OneFineMorning
First, a couple of important NPCs that were left-over from an earlier attempt at this campaign - so the player had heard of them and they don't get explained as much as they could below.
Master Craftswoman Iyara of the Guild: Ravhat's major Guild contact who runs a smithing operation, and has a regular spot in the Little Market where she sometimes pays Ravhat to attract customers with her music.
Steadfast Oak: An old holy man who tends a shrine dedicated to various gods and spirits in a small park near where Ravhat lives. Ravhat has spent time discussing religion and philosophy with him and visitors to the shrine and is on friendly terms with him.
<Scene: Ravhat in her dwelling. After her morning combat exercises and settling into her prayer and meditation routine.>
Ravhat begins her daily prayers as the light of the rising Unconquered Sun comes shining in through her window. Today goes well as she loses herself in a meditative state and loses all sense of time. She feels a sense of oneness with her god that she's rarely experienced. In your mind, she finds herself standing above the city of Nexus on some tall building providing a wide view over the cityscape. She takes notice of the Sun shining directly above her, larger in the sky than usual, but she has no problem looking directly into the Sun; Its rays seem comforting rather than harsh.
For the first time she notices the "Nexus snow," the black ash from the town's industries falling from the sky. Then she notices that mixed in the with the ash, droplets of blood start to fall like rain all around her. She looks back down towards the cityscape to see it has changed dramatically. The sky turns dark and fires rage across the city. The sounds of suffering fill her ears. She looks down to street level and sees a torrent of blood rising up from the tunnels beneath Nexus.
She awakens suddenly from her meditation, the position of the Sun indicating that a whole hour has already passed. She's still a bit shaken, but she manages to pull yourself together and get ready for the day. Today, she'd planned on doing some flute playing for a little cash and stopping by Oak's shrine a little later. Despite being a little shaken, she sets out for the day.
Raven settles on Ravhat's shoulder as she leaves her apartment, and she feeds him a bit of food from her pocket. After gulping down what she gives him, he notices that she are a bit distracted.
"You ok?"
"Well enough, thank you. See anything interesting this morning?" (This is asked casually - Ravhat expects he saw nothing more than a bunch of shiny stuff - but there's always the chance there was actually anything *she* would find interesting.)
"I ate some good tasting bugs. Many shiny things I saw this morning and many people. Some of the shiny things were shiny even when they were in the shade. I saw a man with some shiny things and I tried to get a closer look, but he smelled wrong, like he was dead, but he was walking around so I left him alone. Then I saw some round and shiny things and I took one from the man who had them and took them to my nest."
"You should try not to steal, you know. It's not good." Not that she thinks she has any chance of reforming her companion, of course. In fact, Raven seems confused by this comment. One gets the impression that the whole concept of "property" is somewhat foreign to him. "Do you think I could see the shiny thing you took? I promise I won't make you give it back." It's probably a glass bead or something - trust Raven to pass up the interesting stuff.
Raven returns in a few moments with a ring. While it is indeed shiny, upon close examination it seems to be a rather cheap knockoff that the the less reputable street vendors try to sell to out of towners.
They head down to a local tavern to play with a couple other musicians to provide some soft music for the breakfast and lunchtime crowd. As usual, Ravhat's flute playing manages to attract a few extra people who come in just for the music. The owner is pleased by the performance and hands her a bag of jade coins for your efforts.
Afterwards she stops by Iyara's shop in the Little Market to provide some musical entertainment to attract customers as she's done many times before. Ravhat notices that in addition to the usual metalworked products that Iyara and her apprentices produce, she's also got some unusual objects on display. There are a few First Age trinkets, mostly relatively common items such as glowing stones. Iyara also demonstrates a knife that balances perfectly upright no matter what edge is placed on the table.
Ravhat asks Iyara about this during a break. "Oh I got these from one of my Guild suppliers. They got their hands on some First Age knick knacks recently. Somebody must have dug some up recently."
"Indeed. Digging things up can be dangerous." Ravhat shrugs. "Still, I suppose that's the digger's business."
