Kaelie

Kaelie Rudeone
Status	Active
Race	Elf
Gender	Female
Guild	Empath
Instance	Prime
Relatives	Mazrian, Jiah, Reira, Daeryean

Description

You see Hodierna's Fist Kaelie Rudeone-Daemondred, Transcendent Empath of the Order of the Black Fox, an Elf.

A diffuse, honey-colored light undulates lazily across her skin, swirling and eddying with every movement.

She has an oval face with high cheekbones, pointed ears and elegant eyebrows echoing the sweep of ebon-hued lashes that frame her discerning copper-flecked celadon green eyes. Her golden-streaked molten strawberry-blonde hair is a riot of tumbling waves, and is worn loose. She has blush-hued pouting lips and sun-kissed skin accented by some glittery platinum stars and a coltish toned figure.

She has a tattoo of a delicate crescent moon cradling a wolf's pawprint on her neck.

Horse

Kaelies' mount, Caoimhe (pronounced KEE-vah), is sixteen hands high with a black coat spangled with tiny white spots that are concentrated over the back and hips. It has a black mane and tail. It is a gelding and has a white mark covering the left foreleg's fetlock. His coat is usually stained with the blood of his enemies. The spots on his skin are where pure evil is seeping out. He stops on a dime, usually at a full gallop, and agrees to a jump then balks.

Guardian Spirit

Name ~ Cathaoir (pronounced Ka-THAIR). The warrior is athletic with an air of grace and menace both, its face a mask of reticence with fierce sapphire hued eyes which reveal its true nature of protection and devotion. Its body gleams with an opalescent luster and wavers with sinuous muscle that tenses when danger draws near to the one it protects. Its hair is a waterfall of dark shimmering shadows that spills down its shoulders. On its chest, over the heart, is the mark of a wolf's paw print.

Ship

Galleon ~ Mazrian's Last Dance, First Mate

• Mazrian's Last Dance

Quiet Moments

Before

It has been 440 years, 138 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.
It is the 4th month of Shorka the Cobra in the year of the Crystal Snow Hare.
It is currently spring and it is early morning.
You're positive it's 14 roisaen before the Anlas of Hodierna's Blessing.

She is standing on the quarterdeck of The Dance near Pilot Pendal. Feeling the large ship pitch in the Reshalian Sea, she steadies her footing by placing a slender hand onto his shoulder. Tendrils of her hair curling tight as the sea spray dampens them. There is an easy smile that is the tell tale sign she is far from population on the open waters and is not subject to the health needs of everyone around her.

Pendal glances over, "You know you should spend more time out here. It agrees with you."

She shoves him playfully away, "One day. But for now I need to finish the work I have been tasked with from my guild. I am so close to having learned all the required amount of Empathy that they demand. In several weeks time I will ask for my 200th advancement in the guild and I can only hope over the decades of dedication they will not find fault with my path or conduct." She closes her eyes, her jawline tenses. They are nearing Ratha, the familiar tickle of pain and worry from the residents reaching her even as they dock. "Stay close, please, I am only checking at the Guild here to make sure I owe no debts or have tasks undone."

Other Moments

• The Box
• The Scepter
• The Secret
• The Big 200th

The Big 200th

It has been 440 years, 197 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.
It is the 5th month of Uthmor the Giant in the year of the Crystal Snow Hare.

Having finally reached the summit, the pinnacle of her Empath journey to fulfill all requirements set forward by the guild. Decades of pain and learning to control and understand what feelings and emotions belonged to her and which ones were being projected at her because of her nature all rushing together for this moment. She stops and her nose wrinkles for a moment, she's thinking, mentally rolling back to scan the years and her actions making sure there can be no question that she will be given this promotion. A quick inhale of breath is held, she looks to the entrance of the courtyard and exhales looking down. She shouldn't be disappointed, not on a day like today. Years have gone by and there is no reason to suspect that Annael would have kept track of her progress in the guild, but there is still that moment of melancholy as she raises her head and poises herself as elegantly as she can before taking the step that leads her to the Guild Leader office. In that one step, time flashes between her younger self going in for the very first time to this moment where she will have done all they have asked of her.

