The Two (Ivory) Towers - 7/1
Jan 13, 2020 20:27:31 GMT
Varis/G'Lorth/Sundilar, BB, and 2 more like this
Post by Markas Virnala on Jan 13, 2020 20:27:31 GMT
"Scholars and Harpies"
28th Entry in the Journal of Markas Virnala
Aurelia finally seems to have set her academy up. A Tower cropped up in Daring Heights a few weeks back apparently, I know I'd never seen it before but then I still haven't exactly explored everywhere yet. She put up a notice for some help at any rate, something about a trip back to KG to see if we could help them work out what the strange lights were.
It was nice catching up with everyone again, some I haven't seen since before the war so it was refreshing to see they had survived. Our group of bodyguards consisted of Augustine, Sheryl, BB, Bones and me. Felt a little odd as the only person without magic but I liked everyone there so it was ok.
The academy looks interesting, still kinda new but already has a bunch of people there. Aurelia seemed keen to show Hoop to a few people (Hoop obviously loving the attention) but otherwise introduced us to Professor Clubhead, a Dwarf with…
The journal trails off here as he stops writing a does some Training and Self Maintenance
We went back to K'ul Goran to help Clubhead and one of his students, Rosie, with the exchange of information to help work out what had actually happened out there during the war. Zot Goran was full of refugees and pretty tense still but the military presence was noticeably relaxed.
We were escorted a few hours out to some barren farmland, one of the locations those orange lights had appeared, where we met Gasp, an air Genasi and a Minotaur called Mitsy Strongroar. They explained we were at some kind of nexus where the lines if light met and where trying to trace out the remains of the lights. They had been taking reports and accounts from all over the country and it was sounding like they were making progress, just not as much as they like. The two were leading a team of scholers who were studying the lines and trying to mark them out with sticks in the ground.
Professor Clubhead (I overheard his name was Cutter which I'm sure we heard back in Sigil... something along the lines of "hey you"?) Told them we had actually been involved in the war so they were pretty ex tied to take our accounts and look at the sketches I made. From what they could work out,, there all part of some enormous seal made into the very ground itself but there was no real indication if it was locking something in, or letting something loose (everyone is assuming loose). Bubbles mentioned seeing the shunned (a race of monstrous people living under ground that had been I volvedd in the war, reclaiming some farmland?), didnt experience the thirsty ground phenomenon though. I asked about their history and as far as every knew, it had just always been that way. Someone, at some point had made an enormous blood seal into the very ground, so long ago that there is just no written record of it. It's hard to imagine what it could be.
In any case, we settled in, expecting g a boring post protecting the academics. Augustine and Bones circling the perimeter, BB planting flowers in the dead ground, leaving me and Bu blessed with Rosie and Hey-you, Bubbles talking about summoning demons (I heavily suggested she shouldnt on a giant activated blood seal), while I was happy just listening, trying to learn about the different planes of existence from Hey-you and Rosie.
Until Augustine lit up the valley that is. With a bright flash, we spun to see her on a slight rise to one side of the field. Behind her an entire flock of winged women coming towards us. Harpies.
I left Bubbles to defend Rosie and Hey-You so I could meet Augustine to give her some back-up bit as they came flying in, I could hear them singing. A weird enchanting song. I tried to resist but there were too many voices and before I knew it, I wasnt there anymore.
They were calling to me everything felt fine for a few moments. Calm. I wanted to go to them. And then she came again, flying on wings to greet me, and I could feel myself letting go, wanting to go to her. Everything felt perfect. Too perfect. The vision broke and her form changed, a different woman with claws and talons.
And then a rage kicked in. Being shown her again, this soon, was not something I was happy about. A tried to leap into the air to bring it down bit one of the other Harpies, I could now see had surrounded all of us, jabbed me in the leg with a spear and I fell short. The ground rumbled and broke apart as Bubbles finally summoned that ape demon Serpentine is found of behind the Matriarch and began pummeling her. I swung out again but I missed as she flipped over me, escaping the demon, raking her talons deep into my back, dragging them down. Before I could stand again, there was a brilliant flash of light as BB threw a lightning bolt that killed the matriarch instantly.
Still angry, dripping blood, I stormed through the surrounding Harpies taking as many as I could, finally placing myself in front of one bearing down on BB. But before anything could happen, the others finished them off. Augustine smashing them into the ground with her spectral tree weapon, Bones raining fire on them and Bubbles blasting them with the writhing snakes she throws around.
The clean up soon turned into an interrogation, as two of the scholars were brought forward, exposed by Sheryl as sabotaging the investigation, one of them actually drawing a knife on her when exposed. They were pathetic there really, begging to be spared... which is when I lashed out, still unhappy with the developments. Once they told us the 'History department' had paid them to interrupt the work for some prestige thing and thinking of him attack king one of my friends, I punched him, hard. He fell to the floor and soon after Mitsy took the pair away to be dealt with.
Sheryl just nodded to me, I think she understood something was wrong, but BB just looked disappointed in me. I hated that look. Not for what it was but because she looked at me like that. Augustine stepped in before I could say something stupid and told me to get it together, which I guess I have now. Took a week though... I cant let that happen again though, that's not who I want to be.
After that, the rest of our time there went pretty smoothly. Pretty boring if I'm honest. I wasnt in the mood at the time to listen to Hey-you anymore and tha fully none of the scholars were hurt (besides Tai.... I should find him sometime to apologise).
Hoop missed all the excitement with the Harpies, being stuck in my bag. Milo made a carry case for them now though so maybe they will see a bit more from now on. They were happy being shown off by Aurelia in the academy though, and Bones was still showering them with compliments of course.
