HOME | DD

Description
Megil lead Julian and his horse right up to the front gate. He had yet to see inside the palisade walls for they were quickly stopped. A small section at about head height slid open revealing a square peep hole just large enough for a male Nephil, who was rather well toned, to stick he’s head out.
“Megil?!? What’s with the human? You know we’re not supposed to bring outsiders here…” from what Julian could see the Nephil was big, for their kind anyway. His view was cut off at the neck however Julian imagined he carried a large sword to defend himself if need be.
“It’s ok, he wants to know of the Mori-Mongers, he’s trustworthy” The large Nephil looked Julian over then sneered.
“How can we be sure, he rides other animals like they are subservient, existing only for his whims.” Julian realized with a shock that they didn’t approve of his horse, he didn’t want to say anything to offend anyone but he immediately felt like he had to defend his honor.
“Sir I treat Arauka well, feed her, brush her and only ride her hard when our lives depend on it, but prove to me she would rather be free in these cursed lands to fend for herself and I’ll gladly take off her reigns and let it be so.” Julian kept his head high and his gaze steady, the large Nephil narrowed his eyes and held his gaze, it might have turned into some silly test of manhood to see who would look away first had Megil not interrupted and regained the doorman’s attention.
“He’s trustworthy, he helped me kill 5 Mori-Mongers, his sword cut their armor like it was paper.” The doorman looked at Julian with different eyes, sizing him up as if the truth lied somewhere tattooed to his body. Julian wasn’t sure how killing Mori-Mongers proved he was trustworthy. He never found them particularly challenging and their armor had always been weak, if they were impressed by skill he could probably buy his way in with a few tricks he’d picked up over the years.
“Ok he may enter, but remember you brought him here, he screws up you pay for it” Me made a signal, and a small door of average height cut into the double doors that made up the tribes entry swung open.
“Thanks fitz” Megil said through the small opening as it closed, Julian quickly followed Megil through the doorway where he was greeted with the rest of the doorman, Julian had guessed right when he assumed the large Nephil carried a sword, however he hadn’t expected it to be as large as it was, it was about half as tall as Julian and had a wicked curve to which Julian did not want to see the business end.
“Don’t worry about it Megil, just remember what I said” Julian found himself unexpectedly annoyed for some reason the first thought to flash through his mind was ’Does everyone get to call her Megil but me?’ he quickly shook the thoughts out of his head, it was a silly thing to get worked up over and Megil had already continued towards the center of the tribe.
The tribe itself seemed more like a small village than a tribe, there were a few dozen buildings all neatly lined up with order, obviously a well thought out construction, there were two slightly larger buildings, one of which wasn’t far off the center, as Julian and Megil passed it by a small Nephil was tossed out the window, from what Julian could tell it was a bar of some sort, the small Nephil had obviously caused some kind of trouble and been kicked out. The Nephil landed on all fours and did a small roll before landing on his feet and hissing at the window. Julian watched him as he scampered away.
“Julian, don’t worry about them by now Elder-Noldo will know of our approach and be expecting us so lets not keep him waiting.” Julian was going to ask how the elder could know but Megil kept going and he risked being left behind. He assumed Kelbourn would have told them.
As they approached the center of the tribe the second of the larger buildings loomed before them, it wasn’t a double story building but it was 3 times taller than Julian and had some sort of symbol planted on it’s apex. Julian took a moment to puzzle over it, it looked like a circle with a feline shaped iris in the middle, an eye of some sort, presumably some sort of religious symbol. Julian looked back at Megil but she’d disappeared inside the building and Julian had to quickly jog to catch back up.

Inside it was fairly well decorated and spacious, rows of benches, like a church, lined the floor before a large podium with extra stage space in case more people room was needed. Julian imagined this hall would also be used as a sort of public theater should a show be put together, however in these dark times he doubted there were many of those.
Standing before the podium carefully reading some sort of scripture was an old, frail looking Nephil who he assumed was Elder-Noldo. As they entered he looked up at them and despite the whole length of the hall between them Julian felt his milky white eyes piercing his body with his gaze. There was certainly something mystical about the Nephil he didn’t need the gift of magic to tell that. The elder gave a good-natured smile and motioned for Megil to come closer.
“Ah, Megil my child, so good it is to see you again, you’re outside the walls that protect us so often I barely get to see you, I do worry about you my dear” Megil approached the elder and bowed her head slightly out of respect before replying.
“You honor me Elder-Noldo, I appreciate your concern but someone has to do it” The elder spoke to Megil like she was a long time friend yet Julian noticed Megil held him in the highest respect talking to him like one would a leader, although that’s what the elder was Julian supposed.
