The Missing Lore (IC)

[TKDfirefly]

It has been one week since the king has sent forth his call for help. Many people came to Demakor. Most were turned away almost as soon as they arrived because of lack of experience or even lack of talent. However, there was no loss of hope. Six heroes were chosen by the king's personal advisor, Lord Rawlins.

You are suppose to see the king and find out the exact details of your mission. However, one of the guards says, "You must wait until Lord Rawlins arrives." Before you are solid wood doors with that are guarded by two men almost the size of ogres. Fully covered in some of the best armor, they are looking straight foward each wielding a guisarme. There is also a shield and some other weapons strapped to their backs. Their expressionless faces easily send a shiver down someone's spine.

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OOC -- For most of you, this is the first time you have actually had a chance to meet each other.

[stupnick]

Joseph

Standing before the King's guards Joseph definately feels intimidated. Looking around the room at the others who were chosen, Joseph begins to feels out of place. Knowing though that he was chosen, much like them, he decided instead to feel honored. Still looking around he begins to puff his chest slightly and stand up straight and tall, a smile starts to form on his face.

Still trying not to make eye contact with the guards, Joseph tries to deduce if he knows anyone in the room, as well as if anyone looks friendly enough to approach.

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Knowledge Local (1d20+7)[16]
Spot (1d20+8)[10]

[Lepre_Khan]

Lleu Par Margyn

Lleu smiles in what he considers a calming manner as he examines his companions, the throne room, and the rather impressively armed King's Guards.

The room is far grander than anything he had ever seen, if stiffer. Still, Lleu was absolutely confident in the fact that he deserved to be there. His blood was descended from Margyn the Hearth Warmer, the god himself. Lleu was young, but he had true power flowing through him. It was his duty and honor to use it to serve men as best he could. If the duty brought him into contact with Royalty, well, it was simply what happened to heroes.

As he takes in his companions, Lleu notes a farmer who seems to look a bit uncomfortable. Deciding to do what he can to calm the man, Lleu approaches and lays his hand on the farmers shoulder,

"Friend, I am a traveler from far away and I do not know your land. I don't wish to insult your king of nobles through my lack of grace. Could you guide me through the proper customs?

Offering his hand to the farmer, Lleu continues, "I am Lleu par Margyn, the North Breeze. Member of the Third Ring of the Circle of Eight. It is an honor to serve with you."

[Dustfinger]

Kado

Ah Joseph, how are you this fine day, i'm glad to see that you are going to be joining us. How is Sarah? I heard your youngest is just getting over a nasty sickness, hope that turns out well.

Kado glances at the man next to Joseph then slaps his forehead.

How could I be so rude, I'm sorry, my name is Kado Invisible Sea, I hail from a very far away land but have lived here for a long while. The name was Lleu correct? So nice to meet you.

He then turns to the guards, looks into their eyes then throws them a smile.

Men calm down, you don't have to stay like that for us, we are regular people, we can tell you need a break from that obscene posture. Please men, you're making me tense just looking at you. Hahaha!

[The Boyce]

Helior the Scribe

Helior looks around the room and wrinkles his nose. This group hardly looked respectable, or competent. In fact they even had a farmer, A FARMER among there number. How could he hope to accomplish anything with such companion, Helior shook his head.

In contrast with his companions Helior looked the part of wizard in stereotypical fashion. From gray hair and beard to robe and pointy hat he was the pure image of what a wizard should look like. Hearing the most talkative one speaking to the guards his face scrunches in annoyance.

"Relax? Relax!? These are guardians of the king! They cannot relax, who's to say one of us isn't an assassin sent to slay the king? If they relax who knows what sort of mischief might get underway? Indeed there i even an old tale of a guard relaxing and..." Having found a way to illuminate the others on his vast knowledge of history and tales Helior will now go on for probably ten minutes about this story where a guard of some ancient and/or far off king let down his guard and it led to the destruction of the country. Whether or not this story actually appeared in history or not is of little importance as the main point of this story is that Helior is smart, and Kado is foolish to tell the guards to relax.

