Editing Solace: Ascension

 = Date: May 31st/June 1st 2006 = 
Players Present: Dan Joe Nick
Characters Present: Karlth (dan) Tokrin (nick) Askarius (joe) Vaenin (evan)
Game opens with dream sequences, first Karlth's:
Karlth has a dream where he is talking to Nerull. Nerull claims he needs only a few more things before he goes through with his end of the bargain, he asks Karlth to go where children go, asks him to look for children when he awakes. The vagueness gives Karlth no clue as to what is going on. Karlth is under the impression that somebody is threatening Nerull's power, but Nerull only gives him a blank stare, and Karlth wakes up and leaves the Inn at which he was staying (Windy Bluff)
Askarius has a dream he is in an open field and finds a flower (see Pasque). The pasque speaks to him, condemning him, telling him he was supposed to be great. The voice is female, and he guesses it is Drusilia giving him a chance to repent. When he awakes he is holding the pasque in his hand. The fragrance is quite immense and as he walks through the town (golden city of elves) a little girl smells it and takes him to her mother to identify the flower further. It is here that askarius learns what the Pasque is, it's a messenger flower. The different colors, aromas, and set-up signify different things. He learns the yellow is friendship, the purple is love, and the scent signifies that he is to find something. Because the friendship is in the inner area, it suggests it is something he has lost. When he leaves the flower mysteriously begins pointing Northward towards Solace and Windy Bluff. He follows the flower to Windy Bluff and meets with Karlth.
Tokrin and Vaenin both have the same dream with only a slight change. They have a remberence of a childhood memory. They were breaking into someone's house and stealing something, about at the age of 12-13 ish (in human terms). They instead end up waking the man whom they are stealing from and before they can react he throws his blanket over them. Temporarily blinded, they are both lost for a moment as (and this is where they separate) in Vaenin's dream, he hears a slicing of flesh but feels nothing. In Tokrin's dream he hears a loud squeal but also feels nothing. In Vaenin's dream, as the blanket is uncovered he sees standing above him Karlth in a full set of armor and Karlth orders him to take his friends body outside. Now when he looks, he sees Tokrin dead. In Tokrin's dream he is struck by Vaenin's limp body and a similar event ensues. They both awaken as they drag each other's corpses outside.
They find Karlth and Askarius and approach them because they want to know why he was in their dream. Before they can get a single word out, Karlth threatens them and eventually by sticking around long enough, Karlth charges them with a mission. To find them a group fo children. They find a small group running out of town and the whole party decides to follow the kids to their hideout, paying them a small monetary fee for the deliverance. They get to the hideout and see a few stolen items, and the beginnings of a tree house. Askarius, Tokrin, and Vaenin assist in the building of the tree house while Karlth is guided by two of the kids to another house back in town, where two more children that they usually play with live, but for some reason are currently grounded. Karlth enters the house and the kids leave after a short talk with their mom, Karlth claims that her two children stole something from him and he'd like to speak with them personally. Their mom, obviously having to deal with this before is not surprised and leaves them be. Karlth now sees that the two children he is with are a few years older than the rest of the group he was with and not only that, but they're twins! One boy's name is Darius, and he does not care to learn the others. After some discussion of anything they may be hiding, for Karlth is also in the dark about what he supposed to do he notices that Darius has some blood on his hand. He questions the boys and as it turns out, they were trying to cast what they thought was an ancient spell, but when Karlth has Tokrin translate it later on, it wasn't a spell at all. The boys lead him upstairs and give him the "spell" and a mystical, ornate dagger about 18 inches in overall length, decorated with runic markings and black is the blade in color. The handle made of old leather straps and it appears to be quite expensive. Karlth takes the dagger, and the scroll and leaves him, with hope that he may return. The kids take an admiring look on Karlth before he departs.
Karlth now enters the hideout again and finds more of these said scrolls and has Tokrin translate them all in front of him now that they are once again together. The scrolls recount a large war of One single man dressed as a knight against an entire army, a plethora of soldiers of different age and type. The man it seems was actually winning the war until finally in one large demonstration of power he was utterly and totally vanquished. The only remaining item that was left where his body stood was this dagger, no flesh, no bones, just this odd dagger. It is to this date still identified, and from the style of writing it is understably at LEAST two ages old. The rest of the scrolls detail individual entries of soldiers, mages, captains, and the like against this man. Most of them highlight things they saw, probably illusions, nightmares, and terrible things they did. There are a few men who actually tell about leaving the war front permanently because of the things they saw. Another entry tells more about the war, describing a location that is very near to the present day city of Solace. It describes an emporer named Talos, but still does not give a date. The party decides to go together, Karlth allows Tokrin and his friend to tag along because he needs a translator, and Askarius comes with hoping they can journey together once again and resolve both of their conflicts together.
Game ends as party nears Solace.