“Nonsense child, you’re taking the working hours of two Adu-scouts, you really mustn’t push yourself too hard child you’ll burn yourself out” Megil just seem to nod in acceptance of his words but didn’t say anything, instead Noldo turned to Julian and gave a smile.
“Ah Julian, I’ve been watching your journeys as you got closer to our lands, I was so hoping you wouldn’t have to fight through the Mori-Mongers but I suppose it did win you Megil’s trust quicker otherwise we might not be having this conversation.” Julian looked at him confused, how could he have watched him, he glanced at Megil but she offered no answers. Noldo further shocked him by putting an arm around his shoulder like he would with an old friend of relative.
“And I am so sorry about your father, taken from you while you were so young too, it’s a shame” Julian’s temper flared for an instant but it was soon replaced with confusion as he realized he hadn’t even told Megil about that.
“How did you…” Again he glanced at Megil for answers but she was just looking at him funny. Noldo, with his arm still around Julian’s shoulder, started leading him back towards the podium.
“Forgive me for bringing up that old memory but things would go so much smoother if you have an open mind, this was just my way of oiling the doors if you will, besides it’s not healthy to keep these things locked away, they lead to all sorts of social problems and bad dreams” As they got to the podium Noldo turned him towards a small door leading to a room he hadn’t noticed before. At this point Julian had been shocked to his core and would have let Noldo lead him to the ends of the earth, as it was he just lead him to the small room which had been tacked away in the back of the hall.
The room was barely big enough to fit a sleeping pad, it was around the size of a prison cell yet was a completely different attire, the walls and floor were completely covered in fur hides, the same kind that made up Megil’s clothing. It gave the room a dark, humid air that Julian felt a little uncomfortable in. He was seated on a small stool and the door was closed behind him. At this point he got over his shock and managed to find his voice again.
“How did you know all those things N- err… Elder-Noldo?” Elder-Noldo took a seat on the stool just across from him, between them a large shallow bowl of water sat still as glass. Noldo just looked up at him.
“Hmmm? Oh that, don’t worry about that one doesn’t get to a seer of my age without picking up these tricks” Noldo pulled out a small bag filled with what Julian judged to be some kind of coloured dust.
“Now… onto the reason you’re here…” Noldo started sprinkling the coloured dusting into the shallow bowl and Julian was surprised to discover the water had somehow started swirling in it’s bowl, mixing the dust thoroughly through the water until it was entirely green.
“Tell me Julian… do you know what the Mori-Monger are?” Noldo was staring at him intently, his milky white eyes almost boring into him.
“Heh… can’t you just look around in here and get the answer yourself?” Julian motioned to his mind with his finger before his eyes dropped back to the bowl, Noldo sprinkled more dust into it and the water changed to the colour yellow.
“I could but I want to hear you tell me, besides if I always did that it would make conversation pointless and I do love having conversations” Again he sprinkled some dust and it changed to violet. It was intriguing, as far as Julian could tell Noldo got the dust from the same sack each time yet with every sprinkle the water changed colour.
“Well… no one knows what the Mori-Mongers are, they just sort of… appeared one day” Julian found himself entranced by the swirling colours, Noldo was pouring in dust faster and faster and soon the swirl was a rapidly shifting rainbow, not even Noldo’s voice broke Julian’s trance. Julian was vaguely aware that Noldo had stopped pouring dust in the bowl but it continued to change colour.
“I think you have an idea…” Julian could almost see an image appearing in the bowl.
“Besides, not everyone is oblivious as to what they are…” An image appeared in the swirling colours, a monk with shaved head and gray robes was walking along the road, he suddenly stopped as if aware that someone was watching him he looked around but upon not seeing anything shook his head and continued on his way.
“The Mori-Mongers are evil, pure hate and evil, they exist solely to destroy us…” Julian wasn’t sure where he was getting this information but as he spoke it he realized this was exactly what he believed, the image faded away back to swirling colours.
“Precisely my boy, every bad thought, every bad action or evil deed creates bad energy. Every time someone steals, lies or murders… especially murders… this bad energy forms, slowly this negative energy gathered in the place we call Morindor. Since the beginning of time it’s gathered until it became strong enough to form physical bodies… well as physical as they could get anyway” Another image started to form, this was of a dark twisted landscape, Morindor. Mori-Mongers roamed the lands and Julian let out a started gasp by how many he saw, it was almost an endless see of dark armor. If they all marched out against Qual they would be doomed.
The image faded away and was soon replaced by another image, Julian got the impression this image wasn’t a real image like the others, it wasn’t happening at this very moment it was more an enactment with Noldo as the puppeteer.
