War of Shadows (IC)

[sarlon]

When nothing happens when you stick something in the bag and your hand pulls out only feeling cold (not freezing...think you stuck your hand in a deep freezer for a few seconds) but still safely grasping whatever you stuck in...

As you reach your empty hand in the bag and rummage around you feel something hard and odd shaped....with a pull.... You very briefly pull out by the nose horn.... A very confused looking blue dragon head.....and yes you can safely assume there's a body attached since before anyone can react the head pulls itself back into the bag.

[Imladir]

Alyndra Aramiar - Elf Wizard (5) - HP 30/30 - AC 14

Alyndra froze. Not because of the cold, but because of shock. Was that a dragon? Had she actually pulled a dragon out of this bag? “Was that..? Did you see that!?” Her eyes wide open, she considered the backpack. She had heard of storage spaces such as this...but never something able to store living things! Or big enough for a dragon for that matter. One way or another, it was better to not touch it again before they were back at the inn. And there, she'd start with identifying the backpack before she tried to pull anything out of there. Hopefully (!?!?), the dragon would be the only thing in there, but... Maybe she'd start by talking to Almira about that...

[DeTess]

Elva turned around at Alyndra's surprised exclamation, just in time to see the dragon's head retreat back into the bag. "I think I saw that?" She said, her voice a bit higher than usual from the surprise. "Also, Maybe we should leave the bag-dragon alone for now? I'd prefer not to add 'fried by a dragon' to things that happened to us here, even if it was only a little one."

[NotASpiderSwarm]

Raidah rubs her temples.

I'll decide whether I saw that once we're back in town. There's been too many odd things happening here already, one more might push us over the limit. Lets go get your donkey before it grows wings or something.

Checking that her pack(and the load of books) is secure, Raidah heads for the door.

[Imladir]

Alyndra Aramiar - Elf Wizard (5) - HP 30/30 - AC 14

“Uh... Yes, it's probably for the best.” Alyndra carefully held the backpack, looking like she was afraid it would start to pour dragons at her feet. The young elf turned to exit the room and walk back to where she had left Jasper, her donkey, obviously deep in thoughts as she wondered what the backpack was exactly and how it worked. Once back with Jasper, she made sure everything was in order then took the scroll given to her by Illidari. “Everyone's ready?” As soon she got confirmation, she cast the spell.

[sarlon]

As you all walk outside the temple something feels....off.

You can't place your finger on it and while hunting down your donkey (he'd wandered off to look for grass and shade), a light rain begins to fall (the first all of you have seen all summer) and a small tremor rumbles beneath your feet as another small earthquake rumbles on, but more of an aftershock then a full-on earthquake. The rain falls straight down and nary a breath of wind stirs the leaves dying on the trees.

As you activate the scroll, the magic seems....faulty....like it's struggling to power itself, then like a twig snapping it finally takes hold and you all appear just outside of Lotipac. The weather is still almost unbearably hot, more so unless you took off your cold-weather clothing before activating the scroll. Though the clear blue sky is starting to show rain clouds forming in the far distance, though no one seems excited since this has happened many times this summer with no rain.

[DeTess]

"I suppose we don't have time to drop by an inn to change into clothes more suited for this weather?" Elva asked, already knowing the answer. "Yeah, I didn't think so either. Come on, lets go report our findings." She started making her way to the council building.

[NotASpiderSwarm]

Raidah is still in a light shirt under her armor and hasn't mentioned the weather once.

We're reporting bad news, let's just get it over with so I can go somewhere and pretend this never happened. She looks around at the populace going about their daily lives. They don't seem to have noticed anything odd. Maybe that globe was a souvenier from his trip to the fair and the actual keystone is hidden in the kitchen under the flour.

[Imladir]

Alyndra Aramiar - Elf Wizard (5) - HP 30/30 - AC 14

Alyndra rolled her eyes when she finally managed to find Jasper, but she was glad he hadn't gone too far. At least donkey's being unfazed by default at its use. She frowned as she felt the earthquake's aftershock, unable to remember when the first one had taken place. After a few seconds, she shook her head and focused on the scroll in her hands. There too things were...strange and even when she stood outside of Lotipac she frowned, curious - and a bit worried - about what had happened. Quickly though, she was brought back to the present by the temperature for which she wasn't wearing the right clothes. She sighed and agreed with the two humans. “Yeah, let's go find Illidan. At least we'll be in the shade...” Like the first time, Alyndra walked to the council building where she started by placing Jasper in a stall with plenty of water. Then, she walked to the guards to be given access and get to Illidari for their report, holding the backpack as if she were expecting it to go up in flames at any time.

