Light, noise, dust, clamouring throngs. Ulor had never been fond of large, bustling settlements as this one. In truth, he had not been fond of smaller ones, either, and most certainly was not now, but for vast cities he reserved a more intense distaste than he bore for any other collection of inhabited buildings. That they should exist at all did not concern him in the slightest; however, the fact that passing through them seemed to be a constant necessity was positively aggravating. Yet this was not, after all, the worst part of what his quest had brought him into. Cities could, perhaps, not be avoided, but they only had to spend a few days at a time in any of them. No, what placed an even greater strain upon his patience was the necessity of having an entire band travel alongside them, especially that vile green imp who, it seemed, was determined to visit the affliction that was her voice upon anything and everything in the environs. Pleasant as it would have been to clobber her into silence, though, he could not deny that it would have been unwise to diminish this makeshift cohort they had stumbled upon, especially considering what had transpired in Fellmire.

As he went through his morning rituals after a brief night of dim, inchoate visions, Ulor's thoughts returned to the decaying town and the dreams which had guided them there. The voices of sleep had directed them to that place, yet, at the time they had spoken of it, the creature that had cast its curious spell - it would have been worth investigating further, had there been time - over it had been no more remarkable than any other sea hag. For days, the rationale behind the voices' actions had eluded him, until, finally, he had understood. They had known that only if Ulor and the familiar entity, and presumably the others, would have reached the town, the hag would have called upon its shadowy and hidden ally, and that force would have acted in such a manner as to reveal itself. That was an inevitability, and it had to be so. It followed that this being was something the voices knew to be conducive to finding the secret. That was the sense of things, and what would happen would happen.

Squinting as he issued from the inn and into the daylight, Ulor clutched his staff in irritation as the din of the city grew louder about him. The people were clouds of dust, swirling chaotically along the street, brushing and mingling with each other, the sonorous wind blowing through them. There was a celebration of some sort, he had heard. Ululations of inane breezes in mouths of sand. He blinked a few times, his eyes growing accustomed to the luminosity, and exchanged a glance with the familiar, which was perched upon, or rather wrapped around, his shoulder. The creature residing in the form of a pale, almost spectre-like octopus responded with the hollow gaze of its vitreous orbs and a slight undulation of its bloated body. The voices had been silent for some time, and it had nothing to say. For now, at least.

As he moved to follow the rest of the party to their next destination - a temporal ruler of some sort, yet again distasteful, but necessary if he was to make any progress - his attention was drawn by the loud and rather wild words of a nearby dragonborn, whose speech verged on oddly familiar subjects. An "end of the world" was nothing new; but this one seemed to know something of the being they were seeking. How or why was circumstantial; what Ulor found most intriguing was what was the truth behind his words, and whither it could lead. This was an occasion not to be disregarded. Eager to gaze through the dragonborn's thoughts with the eye of living dreams, he began to reach for his orb of incantation, but then stopped short. No, this would not do; the wisdom he wielded was not one to be invoked in the glare of day, amidst the storm of vacuity. Another approach would have rendered itself necessary - and see, the vociferous sprite had approached the speaker, and was whispering something to him. It might have been she were rendering herself useful for once. Not enough to offset her tiresome nature, but it was something to begin with. Nonetheless, it would have been better to ensure she performed adequately.

Evoking the mouth of distorted thoughts, Ulor reached out for the tiefling's mind and spoke within it, the swirling patterns of his psychic touch manifesting to her as his usual whispering voice:

[i]"We require the knowledge he holds. Draw it from him or lead him into a place where I may do it, and we shall all gain from it."[/i]


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Ulor uses Awakened Mind to convey a brief telepathic message to Daisy.

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[@Ermine]