[Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread
<h1 id="title">Elliquiy Role Playing Forums</h1>
		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Light =&gt; Light: Human Small Groups =&gt; Topic started by: MadPanda on 27-02-2007, 15:27:26</h2>
		<dl id="posts">
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>[Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>27-02-2007, 15:27:26</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<em>In the course of events, it becomes inevitable that those empowered to traverse shadow go their own way, or seek private conversations, or pursue interests unrelated to those close at hand.&nbsp; Here is where all such activities for Princess Inanna shall be recorded.</em>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>15-03-2007, 01:20:34</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				After resting for the last bit of day, enjoying food and company, such as they were, Inanna set off in the morning, ready to resume her journey. Fortunately for her, compared to the others, she was already part of the way to her destination.<br><br>She got on her horse and started out, once more heading towards the waterfall in her vision, now having an idea of what was waiting for her in the cave behind the waters. She needed a weapon, something to overcome her relatively low physical prowess. She needed something that would add a little something to her strikes; a hidden trick that she could keep with her. There was a story she remembered from her girlhood, a story about a sword called the Bite of the Viper. It could disguise itself as a pair of bracelets, but at need could become a deadly weapon, capable of felling a giant.<br><br>And so she continued, once more working to lower the temperature to get the place that housed her sword.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>15-03-2007, 15:37:32</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Leaving the cozy little inn and her siblings behind, she quickly finds the temperature dropping and the terrain getting more and more rugged.&nbsp; It shouldn't take too long to find <em>a</em> waterfall...finding <span class="bbc_u">the</span> waterfall might prove to be another matter.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>15-03-2007, 23:09:58</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				She focuses on her image, bringing in every detail from the story that she can. As the temperature lowers, she works on the surroundings, carefully fixing the trees, making the path break down into loose stones, almost a horse cart trail rather than a road.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>16-03-2007, 17:21:44</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				She gets it more or less perfect after another hour or so...and gets to see the large, pteradactyl-like creature before it sees her, besides!<br><br>Standing in the middle of a track might be unhealthy, under the circumstances.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>19-03-2007, 00:48:55</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Seeing the wheeling, sky-bound monstrosities in the air above her, she carefully, but quickly, guides her horse towards the treeline. The forest is not dense, fortunately, so she works to make sure that she stays to where it is too dense overhead for the bird-thing to attack her as she works to change the situation. She remembers nothing of guardians for the weapon, as it had been abandoned for generations. Still, this path making ability was clearly not without danger.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>19-03-2007, 15:30:17</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The forest gives Inanna some clue about the state of her chosen toy's former guardians.&nbsp; Here and there she finds stones that were once clearly part of something bigger--the 'forest' proves to be a former orchard which has overgrown the manor which once ordered its planting!&nbsp; Thus, aside from the local wildlife, she is not likely going to have much difficulty in finding her new plaything.<br><br>Just then, she feels a distant sense of something reaching out for her mind...
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>20-03-2007, 03:10:09</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Not sure what this compulsion is, but unwilling to simply let it go, Inanna starts to move towards the feeling, not sure if it's a good idea or not. Still, she goes warily, watching her surroundings and keeping her mental picture intact.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>20-03-2007, 03:21:59</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Inanna is suddenly aware of another mental presence...this must be what a Trump contact feels like from the receiving end!&nbsp; She is suddenly face to face with an unfamiliar man...<br><br>He is tall, dark haired, dark-skinned, barechested with dark and loose leggings...standing in a study or a library somewhere overlooking some curious rock formations.&nbsp; The bloody light of a sunset throws the scene into crimson flame.&nbsp; He has a fantastic tattoo of a serpent's head coming over his left shoulder and down onto his well-muscled chest.<br><br>"So.&nbsp; You are real after all," he says in a low, gravelly voice.&nbsp; Inanna can understand him easily enough, but his accent is strange.&nbsp; "I had wondered."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>22-03-2007, 00:24:11</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"I can't say the same," she replies, her guard up but her wits as sharp as ever. The warnings of her family echo in her mind as she looks at this stranger,&nbsp; one who apparently commands the same forces she does.<br><br>"I suppose that would put you at the advantage, since I have not beheld you before, in the eye of the mind or the body."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>22-03-2007, 05:39:29</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Am I not familar to you, then?"<br><br>He chuckles.<br><br>"Well and again, I suppose I am not.&nbsp; Does the Empress still rule in Al-Ahlam?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>24-03-2007, 14:50:04</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Surely if you know of me, you would know of the Empress," Inanna responds, "If your intent is to ask questions with readily apparent answers, I fear our conversation will not go very far."<br><br>She maintains her smile through all of this, keeping the bantering edge in her voice easily. It wouldn't do to be offensive, at least not at this point. This man was obviously a power of some kind; and boundaries would have to be established with care.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>24-03-2007, 18:21:31</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Oh, I do indeed know <em>of</em> her.&nbsp; <em>That</em> was not the point of my question.&nbsp; And I shall take the liberty of interpreting your non-answer as an affirmative."<br><br>He chuckles.&nbsp; Then his eyes narrow and his voice hardens.<br><br>"There will come a day when you will be in a position to ask a favor of me.&nbsp; Do not waste it."<br><br>And just like that, the contact cuts off...almost violently.&nbsp; Inanna is left once again to herself.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>26-03-2007, 21:47:16</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				"Well, that was odd. Not sure if I should be threatened or flattered at the attention," Inanna mutters to herself as she begins to guide her steed forward once more, turning her task back to reaching the cave.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>29-03-2007, 15:15:31</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				She finds a cave tucked neatly behind a waterfall about an hour later, most of which is spent working through the tangle of vines and rubble that blocked her path to it.&nbsp; Curiously enough, said cave appears highly regular...so this is probably the right place to find her new toy!<br><br>Now, if only the former owners neglected to leave any traps...
