Post by Markas Virnala on Jun 26, 2019 14:00:33 GMT
"Requiem"
11th entry in the Journal of Markas Virnala
We just got back from Helping Paw out with that job she was looking for help for. I've come to really like Paw, especially after training with her for a while so I was eager to help her out but I'm really glad she pulled together a strong team for this one…
She rounded us up in the Seashank to a spread of Raw fish as is expected of Paw. Most gave the fish a wide berth but after living it on it for a week with her in training, I've actually gotten used to it now. This was a collection of faces I am familiar with again: Bogg (Sans Baine, which is surprising),Binead the Bei GINEAD the Green, Ghesh with his smart looking hat, Rama (Now decidedly less combative since the game with the Displacer Kitten) and, of course, Paw.
There was a little messing around while we talked, I think Rama was using his Cat to try and play tricks on Gin but eventually Paw got the outline of what she needed us for across. She has some kind of arrangement with Karlessa (the timid woman who owns the blue soul arcanum) to collect some artefacts, in exchange for some important information Paw is after. I'm not sure what Paw's end game is and when I asked she seemed… cautious about telling too much. I trust Paw though so I'm happy to help without knowing any more of what drives her in this.
We head over to the BSA and meet with Karlessa, a fair skinned woman who keeps herself covered with a green cloak covering her face. I think I get why she did now of course but I don't think she needs to… Everyone looks a little different here and I thought she actually quite pretty . But that’s not the point… She seemed a little awkward, like she isn't used to having guests and was a bit lost in thought at times but she seemed nice otherwise. She asked if Paw trusted all of us to help which she of course said she did (though she did give an odd glance to Rama when she said this).
The Artefacts she was collecting, that Paw was helping her with (and now us by proxy), where apparently supposed to be part a weapon used by a Hero called Ulkrieg(?) who was once tricked by a dragon and cursed. This weapon was supposedly the one he used to slay the dragon and break the curse. While there was a little bit of discussion between us about maybe this thing was broken apart for a reason, we also couldn't really argue with Karlessa's point that maybe the wrong people wanted it broken apart? Either way, We're committed now so I guess it doesn't matter, we will just deal with problem when it comes…. Gin did have some theory about the whole thing I couldn't keep up with. He is a funny guy but sometimes he's ideas just lose me.
Karlessa has been looking for a while for the parts of this artefact and so far has 3x parts, the one Paw has, plus two others, a gold cone shaped thing that let the user cast some magic spells, and a type of ring with bladed wings on it that helped bolster the user somehow. Karlessa loaned them to us to use during this quest but I declined to take one myself, neither seemed my kind of thing, especially the gold thing. Apparently it let you cast a spell that held a person in place and I've been on the wrong end of that enough already. We got a run-down of where these were found as well, each in different directions from Port Ffirst, one of them was actually that story Baine and me were talking about before where a Dragonborn was eaten by a Dragon! That adventure was to collect one of these artefacts!
As for WHERE we could find this last one…. Karlessa had no idea where to look.
The only thing she could suggest was we seek out some guy who goes by the Name "Traverse Master" in the Feywild. He could be (AND WAS) tricky and might need convincing to help us. I made a point of asking if she knew anything else about what he might want to help us. Dealings with The Fey are usually a little odd and I'd already given up my hair colour but she didn’t know anything else. She only suggested we say she had sent us as he is likely to have heard of her and a good place to start would be near the old Witch-Hut in the Feywild
(The Witch-hut turned out to be the place that Granny Longtooth setup. The Hag that Rholor helped deal with before that led to his nomination for Ascendancy!)
So we set out for the Feywild again, back through the same 'portal-tree' we've been through before. Paw and me still had the maps the small metal creatures gave us during our first trip to the Arena for the games so we had an idea where we were going, towards the site of the huge battle that took place there… and it was vast. It took nearly 2 days to reach. In contrast to what the Fey is normally like, this place was…. Broken. We reached the edge of a forest that was just ruined but on such a base level. The trees were black and twisted in grotesque forms and large swamp like areas. Aside from the huge battle that took place here, it had clearly been twisted and deformed by the Hags malice and dark magic. It did look as though it was beginning to maybe recover though, as in odd spots we could see some plants starting to sprout up. Still, it was a very eerie place.
