[b]Collab with Kiddo[/b] 

Eeiys had only just finished wiping the blood off of Frost, as he always did after making multiple, bloody kills. The blade component of the weapon was deathly cold to the touch, and if stains were left too long, they would be almost permanently frozen to the metal, which could rust the blade and make it dull, and, therefore, ineffective. Eeiys was not going to risk losing the edge which kept him one step ahead of the Winter Knights. He pulled himself up slowly, drawing the weapon across the tattered cloth of one of the fallen militia, smearing it clean with each draw. It took him several moments to notice just how peculiar the silence had become; he had become used to scaring off small crowds with his little crusading displays on an almost weekly basis, but he did not ever think he could become accustomed to how quickly the world can go from echoing the sounds of clashing metal and screaming onlookers to… nothing. It was just like being back at The Gate. Silent as winter. 
The ruckus he was capable of causing was usually a fairly good signal to let the one he was looking for know that he was in town, but he didn’t seem quite on the ball today. maybe it was because they hadn’t seen each other in… how long was it? A year? Two? Eeiys could hardly remember. He had been on the run for longer than he dare think about. There weren’t even any birds chirping to give the now deserted plaza any semblance of ambience; one could easily hear the beating of their own heart if they tried hard enough. He was beginning to think that his contact wasn’t th- 

"Oh yes, good show! Encore, my good friend, encore! Find another heathen to slay, it was just getting good!” 

Eeiys, though stoic just moments before, dropped his head and began to chuckle, sliding Frost back into it’s sheathe and he turned his head to locate the source of the sound, coming from somewhere above. He lost the trace of the sound for a mere moment, before a door clicked behind him, and creaked open with a telltale enthusiasm.

"Well, well, one would think that you were on the way to see me, what with the dead soldiers being so conspicuously close to my doorstep, Eeiys." 

Eeiys watched with warming familiarity as the Goblin who had emerged from the doorway extended his invitation.

"So what will it be? A bauble for a girl? Want me to take a look at that sword of yours again and tell you to stop so-carelessly sharpening it with skulls again?”

“I’m sorry, old friend!” Eeiys called out in response, quickly striding towards the small, but friendly looking bipedal creature in the doorway. “Did I wake you?” he asked with another small chuckle, before extending his hand to the small creature.

"Yes, in fact you did. You see, this is something that some people call a 'weekend'. It's meant for wonderful pasttimes like sleeping in until the sun begins to go down, and maybe not firing up the kiln at all!" Dsialli took the armored man's hand and then waved him into the building. "No point in waiting for some proper soldiers to show up, is there?”

Eeiys never really knew how to feel about being led around by a Goblin. By the hand. Like a child. it was especially unusual given the proportions of the two and the disparity in their height. Still, Eeiys didn't want to offend the creature, Dssialii had been one of his very few remaining friends since he had been exiled. 

"You're right. Wouldn't want to add more bodies to the count. Besides, I think I may have stubbed my toe on one of those corpses. They're always in the way”

"And, with all the orc raids around these parts, you don't want to leave these poor villagers completely defenseless. They might not be the smartest soldiers, or the best at picking their battles and, uh, not dying, but they are still soldiers all the same." Not that Dssialii was particularly scared for himself; he'd once sat on his balcony smoking his pipe while an orc raid had gone on in the streets below, and had even struck up a chat with one of the raiders (a pleasant fellow named Vlekovsky or something of the sort, who'd lost an eye at some point and was pleased enough to buy a beautiful glass replacement with some of the spoils from their raid), though he'd kind of had to leave town after that whole thing. Not only was there not much work for him anymore, but those people who were left didn't take so kindly to his "conspiring with the enemy".

"But it sounds about time to invest in some proper socks. You ever get out of that armor these days? From what I've heard, nobody's seen your actual face since that whole shindig went down." Dssialii let his guest off at the human-sized table in the dining room, and quickly cleared the metal instruments that covered the surface so that they'd have some place for their elbows. Climbing up onto the stool on the other side of the table, he smiled across at his old friend. "I bet you smell horrid in there.”

