Editing Solace: Ascension (section)

= 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.