Isonade, Formerly D'Arveth

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

I can go my entire life without ever having a day like yesterday ever again. Really.
It didn't start out so bad. In fact, it started out rather lovely - myself and Ymerion went to Elysium for a while and just talked as we watched the moon set and the sun rise. We talked about simple things, and complicated things, and some things inbetween - a very nice start to my day, all in all.

We left Elysium shortly after dawn there to peek into the Bazaar, to see if anyone was around and wanted to help us create our own faction in the Blood War. We heard from the gnome that Pip and Mathard might come around, but an hour or so passed and no sign. So we figured to just go it ourselves; (you'd think this my first mistake - until you saw Ymmy in action. And I'm no slouch either, as long as there's someone else in front of me to block.) And for a time, we had plenty of excitement and loot to go around. It was when we moved deeper into the Abyss that things went strange.

First, we met up with another pair - Lovisa, a familar face, and Rain, not so familiar- a second fighter and a mage. We joined together with little fuss, and wiped the crossroads clean, before trying to head into the cave for a bit of rest. But we were stopped by a Succubus, coming down from the mountain path. She said she wished payment in exchange for not taking our souls - I was all for shooting her through the throat before she could say anything more, but no - Rain said "let her finish!" and Ym just as quickly said "We're not interested in any deals!"

You can see where this went. Ym charged in, sword leading, to try and hack her down, but she had begun an incantation before he'd gotten to her - A direct result of Rain's pleas to "let her keep talking." The spell, once activated, shielded the damned demon from any attacks, and allowed her to escape, before it blew up all over the four of us. Nothing happened immediately, no - it was when we went to rest and woke up that things got very, VERY bad.

To start, I wasn't lying where I had laid down before - I was a few feet away. Second, I felt entirely too big and awkward to be quite well. And third, I was able to watch myself wake up about a yard away. Somehow, some way, that Succubus switched all our minds around to different bodies - I was in Ymerion's (go figure), Ymmy was in mine (it could've been worse), Rain was in Lovisa's (that was actually pretty funny), and Lovisa was in Rain's (she didn't seem as bothered as the rest of us by that.)

Then we had to get out of the Abyss in one piece, using bodies that had been trained in WILDLY different ways, and hope we didn't get ourselves murdered. Luckily, muscle memory saved the day, and we managed to make it out in one piece, despite the really really awkward feeeling of being in a body twice as big as my normal one, and a male one on top of that.

I'm not going to mince words - we pretty much bitched and complained the entire way back, as well as when we made it to Khazeet's for some well-deserved hard liquor. Then that bipolar blue-obsessed bastard had to come up and make my day even worse (and I'm nearly certain he's what triggered my period on poor Ym- it wasn't due for another week.) I needed more alcohol. After that, we were joined by a balor and his pet giant spider, which comtemplated sacrificing myself and Ym to Lolth - NOT one of my top priorities. But Ym had the forethought to go and THREATEN it while in MY body. Need I remind you, I don't DO close range combat unless it involves being faster and smarter than my opponent. So I did what I thought was best- evict us both from the scene.

I was surprised how easy it was to take myself by the scruff and drag me along (while in Ym's body, of course- and technically draggging him along.) That action alone sparked a great many thoughts I'm not sure I want to examine just yet.
I pulled us both into the Inn, giving Ym a short lecture on "Don't get me killed." Darremar followed (lovely, helpful man that he is). The woman and ogre that seemed to tag along weren't nearly so welcome, so we ditched the Inn for Karasuthra, so we could all take a deep breath and think about how we were going to get out of this mess.

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

There were a few clues that the city had gone completely barmy. First, it was the corpses in the streets....second was the sarcophogus outside the Inn....and third was the waterfall of blood that seemed to go nowhere. Apparently, barriers of blades had appeared at random throughout the city, killing indiscriminatly (I was luckily inside and unaware- and wished I had stayed that way.)

There were ghosts having drinks at the bar, and all the merchants were transforming into random creatures- Spiders, Liches, mummies, Hezrous. It was pure maddness. Then Vorgazar decides to chip in and tries playing a flute to "summon minez armiez of childrenz...or ratz". Not only did he murder everyone's eardrums, he also turned our stomachs by sharing where he normally kept said flute (or was that Darremar that shared..?) Shortly after his "preformance" the little trash glob wasn't so little anymore....and it tried to eat Vorg. For a second tme, I hear. It wasn't able to digest him completely- just his armor and his "manbits" as Pip so eloquently put it after the fact.