“You may have noticed your blade cut their armor like paper, and they’re combat prowess to be awkward and easily defeated however you might have also heard tales about them being undefeatable warriors with armor as indestructible as diamonds.” The image showed two identical looking men fighting two Mori-Mongers, the first man engaged a Mori-Monger in battle cutting it down easily while the second man fought hard yet was defeated by the Mori-Monger, wielding it’s weapon with an efficiency Julian had never seen before.
“These Mori-Mongers thrive of negative energy anyone who creates enough of this energy gets their spirit coated in it, the darker the spirit the more the Mori-Mongers thrive, that’s why you cut them down so easily while others find them unstoppable opponents.” Suddenly Megil’s words at the front gate about him killing Mori-Mongers made sense. The image faded away and Julian found himself staring at swirling colours again.
“Why are you telling me all this?” Julian managed to pull his eyes away from the swirling colours to look directly into Noldo’s milky eyes. From the corner of his eye he noticed the swirling colours were slowing down and fading slightly.
“Why…? because you have a clear, honest aura and the smell of destiny about you. You’re going to help save these lands one day I can feel it.” Julian was about to say something else when the colours and the swirling all came to a sudden stop, from the water a colourful puff of smoke clouded the small room. Julian let out a cough as he breathed some of it in, it was an unpleasant sensation, the dust filling the smoke settled in his throat and tickled it.
“What is this?” Julian blinked a few times and shook his head as Noldo was enveloped in a blue aura pulsing with power.
“Of don’t worry this is just a bit of backlash from the seer magic, it won’t harm you but you might start seeing things… it will pass in a moment” Julian stared at him a while before realizing he was looking at Noldo’s spirit and essence. There was a white cord of light leading from Noldo’s wrist up through the ceiling, Julian looked at his hand, he was covered in the same blue light, although not pulsing with power like Noldo. There was also a white cord of light leading from his wrist, however it snaked back towards the doorway where it entwined with a third white light coming in through the door, the third light was coming from the room where they had left Megil.
“What does it mean?” He asked, although he had an idea of what it meant.
“It means your fate is tied with Megil’s… it was no coincidence that she found you, or that you found her as the case may be. It also means I think you should stay here, as an official guest for a while. Julian didn’t say anything but he nodded his head in agreement.

Description
Megil lead Julian and his horse right up to the front gate. He had yet to see inside the palisade walls for they were quickly stopped. A small section at about head height slid open revealing a square peep hole just large enough for a male Nephil, who was rather well toned, to stick he’s head out.
“Megil?!? What’s with the human? You know we’re not supposed to bring outsiders here…” from what Julian could see the Nephil was big, for their kind anyway. His view was cut off at the neck however Julian imagined he carried a large sword to defend himself if need be.
“It’s ok, he wants to know of the Mori-Mongers, he’s trustworthy” The large Nephil looked Julian over then sneered.
“How can we be sure, he rides other animals like they are subservient, existing only for his whims.” Julian realized with a shock that they didn’t approve of his horse, he didn’t want to say anything to offend anyone but he immediately felt like he had to defend his honor.
“Sir I treat Arauka well, feed her, brush her and only ride her hard when our lives depend on it, but prove to me she would rather be free in these cursed lands to fend for herself and I’ll gladly take off her reigns and let it be so.” Julian kept his head high and his gaze steady, the large Nephil narrowed his eyes and held his gaze, it might have turned into some silly test of manhood to see who would look away first had Megil not interrupted and regained the doorman’s attention.
“He’s trustworthy, he helped me kill 5 Mori-Mongers, his sword cut their armor like it was paper.” The doorman looked at Julian with different eyes, sizing him up as if the truth lied somewhere tattooed to his body. Julian wasn’t sure how killing Mori-Mongers proved he was trustworthy. He never found them particularly challenging and their armor had always been weak, if they were impressed by skill he could probably buy his way in with a few tricks he’d picked up over the years.
“Ok he may enter, but remember you brought him here, he screws up you pay for it” Me made a signal, and a small door of average height cut into the double doors that made up the tribes entry swung open.
“Thanks fitz” Megil said through the small opening as it closed, Julian quickly followed Megil through the doorway where he was greeted with the rest of the doorman, Julian had guessed right when he assumed the large Nephil carried a sword, however he hadn’t expected it to be as large as it was, it was about half as tall as Julian and had a wicked curve to which Julian did not want to see the business end.
“Don’t worry about it Megil, just remember what I said” Julian found himself unexpectedly annoyed for some reason the first thought to flash through his mind was ’Does everyone get to call her Megil but me?’ he quickly shook the thoughts out of his head, it was a silly thing to get worked up over and Megil had already continued towards the center of the tribe.