 
 = Date: June 11th, 2006 = 
Players Present: Dan Evan Nick
Characters Present: Karlth (dan) Gabriel [Tokrin] (nick) Askarius (joe) Vaenin (evan)
Game opens as the party nears the city of Solace. On their way as they pass through the plains between Solace and the golden city of elves, they spot one odd occurrence. It was a lone rock, about the size of two hunched over humans. There was no such rock in their previous travels, and they've walked this route many a time, so they are unsure how a rock of such a mass just appeared. The party brushes it off, as if to come to it later when there not such pressing matters at hand. They proceed to Solace
Though described in many tales and adventures, nothing quite satisfies the feeling of awe you get when you first set your eyes on the metropolis of Solace, and it was well justified by Gabriel's (Tokrin) gawking and Vaenin's gaze of awe. Karlth and Askarius frequenting this historical and monumental city know it well, and are not surprised, however it is a lot to take in for the newcomers. The city stands an expanse of over 5 miles in diameter and is in a nearly perfect circle shape. The main level is a perfectly content looking city, full of building towering higher than most buildings were structurally able to handle at that time. The main level describes the world at it's most current state more accurately than any book could. Inside is a market district, where there are the kindhearted and also the crooks. There are slums where such dark desires and ill-fated satisfactions are acquired, as well as an upper class neighborhood or two where people live lavishly and afford many luxuries to themselves. As i previously mentioned, this was on the main level. There were 8 levels above and what looked like 8 levels below. Above this level nearly 400 feet higher in the sky was another city, slightly smaller, but just as lively, and if it were possibly, even more lavish! Towers made of metal, gold lined entrances! What a grand place this must be. Beyond the third level, which seems to be made of higher up market districts, and some official looking buildings it is difficult to see what else is there. Luckily, the famous (or infamous) Karlth and Askarius have both taken self-administered tours around this entire city. They know that the fourth level is home to some political structures, the 5th level is where most of the "important" people live, as well as a few select VERY pricey shops for what seem like ordinary things, wrapped nicely. the 6th level is the largest church in this world, so large in fact that it takes up almost the entire level! The church is constantly being added to, reconstructed, fixed, repaired, renewed. So besides the church there is also a large dormitory housing complex which houses many of the lower ranking clergy, as well as the construction workers and curators. Within the church are the statues of 70 gods (out of a possible 71). there is a plaque describing every one's individual rise to ascension, there current status, last seen date/place, interests, typical worshippers, and everything else you can expect to learn about a deity. The 7th level are the larger, more important political structures, where the fate of Solace is decided every year. the 8th level is simply a solitary temple, and almost nobody is allowed inside except on special dates and occasions.
Karlth came here to look for information and wastes no time in doing so. Immediately he continues to the center of this enormous "city of god" as many call it, to the air channel. Quite like a wind tunnel, the air channel has a low humming about it that scares off most children. Karlth instead steps into the large 30 foot wide hole in the ground and instead of falling, simply by thinking of the 6th level he goes zooming upwards and lands gracefully on the ground again. Being inexperienced first timers, Gabriel and Vaenin try it hesitantly with a jump, rather than allowing themselves to fall in, they think they'll actually jump the height in case the air channel doesn't catch them. While their suspicions are wrong, they are still lucky enough to make it to the correct floor, right after Karlth and Askarius. They continue into the church that maintains devotion to the most amount of quires and gods than any other church in this world. As Gabriel and Vaenin are awed by everything they have seen thus far, they are too awed by this. Karlth makes conversation with the inquisitor that greets him, and requests a council with a historian. Unfortunately for this active moving party, the gentleman he wishes to see is currently busy, and so they have 4 hours to waste. Gabriel and Vaenin use this time to go shopping on the main level, buying rope and standard equipment.
After four miserably difficult hours of shopping and waiting, Karlth Askarius, Vaenin and Gabriel finally get to go back to the church. As they enter, this time the inquisitor is waiting for them and immediately takes them out of the main hall to the right into what look like monks' quarters and other such clergy. They go down to the first basement level and the inquisitor leads them to a door and leaves them alone. Karlth requests that the party stay outside, as he would prefer a private council. Askarius understands and sits on the stairs, Gabriel and Vaenin however are not so easily appeased. After a short argument, they settle and give in to Karlth's stolid personality. Outside the dormitory, Vaenin and Gabriel have a small conflict over eavesdropping, Vaenin wants to hear what's going on, and Gabriel refuses to let him. After another short argument, Vaenin unwillingly agrees, noting that this is a place of god, and perhaps this isn't a great time.
Inside the chamber Karlth meets a humble monk scribing something, and he stands to greet him. Karlth doesn't notice, but it seems as if the monk was expecting his arrival, as the notes on his desk discuss what Karlth is about to ask him about. However, Karlth is too blinded by what is happening now to care about the surroundings. He instantly shakes his hand and begins his questioning.
"What do you know about Talos?" Karlth bluntly asks, The monk quietly replied "Ah, Talos. The emperor of the Second Age. In this glorious age of human and elvish friendship Talos was the emperor of the city that is today called Solace." The monk continued on to describe the history briefly, Talos the emperor of the second age was faced with a great plague. It affected the entire town within a period of 36 hours, that is, it affected everyone but him. Obviously done on purpose, to make it look like he did it. Many townsfolk, mostly beggars and the homeless, complained to each other and eventually formed a resistance, a secret society that claimed the King himself released the plague on his own people! Quite incredulous, Talos tried to explain himself to his people, but the ones who were against him refused to budge from their positions and then only a week after the plague was conceived..they vanished, every last one of them. It was then that Talos was delivered a note by bird detailing the symptoms of the plague and the definite certainty of death in the very near future. It also said there was a cure, one that cost an immeasurable amount of money, though exactly how much is unknown. Money was not of importance, but the second part of the deal was. The soul of his own wife. This was one deal he simply could not make. So he sent a note back on the cloaked raven that said he agreed to lure him into a trap. Naturally, whoever this person was, he had fully expected said trap. He came alone, dressed in the Emperor's Royal Guard uniform. The armor was easily stolen, but every single one of these outfits had to be hand tailored by a special seamstress at the castle. Nobody else could adjust the intricate stitching she made. That meant he was a traitor. Not only that, but he was wearing a full plate mail fit for a true knight. This was clearly not somebody who was ill-prepared for this scenario.
Then the fight began. The king's royal guard, the watch guard, the soldiers of the city, the gate guards, mounted officials, nearly everyone with a sharp metal object was sent. These sickly men were all barely able to fight, and yet for the city they were willing to do more than die. Out of the ground and from the rocks and walls sprang to life horrible creatures. Skeletal creatures, unfinished meals of larger beasts began walking, ghosts of loved ones screaming, the shrieks of banshees were unmistakable. It was a war they were not expecting.
The one-man-army fought against Solace, and was winning for a near 11 months. It seemed this man's mana source was infinite! It wasn't until now did the Emperor have to enter battle himself. He realized he was about to lose everything and he wasn't going to let it happen without putting up a fight. Only minutes into the fight did he realize that he was seemingly unaffected by these weak creatures. He ran through them, like a battering ram, many of them dodged him, many of them went flying. He went straight to the source and with one swift piercing blow he struck his sword into and up the knight, separating his body in two from his nave up. the skeletons began to crumble, zombies began to melt, ghosts began to dissipate and banshees silenced. The knight himself instead of screaming or making any real noise at all instead just fell. The armor surrounding his body, the helmet atop his head, everything began to break as if there were a vacuum within the chest cavity, every piece of armor was sucked in, and crushed, like a piece of parchment until he was but a small ball...and then smaller, and smaller, and poof, there was nothing left. Except one thing, an oddly ornate looking dagger. It seemed it was quite powerful indeed, and the location of it is to this day unknown. After the knight was defeated, the plague instantly disappeared and everyone that was still alive was okay again. The city began to rebuild, but completely anew. The emperor decided to leave the castle be...and so for the first time a layer on solace was added. This one not quite magical, but because of it's physical attributes, it was truly a sight to behold. Held up by pure manpower, pillars at all of the four stress points making a large sparsely lined circle and an X in the middle, each one 6 feet in diameter held up an entirely new plane made of minerals. He called the city Solace, a place of comfort away from the ridicules of evil and dangers of the undead.
After taking in all this history Karlth is quite mentally exhausted. He decides he wants to see some physical association, and he knows from this monk that there exists this castle on the -7th floor. So off they go, they thank the monk and they all exit the church and head back to the air channel as they drop 13 floors (and almost a mile in distance) to the lowest floor. as their ears pop from the sudden descent, and their lungs automatically acclimated to the new height (another one of the channel's fascinating effects) they all descend onto the grassy land of the -7th floor. There, dead ahead lies an enormous castle, large enough to fit a city as large as this one inside of! (the main layer at least). But the most startling thing of all is..it looks like a disheveled old beggar who hasn't bathed or cut his hair in three decades. Parts of the castle lie strewn about and every single crack and most every brick is covered with moss and mold. Many towers are completely crumbled, and the others look ready to break any second. The castle is in such bad shape, it brings to question how old is this place? It's hard to know for sure, but what the party does know is that Karlth is here on business. Rather than ponder the many thoughts that most folk do in this situation, they go right to the tour guides, and they all (except Askarius) buy tours inside. When inside, they The tour guide offers to allow them to walk around on their own, or if they'd like the whole tour. Naturally, Karlth the loner walks around on his own, and the party follows him. They head straight for the keep, which has obviously been catapulted inwards to a hardly walking-friendly area. Karlth makes his way around the keep finding that the Emperor's quarters are vacant, and the Ladies in Waiting kept nothing of interest. When he arrives however to the barracks however, for the emperor's royal guard, he finds the emperor Talos's full set of plate mail. Quite glorious it is in fact. A longsword and shield came with it to match and all were decorated in gold symbols and intricate designs that are unmatched in today's quality. The shield has three divine symbols on it, but unfortunately, the names Mithaniel Marr, Saerten, and Hecate don't bring much to memory, let alone their representative symbolic tributes.
Within the armor however, Karlth discovers a wonderful candy smelling flower. It is exactly like the pasque that Askarius found, only the colors and smell are different. The Red on the outside is vivid, like a bright volcano erupting, and the black in the middle is as dark as charcoal. The smell now much more poignant reminds Karlth of liquorish. Karlth understands the symbolism here, and knows that whoever his secret admirer is, he likes to contact him in his dreams. First things first, however. He wants to be ahead of the game. He wants to know what the flower means, and fortunately Askarius knows someone who can read them. So the party heads south towards the Golden City of Elves. The woman that Karlth meets with explains to him that the red is the crimson color, it means that whatever happened was something felt passionate about. The smell of liquorish, oddly enough was the smell of death. And the black center meant crime was involved. perhaps a Passion crime? Karlth is still quite baffled, there is only one thing he feels passionately about...and that situation can't get much worse.
The party rests in the golden city, hoping for some guidance in their dreams as they have previously (mysteriously) gotten. Alas, their wishes come true.
Karlth, Gabriel, and Vaenin 'awaken' in the southeast corner of this island. In a place called the Shrine of the Gods. This shrine was assembled many years ago, shortly after Talos's reign ended. Now it is all clear, where they've heard the name Talos. They must have been fools not to realize it before! The clarity in their eyes is impossible to hide as one by one they all approach the gigantic tribute to a fourth quire god, Talos. Not realizing that all of their dreams are intertwined, nobody says a word to each other, believing the others are but figments of their own imagination. Vaenin walks around and makes his way to the center blessing pool. Seeing his reflection in the water, he reaches in. While he disturbs his own mirrored face, he disturbs nothing else. He is disappointed that in such a glorious place nothing special has happened yet. Grudgingly, he removes himself and waits for dawn. Gabriel is especially astounded by this place, he goes and examines each statue one by one. Soon he gets bored however, and tries to look for things to steal. Realizing there is nothing here that is not physically part of the temple, there is also no purpose for his being here. He too retreats from this dream. Karlth instead of walking around, recognizes this place. He's met an important person here, and the memory is forever scarred in his mind. "This is the Shrine of the Gods" he tells himself as he proceeds to Talos's glorified stone version of himself. He attempts a divine communication with him. Luckily for him, Talos has some time to spare. Karlth soon discovers, a lot more time to spare than he would like. He asks Talos about the dagger, and Talos claims the one he holds is a fake. Taken aback, Karlth inquires further. He wants to know more about the history, more about what happened. Talos only tells him that he bores of this world, and that Karlth, like most everyone, is playing a part in a play to which Talos has already seen the conclusion. He rejects Karlth's questioning further and instructs him to visit the shrine when awake, and he may be rewarded.
The party awakens, slightly perturbed, but otherwise normal. After a short visit to the Fletcher so that Gabriel can purchase some high quality elvish arrows, they depart on Anar, the red dragon that has been in the Klaine family for years, for the Shrine they all dreamt about. Upon entrance, Vaenin soon notices that unlike his dream, the center pool is now filled with blood. intrigued, he decides to test it, but it proves uneventful. Karlth now talks to Talos again. Talos makes clearer the part where he calls Karlth an actor, meant simply to play the part and it is now understood he doesn't just mean figuratively. He tells Karlth he must visit someone he knows well, an old acquaintance, but doesn't tell him who. Naturally, Karlth thinks of the wisest man he knows...
They visit Horrig. Horrig welcomes them into his home plane created after a few years of spell casting, and immediately smells the flower. He asks about the flower and Karlth reveals it. Horrig, the white cleric is astonished, and horrified. Karlth explains he already found out what it meant, and describes it, but Horrig seems to know differently. While it is true, that different colors and different smells mean different things, certain combinations can mean very explicit messages. This is why messenger flowers were so useful, they looked so innocent, and most people had no idea what was being conveyed even if they did intercept one. Nowadays it seems a bit old fashioned and very hard to come by these things. The cleric identifies the flower as the "Vixen of Vengeance." Somebody, or some thing is going to try to kill Karlth, and probably very soon. Karlth has a good feeling that gambling wasn't his strong suit, and it has finally come back to bite him. Playing with a deck of many things is a dangerous, dangerous game. Karlth then leaves the group to rest in one of Horrig's spare bedrooms. Gabriel asks further about the dagger and learns that is in fact a magical dagger, and quite a powerful one at that. Horrig appraises it to be worth approximately 12,000 GP. He won't tell Gabriel exactly what it does, but he does allow him a training session with a troll to try it out. As it turns out, he is faced with a Trollish Woodland Giant. Gabriel is far outmatched, but he gets to attack first, and that probably made all the difference. He punctures the front of the troll's knee and the Gothic dagger gets stuck inside, as immediately it begins to "activate." It reverberates within the beast and loosens itself from Gabriels grasp. The dagger continues to actually decay the body starting from the wound and eventually encompassing the entire body. Gabriel is grappled when the body is entirely decayed and falls about 12 feet. A slightly staggering fall, though only minor pain is endured on his part. Now, however, as he stands up a wave of nausea comes over him and he is barely able to move. As he gets the dagger and tries to move onto the rest of the forest, his feet feel heavier and heavier, until the nausea he feels becomes a sickening horror and he falls down. Writhing in pain, all he remembers is seeing the underside of the tree tops before he falls unconscious. Gabriel is unconscious, and has a dreamless sleep, if sleep is what you can call it. Karlth and Vaenin however rest healthfully, and dream of the same man. Neither of them have ever met him before.
Karlth is standing in the main keep of Talos's castle. It seems somebody is being accorded a great honor, as many maidens are strapping on armor that looks like the armor he had seen on Talos! It is in fact different though, and the boy is elvish, which rules out the next in line for ruling. Talos is still alive, too, sitting in his throne. Karlth approaches, trying to see who this man is, and when he finally gets to the side of him, he still doesn't recognize him. But he knows someone that looks a lot like him. It's Vaenin, this man has an uncanny resemblance to Vaenin. Could such traits be kept up over so many years? Or is it extremely odd coincidence. Horrig gave the suggestion that these dreams could all be artificial illusions, but still...Some of these things were entirely too close to home.
Vaenin remembers earlier events of the day, when they were in the castle. He remembers watching his childhood friend stealing from the dead emperor, watching him attempt to walk out with the glorious sword and shield that only the emperor himself bore. Suddenly a wave of patriotism takes over. He feels so passionately about the emperor, that he simply cannot contain himself. "You can't do that!" he finally exclaims to Gabriel "You can't steal his things." "And why not?" Gabriel, intrigued, replies. "Because it's just not right, i don't want you to." "Oh? Then stop me." Gabriel states proudly. Lo and Behold, Vaenin does indeed strike. He empties three mana points into a lightning spell that actually hurts the brute, Gabriel. Gabriel, now angered, strikes back with his sword. Realizing that this was a fight to be settled with brawn and not brains, Vaenin too draws his sword...only it's not his sword. It's a sword like the one that Gabriel stole, only slightly different. Different how? Vaenin's not sure, but he knows now that there are more of these swords around now. He immediately slashes Gabriel at the side and when doing so he notices in his outstretched hand, he doesn't see skin. He doesn't even see clothes, rather, he sees a golden lined full plate mail that is quite ornately dressing him. In one swift blow his sword lands halfway through Gabriel, and he pulls it up. Gabriel falls limp instantly and Vaenin's thirst for saving the honor of the emperor Talos is quenched.
When everyone awakes, Gabriel a tad more grumpy than everyone else, they decide to bid Horrig a fond farewell and try to venture for Felwithe, the man Karlth presumes he is to meet.