"I don't know how much you saw of that whole fiasco," Eeiys began to exclaim "But one of the guards actually ran into Frost. I don't think they'd have much luck again an Orc raid. Definitely not fit to fight off an actual warband. Trust me, I did the town a service,"
Dssialii had lead the knight to an unfamiliar room with an unfamiliar, curiously human sized table set down within it, which he immediately and instinctively took a seat at, unclipping Frost and it's sheathe from around his waist and laying it flat on the surface. 
"And you know you make a comment about my socks every time I see you? Is that just a Goblin thing?" Eeiys shook his head. "I'm sorry, if your custom is to enquire about my socks, you can ask away. And no, you'd be right. I've made a point of hiding myself from the rest of the world. You never know when it might come in handy to take off the helmet and become totally invisible, but for now I do think i'm safe." 

Eeiys stared at the goblin on the other side of the room for a moment, in what would seem an extremely stern manner before slowly lowering his head and raising his arm and taking a very obvious and exaggerated whiff before exploding in a fit of fake coughs which quickly devolved into base laughter. "It really has been too long, how is Rssilant?”

"It's only as much a goblin thing to ask about socks as it is for you to complain about constantly stubbing your toes. I'm telling you, socks are the answer! But I think you just like to have something to complain about."

The goblin eyed the sword on the table and carefully pulled the scabbard toward him, unsheathing the blade just two inches to have a good look at it and to touch the oddly-cold blade in reverence. This thing belonged to a goblin. Or, rather, as all magic should, this thing should have belonged to a goblin. In fact, he wouldn't have minded too much if he were the one to end up with it. Maybe some day he'd convince Eeiys to leave it to him in a will. But for now, he sheathed it all the way again and pushed it back across the table, eyes dancing as he smiled at Eeiys' dramatic little coughing fit. He shoulda been an actor, what with his love for overacting and monologues.

But his eyes stopped smiling at the mention of his wife's name, though his smile remained frozen on his face. "Ah, yes, you haven't visited since... her Ceremony.”

"You know," Eeiys continued "I only stub my toes so much because corpses keep appearing in front of me. It hardly leaves enough time to step over them. I'm telling you, i'm cursed," 

Eeiys winked under his helm before realising the Goblin would be incapable of seeing his eyes. Instead he watched intently as Dssialii examined the blade intently, like he always did. Staring at it in a way that only a Goblin would. If it were any other species, Eeiys would have considered his friend completely insane, but a Goblin's lure to magical objects was well known, so he let the infatuation slide. He knew his friend had eyes for the relic, but he playfully pulled it back towards himself once he was done. 

Eeiys' heart dropped the second he heard that word: 'Ceremony'. He let his head hang slightly, and he let his eyes hang slightly lower. "I.. I didn't know." The knight reattached the sheathe and Frost to his belt. "I'm really sorry," He began to rummage around in the small pouch that rested by his sheathe. "I shouldn't have brought it up, but I think I may have found something you would be interested in,”

"If the mailman could find you, you'd have gotten an invitation. Though you probably just randomly killed him when he was trying to tell you." Dssialii hopped down off his seat and walked over to the kiln, glancing in and then grabbing his pipe from the mantle.

"Alright, be there in a moment." He knocked the bowl against the furnace and then pulled a coal from it and some ground plant from a bag that lay open on top. It was no wonder his hands were so burnt if he handled coals like that so casually. He lit up, took a puff, and spat into the fireplace, tossing the coal back in and then returning to his spot. "Southern blend of mage's weed, pretty strong stuff." And in fact, it was; mages only used the stuff sparingly to assist in vision journeys, but the effect was, as with all magic things, very muted for a goblin. He offered the pipe across the table with a raised eyebrow, daring his companion to take a pull and chuckling when he saw that he wouldn't. "Fine, suit yourself."

"So what you got for me?" He pulled a jeweler's glass from his pocket and set his pipe firmly between his teeth to have both hands open, holding one across the table to take whatever it was Eeiys had brought.

It took Eeiys a moment to find the small object without emptying the satchel and all of it's contents on the table. He hated to leave his friend waiting (even if he was puffing away on a particularly potent pipe), so he fished through as fast as he could. Finally feeling the small, long, slender object, he wrapped his armoured rangers around it, being careful not to grip so hard that the brittle material would shatter, and swept it from the small waist-satchel. It was an incredible pale, cream hue, with a small pattern of grey surface cracks scoring the otherwise smooth surface. Eeiys knew his friend would perk up the moment he produced the object.

