Lilia Newsman

UP: Great Lakes

    Disturbing news this day. The mage child Sarielle, also now known as Havalah, has disappeared. She was last seen leaving her home at the Lycaeum after an evening full of epiphanies. Sources indicate that the child was very distressed over some fighting that was going on in and around the area of her home. If readers remember correctly, the child is vehemently opposed to people fighting unless it is against monsters that wish them ill.

This sad news comes hot on the heels of surprising news about who Sarielle is and her relationship to Shabti. It was learned, after taking the mage child to the Light of Reason, that Sarielle�s father was a teacher of some sorts and was possessed of long black hair. Her mother passed on after childbirth. It is interesting to note that while holding the lantern, the child spoke as an adult, not in her typical broken childish manner.

While recovering from her contact with the lantern, Ashabti arrived on the scene and insisted on examining the child. It came as a shock to everyone there, including Sarielle, when Ashabti pronounced that Sarielle was the daughter of Shabti. The wisp-like being displayed emotion while in contact with Sarielle, whom he referred to as Havalah, but became cool logic when away from the child. It is thought that there is an empathic bond between the child and this part of her father.

It was learned that the Staff of Balance had been made from the same wood that the girl�s cradle had been made from and that this wood came from the tree that was planted over her mother�s grave. Ashabti claims that the tree would sing Havalah to sleep at night. Ashabti also claimed that it was within Havalah�s abilities to make the staff whole again.

In order to reunite the parts of Shabti, the Staff of Balance was needed along with the Light of Reason and the Light of Emotion. A large group went to the Temple of the Black One to retrieve the Light of Emotion. Rumor has it that Sarielle is now under a death warrant by the Cult for having stolen the lantern from them after she left it for them to guard until the time came to perform the reunification ceremony.

Once all the items were gathered from their various keepers, Ashabti insisted that Havalah go to bed. It had been a long day for the child and she would need plenty of sleep in order to focus well enough to restore the staff. No sooner had the child said good night to her friends than a scuffle broke out in the front room of her home. The fighting woke the child who came out, tears rolling down her cheeks, and asked that all her friends stop fighting or the dreams would return. Apparently the child has ill dreams of her time with the evil Callista the Dark and it is thought that the child unwittingly summons undead while having this dream.

Editors note: We received a few pictures of undead attacks on the sites where the staff pieces were being guarded. Apparently these attacks coincided with a nap time Sarielle was taking where she dreamed the old dream of Callista using her to summon forth hordes of undead to help her take over the world. Coincidence? You decide.

Unfortunately, the fighting did not cease; rather it escalated, although most of it moved to pavement outside the girl�s home. As if her words were prophetic, undead were spotted to the north and were shambling their way south towards the people fighting outside Sarielle�s home. While the town guards did take out any undead that were foolish enough to cross into the Lycaeum proper, there were still plenty to be dealt with by the quarrelsome friends of Sarielle.

The child woke yet again, asking people to not fight in her home. Ashabti scolded Havalah�s friends, asking if this was the kind of behavior they wished a child to witness. Despite these pleas, the fighting went on until Sarielle saw Kandalor run through by the blade of one of the RKB. The child screamed and claimed that no one ever listened to her, that everyone had been lying to her about being her friend and then she recalled, disappearing to parts unknown.