Cil shrugs Clergy?...couldn't tell, though the human lady was doing something with smoke. They don't seem to have fortified at all, like I said they look like thier waiting...for you Quantos?"
"hmmm.... well, no sense hust standing around then. " With that, Quantos steps forward, divine objects in hand.
Charles gets up from his tree and heads to his lean to.
"Should be enough for you and me for now, but we'll have to find something else for the evening." For a moment she's a little puzzled since when she's the house wife for dwarf, but the fact remains that she's a lot more used to a life in the wilderness and her spells help telling poisonous and edible things apart... She could plant a small garden, but then again, she has no intention of staying that long.
In several moments several individuals come through the foliage and enter the ruins. Three humanoids and a horse.
Taniras first instinct as she sees the group is to run and hide; a group of heavily armed adventurers isn't exactly inclined to inspire confidence on a witch. She has no idea where her own horse is right now - she let it wander relatively free around since predators don't come here anyway. Then she notices a good looking khoravar in the midst of them.
"Why now, if that ain't one hell of a trick." She remembers very clearly having asked Charles whether he has hidden one moments earlier. If that one was nice on top of it she'd clearly owe Charles one...
While the staff of mage armor slips into her hand as though it has a life on its own she maintains a friendly demeanour as the group comes closer. "Welcome in this clearing of good gods. I hope you know what exactly you came for, because I didn't. But it looks like being found might have been my destiny..." she adds with a glance to Jake. "Tanira d'Lyrandar, at your service. Officially a one woman expedition to this wonderous realm", she introduces herself with a good portion of sarcasm and a curtsey. "And you are? Care for some rabbit soup?" She hopes it's wise to use her house name, but now that she has one she'll be damned if she doesn't use it.
Hey, finally more company. Sitting alone with your thoughts for months can be a bit dull. My name is Charles. Pleased to meet you all."
Charles scans for holy symbols and tries to identify any he sees. the Silver Flame is emblazoned on his breastplate for all to see.
"Greetings, I am Saronis and these are my fellow adventurers. We seek a sacred site and hopefully a cleric or priest able to preform some rituals." Saronis says as he brings his horse in after him. No sign of patronage is on the elf's person. Though he does look rather equipped.
"I am not partial to rabbit, no thank you."
Quantos stands at the front of the group, but steps aside when Saronis moves forward to greet those waiting before them.
Quantos is a tall male human, dark of hair with a scarred face nearly frozen in a scowl. He wears a finely wrought chain shirt and has an extremely nice sword sheathed on his back. Compared to that sword, however, the one in his hand could not have been made by mortal hands. In his hand is a glowing sword with a blade of silver. The blade is slightly curved in an S-shape, with etched scales on the blade, its overall appearance mirroring that of a dragon's tail. The bone handle has been exquisitely carved to resemble a dragon's head and neck, and expertly polished to a deep red finish. The hilt on one side of the blade appears as the wings of the dragon, outstretched in flight. On the reverse side, the dragon's legs and arms appear to clutch a large sunburst carved of ivory around a woman's face, her mouth obscured by a white rose. In his other hand is a scrollbox that also glows intermittently. The scrollbox is an ornate affair, primarily darkwood in construction with reliefs embellished with lighter soarwood. The hinges are made of mithril, and there is an embedded medallion replacing the clasp mechanism typical on such boxes. The medallion is carved in ivory and features a woman's face, eyes closed in prayer, with a sunburst ringing her head. A small rose obscures her mouth in a symbol for silence, its petals made of small ruby and tourmaline gems arrayed in a life-like swirl pattern. A man wise in the religions of Khorvaire would note that these items suggest having been made in Dol Arrah's image.
"Rabbit stew sounds perfect" he says tersely. He seems preoccupied with the items in his hands, pointing them in different directions like a dowsing rod.