[PolkaBear]

Rohran Breeze

Rohran smiled at the the officious scholar. "Personally, I find it impressive when a man's willing to do his work thoroughly and well. Have you ever stood for hours on end in armor of that weight? Motionless while others try to distract you? It's no simple feat."

A sly smile came across his face. "Of course, it's always fun to try to get them to break their form. If you're not fully convinced they'd split you in half immediately afterwards, that is."

He fluttered up to eye level with one of the guards, though he was careful to stay well back. "Yeah," he added soberly, "I don't think I'd try it."

He returned to the floor and tossed his head to get a curly blue-white lock out of his eyes. "If we're making introductions, I'm Breeze. Or Rohran. Either one will work."

[RebelRogue]

Rynold

The sound of someone climbing the stairs to the room while puffing and wheezing can be heard, and shortly after a stocky man wearing traveller's clothing enters, while trying to catch his breath. He bears the Sigil of the Four Winds as an amulet around his neck. Slightly agitated, he speaks out:

Sorry to be late, but those many stairs are hard to climb, lest one has the strength of mighty Boreas.

Eyeing the grave guards, the man seems to lower his voice a little, relax a bit, and takes a look at the gathered crowd before he speaks again, this time with a big smile on his face:

My name is Rynold, an initiate in the mysteries of Wind. Seems like we'll spend quite a lot of time together in the time to follow. It is a pleasure to meet all of you.

[PolkaBear]

Rohran Breeze

Rohran cocked his head and bowed gracefully when he saw the symbol hanging around the neck of the newcomer. "May Zephyrus ever speed your steps, Rynold. I am Breeze; these others are Joseph, Lleu par Margyn, Kado Invisible Sea, and...?" He raises a silvery-white eyebrow, barely visible against his skin, and gestures to the scribe.

[stupnick]

Joseph

Seeming somewhat timid and shy, that is until Kado approaches him, Joseph finally looks more or less relieved to see someone he knows. Still feeling out of place but not so much, he turns towards Kado and the room, Kado! Giving Kado a big greeting hug, as is normally custom. It has been a while. Yes, he is doing better, and actually he was up for the challenge of running the farm on his own, with the help of his older brothers of course. As for Sarah, she is doing good, Missing her dearly though.

Ah Nice to meet you Lleu. It's nice to see people that are friendly here. I am thinking this might be somewhat of a challenge, if they called in so many adventurers. You guys are a different breed.

Nodding his head towards the others that begin to talk and introduce themself, but seeing as they arne't as open and friendly as the other two, he is still shy towards them.

[RebelRogue]

Rynold

Clearly pleased to see the winged creature before him knows of Zephyrus, Rynold replies: Breeze? I like that! And please, if anyone should bow, it should be me! He returns the gesture with a small bow of limited grace compared to the mephlings elegance. I hope we'll get some spare time for discussions. There's surely a lot of questions I'd like to ask someone with blood relations to the divine element of Air! However, sensing the nervous outlook of Joseph, Rynold turns from Breeze to talk to him. Don't be a stranger, Joseph! We're all friends here, right? Rynold's eyes make a quick sweep of the others with the last sentence. He pauses briefly at Cado. Another Outsider, I guess. If I could only remember the name of the race...

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Knowledge(The Planes)(1d20+1)[14]

[PolkaBear]

Rohran Breeze

Rohran would have blushed if his physiology worked that way. "I was reared by elves, so I may not have many answers for you. Most...of my race, we're not--that is, Mephits don't make very good parents, especially for those like me who aren't their 'true' blood. I'm not really a Mephit, you see; I'm something else. I do my best to honor the better parts of my heritage, though."

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I guess I should probably do a roll to determine the Neraph's race, since I have that single point in Knowledge (the planes).
(1d20+3)[16]

[stupnick]

Joseph

Seeing that people have accepted him, even tho he hasn't adventured a day in his life, he is a little more easy going and not so timid. Sitting there listening to them talk, and trying to keep along with it, which is rather hard, Joseph just listens.

