Post
by Xzandrate » Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:50 pm
From the writings of Moe'uhane, T'skrang Illusionist, 6th Circle, Messenger Rank 5
Langren had sent word from Synevir that he needed some assistance. He had taken up residence in this new town, and was looking to wrangle some Dyre. Azurea, Daldorer, and Norg answered the request as well.
We arrived in Synvevir, and learned some more information. Apparently a ghost cat had been spotted hunting in the plains. This seemed like a rather odd situation, as we were informed that a wolf spirit and his associated pack had been granted hunting rights for the surrounding plain in exchange for protection. This was not the only news of the day. The townsfolk were expecting the arrival of Lonesome Keryn. Apparently this traveller would only wander into town every few months, and provided a great deal of entertainment. Shortly before sunset we saw the silhouette of the traveller approaching town, as he drew closer and we began to draw out his features, we saw a slender lanky elf with a long lean face covered slightly by a broad brim hat, covered in an espagara scale poncho. He made his way to the bar and we followed shortly after. We made small talk and learned that he attended the bar with his spirit Huttawa Smoke. Langren explained that he had hoped to collect the dyre. Keryn advised that he had seen the herd previously, but they seemed to have been scared off now. He and Langren made the agreement that Keryn and Smoke would find the Dyre and try and drive them back towards town, while we go and investigate the spirit problems on the plains.
We made our way out onto the plains, and began our search. Within the first day of Synevir we encountered a spirit prowling the plains. It appeared as a young huttawa as well, a bit more sandy in colour than Smoke. It was explained to me that the spirits do not age, but based upon the power of the spirit. This young spirit challenged why we were on the plains, and if we were the bad men. Langren attempted to assuage the spirits misgivings, but I believe he sneezed when reciting the name of his spirit mount, as a different twisted creature appeared. After calling the correct spirit, Langren and Daldorer negotiated with the spirit to learn that there was a corrupted watering hole to the north east that was corrupting the creatures. The spirit had seen a bad 'two legs' there causing the water to sour. We agreed to investigate, Langren played up the importance of us doing the spirits request to improve it's attitude.
As we prepared for camp that night we noticed a bird in the distance. As we continued to prepare camp, we drew some more detail and thought it to be a griffin. About the time we realized that it was not a griffin, a series of felux pounced from the surrounding brush. They quickly incapacitated Azurea with a flash of their bulbous eyes, and turned to do the same to me. My new found resilience of mind turned away the power. We floundered a bit, but Daldorer luckily managed to scare off the Manticore. Doubly lucky since the Felux managed to incapacitate both Azurea and Norg, leaving the casters to attempt to draw enough power to do some damage. Just when we thought we scared the remaining cats off, they jumped back at us. Luckily we were on guard and quickly dispatched them. As we discussed it over continued camp preparations it seemed rather odd that the two creatures would attack at the same time, and even more so that predators that would normally be vying for the same food source, seemed to work in concert.
As we started out the next day, Azurea advised that we were being watched. As we attempted to close in upon the would be spy, we received no answer when their presence was made known. Eventually we found a short humanoid with pale skin. The were not aggressive, so we attempted to communicate with caution. It did not respond to us, but acknowledged our communication. We would investigate later, we convinced it to follow us and made our way towards the watering hole. Azurea seemed to bond with it, carrying it upon her back as one would a small sibling.
When we made it to the watering hole, we immediately saw a dwarf covered in furs and skins doing something by the side of the pond, with a large espagra beside him. Once he noticed us he asked what we were doing here, counting on his chaotic visage matching his chaotic state of mind, I quickly replied that is what we had just asked him. Without missing a beat he advised us he was Magvan and we were interrupting his completion of the great work. We all exchanged a worried and knowing glance and then Norg spoke the thought. As soon as the words left his mouth, his body was already tensing to move. Was he trying to complete what the horrors started. You could see the release of each muscle fibre as the syllables left Magvan's mouth. 'Of course . .' not being able to finish the words as a crystal encased troll launched towards him. At the same moment Azurea screamed from behind us, her sibling rider turned feral and began to attack her. We began to move into an advantageous position, Langren called for everyone to get close, and then was fallen upon by two more creatures that looked identical to the one on Azurea. They worked in concert to quickly bring Langren down in a series of slashes. The chaos was overwhelming and the false flames could not be found. Daldorer dug deep and began to weave something with a lot of power. The espagra swept into Norg and flailed against the unstoppable force of troll fist Norg lumbered towards the dwarf. Daldorer summoned a large swath of foul vapours to overwhelm the attackers as Azurea fell as well. We finished one of the strange looking beings, while Norg pummeled the screaming dwarf. It was rather comical to think he tried to outrun a troll. Daldorer sniped one of the small beings as she attempted to run, with the other remaining one falling to ash as the other fell.
We revived our compatriots and investigated the area. The watering hole appeared to have something sinister at the bottom. We rigged up some rope and I flew over the middle of the pond to drop it down allowing us to hook the object and pull it free. It appeared to be the body of a sluglike horror, none of us much felt like examining it for long. We quickly built a pyre around it and burned the body. We took the night to rest, and Azurea began work at purifying the pond the next day. An interesting new trick for our young blade master. We agreed to stay a couple more days to allow her to work on the pond more fully. While Azurea did her work, we explored the surrounding area, and came across a ramshackle hut hidden not far away. It included journals and writings of the dwarf we encountered, Magvan the Unclean by full name and title. It seems he did not act alone, there were notes about other members of this cult and descriptions about their goals, they seemed to believe the Scourge was a cleansing act that was interrupted and they sought to restart the Scourge. So much so that they imaginatively named their little group 'The Scourge'. It seems the horror carcass had been delivered by another member of this cult for Magvan's plan. While a third member had sent the strange creature we encountered, as well as detailed notes of the astral surgery that allowed them to bifurcate and trifurcate the creature. This was all collected to be returned to Throal for further study and the hut was burned.
Finally with the pond purified to Azurea's satisfaction, we made our way back towards Synevir. We arrived at the meeting place designated by our young spirit quest giver and advised him of completion. He checked our work and thanked us quite profusely. He continually nuzzled against Langren and Azurea, one of them revelled in it, the other seemed to want to climb a tree to escape it. Finally we returned to Synevir and explained that we had resolved the source of the attacks, the villagers were happy, but somewhat ambivalent as the attacks had been a nuisance and they assume the wolf spirit would resolve it. A couple days later Lonesome Keryn arrived, also having completed his task. We exchanged stories and planned next steps for the village. He was particularly impressed with Langren's conveyance with the spirits and guardianship of the lands they roam, as he agreed to teach him the ways of the Spirit Rider. I must advise Temur next time I encounter him, perhaps he could travel with Langren and Lonesome Keryn in some triumverate of associates, or three amigos if you will.