I had been helping a hin find his way into trouble in the Grey Wastes (a good decision in retrospet), so I never saw Darremar reattach Vorg's missing parts. It was then I was able to witness Vorg sample Khazeet's "dreamjuice" and transform into a female elf - one of his deepest desires, it seems. Due to his coloring, he came out looking much like a drow. At first, he was horrified (since during the transformation, his "manbits" fell off and disappered.) But soon he collected himself enough to mentally scar anyone with an imagination by announcing he "needed to be alone for a while....with himself in a room full of mirrors."

It was around this point I decided that returning to my room with a good bottle of wine for company was the best thing to do.

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

It's funny how one minute, you can feel as if you're on top of the world....and the next, it crumbles so fast you're left hanging for a few seconds in the empty space.

"I'm revoking your Guardianship until I figure out if this male you are involved with is going to be a danger..." Fate whispered to me as I handed her my medallion, pulling the entire fabric of my world out from under me.

I stood as if I'd been physically assaulted, all my breath rushing out of me.

How could she do this? Doesn't she know I'd never do anything to harm her? That her saftey comes before everything? I like Ymerion, I like him probably more than is healthy....but Fate is different. Fate is always different. She's like a twin. She's closer than a sibling. She is someone I would hope would be there when any number of Ymerion's have come and gone, always ready to stand with me, as I would for her after any number of Vara's.

It was only a few hours earlier I had had a...."counseling" session with Darremar about Ymerion - a really great conversation overall. I'm not exactly pleased with some things, but the truth is never what you want. That's part of why it's called the truth.

For good or ill, Ymerion cut off the trailing end of that interaction, mostly because Darremar thought it was a good idea to throw me to the wolves right after a lesson in pack dynamics. It went rather well, all things considered. I think I'm coming closer to realizing what it is about Ym I keep coming back to, despite the things I normally dislike in others.

He's sincere, loyal, strong, of good humor, and an even better heart. It puts me to shame at times. His recklessness is endearing instead of annoying- His occasional slowness "cute", not unbelievably frustrating. He has a depth to him yet unexplored, a sincere desire for a bit of peace in the midst of chaos. His mind is open to many things, but you can see he has certain immovable principles.

I want to keep knowing him. I really do. And after a...somewhat private conversation between Fate and myself...we've worked things out to both our satisfactions. Things are back as they were, but..improved. I can only breathe a sigh of relief that that medallion is back where it belongs: with me.

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

It's strange to think that stretching out a hand might be the bravest thing you ever do.

Her dark hand looked pitifully small, hanging in the space between the drowess and the larger male elf. Her heart beat so fast she could swear he could hear it tha-thump tha-thump tha-thump against her ribcage. But beyond her mind's dark whisperings in her ears, she felt him take her hand in his. The grin that split her face gleamed....she felt like she could soar.

She lacked her typical hood and mask as she tugged him along toward the portal exit, but she was beyond caring. She was too busy relishing the heat he gave off, just through his large, strong hand, which gripped hers with a surprising gentleness. The comforting closeness she felt was wholly new to her, and she intended to enjoy every moment.

In one moment, you offer all that you are, without holding back...and just wait for the other to take the hand, or refuse it. It's both the scariest and the most exhilarating thing one can do.

I'm really quite proud of myself - I offered my hand to Ymerion. And even better? He took it. That memory, among others, has wound its way into a special place in my mind. A place where all my happiest thoughts gather, ready to greet me as I lay down to rest each eve for reverie. I look forward to the others I may add.

**there seems to be a break in the entry, before it abruptly begins again**

What posessed me to ask after a dancing contest? I've never danced for anyone in my life! In fact, I know little to no actual dances. I just....make things up, when I'm alone, and the crickets and frogs are singing.

And it was rather cruel of Darremar to imply that he would invite Ymerion along to watch. That's just cheating. In fact, Darremar seems much too amused about this for his own good. Hm.

Why am I even bothering to write about it? I'm not going to enter....am I?

** the writing gets a bit lighter and uncertain toward the end, and the rest of the page is filled with nonsense scribbles and notes on making a dress, as well as other miscellaneous things**

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

After her meeting with Factol Darius, there is an odd calm about Isonade. She strides purposefully through the streets, not making eye contact with anyone, staring at some point distantly ahead. She loses herself in thought.

The webs tangle further. I could say I never felt so disgusted as when I discovered my Factol was allied with the Shaper, but that would be a lie. I've known such feelings before. Once again, law is tainted by the chaos it submerges itself in, with no one "man" enough to pull it back out. Especially the one who's responsible for this city. Her "Serenity", pfft. Since the Shaper has followed her "rules", she is content to sit by and watch her city collapse like a House of ill-fated Drow. Pathetic.

Her steps carry her through winding alleys, over rooftops, among the citizenry, and not. She gives not much care to where she steps, save as it is away from the Hive. Few notice her passing, her presence but a brush of a feather on their awareness.