Jake is all serious at first and then seems the relax a bit. The half elf looks rather strong with a greatsword in one hand. He is wearing a regular green/brown explorer's outfit and a backpack fasten on his back. He seems to be a rather confident person.
He seems perfectly fine with Saronis or Qauntos doing the introductions
Saronis is an imposing figure with a 6 foot tall body, lithe and strong, but a bit bulkier than that of his kin, of 160 pounds. He appears to be in his mid-twenties. He has seen his share of battles and many fires of different forges, leaving his body charred and scarred, perhaps another reason see him as imposing. His coppery red hair is kept short for practical matters and his hazel eyes seem to glow at times. He wears green and browns with hints of a blood red scarlet tunic and breeches that shows at certain points. A simple silver band around his neck, kept mostly out of sight with his cloak. A simple black leather belt resides around his waist with several glowing sunstones with barely showing red runes on each stone. His boots are sturdy dwarven craft, which seem odd on this elf, though they look very durable and used. A silver headband seems to give off some light as an orb of light resides above his head. His scabbard glows just like Quantos' weapon and scrollcase. What appears to be a simple haversack hangs on his back with bow and quiver. The blade in his hand in long like a greatsword but has a curve and elegant grace of an Elven blade, it seems to surge with power. Two dragons fighting make up the hilt, small red gems making up the dragon's eyes, a large ruby is on the base of the hilt, the blade is etched with obscure arcane runes. The weapon is made of a dull metal and the hilt is covered in a black leather.
You can hear the slight sound of armor from him, though you don't see any armor bulging from his clothes.
vs. DC 16
"I have control of the blade for today, let us see if they can help or if we can do the ritual on our own. There is only so much that I can do to stop the sword from lashing out." Saronis says with some urgency. He lets go of the reigns moving further into the sacred site.
The tallish, very slim half-elf that steps out of the foliage exudes capability and assurance, even in this most unfamiliar of environments.
"So this is the place is it?" she says, "Let's get this over with then. The sooner you're rid of the sword the better."
She then turns to the "guardians" of the shrine "You don't mind if we make use of your shrine?"
Disguise
There's something a bit off , the lady isn't a half-elf.
"You have a cursed sword? How did that happen?" Tanira wonders as Saronis speaks.
As she takes a closer look at Cil and recognizes she's khoravar as well her expression becomes a little friendlier again.
"It isn't exactly my shrine - I wouldn't be surprised if this little warden who welcomed me here showed up sooner or later. Which altar are you looking for? They seem to be collecting deities here."
She steps aside to let Saronis pass.
"Well there was a giant, or goddess, or something of both. She gave us a mission after ensorcering us and freeing her in the process. We collected the loot of the room including this lovely sword of mine. It got worse from there but hopefully things will turn out for us in the end." Saronis says sardonically.
"Jake you know about spells and religion right. Would you mind looking over the rituals and tell us what we need to do?" Saronis asks one of his companions before asking the two new individuals.
Tanira raised an eyebrow and let the wand she was holding disappear in a leather band around her right thigh. Her hands are still soaked in blood from taking out the rabbit.
"Let me know if I can be of any help. I'll just continue preparing food for now... but I'd love to hear the long version of this once your dealt with it."
She looks around the group of new arrivals again, clinging at Cil and Jake for a heartbeat longer and then slowly wanders off to the place on the clearing where a little fox with a bloody snout and half prepared food is waiting.
i do know of magic and arcane ritual not so much about the gods and their prayers and stuff he says looking over the shrine and the ritual that needs to be done.
he cast a detect magic and goes over the scroll case if Quantos lets him.
"I know a thing or two about religion and am occasionally able to identify spells if I can be of any assistance"
"Yes our religious individuals are either dead or absent, let alone we were brought here. So I think both of your aid would be gladly accepted." Saronis says trying to encourage them to help out.
Chopping food into little pieces, including mushrooms and bulbs of which she only knows that they aren't poisonous, but had no idea what they taste like, she thinks about the situation.