 
 = Date: June 22nd, 2006 = 
Players Present: Dan Evan Nick Joe Andrew Chris
Characters Present: Karlth (dan) Gabriel [Tokrin] (nick) Askarius (joe) Vaenin (evan) Axell (andrew) Connor (chris)
 Game opens in Horrig's Realm, as Vaenin, Gabriel, Karlth, and Askarius awaken quite delightfully after a silent, relaxing night's rest. One by one as they gather back into the common room they were greeted by Horrig in they all discuss the happenings of their odd dreams. Gabriel tells Vaenin of his adventures, and describes what he thinks the dagger does while Karlth listens but does not join the conversation, as he is already engaged into one with Askarius. Now that the party has finally gotten to a safe house, and rested they are a bit more energetic than they were previously. Karlth requests an item from Horrig, something like a signal whistle. To let Horrig know that he's in trouble, in case something happens. Horrig gives him a signet ring enchanted with an empathic link to his own signet ring, but also warns Karlth that if he wishes to maintain any sort of secrecy, that he should only wear it when he needs to use it. After farewells, the party again departs and heads back for the main island with the new knowledge that they have acquired. They decide to go back to Solace in hopes of finding the Archdemon known as Felwithe. Unknowing to the party, they are being watched very carefully by a hired mercenary. More specifically, Karlth is being watched very carefully, by a man being paid enormous amounts for something he finds very easy to do. Axell is being paid off by some mysterious man who meets him once a week in the tavern to exchange information for money, with no words spoken. Not much more is known about the man, except that he is probably very old, as he does move a bit slower than someone trying to keep his aura of allusion [side note for anyone reading, the word is actually allusion, not illusion which means something different]. Upon entering the city of Solace, the first move the party makes is towards an Inn to rest. Sneakily, Axell also gets a room and remains hidden. The party members are all revisited by more dreams. This time however they are more cryptic if anything. Axell dreams of robbing someone's house. This is another mercenary job, he's been comissioned to steal a ring, and nothing else. Unfortunately, he is caught and the person he is stealing from as it turns out is Karlth. Startled, he tries to run but with no luck. Karlth's dream embodiment tears the poor boy into pieces with one swift lethal pierce. Vaenin dreams of being a king, in a different throne room than he was in previously, and no place he recognizes from any tales. He comes to his consciousness in the middle of a knighting ceremony, the man in front of him is knelt down waiting for the final blessing from the king himself. Vaenin gets up and lifts his sword onto either side of the man's shoulders and to the top of his head as he says a prayer aloud, then brings the sword back to his side. The man stands now and adjusts his royal guardsmen robe and Vaenin sees a small metal glint that he can only identify as a dagger on the inside of his robe. It would seem the man was not intending to use it until Vaenin shouts "drop the dagger!" in fear. The man, for a moment appears to be pulling it out to drop it but quicker than anyone could see he throws it square into the king's heart. The king fell in one fluid motion as the rest of the keep rushed forward to see what happened and the unknown man leaps away with amazing agility and disappears. Gabriel has a dream within a throne room as well, however a much different one. Gabriel is instead greeted by darkness, and a crown of bones. The solitary man in the throne is very skinny looking, and is wearing, perhaps noble clothes of a different kind of nobility. Black velvet shimmer radiates from every fold as he follows them up to the face, only to be met with a dark circle revealing nothing. The crown is made from the front of many skulls and held together by bones and dried skin. Clearly ornamental, from the looks of it. Gabriel inquires to the strange man "Who are you? Where am I?" As if he didn't hear the question the man stares straight ahead. Gabriel gets the distinct feeling that he doesn't belong here, as if he just observing something that is already happening. But then his thoughts are interrupted as the man speaks "What is it you want?" Gabriel pauses for a moment, then realizing there is in fact nobody else in the room, he answers "well......i don't know...just to keep my friends alive, get money, and fish..." Unsure of how to answer Gabriel leaves his trailing off as if there was something more to be said. "What do you /really/ want?" Gabriel now realizing the severity of the question thinks for a moment and says the answer it seems the man was waiting to hear. "Power...I want power." the man continues now "Is it so hard to believe that even the greatest of men succumb to darkness? The temptations are sometimes too hard to resist and even great men must fall. That is the way of life. If life is only one stage and Death is but another, what is the point of living so innocently? What is the point of life if you cannot do what you wish?" Interrupting his own words he suddenly turns to Gabriel as if he's said too much "Do you know who I am?" Gabriel now completely lost, as if he is intruding now, he answers carefully "......No.....who are you?" The man stands with great speed and steps into the light. His skeletal features are unmistakable. The flesh wears so thinly on his body, while he's not yet a skeleton, he is less meaty than a lich. Parts of his face are missing and bones protrude from all around. He smiles and says "My name is Gabriel." Askarius is watching two children play in a somewhat suspicious looking back alley in his dream. He tries to caution them to go inside, because it's dangerous outside. The kids both refuse to listen. Askarius, slowly getting more and more angered by the moment attempts to force them to listen, "Listen boys, this isn't a safe place to be playing around" shooting both of them a vicious look "You'd better get inside." Yet, they still manage to ignore him! Blinded by rage, Askarius picks up one of the boys and tries to get his attention, this time it works a bit more ffectively. He climbs up the wall using his razor sharp metal claws and hangs the boy over the edge. Before even giving Askarius the chance to say another word, the boy deftly lifts his feet up and wriggles loose of Askarius's grip and uses his still stiff arm to launch into the middle of the rooftop. Askarius turns to face the boy and closes in on him. Before he gets close enough however, the boy's gaze takes a startled form, and instead looks oddly surprised. Before Askarius can react he feels a sharp pain in his neck, as if somebody just stuck a massive dagger into it...or two small ones. As he turns to pry himself off blood spills everywhere as Askarius is no longer able to hold himself balanced and falls down. The last thing he sees is a monstrous looking vampire staring him right in the eye, his mouth dripping with blood.
When at last everyone awakens, Karlth decides to get an adaptation made his dragontooth warhammer. He wants a 40 foot long chain attached to the base of the handle. He leaves the warhammer with an able smithy, and spends the rest of the week resting and relaxing in Solace, pondering just where Felwithe might be. Vaenin and Gabriel both take it upon themselves to individually look for answers to their dreams. They both end searching the same two places, with the same two results. The monks in the church are all busy with a special alms ceremony coming up in two weeks, and the temple yields no further information. With their unrequited thoughts, they return and waste the rest of the week tavern-hopping. Axell continues to fulfill his contracts, making large sums of money doing so. When the week is finally over Karlth is delighted with a visit to the blacksmith. A normally unfortunate incident barely even phases Karlth upon arrival. The price has gone up over 1200%!! But without spending a moment's time, he pays the blacksmith, fully satisfied that the chain is well worth the money and has already been tested by an admiring fellow named Connor. He asks to follow Karlth so he may learn too where to achieve one of these great weapons of mastery. Deciding that a good hearted human might be nice to balance this group out, he allows him without much hesitation. The party is now ready to depart Solace, because they haven't been able to get into contact with Felwithe. Since Karlth's flower does point generally east, he decides maybe they will find answers there. On exiting the blacksmith however, it would seem that the breeze has picked up. Subtly, but not subtle enough to pass off. Sensitive hearing tells the party that there is some low hissing noise far off in the distance. Askarius is almost instantly ready for a fight, but Karlth decides to wait. The rest of the party is unsure what is happening, but decidedly so practices the same apprehension as their two greater companions. As they wait the breeze begins to pick up little by little, as does the noise make a seamless transformation to a low whoosh, and eventually a humming. Karlth now seeing that this is probably the opportunity he's been waiting for, draws his weapon. Seeing that both of their masters are now battle-ready, the rest of the party quickly also makes with the drawn weapons. In defensive stances, most of the party withstands the blast of air that nearly knocks everyone off their feet. As they all regain their composure from this unexpected blast, they see clouds gathering, swirling. Lightning and thunder emitting from everywhere shooting both between clouds and to the ground. The party begins to run forward. Axell is _still_ following them from behind. When they finally reach the edge, they see a lone man walking towards solace. From the second layer it's hard to tell who it is, but Karlth and Askarius both safely assume it is in fact Felwithe, Master of the Wind. When they all finally see that this destruction radiates about this man, they are all taken offguard as suddenly a large boom is heard from above and a large streak of bright white traces throw the sky, from the south to the north. Upon glancing down the man is now gone, and the floor above is hurtling to the floor below in pieces. Dodging and missing all of them, Karlth allows his chain to drag behind him as he flies off the island. Everyone catches on really quick, and grabs onto the chain. Axell manages to grab the last link before his anxiety gets the best of him. Using Askarius's strength, Karlth manages to save the party from almost certain doom. Landing everyone on the ground they all recooperate for a moment, until they notice a newcomer has joined. Axell, an unwelcomed intruder draws two hatchets in fear of what they might think. Bantering and explanation ensues, eventually ending with Karlth's Verigatus in Axell's shoulder. Karlth's torture session is interrupted by a visitor, a welcomed one this time. Felwithe shields them with a conical twister stretched from the clouds so that nobody can hear, see or enter the magical barrier. Felwithe here decides to inform Karlth that Gabriel and Vaenin both have hidden pasts, royal lineage of sorts. But they must find out what they are capable of, because it wil jepoardize their mission. Felwithe finally paying back the favor that he owes Karlth informs him of what is happening, or at least the start of it. Felwithe leaves in somewhat of a hurry off northward again, leaving more destruction in his wake. After more inquisitions from Karlth to Axell, Karlth finally lets him live after a halting feeling, telling him that Axell must remain alive for the time being. Desperately unsatisfied, this party begins to make its way eastward following Karlth's mysterious lead.

Booboos: Towards the end, the line that begins "can hear, see or enter the magical barrier." The following should read instead "Felwithe here decides to inform Karlth that Gabriel and Vaenin both have hidden pasts, royal lineage of a sort. It is crucial that they do NOT learn what they are capable of."

