Age of Ruin IC: Facing down destiny

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Keeping her thoughts to herself for a change, Ismal trails after the two men, studying how the pseudodragon's tail helps him stay balanced on Rhebin's shoulder.

[Ozzy_G]

Ismal, Sumner and Rhebin, with his pseudodragon which is swishing his tail elegantly since he knows he's being studied, walk into "Desal's Artefacts". It looks like a very secure place, with wards on the doors, and a couple of bulky guards. All the fancy magical items are displayed inside glass, which itself seems to be covered in wards.
Behind the counter is a lanky Zahn wearing a bejeweled eyepatch and fancy clothes in a recent Davethran style (so Ismal recognises it... to Sumner it just looks weird). Hello, how are you! Welcome to Desal's Artefacts! he says smiling. What can I do for you?


The old Zahn studies the heads, bobbing on top of the green liquid, looking strange in the emerald glow. That's an Aelfinn, isn't it? He shakes his head. I'm afraid we certainly can't bring that back. They don't have proper souls, you see. Let's see... sheesh, what happened to these heads? Hmmm... that's a Davethran, right? And a Mokai girl... what's the other guy, Davethran, Qusan? Weird colour hair... what can you tell me about these people?

[The Great Skenardo]

Sumner Kesh
The battered Old Davethran walks across the wooden floor, pausing for a moment to take in the arcane atmosphere. It reminded him of Gareth, somewhat; the faint, sour smell of spell components, and an equal mix of bumbling earnestness and terrifying potential power. Sumner nods his acnowledgement to the shopkeeper and sets on the counter the long, dusky shape of the Eater of Men.
"This..." he says, "Is a gnome-forged blade of old; it's enchanted to harm the race of Men above all others, but even against others it has magic sharpness. I want to sell it to you, or exchange it for some thing else."

[Lycar]

The old Zahn studies the heads, bobbing on top of the green liquid, looking strange in the emerald glow. That's an Aelfinn, isn't it? He shakes his head. I'm afraid we certainly can't bring that back. They don't have proper souls, you see. Let's see... sheesh, what happened to these heads? Hmmm... that's a Davethran, right? And a Mokai girl... what's the other guy, Davethran, Qusan? Weird colour hair... what can you tell me about these people?

(Oh how convenient, 'no proper soul...' sheesh. Oh well, maybe it's for the better. I still owe her one throtteling though. Pity.)

"That" Orin points out Sir Krashnix's head "is the head of Sir Krashnix, he is one of Isana's clerics. The mokai woman is a headhunter and this is Rego Vel. A Qusan mage or apprentice mage from Halgarth. You see, he hired us to accompany him on a trip to an ancient dwarven tomb, which location he lerned about through studying old texts."

"Some old dwarven king or governour who had become infamous for neglecting his duties in search of power and who met a ... theatric end. Ever heard the 'Tale of the Stout King'? It goes like that..."

Spoiler

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"A king with a beard and a stature stout
Once had a wish, nay obsession about
Being ruler of all, to be one with the world
Of being a god, or at the very least
Have the power thereof, to be thrall to no lord
But just you know it, a wish is a beast
Digs fangs in your soul and by my word:
Learn to control it or become it's feast
The king, he studied and studied and learned,
Sacrificed many for the power he yearned,
Summond demon an devil in insane fervour,
And yet none could grant, that what he wished for
So he struck a deal, with a lady of fire
'Oh be so kind to grant my desire'
'Fool' she said 'you shall yet have your wish'
And a fog made of blood sprung forth from the ground
To engulf all that stood or flew around
And one heard a terrible sound all about
Of forms and shapes, twisting and turning
Man, beast and plant, all were burning
With magic within and magic without
And the king with the beard and the stature stout
He finally felt as one with nature
But magic, i say, is a fickle beast,
Chaotic and evil, at the very least,
It turned on the king and he could not stand it,
He burst at the seams, but one good came from it
The fog disappeared and world was as before,
Except for the king, for he was no more."