It was a little while after walking into this area that we spotted Gin off talking to a bat. At least, I hope he was… all we could see was him kind of screeching and clicking at it. I guess he must have though as it seemed to be doing the same back. Right up until it just flew off suddenly…. We waited a little while, growing more and more sceptical of Gin's ability to speak to bat's but, to his credit, it came back! Cue more clicking from Gin then it flies off again and he shouts at us to follow it through the swamp! His ability seems to be time limited though, as when we finally reached this murky looking lake it stopped and starting squeaking at him again but he seemed lost now. Then suddenly he pulls out his sword and we think he is going to kill it! Thankfully he just knighted it instead, calling it Ser Batsalot. I don't think the bat got what was going on but seemed to go along anyway.
We start wading our way through this lake towards an island in the centre. It wasn’t too deep so most of us where fine but Bogg was riding on Ghesh's shoulders. The weird thing was, as we moved, there seemed to be a lot of crows around. Like, A LOT. The closer we got they just seemed to be everywhere, hundreds of them. Sitting on broken half-submerged trees, small little islands in the murky water and all over that island… It was very creepy. That is until we finally reached the island and a huge spectral crow flies up out of the water and lands in front of us.
The Giant crow I think was a collection of the animals that had been killed here. They were a little reserved in what they wanted to share with us and seemed distrusting. They spoke of the travesty that happened here and all the creatures that died as a result. But it also added it just needed time to recover… Paw seemed to be making some progress in talking to them but it was Gin that got us the info we needed. The crow could sense the Faith Gin has and spoke to him about his Oath of protection, to protect nature. After they had a little chat, the Crow gave us what we needed, directions to where we could find this Traverse master… A 3hr walk from the island, but he warned us not to be fooled or distracted by what we saw along the way, the road would lead us to him if we stuck to it. With that, the Giant Crow dispersed into smoke and the hundreds of crows around us started to disperse, leaving us alone on the murky island.
The walk wasn't a hard one from here. The swampy waters eventually gave way to solid ground and the ruined trees became more spacious, but we did start seeing more and more dead animals around, with vultures picking at their remains. This truly was a tragic place. Soon, we started seeing spikes stuck in the ground with animals hanging from them… Someone was clearly trying to make a point with a display like that, but Paw kept us on track still, until we eventually found the road led to a cave opening that was pitch black inside, the opening of which was surrounded with more of those spikes, now with humanoid creatures heads hanging from them as well.
None of really trusted it but Bogg managed to find a dart trap built into the cave mouth and disarmed it so we could pass safely, into total darkness. I've never had an issue seeing in the dark but this was different. As we pressed on, we could start to hear a faint music until we suddenly walked out of the darkness into …. Well, into a Room a little like Hoops!
The cave had been turned into a kind of lounge, with chairs and a bar, shelves with drinks and oddities scattered around and from a strange metal instrument that was floating in the air, a constant music was playing. Bottles and glasses moved on their own pouring drinks, a roaring fire seemed to be stoking itself heating the room…. And then a voice spoke out from seemingly everywhere.
The Traverse Master was…. Insane.
He spoke to us a little until Bogg finally asked where he was and he appeared in a puff of smoke, a Goblin wearing very fine clothing. He was as eccentric as this room in a cave was! The spikes he put up to scare people off but was surprised we wasn’t put off, then he kept going on about how nice the room was. Bogg asked if he gets lonely and he said he does…. Until he wakes up! I mentioned Karlessa sent us like she suggested and he seemed to listen a little more but everything he said was still heavily laced with Sarcasm.
This was possibly one of the most stressful conversations I've had but looking back on it, it really was quite amusing. He mimicked Paw when she asked question, said he didn’t mind answering our questions, then pointed out he never said he *would* answer them! He was always trying to get information from us without giving anything back. Rama used his magic to talk with people in their minds which the Goblin seemed to pick up on and point out… When Rama spoke to him in the same way, he just blurted out everything Rama said, then admitted he had no idea what it was since it wasn’t in common! Paw warned us to stop telling him the truth so we started to try to bargain with him. This only led to him offering to pay us to leave instead, going so high as 10000Gold!
Gin (Pretending to Bin now) challenged him, saying he couldn’t help us and asked him to prove it by summoning a Djinni who could grant us wishes. Trav seemed riled up by this and brought out a whistle, blew on it and SUMMONED A DJINNI!!!! We tried speaking to the Djinni who was just annoyed that he was there for no reason before Trav whistled again and he disappeared back into the whistle. We pointed out that the Djinni didn’t grant us any wishes and he simply replied he never said it would! This guy was a handful.
Seeing we weren't getting anyway I decided to try a different tactic and offer an exchange. He was quick to point out we had nothing he wanted but that's not what I had in mind. I put it to him that if he helps us, we in turn won't tell anyone where to find him since he likes to be alone.
