Makara IC

The four of you awake, feeling a bit sore and colder than you're used to. As you wake you're not entirely sure why, until you open your eyes and the sights you see cause you to remember where you are. The soreness comes from sleeping on the ground with no coverings aside from the clothes you wear (and perhaps more so if you slept in your armor). The coldness is harder to place. All your lives you've lived in a land where the temperatures drop perhaps to the 40s only in the middle of the night in winter and only that low in the north. It is only autumn and it is dawn, and yet it is still barely above 50 degrees. It must be something about Ruined Kelfas you think. And then you recall more clearly that you are in the legendary ruins of Kelfas, the city from which your ancestors came and their ancestors built in the name of Erathis, a name your people now barely utter out of mix of cultural shame and fear and disappointment. You remember seeing the walls and the size of the city itself as you came in and it was just as grand in scope as the legends told, though you had never truly believed them. Otherwise though it looked nothing like the ways those legends portrayed it. The buildings that commonly stretched a dozen or more stories into the air and the massive towers that dwarfed them are nowhere to be seen. Only ruins and overgrowth. Though most of the walls still stand, if in disrepair, as if to guard the city against being swallowed up by the jungle.

Looking around you see you are in a large cage of barbed wire along with about a hundred other souls. This brings forth the memory of your arrival here and how you and those you traveled with were brought into the city by a group of what you assume are bandits and then split up. The others taken away, presumably to another cage somewhere, not that you have any way of knowing. The bandits that guard you cage number in at roughly twenty, armed with spears and bows. Though some have swords and daggers as well and some sport a crossbow rather than a bow. While they'd stripped you of your belongings, especially your weapons, they left you with the clothes on your back, not even concerned about your armor apparently. As long as nobody comes too close to the edges of the cage and doesn't cause trouble they have let you do what you wish for the few days you have been in here and so you've talked to the others, some who were here before you and some who were brought in later. They report much the same things. They come from nearby settlements or are nomads or traders or sailors who traveled too close and were captured by these men and brought here. Like you, they were split up as well. Though you note that any children seem to be accompanied by their parents.

Whenever anyone asks the guards how long you are going to be kept in the cage they have been told "not long". You wonder if today something will change or if it will just be another day of your "not long" imprisonment.

---

Theirastra and Drachedandion are in one cage, Parveth and Adelinde are in another. The cages are not close by enough to have seen the other one(s) and you're not even aware they're there for sure. Also you have not spoken to each other yet, but due to the way the crowd moves around each pair finds themselves in close proximity.

All of you please give me an Arcana check (but please go ahead and start RPing).

Arcana checks:

Steam
(Near Ketha)
The water genasi gets up somewhat slowly and shivers slightly, before very comfortably starting a series of yoga-esque stretches in a soft white gown while her armor lays piled nearby. She smiles and waves happily at the dragonborn without stopping her warmup stretches. "Morning! Chilly out today, huh?"

Parveth
(Near Adelinde)
The wood elf doesn't immediately get up on waking. Laying on her back, still wearing her armor from the day prior, she turns to the tiefling and looks over her briefly. If the tiefling meets her gaze, she tiredly says, "Good morrow," before facing the sky again.

Ketha, rubbing her hands for warmth, gives a friendly smile and nod for agreement to the genasi...

(Arcana Check: 10 (Roll) + 4 (Skill) = 14)

Steam
The water genasi giggles slightly and moves to another stance. "Right? I'm Steam by the way; I know, it's really on the nose but such it is."
She moves smoothly through another few stances, these seeming more like martial poses than the previous, and begins flowing back and forth through them slowly. "Have you been here long?"

"Good morning." Adelinde says with a small nod and a flick of her tail as she sits, eyes closed and quietly humming a tune. Occasionally she frowns for a moment and goes over a small section, making changes until she's satisfied and continues building her song.

Arcana check results:
Parveth doesn't really notice anything as the magical stuff going on is basically tuned out like background noise.

Steam & Ketha slowly notice that Kelfas is full of magic, but it's by and large just... there. As if whatever effects are almost part of the world around them.... almost.

Adelinde notices the same as the above two and realizes that something going on there is probably some kind of weather and temperature alteration or control, though it's so large scale and long lasting (perhaps permanent?) that she's out of her depth as far as being able to figure out any more than that. Also she notices there are fluctuations in the magic and there are occasional spikes of strong magical activity out there... which must be quite strong indeed if she can sense them from this far off. However they're all very strange and she can't figure out anything more, at least not without being a lot closer to any individual thing.. assuming there are any objects or creatures these magical flarings are coming from and they aren't just a result of ancient magic coming apart (which wouldn't be a shock since an uncountable number of spells and magical objects must have suffered damage when Kelfas fell).

