Post
by Sharkforce » Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:40 am
Orlam Rolfsom, Journal Entry # 15: Rise from Dust
Arunath Poylan, First Speaker of Kaer Voklar, contacted me out of the blue the other day. I received a letter requesting my assistance in a matter involving a suspected kaer that scouts from Kaer Voklar had come across. He seemed to think it was related to a kaer called Corvega which had been settled by a group of scholars hoping to push the limits of their knowledge during the Scourge. A worthy goal when taken at face value, but without care even the noblest of pursuits can go awry.
As the letter requested the assistance of Adepts, and not just a lone Elementalist, I endeavoured to gather a team that would be ready for exploration of a lost kaer; Z'mokki the great, a Thief of my acquaintance, to keep an eye out for traps and tricks designed to keep out the horrors, Strata, a mighty Gauntlet to strike down any foes, Orfen (who seemed mostly to be following Z'mokki like a lost puppy) to act as our medic, and Youghdel the strongest Windling that ever was, a Sky Raider (who I think was mostly looking for a good excuse to "bust some 'eads" as he might put it).
We set off for Kaer Voklar, traveling mostly overland. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Strata had a pair of thread boots that gave him the most impressive rate of travel. He also seems to have become somewhat more verbose since I last traveled with him. I suppose it has been some time, perhaps he just picked up the habit while he was in town some time. We made good speed and arrived at Jurong, which had expanded their fishing operation and where I saw a few faces that looked familiar from my last trip to Voklar. It seems fish are quite a treat for those who live in Voklar, they were quite fond of them.
Arunath introduced us to Farroth, the sole survivor of the scouting expedition, who told us his tale. It seems that they had spotted an odd-looking hole in a hillside in an area which had been thought to house Kaer Corvega. Farroth had stopped to relieve himself and was a little ways behind the other five in the scouting party, and as he was catching up he was surprised to see them all walk inside when they had agreed to wait and enter together. Shortly afterwards he heard crunching sounds and the screaming of his companions, an awful combination.
When he snuck up close, he could see mishapen things like twisted and broken Namegivers of some sort among the remains of his former friends. I could not think of any natural creature that met the description he was able to give, so that suggested either spirits or horrors (probably the latter). He had then prudently left to go find help (hence the group of us Adepts). Arunath wanted us to investigate, and we hadn't come all this way to just go back so we set off, lead by Farroth who took us near enough for us to make the last bit of the journey on our own while he went his own way.
The entryway held a small group of what appeared to be horror constructs of some sort made up of parts of other Namegivers... some looked fresh enough to be the unfortunate scouting party that had met a disastrous end. We prepared for battle, moved up close and I unleashed a fireball, which did not have as much of an impact as I would have liked. It was a hard-fought battle, a pair of withered Namegivers who looked like they ought to be dead hurled lightning and sickly bolts of energy at us. Youghdel insisted "his dad is a lightning bolt" and as much as I find his claim to be suspect, he did seem strangely unharmed by the lightning. On the other hand, the strange energy seemed to be quite devastating to him.
We had taken quite a beating, so we fell back to spend some time resting. Z'mokki was still looking a little injured, but insisted that nothing could stop the great Z'mokki. Well, the rest of us weren't doing too poorly (although Strata was worried he did not have karma in case we ran into another similar fight). The whole place was pretty badly damaged, time had not been kind to this place, and what little we were able to put together suggested that something had gone horribly wrong there.
Scraps from journals and letters suggested that the scholars were performing increasingly awful experiments on living creatures, twisting and warping them. It seems likely that they had sealed themselves in with some sort of horror that slowly bent them to an ill end, and eventually took one of their bodies for itself perhaps. Or perhaps it simply warped them for its amusement and left, I doubt that we would have overcome a horror so cunning and vile as to have caused what we saw in those halls as we had.
The halls seemed mostly empty, and I wonder if perhaps the few "survivors" if you can call them that (constructs made from the shells of Namegivers in mockery of us) had turned to cutting each other apart in pursuit of a knowledge of what makes a horror construct work. I shudde to think of what their research notes might have said, but I dared not study them to find out. Some knowledge is simply better not learned, a lesson I fear the scholars in that wretched hole failed to learn for all their learning.
We finally reached a deeper part of the kaer, a laboratory where the results of their forbidden experiments were found: some sort of dogs warped into a horror construct called a norikott. I have heard a little bit about such creatures, though not much is known other than that they consume the flesh of Namegivers exclusively (which might explain why there were not more monstrosities roaming about), and a warped individual conducting a ritual I do not care to think or write about. We didn't see much need to discuss anything with them, or they with us, and so battle was joined.
The hounds were vicious and terrible, tearing at us with great ferocity but failing to get any solid hits on Strata. The thing operating the laboratory equipment called for its master and a strange blackened form came out to join the battle. This one had even more formidable spells which it hurled at us freely. As had seemed to be the case in the prior battle, my attempts to destroy their morale were unsuccessful, although at least my efforts to inspire my companions to greatness were more effective. I fear a little too successful on Z'mokki; he ran out to challenge the apprentice but was chased down by one of the norikott charging at him. I thought we had come well-prepared with a number of last chance salves, but it seemed that Death itself had grabbed hold of him and would not let go.
We at least avenged him and it seems like the place was cleared. We were able to find a small laboratory that had not been used, and packed up what we could of it to bring home with us. I would not touch the rest of the equipment, it is almost assuredly tainted beyond belief, although I struggled to pierce the corruption that stained the astral to get a good reading. I could not be out of that place soon enough, though we did take a moment to destroy what we could. I called on a spirit of the earth to go bury the entrance to keep that place locked away from the rest of the world so that no more poor creatures of Jaspree might fall into the embrace of any things left in that place of death, but I have included instructions here to find that place should some brave group of Adepts need to investigate again. I do not care much for it, and would prefer to never see it again.
As for poor Z'mokki, all we could do was to return his possessions to his family and remember the greatness of his heart.