He didn’t seem to like the idea of moving again but still wouldn’t help us (I guess I'm not the most convincing person…). He did finally agree to *send* us to where we needed to go though, with no details of where it was or what we should expect. He opened a portal before us and gestured for us to go through, saying it would not be open long. I don't think any of us really trusted him but this was the most we had managed to get from him so we had little choice, so through we went.
It's funny. The amount of time I spent on the road and I didn’t see nearly as many places as I have since I actually decided to stay in one place. We stepped out into an arid and desolate place with nothing but dry cracked Grey earth spanning off into the horizon. The sky was blotted out by rolling thunder clouds and the air itself almost held a tangible kind of despair. The Shadow fell.
The portal closed and there we were, with no idea of how we can get back. Gin was adamant we would through one miracle or another, either find a way back, go back the way we came or something else would happen to take us home but it all seemed too optimistic. To his credit though, he was right….
The only feature around us was a single hill a little way off with what looked like ruins on, so naturally that was where we headed off too. It wasn't until we were more or less there though that we realised it was some kind of ruined temple and the slopes around it where dotted with Graves and Mausoleums. The whole place had a very creepy feeling, not helped by Gin saying he could sense a strong aura of "undeath" all around us… hundreds of undead sources all around us. The mausoleums held nothing but tombs and the feeling of being surrounded that Gin was relaying to us was only getting stronger as we approached the ruins of the temple.
As we approached we could start to see what was on the raised area of the ruins. A single set of stairs led up to a flat level where 4x large sarcophagi fanned out around a central raised area, atop which was a huge swirling ball of blue and black energy, writhing around on itself. It was as Paw first set foot on the step that it began.
The graves around us started bursting and climbing out were the bodies of the dead, all shapes and sizes, bearing weapons and torn rags. Hands just erupting everywhere, bodies stumbling form the mausoleums we opened… and then they charged us. A wall of unrelenting death.
We didn’t have long to form a plan, Paw suggested we head on up, given there was no going back now. I suggested we form a bottle neck on the stairs to hold the hoard back and prevent getting surrounded. We decided Paw should press on and find the item she is looking for while we hold them off. All except Rama who decided to throw some fire and go charging head on in, but he soon saw the folly in this and retreated back to our makeshift line. As we ran up and Paw, quick as lightning, covers the ground to the ball of energy at the back, the 4x Sarcophagi also erupted, revealing 4 larger spirits control undead bodies, 2x in armour, 2 slightly smaller. Bogg fired off some fire as he sprinted up the stairs while I fired off 2x shots at one of the larger wraiths just as Gin rushed one closest to us on the platform.
And just like that, the hoard had reached the stairs, spilling over each other as they chase us down. Ghesh, in some feral rage like I've not seen plants himself on the stairs and starts launching javelins out into the hoard, piercing straight through the approaching numbers and taking 4 or 5 with each one. As I turned back to the wraiths, I saw them begin bearing down on Paw as she plunged her hand into the ball of energy and pull out a HUGE hammer from inside it, but it looked like it pained her as she did. Seeing the wraiths approaching she bolted past the ball and just dropped out of site, over a cliff edge we couldn’t see. I fired off 2x more shots before drawing my sword and returning to the approaching hoard, leaving Gin and Bogg to tackle the Wraiths.
As I reached the stairs, Rama had returned and was brandishing his flaming sword, while Ghesh seemed to have run out of Javelins and, having already melted a large number with his acidic dragon breath, was meeting the front line with his Morningstar, taking out large swathes of them with each swing, I tried to help by filling the gaps and cutting through the skeletons in front of me but there was just too many. I managed to defend myself well and block most of the incoming attacks but sheer numbers was making it impossible and I was quickly being surrounded while dozens of blades made it past my defence cutting me to ribbons. I pulled back dashing past Ghesh before I could be overrun. For his part, Ghesh was now knee deep in broken bones and dust and he just continued to decimate anything in front of him, barely any of them getting through his relentless attacks. As I crossed the top of the stairs, fumbling through by pack for the Health potion I've had all this time, I spotted Gin standing on one the large coffins, hacking into one of the wraiths with this divine light that just cleaved through its chest and ignited the thing into flames, as the others had already turned and were making their way back to us, thinking Paw was gone, who had now actually climbed back over the edge and was at the ball of energy again, elbow deep in the swirling energy, now with a huge ruby on the floor next to her.
