One evening, a little winged person and a tall winged person walk together into the Artisan's Guild. The tall winged person looks around briefly before heading for the counter. 

"Sup, Sylvia. Zuiigri around? I may have a project for him if he's willing." Storm points over her shoulder at the little winged person with her. "It's for my new friend here. I think he should come meet her anyways."

Sylvia looks down at Nill with a grunt and turns to head through the entrance to the back of the shop. Storm looks down at the pixie.

"My friend Zuiigri is a pretty amazing smith so I'm certain he can make something for you." Storm tilts her head. "You've probably never met a beastkin. Well, he's part wolf. Wolf, okay? Not dog or anything. He's part wolf and that's important. See, it's rude to call him a dog, like it's rude to call my kind lizards and your kind... It's rude is all I'm getting at. But anyways, he's a good dude. I'm sure he'll help us out."

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Storm nods. "Alright. We can go visit the Queen. I'm not sure if she'll actually be available. Being as she's a queen and all. But we can try anyways." 

The draconian turns on heel and begins walking back to the embassy. "She's the Queen of the Elves. And she's been nothing but polite to me and my friends. Well, except that time she had to- Never mind. She's a nice faerie is all that matters."

Storm smiles at Nill and leads her back through the Seshtau embassy and to the Elven embassy. 

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Storm nods. "Yeah. This is her place all right.... But..."

She tilts her face up and takes a few deep sniffs. "Nah. She's not here. Hasn't been for a while. Her scent is getting fainter. Shit."

Storm looks over her shoulder towards the embassy and then back at the vardo. She sighs heavily and looks to Nill.

"Well. I don't know where she is and I know she likes to go to Foresetidale but... She's been gone a while. That's... Unusual. And slightly concerning considering she and the Baroness got into it a few weeks ago." Storm shakes her head. "Okay. Change of plans. Want to help me find a seer? Haven't been to Foresetidale in a while and I actually... Don't know... Shit. I don't know where she would be in Foresetidale. I've never been to what's his nuts house."

Storm sighs and reaches up to scratch her head. "I... Don't want to drag you all over the kingdom so... What say we come back another time? I guess, anyways." She shrugs, giving the vardo another glance before looking at Nill again. "We could always go back to the tavern? Or Kog'Thrak. Either works for me. Or we could trapsey around the kingdom in search of a Ramtovi seer. I don't know. What do you think?"

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Storm watches Nill, noticing her tensely withdraw, and she turns her attention ahead.

"Faeries sound as awful as the tales I was told growing up. I didn't want to believe them. I actually know a very friendly Faerie." Storm stops walking and her eyes widen. "Huh. I wonder... Nah." She shakes her head and resumes walking. "Shame the Faeries are as bad as the stories. But. Like I said. I know one who isn't. If you've ever got any interest in meeting her but I know that's... Probably... Not likely."

Storm clears her throat awkwardly. 

They come to the front door of the embassy and one of the members lets them in when Storm knocks. She thanks them and heads inside.

[OOP: Thread continued in Seshtau forums.)

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Storm listens as they walk and heads for the Seshtau embassy. 

"Hm. So, the person who told you to live. You said you've got no one in the Sidhe but sounds like someone cares about you to tell you to live. Are they... Gone?" Storm asks. "Don't feel you have to answer that actually. It's fine if you don't want to talk about it. I don't know what all you've been through but being collared like that? I'd... Well, I'd be dead cuz they would have to put it on my dead body."

She chuckles. 

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Storm shrugs. "Yeah. She can. Want to meet her? She's also helping with the famine so it's a good idea you two get to know each other if you're going to help us with the famine situation."

Storm looks Nill up and down. "You uh... Got any problem with undead or anything? In fact, any particular dislike for anyone? I don't know how much you've seen in the Sidhe."

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Storm leads her back through the Mage's Guild and out the front door. She pauses in the street and folds her arms across her chest. 

"Hm. You want to pay me back?" She tilts her head as she considers this for a moment. "My partner is in one of those weird deep sleeps and so far the only clue we have as to how to wake them up is to resolve whatever is causing the famine. Plus I assume you eat like the rest of us so the famine is a pretty big concern right now. Maybe you can help us figure out what's going on."

She nods. "I have a few friends you should probably meet if you plan to stick around. One is a member of the guild we just left and the Artisan's Guild as well. He's a wolf beastkin. He's good people. Then there is the Baroness. And a seer." Her eyes widen. "Vesta is a very talented seer if a little prissy. Maybe she could take a peek and see what you should do? Or maybe she could look and see- Do you have any family? Anyone who may be looking for you? She could probably look and see how to help them find you."

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The woman waves her off. "Oh please! No need to thank me!"

She chuckles awkwardly and looks to Storm. Storm smiles at Nill.

"Awesome. And you haven't died yet. It was pretty immediate with the others so I think if you can survived the next few minutes we're in the clear." Storm nods and then looks to the female mage. "Thank you for your assistance today."

"Of course!" She says, blushing lightly. "Happy I could help."

Storm walks up to the woman, pulling some coins from a pouch on her hip. She takes the woman's hand and sets the coins in it before turning to look at Nill. She jerks her head in the direction of the door.

"Let's go." Storm heads for the door and talks to Nill as she goes. "So, we got the collar off. Are you... Going to stick around? Or do you want to go back to the Sidhe? I can't imagine you'd want that but it is your home so it's an option."

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The ritual mage looks to Storm who nods. The woman nods in response and then returns to the other side of the table. She reaches back down to pick up a new component and the second scroll on the table.

