Post by Sparks-In-Shade on Jun 13, 2023 20:44:20 GMT
Written with support from the man, myth & legend Tayz Dale
Sparks-in-Shade sits heavily in the messy half of his shared room in La Cachette Corvidae. His housemate Tayz looks across at him, his face a mask of concern.
“Kul Goran weighs heavily on your heart, my friend.” Tayz’s tall, dignified bearing cast a striking shadow in the morning sun. He turns away from Sparks, in profile he looks for a moment more like a great eagle than a crow.
Sparks, much shorter and scruffier than his friend, looks up and smiles. “You’re good at this, Tayz. I can’t help but feel that something is just getting started over there. Keros, the minotaur seems to think there’s unfinished business.”
“Can you… articulate what concerns you?” Tayz looks out of the window across Daring Heights, quietly confident that his friend will open up at any moment.
Sparks pauses, trying to collect his thoughts. “It was a tough job. Not as tough as old Hollow Spine, but still we really could’ve used you there. Two of our companions were incredibly brave, Rykan and Longwalker. They were newcomers to Fort Ettin. I ended up using your trick of handing out sacred feathers, kept them both alive. They were completely fearless, they’ll do well here.”
Tayz smiled, clearly approving of Sparks helping others. “You’ve learned a lot. I can see it in you. Your connection with Syranita… it deepens, yes? Your goddess is an aspect of the Sun much like mine. She is a sister of Horus.”
“Perhaps. But I feel there’s something holding me back from her. I can’t quite touch it, but I know it’s there, keeping me from where I need to be.” He hesitates, clearly wanting to say more but struggling to find the words.
He shrugs, then looks back at Tayz.
“Anyway, Jarvenhol. It was a tense job. The briefing made it sound like the city was under a full-blown coup with the Optimates Loyalists attempting to seize control. When we got there it turned out the briefing was right.”
”With help from the Kul Gorani War Council and the OMTC we were able to infiltrate without much issue. I was relieved at how seriously they were taking the job: their council comprised some of the most senior members of the Kul Gorani government. Senators Rhodes and Warborn, General Razorback, and Archmage Moorwing were all present, along with Ambassador Veluss.
An air genasi captain called Leena Breeze-on-the-Water led a strike force on one of their gate towers as a diversion, and we disguised ourselves to move through the streets past guards and checkpoints.”
”We discovered that Jarvenhol has this vast labyrinth laid out beneath it: they called it the The Cathedral of the Vanguard. Keros was visibly unsettled by being there, although he was confident navigating the maze as his people often are. Sorrel was on high alert with her bow, keeping watch for threats. But the place was empty, much like the streets on lockdown above. That is, until we reached the ritual chamber.“
”Seems like the Cathedral was used as a ritual summoning focus during the Avernus Wars. And the Optimates were trying something on a similar grand scale. But instead of conjuration, I sensed a powerful enchantment, perhaps some variant on an old spell I remember called Swords to Plowshares.”
“Antonia Warborn herself was there. I’d heard talk of her in the Fort Ettin great hall, but to see her in the flesh was something else. She’s huge — bigger even than Keros — but she fled as soon as we arrived.”
“Their ritual was complex: concentric wards that kept us away from the caster at the centre. Kyra Stuurm, a blue-furred aerotaur is the leader of the Optimates party. Well, was. She was killed before the ritual could be completed, but it was a close fought thing.”
“Perhaps most worryingly, it appears that the Minotaurs of Kul Goran are only starting to build a picture of their true origins. We uncovered evidence that the presence of their very civilisation here in Kantas is as pawns in the Blood War between the Hells and Abyss. There must be millions of minotaurs in Kul Goran. If the instigator of this plot is able to deploy them as army I fear for any force that stands in their way.”
Tayz frowns “I see. That is worrying news, my friend. Let us keep our wits about us. I share your concerns that we have not seen the last of these threats from Joran.” He stands up and walks across to their hearth, placing a kettle on the fire to boil.