The scene was complete chaos. As I came around the tomb Gin was on, heading back round to help tackle the wraiths, I managed to get a look at everyone's positions. Ghesh was an unmoving wall of destruction. He had barely moved since reaching the stairs and the hoard had barely scratched him. Before him was just countless broken bodies. As the hoard continued pouring forward, climbing over the ruined corpses, he just continually held them back. Rama was also starting to take beating like I had and had pulled back, allowing the hoard to start making some headway up the stairs. He had turned to try and head off the other wraiths bearing down on us. Gin was tackling the wraiths head on, deflecting their attacks with ease, even while the very presence of them seemed to be freezing the air around him, causing visible frost to build up over his body. Nonetheless, his ceaseless attacks, filled with a divine light was butchering the larger wraiths. Bogg was being classic Bogg, appearing from the shadows to strike then vanishing again from site. The artefact Karlessa had given him had proved to work, freezing one of the smaller wraiths in place. While Paw began swinging her staff at the Ball of energy trying to disperse it, while the ball itself seemed to retaliate and lash out at her.
A loud crash resonates around us as, in a blinding flash, Karlessa appears from a bolt of lightning. I don't know how she found us but it was a good thing she did. The hood that once hid her face had now fallen and we could see half her face was covered in blue dragon scales.
As I ran towards the centre to join the fray, Gin cut down his second Wraiths, splitting it literally in two, then dashed over to help Rama face off against the last armoured one. Bogg was still handling the smaller frozen wraith and Ghesh had finally moved, now into the centre of the stairs, the only thing between us and the hoard AND STILL none could get past him! Karlessa then unleashes an immense blast of lightning aimed straight for the hoard and completely obliterates a large line straight through them all. Paw and me reached the last armoured wraith to join Gin and Rama as we each focus our attacks to take it down. Rama, who had first taken a beating from the Hoard and now from this was cut down but Gin was there in seconds with healing hands picking him back up, just in time for Rama to deliver the final blow on the wraith, dispersing it in flames and dust. We turned to see Bogg finish of the wraith he had been attacking, breaking its spine out from behind it with his rapier and Ghesh, amid a mountain of bones, blades and dust, swing his morning star one last time, decimating the last few skeletons.
And then…. There was silence.
The battle was unlike anything I have ever experienced and now it was over, the silence of the place was almost deafening. The ball of energy at the back of the temple, as the last skeletons fell, faded into nothing and a host of objects it contained fell to the ground around. We collected them up and divided out our rewards, Paw taking ownership of a spear tip that was included in the items, clearly the artefact we were after. We took a little time to organise ourselves then, true to Gin's prediction, Karlessa opened a portal taking us all home.
Paw's arms where covered in strange wounds where she had persistently attacking that ball of energy at the back but knowing how strong she is, I'm not sure any of us would've been able to make as much progress against it as she had. I'm not sure if this last artefact is the end of whatever it is she has been working on though so I think once the Games are over, I will try to spend more time with her, see if I can help. I could always use the training anyway. If nothing else, this trip has taught me I can still be much stronger than I currently am.
Ghesh, the black Dragonborn, was now almost completely white, covered totally in bone dust from the HUNDREDS of undead he had completely annihilated. I knew he was strong but he is actually terrifying to see in action. I'm glad to count him among my friends here. Even Baine would've been blown away with what he did today.
Rama and me had been developing a bit of a rivalry in the pit fights at Port Ffirst, but I feel like we actually bonded a bit on this trip. Aside from both nearly being overrun by a hoard of undead, Rama offered to give me some hair dye for my hair if I wanted it to be Brown again but I declined. I chose this so I'm happy to stick with it. Plus, I think people like. Karlessa said she liked when we met the first time as she got all shy… Then again so did Gin… THEN AGAIN he also said I should just cut it all off?
I actually really like Ginead. He was amazing in the fight, holding off 2x of the wraiths on his own! He has a good soul but he's also really funny to be around and it never lets up. Even when he was lifting Rama off the ground with a Wraith bearing down over them, I heard him STILL making sarcastic comments about Rama charging into a hoard head first!
It was strange spending time with Bogg without Baine for a change but I was happy he was there. He still reminds me of Hugo and I find it comforting in a way, even when he's complaining about Baine spending too much time with Frankie! I feel he was a little out of his comfort zone with this one…. He's normally used to working from the shadows but for much of that last fight, he was facing one of the wraiths alone. I don't imagine it was an easy fight for him.
I've had some time to slow down now and gather my thoughts and…. I'm starting to question what I'm doing here now. Paw also seems so calm and collected in herself, and Gin has his Oath he lives by. People seem to have these overbearing goals that guide them in their lives but I only came here to see what was here…. And now I'm here and things are happening but what am I doing all this for?
