing the dragon.

>>4141150
>Get a few yards on it before turning to face it head-on. You're not in the habit of fleeing from your enemies anyway.

>>4141150
>Get a few yards on it before turning to face it head-on. You're not in the habit of fleeing from your enemies anyway.

>>4141150
>>Get a few yards on it before turning to face it head-on. You're not in the habit of fleeing from your enemies anyway.

>>4141167
>>4141214
>>4141240
>>4142492
>Get a few yards on it before turning to face it head-on. You're not in the habit of fleeing from your enemies anyway.

This is a terrifically risky prospect. It'll be ready for you to blitz it again. You'll have to strain your essence considerably beyond your usual expenditures, but you came here expecting nothing less. What child of Luna would flee in earnest from foes worthy of their blade? Your panoply of wings all beats at once, slamming you to a halt in midair, and you spin to face your assailant. A storm from hell comes to devour all that you are, and by your pride as Exalted, you dash straight for it. Your sword cuts fire like flesh, slashes of impeccable skill cleaving the very air apart to grant you passage through the inferno. It regenerates behind you, using its own essence to refuel the preternatural furor that gives it life and form, but what's done is done. At last, you emerge from the dragon's opened back and smash your sword against the sorceress's staff. You're impressed when she isn't knocked off her feet.

She's come a long way from the mellow village girl you once knew.

"Hello, Blue," you snarl, eyes blazing with affront and amusement in equal parts.

"Stop this, Raven," is her answer, her voice a straining plea. "We can find another way."

"Stop WHAT?!" you roar, a flurry from your wings driving her to one knee. The dragon's back arcs and twists, trying to shake you off, but both of you retain your impeccable balance. Her lips move, but you miss what she's saying under the raging firestorm all around you. Her hand rises - at first, you think it's to shield her from your wrath, but her lips are still moving behind the hand. You heighten your hearing just in time to recognize the end of an incantation.

"You bi-"

A swarm of obsidian butterflies flows over her shoulders, seeking to engulf you and cut you to pieces with their razor-sharp wings. You have only a split second to react to the surprise attack, but your sword is already up and blurring around you, cutting apart the butterflies faster than they can attack. But you were forced to leap back in order to deal with the onslaught, giving the dragon the space it needed to strike. And as the last of the butterflies is cut down, it does just that.

A primordial force hits you far harder than a human body is intended to withstand. Not even your moonsilver plate can handle this level of destructive power. First comes the burning, devouring your armor; then, the pressure, tremendous, overwhelming, all-consuming to the point of cutting out the pain entirely. Blood boils from your eyes and ears even as your skin cooks. Your mighty war-form is the only thing that prevents you from dying at once, before you have the chance to push your physical defences to the maximum and begin to negate the horrific external damage you've sustained.

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>>4144055

Eventually, the pressure reaches its peak, and the firestorm bursts, sending you flying a mile through the air before crashing into the charred ruin of the great tree at the center of the forest. The impact comes as near as anything ever has to shattering your spine. When you fall, what's left of the tree falls with you. More specifically, it falls on top of you, burying you beneath several tons of still-burning wood.

On the very edge of unconsciousness, your regenerative faculties shove into overdrive, striving furiously to keep you from dying of shock and organ failure. Your punctured, roasted lungs are the first to heal, allowing you to try and fail to gasp a breath of air. There's nothing clean to breathe down here, so you're forced to go without air for several agonizing minutes. That damned Blue... if she hadn't been there-

You stop yourself from finishing the excuse. What's done is done. You made a tactical error and have suffered for it. Now you have to rise again, because as long as you're alive, this isn't over.

So, Cloaked in Deepest Blue is the architect of this faerie scheming? It's hard to think through the excruciating pain, all your speculations jumbled together in a burning pile, but once you're out of here, two and two will be put together one way or another. With your internal organs no longer in critical condition and your peeling skin beginning to grow back, you start to dig yourself out of this arboreal tomb. You push your physical stamina and resilience to their utmost limits to resist the weight on top of you, each sip of air you receive a precious treasure, until you feel hot air on your fist.

You burst free of the blackened wood mound, gasping for breath, dried blood running down your face and your body a mess of burns and blisters. "Retribution," you spit, made half-feral by the pain. "I will have my retribution." Once more, you expand your senses to hear screams and see fire - not from Iron Reed's soldiers, but from farther away. It then sinks in that, with you out of the way, there's very little to stop the fire dragon from burning Glowing Leaves and all its residents to ash beyond a paltry sorcerous barrier, already weakened by the fae incursion. And that's not all. Amidst the destruction in progress, you don't find the slightest hint of Blue's anima. The sorceress is gone.