Seeing as we are to be working together to help out our Kingdom and it's Lord, I do believe we should all be friends. No reason not to be. We must trust each other with out lives.

[Lepre_Khan]

Lleu Par Margyn

Ah, Margyn, you are mighty God to have allied me with two further servants of the Wind.

Turning to Rohran and Rynold, Lleu speaks up, "It appears that Air may be needed for this quest. We have a priest of the Four Winds, Rohran Breeze, and I myself, titled the North Breeze by my people."

Smiling, Lleu continues, "It is truly an honor to serve amongst such heroes as yourselves. I'm sure we'll recover this 'Lore'--whatever it is--in no time at all."

[RebelRogue]

Rynold

Lord Rawlins is no fool! I'm certain that our combined knowledge of the element of Air is important to this mission. I hold great trust in his ability to pick the right people for a given task.

[TKDfirefly]

"Lore? How did you know about that already?" comes a voice from the stairs. You all turn and see an aging man with a crooked staff. He is wearing a grey, blue cloak that covers most of his robes. The parts you can see though look almost good enough for the king himself. His face looks like a grandfather that has been through his fair share of troubles, and with eyes that match the storm grey color of his cloak. You all recognize him as Lord Rawlins.

"Thank you for the compliment, Rynold. Sorry for my tardiness but an important matter happened late last night that took until about an hour ago to sort out. It is none of your concern though it has changed gravity of the situation." A smile that appears at the greeting slowly dies into a slight frown by the end of his explanation.

"If you would all follow me, I will give you the full details of your mission." With that, Lord Rawlins turns and starts heading down the stairs. "And the aasimar is right. It has to deal with the Lore." His frown deepens into a scowl and his eyes harden with that last statement as he continues down the stairs.

Rynold

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You know that Cado is a Neraph from the Limbo plane. You also remember that they have excellent sight, leg strength, and that their skin is tougher than normal.

Breeze

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You that Cado is a Neraph from the Limbo plane. You also remember that they have excellent sight, leg strength, and that their skin is tougher than normal. The Neraph invented a circular weapon that slices through the air and its target when thrown properly.

[Dustfinger]

Cado

Lord Rawlins, how nice it is to see you again!

Cado has done many things for the Rawlins in the past and has grown to admire him greatly. He goes over to his Lordship and gives him a hug. He then takes a very serious tone as he follows.

Well sir, what just is all this about?

[RebelRogue]

Rynold

This is the first time Rynold has seen Rawlins this closely and he's a little surprised, though pleased, to see that this highly esteemed advisor to the King allows the Neraph to show his affection so directly. Rynold smiles at the thought, but makes an effort to focus on the job ahead. Lore? I wonder what this is about! He follows Rawlin's lead, eagerly awaiting more information. This doesn't stop him from mumbling a sarcastic Great, more stairs! to himself, though.

[PolkaBear]

Rohran Breeze

"Your gravity, our graves," Rohran remarked seriously. "We'll do whatever we can."

He glided down the steps rather than suffer the jouncing up-and-down locomotion to which the others were cursed.

[TKDfirefly]

"Ah. Yes. Nice to see you again, Cado." Lord Rawlins able to staff to catch himself from falling downstairs from the sudden greeting. He then looks back and makes sure that everyone is following him closely. Then he continues down the stairs and continues with the details.

"Now, what is to be followed can not be known to others. About one and a half weeks ago the town of Barbon awoke to find Rokorno Tower missing. This was the safeguard of the Lore. The tower was supposedly impentrable, indestructible, and unmovable. However, it appears that the original protectors missed something. There should have been no possible path that lead to overtaking the tower.

Another safeguard of the Lore is the secrecy of it. Very few have actually heard of the Lore, even fewer knows what the Lore is. Rokorno Tower was designed to look like a deserted and ancient tower. I bet that neither Cado or Joseph here actually knew that there were people still living inside."