Orin ends the tale and gestures at Rego's head "So Rego Vel longed to unearth the secrets in the tomb and.. well.."

Taking a deep breath, Orin goes on:

"And his tomb lay forgotten,
with the king dead and rotten.
But his final place of rest,
made of iron and stone,
to keep madness and bone,
safely hidden inside
was put to the test.

From the east, through the plain
came a band made of vain
scoundrels and scholars.
They weren't really fiends
but nor were they Solars.

They were, however, quite a sight:
A priest, tall and proud,
sincerely and loud,
laid waste to the serpent,
killed his servants most fervent,
saved a maiden from a fate most cruel,
and his zeal and devotion was the fuel,
that fed his desire,
to serve the lady of fire.

There were two women, hunters of head,
meant to collect the bounty that had,
been issued by Govan, Archmage of Ralm
on a man who had, most serenly and calm,
refused to return to the mages realm,
on grounds of rejecting
his planned dissecting
for a purpose most vile.

But their plan was cut short,
when an explosion of sort,
killed off all their friends.

They meant to earn credit
by work mostly legit
to earn the right
to bring back to light
their perished companions.

And a man of learning
while not very bold,
was also yearning
to make lots of gold,
because on that day,
in this grisly display,
of the hatered of fiends,
he too lost some friends.

And let's not forget the maid,
who was snatched from the serpents maw,
in a daring and bloody raid,
on a gaggle of cultists they saw.
I mentioned the cleric, did i not?
His anger, his fury, it burned so hot,
he slew all the cultists, surrend'ring or not.

The maiden, however, turned out to be
not from this world, but an aelfin you see,
and it appears, she was quite mad
(although she had a beautiful hat).

A scholar, he led the band,
with feverent devotion he planned,
to learn the secret of the living land.
And when the time came he laid his hand
on the tome of lore, which then he penned
down in his book.

Or so we think, that's what he found,
for he was gone, nowhere about.

Alas, as it were,
things went downhill from there.

You see, a golem, a guard of the tomb,
meant to protect the graves inner womb,
Was first pacified by the bards clever trick,
but then he suddenly developed a tick,
to crush the intruders, with his bronze fist.

The battle was fierce, many blows exchanged,
the party was very heavy engaged.
Poor Kizima, she bought the farm,
the golem, he brought down his arm,
on the halfling woman's head.
crush! And she was quite dead.

We finally managed to disable the threat,
thanks to the aelfin because she had,
showered with magic the golem's abode.
Many balls of fire she made explode,
cracking the golem, almost alone.
Finally iron brought the victory home.

Long story short, not long after that,
Tharok the fighter poked in his head,
through the door to the west.
In the end it turned out, to be for the best.

Whatever madness the tomb had contained,
our friend Rego it had claimed,
drove him insane, made him drunken with power,
made his spirit and mind, fuse with the tower.

We tried to flee, i'm loathe to admit,
but escape we could not, not one little bit.
Time itself, it slowed down so much,
in a matter of hours, four days had been passed!

So we turned back
to fight the madness
followed the track
to the mad dwarve's tomb.

With Tharok's braveness, luck and audacity,
Rego Vel was brough back from insanity.

So we packed up and meant to return.
Glory or shame,
it was all the same
if we got back alive, and not in an urn.

But upon reaching the ruin, desaster struck!
Where it came from, we'll never know.
Illithid! The cry went up!
The fiend, it attacked and in his tow,
came death to my friends, and even Rego
who i had promised to protect and lo,
i now stand here and beseech you,
bring back my friends! Please! Do so!"

Lycar

[Ozzy_G]

Wow, says the priest, who'd gone silent while Orin told his tale. Ruchion seems impressed too. Well, I guess I can definitely bring back the red-haired guy if he was a Priest of Isana. And the Qusan scholar should be fine. But the Mokai girl... well, the thing with Mokai is their souls get captured by the evil Veldeara, the Wolf of Winter, their pagan death god. If I tried to get her soul back, I'd be crushed like gnats beneath a wolf's paw. I'm... sorry.