"Ritual beginning." She begins putting components together and chanting again. 

Another 10 minutes pass and the components turn to dust. The woman walks around the table again and touches the collar around Nill's neck. Nothing seems to happen but the woman smiles and then casts "shatter". The collar cracks and shatters before crumbling to dust. 

The room falls silent as both the mage and Storm watch Nill.

After a few moments of holding their breath, Storm clears her throat. 

"How you feeling there, Nill? All good?"

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The woman smiles. "Ritual beginning."

The circle raises and the woman begins chanting as she picks up the scroll. For the next 10 minutes, the woman chants and combines components. Her hands move skillfully with practiced ease and she seems completely relaxed during the ritual. When the component crumbles to dust, she walks around the table and reaches out to touch the collar. There is a faint glow and then it fades.

"Hm. It seems it is magical. But I don't see any curse or anything really. It's just magic." The woman looks to Storm. "I see nothing here that should cause any harm if we remove it."

Storm nods and looks at Nill. "So. It' just magic so it can't be easily destroyed. Do you want to remove it? Or would you rather not risk it? This is your choice since your life is possibly on the line."

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"Don't worry about it. It shouldn't cost too terribly much to do this. If it gets you killed though, I'll feel really bad since this was my idea." Storm chuckles awkwardly. 

The young man returns and gestures behind him. "Please follow me."

He turns on heel and begins walking towards a hall. Storm follows after him. He leads them to the third door down the hall and knocks once before opening the door. He gestures them inside.

When they walk in, they see a very bland room. There is a ritual circle on the floor at the center of the room and a small table in the middle of it. On the table are components and a scroll and standing at the table is a tall woman with shoulder length blonde hair. She looks up as they enter.

"Hello there! I was told I'll be identifying an item?" The young woman asks.

Storm nods. "Uh. Yes. This is my friend, Nill. She was rescued from the Fae and has a slave collar. Previously when they were removed from other pixies, they died. We just want to make sure it's not cursed or anything and then remove it safely."

The young woman nods and begins to put items together on the table. "Ok." She looks up at Nill. "Please stand in front of the table and I will identify the collar."

Storm looks over at Nill and smiles. "I'll be right here."

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When Storm and Nill are let into the Mage's Guild, they come in to see a bustling building. Mage's wearing the silver and blue colors of the guild walk around the main floor. When they enter the Mage's Guild, a young man wearing glasses approaches them.

"Hello. Welcome to the Mage's Guild. How may I help you?" He appears to be human with short brown hair and brown eyes. 

"Yeah. We need something looked at. Magically." Storm nods to Nill. "It's for my friend here. I can pay."

"Your friend... Needs to be Identified?" The young man asks.

"No. Something she's wearing though that she can't take off yet. We want to make sure it's safe for her to do so." Storm reaches into a pouch. "She's got one of those collars and it's hurting her. I want to get it off her if possible."

The man looks at Nill and nods. "Uh... Sure. Wait here. I'll check to see if there's an open circle."

The young man turns on heel and walks off.

Storm turns to Nill. "They'll help us, okay? We just have to let them touch that collar. I don't think they need to touch you though. Are you okay with this?"

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Storm nods. "Yeah so. We just know that Pixies are being enslaved. We don't know why or anything. Just that it's happening. We know that because there was a pretty big attack on the kingdom and the ones doing the attacking... Were Pixies. But they all had collars and said they were being forced to do it. We removed the collars and they fell over dead."

She shrugs. "But at least to my knowledge, they didn't check the collars before they removed them. So maybe there's some sort of magic trap on it or something, ya know? And if we can remove it... We can get the collar off without a problem. That's just my assumption though. I don't actually know. I'm no expert or anything."

They enter the town and Storm leads them to the Mage's Guild. 

[OOP: Thread continued in Mage's Guild]

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Storm waves her off. "Ask all the questions you want. You're in a new land. I'll answer what I can."

She kicks a pebble in the path and then bends to pick it up. She examines it and slips it into her pocket and then resumes walking as though nothing happened.

"We haven't figured out how to fix it yet. But it's got something to do with this place in Tuatha. We're still figuring things out. So far it's effecting the entire kingdom and the dragons. I don't know how far beyond our borders the famine reaches though." Storm sighs. "My friends aren't the best a communicating so they tend to push each others buttons. I don't know what sparked this last argument since I wasn't there but I'm sure they'll work it out. Maybe."

The town comes into view. 

"I'm taking you to the Mage's Guild to have them look at that collar. My friend Zuiigri is a member so we may run into him. He's a Beastkin. I don't know if you know what that is but he's basically part wolf. Not a werewolf. Just... Part. Wolf. You'll see."

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Storm sighs heavily. "You won't. For a while at least. She-" Storm pauses and looks at Nill. "You have no idea- Shit. Okay."

She resumes walking. "The kingdom is in the middle of a pretty bad famine right now. And whatever is causing the famine is also causing people to fall into these weird deep sleeps. Long story short, my partner is in one of those sleeps. She has made no signs of waking so the best thing I can assume is that we resolve the famine, we wake the sleeping people."

Storm shrugs. "So, I do have other people for you to meet. They are the ones who are trying to resolve the famine and they're friends of mine. They'll be interested to meet you, that's for sure. One is a Baroness, a leader in this kingdom, another is a blacksmith, and another is a seer. Though right now they are all kinda... Not happy with each other so it may be a minute before you meet them." 

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