Lord Rawlins pauses and looks around at the bottom of the stairs. Seemingly satisfied, he then continues at a quicken pace down a hall with portraits of past kings on it. In between two of the paintings, he places the top of his staff against the wall and then slides it down. A hidden door opens to reveal a study.

Three walls are lined with countless tomes of knowledge. There are a six fine leather chairs set next to stands with gems on them. The gems seem to have a fire burning inside them which produces a soft glow from each of them. The wall opposite the door is a window with curtains partially drawn. In front of it is a solid darkwood desk with various scrolls, parchments, and books covering its surface. There are two smaller gem stands sitting on the desk, one on each side. There an extremely worn leather chair behind the desk.

"Come in and take a seat. I will then answer any questions you have." Lord Rawlins waits until everyone is in and then closes the door. He sits behind his desk and waits for the questions to start flowing.

[PolkaBear]

Rohran Breeze

"Thank you, Lord Rawlins," responded Rohran as he took the proffered seat.

"I guess the obvious questions are the place to start. What was the Lore, why was it important, and who was caring for it? And if it's not obvious from your answer to those questions: who would have taken it?"

He looked at Rynold and muttered "Security through obscurity never works..."

[The Boyce]

Helior walks over to a chair and sits down and begins shooting question immediately.

"I think those questions were obvious what we should also know is the history of it. How it was created, who created it and for what purpose, why it was kept in that particular place, what does it look like, has it ever been stolen before. Details, we require details."

[RebelRogue]

Rynold

Rynold takes a seat at the table, making himself comfortable, only to find that a hailstorm of questions has already been made to Lord Rawlins. Waiting for an opportuninty in this stream of inquiry and (presumably) answers he has a few questions himself:

So the whole of Rokorno Tower disappeared! Are there any traces left of it, or are we the first to actually investigate the site?

Thinking a bit to himself, he adds the following with a note of disbelief in his voice:

Does the presence of Breeze, Lleu and myself imply that you think the tower may somehow have been stolen away into the air by powerful magic? Or do you suspect an illusionary trick of Notus, the Southwind, hiding the Tower from view?

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What does Rynold know of the official history of Rokorno Tower?
Knowledge(History)(1d20+5)[16]

[Lepre_Khan]

Lleu

Lleu enters and takes a seat, quietly waiting to see the answers to his companions questions. After they are answered, he speaks up, "More importantly, friends, what are we supposed to do when we find it? We can't very well return an immovable tower and whoever did so isn't likely to suddenly see the error of there ways. Is it possible to return just the Lore?"

[stupnick]

Joseph

Walking in behind and taking a seat, Joseph remains rather quite while all this talking is going on. Finally speaking up after everyone else has had there chance, Well one would assume, that if they had the ability to move it to where it is currently located, they would have the ability for us to move it back. Otherwise, yes, we would just need to clear out what is in there and bring the contents back, my assumption of course

[stupnick]

Joseph

Walking in behind and taking a seat, Joseph remains rather quite while all this talking is going on. Finally speaking up after everyone else has had there chance, Well one would assume, that if they had the ability to move it to where it is currently located, they would have the ability for us to move it back. Otherwise, yes, we would just need to clear out what is in there and bring the contents back, my assumption of course

[The Boyce]

Even as Helior awaits answers to the combined queries he is sifting through all the knowledge he has accumulated over time. He is also going through his extensive knowledge of history looking for potential foes, both mortal and not.

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Lore check: (1d20+17)[37]

Knowledge: History check: (1d20+18)[36]

[TKDfirefly]

Rynold

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History: Rokorno Tower has been around for as long as one can remember. It has been used as a marker for one of the old borders until the nations came together as one. No one has ever used the tower because there seemed to be no way in.