[sarlon]

The guards check your gems first then are given an escort directly to the council chambers. Inside you hear voices, speaking, in mostly calm voices. A guard opens the door and gestures you inside...

Inside stands Almira talking with gestures to Illidari and a dwarf (fairly young looking, with the dress and demeanor of clans from the southern islands (I'll post in OOC some more information about this since its fairly common knowledge).

She stops talking with a flashing look of irritation of being interrupted before she recognizes your group, her smile is a bit forced and it's obvious that she's not angry at you, but at whatever set her off before all these interruptions...

"I must apologize, I need to take care of something. Illidari will take your report, I understand that your first cleric stayed behind...I have found a replacement...Illidari will fill you in." She nods her head to each of you before turning and gracefully leaving the room, while she isn't stomping out there is a definite angry set to her shoulders and body language.

Illidari stands before you looking just as ruffled as Almira does look like someone just kicked a puppy in front of him.

"I understand that there isn't much in the way of good news to report? Tell me what's going on and we'll tell you what we've found out as well."

[Niobaran]

Ka'imi

As the others enter, Ka'imi had just finished asking Almira a handful of questions. An expression of deep concern lays over his face which vanishes to a more friendly and open expression upon turning to the others entering. As the goddess and ruler leaves, he bows to appropriately show his respect and humility, but does not delay her exit any further.

The man, tall for a dwarf and not as compact as the ones from the north, turns to the entering group, and slightly bows while guiding his right fist to his heart. He wears linnen clothing in bright natural hues, contrasting his tanned skin and dark dreadlocks and short, neat beard. While he is unarmored and unarmed at the moment, his physique hints that he might be able to hold his own in combat. Between different kinds of archaic jewelry (mostly made from carved bone, animal teeth or seashells, held with leather bands or affixed to his hair), one object sticks out: A silver and artful symbol of Shantu -- a perfectly balanced set of scales, with some stylized waves as background decoration.

As he speaks, there is a slight accent of the southern clans in his speech: "Greetings. My name is Ka'imi of Clan Glo'tac. It is nice to meet you..." He swiftly gives the newcomers a friendly wink, "... and working with you, I presume?"

[DeTess]

Elva tries to give the newcomer a friendly smile, but it takes some effort. The situation isn't exactly good, and it wasn't reassuring that Almira looked as harried as Elva felt.

"Right, so, the short version is as follows..." She started her explanation. "Albright's dead, and had been for a while before we arrived. His body looked like he'd been in a fight. Multiple wounds, wasn't pretty." Elva grimaced. She didn't really want to go into too much detail on the corpse, but depending on what Albright had been capable of in life, the amount of damage might be relevant. "There where shards off some odd black blade in one of his wounds. Very magical, maybe sentient. I've got that bit with me, but I'd prefer not to pull it out any more than necessary."

Elva took another deep breath, then continued on. "We investigated deeper into the temple, and we found some kind of man or man-shaped being in one of the rooms. As we arrived he was finishing some kind of ritual on a big floating crystal, and then stabbed it with the remains of his sword, breaking it. The blast of that knocked all of us out, and by the time we woke up again the man was gone. That sword was probably the weapon I found a shard off."

"Anyway, after all that we gathered all the samples and books we could, including some of Albright's diaries, and then came back here to report on what we found. We also found his financial reserves, or inheritance or something, is there a next of kin this should go to?" Elva's voice tapered off as she realized she'd just gone through the entire story with but a single pause for breath. She looked back at the others, hoping that they could take over and fill in anything she missed. She really hated the 'report your findings bit', even when she had actual good news to share.

[sarlon]

Illidari listens with a thoughtful expression on his face, scribbling something on a piece of paper. his pen pauses at the mention of the man in the dark then gets right up to your face when you mention a weapon and pieces of it.

"you have a piece?! let me see it!!!"

while a bit frantic he pulls a pair of leather gloves out of his pocket and slips them on very carefully, holding out his hands for the piece. he mumbles, "no one ever said it was sentient.....but.....it can't......"

as he receives it, a very undignified squeak is emitted from his mouth... "By the ancients that protect us!! TORKEL!!!!"

A large man wearing the council's guard's uniform strides in weapon drawn his eyes scanning the room with a very practiced look, he scans each of you before lowering the weapon and striding towards illidari.

The man's face goes noticeably pale, nods his understanding, takes the piece, and leaves the room.

"That is exactly what we didn't want...Please sit and let me explain...."

He gestures each of you to sit then begins pacing back and forth as he speaks, his hands fluttering with annoyance.

