Lydia

Familiars Trained: Brass Knocker Familiar An expedient way to gain entrance, though one can't help but feel judged... 500 Shattered Serpent Familiar So many Shattered Serpents live in the Abiding Boneyard that the sand itself looks as though it's rippling like an ocean. 2000 Ember Mouse Familiar This mouse is no more flammable than any other. 1550 Granite Earthshaker Familiar A chiseled statue, carved by the artisans of the Earth Flight. (Rockbreaker's Ceremony 2021 Holiday Item) 0

>Lydia, Caretaker and Tombkeeper Subspecies: Runecarver Average Size & Weight Skydancer She/Her >Has battle experience but not overly skilled or keen ... >You decide to visit the Museum. The Clan Leader suggested it to you, saying that you might be able to learn something from the visit. You reach out and grasp the Brass Knocker, and rap on the giant stone doors that block your passage. A long moment passes before one of the giant stone doors begins to move outwards with a grating sound, forcing you to move backwards. >The door seems to take ages to open, a strange kind of suspense hanging in the air, but finally the grinding sound of stone-on-stone stops, and someone moves out from behind the door. It's a skydancer, iridescent blood red with pale crystal feathers and golden spines. She peers at you from behind a brass eyepiece wrought with fine aquamarines and gives you a once-over as she stares, assessing you, or perhaps the energies around you. >Finally, after a tense moment, she speaks. "Welcome, darling, to the Tomb." Everything about the greeting catches you off-guard, from the pet name to the dreamy, almost airy quality of her voice.

>You tell her you've been sent here to see the Museum and ask if you are in the right place, and the gems on her eyepiece sway as she nods. "Oh yes, you've come to the right place. Please, won't you come in?" She bids you enter with a gloved hand, and you do so, walking into the darkness even as the grating of the stone door closing in behind you sets your heart beating at a rapid pace.

>At first all you can see is darkness- that is, nothing. Slowly, however, your eyes adjust to the dim lighting of the torches fastened to the walls. Stone, brick and mortar surround you on all sides. The skydancer who let you in seems entirely unbothered and begins to walk further into the underground. You have no choice but to follow her, lest you be left there by yourself.

>You walk in silence for a few moments, before the urge to speak overcomes you, and you hesitantly introduce yourself. There is an awkward beat where it seems almost as if the skydancer will ignore you completely before she finally responds. "I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I?" She huffs quietly before speaking again. "Please, call me Lydia. I'm the Caretaker of the Tomb and all it entails. I care for the final remains, monuments and memorials of all clan members who have passed."

>The air seems to chill as you look around and realize your path is travelling through a mass of graves. You tell her you think you might be in the wrong place again. Really, you tell her, just want to see the Museum. Your reaction seems to amuse her, and you see her smile in the dim light. "Oh dear yes, the Museum is here too. Its just more convenient to have it all in one place. So many artifacts are related to death and the dead." You turn a corner and descend a short flight of stairs while she talks, and one of her wings scrapes the ceiling as you do so, snagging yet another cobweb with a grating sound. Her dreamy tone then shifts momentarily into something heated and passionate, catching you off-guard. "By having both places in one, we can better treat our artifacts and memorials with the proper respect and care they deserve, while also enabling their study and preservation. The arrangement has also increased visitation by clan members for both places due to increased exposure and opportunity."

>You pause for a second to take it all in before asking her to clarify whether or not this is actually the Museum. "Oh no, dear," She laughs "This is the Tomb. Or- well, technically it's also a Columbarium, Catacomb and Crypt, but Tomb covers all that in one I find." You really aren't sure what the difference is, and you tell her so. "Ah well, it all depends on the type of dead we keep, you see? But we keep all kinds of dead here, so it's hard to pick just one name. We have coffins, caskets, sarcophagi, urns, ossuaries, bodies, both mummified and not."

>"The Museum is only accessible through the Tomb, however," She clarifies. "It also adds an additional layer of defense, as we that find thieves are more hesitant to trespass if it involves disturbing the dead." It makes sense, you suppose, but there are many thieves who wouldn't be deterred by that in the least, you think. Rather, wouldn't it put the residents of the Tomb at even greater unnecessary risk? Lydia is quiet for a moment after your question, and the oppressive silence of your surroundings returns as you continue to walk.

>The quiet stretches out uncomfortably, and you begin to worry that you've upset her before she finally speaks. "You're right, of course, on both accounts." She doesn't sound upset, and, to your relief, the dim light from the next torch you pass shows that she doesn't look upset either. "But that's why I'm here, darling." The pet name sounds even more ominous now than the first time, and the smile she sends you is perfectly and terrifyingly pleasant. In the darkness, something scrapes and clatters against the stone walls, making Lydia huff and laugh indulgently. "And Raoul. I didn't forget you, love, don't worry." Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately, depending on your perspective), she offers up some context before you have to ask. "Raoul is one of my familiars, you see, a Shattered Serpent. He helps keep the Ember Mouse population under control." A pause, and then, with amusement, "The thief population too."

>You continue to walk alongside her in the dim light. The tomb air is unnaturally still and deathly quiet, broken only by the crackle of torchfire and an eerie rattling sound. The rattling echoes faintly with every step your companion takes. At first, you thought it might have been the dangling jewels or brass cogs and knobs that adorn her clothing, but as you pass by one of the torches the light catches on one of her crystalline wings, reflecting just enough for you to see through the mass of cobwebs caught on the jagged edges of her stone feathers. Underneath the webs and nestled between her feathers are dozens of tiny bones, little femurs and miniature skulls, jammed up against one another like an intricately grotesque jigsaw puzzle.

>Finally, after what seems like an eternity (but was really likely only 15 minutes), you reach a fork in the path, marked by an enormous Granite Earthshaker statue. Lydia reaches out and pats the statue fondly, claws tapping against the stone. "And of course we can't forget ol' Granny, now can we?" She smiles at you and then winks. "Our last line of defence, ol' Granny. Nothing gets past him." You blink, taken aback, and you can't tell if she's being serious or not. You give the statue a long, hard look before Lydia reclaims your attention with a wave.

>To the right, a brightly illuminated set of wooden double doors that Lydia points to with a grand gesture. "The Museum, dear heart, as promised." You've arrived at your long-awaited sought-after destination, but you can't quite help yourself from looking to the side. On your left the path diverges into a narrow and cramped tunnel, pitch black except for a tiny white light at the very end, and what might be the faint impressions of a door. Your burning curiosity must be apparent in your face, because Lydia laughs when she looks at you and shakes her head. "That way goes to the Undertaker's office, dear. Friendly enough, if a bit of an odd fellow," she says, and that must mean quite something coming from her. "Pop in on them if you will, I'm sure they won't mind. I shan't follow you though, I'm afraid. The ceiling's just a bit too low for me." You take a moment to make your choice before turning to thank Lydia for leading you through the Tomb. "It was no trouble dear, none at all!" She says, already moving away and back down the dimly lit path. "Do be sure to visit properly next time, alright?"

>Soon enough the Tombkeeper is gone, the sounds of her wings scraping against the walls fading into the distance, and the cave seems impossibly still. There's no measurement of time in the darkness except for the beat of your own heart. You stand there in the silence for a second that stretches into infinity before the whisper of movement in the dark startles you down the path of your choice. It occurs to you only then that you never asked if there was anyone else that you should be aware of in the Tomb, dragon or otherwise.