The one-eyed Zahn lifts up the sword and studies it carefully, running his hands along it. It certainly looks Gnomish... Hmmm... He mutters to himself in his own tongue. It's a good blade. He touches his finger to the end, and winces, drawing back his finger, which is crested by a drop of blood. I'll give you 4000 gold pieces for it, or part-exchange it for that value.

[The Great Skenardo]

Sumner Kesh
Sumner glances towards Ismal and Rhebin. To be honest, he had no idea of the worth of such things.

[Ozzy_G]

Rhebin shrugs. I don't know how powerful the sword is, but that sounds like a reasonable price. The pseudodragon's thoughts intrude on Sumner's mind. Desal's got a reputation for giving fair prices. You don't want to cheat the sort of people who are selling powerful magic swords, because they've probably got some more.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Ismal sends her thoughts to Sumner, hard on the heels of Aiden's comment.

I'd go for it. And could we try to unload some of the stuff in that bag as well?

Reaching into the large bag Draven had left with Sumner, Ismal pulled out three very large swords.

If you're in the market for swords, these are still in excellent condition as well.

[Lycar]

Well, I guess I can definitely bring back the red-haired guy if he was a Priest of Isana. And the Qusan scholar should be fine. But the Mokai girl... well, the thing with Mokai is their souls get captured by the evil Veldeara, the Wolf of Winter, their pagan death god. If I tried to get her soul back, I'd be crushed like gnats beneath a wolf's paw. I'm... sorry.[/COLOR]

Orin bows to the priest. "In that case, please try to resurrect Rego Vel first. Maybe the priests of Isana would like to bring Sir Krashnix back themselves."

Lycar

[Ozzy_G]

The old priest shakes his head. No, Isana is not the god of Life and Death, resurrecting the dead is our responsibility. They may want to chip in though. While you are thinking about that, I will raise this man then.
He mutters a Message spell, and a few moments later another, younger priest comes in carrying a bag of crushed diamonds. You are ushered to the edge of the room, while the other heads are removed from the pool, leaving just Rego's. The diamonds are painted around the floor in a circle with odd patterns around them. Then the head is anointed with them. The priest chants in his own language.

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Imshaeroth, Imshaeroth, Lord of Life and Death! We beseech thee, releny your grasp and give us back this mortal!

Suddenly, the white diamond paste erupts into eerie green flames, a circle of fire, before going out suddenly.
AAAAGGGHHHHH! Rego erupts out of the pool and falls, naked, whole and dripping green goo, on the floor.



Hmmm... The one-eyed merchant inspects the huge swords. Interesting... give me a few moments... hmmm... he runs his hands down them, muttering in his own language. Alright, these two I could give you 4000 for each. This one, he says pointing to Hern's old sword, the one covered in celestial runes that shines with a pure white glow, I could give you 16000 gold for.

[Lycar]

Orin

Orin watches the proceedings, awaiting the result of the ritual with bated breath.

When a living, if naked, Rego Vel appears, Orin is somewhat relieved. Still, he remembers the state of mind Rego was in in his last moments of consciousnes.

"Reg? Rego Vel? You are alive again! Back from the beyond! Rise, Rego Vel, rise and shine!"

Lycar

[knewsom]

Draven stayed quiet and brooding towards the edge of the room.

Eleven thousand gold... to raise a SCHOLAR while we're in the middle of a war that will shape the future of this world. Great.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Ismal sends her thoughts to Sumner.

Huh. I had no idea that sword was so valuable. What do you think? Should we show him that plate armour and breastplate as well?

She turns to examine the displays.

You are reasonable and honourable, sir. We may also be interested in purchasing some of your wares. I'm especially interested in your scrolls. May I peruse your selection? I will need to cast the relevant enchantment to best be able to view them...I'm assuming there will be no objections.

Best not to startle a purveyor of such wares.

