"Something enchanted her, but it faded before I could tell what it was!"
Joanna stares at Natalya, even though she'd fallen unconscious over a minute ago. She feels like she's floundering, just barely keeping her head above the water. She wasn't prepared, in any way, for what was happening. Strange possessions, artifacts that changes a holder's personality, prophecies of death and doom all threatened to pull her under as she tried to think of some way to be of use.
What use is a foolish girl who is just playing at being a priestess? A voice in the back of her head asked in a treacly voice that had all the venom of her step mother's voice underneath the saccharine veneer.
The young woman slipped into the shadows at the corners of the room. She wasn't capable of handling any of what was happening. She'd failed to accomplish anything other than knocking herself out earlier. What little she had that could be of use was already spent. All she had was one blessing from Iomedae that she could bestow, but even a master cannot do anything worthwhile with brittle, broken tools.
Still it was better than nothing.
The young priestess clutches the holy symbol hanging from her neck and says a brief prayer as she touches the tips of her fingers to Natalya's forehead. As the glow of her symbol fades she can feel the connection to her goddess fade with it. The last of her divinely granted power was spent and she had no further use. Joanna silently moves back into the corner, giving the others room to work. They still had strength left. They still had more to give.
Joanna did not.
The cold, fatigue, and more than a little fear cause her to shiver as the others worked.
"Scan Nalathi as well, quickly... Teldon blurts out to Zee in Varisian (sorry, on my phone can't use translator).
Nodding at Joanna's action, "A good choice, my friend. Something is not right about this, and the holy wards of the Inheritor could help her."
After Teldon's request, she steps to where he's standing.
She meets Joanna's gaze and slightly nods her head toward Teldon, as if asking her to come closer. Leaning toward both, she whispers quietly, "Teldon, I would rather not look at it again. The aura that thing emits is blinding. If it's indeed made of horaculum like you say, that actually makes sense. When I looked before, I almost felt it reach into my own mind. It only showed me what it wanted to show me, as if it has its own volition." With a thin smile, she glances at Nalathi again. "Desna help us, I fear that thing was best left lost!"
Walking over to the odd-looking gnome, Zee smiles and sits down next to her. "Nalathi, would you tell me how you feel right now? We're a little concerned that your necklace might do to you what it did to Natalya."
Natalya rests quietly and still again...her breathing slow but regular...
Meanwhile, on a thong around Nalathi's neck, the coppery shard glints attractively in the fire light.
As Natalya sits up and chants in a voice that sounds rather unlike the voice she had used previously, Nalathi feels the shard heat up on her chest-- not uncomfortably so, but enough to make it noticeable that Natalya and the shard share a link of some kind. Weird. It remembers her somehow. She feels a pang of annoyance at this.
She waves one hand dismissively at Zee's implication that she might be under the shard's control. "Don't worry, I feel fine. I'm much more strong-willed than Natalya, this thing can't control me."
"I'm with Ziomarra on this, better that thing had rusted away in some cave than show up again."
Joanna's voice is soft and quiet, almost a whisper. She looks at Nalathi her eyes full of worry.
A few minutes after Sharika left to fetch Lady Heidmarch, there is the sound of the two of them walking down a staircase before they both reappear at the door; Lady Heidmarch cradles a large leather bound book in her arms…quite protectively…
”Sharika says that Natalya had regained consciousness? How is she? Has she spoken yet?”
Horacalcum – Pride / Humility: Illusion Magic
Abysium – Sloth / Zeal: Conjuration Magic
Adamantine – Greed / Generosity: Transmutation Magic
Djezet – Lust / Love: Enchantment Magic
Inubrix – Gluttony / Temperance: Necromancy Magic
Noqual – Envy / Charity: Abjuration Magic
Siccatite – Wrath / Kindness: Evocation Magic
There is no skymetal associated with the arcane school of divination.
