Post
by Xzandrate » Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:45 am
From the writings of Moe'uhane, T'skrang Illusionist, 10th Circle, Boatman 7th Circle, Messenger Rank 6
The time has come, it is time to deal with the spirit of the Golden Rule. Long since Reyis described the undertaking and the nature of the spirit within the torc, I have known the journey would be far and require a specific set of individuals.
On this day, I gathered two of the best scouts I knew in William and LaShana, they would help navigate the streets of Travar as well as they could the wilds of the Dragon Mountains, to ensure I was able to properly deal with the spirit of the torc as well as any ancillary spirits, I brought Daldorer and Zivilyn.
I knew the torc had been forged in a location known as Temple Rock near the edge of the Dragon Mountains at the end of the Iontos River; with that information in mind, we arranged travel to Travar to begin our investigation there to hopefully find more detailed information on the region.
Once we arrived in Travar we split into two groups to gather more intelligence. Daldorer and Zivilyn put their research talents to work in the Delver's Athenaeum, looking through numerous books about the area and the histories of Temple Rock. They managed to turn up that the location was not a true temple to any of the Passions, but in fact named because of it's devout structure. It was actually sacred to an ancient tribe of humans known as the Huulki. The Huulki were a very aggressive tribe, having been known to have conquered the other four tribes of the area and ruled for a long time. This was only end when the other tribes rose up against the Huulki, in what is known as the Four Tribes Rebellion. The lands were ruled by Gaela, the spirit of the warlord within my necklace, and during her rule the land was known as Rinvar Taravar, the land of five tribes. Daldorer even managed to garner a certain rudimentary understanding of the Huulki language based upon some old research notes.
The rest of us hit the streets, visiting various locations of interest which we felt may direct us to the type of information that would help us on the quest. Eventually we were directed to, and allowed entrance to a rather impressive tea shop hidden within the back of a shop. Upon entry, it was quite obvious that we were encountering others of our ilk. Unfortunately, we were approached rather quickly, so I did not get the ample amount of time to enjoy the locale as I might have. I will need to plan a return in the future. The gentleman who approached us was a Mr. Phaeron Oathar. He inquired as to our arrival in Travar and the reason for our visit. Upon indicating we were adventurers from Throal and we were seeking information on Temple Rock he took a particular interest and invited us for tea. Phaeron did not mix words and was rather direct and to the point. He wanted to know if we believed in the core tenets of Throal, namely that every Namegiver is in ownership of themselves. When we reassured him that we were quite against the sale of others, he confided in us his affiliation to a group known as the Protectorate. The group was in the business of helping those under the yoke of indentured servitude to escape the city and find a new place to live. In the hopes of finding a new safehouse, Phaeron had sent two parties to scout Temple Rock over the past two weeks. The first group of five had not returned, and a second duo meant to scout the fate of the previous group also appeared to have been waylaid. Phaeron asked that if we were heading to Temple Rock, if we could confirm the status of his scouting parties so the proper arrangements could be made. We agreed and took what further information he could provide on the area, including the known approaches. William updated his map, we rested the night and began our week long trek to Temple Rock.
The closer we came to Temple Rock, the quieter things became. The noises of wildlife slowly disappeared, and as we approached the foot of the trail, LaShana found the traces of blood that had been hastily cleaned, while William noticed something watching us from the up the mountain. It was an obvious trap, but since they were expecting us I did not want to be a rude guest, we continued forward up the mountain. We approached the temple and sounds from within caused us to pause. We couldn't make out anything within, but we did notice a strange line frost near the entrance to the tunnel. We could not detect any trap, and Zivilyn could not determine any ill-effect from his Elementalism knowledge, so we pressed forward. This was a mistake. An irritable rage began to overtake us, we could feel the magics, but they were not something known to us. As we were all friends, we held our temper, but we were quickly introduced to the source of our problems.
A single human in a weird horned mask and armor decried us as trespassers and orders his construct minions to destroy us. He appeared to be a questor of Raggok and had somehow gain the compulsion of a pair of boneshamblers and some erhlgren. Antimagic rays began to fly, and the magics of a spell warped and backlashed upon me. The questor was cursing the lot of us. The shamblers descended upon us and began to swing away, luckily we withstood the initial onslaught. The battle was rather drawn out, with the questor reinforcing most of the things the constructs attempted. Eventually he made a mistake and we capitalized and swung the battle in our favor; he compelled William to hit Charlie. His goal was to stir William into a rage, unfortunately it whipped William into a blind rage and he blurred across the field towards the questor. Some well placed phantom fireballs helped to soften the reavers, and Ziviliyn tapped into the pre-Scourge wilds of this location and began to summon feral unicorn spirits. He punched them clean through the ehrlgren. As the battle drew on, I could feel the contempt of the spirit of the Torc pulling at my neck, it's power amplified in this place. It lashed out and took the last of the life force of the first ehrlgren Zivilyn had decimated. Later as the questor fled into the temple to try and follow William to higher ground, I could feel the spirit activate something within the temple and the screams of the cultist were heard from within. With Daldorer's Foul Vapours covering the area the last of the enemies slowly fell.
We took some time for Daldorer to cast recover upon everyone while Zivilyn attended to wounds with Cold Purify. Prepared for what awaited us we entered he temple. Once inside, my torc grew warmer and a visible mist exited the metal and coalesced in front of us. The spirit of Gaela addressed me, knowing why we returned to this place and asked if we were to deal or battle. Knowing that fear is a more potent weapon when wielded properly, I advised that I was not here to quell her natural inclinations. I wished to strike a bargain to make her knowledge my own. She agreed, on the condition that we travel to another location on the next peak over and release her consorts. These were the spirits of her 5 chieftains.
We travelled to the location and encountered four adepts, they claimed to be the descendants of the four tribes and claimed that great ruin would fall upon the land if the spirits of these chieftains were released. I attempted to negotiate, and while they were quite cordial, they were duty bound to prevent us from interacting with the spirits. They fought with honour, but the end result was obvious very quickly as we hampered their every action and brought to bear greater magical power. The surrendered, and we gladly accepted, these were proud warriors doing the duty of their ancestors. I did not wish to insult them, so we had Daldorer examine the spirits of the chieftains and determine the threat they could bring upon the lands. It was determined that they were no greater spirits, and the likely hood of them doing much more than being a nuisance was very low. Daldorer then suggested that we could have them agree to conditions upon their release, and with the fate of Phaerons companions, built into deathless reaver constructs, still fresh in our mind Daldorer suggested we have them swear to aid anyone asking for assistance in the release of slaves. The guardians were rather mystified by the entire exchange, but having little other choice agreed to the concession. The spirits were released with the condition dictated by Daldorer. The guardians were set free to go about their business, but I mentioned that if they should hope to help the people of the lands be free, they should travel to Travar and seek out Phaeron.
We returned to Travar, I met with Phaeron advise him of the fate of his companions and that he may soon be expecting new allies. After the first day in Travar, we no longer felt the uneasy rage beneath the surface when we were outside the influence of Daldorer's Supress Curse. We did some further shopping in Travar and negotiated passage back to Throal on one of the airships.