Heart of Gheddon

[God Imperror]

I observe the battle end, when the last Jovoc falls to the ground and the ape's head is cut from its shoulder. I look at the fallen while listening to the mysterious woman with the jeweled sword. Well, adult human bodies seem to heavy for me to carry, and I was probably not going to be able to move any of those, even if I tried.

I look at the knight with a smile.

-Sir knight, my strength is much below yours and I doubt I would even be able to lift a body, those men need attention, and fast, could you carry them?

I walk towards Bill and kneels at his side. Silence at last, it is ironically not comforting, this is something also left out on stories, death is so final... so sudden. The stupid man had kept to close to the Jovoc and that had been its downfall, a pretty futile way to die if you asked me.

-May Sehanine Moonbow fire your soul to the place where your God abides.

Said that, the piece of meat in front of me that was Bill earlier is no longer, it is just a dead body, which soul has been taken care. And a dead body carrying valuable resources.

-Veil be free, let me see.

With the words I see the magical auras emanating from the dead body, and proceeds to take the magical objects that emit them, placing most of them in the bag that the man carried, as it seems deep enough. The only item that I keep at hand is the wand that the man used long ago, after the first fight, to bring him back to live.

I walk towards the fallen archers searching for any that may still breath and had been left by Ori and Andrann, if I found any I burn charges of the wand on its check until they are up once again.

Once I am finished with the redistribution of wealth I follow Cassie inside, sitting besides her. Whispering I approach her ear.

-Those straw mattress are starting to seem attractive.

Then I gaze the rest of the company.

-The man outside died, and its a pity, but its soul has been taken care. We fought by his side and we are going to need to fight again any moment. That man carried several magic trinkets, we might find better use for those than him now. Once I get a chance to rest I will identify the functions of the items and we can proceed to distribute them.

[Archmage1]

"If I had the resources, I could identify them now, but, alas, I don't have the pearls needed for the spell."

[God Imperror]

I look at the woman fallen from the sky, her elvish features were slightly alien, she was not one of the folk of the stars, nor was she from the snows as Cassie. Were would she be from?

-I can do that now, if need be cousin.

Even without pearls.

-But as far as I know we are under assault, and I would like to get some answers and make sure that our intervention in the field of battle is not needed anytime soon.

[Archmage1]

"Fair enough. Hopefully, I might be of assistance in a battlefield, although this battlefield is a bit unusual. Mostly I have fought humans, or orcs, not extraplanars. From what I know, this is very unusual."

[bindin garoth]

Axile isn't sure what to make of the elf. After thinking about, he decides not to trust her at this time because he can due to not knowing her. After some observation, perhaps, but not for the moment. He does, however, have an idea for dealing with the aftermath of the attack.

"Why don't we all wait inside for a little bit, heal up, and then go back to where the first meteor hit? I can see into the past to a degree, so I could check and see if anyone summoned this assault." He offers the group.

[Archmage1]

"Now that is a good idea. And you will need healing, as there will likely be more of these monsters in the area, which will need to be eliminated."

Well, they seem like nice enough people. Perhaps, after this is all over, they might be willing to help me with my goals...

[Tharione]

Within the churches main hall the majority of villagers have moved to the back of the hall to make room for the incoming injured. The archers who arrived here first and several among the villagers funnel out past the incoming party members to retrieve more of the injured.

Ori releases the two she dragged inside once they begin healing. She turns to the party and speaks, softly enough to not be heard by the crowd and sternly enough for her words to have impact.

"Those of you who have a wish to know what is occurring here and a will to bring it to an end follow me."

She makes for the back stairway up, and proceeds to the second floor.

[Archmage1]

Mariel looks at the others, and then follows Ori up the stairs

[Tegannie]

Cassie also follows Ori, saying to Firia in Elvish, "At this point, I'd trance even on the floor!"

[Archmage1]

also in elvish:
"The floor is not that bad. I have seen far worse"
Mariel then shudders, as if remembering some horrible memory.

[bindin garoth]

Axile follows the others up, although he is not sure he trusts the woman yet. Seeing that there isn't much else they can do, and that his divinations wouldn't be guaranteed, he figures it best to at least hear out the woman.

[God Imperror]

I take the backpack with Bill's belongings and follow the rest of the group upstairs, since we are going to have time, once we sit to listen to the mysterious woman story I take a small ruby loop from my own backpack an close it to my eye.

-Nothing can escape my gaze, not at this pace.

As I finish the incantation I look at the crossbow that Bill used.

OOC

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Analize dweomer for 10 rounds

[Baxxie]

Probably having helped the party carry a few of the bodies outside into the temple (probably), Andrann had only a little to rest before he needed to follow her upstairs once more. Having his sword sheathed on his back, he also slowly takes off his helmet. If possible, he seats himself somewhere not far from Ori before beginning to listen to her.

[Tharione]

Ori takes to a corner of the room and waits for you all to gather. before she begins.

"I am Ori Al'Kasaar thirty fifth descendant of the wizard Kasaar and map-bearer of my order. In ages past my ancestor defeated a great evil, the demon lord Gheddon and imprisoned the monster in an indestructible prison. Since our ancestors defeat of a great evil in ages past the Al'Kasaar have been guardians of this prison, assuring the demon Gheddon would never escape."

she paces slightly while recounting the tale.

"As I understand it our worst nightmares have come to fruition, and the demon lord has escaped his prison. Few of my order still live..."

She pauses.

"As map bearer I set out to find the key to his prison so that he may once again be sealed within it. My map being the only way to find all of the keys fragments. It was before this town that i was set upon by Gheddons minions, and they followed me here, Cut me off before i could leave the town, and tore the place apart looking for me."