The step is done. Before her is the Guild Leader Salvur. She blinks, his image blurs and she sees Annael through a thick haze of thousands of memories before it clears and she meets his gaze with a quick smile, a visible effort to not scrunch her nose or appear uncertain. Self-doubt creeps up on her, she almost turns on her heel. Not allowing herself a moment to give in to that flight response she smooths her cloak, feeling the bundle there. The letters! She takes a step forward and nods in reverence to Salvur, reaching to her cloak she pulls six envelopes from her cloak. Addressed to the Khalaen, more specifically the Khalo rae Modien: K'Constanze, K'Haaltekar, K'Sarhhsna, K'Wyllen, K'Xonei. A sixth envelope with simply the letter A to address it, she says to give to K'Xonei, she will know who to give that too. As she steps back she takes a slow breath to calm herself for what is to come.

"I fought side by side with you in Triage on 17 Shorka, 410 AV. It was then that you touched me and allowed me the knowledge of Unity Link to advance my ability to heal. I was honored to be one of the first and thank you for trusting me to use that wisely in a very bloody triage."

She asks him for the last time if she has met her requirements, will he find her worthy of advance.

Salvur grunts. But the words are not the same. He doesn't remind her to not slack off. A quick word on her reaching a high standard and then … nothing. Her friends are elated and praising her for this accomplishment and she is numb. She can hear them, but is trying to understand how all those years of taking others suffering were just met with what she felt like was a dismissal of the painstaking efforts and time she put into being what they asked of her. She shakes her head and puts on a smile, engaging with her friends that are cheering, not letting them see or suspect that this has taken a toll on her that she didn't expect. She takes a glass of champagne from Mazrian, they lead her back to the courtyard, she glances over her shoulder one more time at the office she no longer has reason to enter and drains the glass with a merry laugh, looking for another to fill her empty hand.

Srinoja the Shadow

Srinoja Shadow and Gweth Talk

At some point the general gweth was given the delight of some thoughts from Srinoja. As it began.

Your mind hears Srinoja thinking, "You have interesting friends, if I dare say so. If this reflection is not a falsehood, I have many questions. Slivers."

During one meeting with the pirate Srinoja (in her living years) she was curious about a core I had obtained and asked if she could take it with her and have her "people" inspect it. I handed over the item with the understanding it would be returned with a report, if any, of what was found. Clearly, that never happened.

You hear your mental voice echo to Srinoja, "You still have my core thieving pirate you."

Shortly after sending this thought I went to the Empath Guild in Crossing where I joined with Dantia, Sothios, Zynell, Telamont, and Kretona. As we were discussing the gweth chatter I was (as were all paying attention ) shocked by this:

A single shadow, only a number of hands tall, strolls into the room, independent of a source. It struts directly up to Kaelie, and places an object into her hand, offers a small wave to Dantia, and then disappears as if never there at all.
As I looked into my hand, there was my core.

In response to the return of the item we did share a private back and forth exchange that I will share.

You hear your mental voice echo to Srinoja, "Clever little thing you are, but I do thank you for the return of the core. Is there something I can assist you with in return?"
Your mind hears Srinoja thinking, "to you" "I must know the truth, as I have seen so many sequences of events. Fragments, like distorted mirrors. I know not what happened, what may have happened, or what will have happened. Strange distortions."
You hear your mental voice echo to Srinoja, "The truth as it stood before you died and were captured in the mind of Sivroch. Do you remember any of that? Perhaps we can sort out sequences once we discern where your true memory ends and the falsehood begins."
Your mind hears Srinoja thinking, "<to you>" "I remember that. I also remember the truth in which I killed Sivroch, ripped her disgusting heart out, and fed it to a kraken that I summoned with my will."
Your mind hears Srinoja thinking, "<to you>" "Similarly, I remember sitting on a beach, laughing at all of you, the Lich included, while sipping a delightful cocktail with tropical fruit."
You hear your mental voice echo to Srinoja, "That does rather sound like you. Contrary and all for you until the bitter end. That bit of it wouldn't surprise either side."
You hear your mental voice echo to Srinoja, "Well you can be sure that cocktail isn't what is causing this fractured moment. Perhaps the lich heard your laughter and thought to make a joke back at you."

That ended our gweth banter. However, it did not end our communication. And I say "our" because my assumption here is is that our "Shadow" was Srinoja. It all happened a bit like this.