"Dragon toe-bone." 

He looked at it for a moment, holding it up to his face to examine it before laying it on the table so Dssialii could take it.

Dssialii had time to snap impatiently a few times before he finally got the bone in his hand, and then placed it under his glass. "Toe bone? Why isn't that exact language. Where'd you find it?" Would have had to be a small dragon, just from the size of it, unless Eeiys was claiming it was from a goblin dragon, which would just be silly since they never died anywhere near any place that such a knight's presence would be acceptable.

He snorted out a red-colored cloud of smoke in another little laugh. "Not even, though. Ankle bone. Musta been a miniature." He put down the jeweler's glass and smiled across at Dssialii. "You trying to spin me some tale of slaying tiny dragons now? Isn't that brave of you.”

Taken aback by the flurry of questions, Eeiys almost recoiled. But he supposed when it came to magical artefacts, this Goblin was a little... odd. 

"Found it on one of the pilgrims heading North, on my way down here. He claimed to be destined to ride a dragon, or the.. next king of the dragons or something silly. Anyway, one thing lead to another and then it was my bone. I don't have any use for the thing, but I thought you might like to.. do whatever it is you do with magical remains. Eat them, right? But maybe you should save it for later, I don't think I want to see,”

"Naw, thing's too old. Nothing left here worth eating, if there ever was." He tested it against his teeth, cracking off a bit and tasting it before shrugging. "Yep, nothing left. Thanks for thinking of me, though?" And of course he hadn't slayed the dragon himself, Dssialii could already tell just from looking at it that the bone was at least 300 years old. "You should sell it to some poor pilgrim claiming that it'll make dragons obey him or something. Or make a die of it, world could always use more gambling." He rolled the bone experimentally across the table and glanced at it before letting his face become disappointed. "Ah, a seven, luck isn't with me today."

"So no glass baubles? Haven't found a nice lady iron golem who finds your cold exterior especially dashing?”

"Well," Eeiys stuttered "That is severely disappointing. I guess a pilgrim wouldn't be carrying a dragon bone; not a real one anyway. That said, you would have loved the guy, he was so sure that he was some new-age prophet and that he would be reborn as a dragon. Highly amusing stuff, you know." 

He scooped the bone back into his hands and slid it right back into it's satchel. He figured he could sell it to some bartender who wasn't a Goblin, or at least was slightly gullible. 

"No... no baubles for me today. My iron-golem lady seems to have come down with the chills..."

Eeiys looked Dssialii right in the eyes, this time with a serious air about him. 

"You know I wouldn't be here unless it was urgent,”

Dssialii took a long draw before nodding. "Yes, social calls aren't your thing so much anymore. So what's it this time?”

Eeiys took in a deep breath. He knew this would sound crazy.

"Something is following me. And it's not the Winter Knights. Something... bigger.”

"Like... dragons?" The resentment had left Dssialii's voice just as quickly as it had snuck in. "Well if you find an actually dragon toe bone, I would be interested. Though I'd really prefer the whole corpse." He winked over at Eeiys, but sobered up again, seeing that the knight was still serious (which was a strange thing to be able to tell, since he couldn't see any of the knight's face, but Eeiys had become accustomed to wearing his emotions in body language, and Dssialii wasn't bad at reading that, either).

"Alright, shoot, what do you think it is?”

Eeiys knew he had no way of describing what the presence he felt was. He had searched for the words throughout his entire trek to the small town, and still his mind remained blank. He was at a loss for words. All he could think to describe it as was... cold. He knew how illogical his thought pattern was, and how illogical it would sound if he just spouted those same processes to his much more magically-inclined friend. He shook his head.

"It's... something. Nothing human. Nothing goblin. It's like a magical force but stronger," 

A sudden chill came over Eeiys. Not even a faint tingle down the spine, but rather a deep-seeded bitterness that seemed to cling to his soul. 

"It's..." 

Eeiys flung himself of his seat, unsheathing Frost as fast as possible, cutting it through the air and nearly slicing the table in two, taking good care to not accidentally clip Dssialii. 

"Her." 