If Factol Nilesia is aligned with the Shaper....the increasing viciousness and abitrary behavior of my fellows in the Hive makes more sense. This war is no longer about Justice, or Order. There is nothing "orderly" about it. We attack at the slightest hint of Anarchist behavior, or even at shadows, harming the innocents in the process. I wear this badge still.....but only for a short time. I owe Hildmor at least that. For now.

Her eyes finally raise themselves as she steps into a very familiar Portal in the Lady's Ward, the gaze immediately meeting the perpetual night sky of Karasuthra.

Once again, a belief, a philosophy, is crushed and maimed beyond recognition. Should I keep to the tenets I swore? I need not be in their faction, to believe as I do...or should I find something new to devote myself to? Or nothing at all?

She heaves a deep sigh, finding her and Ym's usual tree, and instead of sitting beneath it, crawls up into the branches, 'til she finds a sturdy branch from which to see the moon.

Mayhaps I should consider Darremar's Mistress Nycti.... but mayhaps not. Belief and devotion have only left me with hypocrisy and emptiness. The foundations I built on philosophy and dogma were both left in ruins. Tis better I build them on myself....that is somthing I can rely on for stability.

Her hands dip beneath her armor to pull out a now familiar pendent, the silver gem with the crescent suspended within. A brush of her fingers causes its inner light to flare briefly, but dimmly.

Whatever Power that chooses to give a damn....May myself, and my companions, make it through this time, maybe not unscathed, but mostly whole.

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

Isonade exits the stonemage's shop many hours after she and Darremar had parted ways. Her abode was nearly complete, all the structural (and even a bit of the furniture) work done to her satisfaction. She would reverie there this night, and begin moving the rest of the furniture and other items throughout the next few days.

Her pace is slow and measured, the pace of one in deep thought, and not happy ones either. However, until she reaches the portal to Karasuthra, her face remains stoic and cold, a frozen expression kept up by pure will. Oddly enough, this entire time, her left hand hand been clenched tightly, possibly holding something.

When she steps through the portal, and removes her customary hood and mask, her expression begins to weaken steadily as she makes her way to her new home. Clambering lightly up the rock face, she parts the concealing branches of a few bushes to allow moonlight to shine on her new, hidden, doorway. Runes begin to glow in the light, outlining a good sized hole in the rock, enough for most humanoids to get through. A touch to a special rune on the right causes the door to swing up and open quietly, revealing the dimmly lit caverns below.

Slippling inside, her feet land on a ledge overlooking a large, though a bit irregularly shapped cavern, with steps leading down to the floor. ((16ft. high ceilings, and about 20x20 square feet of floor space)) Aqua faerie fire fills continuous sconces, wrapping around the entire cavern, giving off the same intensity of glow as a full moon night. Bookshelves and other units like cabinetry appear to have grown into and out of the stone itself, the edges of each decorated with vines, flowers, webs, and spiders. Moon motifs and pictures of an archers tools also appear with relative frequency. Two openings lead from the main room deeper into the cave system. One, is a rather large and decorated archway in the far left corner - the other, little more than a jagged gap in the stone, with a single symbol above it... that of a spider.

It is through the archway she treks, the same aqua light guiding her way past the first sets of doors (some sort of sturdy wood for the two on her right, and two obviously magically reinforced doors on her left). At the end of the hall, there is a single wood door, which she opens to reveal a bedchamber. There is a large, almost nest-like round bed in the center of the far wall, with two stone grown endtables flanking it. Faerie fire sconces wrap around the ceiling of this room as well, though the color is surprisingly a golden orange, reminiscent of candlelight.

She wearily deposiste her wepons and armor into a cabinet to the left of the door, marked with a bow and arrow crossing over a web. There is another cabinet, to the right, marked differently - with a falchion, crossing the crescent moon of Coreallon Larethian.

All this time, she has not let go of the item in her left hand...a blue tinged gem, in fact, a blue diamond - but one senses she doesn't grip it so because of its material value.

Removing the tie keeping her hair up, she then slips into the pile of pillows and blankets, curling around the hand that holds the gem, as she presses it to her heart, and thinks of the very first memory of her love. As the memories begin to dance across the surface of the gem, she feels what he felt in each moment. Soon, sobs begin to wrack her body, all her heart wishing she was holding the one these memories belonged to, and not just a cold stone.

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

She knows.

These are the words that echo in Isonade's mind as she watches Lyra's reaction to the removal of her hood and facemask. They are both exaltant and miserable, sad yet relieved- though the saddness overrules as the revelation proves too much for the paler elf-maid to handle.

Lyra utters a horrible screech, straining vocal cords long injured, and the drowess cannot help but wince, thinking, Drow caused that.