Xanderghul was the Runelord of Pride, Satrap of Cyrusian, and first amongst equals. Xanderghul claimed that the lands of Cyrusian were the ancient heartland or capital of the Thassilonian empire and he was probably right. He wanted Cyrusian to be a paradise for the elite of Thassilon, better than all of the other domains. Xanderghul held himself above all of the other runelords, priding himself on avoiding the mere squabbles of the other six. He was a master of diplomacy and singlehandedly held the empire together. He was a patron of the arts and master of his weapon of rule which was a lucerne hammer. While this may make Xanderghul sound like a wise and noble ruler, in truth he was arrogant beyond all reason; his ego grew with every new achievement and every passing year.
"She came to for a moment, recited a poem, then lost consciousness again. While she was awake, she had a faraway look in her eyes. Also-- the fire in your fireplace burned significantly brighter when she was speaking. With the power of the Harrow, I examined her aura just after she passed out again, and saw a rapidly fading influence of enchantment, but it was too fait to tell more."
She closes her eyes as if to think, and adds, "I can't recall the words exactly, but she said something about death taking a throne in a strange city to the west, where others still rest." She opens her eyes and looks intently at Lady Heidmarch. "Or something like that." After another brief pause, she adds, "I have a very bad feeling about this. As I said to my friends, I think it may have been better if this shard had remained lost to the ages."
"Her exact words were 'Lo! Death has reared himself a throne in a strange city lying alone far down within the dim west where the good and the bad and worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest... he returns... he returns.'" Teldon offers grimly. "Lady Heidmarch, do you know of any physical description of the Runelord Xanderghul?"
Nalathi nods. "She said 'Death has reared himself a throne'... and something about the dim west." She couldn't recall anything Natalya had said after that, because it was at that point she'd noticed the shard heat up. She decided not to mention that particular bit to the others.
With a slightly arched eyebrow, Lady Heidmarch responds to Teldon's request, "Runelord Xanderghul? There are many representations of him... He proclaimed himself Lord of Illusion in ancient Thassilon, other accounts have him as the Master of the Unblinking Eye; what is known, beyond doubt, is that he was a prideful man...a narcissist and an egotist... There are many statues of him to be found in what was Cyrusian, now Northern Varisia and part of the Linnorm Kingdoms... There are many drawings of such statues in our library here. When we are done here, I will gladly show you some of the texts."
Coming over to look at Natalya, Lady Heidmarch purses her lips, "Whatever is affecting her now is beyond my comprehension or knowledge...all we can do is make her comfortable, watch and pray"
Softening her voice, Lady Heidmarch addresses Nalathi directly, "You did so well to find this artefact...it has been lost for an age...yet you were the one to find it...and to wield it's power for the first time in many lifetimes", reaching into a pouch that Sharika has been holding, Lady Heidmarch produces a small scarlet and blue gemstone.
"If my suspicions are correct, the design and function of this Artefact is based on an aspect of Azlanti magic similar to that which the Society based the design of our Wayfinders upon. If I am correct, the shard will react to an Ioun Stone in a very particular way"
Offering the gemstone to Nalathi, "Do you think you will be able to work out if the shard will react?"
Zee watches the interaction between Lady Heidmarch and Nalathi with a look of guarded concern.
Naturally, a voice in her head seems to say. Who else but me could hold an artifact like this and not be controlled by it? Sickened by the notion of Lady Heidmarch making requests, but satisfied that she's at least respectful about it, Nalathi takes the stone from her outstretched hand. "Of course I can." Then, having little idea what to actually do, she holds the stone up to the shard to see if anything happens.
"Zee, would you recognize the man from your vision if you saw him again?" Teldon asks while keeping a concerned eye on not only Nalathi but now Lady Heidmarch as well...
Afraid to suggest anything to Nalathi, Zee turns toward Lady Heidmarch. Feigning interest in the short history lesson, Zee asks, "I've met other Pathfinders who have a wayfinder, and I've heard stories of how the device interacts with an ioun stone, but I have never actually seen a combined device. Where does the stone fit in? Is there a socket or a recepticle for the stone in a wayfinder?" She hopes Nalathi will get an idea of her own from this line of talk.
Responding to Teldon's question, "I'm certain I would recognize the man from my vision if I saw an image of him."
Lady Heidmarch watches Nalathi with a look of concern...waiting to see if her theory is proven...