>Hunt down Blue and demand answers. Your oath to Reed has already been technically fulfilled.
>Save Glowing Leaves from the dragon. That oath means nothing if everyone dies.
>[Write In]

>>4144056
>Save Glowing Leaves from the dragon. That oath means nothing if everyone dies.
Wait a moment, isn’t this Blue one of our allies like Shadow guy or I’ve mistaken the name since threads past

>>4144056
>Save Glowing Leaves from the dragon. That oath means nothing if everyone dies.
>>4144071
Blue was indeed one of our allies. If she's here, it could mean she came here on the orders of Shadow of Eagles.
What I'm confused about is what she said.

>>4144056
>Save Glowing Leaves from the dragon. That oath means nothing if everyone dies.
>>4144071
I think we're all as confused as you.

>>4144056
>Save Glowing Leaves from the dragon. That oath means nothing if everyone dies.

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>>4144071
>>4144079
>>4144218
>>4144277

Oh, there it is. In... your hand.

Clutched by trembling fingers, the weapon is raised high, the light of the forest fire shining off its enchanted blade spectacularly. You see yourself reflected there, the glorious angel of vengeance burned and battered into the shape of a monster. Regenerating skin is creeping around your face, leaving your nose, cheek and mouth bones exposed to the elements. With your visage set in this osseous grin, it is possible that this vision of horror is what your soul looks like, after being tempered in fires far darker than these from the day you could first feel resentment. The truth of who you are, your beautiful angel's facade burned away by... Cloaked in Deepest Blue.

Does she know?

Does she know the real reason you've come out here yourself instead of allowing Shadow to send some dutiful stooge?

Your newly-reformed knuckles whiten around the hilt of your sword at the thought. Blue conspiring against you, a filthy elemental parading its victory over you, and the possibility that all this preparation might have been for naught. Your rage needs a direction, and in the end, immediacy wins out. The dragon must die. Skeletal, bare-boned wings tear open the skin of your back as you force your transformation. In terms of raw essence, the dragon is a more powerful being than you; that's simple and dry-cut. Nevertheless, you will vanquish it.

With these wings of yours, you will rise above this impossible challenge. With this sword of yours, you will strike the volcano into silence.

The forest explodes when you take flight, your anima trailing behind you like a spear of manifest furor that cleaves the sky itself. When you strike mere seconds later, it almost cleaves the dragon as well. In a rather inglorious interruption of its incineration of Glowing Leaves' defenses, you smash into its back with all your strength and send the bastard creature flying over the walls. It crash-lands in the residential district, flattening a dozen houses with its impact, but you wouldn't care even if you weren't gripped by deicidal rage.

"YOU LIVE," it bellows, more in surprise than pain. "STUBBORN LITTLE BIRD, YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE RETURNED." Its default voice is an oppressive, infernal roar, a reminder of the true nature of these elder elementals. Dragons are, at their core, little more than vehicles of destruction.

Too choleric to conceive of a clever response, you howl something along the lines of "Fuck You" and lunge across the city for one little revenge on a long, long list. It rises to meet you - but this time, it doesn't have Blue on its back to help it.

>>4147801

"SHE SPOKE OF YOUR HATRED." Its voice is almost a weapon in and of itself, crashing around you in a torrent of heat and sound. Its claws burn through the air, seeking to rip the life from your bare chest. "OF WHAT YOU WOULD BRING UPON THIS GREAT LAND."

You say nothing, your teeth clenched in spite too bitter for words. Instead, you carve and slash and stab and tear with all the superhuman might in your body, intent solely on victory.

"YOU ARE NO WARRIOR, LITTLE BIRD." Its jaws snap shut in the space you occupied a fraction of a second ago. You cut several whiskers from its nose in retribution. "ONLY A RABID KILLER, EXALTED BY TERRIBLE ACCIDENT. YOURS IS NOT THE EVIL OF THE GREAT CURSE, BUT A PETTY, HUMAN EVIL. AN EVIL RESERVED FOR THE WEAKEST OF MEN."

Bereft of the words to answer, you put out one of its eyes. It nearly tears your face off for your trouble, but the pain simply does not register. You cut off its horns, and it bites off three wings. You land atop its head, already burning, and ram your blade through its mouth. Its claws tear off your remaining wings, leaving a bloody mess of protruding bones on your back, but you are already stabbing again, plunging the blade further each time, until the guard disappears into its flaming skull. Then you grow talons from your fingers, dig them into its head, and pull it open.