11th entry in the Journal of Markas Virnala
We just got back from Helping Paw out with that job she was looking for help for. I've come to really like Paw, especially after training with her for a while so I was eager to help her out but I'm really glad she pulled together a strong team for this one…
She rounded us up in the Seashank to a spread of Raw fish as is expected of Paw. Most gave the fish a wide berth but after living it on it for a week with her in training, I've actually gotten used to it now. This was a collection of faces I am familiar with again: Bogg (Sans Baine, which is surprising),
There was a little messing around while we talked, I think Rama was using his Cat to try and play tricks on Gin but eventually Paw got the outline of what she needed us for across. She has some kind of arrangement with Karlessa (the timid woman who owns the blue soul arcanum) to collect some artefacts, in exchange for some important information Paw is after. I'm not sure what Paw's end game is and when I asked she seemed… cautious about telling too much. I trust Paw though so I'm happy to help without knowing any more of what drives her in this.
We head over to the BSA and meet with Karlessa, a fair skinned woman who keeps herself covered with a green cloak covering her face. I think I get why she did now of course but I don't think she needs to… Everyone looks a little different here and I thought she actually quite pretty . But that’s not the point… She seemed a little awkward, like she isn't used to having guests and was a bit lost in thought at times but she seemed nice otherwise. She asked if Paw trusted all of us to help which she of course said she did (though she did give an odd glance to Rama when she said this).
The Artefacts she was collecting, that Paw was helping her with (and now us by proxy), where apparently supposed to be part a weapon used by a Hero called Ulkrieg(?) who was once tricked by a dragon and cursed. This weapon was supposedly the one he used to slay the dragon and break the curse. While there was a little bit of discussion between us about maybe this thing was broken apart for a reason, we also couldn't really argue with Karlessa's point that maybe the wrong people wanted it broken apart? Either way, We're committed now so I guess it doesn't matter, we will just deal with problem when it comes…. Gin did have some theory about the whole thing I couldn't keep up with. He is a funny guy but sometimes he's ideas just lose me.
Karlessa has been looking for a while for the parts of this artefact and so far has 3x parts, the one Paw has, plus two others, a gold cone shaped thing that let the user cast some magic spells, and a type of ring with bladed wings on it that helped bolster the user somehow. Karlessa loaned them to us to use during this quest but I declined to take one myself, neither seemed my kind of thing, especially the gold thing. Apparently it let you cast a spell that held a person in place and I've been on the wrong end of that enough already. We got a run-down of where these were found as well, each in different directions from Port Ffirst, one of them was actually that story Baine and me were talking about before where a Dragonborn was eaten by a Dragon! That adventure was to collect one of these artefacts!
As for WHERE we could find this last one…. Karlessa had no idea where to look.
The only thing she could suggest was we seek out some guy who goes by the Name "Traverse Master" in the Feywild. He could be (AND WAS) tricky and might need convincing to help us. I made a point of asking if she knew anything else about what he might want to help us. Dealings with The Fey are usually a little odd and I'd already given up my hair colour but she didn’t know anything else. She only suggested we say she had sent us as he is likely to have heard of her and a good place to start would be near the old Witch-Hut in the Feywild
(The Witch-hut turned out to be the place that Granny Longtooth setup. The Hag that Rholor helped deal with before that led to his nomination for Ascendancy!)
So we set out for the Feywild again, back through the same 'portal-tree' we've been through before. Paw and me still had the maps the small metal creatures gave us during our first trip to the Arena for the games so we had an idea where we were going, towards the site of the huge battle that took place there… and it was vast. It took nearly 2 days to reach. In contrast to what the Fey is normally like, this place was…. Broken. We reached the edge of a forest that was just ruined but on such a base level. The trees were black and twisted in grotesque forms and large swamp like areas. Aside from the huge battle that took place here, it had clearly been twisted and deformed by the Hags malice and dark magic. It did look as though it was beginning to maybe recover though, as in odd spots we could see some plants starting to sprout up. Still, it was a very eerie place.
It was a little while after walking into this area that we spotted Gin off talking to a bat. At least, I hope he was… all we could see was him kind of screeching and clicking at it. I guess he must have though as it seemed to be doing the same back. Right up until it just flew off suddenly…. We waited a little while, growing more and more sceptical of Gin's ability to speak to bat's but, to his credit, it came back! Cue more clicking from Gin then it flies off again and he shouts at us to follow it through the swamp! His ability seems to be time limited though, as when we finally reached this murky looking lake it stopped and starting squeaking at him again but he seemed lost now. Then suddenly he pulls out his sword and we think he is going to kill it! Thankfully he just knighted it instead, calling it Ser Batsalot. I don't think the bat got what was going on but seemed to go along anyway.
