The Omega

This is a storyline that took place in the Platinum Instance during 2020. Official title is "The Omega".

The Omega - Prelude

03 Jastatos:

A huff of excitement escaped Leiana as she crouched in the shadows, her face painted with soot and her radiant curls tucked tightly into a black skullcap as Jaired had taught her to do. She pushed at one stray curl near her ear and was immediately awash with a pang of longing for her husband - he typically helped with securing that curl as it never quite wanted to stay in place. It had been a few weeks since they'd been on the Muse at the same time for longer than a few hours. Their move to Kraken's Fall had gone well and Jaired had quickly began acquiring several ships to begin their treasure hunting business in earnest. And while she loved their new home on pier two, there was still work to do in the Landing.

That work was what she was skulking about for this night, the moon high above and the cool wind of the fall season rustling the leaves of the nearby trees. There - just a short distance from where she waited - the candles lighting the windows of a small home were extinguished and the door opened, through which her target stepped out and into the night. Moonlight glinted from the unmistakable auburn curls gracing the woman's neck, which was bent momentarily as she fished out a key and locked the door behind her. Next came the wards, which Leiana had seen performed a dozen times or more over the last few weeks while she watched from the shadows. She had memorized the movements of the woman's fingers, the way her mouth formed the hushed words of the spell and the scent of the magic as it flared to life around the frame of the home afterward.

Once the wards were in place, the woman turned and for a brief moment Leiana was filled with anxiety as Oreena Januth looked directly at the shadows where the young fugitive lay watching. If she was discovered, all of her work would be for naught - a month now of patiently watching, memorizing the schedule and all of Oreena's contacts, the time she ate and who she met with, what her habits were and her sleeping schedule - all of it painstakingly noted and kept tucked away securely in the underground lair she had worked months on with Jaired and Hitch. Only a select few were given the information needed to enter - not even her father had seen the network of tunnels or the pocket realm she had managed to replicate with the guidance of Nibani, once a Fallen soldier and now a close ally for the Delones.

It struck her at this moment that much of what was dark and chaotic in her life had been repurposed for light and guidance - the Fallen soldiers she had once considered the threat to the Landing were now her allies, the crystals created by Liel as a defense system now served as illumination to the shadows of the underground caverns she spent so much time in, and the magic wielded by an Archmage once used to cage and control her was now used to ensure she was free to access any realm she wished given the right components. Of all these dark things, the most devastating - Izaar's death - served as a catalyst to her powers, infusing her with fire and wind and the mental strength to roam the skies at a thought. It had brought her love - a missing piece that she did not know was broken until he looked into her eyes and gave her his last name. Where she was the darkness and shadow, he was the moon.

The clicking of narrow oak heels on the stone path brought Leiana abruptly from her thoughts and she watched Oreena make her way toward the town she had been running since Izaar's untimely passing. Quickly, Leiana rose into the night sky and hovered within the wispy shadows playing among the clouds overhead, allowing them to conceal her as the wind carried her with ease. Oreena's path veered near the walls of the Landing and Leiana followed carefully from a distance, taking note of any turns and landmarks. As they neared upper Trollfang, Leiana was startled by a large bat and momentarily lost sight of the target as she dodged the agitated mammal's wings as it harried her through a set of dense clouds. When she regained her bearings, Oreena was gone.

With a muttered curse, Leiana landed in a cluster of trees and searched futilely for several moments but only found a few footprints that disappeared abruptly. Opting to avoid any further bat encounters, she made her way on foot back toward her cavernous hideout where she began documenting the path she had seen Oreena take. Once completed with her notes, she packed a small basket with food and prepared to head back out - she had a late dinner date with her father on the Thrak Inn rooftop. Her work would have to resume the next evening.

If You're Reading This...

07 Jastatos:

Ignacio sat at the lopsided writing desk. He'd heard many say he should get it replaced, but there were memories there. The nail marks on the drawer handle where he'd picked during his very first case trying to wrap his brain around the information at hand. The arrowhead imbedded in the front of the desk... what a lousy shot, fortunately for Iggy, that is. A nostalgic smile spread across his face as he reminisced through years and years of memories.

Shaking his head, the Investigator turned once more for the paperwork before him. It was time to expose them. Dangerous? Definitely. However, quite necessary. He took a puff from the cigar, cherry vanilla... why in the world had he purchased these? Hard to waste a cigar though. Tapping the cigar idly, he turned his pen hand towards the partially completed letter.

"Things are about to get reaaaaal interesting," he remarked to the empty room.

A thought ran through his head, "Ig, are you sure you wanna do this? One wrong step and you're dead as dead." He answered himself, "Yup. They're dirty. Too many people have suffered. They've done a fantastic job at hiding themselves, even when they exposed themselves, they were fleeting shadows. Myths. Legends. Ghosts... It was going to end one way or the other, and if that means I don't make it, so be it."

He wrote carefully and legibly. Underlining certain parts of the letter to indicate importance. Once complete, he read the first lines over again: "If you're reading this, I didn't make it." He couldn't read the rest. Instead, he folded it and placed it in an envelope. Sealed with a stamp of wax, he wrote across the surface of the envelope an an elegant script: "Deliver to Master Kiel."