You are already falling by the time it registers that you've killed it.

It's almost funny to you when you end up impaled through the stomach on a wind vane. If that isn't Yu-Shan itself flipping you off, you're not sure what is. But no matter. As the frantic citizens arrive to fight the fires sprung from the elemental's passing, you lie there, listening to the world turn. It's almost, almost enough to bring peace to your infected soul. But, as always, desire wins.

It feels like hours pass before you finally wrench yourself free of the vane. Part of it breaks off and sticks in your torso, and you're too tired and hurt to take it out. That's how you find Iron Reed on the field outside his city, watching the whole thing go up in smoke. His face is a mask of ragged devastation as you stumble towards him.

"My people..." he gasps, his armour hanging battered and loose from fierce fighting against the faeries. He won, apparently, given that he and several hundred of his soldiers are still alive. "My city..."

"Can be rebuilt."

>>4147805

He looks at you in horror. No doubt he sees it too, now: the beast clad in angel feathers. It's in your eyes that it shines the darkest, and he meets them now to behold you in all your twisted glory. You aren't sure when the righteous peasant boy died and the vengeful monster was born. Perhaps it was always you.

"We had a deal, Satrap," you hiss, unable to speak in any other way given the damage to your lungs. They rattle as you breathe, contributing to your air of shattered grace. "You will put out these fires and take your Talon West to help Shadow of Eagles. You swore."

"How did this happen?" he whispers, the reflection of the fire behind you dancing hellishly in his eyes. "You said you were here to save us."

"'Iron Reed'," you mock, "one who does not bend even in the foulest storm. That's what your name means, doesn't it? Live up to it, Terrestrial." Electing to omit that the only reason the faeries had a dragon to begin with was because of your being here, you turn away, already trying to trace the route of Blue's departure, the lives of those behind you already beneath your concern. "And be thankful that you still have a soul to mourn with."

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>>4147810

Hello, Everyone! Thanks for still being here with me on this journey. It's taken a turn for the mythical, but I'm glad you're all bearing with me as we follow Silver Raven on his journey through the Scavenger Lands. Since he's the subject of such lengthy focus, I think he's owed a bit of an outline, much like I provided for Tim way back in Thread #1. It's possible that some of you may have figured out why he and these events are so important to Tim in the modern-day World of Darkness; after all, if the only thing Tim needed out of this history book was the list of cool powers he could learn to use, he could just read that chapter and be done with it. I'd like to hear your speculations, just to see if anyone's seized on it.

Raven is the bad guy. Well, historical records don't really have 'bad guys' in the same sense that fiction does, but Raven's about as close to a villain as this story has. His ideals, especially regarding other people, are pretty much polar opposites of Tim's. He has little to no regard for the lives of others, basing everything on a system of values that always loops back to his frenzied obsession with getting revenge on the Realm. Granted, the Realm is a corrupt and oppressive empire, but Raven's means aren't always, or even usually, justified by his end.

Brave? Stupid? Whatever. Raven is able to recognize when other beings are dangerous, or even more powerful than he is, but he doesn't care. If his rage ends up driving him to it, he will fight anything in Creation - and with his strength and grit, probably come out on top. He knows how to use his combat powers to their absolute maximum effectiveness, and derives immense enjoyment and satisfaction in doing so. A total spotlight hog, he will flex his might anytime, anywhere, to anyone. While not devoid of subtlety, as shown by his manipulation of the raksha courtesans, any semblance of it goes out the window as soon as his intimacy of REVENGE gets pushed on. Many of his options, in combat and dialogue both, were quite bullheaded and foolish, so props to you guys for mostly choosing the 'smarter' ones.

Raven can still lose. That last fight against the dragon was a nail-biter for me. It had a hard time hitting him at first, but when it did thanks to Blue's obsidian butterflies, it smashed his health levels and gave him lasting penalties that resulted in a very close finish. He won't be in that much danger again for a while, but stacking penalties can extend even out of combat to make normally easy or average challenges much harder. That said, a proper combat-monster Lunar like Raven can hang in even through the toughest of situations, whatever they may be. Hard as nails, but, you know. Not invincible.

>Follow Blue and demand answers.
>Go South. Satrap is a haughty courtier. Speaks of prosperous unity.
>Go West. Satrap is a shrewd banker. Playing cards close to their chest.

>>4147813
Thanks for explaining and it actually surprised we chose the smartly more times
>Follow Blue and demand answers.
Dealing with treachery comes first since it will fuck if anything we do after here

>>4147813
>Follow Blue and demand answers.

