Date: Twenty-third of May, year 810 Post Seminal War (810 PSW)

Location: The Ruins of SiDiabolo Tower, The Jeweled Republics.

Job Arseoth nodded at the gilded scroll tube, “so we have no Idea what's in there then?”

Lady SiDiabolo shook her head, “none. It bears the seal of one of the out-island self-titled Lords. Last I checked, they were being subsumed under Lord Althiem into the Kingdom of Althiem, but that was about eight hundred and fifty years ago. Things have long since moved on.”

Blue bobbed her head in agreement, “King Althiem, as he called himself, forged a fairly secure kingdom despite all of the insanity that was breaking out. The 'creation' of Sunderstone Shoal and the destruction of Mevada at the outbreak of The Seminal War certainly made for an interesting situation at least.”

Jon frowned, “Mevada wasn't destroyed, just buried when the volcano at the center of the island erupted. It's still there, intact and deserted, under a dome created when one Ololen Yinkian put a barrier-dome over the city. It cost his life, transmuted into a statue that still stands, but it did save the city.”

Lady SiDiabolo shrugged and twisted off one end of the scroll tube, leaving it to hang on a golden chain. She pulled out a crinkled piece of vellum and unrolled it.

“It's in Old Elvish, a language that I'm less familiar with. There has been enough lyrical shift to make it a distinct language form 'modern' Elvish, and The Seminal War changed populations enough to apply it's own shift in the language as well. Still, I lived though that change and can make out enough form memory. It's from one Iliran Mevada, to my father, concerning... 'the passage of my holdings to my daughters.' "

Job frowned, “When I was in Mevada last, there were two Banshees and a Ghost, all female, all of the Mevada family if the Ghost is to be believed. Current Althiem inheritance law prevents the undead from holding inheritable titles, so that's probably a mess.”

Lady Sidiabolo closed the scroll tube back up and stood, “So I'll need to head to Althiem to present this document to their lawmasters. A few days ago, that would have been a quick trip, a teleport there and back with a minimum of fuss, so that I could be back in my tower before the Drain killed me. But now...”

Job frowned in agreement, “a good thing that this 'Drain” is no longer an issue because I don't think there are any Teleport Circles left between here and Chedall.”

Blue frowned for a moment, “the recent re-discovery of an intact, though depopulated, Mevada would throw a bone into the workings of Althiem. I wonder how the King intends to deal...?”

Job Shrugged, “Queen, not King, but you are correct. It will be interesting times. The question now is how we get to Chedall, and from there to Althiem. We could take the boat and head up the coast, or we could start walking down Carrion Road.”

Lady SiDiabolo grimaced, “ 'Carrion Road'?”

Blue shuddered, “ugh, hundreds of miles in that boat...”

Job shrugged, “The boat would be a bit wet and miserable, sure, but no worse then riding a slow horse the whole way. As for Carrion Road, it got that name from the bones you can still find where Ironbark got almost wiped out. Either way will take the same amount of time, so it doesn't really matter to me.”

Lady Sidiablol shook her head, “I'll vote for the boat ride. A sore backside is preferable to blistered feet.”

Blue frowned, “I'd like to see where Ironbark was defeated... Job, looks like you have the tiebreaker vote.”

Job grunted, "why not fly?"

Blue and Lady SiDiabolo looked at each other, then back at Job.

"Oh, right, dresses."

Blue nodded, "that, and I can not fly on my own so... Land or sea Job?"