Today though! I finally managed to do it. Ran clear across the small lake south west of DH. If I could only see Meelkee's face!
28th Entry in the Journal of Markas Virnala
Aurelia finally seems to have set her academy up. A Tower cropped up in Daring Heights a few weeks back apparently, I know I'd never seen it before but then I still haven't exactly explored everywhere yet. She put up a notice for some help at any rate, something about a trip back to KG to see if we could help them work out what the strange lights were.
It was nice catching up with everyone again, some I haven't seen since before the war so it was refreshing to see they had survived. Our group of bodyguards consisted of Augustine, Sheryl, BB, Bones and me. Felt a little odd as the only person without magic but I liked everyone there so it was ok.
The academy looks interesting, still kinda new but already has a bunch of people there. Aurelia seemed keen to show Hoop to a few people (Hoop obviously loving the attention) but otherwise introduced us to Professor Clubhead, a Dwarf with…
The journal trails off here as he stops writing a does some Training and Self Maintenance
We went back to K'ul Goran to help Clubhead and one of his students, Rosie, with the exchange of information to help work out what had actually happened out there during the war. Zot Goran was full of refugees and pretty tense still but the military presence was noticeably relaxed.
We were escorted a few hours out to some barren farmland, one of the locations those orange lights had appeared, where we met Gasp, an air Genasi and a Minotaur called Mitsy Strongroar. They explained we were at some kind of nexus where the lines if light met and where trying to trace out the remains of the lights. They had been taking reports and accounts from all over the country and it was sounding like they were making progress, just not as much as they like. The two were leading a team of scholers who were studying the lines and trying to mark them out with sticks in the ground.
Professor Clubhead (I overheard his name was Cutter which I'm sure we heard back in Sigil... something along the lines of "hey you"?) Told them we had actually been involved in the war so they were pretty ex tied to take our accounts and look at the sketches I made. From what they could work out,, there all part of some enormous seal made into the very ground itself but there was no real indication if it was locking something in, or letting something loose (everyone is assuming loose). Bubbles mentioned seeing the shunned (a race of monstrous people living under ground that had been I volvedd in the war, reclaiming some farmland?), didnt experience the thirsty ground phenomenon though. I asked about their history and as far as every knew, it had just always been that way. Someone, at some point had made an enormous blood seal into the very ground, so long ago that there is just no written record of it. It's hard to imagine what it could be.
In any case, we settled in, expecting g a boring post protecting the academics. Augustine and Bones circling the perimeter, BB planting flowers in the dead ground, leaving me and Bu blessed with Rosie and Hey-you, Bubbles talking about summoning demons (I heavily suggested she shouldnt on a giant activated blood seal), while I was happy just listening, trying to learn about the different planes of existence from Hey-you and Rosie.
Until Augustine lit up the valley that is. With a bright flash, we spun to see her on a slight rise to one side of the field. Behind her an entire flock of winged women coming towards us. Harpies.
I left Bubbles to defend Rosie and Hey-You so I could meet Augustine to give her some back-up bit as they came flying in, I could hear them singing. A weird enchanting song. I tried to resist but there were too many voices and before I knew it, I wasnt there anymore.
They were calling to me everything felt fine for a few moments. Calm. I wanted to go to them. And then she came again, flying on wings to greet me, and I could feel myself letting go, wanting to go to her. Everything felt perfect. Too perfect. The vision broke and her form changed, a different woman with claws and talons.
And then a rage kicked in. Being shown her again, this soon, was not something I was happy about. A tried to leap into the air to bring it down bit one of the other Harpies, I could now see had surrounded all of us, jabbed me in the leg with a spear and I fell short. The ground rumbled and broke apart as Bubbles finally summoned that ape demon Serpentine is found of behind the Matriarch and began pummeling her. I swung out again but I missed as she flipped over me, escaping the demon, raking her talons deep into my back, dragging them down. Before I could stand again, there was a brilliant flash of light as BB threw a lightning bolt that killed the matriarch instantly.
Still angry, dripping blood, I stormed through the surrounding Harpies taking as many as I could, finally placing myself in front of one bearing down on BB. But before anything could happen, the others finished them off. Augustine smashing them into the ground with her spectral tree weapon, Bones raining fire on them and Bubbles blasting them with the writhing snakes she throws around.
The clean up soon turned into an interrogation, as two of the scholars were brought forward, exposed by Sheryl as sabotaging the investigation, one of them actually drawing a knife on her when exposed. They were pathetic there really, begging to be spared... which is when I lashed out, still unhappy with the developments. Once they told us the 'History department' had paid them to interrupt the work for some prestige thing and thinking of him attack king one of my friends, I punched him, hard. He fell to the floor and soon after Mitsy took the pair away to be dealt with.
Sheryl just nodded to me, I think she understood something was wrong, but BB just looked disappointed in me. I hated that look. Not for what it was but because she looked at me like that. Augustine stepped in before I could say something stupid and told me to get it together, which I guess I have now. Took a week though... I cant let that happen again though, that's not who I want to be.
After that, the rest of our time there went pretty smoothly. Pretty boring if I'm honest. I wasnt in the mood at the time to listen to Hey-you anymore and tha fully none of the scholars were hurt (besides Tai.... I should find him sometime to apologise).
Hoop missed all the excitement with the Harpies, being stuck in my bag. Milo made a carry case for them now though so maybe they will see a bit more from now on. They were happy being shown off by Aurelia in the academy though, and Bones was still showering them with compliments of course.
Today though! I finally managed to do it. Ran clear across the small lake south west of DH. If I could only see Meelkee's face!