 
 = Date: June 26th, 2006 = 
Players Present: Dan Evan Nick Joe
Characters Present: Karlth (dan) Gabriel [Tokrin] (nick) Askarius (joe) Vaenin (evan)
The party begins today's game by departing from the slightly shaken city of Solace. Slightly irritated, and quite tired everyone decides that haste is the only method of travel in this late hour. They quickly purchase four horses, and are off as fast as they can manage. Mithaniel Marr is the current destination, though what they are going to do there is not certain...after all they are simply following a flower's suggestion.
Arriving onto the foothills of Mithaniel Marr the Party is beginning feel a bit more alive, not having to walk everywhere now perhaps is aiding in the speed of movement. With their wits about them, they set their horses to roam free until their next captor receives them, for the slopes of the mountain are too steep for even humans to walk, let alone a steed. They begin the ascent climbing mostly on hands and knees the entire way. Karlth refuses to allow himself to fall so low, and flies to the first basecamp and awaits the party's arrival. Askarius, Vaenin, and Gabriel climb up taking short rests every hour to recuperate and make sure they are properly hydrated. Sudden climbs in heights have been known to explode heads before...quite literally.
Luckily, around every time they want to make a stop, other people have done so before them and over time small landings have been created for short rests. One particular rest they spend about half hour in, much more exhausted than normal. They explore into the cavern behind them and discover two skeletal remains, along with entrails and useless junk left behind by other travelers. They rest for a moment and depart for the next landing. As they get to the next landing to rest, Vaenin hears a noise over the edge. His first instinct "We're being followed" Gabriel is already on his way to the next landing trying to avoid conflict. Askarius, not quite the same sentiment. Askarius and Vaenin both peer over, and still seeing nothing back away and ready their weapons. Two humanoid beings come flying up over the edge, landing stiffly on the ground kicking up pebbles and dust everywhere. In a startled rage Askarius swings blindly, contacting flesh, but not his enemy's. Vaenin goes flying and lands on the lower ledge, unconscious from the fall, if not dead. Karlth, only one about 50 feet above them now sees Vaenin flying off the edge of the mountain from his sitting vantage point. Just as Gabriel crawls over to Karlth's encampment, Karlth runs off the cliff and falls to the ground where the skeleton is, Dragontooth warhammer in hand. Straightening his wings for optimum speed he makes one large swing at a speed greater than 100 kilometers an hour. Deftly dodging, the skeleton avoids Karlth's devastating blow as the hammer pounds itself into the ground for what looks like a very long time. Simultaneously Karlth spreads his wings and lands smoothly next to Vaenin. Seeing the opportunity, he leeches what's left of Vaenin's energy, he won't be using it, right? Karlth begins to fly back up following his chain with his eyes. Meanwhile atop the ledge, The second skeleton has turned its attention towards Askarius. Judging by the tightening ribs and piercing fingertips, it is clear this is not a loving embrace. Embraced, however, Askarius indeed is; so tightly in fact that he could no longer hold himself standing. With only his teeth left to use (and what a weapon to leave a half vampire to use) he rips the skeleton slowly but surely into bits and pieces. Karlth's ascent finally breaches the level of the fighting area as a blow that would knock a maturing dragon off its balance sends Karlth back about 30 feet. The being actually used Karlth's own warhammer against him. Appreciative of a good fight, Karlth comes flying back into battle.
Karlth's dark wave having no effect, quickly realizes who he's fighting. Like a light switch, he converts the dark energy to holy and in one swift glorious maneuver, he turns one skeleton to dust. The holy blow flies right above Askarius's body. Perhaps if it hit him he would not have survived this fight, but it didn't and he wasted no more time in ripping the skeleton to shreds. Karlth swept down and picked up Vaenin's now barely awake body and takes him to the camp site. Askarius after peeling bones from inside of his body and suffering great blood loss manages his own way up. The party rests on this mystical mountain after an exhausting fight.
On one of the most spiritual of all places, they say the dreams are the strongest here in Mithaniel Marr. They say some people chose to stay forever, and they say some had no choice. Vaenin is standing in a monk's private quarters, as he races through historical books and diaries. Every few minutes or so the monk goes back to the same piece of paper, draws a line and writes a name...then he continues the search. Vaenin fully aware of himself requests attention of the monk "Excuse me....?" The monk replies, "Hold on I'm almost done..." trailing off, muttering something to himself. Vaenin asks again "Done with what?" Almost surprised, but more slightly confused and perhaps annoyed, "Getting what you asked me for, of course!" Still quite puzzled, Vaenin decides to poke further; "And what did I ask you to get...may I ask?" Absurdly confused now, the monk turns "The length of your lineage and whether it goes back to Talos or not." Now understanding, he was getting answers in his dreams he waits intently. After several hours (a monk's view on "almost" is far different than another human, Vaenin however lucks out, being an elf). He writes one final name on the single line family tree and hands the list over. Vaenin's eyes go straight to the top, where he sees the name Selune. Gabriel's dream is a bit irritating for him. He is in the same situation as Vaenin, awaiting the response of a monk he's never met before. His impatience gets the best of him however. "What are you doing?" Ill-responsive to his tone, the monk replies just as reluctantly as if Gabriel were threatening him. "Doing what you told me." the monk said, almost with conviction, but that would be worthy of being outcast from the monastery. "Give me that!" Gabriel outstretched for the parchment yells at the monk. The monk now realizing the dire need to calm this man down before he himself is aroused, he lowers his own tone. "Please sir, I do not respond well to anger. If you could simply ask me nicely, this would be a lot easier on both of us." Submitting, Gabriel does so. "what did I ask you to do?" "Simply, to go as far back as i could on your family lineage. You asked politely this time, and i appreciate that." Gabriel refused acknowledging that he did in fact ask politely, instead just waited for him to finish. Several hours of pouring over books later the monk finally finished this parchment off with one name. Similar to Vaenin's, but at the same time, distinctly different. The name at the top read "Istithia"
Karlth awakens in front of a massive house. It's the size of a mansion, but it doesn't have the decor to match one. It's ornate structuring make it look like a guild house, but it's lack of homely features make it feel like a stronghold, to keep everyone out....or perhaps a prison, to keep everyone in? As Karlth approaches the solitary door in the front of the house and walks up the three step landing he gets a strong magical sense that something inside is very powerful. Rather than seeing the usual aura about a person of their belief structure and personality, instead he sees blurs of auras, like colors streaking across a giant vortex. Unable to pinpoint even a single one, he ignores it entirely and reads across the large front double door. "Mirror House" in large glorious looking letters in common. Then under it in draconic, the language of the magi, "Mana Pool" is inscribed much more discretely. Amazing, he thought as he lifted his Maul of the Titans. Slamming it into the door, once, twice, no luck. He concedes, fully aware this s but a dream and his mind may not be able to venture that far only half working. As he turns around he sees a landmark. Immediately he flies to see this stone statue, whatever it is. In a matter of moments he's floating steadily by the wrist of this broken arm. It was only a part of a statue, alas; the shoulder to the wrist of a right arm, slighlty bent and standing tall in the air, about 40 feet. Why, 40 feet...after a short run in the head, that would total to something over 70 feet tall! "Unbelievable...Perhaps Askarius would know where it is....I'll ask him when i wake." he thought as he returned to the mirror house to be forced to stare at it in contemplation for 7 hours. 7 hours he wondered what would be inside, and not a single minute would help him prepare for what he would indeed see.
Askarius had probably the most spiritual dream of all. His dream led him into a barren golden city of elves. As he stood outside of a townhouse with two massive ivory colored pillars outside, he sensed that there was a single being other than himself within 300 feet. That being was in that house. He knocked first, and then let himself in. As he did so, he felt the being upstairs, now walking forward towards the staircase and his inklings were correct. There the mystery person was, but just as hard to discern as before. The face covered by a cloth hood, and the body's figure masked by a velvety black folded silk. To make matters more confusing, the person spoke only in whispers, whispers so nondescript that even a ranger wouldn't be able to tell what creature, let alone whether it was male or female was speaking it. "This way please" as the robe gestured, it looked as if there was in fact nobody inside the outfit. As Askarius reached for the door mentioned, it opened simply by him willing it to. This is true power, he thought, as he walked in. He was greeted by a room arrangement he's been in before. Two large bench seats making a 30 degree angle faced a large hearth. The fire was not lit, but rather torches around the room were instead. The figure gestured for Askarius to sit on one, while the robe, like liquid, molded onto the other. Such fluid movement is--All of Askarius's thoughts were interrupted by another, more important one. "Why do you follow them?" the Voice said. "You gave me the flower, didn't you?" "Of course." "The flower pointed me to Karlth, i decided to follow him, and see where it took me...my only goal anymore is redemption. I don't want the life I've taken any longer, I don't want to be this barbarian anymore." "You obviously stopped looking at the flower when you saw your friend, your heart does what it desires Askarius." said the Voice, with contempt this time. Realizing it was only a matter of seconds before Askarius figured out who it was, and wanting to maintain the element of a goddess, the Voice revealed herself seemingly willingly. As she pulled her hood down, a lively contrast filled the room. A darkness emitted from her eyes, a seducing, and yet loving darkness, but a clear symbol nonetheless. As she pulled her hood down, her hair flowed down across her back like a bright river, until it finally settled when it remained stationary glistening like a gem from the inconsistent glow of the torches. The odd lighting made her hair look as if it was made of amethyst, for it was indeed a deep violet color. Perhaps she liked it that way. Her facial features were perfect and symmetrical, long ears and clear skin were elvish traits that nobody could match. Her brows furrowed slightly at the sight of Askarius's surprise, and her smile was impossible to hide. She was in every sense of the word, a beautiful seductress. "Drusilia...." "Why have you tossed away the guidance i have given you? I thought that you might feel the loss of abandonment and inquire within, but it has no effect on you. Still you walk in the wrong direction, still you move with the worst of intentions." "I.....where do I go? Where do you want me to go?" "Go back to Windy Bluff, i will re-light the beacon to help you along. You mustn't wait with these men, you must continue with your own journey if you are to achieve what you want to." "...I understand. Thank you. I'm always in your debt." The feeling that she had this disciplined barbarian in his hand was not something new to Drusilia. She decided nothing further was necessary, and he awoke with a start.
Quite sad, but quite sure, Askarius knew what he had to do. He said his farewells and left the group. He was headed for Windy Bluff, alone.

