#eleint

[druidshollow]

eleint is a severe dramaqueen. unfortunately for him, astarion knows this game

[malazansapper]

‘Grieve for the Jaghut, High King, when at last you sit on that throne. Grieve for the chains that bind all life, that you can never break. Weep, for me and my fallen kin - who did not hesitate to join a war that could not be won. Know, for ever in your soul, Kallor Eidorann, that the Jaghut fought the war no other has dared to fight.’

‘Eleint . . . ‘

‘Think of these people. Think of them, High King. The sacrifice they made for us all. Think of the Jaghut, and an impossible victory won in the heart of defeat. Think, and then you will come to understand all that is to come. Perhaps, then, you alone will know enough to honour their memory, the sacrifice they made for us all.

‘High King, the Jaghut’s only war, their greatest war, was against Death itself.’

The dragon turned away then, spreading its tattered wings. Sorcery blossomed round the huge creature, and it lifted into the air.

Kallor stood, watching the Eleint rise into the cinnamon sky. A nameless dead dragon, that had fallen in the realm of Death, that had fallen and in dying had simply . . . switched sides. No, there could be no winning such a war. ‘You damned fool,’ he whispered at the fast receding Eleint. ‘All of you, damned fools.’ Bless you, bless you all.

Gothos, when next we meet, this High King owes you an apology.

On withered cheeks that seemed cursed to eternal dryness, tears now trickled down. He would think long and think hard, now, and he would come to feelings that he’d not felt in a long time, so long that they seemed foreign, dangerous to harbour in his soul.

And he would wonder, with growing unease, at the dead Eleint who, upon escaping the realm of Death, would now choose the Crippled God as its new master.

A throne, Emperor Kellanved once said, is made of many parts. And then he had added, any one of which can break, to the king’s eternal discomfort. No, it did no good to simply sit on a throne, deluding oneself of its eternal solidity. He had known that long before Kellanved ever cast an acquisitive eye on empire. But he was not one for resonant quotations.

Well, everyone has a few flaws.

Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson

[tattooideas123]

Malazan Dragon https://tattoo-ideas.com/dragon-malazan/

[malazansapper]

‘The dragons. The foolish ones, the wise ones, the living ones and the dead ones. If every world were but a place on the board, they would be the game pieces. Yet no single hand directs them. Each is wild, a will unto itself. And then there are the shadows - Edgewalker explained about those - the ones you can’t see.’

‘He explained, did he? Well, clearly the hoary bastard likes you more than he does me.’

‘They all cast shadows, Uncle,’ Panek said. ‘Into your realm. Every one of them. That’s why there’s so many prisoners.’

Cotillion frowned, then, slowly, inexorably as comprehension dawned, the god’s eyes widened.

The Bonehunters, by Steven Erikson

[therogue-librarians-assistant]

Diary of Anthony Black, 1494DR, Eleint

Working at the Grand Library has calmed down significantly after The Boss plane-shifted us out of the Shadowfell prematurely and then went off to seek a badger to make it a Boss of Dark Market.  Nothing too magical or life-threatening has happened since.

I come in three days a week and usually I work with the Quartermaster, Clord Clubbreaker, to clean the third floor of the library.  He’s very good for conversation, quite an interesting fellow.  We’re mostly done now, so I’ve taken to doing a more in-depth exploration.  There’s two rooms near the portal to Dark Market, one consecrated and one desecrated (the latter is full of what I assume to be burned books).  I’d have to ask Tamworth Truenature about the history of that.

Today was quite different.

I had known that the Library had aquired a property in the North Ward.  It was primarily Lydia and Luna cleaning it out, and I decided that I would leave them to it.  They’re quite a pair.

Apparently it was bombed earlier today.  Luna came to retrieve me and ask for my service in casting Speak With Dead.  The guard rebuffed her at the scene of the crime (I waited in the house; no sense pinning more scandal on myself that truly necessary) but we went to the precinct building and went to the morgue there anyways.

I ended up casting a Zone of Truth (always fun) and two Speaks.  She seemed to get helpful answers.  On our way out, she gave some information to the guard posted outside and reassured me that, while this was highly illegal, she would maintain that I was not involved and was coerced/just accessory.

I wished her luck and took the rest of the week off.

[therogue-librarians-assistant]

Diary, Eleint

Song of the Sealark, Luna, probably David and Simon as well finally got the teleportation circle up and running.  I am surrounded by spellcasters.

We had a nice time meeting the neighbors — there’s a nice couple (who I can only assume are genasi) who run a blacksmithing place nearby which I must visit at some point, and one of the magic supply shops that Luna frequents is also on the same alley.  The proprieter is friendly enough, might get some books on arcane theory from him at some point.

Then Trollskull Alley/Mannor got bombed, because we can never know peace.  The explosion was terrifying enough, but seeing the fire... it felt like I was burning.  Hiss, Sig, and Luna ran in and tried to help out.  I shook myself out of it not too long after and tried to assist where I could, but I was more than a little spell-shocked.

Then the guard showed up and we didn’t manage to find the person who did it and we didn’t find the person who ran away and we ended up meeting and defenting a kobold who was one of Chip’s old merc buddies and some changling showed up and demanded that we take her to Tamworth and it was all so much.

I talked to a little boy who had found the fireball necklace that was used — two beads left.  The guards were harassing him, poor kid.  He probably just had to watch his friends, his family, burn up in front of him.  I calmed him down, got the necklace, and when he left, I gave him some gold.  It’s nothing compared to what he’s lost, but it’ll help him.  He’s going to need it.

We think it was an automaton.  Hiss overheard a lady describe it as a “puppet without strings,” the same way people sometimes talk about Bluevolt.  We went to the Library first (had to introduce “Baby-Eater” to Tam and convince Shard that Chip had died.  Both agreed to hang around the library and work) before heading out to the temple of Gond.

Got attacked by a mechanical bird before walking in, but the priestess was cool.  They do have a nimblewright there, an old fellow named Nim, who’s a known troublemaker, but not one to bomb a street.  He did admit to creating a nimblewright of his own.  As punishment for attacking visitors, the priestess cleaned his room and gave us a nimblewright detector.  And an offer of 500 gold for the death (or arrest) of Nim’s nimblewright.

I know it’s not Blue, but it still feels... bad.  I know their workings inside and out and I know how I would.  But I don’t know if I could face Bea with the full knowledge of how I could kill them.

Once this all settles down, I think I might have to open up the fourth floor for exploration.  It’s been a long time.