The tribe itself seemed more like a small village than a tribe, there were a few dozen buildings all neatly lined up with order, obviously a well thought out construction, there were two slightly larger buildings, one of which wasn’t far off the center, as Julian and Megil passed it by a small Nephil was tossed out the window, from what Julian could tell it was a bar of some sort, the small Nephil had obviously caused some kind of trouble and been kicked out. The Nephil landed on all fours and did a small roll before landing on his feet and hissing at the window. Julian watched him as he scampered away.
“Julian, don’t worry about them by now Elder-Noldo will know of our approach and be expecting us so lets not keep him waiting.” Julian was going to ask how the elder could know but Megil kept going and he risked being left behind. He assumed Kelbourn would have told them.
As they approached the center of the tribe the second of the larger buildings loomed before them, it wasn’t a double story building but it was 3 times taller than Julian and had some sort of symbol planted on it’s apex. Julian took a moment to puzzle over it, it looked like a circle with a feline shaped iris in the middle, an eye of some sort, presumably some sort of religious symbol. Julian looked back at Megil but she’d disappeared inside the building and Julian had to quickly jog to catch back up.

Inside it was fairly well decorated and spacious, rows of benches, like a church, lined the floor before a large podium with extra stage space in case more people room was needed. Julian imagined this hall would also be used as a sort of public theater should a show be put together, however in these dark times he doubted there were many of those.
Standing before the podium carefully reading some sort of scripture was an old, frail looking Nephil who he assumed was Elder-Noldo. As they entered he looked up at them and despite the whole length of the hall between them Julian felt his milky white eyes piercing his body with his gaze. There was certainly something mystical about the Nephil he didn’t need the gift of magic to tell that. The elder gave a good-natured smile and motioned for Megil to come closer.
“Ah, Megil my child, so good it is to see you again, you’re outside the walls that protect us so often I barely get to see you, I do worry about you my dear” Megil approached the elder and bowed her head slightly out of respect before replying.
“You honor me Elder-Noldo, I appreciate your concern but someone has to do it” The elder spoke to Megil like she was a long time friend yet Julian noticed Megil held him in the highest respect talking to him like one would a leader, although that’s what the elder was Julian supposed.
“Nonsense child, you’re taking the working hours of two Adu-scouts, you really mustn’t push yourself too hard child you’ll burn yourself out” Megil just seem to nod in acceptance of his words but didn’t say anything, instead Noldo turned to Julian and gave a smile.
“Ah Julian, I’ve been watching your journeys as you got closer to our lands, I was so hoping you wouldn’t have to fight through the Mori-Mongers but I suppose it did win you Megil’s trust quicker otherwise we might not be having this conversation.” Julian looked at him confused, how could he have watched him, he glanced at Megil but she offered no answers. Noldo further shocked him by putting an arm around his shoulder like he would with an old friend of relative.
“And I am so sorry about your father, taken from you while you were so young too, it’s a shame” Julian’s temper flared for an instant but it was soon replaced with confusion as he realized he hadn’t even told Megil about that.
“How did you…” Again he glanced at Megil for answers but she was just looking at him funny. Noldo, with his arm still around Julian’s shoulder, started leading him back towards the podium.
“Forgive me for bringing up that old memory but things would go so much smoother if you have an open mind, this was just my way of oiling the doors if you will, besides it’s not healthy to keep these things locked away, they lead to all sorts of social problems and bad dreams” As they got to the podium Noldo turned him towards a small door leading to a room he hadn’t noticed before. At this point Julian had been shocked to his core and would have let Noldo lead him to the ends of the earth, as it was he just lead him to the small room which had been tacked away in the back of the hall.
The room was barely big enough to fit a sleeping pad, it was around the size of a prison cell yet was a completely different attire, the walls and floor were completely covered in fur hides, the same kind that made up Megil’s clothing. It gave the room a dark, humid air that Julian felt a little uncomfortable in. He was seated on a small stool and the door was closed behind him. At this point he got over his shock and managed to find his voice again.
“How did you know all those things N- err… Elder-Noldo?” Elder-Noldo took a seat on the stool just across from him, between them a large shallow bowl of water sat still as glass. Noldo just looked up at him.
“Hmmm? Oh that, don’t worry about that one doesn’t get to a seer of my age without picking up these tricks” Noldo pulled out a small bag filled with what Julian judged to be some kind of coloured dust.