 
 = Date: July 2nd, 2006 = 
Players Present: Dan Evan Nick
Characters Present: Karlth (dan) Gabriel [Tokrin] (nick) Vaenin (evan)
Karlth decides that after he found out where this rune was, the flower was not pointing towards the peak of Mithaniel Marr, but rather it was actually pointing to this rune. They just happen to be in the same direction, he will soon see that this is quite a costly mistake. Borrowing strength, he carries his two companions and flies around the mountain, in a semicircle around the southern part of the mountain, rather than climbing the mountain. As the reach half way to their destination, now on the southern vein in the mountain they stop to rest. Karlth's strength is drained and he does not feel he can continue through the night. Luckily, there are base encampments at the southern parts as well, who would have thought! Appreciating the good stroke of luck, they all go to their beds and sleep.
Awakening with no troubles for once, they decide to depart immediately. As Karlth leaves the cavern first he hears two distinct voices from behind him, and they are clearly not his two companions. They speak in unison. "You who have trespassed on land you do not belong. You will pay for the sins you have committed here." Karlth immediately understands, it's the guardians he's heard so much about. This is only the beginning, there are thousands of them, these are only two. We cannot continue further, he thought. "We wish to leave the mountain, if you allow us to pass we will not disturb you any more than we already have." He pleaded "We care not for your excuses, human." "You will repent..." said the one on the left. "...Repent with blood" finished the one on the right. While Karlth saw the jagged outlines of Chaos and brilliant aura of Good in the shape of two massive humanoids above the exit to the cavern, Vaenin and Gabriel did not and could not figure out where the voices come. Apprehensively, both prepared for a fight, unsure of what was happening. "Please, allow us to leave peacefully, we do not wish to cause you any further trouble" Karlth pleaded, this time for the sake of the guardians, not for their own. He knew who would win this fight, and he knew his pleading was in vain the moment he finished his sentence. Now Vaenin and Gabriel saw, real outline began to form. This monstrous creatures were made of the mountain, literally; and now they're coming out. The ground begins to shake as walls emerge from around them. Karlth smiling wryly immediately summons 6 skeletal protectors. "My disposable shields" he thought as he readied for another spell. Vaenin prepared to charge his sword and attack, and Gabriel was already looking for a good footing. The wall reached 40 feet tall before the two beings were free. Grace was not in mind when they both fell flat on their fronts, shaking the ground violently. As they stood they saw the other two readying for a fight as well. the one on their left turned to Vaenin and Gabriel to talk, but before they could even get a word out Gabriel had already struck one in the leg with his sword...having absolutely no effect except making his hands a bit redder. The one about to speak pointed to Vaenin and Gabriel "You two had done nothing wrong, You could have left unharmed!" Vaenin firmly replied, "He is our companion, we will fight with him if we must." The rock golem now turned specifically to him, and then back to Gabriel. "Why have you struck me? Do you not know what will happen to you?" All the while, the other Golem had begun walking towards Karlth, crushing his skeletons effortlessly. Karlth wisely waits for the Golem to reach him, rather than reaching for the Golem. "You, You should leave, you have done nothing wrong" the first Golem points to Vaenin, as an archway shaped hole clears from the stone behind him, ushering for him to leave. Karlth grips the Golem by his ankle and performs one of the deadliest drain spells he ever has. He saps so much power from the Golem, he becomes drunk with strength. His arms bulge wildly, his eyes narrow, he grows taller. His armor begins to feel extremely tight, as his strength raises to god-like status. Before he can regain his balance, it would seem the golem still has some life in him. How strong are these guys? The golem in one swift move picks up Karlth by his head, squeezes it until it's about to split and slams him head first into the wall. Karlth falls to the floor limp...and does not move. Vaenin walks out just before this happens to avoid conflict and the door shuts behind him. Gabriel sees the most powerful man he's ever met fall in one single blow... "shit....." He does the first thing he thinks of, He draws that deadly dagger of damnable effects that destroy, demolish and disintigrate denizens of the dark. (sidenote: i did that all impromptu without stopping :-D). With a quick throw it lands in the far Golem's chest and he immediately falls down. He is picked up and thrown against the wall by the one next to him. The golem pauses to look at his companion, and then quickly turns back to Gabriel, now even more angered than before. It was heresay until now, now he'd done it. "You shall fail mortal, and now you shall die like your friend." Gabriel on the floor looked up so see the voice who spoke, only to be greeted with a gigantic stone foot about to crush him... Deftly, he rolled out of the way and ran to the Golem on the ground and pulled the dagger out. The Golem turns to face Gabriel at his new position, and Gabriel launches the dagger into this one. The Golem's slow hands were prepared, and made it just in time to catch the dagger, allowing it only to pierce an inch or two. While is still did severe damage, the familiar spreading plague was not infecting this one. He glanced back to the one next to him and watched him disintegrate some more to make sure he wasn't coming back. "Fool! You have just ensured your death." He threw the dagger a hundred feet or so in the air. Outside Vaenin rests quietly against the wall hoping his friends make it out alive, when suddenly a dagger comes flying from the air straight into the ground not 10 feet away from him. He recognizes it as Gabriel's and picks it up. "safekeeping" he told himself. Inside the wall Gabriel was dodging, but he knew soon that he wouldn't be able to dodge anymore. And there was absolutely no way he was going to defeat this beast. Then, as if someone heard his pleas, a shade appeared behind the Golem. black wings outstretched, floating elegantly behind the golem, completely unnoticed. Any and all features were indistinguishable from the silhuoette, but if he were to guess, Gabriel would it was Karlth...But wait, Karlth is dead, dead right here... The shade reared back about to slaughter the Golem, similarly the Golem reared back about to slay Gabriel. The Golem lunged forward, surely to hit Gabriel this time, just as the shade lunged forward on the Golem. Gabriel didn't budge. The golem suddenly stoppedbefore he hit Gabriel, catching the shade off guard, and the shade almost flew right through him. Suddenly, startled the Golem said "Who ARE you? What is this trickery?" he pulled back and punched again, Gabriel saw it now. An invisible barrier as solid as steel. The Golem could not penetrate further. "You lie, you are not who you appear to be!" Confusing Gabriel only further "What...? What are you talking about?" "You have something in you, something you are hiding--" Before he can answer fully the shade wraps a whip made from a darkness so potent it looks like a glossy black oil, and with one tug the head melts right off. Before the Golem falls the shade dissipates and Gabriel is left confused and lost. Karlth awakens... "I thought you were dead!" Gabriel exclaimed "So did I.." Karlth replied. After a short recollection of what happened, Gabriel asked Karlth if he knew anything about what the Golem was talking about. Something hidden and whatnot. Karlth did, and he acknowledged so. "Yes....a royal lineage of sorts, i believe. Don't let it bother you, it's nothing important." He felt that was enough information to quench his thirst, and not enough to give him thoughts...dangerous thoughts anyways. This would have to happen slowly, Karlth decided, since it was in fact unavoidable.
They departed immediately off the mountain, all three of them and headed southwest towards the monument. Askarius described it as a powerful statue, one that was scattered across the land in pieces too small to easily assemble, but too large to easily move. This rune was labeled "El" on Askarius's map. He wasn't sure why, but it was. He never looked into the history behind it, just assumed that it was something not to be toyed with. It took Karlth only a minor second after seeing all the runes on two of the islands to discern that arranged properly, they spelled "Mephistopholes." A dangerous game, he decided not to decipher the rest of the hidden message for now, he had a goal to take care of.
They arrived at the rune, and headed Northeast towards where he believed this mirror house was. It was, in fact where he dreamt it to be. It looked almost exactly as he had envisioned it. Trying the door again revealed that he needed another way. Hoping this wouldn't be like his dream, he raised his hammer and swung with all of his might, over and over again until on the fourth time it creaked open. They enter the glistening room. The room, 40 feet by 40 feet was glowing sickeningly as Onyx looking mirror were placed almost carelessly on every inch of the walls, even the cielings, and parts of the floor were reflective too! Torches were hung and mounted sporadically, but the mirrors assisted in confusing all patrons as to where the torches were actually placed. The staircase on the far wall led upwards to two more doors. The party made haste towards them, Gabriel entered the door to the right, first. He searched the room and found nothing, but was content with taking a small hand held mirror. As he took it, the onyx began to wash away and turn silvery pale again. Ah, this is what a mirror is supposed to look like! Karlth entered the other room with Vaenin following behind him. This room was not empty like the others, this one looked like a bedroom. Two bedside tables, a vanity, and a fully made bed. Karlth began searching the vanity as Vaenin began searching the bedisde tables and drawers. Karlth found nothing of interest until.... Vaenin opened a drawer and found a book that looked like it was covered with stretched leather. He picked it up and blackened dust fell off, he began to open it and suddenly heat shot threw him, singed all of his fingers and the book leapt from his hands and hit the floor with a loud Thud, so even Gabriel could hear. "What do you think you're doing?" Karlth stated the rhetorical question. Gabriel walked in, just in time to hear him 'asking' Vaenin the question. Stammering, Vaenin replied "I...I was trying to...help you and such" "What did you think you were helping with? Reading another man's belongings?" "I..thought searching and such like that would be helping you, I don't know man....I'm sorry?" "Get out." Karlth turns briefly to Gabriel, he needs not say anything, Gabriel is the first one out of the door. Karlth locks the door behind them and summons a lone skeleton.
"Pick it up." The skeleton obeys without hesitation, picking the book up it is unharmed. "Face the mirror, and open it away from you." The skeleton turns around, and opens it, as if showcasing it to the mirror. The skeleton opens it with a jerk, getting it all the way open before flames engulf it. Though the book itself looks completely normal, Karlth sees in the mirror is a totally different image. He sees fire burst from teh book, and the skeleton wreathed in flame instantly evaporates. Flames shoot across the walls within the mirrors encasing the whole room in illusionary flame untilt he book falls to the floor, and closes. In another instant, it's all gone. Karlth picks the book up and puts it in his napsack "Somebody wants me dead....again....Wonder who sent this gift..." Upon touching it, he remembers seeing this type of binding before. The book was bound with bone fragments mixed with internal organs and blood, to make a glue of sorts. The covering is stretched and charred demon skin. He exits the rooma dn exits the Mansion. Behind him Gabriel notices all the mirrors fading from onyx to a clear, reflective mirror shine again. Concerned for his own safety, he continues out instead of staying to watch. Karlth never even noticed. Gabriel pauses for a moment, and watches it all wash away like ink pouring out of a bottle. The entire room is soon cleansed, and washed again, this time with a pale green color, crystalline almost. Each of the mirrors begins to fold, transforming to look faceted, and begin to look more and more like real crystal by the second. The whole room was shrinking in height, changing right around his feet! The floor was turning into stone tile by tile. Karlth notices that one dimwit is not following them, and turns to see where he went. Upon turning around they both see what is happening. Karlth can only assume it's because he's emptied the house of this cursed book...so when he re-enters, he leaves it outside. Anybody foolish enough to pick it up won't be able to take it far anyways. they re-enter the room as the place continues to transform. Karlth, Gabriel and Vaenin now stand in a cavern. Besides the stone floor, everything around them is a crystalline material, shining brightly from all edges and corners, giving the area a seemingly endless feel. A pale green glow tells them that they are near water, somewhere. The hallway continues forward, and two alcoves interrupt it on either side. The left side has several barrels full of bread and food. The right alcove has two fountains, one with a perfectly clear liquid, and with the slightest of blue hues. Karlth remembers this place...He arrived too late last time, will he see what he missed? He's not sure he wants to, he allows Gabriel and Vaenin to lead the way.
They continue down the cavern and turn the corner to see a fountain. This fountain is much different, as they enter the much larger room, the first thing that greets them is this massive stone structure. Four dragon heads emit from four equidistant points on this majestic circular fountain. Above the lower pool which is about 6 feet in diameter was mounted a smaller pool about 2 feet in diameter. It poured a silvery substance, resistant of absorbtion unlike any other normal liquid, as if it wasn't a liquid at all, just a metal in liquid form. The fluid gave off a distinct blue hue, this material is known as Orichalchum. Bloody feathers, originally of white color littered the floor all about the fountain and into the large area, which the group has not noticed until just now. Gabriel picks up a feather and dips it into the fluid, and watches as the liquid repels not only the feather, but the blood itself too. They continue to the rest of the chamber and see something slightly unexpected, for the two newcomers anyways.
At the far end of the chamber was a large golden throne, and about the ground everywhere are bloody feathers. Something horrible has happened here...This place is tainted.
Gabriel decides to inspect the throne further, admiring it all the while. He notices in the back a large niche. The 9 foot tall throne has a cut out of what looks to be a very elegant sword's resting place, but the sword is missing. Karlth knows who has the sword now, but he leaves Gabriel and Vaenin in the dark about it. They decide to depart from this place....not sure why he was brought here, Karlth leaves first, shortly followed by Vaenin. Before he leaves, Karlth cautions Gabriel to keep his hands to himself. Gabriel on his way fills two waterskins from the two fountains and takes a piece of bread and eats it on the way out. The bread itself is delicious, warm to the touch, as if it were freshly baked and toasted with honey on top.
As they exit, they head towards the Katrin fortress. The Katrin fortress is just south of Mithaniel Marr, and is well known for their gypsies and mystical quality. Katrin are a breed of cat people, fur covered skin, long tails, and humanoid figures with facial structures of a leapoard. They enter the city and immediately Karlth gives Gabriel 500 GP and commissions him to find the best inn in the place. Karlth and Vaenin both separately head to the gypsy district, both looking for answers. Karlth goes to the oldest, wisest looking Katrin he sees and also one of the few with an actual dream catcher. He approaches him, and almost as if the man was expecting him he greets him "How may i be of service?" "Can you discern dreams from thoughts, reality from fiction? How competent are you?" "I'm quite ready to do what you need, but what is it that you need good sir?" "I need you to...read my palms, predict my future for me if you will." "Ah, one of those kinds of things, hold on" He pulls out a large crystal ball from underneath his desk, and places it on the table. "Place your fingertips on the ball, i will utter an incantation, but i cannot look inside, if i do then the spell will be broken. What you see is for you and you alone, if you wish to tell me afterwards it is your decision, but i can read cryptic signs better than you can, i promise you that." The man held his hand over the ball and turned away. As he closes his eyes, he utters something in a language Karlth has only heard the Katrin speak before. Immediately his attention turns back towards the ball as mist begins to swirl around. He first sees a large fist, holding an even larger sword. The image swirls and reforms, he sees a woman with beautiful angelic wings holding the Myelin greatsword. The image changed again, the wings dissolved and a man appeared before the woman. She falls to her knees and he swings a scythe and beheads her. The image chances again, he sees his companion, unmistakabley it is Horrig. He sees Horrig, but something is not right, oh no! Someone has stabbed him in the chest, he's fading! Not just him, the vision entirely is over. Feeling the lack of the divine presence, the Katrin stops the incantation and turns back and opens his eyes. "What did you see?" "I saw a fist...holding a sword, i can only guess it was made of stone. It lay on the ground" "Ah, this is another rune, it is called 'Es' and is located in the northeastern quadrant on this isle, nearby the old peasant city of prirebwyn. What else did you see?" "Two women...One i know, and the other i didn't. One was an angel, holding a sword that i did recognize. A massive greatsword as light as wind itself. The other woman used to be my wife." "Used to be?" "Yes, She was taken--" "I wish not to know about your past sir, that is yours and yours alone. Only you can truly understand this vision, What else did you see?" "I saw a friend of mine, a great cleric...but he was dressed in armor, as if in a fight. He was killed, i watched him die and crumple..." "Have you visited this friend recently? Is he close?" "He's a good friend of mine, and i did visit him recently...why?" "I suggest you take this, free of charge. Your past is tormented, and this will allow you to sort things through." he hands Karlth a small vial with a pink liquid in it. Karlth hands the man a sack of 500 platinum pieces for his troubles. "I thank you for your kindness, your business is always welcome here."
Vaenin finds another Gypsy on his own and inquires similarly "How may i help you?" "I have a question, about my past..." "What is your question?" "I need to know something about my lineage, and about a god." "Firstly, We katrin do not believe in your gods, They have no effect on this world. we have our own and i know that you have no idea who they are, and since you are not talking about /my/ gods, i cannot help you with that. As far as your lineage goes, your best bet is to find a monastery, with some really old monks." "You can't help me?" "I'm afraid not." "How much do i owe you?" "Free of charge, anybody could have answered those questions." Vaenin leaves the gypsy section in town and head back to the inn. Karlth is already there, and Gabriel too returns after perusing the market place briefly.
Karlth downs his mystery vial in one gulp and falls right asleep like a baby. His dream is what appears as haunted for a moment. Trapped between shadows, it feels like...his body appearing to be ripped apart in every direction, but he felt nothing but a light breeze that confused him between whether he was warm or cold. Light and dark swarmed everywhere in this abyss where he floated, seemingly above gravity. He saw many other beings floating and flying about in this plane, and he was greeted with a voice. "Where do you wish to go?" "I need you to take me to the northwest corner of this island, to the Es rune." "I'm afraid I cannot take you somewhere you haven't already been...this is a mind full of memories. Where do you wish to go?" And simply by thinking it Karlth is back at home, about 8 years ago. He is in his study, attending to mining business matters. The first is the daily export and collection report, telling him how much moonshine was moved out of the mine, and how much moonshine was traded and sold, and for how much. The next report he reads briefly discusses the condition the moon, and when the next new moon is expected, and how much they should pace their trade to keep the value of moonshine on the market high. The last daily report discusses miner's, engineer's, and consumer suggestions. First all the miners put suggestions into a an anonymous box. Engineers can deposit letters in an outside office, and consumer's tell their sellers what they think. The suggestions come up the chain to a reviewer, when he sees more than one miner with the same suggestion, or a miner with a clever suggestion, he notes it down. Almost all of the engineers' suggestions go straight through, and if he finds a common complaint or compliment among consumers of the same shipment, he'll look into why, and note how to prevent it, or how to keep it consistent. He then forwards all of these suggestions to an editor, who adjusts them for more intelligible minds, as we all know tradesmen aren't too bright, and miners are certainly not the brightest bunch. He also consolidates the engineer's suggestions to a simple final product and attaches the original letters to the back, and this itinerary gets sent to Karlth, daily. He reads the daily suggestions, brushing most of them off as nothing important. He makes check marks next to the ones that please him, and draws a slash through the ones he believes need immediate preventative action. finishing, he hands the letter back to his assistant, who folds it, puts it in a letter and back on the table for Karlth to seal. Afterwards, the assistant leaves through the door that goes directly outside, and Karlth leaves through the door that goes into the rest of the house. He greets his young boy, and asks where his wife is. "Hey Dymitel...where's mommy?" "She just went to the market...why?" "Oh, nothing, i just wanted to ask her something." For some reason, almost worriedly, Karlth rushes out of the house seeing the dust trail kicked up by the horse as Anna must have just left. Unfortunately Karlth knows the only thing faster than his wife on a horse is him on a dragon...well that's a bit unsightly to arrive in town, He'll just have to catch up. He rides in after her and slowly wades through the crowd and eventually spots her talking to a fisherman. Just as she gets three fish from him and turns away Karlth siezes her, from behind. Almost so rough she'd get hurt, but not weakly enough so she'd think it was anyone else, he embraced her, seeing her for the first time after so long. He spends the rest of the day with her, and the night as well. As Karlth wakes up, the feeling of love envelops his body with a warm wave, and with a cold one so does the abandonment...the betrayal...
The party heads to the stable for mounts to go to the northwest territory, to find the Es Rune.