>>4147813
>Follow Blue and demand answers
I'll admit I don't know "why he and these events are so important to Tim in the modern-day World of Darkness," but I will say that I'd like to wrap it up as quickly as possible so we can get back to Tim.

>>4147813
>why he and these events are so important to Tim in the modern-day World of Darkness
I feel like it has something to do with Raven being the voice in Tim's head
>Follow Blue and demand answers.
Traitor? Getting in the way of Raven's glorious REVENGE?

>>4147813
>Follow Blue and demand answers.
>>4148767
>>4152527
It might be that Tim inherited his exaltation.

>>4152552

:)

>>4154131
Update soon ?

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>>4154148

>Follow Blue and demand answers.

Your work here is beyond done. Without sparing another thought for Glowing Leaves, Wild Light, or Iron Reed, you grit your teeth and force your wings to accelerate their healing. It's a draining thing, to push your body so far in such little time, and after it has sustained such terrible damage. You might have reached your limit, but in the end, you do manage to heal yourself completely and take flight one more time.

The wind whips you harshly, as if damning you for your lack of care for the trail of destruction you leave behind you. It's a fortunate thing that you're stronger than the wind and all its stupid little gods, shouldering their ire aside and forging on through the sky.

Hours later, you land briefly in the mountains to the North of Wild Light, appalled to find yourself out of breath. Once more, rage boils in your blood; this time, you must suppress it, knowing that to spend your fury lashing out at nothing on this desolate peak will leave you vulnerable, and a nameless death out in the wild is the most shameful thing you could conceive of.

It's beginning to snow. It's indicative of two things: one - that winter is on its way, and two - that you've passed out of the Eastern satrapy and now sit upon the threshold of the Northern one. Its name, if memory serves, is Cergarid. [i]A name in the style of the dynasts,[/i] you think in rising distaste. They, of all people, are most emblematic of the Realm's effect on their subjects, and no one exudes their true nature quite as much as the reports from the North suggest this one does. To be a dynast is one thing; to be a cowardly and incompetent one is far worse. Oh, yes - you think you'll enjoy engaging with the 'diplomacy' that awaits you in the city of Hoarfrost.

Speaking of hoarfrost, there's some on your wings. It is bloody cold up here, now that you think about it. For the sake of warmth, you become a white tiger, your Lunar tattoos manifesting in place of stripes, and lie down in the snow, now giving a proper thought to the matter of Cloaked in Deepest Blue having come against you.

>>4154169

Blue and you were never truly on good terms. She always lacked the drive that carried you to the heights of power and daring that characterize your work these days, always emphasizing measurement and caution. Of course Shadow of Eagles treasured that, as her aid proved invaluable many times, but with the position Shadow now holds at Great Forks and the matters to come, she could only have one conceivable use.

What a shame, you think with a smirk. If Shadow of Eagles made a mistake, it was to send you out here instead of Blue - or, indeed, any of the more socially-inclined Dragon-Blooded now under his command. But he trusted you with this. And Blue, it seems, has figured out what you intend to happen when Lookshy and Great Forks collide. She's revealed her hand too soon, though, and now you've cornered her in this bleak place. Like that faerie princeling said, a cornered lion fights hardest of all; whether the same is true of a trapped bluebird, you are quite eager to discover.

There's also the matter of the Satrap. Tepet Lagen was not posted out here in the middle of nowhere for no reason. A dynast - but a failure of one, thinking only of saving his own skin and lining his own pockets, at the expense of anything or anyone else. It surprises you genuinely that he has not fled Cergarid in search of literally greener pastures, especially under the pressure of an undead incursion. You'll know the truth of the matter soon enough.

And besides, you suspect that the matter of Blue and Lagen will end up intertwined. After all, where else is she going to hide?

>Arrive in Hoarfrost incognito. You might be able to get the drop on Blue, and you were never going to deal conventionally with Tepet Lagen anyway.
>Get there sword flashing and make your demands in your typical fashion. Terrify the Satrap into ousting Blue for you, and then deal with him.
>[Write In]

>>4154171
>Arrive in Hoarfrost incognito. You might be able to get the drop on Blue, and you were never going to deal conventionally with Tepet Lagen anyway.
One does not underestimate a mage

>>4154171
>Arrive in Hoarfrost incognito. You might be able to get the drop on Blue, and you were never going to deal conventionally with Tepet Lagen anyway.

>>4154171
>Arrive in Hoarfrost incognito. You might be able to get the drop on Blue, and you were never going to deal conventionally with Tepet Lagen anyway.