He'd relay it to a safe contact in town, to be kept closed and unread and only delivered upon Ignacio's death, should that occur. Hopefully, this letter was all for naught.

28 Jastatos:

The sharp edge of the dagger sliced through the envelope's seal with a satisfying schick and a smile curled Oreena's lips in response. She was fairly happy at the moment - Leiana had not made an appearance in months and it appeared that both of the meddling Delones had picked up and left the Landing behind. For the time being at least. Oreena understood that Leiana had been skulking around the town in order to see her father and it really was not worth the effort involved to try and curtail that. Leiana knew she had better not show her face in the Landing, or in Solhaven for that matter, and that was what mattered to Oreena in the end - the power struggle was done.

Unfolding the paper, she settled back in her chair and read it over while sipping on a scotch from the Mayor's collection. If she were going to work these hours, she should enjoy some of the fruit after all. It wasn't like Stennis had been around much and he probably would not even notice. If he did, she'd blame it on Ignacio. A snort of derision quickly followed the thought of the investigator, who had been nothing but disquieting since his arrival. At first, she'd felt he was there as a boon to her for her good work. It quickly became apparent that he was to babysit her. Ugh, of all the nerve!

All ease fled from her frame in a single line of text as she sat straight up and her grip on the paper trembled. A deathly hue turned her skin grey and her heart began to rapidly thump in her chest, the air in the room closing in on her as she gripped the desk for stability. It couldn't be. They wouldn't. Oh Gods.

They were coming.

She had disappointed them and they were coming.

The Omega - An Invitation

04 Eoantos:

The young boy scampered between the legs, bags, and gear of the various adventurers wandering in and around the streets of Wehnimer's Landing as he made his way to the Thrak Inn. On the far side, where the narrow allow between Tykel's Arms and the old Inn provided some shadowy coverage. Darting his eyes from side to side a moment to be sure he was unobserved, the lad quickly slapped a note against the Inn's exterior wall. Quickly, he rushed away to his next target and before long there were similar notes tacked on a few strategic locations for those in the know to see.

~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~

The pieces have aligned. Those who know the way should head to the trench.

<a single lick of flame is sketched in the center of the page>

~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~@@~~


"I've done as you asked." the child proclaimed, shaking out his tattered coat to remove as much dampness as possible. A storm had started brewing as he finished laying out the last note in town and he'd had to hurry back to avoid the worst of it. Leiana smiled and motioned for him to take the package of food and a bottle of milk she held out. He eagerly did so and began opening the sandwich to take hurried bites as she fished out a bag of coins. Barbeque in one hand, bag of coins in the other, the boy nodded and mumbled out his thanks around a mouthful of food as he hurried away from the rooftop of the Thrak Inn.

Stealthily, she made her way over the rooftops of the Landing and slipped over the wall with ease as Sleepy blinked blearily and took another sip of his whiskey. It had grown cold and it was the perfect excuse for him to bring out his flask, after all. Once she arrived back at her cavernous abode, she began organizing her findings on Oreena Januth so that she could present it at the meeting. The Day of the Huntress would be here much too quickly and she had a lot to do.

06 Eoantos:

The trench. Daena had heard some adventurers use that term to refer to Leiana's hideout. Supposedly it wasn't far off from the north gate of Wehnimer's Landing. Daena wasn't certain where the exact entrance was, but she was certain one of of the fools that still believed Leiana wasn't exceedingly dangerous knew how to access it. It wouldn't be hard to follow someone and learn the location.

It had been a few months since Daena had been viciously attacked by Leiana and then killed by her enabling husband when she had defended herself. It was ironic to Daena that Leiana's powers seemed to have such an affinity to the element of fire; she seemed to attract moths like a flame. Unfortunately none of her hanger-ons realized she was slowly consuming them and they would soon be nothing but ashes.

Whatever new disaster Leiana was about to instigate needed to be stopped before it could lead the town of Wehnimer's Landing to ruin.

07 Eoantos:

No one had noticed Daena's presence in the hideout thanks to spells of unpresence and invisibility. She had remained until it was only Leiana and Jourwen left and had left them talking quietly together about how Ravenfritha had injured her throat and whether Rouste was the cause. No matter to her, she quickly made her way back to town and to Moot Hall. Once there, she presented herself to one of Oreena's hired guards.

"Take me to see Oreena, I have information she will want to hear regarding The Fire Witch." The guard eyed her skeptically for a moment but then beckoned her to follow him into Moot Hall. As Daena followed behind the guard, the faintest trace of a smile graced her lips as an expression of cruel satisfaction overtook her visage.

08 Eoantos:

"What news do you have to share this time Lady Daenamaryllis?" Oreena was doing a good job of controlling her outward emotions despite having her home broken into and one of her guards slain.

"My servants," Daena indicated the twins, "witnessed the slaying of your guardsman yesterday and the burglary of your home." Continuing with a confident smile, "I very much would like to see the perpetrators brought to justice."

As the twins shared their witness accounts with Oreena, Daena's thoughts turned inward as she plotted her next move.