She looks down to the floor

"My retainers were among those they slew, and skilled as I am, I doubt I have any hope of retrieving the key and sealing the demons in its cage alone."

[Archmage1]

"I think I will help you, but there are a couple of important questions: How did the demon's followers find you, and how did he escape? My guess is that the answer to both of those is the same: Someone in your order betrayed you, but I could be wrong. Either way, it would seem that this demon is a threat to all, and needs to be dealt with."

As she speaks, Mariel looks at each of the companions, and Ori, and tries to divine their reactions to Ori's request.

[bindin garoth]

'Descendant of Kassar!?' Axile thinks to himself. He's completely in shock of the revelation. He truly hadn't expected to run into a descendant of his previous master. Was it fate that this should happen? He simply stays sitting in shock of the news.

But then, he speaks up. "Might I propose something more radical? The fact that the seal was broken shows that it's not powerful enough to deal with Gheddon. If we do this, we'll simply be re-imprisoning him, and he'll eventually be able to escape again. Why don't we instead look into ways to destroy him, or at least strengthen the seal?" He says, staring directly at the descendant.

[Tharione]

"Reimprisonment is the only option, if the old tales hold true Gheddon cannot be slain. Strengthening the seal is something to worry about once he is once again locked away."

[God Imperror]

Wait a second, what? Geddon has escaped? That wasn't good at all... And she was a descendant of Kassar? Well that certainly was a good story. Listening to her... I start to take mental notes that might come handy later. When I have to retell the story.

-And how would that be done. I mean, if you get to recover the key, how would you get Geddon back in prison, and strengthen the seal... Well that seems difficult enough.

[bindin garoth]

"Surely there is a way. There always is; I've never believed those tales for a second. But I'll play along for now. Until I, Axile, the first apprentice of Kassar, find a way to finish what he started!" He says the last part with a grin. He had thought about keeping it a secret for now, but he wanted to see their reactions, so he went ahead and revealed it. Besides, he was curious if the descendants of Kassar knew anything about him, after all his........ accidental experiment.......... had been quite famous during his time.

[Tharione]

"...Certainly the trauma of these events has gone to your head. That man was powerful enough to destroy a city, which is a power you have not demonstrated, and lived and died thousands of years ago."

[Archmage1]

"Either way, we will need to get out of here. Staying here accomplishes little."

arcana on kassar(1d20+23)[37]
planes on geddon(1d20+23)[34]

[bindin garoth]

"..... Surely you have some records of his apprentices. What about the first one, who destroyed an entire city because of a mistake made during an experiment? Its unfortunate, I now know what I did, but at the time I looked over such a simple mistake.... But anyways, that accident is known by hardly any at all, that should be proof." He said. Surely there was some record of him with her descendants. Now that he was denied, he MUST prove that he was an apprentice. He simply wouldn't have it any other way.

"That accident resulted in me wiping away almost all of my arcane powers. I was a protege of the Arcane arts at the time, but afterwards, couldn't even cast a spell. Even now, I'm but a pale reflection of myself. I tried to forcefully draw out my remaining arcane energies, only to result in me becoming trapped in time. A little bit ago, I was released by a passing mage, and have been training ever since to regain my former power."

[Tegannie]

Cassie listens to the conversation silently, takingin the new information.

It seems like my decision of what to do now has been made for me. Although this adventure will be more than just raiding dungeons and killing goblins.

Finally, at a break in the conversation, she says, I'll help, I don't have anything else to do anyway. I don't know how much help I'll be, I don't much about the arcane. I can fight, though. And I have some mundane tracking skills, though one of you mages probably has a more interesting, effective way of tracking something.

[Archmage1]

"Well, I can locate an object this is fairly close to me, or scry on someone, but I would need a mirror to scry, as well as a good description, and some connection to it, but neither seems to be of much use to us. I suspect that more mundane methods of tracking will prove more effective for now."

After a brief pause, as if Mariel is thinking

"Well, if we are going to be working togeather, we should probably introduce ourselves. My name is Mariel Stargazer, a mage with some power."

[God Imperror]

Well... the so called Axile was... crazy and interesting. He probably hit his head hard not too long ago. That story seems madness.

-Ok, let's be clear and start again. You - I say signaling Ori - need our help to track the key fragments. And we need to help you because if not we risk something worse than the apocalypse. You have mentioned the map, do you have the map here?

Then I signal Axile.

-And you, instead of that plan would like to go ahead and destroy Geddon, something that you tried to do millennia ago, but failed and got most of your power shafted. Personally I will wait until you regain your powers to try that, on the meantime we can locate the keys. A plan B is always good.

I move back looking at Ori... Ori Al'Kassar daughter of Kassar... that was what the surname meant, and seemed strange.

-I am Firia, and that might suffice for now.

[Tharione]

Ori ignores the madman and addresses Cassie first,
"Your talents in combat are precisely why I need your help."

She listens to and then addresses Mariel,
"Mortal divinations will provide little help, Yes."

she then responds to Firia.
"I need no help locating the key fragments, but acquiring them will be more than I can do alone. The map is here, but that is of little consequence as it cannot be read without it legend, its key."

[Archmage1]

"Well, as far as divination goes, I often find it to be useless unless you already know what you are looking for, and who has it, which mostly renders magic useless. You say that the map is here, but it is useless without a legend. Do you have that legend, or know where it is?"

[Tharione]

"I know precisely where the legend is. It is the entire reason I was passing through this town."

[Archmage1]

Mariel is now leaning forwards in her chair, interest plain upon her face.
"How far away is it, and would others know where it is?"

[Tharione]

"A days march, and only a select few."