She feels the ioun stone being pulled toward the shard as if by a magnet. Puzzled, she notices an indentation in the coppery metal. She steers the stone toward it and fits the two together.
"Don't ioun stones increase the power of a wayfinder... are we sure we want to increase this things power before we really understand it?" Teldon asks as the two pieces connect... The facts and theories swimming through his mind are momentarily replaced by a sinking feeling in his gut.
As Nalathi moves the Ioun Stone into the indentation within the Shard, it flashes with coppery light and fuses to the shard, and its appearance changes, from blue and scarlet, to look as if it were made of the same material as the shard itself.
Even if she expects it, Lady Heidmarch appears dumbfounded for a moment; when her composure returns, she releases a breath and starts to reveal a little of what has been going on, “Amazing....Just Amazing....What you have found, my friends, is nothing short of a miracle. Varisia has seen its share of miracles of late—the discovery of Xin-Shalast and the defeat of Runelord Karzoug, or Korvosa’s release from mad Ileosa’s rule come to mind—but this discovery will soon be remembered as an equal to those events. This is a powerful Thassilonian artefact, a fragment of horacalcum and a portion of the Shattered Star of Xin: to be precise, the Shard of Pride. I suspect that the shard’s current carrier already knows more about this artefact than I do, in fact...”
Lady Heidmarch looks at Nalathi expectantly...
At Teldon's observation about Wayfinders and Ioun Stones...you all recall what you have been previously told about Wayfinders.
As the stone makes contact with the metal, more than its appearance changes. Nalathi inhales sharply as she feels a new openness and freedom in her mind, as though a presence she hadn't noticed before was suddenly gone. Was that... was that you? She looks down at the shard. She recalls what Lady Heidmarch and the others had been saying about the shard influencing people as if hearing it for the first time. But now you're gone. I can feel it. Something had told her it was the shard that had created the illusory Tower Girl earlier... and that same intuition tells her now that, though the shard remains a potent magical item, it no longer has a will of its own. Somehow, the ioun stone suppressed the shard's influence like a wet blanket on a campfire. So I did beat you after all.
"...already knows more about this artefact than I do, in fact..." Lady Heidmarch was saying. "HA!" Nalathi exclaims, more to the shard than to any of the others. "I told you!" Realizing then that it was she Lady Heidmarch had been talking about, Nalathi's grey skin darkens in embarrassment. "I... well, it... it's magical, I think it made that other Tower Girl. And it makes you... makes me... well, it did make me... I mean, I'm better now, it can't... Now that the stone..." Increasingly aware-- and ashamed-- of how she had been acting lately under the shard's influence, she now finds it difficult to string words together properly.
"That shard represents one of the very pinnacles of Thassilonian magic...I have little doubt that, if you had been exposed to it for as long as Natalya was, you may have succumbed as she did", Lady Heidmarch turn to Sharika who is examining Natalya for any signs of improvement; Sharika merely shakes her head...
"A shame...I had hoped that rendering the shard less potent would have brought some change in our Tower Girl friend here...we will make her comfortable upstairs in a while...in the meantime, Sharika? Could you get that tea please?", the Mwangi girl bustles from the room, pausing only to collect the mess she left at the doorway earlier.
Sitting, Lady Heidmarch starts to tell you a little of what you have found, "The Shattered Star was a powerful defensive item created well over 10,000 years ago by the founder of the empire of Thassilon, an exiled Azlanti named Xin. At that time, the item was known as the Sihedron; a seven-pointed star made of the seven skymetals infused with powerful magic. When the Runelords rebelled against him, this item was broken into seven parts (at least, according to the legends), and the Runelords each claimed a shard for their own. In the 10 millennia since Earthfall and the end of Thassilon, the shards have shifted locations, yet they have never been reassembled into the Sihedron."
Lady Heidmarch pauses, "...What Nalathi currently wears around her neck is the very shard worn by Runelord Xanderghul..."