"A few days now," replies the dragonborn, "Yourself?"

Steam
(near Ketha)
The water genasi stops sharply from her exercises and gives a little excited hop, leaning toward the dragonborn and closing quite a bit of the space between the two. "Heyy us too! Well, I guess just me now; I'm not really sure where Parveth got taken to. It's been a little less than a week since we got..." She pauses for a moment, before continuing almost shyly, "Well, don't tell Parveth I said this but... rescued."

Parveth
(near Adelinde)
The wood elf lays quietly for a time, just watching the sky and listening to the tiefling's humming. When her song seems to have reached a conclusion, Parveth softly speaks up. "That was quite nice...is that from something?"

The dragonborn gives a contemplative look around the cage. "This is rescued?"

"Just what is going on out there...?" She mutters to herself, frowning a little at the most recent magical flare before jumping when Parveth speaks. "Ah! Haha...thank you. It would've been nicer if I could remember the whole thing in one go. Wouldn't have had to correct myself so much. It's from a story I heard sung when I was young of a pair of childred who chased a falling star. Our surroundings reminded me of a part where they explore the ruins of their people's past."

Steam
"Well, this is no resort that's for sure, but before they showed up," She halfway points towards the guards, "we were fighting some kind of flame skull and a suit of armor. We all did what we could, and I did my thing all like Pshoo pshoo pshoo!," she prods the air to emphasize the sounds, "but we really weren't prepared for whatever magical monstrosity those things were..." Her genial excitement fades momentarily, and she becomes almost solemn.
"We lost several friends before the guards showed up." She pauses again, before resuming her cheerful tone.
"But! Now we're in here and not being attacked, so all things considered I'm pretty okay with it! Did you not have a similar experience? I hope not; no one wants to hear the same tale twice."

Parveth
The wood elf responds with something of a 'hmph,' but otherwise continues to watch the sky.

"Ambushed with a few of the others around," The dragonborn crosses her arms, looking away with disappointed eyes, "Outnumbered, our choice was imprisonment, or meeting the Raven Queen."

Steam
The water genasi looks a little confused when the Raven Queen is mentioned, but smiles nonetheless and responds with a warm, "Well, I'm glad you're here now! Besides, I can't imagine we'll be here too long, they do say we'll be let out soon."
While continuing the conversation, she moves over to the pile of armor and begins donning it.

"You don't happen to feel anything strange do you?" She asks after a moment of silent contemplation.

Parveth
"Strange..." The wood elf takes a moment to think, before retorting, "Being held captive is relatively new for me."
She pauses for a moment, before continuing, "Other things that are strange. That cloud up there looks somewhat like a hare. My nose has an itch but I'm not particularly inclined to scratch it. You are the first tiefling I've met who hasn't already tried to stab me. Many things are strange here; take your pick."

"Every day is 'soon' to them," remarks the dragonborn...

Steam
The water genasi's smile falters a bit, but she bounces back quickly and with a short hop gets close to the dragonborn again, a portion of her armor hanging loosely off her shoulder and the rest somehow splayed out on the ground already from the previously orderly pile.
"Hey now don't be like that. Things are going to work out alright. These people obviously care about us somewhat, what with how they took us alive and are feeding us and let us keep our clothes. I'd be immeasurably surprised if we're not let free within a..." She pauses and thinks for a moment, presumably mentally weighing things against each other, before stating, "Within a week. 1000% sure of it."

"I meant regarding magic., but wow you've met some lousy tieflings haven't you?" She says with a slight shake of her head.

Parveth
The wood elf gives a 'hmm' in affirmation before saying, "No; I don't sense any strange magic. I am also not a mage. If you see a water genasi, she might be able to assist you." She sighs before saying, "She's not in this cage of course, but who knows. After all we're going to be let out soon."
You can't see her eyes, but you can tell there's an eyeroll at the end of that sentence.

After about an hour later a few more bandits/guards arrive at each cage and then the cage doors are opened and you are told to follow. The guards give themselves a decent amount of distance, but are surrounding the groups with equal numbers from all directions. They then march you somewhere slightly less than two hours away.