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>11-04-2007, 01:13:49</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				She approaches with caution, her thin blade drawn and her eyes flicking around the chamber. The story never said much of anything about the interior, and she wasn't sure if her ability to shape reality...or was it more like moving through reality...would help in this or not.<br><br>Instead, she decided to rely on wits and speed, her more typical abilities, to see her to the prize.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>11-04-2007, 02:03:56</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The chamber seems clear...deserted...no traps spring, no guardians attack.&nbsp; And yet, Inanna cannot help but feel uneasy.&nbsp; There's definitely something here, but it's so difficult to put her finger on what it might be!
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>11-04-2007, 03:21:18</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				She makes her way deeper into the cave, looking for the foretold weapon, weighing her options and keeping an eye on possible avenues of attack.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>11-04-2007, 16:13:42</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The next chamber, and the next, are lifeless, dust-free, echoing rooms of smooth stone.&nbsp; Finally, in the fourth chamber, she finds the object of her desire, resting on a finely carved pedestal...around which coils an enormous serpent!<br><br>Even as she watches, the great snake's eyes flicker and it rears back, its massive head turning toward her, tongue flicking in and out.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>12-04-2007, 00:59:04</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Inanna pulls back, smiling a little bit. She knew it couldn't be as easy as walking up and taking the Bite of the Serpent. She shifts towards the side, holding her rapier in front of her, waiting for the snake to strike so she can dodge and strike. It's a dangerous tactic, but it's better than rushing in and trying to dodge the snake up close, where its speed would be insurmountable.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>12-04-2007, 02:35:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				It does not take long for the massive reptile to oblige, and it lunges for her, fangs bared and dripping venom!
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>13-04-2007, 16:07:30</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Inanna dodges to the side, jabbing her rapier forward, aiming for an eye or at least a lightly scaled head portion, hoping for a quick, fatal stab.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>13-04-2007, 16:14:33</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				The eye proves a difficult target, but Inanna's timing is good enough...and the big snake is now blind on one side.&nbsp; It rears back, hissing with agony, to prepare another strike.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>17-04-2007, 03:52:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Hoping to take advantage, Inanna charges the monster, staying towards it's blindside in a circling inward movement, ready to duck aside if it lashes out and strike again, driving deeper in hopes of getting the brain without being poisoned.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>17-04-2007, 18:18:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Her next strike goes true, and the next, and with that the serpent gives one last hiss and goes into its death throes, leaving Inanna free to pursue her prize...once the twitching stops.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>19-04-2007, 01:52:13</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Inanna steps to the platform, well aware of the sudden muscle movements that even a near dead beast is capable of. She dances past its thrashing limb, eager to claim the sword from its place on the platform.<br><br>A sense of wild exultation fills her. She had never imagined that a children's story could be made real, seemingly through the power of will alone. Was there nothing that could not be wrought in this manner?
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>19-04-2007, 02:16:58</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<em>And now, Inanna gets two to five years to play before her interruption...</em>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rayve13</strong> on <strong>22-04-2007, 20:25:40</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Time...it's a funny thing about time. When people say time flies when you're having fun, what they often mean is that time flies when you're distracted from noticing its passage. And that's certainly true for Princess Inanna.<br>While many of the events she was a part of were not exactly "fun", they all served to give her insight, ability, and control that was lacking before.<br><br>She spent almost a year as a diplomat and concubine in a strange kingdom in the desert, improving her abilities in deception and seduction, rising the kingdom she worked for from a petty fief at an oasis to a major power, threatening the ruling dictatorship.<br><br>She had then moved on to something more...martial. Her new blade had been almost unused the previous year, and she embarked on an adventure as something of an adventure guide, protecting travelers through a dangerous forest full of monsters before in the end competing in a tournament full of traps and foul beasts, many of which she had never seen before, emerging victorious at the end.<br><br>From there, she considered herself little more than a wanderer, letting her imagination take her where it would, seeking out experience like a junkie, content to travel shadow and test its boundaries, waiting for whatever task was awaiting her siblings and herself....
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: [Amber: Court of Dreams] Side Quests: Inanna's Thread</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>MadPanda</strong> on <strong>22-04-2007, 20:33:10</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				One afternoon, as she takes her ease in a tavern, Inanna feels something she hasn't felt in a long, long while: a Trump contact, urgent and repeated.<br><br>Which proves to be her older sister Aysel, who looks anything but relaxed.<br><br>"There you are.&nbsp; Are you doing anything so vital it cannot be left until later?&nbsp; No?&nbsp; Then you'd best come through.&nbsp; There's a situation."<br><br>The older red-haired warrior holds her hand out to Inanna.<br><br>(and Inanna may go back to the main thread)
			</dd>
		</dl>
		<div id="footer" class="smalltext">
			
			<span class="smalltext" style="display: inline; visibility: visible; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?action=credits" title="Simple Machines Forum" target="_blank" class="new_win">SMF 2.0.19</a> |
 <a href="https://www.simplemachines.org/about/smf/license.php" title="License" target="_blank" class="new_win">SMF © 2021</a>, <a href="https://www.simplemachines.org" title="Simple Machines" target="_blank" class="new_win">Simple Machines</a>
			</span>
		</div>