Opening her book, she leafs through the many pages of drawings, symbols and maps until she arrives at an illustration of a man...even though it is merely a copy of a picture of someone who lived a millennia ago, you can tell this was an exceptionally handsome and charismatic person, "Teldon, you were asking about Runelord Xanderghul? This is from a mural in the Lands of the Linnorm...part of what was Cyrusian"
"Zee, does he look familiar at all?"
"Yes, that's the man I saw in the vision.".
Pondering the new information about the Sihedron, Zee asks,"So, there are six more of these things still out there? Do you or the Society have any idea where each is hidden?"
Looking at the unconscious Natalya, Zee sighs, "I also hoped she would wake up. I have many questions for her about where she found that thing and why the Tower Girls were after her."
When Ziomarra confirms that she did indeed see Xanderghul in her vision, Lady Heidmarch muses, "Strange...that the essence of the runelord still seems to be imprinted into the shard after so much time...needless to say we are in uncharted territory with these shards...how they work and, I'm afraid to say, even what they do is merely hearsay and legend now"
Putting another log onto the dying fire, Lady Heidmarch responds to Ziomarra's question, "These shards were thought lost to the ages...what records the Society have unearthed have all led to dead ends. And then this!!! After being lost for so long, it simply falls into our laps...we have been blessed indeed. As to where the others may be found? Stories talk of how the Sihedron, whilst shattered, still retains a connection to it's constituent parts...and that the owner of a single artefact would be able to divine the approximate location of the next shard in the sequence"
"I must confess though...there are no records of the rituals required to perform such a divination"
"Between bellyflopping into sludge and whatever that thing did, she's probably going to be out for a while," Joanna says from her corner of the room. She'd been quiet for some time now, lost in her own thoughts and worried about what all these omens meant.
"I don't think it is physical injury that has put Natalya into this state...her mind may have been weakened by the effect of the shard...now that it is no longer exerting an influence over her? Well... who knows?"
At Briana's suggestion that the other Tower Girls may have fallen under the influence of the shard, "That is a possibility...Natalya told me little of how this came into her hands so it is certainly conceivable that one or more of them may have succumbed to it's effects...equally, it may well be that they, at least partially, recognise it for what it represents in terms of value"
Lady Heidmarch asks generally, "Did any of you feel anything untoward whilst in the presence of the shard?"
"A seven-pointed star..." She looks at the shard again. Does that mean there are more of you? From the sound of it, even if the others still survived they could be different... perhaps very different. This one made her feel prideful; would the others have similar effects? She gazes at the shard, inspecting its jagged edges, watching it glint in the firelight, imagining what the others might look like.
In response to her hostess' question, Zee replies, "Only when I tried to read its aura. Otherwise, it just appears to be a chunk of copper. Nalathi, have you felt anything weird?",6
Nalathi, stares at the Shard in her hand...nothing happens for a moment and then, with a sharp intake of breath, her eyes roll back in their sockets...and she appears to enter a trance...
...suddenly, you find yourself high above the clouds...a low sun rising above the horizon colouring them a warm pink. Somehow you are flying...slowly gliding into the soft clouds, warm air blowing your hair and then, breaking through the cotton like cumulus, you are miles above a vast continent...a verdant green landscape surrounded by a sapphire blue sea. Descending, the warmth rises from the forests and mountains below you...and you start to pick out the signs of civilisation; cities, roads, fields... Your descent stops and, with the sun somehow now high in the sky, you look around and listen...
A voice...insistent and full of longing, Here...Over here...Come to me....
...and then you are soaring again, close to the ground now and following a wide paved road...passing towering statues glaring down at you, you start to fly towards a bridge...a bridge towering hundreds of feet above the valleys below and continuing for many leagues...indeed, the bridge continues far beyond what you can see...
...and then, you find yourself climbing upwards, looping back on yourself and then dropping below the bridge, you are circling one of the enormous pillars that support the road above it...circling faster and faster, you realise you are not flying alone, you are surrounded by an enormous flock of crows...midnight black carrion cawing and screeching, you realise you can understand them...
...Here...This is what you seek...Lost for so long...Come back to me...
And then...you're not moving anymore...you are in Lady Heidmarch's manor...the shard cooling in your hands....