“Now… onto the reason you’re here…” Noldo started sprinkling the coloured dusting into the shallow bowl and Julian was surprised to discover the water had somehow started swirling in it’s bowl, mixing the dust thoroughly through the water until it was entirely green.
“Tell me Julian… do you know what the Mori-Monger are?” Noldo was staring at him intently, his milky white eyes almost boring into him.
“Heh… can’t you just look around in here and get the answer yourself?” Julian motioned to his mind with his finger before his eyes dropped back to the bowl, Noldo sprinkled more dust into it and the water changed to the colour yellow.
“I could but I want to hear you tell me, besides if I always did that it would make conversation pointless and I do love having conversations” Again he sprinkled some dust and it changed to violet. It was intriguing, as far as Julian could tell Noldo got the dust from the same sack each time yet with every sprinkle the water changed colour.
“Well… no one knows what the Mori-Mongers are, they just sort of… appeared one day” Julian found himself entranced by the swirling colours, Noldo was pouring in dust faster and faster and soon the swirl was a rapidly shifting rainbow, not even Noldo’s voice broke Julian’s trance. Julian was vaguely aware that Noldo had stopped pouring dust in the bowl but it continued to change colour.
“I think you have an idea…” Julian could almost see an image appearing in the bowl.
“Besides, not everyone is oblivious as to what they are…” An image appeared in the swirling colours, a monk with shaved head and gray robes was walking along the road, he suddenly stopped as if aware that someone was watching him he looked around but upon not seeing anything shook his head and continued on his way.
“The Mori-Mongers are evil, pure hate and evil, they exist solely to destroy us…” Julian wasn’t sure where he was getting this information but as he spoke it he realized this was exactly what he believed, the image faded away back to swirling colours.
“Precisely my boy, every bad thought, every bad action or evil deed creates bad energy. Every time someone steals, lies or murders… especially murders… this bad energy forms, slowly this negative energy gathered in the place we call Morindor. Since the beginning of time it’s gathered until it became strong enough to form physical bodies… well as physical as they could get anyway” Another image started to form, this was of a dark twisted landscape, Morindor. Mori-Mongers roamed the lands and Julian let out a started gasp by how many he saw, it was almost an endless see of dark armor. If they all marched out against Qual they would be doomed.
The image faded away and was soon replaced by another image, Julian got the impression this image wasn’t a real image like the others, it wasn’t happening at this very moment it was more an enactment with Noldo as the puppeteer.
“You may have noticed your blade cut their armor like paper, and they’re combat prowess to be awkward and easily defeated however you might have also heard tales about them being undefeatable warriors with armor as indestructible as diamonds.” The image showed two identical looking men fighting two Mori-Mongers, the first man engaged a Mori-Monger in battle cutting it down easily while the second man fought hard yet was defeated by the Mori-Monger, wielding it’s weapon with an efficiency Julian had never seen before.
“These Mori-Mongers thrive of negative energy anyone who creates enough of this energy gets their spirit coated in it, the darker the spirit the more the Mori-Mongers thrive, that’s why you cut them down so easily while others find them unstoppable opponents.” Suddenly Megil’s words at the front gate about him killing Mori-Mongers made sense. The image faded away and Julian found himself staring at swirling colours again.
“Why are you telling me all this?” Julian managed to pull his eyes away from the swirling colours to look directly into Noldo’s milky eyes. From the corner of his eye he noticed the swirling colours were slowing down and fading slightly.
“Why…? because you have a clear, honest aura and the smell of destiny about you. You’re going to help save these lands one day I can feel it.” Julian was about to say something else when the colours and the swirling all came to a sudden stop, from the water a colourful puff of smoke clouded the small room. Julian let out a cough as he breathed some of it in, it was an unpleasant sensation, the dust filling the smoke settled in his throat and tickled it.
“What is this?” Julian blinked a few times and shook his head as Noldo was enveloped in a blue aura pulsing with power.
“Of don’t worry this is just a bit of backlash from the seer magic, it won’t harm you but you might start seeing things… it will pass in a moment” Julian stared at him a while before realizing he was looking at Noldo’s spirit and essence. There was a white cord of light leading from Noldo’s wrist up through the ceiling, Julian looked at his hand, he was covered in the same blue light, although not pulsing with power like Noldo. There was also a white cord of light leading from his wrist, however it snaked back towards the doorway where it entwined with a third white light coming in through the door, the third light was coming from the room where they had left Megil.
“What does it mean?” He asked, although he had an idea of what it meant.
“It means your fate is tied with Megil’s… it was no coincidence that she found you, or that you found her as the case may be. It also means I think you should stay here, as an official guest for a while. Julian didn’t say anything but he nodded his head in agreement.