Post by Milo Brightmane on Dec 10, 2018 11:35:54 GMT
What a way to experience this exciting new frontier! What an adventure!
Milo thought of how to begin this diary entry. For months now his writing had been nothing but the minutiae of travel - the rumble of the wagon and the passing scenery on the way to the port, the terrible, yet monotonous, sea journey (how can anyone stand to be tossed about over such endless depths, in not much more than a raft!). But now he was here, in Daring Heights, and immediately he was called upon... he knew how to start.
Immediately I have been called upon to put into action my quest to help and protect the people of Kantas. The local centre of gossip, the Three-Headed Ettin tavern, displayed a notice from the town's guard captain requesting assistance with a confidential matter. Far be it from me to deny my aid to the local law-keepers! Along with a few other new-comers - an eclectic bunch, Milo thought to himself with a wry grin - I visited the Captain of the guard, a Blinky Thundercog. He explained that a young Corporal named Dain had recently gone missing, with no trace as to where or why. The Captain didn’t want the Corporal’s disappearance to affect the morale of the other guards, so had decided to bring in help from outside. Poor young Dain apparently suffered terribly in a prior orc invasion of the town, losing many friends, and had withdrawn into the community of xvart now resident in Daring Heights, for whom he was the Guard liaison. Odd little blue fellows, but friendly enough.
Having listened to Yani, a xvart introduced to us by Captain Thundercog, I began to understand why. They too felt a sense of loss, their god having been killed at the height of the said invasion. Perhaps Dain found in the xvart a whole people who could truly understand him. Or perhaps he just wished to disconnect from the world that had robbed him of so much. Yani told us of a few particular friends Dain had in the xvart community - Lodi, Vod, and Kun - and of how they were usually to be found at the Gilded Mirror, the town's gambling hall.
At our request, Yani showed us to Dain's bunk in the guardhouse barracks. We found there very little, the bed made and tidied, but nothing of interest. The chest at the end of the bed, however, proved more fruitful. Lacking a key we realised that to check it for clues we would have to break in. I attempted to minimise any damage by lightly tapping the lock with my warhammer to dislodge it, but the chest was obviously well crafted and would not give. Clint, an elven member of our group, ranger sort, produced a crowbar and managed to pry the lock away from the chest. Inside were a number of papers, including a message in a language none of us present understood. We presented it to Yani who confirmed that it was written in abyssal, the language of the xvarts. According to Yani the message was from Lodi and Vod to Corporal Dain, and spoke of 'a new beginning' and of their 'next move'. Placing the lock back in place, Moradin granted me the ability to fix the front of the chest through a spell of Mending, and we made our way to the Gilded Mirror.
Asking questions around the lavishly decorated gambling hall proved far more useful than Dain's bunk. A local xvart there enlightened us to the fact that Lodi and Vod had found it particularly difficult to integrate into Daring Heights, and clung desparately to the old ways. They had also been making frequent journeys back to the cave in the mountains in which they had been created, and that Dain would often accompany them. They had also been telling other xvart that they had found a shard of something apparently called the Infinity Spindle. Being new to the area none of us knew the significance of this, but the owner of the Gilded Mirror, a dashing, extravagant chap called Leocanto, was able to explain - the Infinity Spindle was an item of great power which had allowed the xvarts' god, Raxivort, to create them in the first place, and elevate himself as a great demon lord! In the battle in which he was killed the Spindle was broken into shards, and entrusted to three long-standing members of Kantas society. As far as Leocanto knew they still held those shards, and there was not a fourth. Fascinating stuff.[/p]
An examination of Vod and Lodi's dwelling in the slums turned up nothing - entirely nothing. They had cleared out entirely, obviously with the intention of never returning. A thorough search of the house revealed a pit hidden below nailed-down floorboards, which contained only the rotting carcasses of small animals...
Seeing this written out before him now, Milo realised, 'they must have been practising...' Zig, one of the group, a piratical human, had suspected sacrifices from the start, though he seemed the type to always suspect the worst. And of course, it hadn't been Dain that was sacrificed. But still...
