King Jhil sat in the conference room. He was bored.
The council members argued about... Nothing in particular. He would have tried to listen, but they had long since stopped saying anything useful. It had started out with something to do with the dwarves, turned into problems in kalakatackey woods, someone yelled an insult, and that was all an hour ago.
'I give up' he shouted.
'I leave you to argue amongst yourselves. Let me know if you come up with anything useful which is worthy of reaching my ears.'
He walked out.
In the next room, Matriarch Gwendolyn stood, admiring a suit of armor.
'Anything useful this time?'
'Nope.'
'Ah well. I-'
Suddenly, a mage appeared out of nowhere.
'Grendabar requests your presence.'
'Archmage Grendabar Greymane. Well.'
'Hold my hand'
The king and matriarch did as they were told. All of a sudden, they were gone.
Grendabar Greymane was one of the most powerful entities in all of existence. He was also the archmage of the floating city of Gelrand. The city had taken to the skies in an age old war. The Gelrandian mages created a magical barrier to avert the enemies, but when the war was over they discovered that the spell had cut into the unstable earth, which had so much magical energy pulsating from it that it had started to float. They payed dwarves to make several chains, and let it go. Some splinters of the rock floated off, but they were caught by the dwarves and attached to the main rock. They landed in the observatiry, where Grend was waiting.
'Jhil! So good to see you.'
'Sooo... Why did you ask for us?' Said Gwendolyn.
'Someone has been stealing magical artifacts.'
'Which ones?'
'The staff of Maladict, the skull of the maker, the book of all, and the crystal.
'What crystal'
'The magically powerful one.'
'They're all magi-'
'The super - powerful one.'
'Ooooooh.'
'I want you to stay here and keep an eye on the city while I attend to... Business.'
'Is it really that important?'
'Yes. No I must leave.'
Aaaaaaaand he left.
The two leaders rushed to the barracks, where the battlemages trained.
They got to the stage, where they viewed the assembled battlemages. Each with a weapon at one side and a spell book at the other, they were deadly. They had bits of armour here and there, with a tabard showing the symbol of Gelrand on each of them.
'I want a curfew initiated, all must be in their homes. Search everywhere. If you find any of the artefacts, or who stole them, bring them to me.
Deep beneath Gelrand, a lone figure walked the streets of Undertown, the caverns beneath Gelrand where the non - magic population lived. His smile turned to a frown, however, when he saw the battlemages running towards him. The figure picked up the artefacts that he had stolen, and used the staff and the book to teleport out of the city. But he left a scent, a scent that, later, told a story. A story with a name. Ryukan.