We start wading our way through this lake towards an island in the centre. It wasn’t too deep so most of us where fine but Bogg was riding on Ghesh's shoulders. The weird thing was, as we moved, there seemed to be a lot of crows around. Like, A LOT. The closer we got they just seemed to be everywhere, hundreds of them. Sitting on broken half-submerged trees, small little islands in the murky water and all over that island… It was very creepy. That is until we finally reached the island and a huge spectral crow flies up out of the water and lands in front of us.
The Giant crow I think was a collection of the animals that had been killed here. They were a little reserved in what they wanted to share with us and seemed distrusting. They spoke of the travesty that happened here and all the creatures that died as a result. But it also added it just needed time to recover… Paw seemed to be making some progress in talking to them but it was Gin that got us the info we needed. The crow could sense the Faith Gin has and spoke to him about his Oath of protection, to protect nature. After they had a little chat, the Crow gave us what we needed, directions to where we could find this Traverse master… A 3hr walk from the island, but he warned us not to be fooled or distracted by what we saw along the way, the road would lead us to him if we stuck to it. With that, the Giant Crow dispersed into smoke and the hundreds of crows around us started to disperse, leaving us alone on the murky island.
The walk wasn't a hard one from here. The swampy waters eventually gave way to solid ground and the ruined trees became more spacious, but we did start seeing more and more dead animals around, with vultures picking at their remains. This truly was a tragic place. Soon, we started seeing spikes stuck in the ground with animals hanging from them… Someone was clearly trying to make a point with a display like that, but Paw kept us on track still, until we eventually found the road led to a cave opening that was pitch black inside, the opening of which was surrounded with more of those spikes, now with humanoid creatures heads hanging from them as well.
None of really trusted it but Bogg managed to find a dart trap built into the cave mouth and disarmed it so we could pass safely, into total darkness. I've never had an issue seeing in the dark but this was different. As we pressed on, we could start to hear a faint music until we suddenly walked out of the darkness into …. Well, into a Room a little like Hoops!
The cave had been turned into a kind of lounge, with chairs and a bar, shelves with drinks and oddities scattered around and from a strange metal instrument that was floating in the air, a constant music was playing. Bottles and glasses moved on their own pouring drinks, a roaring fire seemed to be stoking itself heating the room…. And then a voice spoke out from seemingly everywhere.
The Traverse Master was…. Insane.
He spoke to us a little until Bogg finally asked where he was and he appeared in a puff of smoke, a Goblin wearing very fine clothing. He was as eccentric as this room in a cave was! The spikes he put up to scare people off but was surprised we wasn’t put off, then he kept going on about how nice the room was. Bogg asked if he gets lonely and he said he does…. Until he wakes up! I mentioned Karlessa sent us like she suggested and he seemed to listen a little more but everything he said was still heavily laced with Sarcasm.
This was possibly one of the most stressful conversations I've had but looking back on it, it really was quite amusing. He mimicked Paw when she asked question, said he didn’t mind answering our questions, then pointed out he never said he *would* answer them! He was always trying to get information from us without giving anything back. Rama used his magic to talk with people in their minds which the Goblin seemed to pick up on and point out… When Rama spoke to him in the same way, he just blurted out everything Rama said, then admitted he had no idea what it was since it wasn’t in common! Paw warned us to stop telling him the truth so we started to try to bargain with him. This only led to him offering to pay us to leave instead, going so high as 10000Gold!
Gin (Pretending to Bin now) challenged him, saying he couldn’t help us and asked him to prove it by summoning a Djinni who could grant us wishes. Trav seemed riled up by this and brought out a whistle, blew on it and SUMMONED A DJINNI!!!! We tried speaking to the Djinni who was just annoyed that he was there for no reason before Trav whistled again and he disappeared back into the whistle. We pointed out that the Djinni didn’t grant us any wishes and he simply replied he never said it would! This guy was a handful.
Seeing we weren't getting anyway I decided to try a different tactic and offer an exchange. He was quick to point out we had nothing he wanted but that's not what I had in mind. I put it to him that if he helps us, we in turn won't tell anyone where to find him since he likes to be alone.