“I shall make birdseed tea for us, and then I must pray. Thank you for sharing your story, Sparks-in-Shade.”
Sparks-in-Shade sits heavily in the messy half of his shared room in La Cachette Corvidae. His housemate Tayz looks across at him, his face a mask of concern.
“Kul Goran weighs heavily on your heart, my friend.” Tayz’s tall, dignified bearing cast a striking shadow in the morning sun. He turns away from Sparks, in profile he looks for a moment more like a great eagle than a crow.
Sparks, much shorter and scruffier than his friend, looks up and smiles. “You’re good at this, Tayz. I can’t help but feel that something is just getting started over there. Keros, the minotaur seems to think there’s unfinished business.”
“Can you… articulate what concerns you?” Tayz looks out of the window across Daring Heights, quietly confident that his friend will open up at any moment.
Sparks pauses, trying to collect his thoughts. “It was a tough job. Not as tough as old Hollow Spine, but still we really could’ve used you there. Two of our companions were incredibly brave, Rykan and Longwalker. They were newcomers to Fort Ettin. I ended up using your trick of handing out sacred feathers, kept them both alive. They were completely fearless, they’ll do well here.”
Tayz smiled, clearly approving of Sparks helping others. “You’ve learned a lot. I can see it in you. Your connection with Syranita… it deepens, yes? Your goddess is an aspect of the Sun much like mine. She is a sister of Horus.”
“Perhaps. But I feel there’s something holding me back from her. I can’t quite touch it, but I know it’s there, keeping me from where I need to be.” He hesitates, clearly wanting to say more but struggling to find the words.
He shrugs, then looks back at Tayz.
“Anyway, Jarvenhol. It was a tense job. The briefing made it sound like the city was under a full-blown coup with the Optimates Loyalists attempting to seize control. When we got there it turned out the briefing was right.”
”With help from the Kul Gorani War Council and the OMTC we were able to infiltrate without much issue. I was relieved at how seriously they were taking the job: their council comprised some of the most senior members of the Kul Gorani government. Senators Rhodes and Warborn, General Razorback, and Archmage Moorwing were all present, along with Ambassador Veluss.
An air genasi captain called Leena Breeze-on-the-Water led a strike force on one of their gate towers as a diversion, and we disguised ourselves to move through the streets past guards and checkpoints.”
”We discovered that Jarvenhol has this vast labyrinth laid out beneath it: they called it the The Cathedral of the Vanguard. Keros was visibly unsettled by being there, although he was confident navigating the maze as his people often are. Sorrel was on high alert with her bow, keeping watch for threats. But the place was empty, much like the streets on lockdown above. That is, until we reached the ritual chamber.“
”Seems like the Cathedral was used as a ritual summoning focus during the Avernus Wars. And the Optimates were trying something on a similar grand scale. But instead of conjuration, I sensed a powerful enchantment, perhaps some variant on an old spell I remember called Swords to Plowshares.”
“Antonia Warborn herself was there. I’d heard talk of her in the Fort Ettin great hall, but to see her in the flesh was something else. She’s huge — bigger even than Keros — but she fled as soon as we arrived.”
“Their ritual was complex: concentric wards that kept us away from the caster at the centre. Kyra Stuurm, a blue-furred aerotaur is the leader of the Optimates party. Well, was. She was killed before the ritual could be completed, but it was a close fought thing.”
“Perhaps most worryingly, it appears that the Minotaurs of Kul Goran are only starting to build a picture of their true origins. We uncovered evidence that the presence of their very civilisation here in Kantas is as pawns in the Blood War between the Hells and Abyss. There must be millions of minotaurs in Kul Goran. If the instigator of this plot is able to deploy them as army I fear for any force that stands in their way.”
Tayz frowns “I see. That is worrying news, my friend. Let us keep our wits about us. I share your concerns that we have not seen the last of these threats from Joran.” He stands up and walks across to their hearth, placing a kettle on the fire to boil.
“I shall make birdseed tea for us, and then I must pray. Thank you for sharing your story, Sparks-in-Shade.”