Kretona asks, "Anyone seen the Gnome?"
Shadows flicker at the edges of the room. Six distinct shadows, all resembling an identical Gnome, peer outward, waving silently.
You ask, "Sortof?"
You say, "Great. Six shadows."
(Dantia peers back at the six shadows, looking them over one by one before settling on one of the two in the middle.)
You ask, "A shadow of a gnome, rather?"
Kretona asks, "Six Gnomes, or one Gnome reflected six times?"
You say to Dantia, "I'll take the outside."
The shadows appear to be pantomiming something strange and nonsensical, as if attempting to convey a complicated thought wordlessly.
(Zynell watches the shadow intently)
(Dantia squints at the series of shadows.)
You say, "So yes. We can see you. Or the shadow of you."
You say, "You don't need to be frantic. You're not making sense."
(Dantia says to the shadows, "If you are trying to communicate, why do you not use the gweth as you were? Or are you and the voice we are hearing two separate things?")
Sothios says, "She is letting us know she is about."
(Zynell waves her shadows hand at the shadow)
You say to Dantia, "Maybe a light source on the shadow? We can illuminate and yank the little gnome out."
Sothios says, "The shadows are her way of letting you know she wont be found unless she wants to be."
You say, "Trying to get our attention, but without making sense. Now that she knows she isn't invisible she can calm down and try to communicate."
Dantia says to Sothios, "It looks like she's trying to convey a thought, not just say hello. A simple wave would have sufficed."
The shadows coalesce into a single Gnome, peering curiously at Kaelie, unsure of what might result.
(Kaelie crooks her finger and kneels down.)
The shadow shrugs and steps toward Kaelie, very curious itself.
You quietly say, "Not going to try and hurt you. Just want to figure out what you need or are trying to say."
The figure makes its way over to Kaelie, and reaches out a hand -- that passes through her.
(Kaelie winces, smiles sadly and tries to grasp.)
You quietly say, "There has to be a way to bring you from the shadows.
The figure steps over toward Kretona, offering her hand in a high five.
The figure attempts to slap her hand against Kretona's, but is unable to make contact.
Dantia asks, "Shadows, are you the same as the Srinoja we are hearing on the gweth?"
Kretona draws his knife and makes a thin cut across one of his hands.
Kretona removes a glaes tail knife ensnared in the constricting tentacles of a demonbone kraken from his tail.
Kretona asks, "Maybe an offering of blood?"
(Kretona smears his hand on the floor.)
You say, "It's hard to tell if you want to come out of the shadows."
(Kretona begins drawing a circle, slightly larger than a Gnome.)
Kretona draws his knife and makes a thin cut across one of his hands.
(Kretona is making the lines thicker.)
You ask Kretona, "Really? Here? In the empath guild?"
Kretona says, "I didn't ask her to come here."
Dantia quietly says to you, "You would have thought we had enough blood here already."
The shadow offers a shrug, appearing very confused.
You ask, "Shadow can we shine light to bring you out?"
Kretona says, "Stand in the circle."
Dantia asks, "I'm just not convinced this is the same as the Srinoja who was on gweth. Why would she keep trying to communicate like this instead of out loud?"
Kretona exclaims, "Oh!"
Kretona exclaims, "Mirror!"
Kretona exclaims, "Shadow, look in that mirror!"
(Zynell shows the mirror to the shadow)
Kretona says, "Stand in the circle I drew also."
You ask, "Wait! What are you all doing?"
Kretona says, "I am going to go somewhere in an airship."
Kretona asks, "What are you doing?"
You ask Kretona, "With what? A diminutive shadow that high-fives you with a shadow hand?"
(Zynell passes the mirror through the shadow)
You say, "Good luck with that."
Zynell waves a square gold-framed mirror with an oval handle around.
The mirror passes through the shadow, and comes out the other side, as if nothing is there.
You say, "Well. That worked."
You get a shimmering gaethzen orchid from inside your gossamer cloak.
(Zynell sets the blessed mirror down in the shadow)
(Kaelie rubs the orchid so that it glows bright and tries to hold it over the shadow to see if the figure appears.)
You exclaim, "If she appears, grab her!"
You wave your gaethzen orchid around.
(Kaelie holds out the glowing orchid hoping to entice the shadow into the light.)
Dantia says to you, "I wish we had any one of those extraplanar researchers here. This is beyond my paygrade."
The shadow offers a shrug and tries to touch the orchid. Nothing happens.
Dantia says to you, "It was a good thought."
Dantia asks, "Has anyone tried walking through it?"
Dantia quietly says, "Not it."
Kretona says, "I volunteer."
Dantia says, "I vote Kaelie."
You say, "I'll do it."
(Sothios puts his hand through the middle of the shadow and out the other side)
Dantia says, "It's hand passes through everything."
(Kaelie walks toward the shadow, slowly, her hands out infront of her incase it becomes solid.)
Dantia leans over and whispers, "I will kill you if you become Srinoja."
You whisper to Dantia, "YOU volunteered me!"
Kaelie walks straight through the shadow.
You ask, "You're not a ghost, there has to be the solid form somewhere. Do you know where that is?"
The cream and gold owl hoots, "Isn't light antithetical to a shadow? Shouldn't you be trying to lower the light level?"
Dantia says, "I'm not going to stand in a dark room with the shadow of Srinoja."
You say to Dantia, "Fair point that. But so far this shadow hasn't shown malice."
Kretona says, "I will."
Kretona asks, "Where is a dark room?"
Zynell says, "That sounds like an interesting time."
Kretona says, "I know a place."
Kretona says, "Cold and dark."
Dantia says to Kretona, "Step right outside and wait for the guards to escort you there."
You say to Kretona, "Tell them you know Dantia, she has a get out of jail free card apparently."
Dantia asks, "Shadow, are you trying to tell us something?"
Kretona says, "Highfive if you want to go somewhere cold and dark."
Kretona raises his hand.
The shadow abruptly blinks, and disappears.
Dantia exclaims to Kretona, "You scared it off!"
You say to Kretona, "Nice going, filth."