in the last segment of Karlth's memory, the time is NOT 8 years ago. Rather we are leaving it as "a long time ago" Please do not be confused, this is to eliminate from anyone seeing history that they do not know of yet, so to ensure just how vague i am, this could be anywhere from 1 year ago to 1000 years ago. Besides, does anyone really know how old Karlth is? Except maybe me..and Karlth? :-P


 
 = Date: June 22nd, 2006 = 
Players Present: Dan Evan Nick Chris
Characters Present: Karlth (dan) Gabriel [Tokrin] (nick) Vaenin (evan) Connor (chris)
The group while in the stables finds out that a caravan is leaving shortly for Prirebwyn, which is a mere 25 miles (or so) away from the rune they are looking for. They request to go with them in exchange for gold and services on the way, and the man agrees to 300 gold for all of them, as long as they help with camp set up and the likes. They share tales and teach each other a few things on their way to Aina; the first major stop. Gabriel tackles Vaenin just about everytime they finish setting up camp, Vaenin gives him an electric shock to remember, the usual happenings. Karlth sets up the beginnings of a business partnership for his Moonshine, here on the other side of the world in the island chain that makes up this land.
In Aina they find a massive port city that resembles Solace on one single level next to the ocean. The group explores, first visiting an old friend, the one who wields the sword known as Patriot, and who gave Askarius the axe that can think for itself. "Ahoy! Well i haven't seen you in a while!" Says the merchant/blacksmith as Karlth enters the store. The store itself is practically littered with magical weaponry and other trinkets. Every weapon looks as if it was custom made for a king. Connor's jaw drops as he simply gapes at each and every one of them. Gabriel begins to decide which one he's going to beg Karlth for, and Vaenin decides this weaponry is below him and leaves. "Aye, My friend here needs a master quality greatsword" (+2) Karlth replies "For you? I think i can handle that, is that all?" "Use this.....somehow...." Karlth hands the blacksmith a vial filled with Orichalchum he acquired many years ago. "I think I can have this done in about a week...maybe two" "How much?" Karlth inquired. "For you? 20,000, and you got a deal." the merchant stated proudly. With that, the group departs from the tradesman's place. Vaenin is not quite so lucky in the magic shops, all of the shopkeepers show him great difficulty and only discourage him from wanting to ask anything more, and he ends up leaving all of them unfulfilled and very unsatisfied. They all eventually meet up at a tavern, and then move to an Inn for the night and depart the next morning.
After a few more stops they reach prirebwyn, unharmed and on time. Karlth leaves a few scraps of the moonshine material with the tradesman who brought him to prirebwyn, and they depart south west to find the rune. Before they leave, he agrees to meet with the tradesman in about a month in the port city of Aina to discuss further the matters of bringing moonshine to this land.
Connor spots it first, the rune standing quite tall. They see a fist holding a massive hilt of a sword. The blade extends for about 6 more feet and then gets off. The entire structure stood  about 45 feet tall, dominating over the landscape nearby. Connor also spots something else first, it looks as if on the other side of the structure someone was sitting cross legged, facing away and one of their knees stuck out from behind the statue. He whispers notification to Karlth, but he doesn't seem to be worried. As they approach closer, and everyone else too sees this mysterious knee, that belongs to a mysterious person that have not been able to see. Covered in a black cloth, it adjusts a tiny bit when the get about 30 feet away. Before anybody does anything, Karlth attempts to detect what kind of person is on the other side. An outline, he manages to see, but the entire body itself is a swirling mist of chaos and neutrality at the same time. The good and evil within this person mix together, what is this thing? Knowing that only few in this world are such master of the magicka to be able to not only mask, but confuse, and even scare other Magi, and even fewer that would be waiting here, presumably for Karlth. "Ahoy!" Connor yells out. "Horrig, what brings you here?" Karlth calls out. "Aha! You've found another companion!" the man behind the statue replies. "Yes, /he/ has!" Connor says stoutly. "I've been waiting for you to arrive for nine days." the voice proclaims. As the man's knee disappears, a moment later it reappears, this time with the rest of his body as Horrig steps out and leans against the side of the statue, giving a sideways look to the party. "Come now, Karlth. You know those parlour tricks won't work on me" Horrig muses with a wink. "It's good to see you again, but why have you come here?" "I have bad news unfortunately, I have sensed something off with you." "Like what?" "An alliance has been broken, something..someone is going to meet you here, I've seen it. I don't know who, but perhaps you do. I feel that you are going to need help in whatever fight this is." "I think i have an idea....." "Who?" "Rheyin, I know Rheyin doesn't like me" "What's a Rheyin?" Gabriel interrupts, but ignoring him they both continue "I don't think so....but what about Felwithe?" "Felwithe still owes me a lot of favors..." "Favors or not, he would much sooner defend his brother than his friend. If we are to expect Felwithe, we are in a lot more trouble than i had first thought." "What's a felwithe?" Gabriel interrupts again, this time however he is acknowledged by Horrig. "Felwithe is a very very powerful being, and if you are to survive this fight you should rest," and then turning to the group as a whole, "and so should everyone else...I must study a spell, I haven't read it in a long time, and i need to refresh my memory. It will take me awhile, so rest up. Hopefully Felwithe will have the decency not to ambush us..." "...not that he needs to." Karlth finished Horrig's sentence grimly, turned, sat, and began to meditate. "I have gifts for everyone after i finish my studies." says Horrig before he returns to his original position reading a massive spell book he had held n his hand before. Gabriel tries to inquire what the gifts are, but after no response is given by either Karlth or Horrig, he gives up. Vaenin is already asleep by the time Gabriel lies down.
Karlth and Horrig finish simultaneously and awaken the other three. "Here, i have these for you." Horrig reaches into his knapsack and retrieves three large gold emblazoned medallions attached to a thick silver chain each. He hands them out, giving the  first one to Vaenin. "The majestic unicorn," (+4 int -2 str) he hands the second to Gabriel, "The slithering snake," (+4 str/agi/end) he hands the last to Connor, "The ferocious lion," (+6 str +2 spd +2 end). As they all take it and put it on, they immediately feel the effects. "Beware however, these are illusory effects. Your mind thinks you are stronger, in truth you are not any stronger than you were before. It isn't as if Vaenin's mind grew larger, or Connor's muscles grew bulkier. Just as it is only part of your mind, it will also drain your mind if you use it for too long at a time. Be sparing with these." He reaches into his knapsack and grabs a glistening white cloth and hands it to Karlth. As he unrolls it, Karlth sees it's a glove. "Where this on your casting hand, underneath your armor. It's similar to their items, but a tad more well suited for you," (+1 dice roll to all spellcasting rolls). "Ah, interesting..." As Karlth too slips his newly acquired item on. Almost as if timed just right a sudden light breeze is felt by the entire party, as clouds begin to move in from the coast. "Right on time, I suppose you were right Karlth. It is indeed Felwithe." "What the fuck is a felwithe!?" Gabriel persists, but alas to no avail. Although if he wasn't so busy asking what it was, he might notice what he was doing, and that's a pretty good idea of how powerful he is. Not too many people can cause thunderstorms wherever they walk without trying.
The lightning begins to pick up and the wind as well. Through the howling wind, and the thunderous roars the party prepares itself for an attack from the south, the origin of the wind. Horrig sits once more cross legged in meditation, ready to cast anything at any moment.
Then in one final bright flash of lightning, everyone is forced to blink, and when the reopen their eyes.... "Felwithe...." Karlth grimaced. Ordinarily, Karlth was pleased with his visits, but from Horrig's ill-fated tone, he knew this was no ordinary visit. And there was someone else, some shadow behind Felwithe's that wasn't his. Felwithe was concealing his friend "And you too, Rheyin? did you both really need to come? Are you that afraid?" And at this Felwithe smiled. "I'm sorry i have to do this, but i serve a much higher power than yourself" Felwithe said, with a true glimmer of regret. "I just have one question....do you know where my pet is? Are you holding him?" Karlth asked, genuinely wanting to know. "I know where he is..But i'm not going to tell." Felwithe seemed to relish in the fact that he was causing Karlth, his own friend, a pain that few others could.
As he stepped aside. Behind him to Karlth's surprise was not Rheyin and in fact, to everyone's surprise, it was not even human! This..human-like shape seemed to be made of a black ink, liquid and viscous, and yet solid enough to retain a shape, and facial features. the hands stretched very low and flat, and the fingers were webbed. There were no feet, rather the legs seem to just grow out of the ground. The most distinguishing features were the eyes, Slits almost, angled inwards and glowing a golden yellow brilliance that could only be described as threatening. The long face was interrupted only by two barely visible holes for the nose, and the smile. The smile was one they would not soon forget. The teeth were few and far between, but they were all perfectly placed, almost as if it was meant to be that way...but more noticeable were the two--calling them canines wouldn't do them justice--fangs. Fangs that stretched to below the unusually long chin and dripped a slightly opaque, half milky substance into the ground, sizzling as it did so. What was this? some sort of weapon? Before they could find out, it melted into the ground like water in a vat that suddenly burst. The extroardinarily tall elf of about 6 and a half feet tall stood wearing what looked like full plate mail, but only over his chest. A small metal waist hanging was a smooth transition to the brown robes underneath, and the lack of a helm allowed his magnificently long white hair blow graciously. His silvery eyes peered into the men before him and his wry smile was the most sickening part of all. In his left hand he held nothing, but in his right...It was the greatsword that everyone's heard about. standing over 9 feet in length, the triple bladed super sharp, super light and absolutely glorious sword swayed almost tauntingly to the group.
Felwithe lifted his sword, Myelin, in front of him and held it straight up, firmly gripped with the hands. "Because of who you are...friends of Karlth, that is...I'll even allow you the first hit." As he waited, everyone was apprehensive on attacking. "..Well?" Finally fed-up with waiting Gabriel charged and struck him with his sword, being repelled fully from his armor, bouncing off as if his sword was made of a metal block. the reverberating noise triggered the next move. Quickly Vaenin followed up with an electric bolt shooting between the party members headed straight for Felwithe's head. Much to everyone's surprise that too seemed to simply glide over his head and into the ground, having no effect. Connor now advanced, attacking the same place Gabriel did, and having the same luck. Karlth raises his hand and sends five large whips of dark energy his way, and Felwithe simply reaches up and 'catches it,' as if it were a tangible object to be captured, and simply closes his fist and watches the energy vanish. "Come now, those things won't work me. Are you gonna hit me or what?" Karlth slowly began to step forward, but rethought it, and instead stayed for a moment. Frustrated Gabriel and Connor both swing at the same time at the back of Felwithe's legs and they both made contact. Astounding! but at the same time discouraging, because now they knew that his flesh was almost as hard as his armor covering. Both of their swords bounced off simultaneously but not before they saw the tiniest trickle of blood. At this action Karlth took flight, and seeing the clear shot now, Vaenin sends arcs another shot. It clears just underneath Karlth's feet as he flies upwards and curves around felwithe's leg, binding around it momentarily then shrinking and exploding sparks everywhere. For a moment there is a flash, and Vaenin knows he finally did some damage. "And this was a gift given to me by you..." Karlth says just before releasing another 5 whips of dark energy from his fingertips. This time however, moments after leaving his hand, they swirl over one another and the abnormal darkness changes from a deep purple color to bright yellow, light. this reverse polarization of unholy to holy is a gift granted to Karlth, and he is one of the few who possess such powerful items. quickly accelerating the beams slam into Felwithe, picking up mass and velocity at the same time, hitting with a real, physical effect. Immediately Felwithe is startled, taken off his balance. When the light completely consumes him, Karlth knows that his spell is feeding off of the evil, and it's working. In a brilliant show of magic, the light widens and dissipates instantly as Felwithe is left, a light sizzle atop his forehead, which is now wrinkled and angered. "Enough play." With a quick step back, everyone's happiness over the momentary victory soon subsides as a snake head, at least 6 feet in diameter shoots out of the ground, in the middle of the fight. Ah, so that's it. The inky slimy black skin was recognizable this time, as the snake shot hundreds of feet into the air and hurtling back to the ground at breakneck speed, it crashes back to the ground, and lashing around a bit manages to coil itself up quickly. Felwithe uses his sword and makes a large swing around him, throwing Connor and