They stop at a large cleared area you think might have been some kind of crossroads or such as it's a large flat area with cobblestones and not much else except for seven lit fire pits. You see two other groups of captured people arrive about at the same time, one roughly the same size as yours and another about half that size. The guards hang back and spread out to surround the area, ushering the groups into the area around the fire pits. And most people obligingly go right up to said fire pits as they're used to much warmer temperatures. The four of you all wind up roughly between two of the fire pits as Parveth and Theirastra head towards each other and the other two wind up following along as it's easier than pushing through the crowd to get near a fire.

The four don't have time to interact more than simple "You ok?" type stuff, as a person in grey robes walks up to a podium, that has clearly just been set up nearby recently as it's a simple thing made of wood that looks fairly new and doesn't match the architecture and looks a bit out of place now that you notice it, and loudly shouts for everyone to quiet down. You can see two other nearby figures in brown robes, but they just stand there as the grey robed one steps off the podium and another person steps up onto it. This person appears to be a male elf, though you are slightly unsure. They certainly have pointed ears and a lack of facial and body hair like an elf, but they are more muscular than any elf you have ever seen. If this was a human, they would have the appearance of a massive bodybuilder that could probably bench another bodybuilder. Being an elf they aren't quite that muscular, but elves tend very much towards slim and wiry than overly muscled so this man must be incredibly strong. After your eyes finally pry themselves away from the muscles, they might notice that his hair has a bit of grey in it and he has a great many scars. He looks down to the grey robed person and they nod and cast some kind of spell on him. He then speaks, and his voice seems to be loud and clear through the whole area, even for those farthest away.

"Welcome all of you to Ruined Kelfas. I am in charge of the men who brought you here. If any of you have come from as far away as the sister cities or know those who travel there, you may know of me by the moniker 'The Boar' or if you were in less gracious company 'The Old Boar' ". At this he gives an acknowledging grin, which hints that maybe there is a bit of warmth to him buried deep underneath the stern exterior.

"For those of you who that means nothing, I once lived here before Kelfas was ruined and I was part of the military forces that lead our peoples north. Some time ago I petitioned the noble lords and ladies of the sister cities for forces to take back our old home. They responded with an insultingly paltry number of troops, but I took them anyway. As we traveled south we encountered bandits as the nobles knew we would and likely assumed we would remove before finally perishing ourselves. Instead under my leadership we overcame them and gave them the choice of joining our mission or perishing. Few chose the later option and our numbers grew. Finally we came upon this once great city and found that most of the orcs had left, though a sizable number still remained. We then laid siege to the orcs. Were it not for the half-orcs turning against their loathsome kin we may well have failed. As is, we drove off the orcs and have spent our time clearing out a sizable area as there are more dangers here than simple orcs. We have cleared out about half the city as much as we can and it is....relatively safe. However a bunch of soldiers and bandits are not enough to rebuild. We need to clear the fallen structures and the overgrowth, grow crops enough to feed our numbers, and build or repair what structures we can. This is why you are all here. I know well the fear and hopelessness our people have regarding our old home so I know too few would willingly come here to rebuild. But we must rebuild and many lives have been lost so that we can and so you have been brought. For those of you wondering if you will be no more than slaves, for most of you I predict the answer will be yes. You do have a choice in the matter. Not a choice in whether you are free to leave of course. But a choice in how you will serve to rebuild Kelfas. You may choose to be slaves and do labors and while lacking freedom, you will be protected as best we can provide and in ten years time of such labors you will be free to pursue whatever careers you desire if those careers are possible in whatever state our city will be in at that time. Or you may choose to join my men, though I warn you that if you choose to do so you will be expected to fight and gather more people to be put in the same position you are now. So I recommend you do not sign up lightly, thinking to sit back and enjoy to fruits of others' labors. When not fighting, my men work much the same as the rest of you will, though they do have the privilege of more rest and better supplies if we have them. Also know that for the foreseeable future my men serve for life. There is also a third choice for those of you who cannot stomach what my men have to do but who also cannot bear to be slaves. You can choose to fight the dangers left in Kelfas and bring us back what useful relics and magics you can. I expect few of you will take this option, but those who do and who succeed in six fruitful outings will be free to leave and may also choose two others who may go with them."

The Boar, finished speaking, steps down from the podium and nods again to the grey robed figure who takes the podium. Now that they have more to say you can tell the speaker is probably female, though they have a strange scratchy voice. "I'm sure hearing those words has made you all think that it might be better to try and overwhelm the men surrounding you and try and make your escape. This would be foolish since those fires you are huddled around are actually fire elementals I have bound and will gladly release upon you in I am given permission to do so." Pretty much everyone backs away from the fire pits in fear at these words. "Now... those of you who wish to join our number please gather around the red fires." and at this the woman casts a quick spell upon the two fires closest to the podium that turn a crimson red color and pretty much anyone who was still near them backs away as well. "And those of you who so nobly have so much regard for others and so very little for yourselves as to choose to fight Kelfas herself, please gather around the blue fire." and at this she casts another spell on the eastern most fire and again those left nearby back away hurriedly. "You have five minutes to make your choice." she says and then steps down from the podium and she, the Boar, the brown robed figures, and another speaking to the Boar wait to see what happens.