At this point it was getting late, so we spent the night in town before making a move for the mountains, a picturesque walk that took us through some beautiful countryside. It was my first time really being able to experience Kantas, and I have to say that despite what we were to find in the cave I am immensely grateful to Moradin for sending me to such a place. It was a peaceful walk too, Pieni, a small druidic aarakokra, flying above us to check for brigands or dangrous wildlife, at one point steering us away from a travelling pack of wolves. The only real encounter we had was at a landmark apparently called the Hugging Rocks, an interesting formation which I'd be fascinated to learn more about at some point. As we passed the Rocks, some of the bushes in the surrounding scrub seemed to tremor and shake. Assuming an ambush, Zig stabbed into the plant, only to be attacked by the bush itself! It seems heavy magic usage in this area had transformed the flora into semi-sentient beings. Rather than waste time attacking plants that were only defending themselves, and indeed had no way of following us, being rooted to the earth, we kept moving towards the cave.
At the entrance to the cave we found a large statue of what appeared to be a xvart, the level of wear on which told me it had been carved no more than four years ago, likely a little less, which lined up with what we had heard so far about Raxivort and that whole saga. On closer inspection, however, I also found that a hole had been bashed out of the statue near the base very recently, the edges still fresh and rough. This revealed a hollow interior. Vodi and Lod had said they had found a shard of the Infinity Spindle - had they found it inside this statue? Further into the cave we could hear the bleating and jostling of animals, goats we learned later, but the more pressing issue was the flickering blue light emanating from the top of a ramp leading up from the side of the cave entrance, and the sounds of voices. Both Pieni and Clint were able to quietly make their way to the top of the ramp to see what was going on. I stayed at the bottom and waited for news - I'm well aware that I'm not the lightest of step! At this point Kula made her way up the ramp with a lantern shining brightly. An elderly woman who, up until this point, had seemed less interested in searching for Corporal Dain and more in asking every person we met if they knew "her Danny", she seemed frail, but had made the eight hour journey to the cave with us without complaint, and seemed unwilling to leave the group. As she rounded the top of the ramp I heard a scuffle and running footsteps, as Clint drew his bow and ran into the space above. I started to make my way up the ramp to lend help, and Zig blew past me, clearly eager for a fight.
At the top of the ramp I saw at least 10 xvart having broken out of a rough circle, as well as a human, stripped to the waist and painted a bright blue to match the xvart, and behind them a crackling, glowing blue rift, through which came a voice. I couldn't understand it, but Kula told us later that it had been promising aid to the xvart, a return to the old ways, and the freeing of Raxivort. We had clearly underestimated this old woman, as I saw her make the movements of a Sleep spell, and two of the xvart collapsed where they stood. Clint loosed a number of arrows at the xvart who were advancing on us with clubs and blades. Behind them stood another xvart, dressed in a red cloak who, as we watched, vanished entirely from sight, invisible. Zig launched into the fray, lightning energy crackling around him, cutting down a number of xvart. I was able to cast some spells of protection on both Kula and Zig - the most frail and the most exposed of the group, respectively - before taking out one xvart myself with my warhammer. Before us the rift closed slowly, the ritual broken, but not before a great tentacle reached out from the place on the other side, a watery landscape, thrashing out at us, before retreating. Between us we were able to dispatch the attacking xvart and knock Dain unconscious, for indeed he was the painted human. I would have preferred this search to have ended without such violence, but the xvart had a look of madness in their eyes, and there was no reasoning with them. The rift closed entirely, the ritual a failure.
We were able to return Dain to Captain Thundercog, raving as he was about freeing Raxivort and returning to the old ways. I understand that he is going to be kept in seclusion until he is returned to himself, if that ever happens. A sad end to a sad life. Having collected our reward for returning Corporal Dain, the group and I went our separate ways, though I have no doubt I will see them again.
Milo laid down his quill and closed his journal. Thinking back on the events of the past few days he worried now about the xvart in the red cloak, the one who had disappeared. After the battle they had searched for it, but found only a trail of footsteps leading away to the dust of the landscape outside, bloody from the stream running down from a pile of sacrificed goats. Yani had told them that xvart magic was due to their connection to Raxivort, and now that he was dead xvart have no magic. And yet this one had been able to lead a ritual powerful enough to open a rift between worlds. And now it was out there, likely with a shard from an incredibly powerful magic item.
"Thank you, Soul Forger, for putting this duty on me. This place will need protecting, and I will do it in your name. Grant me your strength."