"Back in the first war, a race of outsiders invaded our world, wanting to destroy our world. They were set on building a tower made of material of that sword you just brought us. That piece is made of pure antimagic....its meant to break through anything made of magic. They ripped apart our world to the point it nearly destroyed us....thats when we sent heroes out to find a new home and to keep us safe, the ancients built more magical protection around this realm to keep those....things out. For 10,000 years we've been safe, but some signs are showing themselves again. The weather abnormalities, the earthquakes will keep getting worse as time goes on. The fact you said someone broke a crystal up there and took something from the center has me worried...each of the keystones had a center that was made of the essence of the element it embodied. I know the council wants this kept quiet, and I know they don't want to have to move us again...so we are authorizing your group to take any means necessary to keep the other 3 keystones from being subjected to this same thing. We do NOT need a repeat of the first invasion..."

He closes his eyes and takes a long breath, "I'm going to prepare some teleportation scrolls to get you to each of the 3 other temples....time is of the essence. Magic will start struggling more if each stone gets compromised. I actually want you to properly open the keystones and bring them back to us. If we can protect them we can keep this from happening again... You are authorized to do this by any means necessary, if someone attempts to stop you, you are to restrain them or kill them. We must assume that the other caretakers are either compromised or dead, if they are alive, bring them along with the core. Time is of the essence, do you have any questions?"

[DeTess]

It felt like a weight had lifted of Elva's shoulders as she handed over the weapon-shard. That didn't last long as Illidari launched into his explanation. By the end of it, her head was swimming with the flood of information and apocalyptic implications. She had to fight down the urge to laugh as he asked if they had any questions. It wouldn't have been a good kind of laugh.

After taking a moment to master herself, she responded. "For this mission, I've only got three questions. Well, two questions and a request. How do we open these crystals to get to the center, what do we need to know to safely handle these essences, and could you provide us with some kind of token or letter to prove to anyone we encounter at the temples that we've not gone completely mad and are in fact authorized to take the thing they were supposed to protect for the past millennia?"

[Niobaran]

Ka'imi

Hearing the news, he silently mouthed Albright?, clearly shocked. If one of the guardians had fallen, the situation was indeed dire. When the report had finished, he sought for the right words a tad too long, and Illidari jumped in, anyway. His revelations turn out be even more distressing. He felt a sudden burden being placed on his shoulders.

Elva's questions however encourage him. Clearly, those were the questions of professionals. He would need to get some equipment quickly, as he was traveling with light pack only, and surely this was not a boat trip they were looking at here. He is in thought for a moment while waiting for the questions to be answered.

[ShadowImmor]

Casmir shakes himself out of his fugue state, having followed the others through by reflex. Apparently being knocked unconscious did more than he thought.

"I'm so sorry... my head still hurts, what did I miss?"

He rubs his head and closes his eyes as if willing away a headache.

[Tyg3rW01f]

Josiah looked up from his map at the walls of Lotipac City. A week’s worth of hard marches had gotten him here--well, two week’s worth of what lesser-trained adventurers would have called hard marches. Josiah was a monk of the Order of the Open Palm, and for a monk, 25-30 miles in a day, compared to the average 15-20, was a hard day’s march. He found the guards at the gate and showed them his writ, and the red gem affixed to his simple robes.
"I am Josiah of the Order of the Open Palm, recipient of the Gem of the Adventurer's Guild. I am here on urgent business."

[sarlon]

You are directed to the council chambers where again you are politely asked for your gem where the guard touches it to a bracer where it briefly flashes a symbol. The guard nods and hands it back to you before opening the door right as the halflings is finishing his story, and Elva asks her questions.

"Yes we will......oh good they sent someone.... Come on down here young man."

The halflings gestures you to join the rest of the group.

[Tyg3rW01f]

Josiah gawks at the guard, then moves toward the hobbit and party, confused.
"Hello..? I am Josiah of the Order of the Open Palm, Member in God Standing with the Adventurer's Guild. I have a Writ of Summons, and that... guard did something odd." The young boy, average, forgettable, holds out the piece of vellum in his hand.

[DeTess]

Elva looked the newcomer over curiously. Apart from his young age, he looked completely unremarkable. He wouldn't be a member of the guild if that impression was true, though. She manages to conjure a friendly smile for him, though it takes considerable effort given the news she just had to absorb. "It's nice to meet you, Josiah. I'm Elva Shadelark, also with the guild."