[Ozzy_G]

That's fine, says the one-eyed Zahn, just look with your eyes, not your hands.
Ismal scans the displayed scrolls. They all seem to be what they say on the signs. However, there are only a few scrolls on display, but there is a long list of other scrolls which are apparently in the back. There seems to be a large range of arcane spells, from Acid Fog to Wind Wall. Dimensional Anchor, Magic Circle against Evil, and so forth, the spells the Mokai priests recommended, are there.
The most powerful spells there look to be things like Greater Planar Binding, Trap the Soul, Temporal Stasis and Polar Ray. These are spells of legendary power, but the most powerful spells that Ismal's heard of, like Meteor Swarm and Wish, aren't listed, evidentally they're too powerful to be made by the shop's suppliers.


Rego rises shakily to his feet, looking around with stunned shock, the look of a man waking from a terrifying nightmare, not entirely sure that he's not still in it. He doesn't even seem to notice that he's naked. He's a young man, looks to be about twenty, and his skin is completely unblemished. No... no... where am I? Is this... he looks around frantically. Is he here? Is he still watching... he peers at Orin. Akim... are you dead too... or is this another shade of illusion... he sinks to his knees, holding his hands covering his head. The cave... the cave... it's so close...
The priest rubs his hands. Well, that went well. Be warned though, those raised invariably suffer either some memory loss, or in the young, suffer ill health. He may not remember everything he could before. He'll still remember people he's met and so on, but he might have forgotten skills he learned, facts from his education, and so on. In sorcerers, there is often some loss of power. Nothing drastic, but I thought you should know. Oh, and this reaction, he says pointing at Rego, who has now curled up in a foetal position, is fairly normal. He'll recover soon enough.

[The Great Skenardo]

Sumner Kesh
Sumner nods and hands over the Eater of Men.
"Agreed, then. I have...a question for you; is it possible to put more magic power into an existing sword?"
Sumner pulls from his belt the long, smooth length of the Second Hand, his family's revered katana.
"It has some magic already, but I wish to enhance it for the battle to come. Can this be done?"

[Ozzy_G]

It can, replies the one-eyed Zahn, I can't do it but I can get a man who can. It will take some time though. It depends how much magic you want to put on it, and how much it already has. We're talking between a few days and a few weeks probably.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Pleased - relieved, really - at the shop's range of options, Ismal confirms that the scrolls on display are what they seem to be, and then jots down a short list on a scrap of paper. Pausing to ponder for a moment, she hands the scrap over to the man:

I'd like to check on the availability of these items, please.

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The list she gives is:

2 scrolls with the spell Magic Circle Versus Evil
2 scrolls with the spell Circle Dance
2 scrolls with the spell Amanuensis
Dragon Spirit Cincture
Runestaff of Entrapment
Greater Fiendslayer Crystal
Wand of Cure Light Wounds

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Ozzy, if you're okay with all of these, the "retail" value is 19,300.

[The Great Skenardo]

Sumner Kesh
Sumner mulls over the problem.
"Hmm. Unacceptable. I don't know how long I will be here. What about... draining the power from one sword into another? Can that be done?"

[knewsom]

Draven sighed and plopped down the heavy backpack with a thud.

"Alright, Orin, you raised him, let's start counting out 1,100 platinum so we can get back to the business at hand."

[Lycar]

Orin

"Hm yes. Let's start counting. Uhm. Say, you wouldn't happen to have a spare... robe or something around here? Somewhere?"

Orin hopes that Rego will come to his senses. Meanwhile, he starts making little stacks of coins to help with counting.

(Let's see... 11.000 gold equals 1100 platinum. So... 10 x10 stacks of 10 and then an 11th row. Right...)