He didn’t seem to like the idea of moving again but still wouldn’t help us (I guess I'm not the most convincing person…). He did finally agree to *send* us to where we needed to go though, with no details of where it was or what we should expect. He opened a portal before us and gestured for us to go through, saying it would not be open long. I don't think any of us really trusted him but this was the most we had managed to get from him so we had little choice, so through we went.
It's funny. The amount of time I spent on the road and I didn’t see nearly as many places as I have since I actually decided to stay in one place. We stepped out into an arid and desolate place with nothing but dry cracked Grey earth spanning off into the horizon. The sky was blotted out by rolling thunder clouds and the air itself almost held a tangible kind of despair. The Shadow fell.
The portal closed and there we were, with no idea of how we can get back. Gin was adamant we would through one miracle or another, either find a way back, go back the way we came or something else would happen to take us home but it all seemed too optimistic. To his credit though, he was right….
The only feature around us was a single hill a little way off with what looked like ruins on, so naturally that was where we headed off too. It wasn't until we were more or less there though that we realised it was some kind of ruined temple and the slopes around it where dotted with Graves and Mausoleums. The whole place had a very creepy feeling, not helped by Gin saying he could sense a strong aura of "undeath" all around us… hundreds of undead sources all around us. The mausoleums held nothing but tombs and the feeling of being surrounded that Gin was relaying to us was only getting stronger as we approached the ruins of the temple.
As we approached we could start to see what was on the raised area of the ruins. A single set of stairs led up to a flat level where 4x large sarcophagi fanned out around a central raised area, atop which was a huge swirling ball of blue and black energy, writhing around on itself. It was as Paw first set foot on the step that it began.
The graves around us started bursting and climbing out were the bodies of the dead, all shapes and sizes, bearing weapons and torn rags. Hands just erupting everywhere, bodies stumbling form the mausoleums we opened… and then they charged us. A wall of unrelenting death.
We didn’t have long to form a plan, Paw suggested we head on up, given there was no going back now. I suggested we form a bottle neck on the stairs to hold the hoard back and prevent getting surrounded. We decided Paw should press on and find the item she is looking for while we hold them off. All except Rama who decided to throw some fire and go charging head on in, but he soon saw the folly in this and retreated back to our makeshift line. As we ran up and Paw, quick as lightning, covers the ground to the ball of energy at the back, the 4x Sarcophagi also erupted, revealing 4 larger spirits control undead bodies, 2x in armour, 2 slightly smaller. Bogg fired off some fire as he sprinted up the stairs while I fired off 2x shots at one of the larger wraiths just as Gin rushed one closest to us on the platform.
And just like that, the hoard had reached the stairs, spilling over each other as they chase us down. Ghesh, in some feral rage like I've not seen plants himself on the stairs and starts launching javelins out into the hoard, piercing straight through the approaching numbers and taking 4 or 5 with each one. As I turned back to the wraiths, I saw them begin bearing down on Paw as she plunged her hand into the ball of energy and pull out a HUGE hammer from inside it, but it looked like it pained her as she did. Seeing the wraiths approaching she bolted past the ball and just dropped out of site, over a cliff edge we couldn’t see. I fired off 2x more shots before drawing my sword and returning to the approaching hoard, leaving Gin and Bogg to tackle the Wraiths.
As I reached the stairs, Rama had returned and was brandishing his flaming sword, while Ghesh seemed to have run out of Javelins and, having already melted a large number with his acidic dragon breath, was meeting the front line with his Morningstar, taking out large swathes of them with each swing, I tried to help by filling the gaps and cutting through the skeletons in front of me but there was just too many. I managed to defend myself well and block most of the incoming attacks but sheer numbers was making it impossible and I was quickly being surrounded while dozens of blades made it past my defence cutting me to ribbons. I pulled back dashing past Ghesh before I could be overrun. For his part, Ghesh was now knee deep in broken bones and dust and he just continued to decimate anything in front of him, barely any of them getting through his relentless attacks. As I crossed the top of the stairs, fumbling through by pack for the Health potion I've had all this time, I spotted Gin standing on one the large coffins, hacking into one of the wraiths with this divine light that just cleaved through its chest and ignited the thing into flames, as the others had already turned and were making their way back to us, thinking Paw was gone, who had now actually climbed back over the edge and was at the ball of energy again, elbow deep in the swirling energy, now with a huge ruby on the floor next to her.