[Imladir]

Alyndra Aramiar - Elf Wizard (5) - HP 30/30 - AC 14

Alyndra was mildly surprised by Almira's exit, but didn't linger much on the issue, maybe because it was at that point that the newcommer introduced himself. She nodded in his direction, both to acknowledge his greetings and to offer her own, but didn't say anything at that time as it wasn't the moment. In fact, she barely listened to Elva's report, obviously distracted by something else. She did however pay more attention to Illidari's instructions, one of her eyebrows rising in obvious surprise towards the end. She started to ask a question, only to be interupted by yet another arrival, to whom she nodded before she finally asked her question. “Hmm, you say the guardians - well, caretakers I guess - might have been compromised. By those outsiders I suppose, but... Hmmm... Not that I want to belittle us, but how do you expect us to dispose of people who have millenia of experience, and probably weren't random schmusk even before that?”

[Tyg3rW01f]

"So to whom do I give this Writ of Summons?" Josiah looked honestly confused and bewildered.

[sarlon]

Illidari waves Josiah closer and holds out his hand for the letter, scans it briefly then nods.

"I understand your concern, right now we just need to get a handle on things. I hope murder isn't the outcome for those guardians, they are some very proud people. Maybe they can still be reasoned with. If they are in their right minds, they will understand the need since their attunement will tell them something is wrong especially if Albright is already dead. I'm honestly surprised Grotak hasn't come pounding on the chamber doors yet demanding an audience." He pauses here a brief moment as if honestly excepting another interruption when nothing happens he breathes a tiny sigh of relief and continues.

"Young Josiah here is in need of further training by his masters at the monastery, he is a fully ordained member of his order as well as the guild. He should be a valuable asset."

He turns to Elva, "You said you found some papers in albright's quarters? maybe his journals too? If you don't mind passing them over to me I'll make sure the correct people are given them....I believe his sister had a cousin that married....thats not important....he has living family. we can pass anything along."

[DeTess]

"Sure, I've got them right here." Elva roots through her pack and digs out a bunch of books, as well as the small chest containing Albright's inheritance. "I don't actually have the key for the chest, but a half-decent locksmith should be able to open it again. Just make sure that it's an honest one."

As she handed the books and chest over to the halfling, a realization struck. "Ehm, Illidari? you haven't actually answered my question about safely handling the essences and a letter of recommendation or something like that."

[Tyg3rW01f]

Josiah smiled, "Every locksmith is an honest locksmith; until they find the lock in front of the big enough prize."

[sarlon]

Illidari looks thoughtful for a moment... "Stay a night again at the Dire Rat, see me in the morning, I'll see what I can arrange for safe transport, and credentials."

[DeTess]

"Maybe so." Elva replies to Josiah. "But an honest one will need a far larger prize than a dishonest one."

"Yeah, I do think I could use a night's sleep to think the entire situation over." She replies to Illidari's suggestion. "I suggest we get going then, unless anyone else still has something they need here?"

[Imladir]

Alyndra Aramiar - Elf Wizard (5) - HP 30/30 - AC 14

Alyndra didn't seem particularly convinced: her problem wasn't on how to deal with guardians who would listen to reason, but those who wouldn't. She certainly wasn't going to pretend that she didn't know a thing, but there was quite the difference between knowing a thing or two and having millennia of experience, like the Guardians had. Still... Well, she supposed she could understand Illidari's reluctance on the subject. She certainly didn't mind spending the night at the Dire Rat in any case, that was for sure. Though before she left for there... She said to Illidari, “Among the stuff we found in the Temple, there was a... Well, a sort of bag you could say I suppose. The one time I tried to see what was inside, I ended up catching the head of a blue dragon. It seemed a bit...confused...then went back in the bag. Depending on who are Albright's family members though, it might not be a good idea to give that to them though, who knows what's inside...” “I was planning on studying the thing for a bit, maybe we can return to the question when I know more about it?”

[sarlon]

Illidari sounds excited at the mention of the bag and asks to see it directly, fairly bouncing with excitement. When presented with it he gives a rather undignified squeak and mumbles something that sounds like...."is it....wondering" before jamming his hand into the bag and fishing around for a moment.....

(d100)[52]

There's a great amount of metal clanging as he struggles to pull something from the bag, then with a shocked grunt, a stunning set of full plate armor comes tumbling out crashing to the floor (medium sized armor made for human).

"I though this thing a myth....w.. they always called it a bag of wondering.... Because they never knew what would come out next. No I think this could be something useful for your group. Take it, this is something that no one's ever figured out how or why it works or even everything inside it...."

[DeTess]

"That's..." Elva shakes her head in bafflement at the demonstration. "... well, I suppose it might be useful when you're cornered and have nothing else to fall back on, or if you're looking for something to do while on the road." She can't keep a smile off her face as she imagines the kind of imagination the item's creator must have had. "Or if you suddenly realize you forgot to get someone a birthday present or something."