Little-devil-on-the-shoulder: "A strange lot. A simple 'hello', let alone giving one's name would come a long way."
Little-angel-on-the-shoulder: "Since when do you worry about such formalities? The house name did grow to your head, didn't it? Stop pouting and think, girl."
Devil: "So what, am I supposed to make advances to them craving for attention?"
Angel: "But that's the problem, isn't it? What matters right now is the cursed sword. Not you. Dad ain't here. Deal with it."
She puts the ingredients into her an improvised pot and hopes for the taste of what she's cooking.
She turns around and takes another look:
"Do you know what those runes mean? If not I might be able to help you with it; if they are arcane runes I might identify, otherwise, if it's an old language... I might have to prepare a spell. Tomorrow. I might be able to help you undo this thing, but first I'd have to understand the nature of the curse and how exactly it came to be... then we'd only have to either find something that opposes it or find a way to satisfy the condition that lead to the curse; many curses are circumstantial."
Two dragons engaged in a fight. Which two dragons? Actual dragons, the dragons around us, like Syberis and Eberron, or symbolic ones for something else, like the mark on my back?
Devil: "Great. Now you're giving away that we can cast spells and now a whole lot about curses. Why didn't you just say 'hex' to make a clean slate? Just how stupid are you?"
Angel: "I am using my skills and knowledge for the best. Stop being an oversized girl and at least try to be a woman for once."
Devil: "Well, no risk, no fun I suppose."
Angel: "Don't come with platitudes. Though I do agree with the sentiment."
Quantos allows Jake to gaze at the scrollcase, so long as it doesnt disturb his divining attempt.
"Sorry I was not very on this sword. It isn't cursed per say. Uh how to this it is an evil sword and we are going to attempt to convert it." Saronis tries to explain, he appears to be at a loss of words.
My understanding says jack raising his head from the scroll case is that this is an intelligent item, with its own mind, goals agenda and loyalty and that it tries to control Saronis into acting the way it wants. While Saronis is a generally nice and gentle person that that the general well being of others in mind. The sword is rather Evil and cares nothing about the ways things must be done in order to brings completion to its goal. Somes times Saronis is able to resist being overpowered by the sword and some times he doesn't and the sword is in control.
he pause for a second
quantos and cil overthere, also got their hands attached on divine instruments that could be considered relics that seems to also further the works of their respective masters. Looking for a possible solution Saronis was told to find a specific site within this territory. Cil is the leader of this expedition and Quantos and I are just payed bodyguards that were recently recruited.
he stops again
The ritual we are looking for is either something that would break bonds allowing Saronis to drop the sword or to "convert" it to another but good deity. Hence the scroll case
he turns toward the party
Was that a good summary of what I know? he says before going back to studying the scroll case.
"Hmmmm..." Tanira stirs the stew even though the heavy stone with the indentation on the upside, which serves as a makeshift pot, is far from being hot yet. She tastes carefully, grimaces, and reaches for a small bundle of herbs from the area.
She looks around the clearing for a moment. "Sly?" she yells. "Sly, we may need your expertise!"
Back to the group of newcomers she calls: "Well the 'site' that stands out most is certainly the silver flame." She points to the little silver flame burning on its own altar in the center of the clearing without actually looking at it. "Some of those altars here belong to the Sovereign Host. I think that one might be worth a try..." She points with the stick she uses for cooking at a small altar that depicts a domino stone, displaying a four and a five, at its side. She can't tell the gods of the Sovereign Host apart, but she's pretty sure it's one of them.
"If the sword has an own will maybe you should simply go try through until you find the location which the sword likes least."
"Excellent Jake, I could have not said it better myself, though since I am sure that goddess will show up again I want to have the present she gave me. Thus the only choice being a conversion. Well she has gone silent which means she just doesn't like the place. " Saronis says with mirth. The first mirth since the airships.