That is the last we saw of the "shadow". From what I gather I was not the only one to be in communication with Srinoja. She was reaching out to several with different tone or tenor to her messages. This is only my portion of what I witnessed and heard. I do have thoughts on her state of being. As long as she is dead or a shadow it is going to be very difficult to hang her for her offenses.

Too Much Time/Srinoja

She reads back over the journal entry from her dealings with Srinoja and the shadows. She can't believe she missed it. It was there and it wasn't just her that didn't get the "message" it was all of them. It took Mazrians apprentice, Anuril, all of one cursory glance to point it out.

"I might be losing my nut. I'm bored and have too much time now." Without having to train to get the approval of her Wen there was a gap in her routine. She had time to look at things and involve her entire attention.

"That one little gesture changed this into something that seems right"

She reads the entry again. A single shadow, only a number of hands tall, strolls into the room, independent of a source. It struts directly up to Kaelie, and places an object into her hand, offers a small wave to Dantia, and then disappears as if never there at all. "That shadow HELD the core. Trotted right up to me pretty as you please and dropped it right into my palm." She shakes her head and softly laughs.

She looks back to the journal. "Was the rest an obvious attempt at making us see that the core was the only tangible thing the shadow was connected to?" Her thoughts roll back time, days before the assault, the civil chit chat with Srinoja with Mazrian. Her questions about the plane possibly being reachable from others. Poking tiny holes, dropping hints? She touches the core in her cloak. "She asked for this. She's always got an escape clause. Did she take it with the knowledge that things with her chosen side could go pear shaped? To escape the trap of Sivroch and put her shadow into whatever plane that hovered over that cursed place she could use it as a conduit to expedite her through planes leading to one that opens to her time?"

She pulls the core out and closes her eyes, trying to sense the place the core belonged. Of course she feels empty. "That plane is devoid of all life and I hate it there." She smirks to herself, "Of course that atmosphere for Srinoja is a slice of heaven. Except she's gone through at least six planes judging by the number of shadows I saw myself. Each giving her another vision and another fracture of her true self. She isn't kidding when she says she needs to get this right. If she gets it wrong and the wrong shadow steals the next "vessel", as pirates do, it would mean the end of her mentally. And if there is one thing she fancies about herself is her ability to outthink, outwit, and outplay not just her opponents but the people she has "pledged" her services to."

She exhales. Wondering how crazy she must have sounded at that meeting. It all clicked to fast in her mind that the words just kept going. Waiting for what she could see as the answer to mean as much to those in the room with her as it did to her. "Maybe you really are over the edge." As the meeting drew to a close her mind was focusing on how to confirm her own sanity. Nothing makes you feel more sane than listening to the visions that Moon Mages have to unravel. Miskton might even be able to shed some light on the planes.

