Earthdawn Update

Just got out of one of the bigger stories for our two elves as they entered the Blood Wood.

In it Tal discovered that Alia was once married to his uncle (a blood elf himself), and had a child by him that she believed dead. This was two years ago and was the last time Alia was in the wood.

Tal disovered his heritage. His connection to the Carithasca Ranelle as well as his family was revealed. His father is one of the immortal elves and a former lover of Alachia's from before the Scourge. He married one of Alachia's handmaidens after his relationship to the queen ended and had two children with whom he shared his immortality. His wife was one of the first victims of the Ritual of Thorns and he left the wood, leaving his two children in the care of their grandmother, who put them into stasis for the duration to save them from the Ritual of Thorns. Tal's sister is the exolasher that had pursued us across Barsaive, and was loyal to the queen until she was confronted by issues that his arrival had brought up.

In the end, the queen charged us with finding the last rose grown in the Wyrm Wood and twelve acorns from the heart of the wood, all pattern items from the Wyrm Wood before it was reNamed. To ensure our loyalty she brought out her leverage...Alia's daughter, alive and well...and very happy visiting her "aunt" Alachia. The implied threat was that if we didn't come back in a year's time, Alia's daughter would be of age to undergo the Ritual of Thorns.

There was one other price to this. She wanted an emissary to go with, watch and protect Alia. She charged Tal with this, but needed him to become a citizen of the Blood Wood in order to bring him into her service. His choice was simple, he was to undergo the Ritual of Thorns or the mission would not go forward, Alia would disappear, and her daughter would undergo the Ritual. Tal had no choice but to agree. He couldn't bring himself to tell Alia, who he loved deeply, but who was taken by renewed feelings of mourning for her husband.

Alachia performed the Ritual herself. All was going according to plan when something seemed to happen. His immortal Pattern reacted with the wood spirit being put inside him and he rejected it. He was in agony, about to die from the pain as his Pattern destabilized when Alachia asked an ally of hers to merge with Tal instead...the great forest spirit Briarheart. Alachia merged the two and reNamed Tal. No longer was his name Carithasca, from then on he was Talanithir Blackthorne, and the ebony thorns ripping through his skin were all the proof anyone needed.

It took days to recover. Days Alachia played with Alia by not allowing her to see him. She did tell Alia he had undergone the Ritual, and Alia was sick with worry and disappointment, assuming that he either underwent it to become more like her husband, or did it out of a new love for the queen. She broke Tal's heart by the cold reception he received when he awoke. The confusion persisted until the next day, when a banquet was being held in Tal's honor. Nobles clustered around him, offering gifts and marriage proposals from their daughters as soon as he got back from his mission, and trying to make sure he remembered their names, but all he could think about was Alia, who kept glaring at him.

Finally she could take no more and dragged him onto a balcony and demanded an explanation. He gave it, very simply. He told her about Alachia's offer, that he knew Alia's life and her daughter's life depended on his completing the Ritual and showing Alachia his loyalty. He told her he did it out of the love and caring that had developed for her. He told her that even though he knew she did not love him in return, that as her protector and as someone who loved her that he had no choice.

She kissed him then. It was a brief show of her thanks, but for a moment all his pain went away. She kissed him on the lips and then on the forehead and thanked him for his sacrifice. It wasn't everything he wanted, but it was all she could give him at the moment. The two of them returned to the ballroom and he was taken by Alachia to her chambers. Alachia mentioned how proud she was of his quick adaptation to the Ritual, told him that he would be sacrificing his life force for the good of all people, in the wood and out, as his pain and his blood fed whatever corruption was at the center of the wood and prevented it from seeking furhter sustenance outside of it. And when we returned with the Pattern items we would vanquish it. She looked up at him with her large eyes and straightened his uniform as she mentioned other possibilities upon his return as well.

The next morning the two elves set off with Tal's sister running escort. She rode them to the edge of the wood and the river trip back down to Throal, and then gave him her going away present...a pledge of her loyalty. Tal had to seek out the one person who had vexed Alachia time and time again and still lived...he needed to seek out his father. Alia knew he was rumored to be in Thera at last report, as the Seekers of the Heart had kept tabs on his movements. Finding his father and getting his help was Tal's only hope of figuring out a way for Alia and her daughter to survive past this yearn. And when they did return, his sister would help him against the Blood Queen.

So with his new rose petal laced armor, thornblade and his father's sword Truefang, he accompanied his lady south towards Throal to meet up with the rest of the group. Tal is confused by Alia's duality. She doesn't love him, yet she seems to have some feelings for him. She seems to need him by her side so badly...

Still, nothing can come from thinking of things that may or may not be for now. She is mourning her husband and his job is to keep her safe, even if that means she is not happy with him.

So the elves travel south quietly, both lost in their own thoughts about the recent confrontations of their past.