A little shocker lizard appears out of the shrubbery. He is green with a yellow chest. "Hmmm, wha... Oh, Hi." he waves one of his claws at the new people.
taken by surprise.
Hum ah, oh, Right! indeed hello to you. Are you hungry? this lady over there is preparing some food
"Lets see if I can make heads or tails of this puzzle. May I have a look at the sword please, as well as any other religious artifacts?
Hello again sly, how have you been? Would you be able to shed some light on the predicament of our new friends?"
"Hello Sly." She smiles and speaks out loud enough so he can hear her across the clearing. "We have two problems. I need salt to make this taste like something. And these guys here are trying to re-educate misbehaving - evil, in fact - equipment. The sword which Mister Saronis is holding..." she points with her nose to him. "Any suggestions?"
"Nope, can't help with other deity issues. That is where a deity has their finger on someone or something. Information, maybe with the right question asked and the right shiny donation." The little lizard says in screeching common. He zips away soon returning with a small pouch of white substance, likely salt.
Saronis offers up the blade holding it for Charles to inspect, "It would be best if you don't touch it, she might try to command you as well."
"It appears to be tied to the Lady of the Plague. As for cleansing it I am not sure how to go about it aside from bathing it in the silver flame in the clearing"
Saronis lets trid simple stuff first shall we? Quantos present the scroll case and you present the sword at each shrine and lets see if something happens. If there is a reaction we can then imagine to pray at that shrine and after that use the divine scroll from the case to cleanse and change the sword
"There seems to be a ritual to adjust the alignment of an item to its wielder on the scroll case. Lets all take both the scroll case and the sword to the Flame in the center and start there."
Tanira tests the soup again. The taste is acceptable for now, but it would have to boil for a while.
"Thank you, Sly. You're most welcome to join us, though this is food for us mammals. I am not sure whether its enjoyable or even nourishing for lizards... Hm. I am gonna have a closer look at what the others are doing."
She hands the pack of salt back to Sly, stands up and walks back to the group at the end of the clearing. The little fox follows her closely, keeps winding around her ankles in an almost feline manner and watches the group suspiciously.
"Hm. Whatever you do, standing around here won't help, I suppose. I think Jake and Charles have made decent suggestions, apart from my own of course." She pauses briefly, considering whether adding something more was a wise idea or whether it would delay things even further. "About that ritual: The ritual element is the scroll case itself? Not something inside it? Did you learn anything about how to use it when you acquired it?"
"No, unfortunately not. I was given instructions to give it to the one who would heal us, but that person was violently killed somehow by the being that escorted us here. In any event, Charles here has made more headway in terms of what this is to be used for. To answer your question, I was not instructed to open the box, so I didn't. I'll not touch the cursed sword, and the scrollcase was always for one other than myself. I remand it to Charles, who knows more about it than I, or Saronis, whose sword is to be altered by the ritual." With that, he holds the scrollcase out to be taken by one or the other.
The subject matter being completely foreign to her, Cil finds a stub of an old column, climbs up and hugs her shins, watching and waiting for the ritual to start.
Tanira takes the scrolls case carefully, holding it only with her fingertips and examines it closely. She holds it closely to her eyes and even sniffs at it, searching for both marks of use and inscriptions and insignia.
"If you've been told not to open it simply putting the sword and the case on one altar seems like a good idea to me..."
Eventually she almost casually raises one hand, makes a flighty gesture with it and whispers in celestial: "Streams of arcane, unveil and illuminate!"*
She follows the trails, webs and feels of magic that dance around the scroll case, if any, trying to unveil the mystery of how to use it. If she just had the components to cast an Identify spell...
"Changing an alignment is a tricky thing... something akin to a Limited Wish maybe?" she thinks.
"Well, I think we'll just have to try something." She hands the scroll case back.
