The Failures of Guardians

[Gone 869]

As they had before thousands of papers begin to rain from above, their parchment is nothing fancy nor is the writing yet the message is still clear. Should you pick one up it reads: 

 

 

 

The Failures of Guardians

 

I write this as a woman grieving, knowing my child will never again see the father she barely knew. Azoth Hawksong is dead. Those words hurt me to the core but I must write them over and over again. They will try to shift the blame away from themselves, they already proved such to me, but the Ascended are responsible for Azoth’s death along with nearly killing an innocent to defend one of the dark. 

 

Azoth was in the Fenn lands when I found him and our daughter sitting together. I wanted to enter and join but he told me to run… I am both glad and horrified now that I did not listen to him. I stayed nearby and listened as the Ascended known as Blundermore arrived shortly after. He began to use our child against Azoth, claiming that all sorts of harm would come to her if Azoth did not hand himself over. By this time my waiting outside had drawn in a small crowd and as I heard a mention of our daughter being put to bed I started trying to break in. The door proved too strong (Fenn architects have damn good lumber apparently) and thus I went to a window where I saw Azoth start to run back up the stairs. I broke said window to drag myself in and follow as Blundermore began pursuit. My little one was found thankfully. At this point however the chase had moved outside using an open balcony and one of the observers below mentioned assisting Azoth in getting away. Thus the chase was added to with each member having their own reasoning for joining in. As Azoth fled he went into what I assume was the Fenn church where one of the higher floors held a large library. It was here that Blundermore noticed the pursuit behind him and in an attempt to prevent Azoth from having aid he blocked the stairwell with massive bookshelves, raining splinters and books upon those of us below. By the time we got past the blockade the fight had moved to the uppermost level of the tower and I stayed one floor below with my daughter to assure she would not be harmed in any crossfire. I looked out a nearby window just in time to see Azoth fall onto the ledge there. Horrified I rushed forth, telling him to be careful, but was too late. As he tried to lift himself up he slipped and fell from the height. When I made my way to the ground to see I found his body broken and blood painting the stones of the road. 

 

One would think surely the day could not get worse at this point but as I returned to the Fenn church I found that Blundermore and two others remained, a male and a young girl. The male is rather commonly known among druids as Jackal and he held a sword to the young girl while trying to make a deal with Blundermore. Jackal had heard that the Ascended order was protecting one of the women known as Frost Witches and thusly wanted her to be handed over. His deal was simple, the young girl for the Frost Witch, and the exchange would be made at the Ashen Grove. I was brought along as well to witness what would occur and what I saw was a horror. The Ascended did indeed gather but missing from their ranks was anyone that would appear to be the Frost Witch in question. Jackal noticed that one male of the Ascended group seemed to be a bit defensive and thusly accused this Belestram of being the one sleeping with the Frost Witch. I was too far back to hear most of what was said but I did know that Jackal had set things up so that if the Ascended attacked him, if they chose to defend the Frost Witch, that the girl he had hostage would die. If they gave her up however the girl would be released with no harm done other than being frightened.

 

As Jackal had expected the Ascended chose to defend the Frost Witch.

 

Heial himself shot an arrow at Jackal which set the pain into motion for the girl as a creature upon her back started to eat her alive. The rest of the Ascended rushing forth were able to put an end to Jackal and heal the girl thus saving her life but the fact that they put her through unneeded pain for a cursed woman…

Jackal stated he wanted the Frost Witch because he knew how to cure her but apparently the Ascended didn’t want to risk losing her based on their actions. 

 

Adding insult to injury I then had to listen to the Ascended demand that word be spread “spooks” were involved in Azoth’s death. That they were going to shift any and all blame from themselves to others. These actions scream of the corruption Azoth was hunted and then killed for speaking of. I know that I alone cannot do much… But I pray that someone will find one of these notes and listen. Azoth was a good man and Claire did not need to suffer just for a 'holy' order to keep their cursed maneater.