Parveth
The wood elf continues lying in her spot for the better part of their time in the cage, continuing her somewhat awkward conversation with the tiefling, and sitting up only when the cage door is unlocked. She follows the tiefling out, somewhat dragging her feet on the march to the crossroad. When the other groups come into view, she, like many others (I would imagine) begins searching them with her eyes for someone that she knows, and finds the cerulean girl relatively quickly among the other non-cerulean people. She waves an arm high to signal that she has found Steam and to assist the genasi's search for her, before starting to plow forward through the crowd toward the genasi.

Steam
The water genasi is practically jubilant when they're led from the cage, but surprisingly doesn't try and laud it over Ketha...at all. She exits with the crowd, her bouncing steadily decreasing as their two hour march progresses. By the time they arrive at their destination she's almost walking flatly. Almost.
Noticing the other crowds of people she immediately starts jumping up in an attempt look over the crowd and search out Parveth quickly. She finds the wood elf waving her arm at her and moving through the crowd with...not a lot of regard for the people between them. Steam begins moving in her direction as well, waving for the dragonborn to follow her.
Once they become close enough Steam pulls the wood elf into a tight hug and holds her for a fairly long moment, Parveth neither really embracing her back nor pushing her off. Satisfied, the genasi backs off slightly before waving happily to the tiefling who seems to have followed the elf in her wake.

History checks:

When the elf introduces himself as "The Boar," Steam turns to Parveth and semi-quietly starts, "Hey isn't he..." before Parveth clamps a hand over her mouth and shouting her a look which strongly implies, 'Quiet. We need to hear this.'

After the speech is over the two shortly compare notes and recall the following details:
That yes they recall the Boar was a high ranking leader of the forces of Lf'ern who had been part of the military back in the days before the fall of Kelfas. He wasn't the highest ranking and didn't have the most influence and was something of an oddity in that he was known for front line fighting. There was a big to do about him trying to raise forces to take back Kelfas a few decades back and he went to all three sister cities asking the noble lords and ladies for aid and eventually he was granted a small force made up only of volunteers as the nobles thought it was a hopeless endeavor, but also decided it would look bad to actually try and stop him. As such he left on not the greatest of terms with pretty much anyone of standing. That was a little over ten years ago. Most people assumed his group would clear the immediate area of their, at the time rather heavy bandit presence and probably get about half way before getting devoured by dinosaurs and monsters in the jungle. Neither can recall his actual rank or his name. Though at least he does match his described appearance (Theirastra being too young and having no reason to have every actually seen him in person and Parveth also lacking any reason to have ever met a person of such rank in the military forces). Looking closely they do see that some of the men seem rather disciplined for what they had assumed were merely bandits, also rather well armed. Also that discipline seems to have been at least somewhat imposed on the others who most likely were never military men, such as the half-orcs which wouldn't have been allowed to draw breath anywhere near the sister cities.

It does not take Ketha long to make a decision. She heads towards the blue flame...

Steam & Parveth
The water genasi and the wood elf are less sure of what to do than the dragonborn. Steam turns to Parveth, "So what do you think?"
The wood elf frowns slightly in thought. "I am...unsure. None of them are immediately catching my favor. Physical labor is not exactly desirable, but a decade is not long for the guaranteed completion of a dream. However with your shorter life and..."
She searches for a word for a moment, before settling with "...zeal, I cannot imagine you wanting this path. We are no longer bound by the contract, of course, I would say we have suffered the requisite 'heavy casualties' to call an end to it."
The cerulean lady gives her a skeptical look, and says, "Cmaan. Cmaaaaaaan. We've been through enough that I'm not just gonna up and leave. Though yes you are right I would prefer not the slave labor."
A small smile sneaks onto the elf's face, but only for a moment before it returns to her more usual stolid face. "That then leaves soldiering for the the Boar or...rushing to meet Kelfas once again," she says, her hesitation for the second option relatively evident.
Steam nods slightly in agreement, thinking for a moment, before addressing the tiefling nearby. "How about you, what do you think about all this? Also, hello!"
Parveth gives the genasi an exasperated look, but doesn't say anything.