The scene was complete chaos. As I came around the tomb Gin was on, heading back round to help tackle the wraiths, I managed to get a look at everyone's positions. Ghesh was an unmoving wall of destruction. He had barely moved since reaching the stairs and the hoard had barely scratched him. Before him was just countless broken bodies. As the hoard continued pouring forward, climbing over the ruined corpses, he just continually held them back. Rama was also starting to take beating like I had and had pulled back, allowing the hoard to start making some headway up the stairs. He had turned to try and head off the other wraiths bearing down on us. Gin was tackling the wraiths head on, deflecting their attacks with ease, even while the very presence of them seemed to be freezing the air around him, causing visible frost to build up over his body. Nonetheless, his ceaseless attacks, filled with a divine light was butchering the larger wraiths. Bogg was being classic Bogg, appearing from the shadows to strike then vanishing again from site. The artefact Karlessa had given him had proved to work, freezing one of the smaller wraiths in place. While Paw began swinging her staff at the Ball of energy trying to disperse it, while the ball itself seemed to retaliate and lash out at her.
A loud crash resonates around us as, in a blinding flash, Karlessa appears from a bolt of lightning. I don't know how she found us but it was a good thing she did. The hood that once hid her face had now fallen and we could see half her face was covered in blue dragon scales.
As I ran towards the centre to join the fray, Gin cut down his second Wraiths, splitting it literally in two, then dashed over to help Rama face off against the last armoured one. Bogg was still handling the smaller frozen wraith and Ghesh had finally moved, now into the centre of the stairs, the only thing between us and the hoard AND STILL none could get past him! Karlessa then unleashes an immense blast of lightning aimed straight for the hoard and completely obliterates a large line straight through them all. Paw and me reached the last armoured wraith to join Gin and Rama as we each focus our attacks to take it down. Rama, who had first taken a beating from the Hoard and now from this was cut down but Gin was there in seconds with healing hands picking him back up, just in time for Rama to deliver the final blow on the wraith, dispersing it in flames and dust. We turned to see Bogg finish of the wraith he had been attacking, breaking its spine out from behind it with his rapier and Ghesh, amid a mountain of bones, blades and dust, swing his morning star one last time, decimating the last few skeletons.
And then…. There was silence.
The battle was unlike anything I have ever experienced and now it was over, the silence of the place was almost deafening. The ball of energy at the back of the temple, as the last skeletons fell, faded into nothing and a host of objects it contained fell to the ground around. We collected them up and divided out our rewards, Paw taking ownership of a spear tip that was included in the items, clearly the artefact we were after. We took a little time to organise ourselves then, true to Gin's prediction, Karlessa opened a portal taking us all home.
Paw's arms where covered in strange wounds where she had persistently attacking that ball of energy at the back but knowing how strong she is, I'm not sure any of us would've been able to make as much progress against it as she had. I'm not sure if this last artefact is the end of whatever it is she has been working on though so I think once the Games are over, I will try to spend more time with her, see if I can help. I could always use the training anyway. If nothing else, this trip has taught me I can still be much stronger than I currently am.
Ghesh, the black Dragonborn, was now almost completely white, covered totally in bone dust from the HUNDREDS of undead he had completely annihilated. I knew he was strong but he is actually terrifying to see in action. I'm glad to count him among my friends here. Even Baine would've been blown away with what he did today.
Rama and me had been developing a bit of a rivalry in the pit fights at Port Ffirst, but I feel like we actually bonded a bit on this trip. Aside from both nearly being overrun by a hoard of undead, Rama offered to give me some hair dye for my hair if I wanted it to be Brown again but I declined. I chose this so I'm happy to stick with it. Plus, I think people like. Karlessa said she liked when we met the first time as she got all shy… Then again so did Gin… THEN AGAIN he also said I should just cut it all off?
I actually really like Ginead. He was amazing in the fight, holding off 2x of the wraiths on his own! He has a good soul but he's also really funny to be around and it never lets up. Even when he was lifting Rama off the ground with a Wraith bearing down over them, I heard him STILL making sarcastic comments about Rama charging into a hoard head first!
It was strange spending time with Bogg without Baine for a change but I was happy he was there. He still reminds me of Hugo and I find it comforting in a way, even when he's complaining about Baine spending too much time with Frankie! I feel he was a little out of his comfort zone with this one…. He's normally used to working from the shadows but for much of that last fight, he was facing one of the wraiths alone. I don't imagine it was an easy fight for him.
I've had some time to slow down now and gather my thoughts and…. I'm starting to question what I'm doing here now. Paw also seems so calm and collected in herself, and Gin has his Oath he lives by. People seem to have these overbearing goals that guide them in their lives but I only came here to see what was here…. And now I'm here and things are happening but what am I doing all this for?