You say to Miskton, "Lemme ask you like a hypothetical question here."
Miskton says, "Sure."
You ask, "So let's say someone finds their mind captured, body left behind. They find a way to yank out of that situation and hide the .. what spiritual self, the mind in the plane of probablity. Then they skip jack through OTHER planes trying to find that plane of electricity we opened so they could get the mind and body together again. How messed up would what they think they know be? SO many planes offer views that could fry a mind. Right?"
You say, "Altered realitys with different truths."
You say, "Finding your way through all that mental muck would be ... mind bending."
Miskton says, "Likely. Some planes would be worse than others, but I suppose it might also depend on just what their ability to perceive things is like as a disembodied mind."
You say, "Need to find your truths in THIS plane because this is the one you have to survive in."
Miskton says, "It's my understanding that some of the elemental planes are particularly different in nature from ours."
You say to Miskton, "If this shadow person, had a core that belonged in THAT plane it might make finding it easier. Still have to sort through mental spagetti, but might not be as bad with that short path."
You say to Miskton, "I believe Srinoja has found a way to do this. That is why she is babbling about different truths and paths and outcomes."
Miskton says, "I'm also not certain what connections might exist between the various planes without passing through the Plane of Abiding on the way."
You say, "I gave her a core to that plane DAYS before that assault."
You say, "She could have used that as what? A conduit to help her find her way through without totally losing her real self."
Miskton says, "I'd think having something native to the plane in question would help, though it might depend on what method of travel is being used."
You say to Miskton, "This is just me spitting ideas out there based on something I saw last night. I could be off base."
You say, "That sassy pirate. She gets information in ways that are so cunning you have no idea you just gave away the castle."
Miskton says, "I imagine she's been exposed to some information against her will at this point, too."
You say to Miskton, "She has. She clearly is trying to find which truth she needs to see to survive. And reaching out to people to help her piece it together. Like the day after a hard bender."
You say, "Again, just my view of this."
You say, "That core. That shadow pirate put it right in my hand. A tangible object. Couldn't touch or hold anything else. But that core sure seemed comfy in that shadow hand."
You say, "Shadow made it VERY obvious that nothing else was able to be touched or grasped."
Miskton says, "If she does go poking around in the Plane of Electricity, things could get complicated. I've seen another vision of things happening there."
You say to Miskton, "And all of a sudden my cray my become a little more in line."

THE VISON
Miskton says, "My mouth filled with the taste of copper, and I found myself standing in a large open structure. Custodians moved around me rapidly, rushing between complex machinery and organized piles of crackling materials and components. At the center of the area, resting atop a raised platform and covered by large cranes and contraptions, lay a massive mechanical head and torso. Empty eye sockets gazed upward, and a missing lower jaw revealed a forest of pistons and coiling wires along the neck. The torso terminated below the breastbone, and several custodians crawled around the inside of the partial ribcage, welding and adjusting."

The absurdity of it hits me and I almost burst out laughing right there. She is going to put the shadow that belongs here in that .. Whatever that is .. And just like our airship she's going to do what a pirate does and literally steal the vessel to haste her retreat. She's got time. She just has to hunker down while those things put this together and make sure she has the right herself to come through. And what do you know. Another experiment is being planned there. Timing is her friend. And everyone thinks I've lost my mind. Except one.

And just like that there is, Dantias excited whisper in her ear. "Empath battle army! Do you see the size of that construct?"

Her voice barely contained to a whisper back, "That thing is going to come through with that clever gnomes laughter. She's found a new ship to steal."
Dantia glances at her and there it is. The flash of belief and she becomes bold enough to voice some of this out loud.

Nobody seemed to acknowledge her as she gave her thoughts. She felt crazy again. Please don't let me be crazy.
She needs to get one of those shadows to her. She silently berates herself for missing this when it counted. Then smiles, Anuril is going to be the hero of this if it comes to fruition.

Dantia gives her that look that says to her silently that she trusts this and is behind her. Even if it turns out that every thought is wrong and I am crazy. She'll be there.
Another whisper, "Either way we get to battle up against a big construct."
This time she does softly chuckle, "Kretona is going to lose his mind. He thought the airship was a dream ride, but this, he might go redeemed for a chance at getting in this getaway "vehicle".

The dawning of the reality that if this is how it goes down, Mazrian and a few others are going to have to face the people that told them doing this was a seriously bad idea.