[ToodIes 1575]

"I thought only dark mages had token frost witch wives..." muses Revion. 

[zaezae 1098]

"Haven't you noticed that these people are just as bad as these filthy spooks? I heard they even burn children alive." Yet another woman who would appear as a stranger for all!

[mitto 2312]

"I'm beginning to doubt their divine judgement." Valor would mumble to himself.

[GDPR 014 48]

6 minutes ago, Toodles78 said:

"I thought only dark mages had token frost witch wives..." muses Revion. 

0

 

"Seems we're the odd ones out, eh brother?" The dreadlord sighs. "Good, that. I wouldn't have a Beautiful and  AMAZING  wife as I do now!"

 

[Bircalin 332]

"This coming from the woman who has spent more nights with married men than their own wives knowingly, who resorted to cannibalism, who would stab at the minds of innocents, who wed the leader of the Izkuthii after she had been with a serial killer beforehand and defected from the light herself. Curious." He thought.

[trinn 5146]

15 minutes ago, ArcanicFable said:

"Seems we're the odd ones out, eh brother?" The dreadlord sighs. "Good, that. I wouldn't have a Beautiful and  AMAZING  wife as I do now!"

 

0

 

 

Adeline sneezes somewhere in the distance. 

 

 

 

Lys taps her fingers upon the ice-carved chair repeatedly, the Frost Witch frowning in an evidently sour manner. She shifts in discomfort more than once, brows furrowing as she further reads the paper. "That petulant girl should really stop sitting on the lap of an ascended. It's going to cause us problems." 

[Clayphish 149]

Opal facepalms so hard she loses a few plant braincells. "You people do realize that Azoth used to jump off Arcadia and other tall places for fun and land safely at the bottom, right? I have zero doubt in my mind that Azoth is alive and most of this letter is faked given that Azoth is hiding from us. I am not fooled one bit, and neither should you be.

As for the Jackal, he's long been known for causing unneeded drama and taking hostages that never make it out alive. Shooting arrows at him seems like the best course of action when it comes to a being like him.

Lastly, I remind everyone that the writer of this leaflet is someone who was trying to hide Azoth originally, so the lie that he is dead shouldn't be surprising.

Have a good afternoon."

[Blundermore 2741]

                                              

 

The old wizard hears a lot of Hot air coming in through the window of his study lately. The sound of smugness filling the air to a degree that is almost intoxicating as the room began to heat up with the sheer amount polluting the air. Wandering over he would look out of the windows before shutting it. Suddenly the smugness fades, and hot air once more becomes cool...

 

"A lot of opinionated thoughts on the wind today..."

 

He says before turning to head back to his study.

[Sky 0]

"Frost witches bedding Ascended, nothing surprising but what is, is the fact that the old man left the grove for once... Swear he's always about, never seen him talk to anyone though... Just, is there." comments Toren.

[Avacyn 1712]

After having left the course, a weedy thing sits alone on a riverbank, starting to cast the individual blossoms from a bouquet of dying wildflowers into the rime-edged stream.
 

"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray,
love, remember: and there is pansies. that's for thoughts."

[Aelu / Rel (Combustionary) 1540]

"Jackal, rouse what other units you can find. Bring them to the isle."

 

Ac'Aelu says to his golem, after reading the flier. 

 

"Ensure they are charged and combat-ready. It's time for a hunt."

 

 

[L0rdLawyer 2272]

'Greed' shrugs as he cleans his crossbow, waiting for the first side to send him a bird so he can get to work. 

[Ford 1996]

Veidan remained in the wild as he was going up against his most difficult task yet. Though somewhat out of it from the after-effects of night sap, he could still make out the words on the page. He had no idea what it was talking about, or what was really going on.

 

But at least now he had something other than leaves to wipe with.

[SodaiKamikaze 652]

"Very concerning.." Brelynnis muses.