Helior

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Lore: Through your various studies you have barely read mention of the Lore. From checking with various mentions, you have determined that it is a collection of knowledge. Not a mere collection, more similar to a holding of all knowledge. You have heard read stories of such a collection held in Rokorno Tower but there are so many stories of what was in the tower that you have ignored it until now.
History: Since knowledge is power, any one with access to the truth about the Lore would want it. Any and all ancient evils would make an attempt at it. Your top five choices are Phaer (shadowswyft diplomat that always had higher agendas, 300 years ago), Marva (a powerful human mage who tried to take over the world, 200 years ago), Froke (white dragon who coveted knowledge, 1000 year ago), Draconis (balor who tried to bring the world into total darkness, 500 years ago), and Lacuor (pit fiend who wanted to rule the world, 750 years ago)

Lord Rawlins leans back in his chair and lets out a sigh as if it will help relieve his nerves. "Ah. Yes. The Lore. You should know what you are suppose to recover. The Lore is a collection of knowledge. The entire collection of knowledge. Every event that happened everywhere has been recorded. Every work of art, every strategy, evey book, every song, every poem, every design, every thought, and every dream is contained in the Lore. When I say the entire collection of knowledge, I mean it. My entire study is not even a grain of sand in the desert of knowledge that is contained in the Lore.

But you are all mistaken. The Lore is not a thing. An object that be picked up and carried off. Since new thoughts develop every second, the Lore has to be able to keep up. So the Lore is a living being that keeps up with new thoughts. Because the Lore is living, the Lore needed a place to live in peace to gather such knowledge. That was the purpose of Rokorno Tower.

I am not sure of the security measures of the tower. All I know is that ancient and powerful beings saw to it that Rokorno Tower would be a safe haven for the Lore. I thought that the tower was the safest place. There is no way in or out of it. It has unbeatable wards. Before I received word, I thought that it was impossible that the tower could be moved.

There are some stories of beings trying to take the Lore. They must have known what the Lore is to even try. From a powerful balor to a great dragon to a human mage, they all tried different schemes, but all failed."

Lord Rawlins pauses and looks around on his desk. He opens one of his drawers and pulls out a glass bottle with some red liquid in it. He also pulls out enough goblets for all. While he pours himself a drink, he states, "Sorry to give pause with my answers but my throat is dry. Please help yourself to my personal stash." He takes his goblet and takes a deep drink. Then Lord Rawlins continues with his answers.

"The tower was fully gone from what I heard. But Cado and Joseph would have more knowledge about it since they live in the closest town. You will be one of the first to investigate the site. I am sure that Mr. Mannor from Barbon has taken a personal look. He will be the one you should talk to when you head to the tower. Or at least to where it was.

As to the reason for choosing, you are mistaken Rynold. I have no assumptions to what has happened to the tower. But I believe that a wide spread of view points would bring forth a better solution. I chose Joseph because he knows the area around Rokorno Tower. Cado has worked for the crown before, so he became a natural choice. Breeze is not from this plane originally so he has other worldly knowledge. Helior is a student of knowledge. I am sure that the Lore is a great interest to him. Lleu is a Member of the Third Ring of Eight. He has seen and heard stories of many different threats, especially those from the Nine Hells. And then you, Rynold was chosen for your knowledge toward the gods and the ability to call forth their help.

Lleu is correct. I am not expecting you to bring the tower back. Apparently, its protection is flawed in some way. The important thing is to recover the Lore. Once the Lore is safe, the Lore can determine the best solution for what should happen next."

Lord Rawlins leans back in his chair and takes another drink.

[Lepre_Khan]

Lleu par Margyn

Lleu politely refuses the offered drink,"I don't wish to appear disrespectful, but is the Lore itself not also flawed? If it knew all things, shouldn't it know anything that could penetrate it's defenses and be able to take steps to bolster any weaknesses?"

[The Boyce]

Helior began to tap his temple, as he often does when he has an idea. "Not if it decided to go off by itself. It is a sentient thing? If so then it would seem quite simple for it to have moved itself. It seems obvious to me." the scribe says with a gleam in his eye, a gleam of genius.

[stupnick]

Joseph

Sitting up a little more in his chair, Joseph has a feeling of belonging. With a smile on his face, Joseph helps himself to the food and drink offered. Packing away a good portion of the meat, as long as he is able to.