Striding briskly from the direction of the tavern,

Ryll approaches the outer ward and knocks. "Mind if I come in?"

"please do... desala, please lower the wards for ryll."

Ryll enters, breathing a sigh of relief. "Sorry for the abrupt visit, but...something's up, and I need to see what else I can find out. Odds are it's got something to do with the rumor last gather and the vision I had just before...and I'd prefer to be somewhere less public than the tavern when I ask the cards what the blazes is going on."

"no problem... you can use the main room if you'd like. i'd prefer you not to use a backroom though. after having keja die from using her cards once, i'm a little paranoid about that type of thing.

Ryll nods. "Understandable...I'm a bit concerned myself, since this pertains to the thing Kalei and I were trying to gather more information about when the Mages' Guild folks went 'poof!' before our eyes." After some fiddling with ties and the like, she pulls a largish deck of cards from a pouch at her belt and begins shuffling, eyes closed, before laying out a few and turning them, one by one, face up.

Staring at what she sees before her, the wanderer sets another card by each of the original set, then after a moment does so again, mumbling to herself as the overall message becomes clearer. At last satisfied, though looking concerned, she gathers the cards back together and tucks them into a small red bag, and fastens it safely back in her pouch.

"It appears this 'Sleeper,' whoever he is--I'm guessing he's also the one alluded to in the wonderfully cryptic piece of poetry now decorating the tavern wall--has been working on coming back for quite some time...or others have been trying to bring him back. Sitting and thinking and deliberating overmuch is going to end in everyone stewing in their own brain-juice spinning their wheels and nothing gets accomplished and Bad Things happen...or we can try to find out more, do something about it, and help put things back into balance." Ryll shakes her head. "Sometimes I wish the cards were a tad more helpful and a smidgen less 'look, it's a nose! on your face!'..."

shine nods "cards are tricky like that... sometimes you get 'hey moron, this is what you can do to fix things...' sometimes you learn everything you already knew."
she closes her eyes and rubs her temples. she rereads the poem again and shakes her head.
"see this thing could be talking about anyone at this point. it could mean maximus,who is already technically awake, it could be victor... but then why would some random person from ameroth be concerned...? i think that's my largest bit of confusion, why would someone from ameroth be concerned with what's going on here in shadowmoor."
she gets up and paces for a few moments "perhaps a dragon or a titan or a lich... someone we've yet to encounter."
she shakes her head again to clear it.

Ryll nods, considering. "It does make sense that the 'Great Evil' would be native to this world, since nobody in town seems to recall anyone known as 'the Sleeper,' though I've not heard any legends of such a being in my travels. Maybe it's something we should ask one of the locals, next time they visit."

"not a bad idea..."

Rising, Ryll stretches and rubs her eyes. "I've some business to attend to before the gather, but...any chance I can stay here for the gather itself, again? You always have the best entertainment..."