Things pass in a haze after that, punctuated by the moment of clarity when she stopped Lyra from storming out. But the damage was done. Now all that was left was to wait...but so help Lyra if she hurt Darremar through all this. That was one area where Isonade would not back down.

If I am the reason she even thinks of leaving him...then I will not allow her to do so. One of us heartsick is enough. I will NOT have her hurt my Brother that way.

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

Three. Three more evenings until my time of reckoning, as it were. My time of salvation from this needless conflict. I can hardly believe it sometimes..everything has seemed to drag on since I first discovered Ymerion's absence.

I wonder on that endlessly. When will he return? This is a question that haunts my every thought, my every step. I miss him. Terribly so. Can you believe, though, what the orange-haired iblith dared do this day? He admitted, straight to my face, that he had been rifling among Ymerion's things! He gave me a drawing he found there...a drawing of me. What right did he have to do such? What Power in this multiverse gave him the go ahead for such blatant disregard of private property?!

Aria raised a fair point, when this happened. What does the iblith expect of me, constantly giving me bits and pieces of my love's, as if he were to never return? Does he truly expect me to fall apart in public? To give him the satisfaction of knowing the pain he causes me?!

No. I refuse! His silver tounge may have convinced Planetars to join his side, but I will never trust him. He is lower than the lowest scum. And I will be pleased when he finally gets his due. I will make certain that he lands in the deepest of the Demonweb Pits, entertaining Lloth's creations for an eternity or longer, if it can be managed.

I begun praying, recently. At first, 'twas just to Corellon, Ymerion's patron, pleading for his swift and safe return.....but now I have even offered a few words to Ellistraee. Much I have heard of her...yet still, questions burn in my mind. I hope that one day soon I will be able to speak with Nyte. Hopefully, she will have the answers I lack.

I'm so tired. Very very tired.....

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

It's the aftermath of battle that greets Isonade as she passes into the Market Ward. If one could see beneath her cowl, they'd find her face thinner and drawn, obviously weary. Her eyes pass with a quiet respect over the dead Sigilians still lying about, though she consciously and continuously steps on or kicks Shadowsworn bodies in her path. As she makes it to the square infront of the Foul Old Spirit, she finds her brother standing at a corner stall, appearing well. She lets out a small breath or relief, and approaches, quietly asking after the events of the past night of war.

Hearing of Ymerion's return to himself filled her with a brief joy, though it was quickly overshadowed by the fact that he had headed back into the dragon's maw. A silent and swift prayer to Corellon was offered, one of many these past few days as she took a post near Darremar, watching the crowds pass by quietly.

A glance toward the Inn nearly made her heart stop in shock. The breath she took felt like the first after several days of slow drowning as she watching Ymerion stride into view, hale and whole (by all appearances) as the day he'd left. His name was like a prayer and a cry of happiness, as she met his swift approach with open arms, crying and laughing all at once. All she could say, all she could think was "He's safe, He's safe, he's alive, he's HOME." Showering light kisses all over his face, and just soaking up the warmth of his arms consumed her thoughts for that space of time, hardly noticing her brother and his love, Lyra, when she came to join them.

A few hours of soft conversation, nervousness over a few items that brought back darker memories, and a crow of glee over a miraculous (and long sought-after) gadget gifted to her took up most of the morning. Around midday however, when Lyra made to take her leave for a hunt, Isonade led Ymerion to her (now their) abode in Karasuthra. His marvel at her work and effort made her heart soar to new heights, as she proudly showed off where they could both retreat to.

The tour ended at the bedroom, were first a "catching up" conversation was had,before things took a decisively....private turn. That night, she truly slept, dreaming of all the good things that had just come that day. She woke with a silly grin on her face, and a slightly slower, lighter step; she ached, but this ache was the good kind.

[*Kari_Shadowfox]

A few hours since they had fallen asleep next to each other, wearied from their "activities", Isonade slips from Ymerion's warm embrace, barely disturbing the larger elf as he sleeps on. She quickly dons a short, seafoam green dressing gown, and pads silently out into the hall.

Collecting a her bag from the dining table where she had tossed it earlier, she enters her lab, the warded door closing softly behind her. Perching herself on her workstool, she takes out numerous gemcutting and shaping tools, as well as the sketch she'd be given by Ymerion earlier that day. A pair of large rubies, four fire opals, and a pair of orange-colored diamonds joins the pile she'd made on the table.

"Now....let's see...." she mutters as she peers over the sketch. "I'll start with the rubies..." She traces her finger along the curved body of the dragon pictured, before setting into the long and tedious task of cutting the gem to look as shown.

If Ymerion notices her absence, he'd also see none of her clothes were picked up, and may hear faint scratching, scraping and tinging sounds from the lab's door, if he got up to look for her. If not, she'd work for at least four or five hours, before slipping back into the bed she had left.