Editing Solace: Ascension (section)

= 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