Lycar

[Ozzy_G]

The one-eyed Zahn studies the list, and goes into the back. Eventually he comes back with a small globe that shines with holy power, a long staff covered in runes in binding, a sash with pictures of Dragons, and a collection of scrolls. That's 19300 gold. Oh, and I should warn you, the sash is a holy artefact to some of the Dragon Clans it seems, so I wouldn't want to wear it around them. You didn't get it from me, you know?
He listens to Sumner question, and shakes his head. I heard that there's a Wizard in Qusa right now who's developing just such a ritual. Or rather, he's found a way to dissolve magic items into this stuff that can replace the normal components to make new magic items. But it hasn't been perfected yet. I certainly don't know anyone who can do it. Look, if you want it done quicker, there's not really a way I'm afraid. You might be able to find someone who could do it slightly quicker, but the record I've heard is a guy who used to live in Zardis, he made magic items for the Emperor, who could make things in three quarters of the time. That's the quickest.

The other, younger priest goes and fetches a robe for Rego, and drapes it over his body. Rego slowly unfolds, and watches with hollow eyes as Akim and the older priest count out the money. Where... where am I?

[Toliudar]

Ismal

The sorcerer nods vigorously, tying the sash on underneath the broad silk of her robes. She lifts the staff experimentally.

Understood - and my thanks for the warning. Oh!

A new thought occurs to her. She pulls from Sumner's large bag the elements of a complete set of plate armour, followed by a gleaming mithril shirt of mail.

I believe that these are both fine combinations of excellent craftsmanship and light mithril alloys. Would you be interested?

[Ozzy_G]

Hmmm... the one-eyed Zahn studies them as he has the other items, murmering to himself. For this lot, I could give you 15000 gold.

[Toliudar]

Ismal

Eager to move on, and back to the search for Gothul, Ismal nods.

Tell you what. Put five hundred into the inks and such that the wizards use to put magic into their spellbooks. Two hundred into the basic potions - the ones you use to recover from injuries? Those ones. I used to be able to get eight of them for two hundred gold back in...back home. The twenty four thousand for the swords, I'll take in platinum or gems, as you see fit.

[Ozzy_G]

Rego puts on his robe, as the priest gathers up the now-counted money and takes it through the other door, helped by his assistant.
As soon as they're gone, Rego turns to you, terrified but determined. This is a temple of Imshaeroth isn't it! I've got to get out of here!

[knewsom]

The burly shaman sighed, mildly annoyed.

"Wow Orin, you said this guy was a scholar - I'm impressed already by his intellect. Yes, this is a temple of Imshaeroth, what was your first clue? The Zhan priests? Or the fact that you're alive again?"

He hefted the now much lighter backpack and gestured to the others.

"Alright then, onward to the temple of Isana so you can hand over Krashnix's head."

[Ozzy_G]

Rego runs over to the door you came in through, the one opposite the door the priests left through, and opens it, looking up and down the corridor. Which way is out? he cries desperately.

[Lycar]

Orin

"Now Draven Keldraven, you did not experience what he did. So you really are not qualified to judge him. Patience..."

(... barbarian.)

Orin calmly approaches Rego.

"Now now, no need to panic. You hired me and my companions to keep you safe and sound. And true to our word, we took care of you... just calm down. Let me help you with that."

He pauses for a moment to cast a quick spell.

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Cast Calm Emotions, centred on Rego. If Orin can get Draven into the area of effect as well by changing the point of origin, he will. DC 16 if one cares to resist.

"Now. Why is it that you believe you need to flee the temple of the god who saw fit to bring you back into the realm of the living?"

Lycar

[Ozzy_G]

Rego seems to calm down a bit. Look, can we get out of here first and then I'll explain, before the priests come back?

[Lycar]

Orin

Orin nods at Rego, smiling.

"But of course. We wanted to pay a visit to the temple of Isana anyway. We can talk outside. You coming Draven?"

Since the priests have been paid (and handsomly so, the robe really ought to be complimentary), Orin sees no reason not to go outside for a bit.

Orin just pauses to put the 3 remaining heads back into his backpack, then goes outside.

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I am assuming it is okay to go and return later, if arrangements for Krashnix's revival have been made?

Lycar