Gabriel far back. "This is the age of the Serpent Riders." Ducking his head underneath his master, the serpent moves its head right behind Felwithe, as he steps onto the neck and is lifted far beyond harm's reach. Vaenin sends one last electric bolt using everything his mind has left to offer him, sending a large arc of lightning into Felwithe's achilles tendon, having a massive recoiling effect. Gabriel and Connor stand up, and a light dust of white sparkle and a feeling of rejuvination tells them that Horrig is still here. Connor charges the snake with all his might, and Gabriel and Felwithe's eyes meet for just a moment. The moment was long enough, the stall provided Felwithe with enough time to allow his snake to snap it's neck forward and grip the floating Karlth in its mouth Karlth completely immobilized and thrashing around tries to break free, but cannot. Felwithe swipes his sword through the air so fast, he sends a shockwave down to the ground. Both Vaenin and Gabriel are thrown backwards and Connor stumbles almost missing his attack. With the slight wince of the snake Karlth saw his moment of opportunity and slipped loose of the death grip. Felwithe turned to Gabriel first aiming the sword down like a cannon, as the tip began to glow. Gabriel was entranced, and couldn't move. Meanwhile the snake wrapped it's tail around Connor and Vaenin and began to tighten. Karlth had almost died from the grip, but another save from Horrig allowed him to stand, only to see... Gabriel knew he shouldn't be staring, but he couldn't help it, it was so bright, so beautiful...The suddenly the light began to grow rapidly and envelop all of his surroundings. As he looked down he saw his skin beginning to melt, so fast he could not yet feel it, he saw his eyes begin to fade, and his armor begin to disintegrate. He awoke in the shadowy realm of the Ethereal plane standing in front of Horrig. "You must stay alive to pass this on to Karlth. I'm afraid i won't be seeing you again." "what...? what just....okay.....i understand" And in another glimpse he was alive again! Barely, but he was, almost completely paralyzed. Gabriel saw his body had been thrown to the ground and push with so much force he had left a large engraving in the ground at least a foot deep. He could only stare at what was happening. Horrig now stood up. Horrig stood up and he moved right in front of Felwithe. He dropped his spellbook to the ground, open. He outstretched his arms and began chanting loudly with his eyes still closed. Connor and Vaenin tried fidgeting out of the deathgrip, but to no avail. Luckily Connor still has his sword in hand, and managed to use his wrist and maneuver it straight through. Shriekly loudly, the serpent was cut in two near the tail. The black ink had already begun to seep into their skin however, as they were all put under a harm effect, leaving them with almost no life left. They crumpled to the ground, and the black ooze coming from the now split open serpent began to slowly creep up to them. Felwithe had to first calm his serpent down before he could turn his attention to Horrig, who has already proceeded to the next stage. Horrig's face suddenly shot towards the sky as light beamed down on him. His eyes were no longer closed, but even more fearful was the blood that flowed from them. His mouth wide open now, the incantation had finished, but the spell was still not complete. The light grew stronger. Karlth seeing his companions nearing death swooped down and grabbed Vaenin and Connor and moved them away. Vaenin could finally stand up as he saw what was happening. Felwithe now swung with all his might at Horrig, slicing through the air so fast that the air couldn't keep up and it left a visible pure white trail. Before he hit Horrig though, the sword bounced. Warded by a mystical wall, or shield. He swung again, and again, and again until he realized nothing was happening, and then he heard the hymn. Coming from everywhere, and nowhere at the same time, he heard a chorus chanting. "What is this trickery?!" Furious now he turned to the rest of the party. Horrig screamed out to him, calling his name, calling every name of every soul he's ever taken. screaming the hymn, howling like every animal ever conceived. The screams of a thousand men and a thousand women, as everybody had to cover their ears. Soon the white light engulfed both Horrig and Felwithe until nothing was visible, and the sound diminished. The in one magnificient display the light immersed itself with blood, with pure crimson coloring and then like lightning it was gone. The armors of both bodies held momentarily in place soon fell and crumpled to the ground. "Do not anger a cleric...." Karlth thought. The group swarmed over Felwithe's belongings, Karlth took the sword and then moved to Horrig's remains. Connor snatched up the Armor, and Vaenin grabbed the robe. Gabriel was still having difficulty moving. Gabriel began moving for Horrig's things, but Karlth cut him off. "You won't touch them." As he scooped everything up and put them into a bag. Gabriel reached into his pocket and handed Karlth a note. "Horrig sent this" The letter read:
Dear Karlth,     I'm sorry I had to do this. I had no choice. One man's death to save several's lives. Take my belongings to my house, you will find another note for me there, i left it in case i would not return, and it seems that it is the case. Please, do this one last favor for me. Lay my belongings to rest. The yin to your yang, Horrig
Karlth folded the letter and placed it in his pocket. He gave Connor the Myelin Greatsword and 21 thousand gold. "This is for Gabriel's sword, and whatever other purchases needed. Try not to show off the blade. I'll meet you in Aina in two weeks." Karlth concluded his statement with a monologue... "Now where the hell are you Anar....when i need you most." Trying out of desperation, he whistled for his red dragon, and lo and behold. a pleasantly surprising gust of wind breaks the cloudline as a red blur slowly forms into a dragon as it grows larger and larger. Anar lands next to Karlth and they share a wordless bond. Karlth shoots everyone a quick glance and departs North.
The rest of the party a little dumbfounded at the events that just happened simply go straight to Aina and decide to wait for Karlth there. Immediately upon arriving, Gabriel brings it to Connor's attention that his sword should be ready and that Connor has the money. "My sword's ready, gimme the money i wanna go get it!!!" Gabriel anxiously held his hands out "I'll come with you, and I'll pay for it." Connor replied firmly. "Alright well let's go!!!!" Still anxious, now guiding him out the door. As they reach the store, the shopkeeper recognizes him as Karlth's friend "Ah, it's you fellas." He reaches under his counter expecting their arrival soon and pulls out a large black leather case and opens it, facing away from the group. He pulls out from the soft silky fabric a beautiful looking greatsword, a liquid shine so bright it's almost hard to see where the edges are. The entire sword reflects a blue shimmer, and appears as if it were glowing. He holds it in his hands, flat. "The money?" and Connor replies simply by dropping the bag with 20000 gold still left in it as he hands the sword over to Gabriel he looks at Connor and notes his newly acquired sword as well. "That's quite a work of art...You shouldn't walk around flaunting it." Connor, a little embarrassed acknowledges "Yeah...I know, that's the next stop. Gabriel just couldn't wait to get /his/ new sword." "That's fine, hopefully too many people didn't see you.....Just don't turn around in my store, I'll help you back out if i have to." And, smiling, he helps Connor safely make it outside. Connor heads straight to an upper-class-looking general store and buys a bag of holding for a cheap 800 hold. Meanwhile Gabriel has gone to a blacksmith whom the man behind The Patriot recommended, to buy a sheath. He gives the man his sword and is told to come back in around dinner time, and he leaves to go catch up with Connor and Vaenin. They all meet at the tavern, drink their day away until about dinnertime. Vaenin and Connor head back to the Inn for some food and eventually sleep, Gabriel goes to the smithy. "Is it ready?" "Yes, it is. Due to it's awkward shape, well...you'll understand when you see it." The Greatsword itself was shaped almost like a falchion, slightly curved in an S shape almost, and the tip was a substantial amount wider than the base of the sword. it had a concavely curved top edge, giving it two points, one straight out from the sword, and one off to the side a bit. Imagine a stretched falchion. The scabbard could not therefore be an ordinary one. It looked like a perfect outline of the sword, only an inch or so wider and there were 9 straps over the top. The one just under the hilt was a few inches wide or so, but all the other ones were a bit thinner. It seems in walking while having it prepared, only the top strap was needed, but for traveling, it would feel more comfortable to have them all strapped down. Quite practical, and just as easy to use as an ordinary scabbard. Because the scabbard had a metal reinforcing under the leather, even unbuttoned it would retain shape and hold the sword as long as the wearer remained more or less steady. Quite excited, Gabriel returned to the Inn and they awaited Karlth's return for another week or so.
Karlth takes flight towards the metal disc at the top of the island chain where he knew Horrig's secret door to his realm lie. He flew and flew, it took him a week's travel until he finally reached the trap door. Almost as if the door knew it was about to be opened, as Karlth held out the key about to look for the keyhole, the door swung open and landed with a loud "thud." Karlth climbed down the ladder as he pocketed the key and entered into Horrig's home plane. He saw the familiar house and entered. This time, he called out for Dymitel to greet his son, now that he had some time alone. He didn't want Dymitel to wonder why there were a bunch of men with swords following his dad, he was a bit too young to hear about all these "naughty-boy" tales just yet. From what Horrig's told Karlth about his son however, he's been quite a naughty boy himself. "Dad!" as Dymitel opened the door, he ran and embraced his father. "Ah, Dymitel...It's good to see you again" "I miss you, where've you been?" "Daddy's been busy--" "Hey, where's Uncle Horrig?" and with a solemn sigh, he decided that Dymitel might not be so eager to hear the truth just yet... "He had to go away for a bit, do some cleric stuff..you know." "Oh okay..." "Unfortunately, Dymitel i too have to go away for a bit...I have a lot of work to do. Would you like to come with me?" "Work? No way, that's boring...I'll stay here, there's plenty of stuff to keep me busy..." "Alright then, just don't get into any trouble...I've caught word of what you've been doing with your free time in the inns." Blushing, Dymitel didn't know how to respond...this was the first confrontation he had of this sort, Horrig never saw it as his place to react in any way other than kind-hearted to a friend's son. "Before i go, i have gifts for you." "WHATCHA GET ME?!" He unsheathed his massive flaming burst longsword and placed it down on the floor. "When i come back, i want you to be able to use this" Dymitel was still oogling to notice Karlth was taking something else out of his pack. He pulled out the dream-catcher kit "You can make 16 dreamcatchers with this kit, it comes with enough string for 16 but only 8 rings, and it teaches you how to make more...you'll get to read it, i won't take away the fun of explanation." He picked up the kit and put it on the table and hugged his father again, and perhaps it was the gifts or perhaps not seeing him in so long, but Karlth was glad....but he knew he had very little time. "I have to go do something, and then i have to leave, I'm sorry i have to be so quick, but you know that I'm a busy man." "...yeah i know....alright dad. I'll see you when you come next time." Karlth slowly walked away and picked up the note left for him on the table. He scanned it quickly.
Dear Karlth     If you're reading this letter, it means I didn't get to go home to throw it away. That also means that what happened had to happen, for your sake. I hope my death was not in vain, but I'm afraid that it might be. I would like you to put all my belongings back in the chest at the base of my bed, my room will be the first room you enter, no matter which door you take. After you leave, it will be sealed off forever, and only two people in this world will know how to get to it again. My realm though slowly disintigrating will soon level off and remain at a permanent level of non-growth forever, hopefully i can hire some maidens in the afterlife to tend to my gardens, or perhaps you can for me...banshee's aren't so good with a spade and pitchfork. The only thing i can say about the two items i'm leaving you, Myelin and my spellbook is this. Myelin belonged to a great angel...of whom birthed thousands of years ago a child of distant relation to the one you call Vaenin. Isthithia, the great necromancing mage of darkness wrote this spell book i hold. It provides....ennumerable qualities of great aid and great demise, this will eventually belond to Gabriel. Before they can learn about themselves however, they must learn about eachother. I think you can understand this. Do not allow them to drink the drink of power until they have built up a tolerance to resist its temptations. I wish you good luck on your travels, on your adventures, and hope that one day you can truly get the person you're looking for, you deserve it. Your brother in battle, Horrig P.S. Dymitel is quite a chip off the old block.
After an emotional moment, Karlth proceeds through the door and finds himself in Horrig's private quarters. Quite humble indeed, a nondescript candelabra to a god that Karlth never cared to learn about, a quaint single bed, and a small chest for belongings. He opens the chest and finds a key inside. Karlth puts all of Horrig's belongings except for the spellbook inside the chest and removes the key, locks the chest and leaves the key atop the bed. He approaches the candelabra and recites a short resting prayer, and then leaves. Without delay he leaves both the house and the realm, and heads straight back to the first island...back to teh port city of Aina, where many things await him now.