-----
* Detect Magic
Spellcraft:
"I have been her idle long enough, time to get to work." Charles grabs the scroll case and beckons Saronis to join him sitting at the base of the pillar with the Silver Flame, and begins reading from the scroll case to get this party started.
Here goes nothing was all that Jake could think off while watching
Charles reads the words, as he reads them they seem to glow then slip off the scrollcase. The words glow around the silver flame. As Saronis holds the blade near the words that float around the fire the sword appears to have a black red aura. The aura starts to break apart leaving no aura behind.
Everyone's dragonmarks warm up as if they are being used. The heat radiates out to be light showing the mark as a glowing symbol above each individuals armor or clothing.
The little shocker lizard comes up to the flames and his eyes and mouth look to be filled with the same silver flames. The screeching draconic voice is replaced with a strong feminine voice not of the lizard or even of this plane. "Come forth bearers of the marks, one among you is a harbinger one who can bring destruction or put an end to the destruction. The others are scions of one power or another, understand you all hold the power to help or to hinder, make your choices wisely." With that the flame goes out, not only in the shocker lizard but also at the site.
The scroll case disappears at the same time the flame does. Saronis drops to the ground out cold. His sword glowing faintly no particular color but floating where the flames were. The words are no longer floating either.
His dragonmarks burn brightly considering he has more than any other, he sweats profusely at the effort and will he is needing to keep the blade in the flames. Let alone the burn from his marks.
Saronis's dragon marks show on his back, chest and one on each shoulder.
The curves of the mark of detection are more severe with circles that look like eyes, this mark resides on his right shoulder. The lines of the mark of making are rigid and balanced almost like a tattoo rather than the typical strange swirls of a normal dragon mark, this mark is on his left shoulder. The mark of shadow that resides on his chest is like an apparition, always shifting with wavy lines, though it always has the shape of a teardrop or star. His back is covered in strange symbols of harsh curving lines which make up to look like a cross or sword. There still seems to be more symbols on his body though it is strange to have more than one and even the forming of others.
The dragonmark on Cil's thigh seems to seep slowly through her leathers, emerging as if from the shadows. Once visible, it takes on the shape of a dragon's skull, made up of many small filaments that seem to fade away and reappear, making the image appear insubstantial.
Cil frowns down at the mark's emanation,swatting at it with her hand.
Jake Has no dragon mark and he watch the ritual go with certain passion. Knowing he is witnessing and rare event.
Tanira pulls the hair covering the Mark of Strom on her back to the front and steps closer. The mark is a oval, with stripes coming out of it like steam to the upside, and strings to the downside like water flowing out of it. And it shimmers in blue and grey and white like clouds on a stormy sky or waves on an ocean, crowned with foamed.
She is somewhat surprised that she is involved in this but positively curious. "I carry the Mark of Storm, the sign of my house. I don't what we are to choose, why and to what end, but the storm I shall be. And if that's what you ask, I shall be the harbinger." She says loud and clear. She actually a bit proud of herself, this was a stage-worthy response given the circumstances. She just hopes she didn't just cause anything funny. If any of her companions had the Mark of Detection maybe it would have been wiser to let them be the harbinger...
Charles is too involved with reading the scroll case to notice much of anything, he doesn't want to make a mistake and leave a poor impression with the group. When he finally looks up.. "WOAH! What is with all the glowing? It looks like I did something, I hope it is right." finally noticing the floating sword.
"That ritual looks to have taken its' toll on our friend Saronis. HEY BUDDY TIME TO RISE AND SHINE AND TAKE YOUR SWORD!"
Quantos's mark glows over the leather elbow-length glove that he wears on his left arm. It glows silver-white with a red-orange glow of metal just pulled from the forge.
He notices the mark appearing on Saronis as well, wondering what it could mean.
Charles you believe him to be exhausted. Sleep or lesser restorations will help.
Well that was amazing. lets wait for a while until he recovers from the ordeal shall we?
"Yes, here is not the place for dalliance, however."