Eeiys pointed Frost at something frighteningly unusual. A hooded figure, likely a woman, standing directly behind the Goblin. There was no indication of her entering the house at all, no signs of forced entry. Neither he nor Dssialii had heard her come in, yet her presence was undoubtedly the same that and been following Eeiys on his journey.

Dssialii felt her as soon as Eeiys did. But for him, this wasn't a feeling of cold and bitterness, no, he was suddenly filled with life. And it, whatever it was, was right behind him! He spun around on his stool, respectfully pulling the pipe out of his mouth. This was magic like he'd never felt or seen before. There she was, with a power that seemed to him like it must combat that of the gods, for he could not imagine anything more. His skin flushed a brilliant purple, and his mouth fell open in a stupefied expression.

"Woah... master," he muttered, just about ignoring Eeiys' opposite reaction.

"Dssialii!" Eeiys shouted at the top of his lungs, screaming for the Goblin to get away from whatever that thing was, but it was evident that he could not hear his cries. He instead turned his attention to the figure, and tried to lock her gaze in a vain attempt to ascertain exactly what the hell was going on. Dssialii had begun to flush an extreme shade of purple, indicating that whoever this woman was, she was more than just a powerful mage. Magic was literally exuding from her in all directions, an aura of brilliant power. Eeiys resisted the inexplicable urge to fall to his knees, though a man with weaker conviction would have fallen immediately. He approached slowly, Frost still angled at the woman's neck, ready to strike at any second.

"Who the hell are you, and why are you here?"

She remained silent for a second, before meeting Eeiys' gaze. her voice was like that of... Eeiys' mother. From long, long ago. he barely remembered her as he was taken in by the Winter Knights before he was even old enough to open his eyes.. but he knew it was hers. 

"Oh my sweet child, where did you lose your way?" she asked, placing her hand on Frost and walking towards him, gently pushing the weapon aside and moving in close to the knight. She was stronger than Eeiys could have imagined, he could not resist the strength of her gentle push. "Where did you go wrong, sweet knight? What path did you stray towards?" 

"Stop! Stop it now! You are not my mother!" he screamed, trying his hardest to bring his blade up to her skin and end her life, but he simply couldn't not fight her immense strength. 

"You may not see it now, but this land needs you, sweet knight, sweet child," 

"I will kill you if you say another word! Do not use her guise!" 

"I am sorry, my dear, sweet child. But you are meant for more than this." 

With one last bout of strength, Eeiys lifted his blade, using all of his might to connect the frigid blade with the woman's robes, then there was a flash of light. And… just like that, he was gone as fast as e had arrived. Only Dssialii was left in the room with the mystical being, with a small patch of Ice where the Winter Knight had stood.

Dssialii took too long to recover from his trance. By the time he had, all that was left was a patch of... ice? He snapped shut his mouth, but then, threateningly, opened it up again. "Hey! You!"

The cloaked figure turned to him with that same soft smile. "I'm sorry that Trayig could not be here to send you on your way. Instead, that now rests with me."

"Now look, wa-" But then everything distorted around Dssialii, and his vision exploded into light as he was overwhelmed with a feeling of vertigo.

"AU, WHAT?" he yelled into the ground, which now had a texture suspiciously like grass, as he slammed his hands over his eyes to shield them from the light. Slowly, his stomach settled and he could think straight, and he could smell something that was definitely far too fresh to have come from anywhere in the town he'd been making his residence. And he could no longer hear the quiet gasps of passerbys in the street stopping momentarily to stare at the collection of corpses in the road outside, nor taste the powerful magical smoke from his pipe. Where was his pipe? Didn't feel like it was in his hand, or in his mouth.

He carefully opened his eyes, fearful of blinding himself again. But all that greeted him was the ground that he was resting his head against and two dull white walls of canvas close at the sides of his head. What? He sat up, and the canvas fell away, resting in proper collar form around his shoulders. Ah, that was... that was his cape. He took a quick inventory, and yes, everything was there; he was fully packed for a journey, somehow. And he found his pipe, which was good, because this was all far too strange and the last thing that he wanted was to lose that wonderful little piece. He pulled it up (still loaded and smoking, thank goodness), drew in a long pull, blew it out, pulled again, glanced over at Eeiys, and exploded.

"WHAT. THE. IFREANN."