>>4154171
>Arrive in Hoarfrost incognito. You might be able to get the drop on Blue, and you were never going to deal conventionally with Tepet Lagen anyway.
Also;
>what you intend to happen when Lookshy and Great Forks collide
What does Raven intend to happen?

>>4154459
>What does Raven intend to happen?
He wants to crash the Realm... with no survivors.

>>4154171
>Arrive in Hoarfrost incognito. You might be able to get the drop on Blue, and you were never going to deal conventionally with Tepet Lagen anyway.
What's Raven's recovery time in terms of essence or whatever magic bs that's keeping him alive? Does he have to recharge or something?

OP, where are you man ? Please don't tell me you got the virus

Hello, everyone! Sorry about the wait. I was feeling under the weather yesterday and got pretty concerned, but I'm already feeling better. On top of that, I'm getting all my essays out of the way so I can work on my final exams. The dream would be to write this every day, but my current situation doesn't allow the kind of dedication I had in the earlier threads. That said, update tonight!

>>4161625
alright, waiting warmly

>>4154175
>>4154262
>>4154269
>>4154459
>>4155871

>Arrive in Hoarfrost incognito.

A bit of Lunar trickery never hurt, except for the ones on the short end of it. The hours go by, the sky darkens until the moon reaches its vertex, and you have regained a satisfactory amount of essence. How much did you heal in that time? You feel about your body for damage, and note that, while still scratched up and bruised black and blue, your internal damage is all but healed. When you try and walk, however, you find to your intense disgust that you've got a limp. Physical weakness has always inspired scorn in you; it's no different aimed at yourself.

But it does give you an idea.

You transform into your totem form: a raven whose feather-tips are silver as the moon's glow. From the mountain's peak, you soar downwards, deciding not to battle the wind this time and to be a bit more conservative with your strength. Much as you are loath to admit it, Blue is a formidable opponent at her worst, and is at least your equal in the realm of wits. What you've got going for you is tremendous fighting ability and physical prowess, which she makes up the difference for with her sorcery. But if she could teleport, she would've already done so, and to your knowledge, there are no Celestial sorcerers in Hoarfrost. To run further North would be pointless, since you'll just catch up to her eventually. She knows she can't outrun you back to Great Forks. So instead, she's chosen deception, hiding out here and hoping to outwit you.

You'll not underestimate your foe this time. Your guard is up, and you've got Luna-given tricks of your own. Generously borne by the wind down to to the foothills of the Cergarid mountains, you find what you're looking for: a linden tree, young and supple, growing alone on a hilltop. You land in its shadow, and terrify a pesky weasel when you, its snack-to-be, transform into a human. Using your sword, you hack off one of the tree's limbs and get to work carving it into a walking stick. It doesn't take you long; it only needs to be convincing enough to appear as a walking stick, not optimally functional as one.

>>4162619

With your limp as inspiration, you take the shape of the Immaculate monk you killed before meeting Shadow of Eagles in Great Forks. Without his anima flux, he appears simply as an elderly gentleman, long-bearded and bushy-browed. He wore a padded robe whose blue colour matched his aspect of water, with no armour over top of it, and a conical hat shadowed his face. With your hastily-carved walking stick in hand, you deem yourself ready to make your entrance.

Hoarfrost isn't far as the Lunar runs, but once you're within sight of the walls, it behooves you to slow down and begin playing the part of an unassuming old man in earnest. Now you advance towards the gates of Tepet Lagen's city with agonizing slowness. Even pretending to be physically unfit grates on your patience; you'd like to find Blue and deal with Lagen in short order.

There are guards at the gate; four of them, and even from a quarter of a mile away, you can tell that not one of them is Exalted. Which begs the question - if the Terrestrials aren't here guarding the gates from undead, where are they? Surely they can't all be as cowardly as their satrap. As these questions run through your head, you are greeted by their leader from atop the wall.

"Hail, traveler!" she calls in a less-than-confident voice. She looks and sounds shaky, her eyelids dark from lack of sleep. Either she's had one hell of a tiring day, or she's been guarding these walls for an unreasonable number of hours. "What brings you to Hoarfrost?"

>[What's Raven's cover story?]

>>4162622
>An once apprentice of mine came here shortly after finishing his training with me. I've decided to pay him a visit as a former mentor.

>>4162637
Apprentice of trading or something hopefully. I don't think even appearing as a martial arts master would help Raven's disguise.

>>4162622
>>4162637
>>4162650
Yeah, this. We were someone's mentor in the merchant business.