During the break, she looks over the stuff, trying to inspect and handle each item as much as she can while still appearing to be nothing more than causally interested. It's possible, she supposes, that even simple trinkets like this could trigger one of the flashbacks she has experienced from time to time. Mostly she gets no reaction, but a couple of times she experiences a sense of slight familiarity that she can't really place; a feeling like something is on the tip of her tongue but she can't quite remember it. One of the objects, though, catches her attention. It is an amulet displaying a triangular insiginia of some sort. Whatever meaning it may have had is long forgotten, but when she handles it, an unpleasant shiver goes up her spine. She gets no flashes of anything specific, but she momentarily experience a sense of dread.
Holding it up to Iyara, trying to maintain a casual air and conceal her disgust at having to handle it any longer: "This one's, er... pretty. Any idea what it is?"
Iyara shrugs and responds in a casual tone: "I'm no historian. I just thought somebody might be willing to pay a few coins for it. If you like it, I can throw it in with your payment."
"Thank you. I'd... like that." Ravhat tries to repress a shudder as she places it in her pouch, not wanting to touch it any more than necessary. She makes a mental note to ask Master Oak about it when she gets to his shrine.
Later, she sits on a bench in the park and gardens surrounding Master Oak's shrine. She relates her vision to Oak. After thinking for several minutes, he speaks: "Your vision is most disturbing, young Ravhat. I can understand your unease. It is difficult to say, but perhaps this is a warning sent by the gods. If so, you must be ready in case you have an opportunity to prevent this disaster. <He stands and gestures toward the shrine> I suggest we make offerings to the gods and spirits and pray for their guidance."
After several minutes of prayer and meditation Ravhat and Oak are interrupted. Raven lets out a fearful "caw" and flies from her shoulder to the top of her head. Looking over, Ravhat sees what appears to be a girl in her late teens, dressed in a shirt and skirt, with red hair and a prominent set of cat ears peeking out from underneath her hair.
She seems somewhat surprised by Raven's reaction to her presense, but she manages to wave and says: "Um...Hi there!"
Ravhat smiles. "Hello there yourself." Half-turning to Master Oak: "An acquaintance of yours, Master?"
Oak stands:"Ah yes, Ravhat, this is an old friend of mine, Trisalinali."
Raven is rather disturbed by the presence of the cat girl and flies up to a nearby tree branch and continues to watch her closely; Ravhat tries to coax him down. "Don't worry. I won't let her hurt you," she says with a smile and a wink at the girl, although she thinks she trusts Raven enough to keep an eye out, in case it's just more than just bird-cat relations. She manages to calm Raven down a bit and he settles back on her shoulder, but still keeps a wary eye on the cat girl. "Don't let her near me."
The girl gives a big friendly smile revealing the presence of extended fangs that somehow seem to just add to her cuteness: "Oh please, just call me 'Tris.' <she skips over and extends a hand in greeting> So, 'Ravhat' is it?"
"It is. It's nice to meet you, Tris."
Tris suddenly looks apologetic. "Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt anything, and I'm sorry if I scared your bird. That happens to me a lot. Feel free to continue what you were doing. I just wanted to show Oak my new music box. Nothing important."
Ravhat: "No, we were just finishing. A music box, eh? May I see as well? I like music."
Tris seems happy. "Sure, if you want to." She sets a small box down between Ravhat and Master Oak. It's impossible to tell what it's made of, but it looks to be the product of fine craftsmanship.
Tris opens the top: music starts to play. It is beautiful by any standards, as if an orchestra were contained within the box. As the music starts the box also projects images in the air above it. While the music plays two vaguely human shaped figures, one gold colored, the other silver, appear and execute a ritualized courting dance of some sort.
The images and the music bring a nagging sense of familiarity and cause unexpected emotions to well up within Ravhat. She feels joy, then the sadness of loss and a sense of longing, followed by the anger of betrayal. She also feels somewhat frustrated as she feels she should remember the reasons behind the emotions, but can't. She almost tears up but manage to hold her emotions in check.
Ravhat snaps out of it a bit and realizes that Tris is talking to her and Oak. "It's really pretty, isn't it? A friend of mine gave it to me yesterday. It must be very old."
Steadfast Oak turns to Ravhat with a kindly smile: "Are you alright, my child?"
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