 
 = Date:  3/30/07 = 

attendance: connor vaenin askarius karlth gabriel
starts: they awaken, jeweler draws karlth into an alleyway to tell him what's happening tell him that the dagger is used to summon an army, the army of solace. they have to steal an airship to get off the island, being unveiled in third quadrant of the island of the four. they spend time researching the ship, discover the captain is an old war companion of karlth and askarius's, Aethel (of the Aethelfirth) they wait until sundown and see the unveiling of the zeppelin. they go on to the captain's dinner, and greet Aethel. Aethel invites the party to stay overnight. Karlth and aethel meet in secret on the ship's deck, and Aethel confesses he is bound to the ship, and asks him to free (kill) him, and in exchange Aethel will declare karlth as the secret captain of the ship. Karlth agrees and no more is said. That night Karlth is visited in his sleep and is offered a trade by Nerull. His wife for the dagger shards that Karlth is in possession of. Karlth willfully agrees, and Nerull is now in possession of all the dagger shards. Askarius prays to Drusilia for guidance, and Drusilia instead channels her surroundings to him. He hears the hymns of the gods, singing, mourning for one of their dead. A god was murdered (Selune), and the scales of the quires have been tipped. Nerull is expected to take advantage of his greater standpoint to jump into her spot. he, using the dagger, has summoned the army of solace. Connor is visited by a wolf headed gargantuan female (skadi) The party awakens the next morning and Karlth assassinates Aethel:
assassinates aethel, karlth absorbs 170 spd, and 170 str. he moves to the bottom of the ship and is attacked by a beholder (in truth, a mind flayer illusion) is grasped by the flayer, and has to flee. Askarius in a barbaric rage runs down and immune to the flayer slaughters him. They proceed to the bottom of the ship, and kill every guard on board. they take over the ship and set sail. Karlth proceeds to fly above the ship and personally slaughters the 12 flying red dragons that were supposed to guard the ship, using Connor as his weapon. After slaughtering all of the dragons he goes back downstairs to find out what's in the massive empty chamber. Karlth leaves Connor to guard his room with Anna in it, and finds Anar in the large chamber. Anar is furious, and eventually Askarius lets him out of the chamber by opening the bottom escape, and Anar goes speeding towards the island of the four. Karlth attempts to calm her, convince her to come back, but Anar won't listen. Karlth doesn't realize that he killed Anar's 12 children, Anar was imprisoned, tortured, raped, and she wants revenge. She smashes into the island with such speed that the entire island is shaken, and tips ever so slightly. The tip was enough, because it was an artificial island it sank very quickly, and killed the entire population, as well as the enormous technological advances that were borne of the island. Karlth, Anna, Connor, Gabriel, Vaenin, and Askarius all sail towards the endcircle island, while the warship of solace has assembled in full and is throttling to intercept the zeppelin.

 = Solace game 012 = 
 The blacksmith's shop: very large rectangular workshop, about 25'x50', with a massive hearth in the middle that has a large chute up to the roof, which towers above 30' high. There are massive suits of armor lining the far short wall, ranging from human to giant size, made of various metals, some glowing, and some showing mystic changing images on the breast.  On the wall to the left the entire wall is filled with racks of weapons, but one weapon in the center is most eye-catching, it's a large 9 foot long scythe that's completely frozen in what looks like ice that refuses to melt. The rest of the weapons look to be surrounding the scythe and range from short swords to great swords, from chains to pole arms, even some very large pieces of armor-weaponry are hung here. On the right wall looks to be all of the items that are currently in process of forging. Some of the weapons are black with soot, some are bent out of shape, and others are being handled by a couple of assistants, being dipped in water that creates steam clouds large enough to engulf each assistant for a moment. 
 The blacksmith who is working on a massive anvil next to the center hearth with an assistant holding the blade looks like he's been working for two sun-downs without a rest. His face is blackened and dripping with sweat, his hands are red from the grip on his malus, which is large enough to be a weapon of its own. The sword that his assistant is constantly moving and turning is easily taller than you, probably about 8 feet long. the handle glistens even when covered with soot and grease, and the blade looks as if the bottom half is crystal clear, with a metallic shine and a bluish glow, and the top half is solid. The dividing point is right where the malus is aimed. As the assistant braces himself, the blacksmith slams his hammer down with all of his weight and the metal on metal crash that ensues rattles all of the armors on the far short wall, makes every sword and chain jump, it even shakes the very fire itself.  The vision fades... Nerull offers him this in exchange for a saboteur Nerull explains that Karlth is trying to get him to train as a blacksmith, to meld the two precious metals, Orichalchum and Moonshine, to create this metal, stronger than both metals alone, and applicable in so many more ways. Karlth wants to use you as a profit bringer, but I can offer you this, and you can be your own boss. You can have your own shop, just like the one you saw. All I ask is an ounce of your help right now. 
 Ship transformation   The ship begins to reform according to its owners intentions. It starts to form a new mast and bow, made of a darker, ebony wood. The top deck's flooring begins to shine with a dark shiver, and the border of the boat starts to turn gray. The cannons of the boat begin to grow slender and jagged on the exterior,    the front and rear megaforce cannons begin to show gothic resemblances, the shining metals turning darker, and the colored portions changing to show a separate palette. The cannon's points are assembled by a center spike surrounded by four curved pieces that turn out and meet at the center at the tip of the spike. The curves have become much more pronounced and include jagged, sharp edges.     The ultraforce cannon mounted beneath the bow of the boat, which has since changed from a beautiful slender woman to someone else--The identity of which is unknown, but it may perhaps be in the middle of transition--is still as grand as it once was, but the steel rings that circled the center protruding "element" are no longer silver, but gold in color, with scars and scrapes on them. The center element went from a colorful piece that resembled a stained glass art to a dark molded piece of what can only be described as a massive carved bone covered in various kinds of blood, guts, and other body parts. The entire ship has gone from a glorious piece of architecture to be marveled at, to a structure so terrible to behold one is fearful to gaze at it for too long. 
 Game Outline Notes:
Start the game as flying towards the endcircle. The ship's center hull area has turned into a garden, where Anar used to lie. The baby dragon is fueling it as best he can, and has grown much older. The growth of these dragons is at a much accelerated rate. The baby dragon's coat of scales also seems to be much finer and thinner than her mother, as well as brighter, almost glowing. The dragon seems to have been modified during the cloning process. The ship's speed has lessened severely due to the dragon's small size, but the Dragon must grow at its own pace which is--however accelerated--still slow.
 
Ship gets closer to the island chain of Solace, and the water below begins to grow darker. The clouds overhead begin to float against the direction of movement, wind is blowing a different way than it should in this season.    Ship gets to endcircle just fine, finds Horrig's portal is locked with a massive padlock. Karlth's son is now 25 years old, and has become a masterfully graceful rogue/gambit.  Karlth's son in defiance of his deserting father has decided to join forces as Nerull's henchman. Nerull seems to be treating him well, however. Dymitel still has his soul, and he looks genuinely happy at Nerull's side.  **Dymitel description Dymitel has absorbed power from Horrig's teachings, books, and personal effects. He wields the flaming burst longsword as a weapon, except he has made a few changes, most likely by means of magic, but the effects of which are unknown. The flames on the sword are no longer a bright orange, but they are a very small flames and red colored, however when striking it explodes in a rainbow of colors that's entrancing and almost blinding (roll 1d10+end, DC 8 to avoid losing half turn, DC 4 to avoid losing full turn).
Hanging at the side of Dymitel's home-made leather belt is what looks to be a charm of sorts. It's large, over a foot in diameter, and looks like a VERY complex dream catcher that's woven in on itself over 100 times. The intricacy of it hurts to look at for long, and it causes a feeling of uneasiness when concentrated on.
 Connor is offered personally to take Dymitel's side, in exchange for peace and quiet, being able to do what he loves for a living. 
Vaenin is offered to take Dymitel's side as well, given the offer to take Selune's place amongst the gods as a rightful heir.
Gabriel is offered to take Dymitel's side and in exchange Dymitel promises to show him how to use the book that he has. 
Askarius & Karlth are not offered to take Dymitel's side, but Anna doesn't even ask, she walks over to his side when she sees him. She tells Karlth she cannot be with the man that he's become and goes to Dymitel's side.

Nerull first launches an arsenal against the ship and destroys it within a matter of moments.
 
If/when it occurs, they must all fight Dymitel, but he calls upon the help of friends: Felwithe, Rheyin, and a new demon, named Castillo, who is the demon manifestation of hate in shadow dance form.
 
Kill Sequence: The only way to defeat Nerull is by getting Vaenin to use at least 275 energy in paralyzing the entire fortress for an instant, and Gabriel must use the book to destroy the scythe. Once this is done then Karlth must deliver the final blow using the myelin greatsword made of the special material composed of 65% moonshine, 25% Orichalchum (forged by Connor), and the last 10% is composed of souls from Karlth's soulstone. Askarius is the only one pure enough, and capable of wielding the dagger when it falls.
 
Kill Sequence Detail:
Vaenin has a dream of himself except composing lightning storms of Zeus-like capability. The entire army of solace is slowly but completely disintegrated by the awesome power of the immense lightning storm. He must be enriched by energy (most likely by Karlth's drain spell and some creativity) and must expend 275 energy for total paralysis, 375 energy for total paralysis and approximately half of the army slain, 475 for almost all of the army slain, and 675 for the entire army disintegrated.
 
Connor has a dream where he forging the myelin greatsword with a new material, and with every hammer pound from nearby a stone emits a single soul that immediately gets sucked into the sword.
 
Gabriel learns that to properly use the book, he must open to a blank page and write what he wishes for. Every page in the book is a miracle-level wish, but with every written is vanished and replaced with a piece of Gabriel, until the entire book is gone and Gabriel has turned into the same skeletal figure he had dreams of. Gabriel must use the pages of the book to destroy Nerull's scythe once removed from his grasp.
 
Karlth must steal Nerull's scythe. Only Karlth has a soul dark enough, destroyed enough to behold the Scythe to the point where he won't be obliterated long enough to remove it from Nerull.
 
Only someone of divine ancestry and undead nature may behold the dagger. (Nerull, for instance!) Askarius must be the one to obtain the dagger (Talos, The Blade of Tempests) from Nerull's person. If anyone else touches the blade, it will consume them wholly and the blade will be free to commit its own will onto the world.
 
Once Nerull's scythe is removed and destroyed, he will be destructible once again, but unfortunately Karlth will most definitely kill himself removing the scythe, Gabriel's wishes would only allow Isthithia to obtain the dagger, Vaenin will be beyond drained after his feat, which leaves Askarius, who will most likely be unable to kill Nerull by himself even if he could wield the Myelin greatsword.
Perhaps with the use of the Myelin greatsword, and the help of Bregan and Drusilia they can stop this catastrophe from truly manifesting.