Teldon stares expectantly at Nalathi in her trance, his mind quickly running through various scenarios of what could be happening...
I am sorely unprepared for this... if Xanderghul possesses her we do not yet have nearly the power to stop him... my father had been through so much before he faced Karzoug...
Zee looks concerned as Nalathi seems to slip into a trance. She casts a spell, and holds one Harrow card before her right eye.
Ziomarra, the aura surrounding Nalathi, centred and circling around her head, is impossible to read...it appears to be a divination aura but is interwoven with illusion and transmutation strands....
Her consciousness snaps back into reality with a jolt. "I saw where the next shard is," she says, ignoring Zee's question. "It... it's underneath a bridge. There's a bridge on a big continent-- like, a really long one. The bridge, not the continent. A really long bridge, and it's underneath, near one of the pillars... And I was flying with a flock of crows..." Not having recognized the continent, she couldn't be much more help than that.
Zee looks at the odd-looking gnome with a wry grin. "A gigantic bridge? Like the one we were just under?"
"Near it? Or under it?"
Joanna asks, her voice grim.
No sooner has Nalathi told everyone what she saw, then Lady Heidmarch starts leafing through her large book...the gentle odour of leather and parchment filling the room as, quietly, she hums a gentle tune to herself.
The Irespan is a source of wonderment, mystery, and ill fortune. Although the founders of Magnimar chose their community's location primarily for its natural harbour and proximity to the Yondabakari River, the ancient rubble of the Irespan that once littered the surrounding beaches proved an opportune source of building materials for the fledgling community. Today, many of Magnimar's oldest and most elegant structures boast foundations, supports, and statuary constructed of lrespan basalt.
Ten of the enormous Irespan pilings still stand today, although only four actually support the bridge itself, with the other six protruding from the waters below, each rising to a different height. Whereas the bridge's deck bears very few decorative carvings, the same is not true of its pilings; not only does each piling feature dozens of arched supports and flourishes, but each also carries its own unique theme. These graven creatures grace the stone in various poses, and today, each of the ten surviving pilings is known by its associated animal (or in the case of the Harpy piling, a monster).
The various animals, referenced in a multitude of tavern names throughout the city, are:
- Whale
- Shark
- Salmon
- Rat
- Osprey
- Gull
- Gecko
- Firepelt
- and, farthest out to sea...the Crow
Teldon begins to open his mouth, but curiosity gets the better of him and he instead cranes his neck and attempts to make out something of the book the Lady flips through...
As she flips he absentmindedly states, "how fortuitous that we are already in the right town... though I suppose that's no coincidence- it likely led its former owner here, just as it led Natalya to Underbridge... slowly drawing owners closer and closer to the next shard..."
Concluding her history lesson, she sums up: "As one who often interprets symbolism, this seems clear: The Shard of Pride is telling us that the next piece is hidden somewhere in The Crow."
After a pause, "Lady Heidmarch, I know it is the Society's charter to unearth lost secrets, but it is wise to seek out the next piece? The only good I can think of would be to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands...especially if the Aspis Consortium catches wind of the first one being uncovered."
Lady Heidmarch makes no attempt to hide what is within the book and, as Teldon watches, she leafs through annotated maps of Varisian regions, endless passages of Thassilonian text accompanied with their translations and various drawings of buildings, statues and people. Finding the page that she was clearly looking for, Lady Heidmarch opens it onto a table and asks Nalathi whether this is what she saw.
Spread over two adjoining pages, is a delicately drawn picture of what you immediately recognise to be the Irespan…yet, it is not the Irespan of today as, where there are now ruined pilings, the drawing shows the Irespan complete and disappearing into the distance. There are other obvious differences; whilst the presence of the Seacleft makes it obvious that the bridge is the Irespan, there is no evidence of Magnimar within the drawing… indeed, the Irespan does not even appear to be crossing the sea…valleys, hills and rivers are drawn below the immense structure.
”I agree, it does seem incredibly fortuitous that a second shard is so close to hand…I must agree with Teldon’s conjecture, if the shards do share some form of a connection then it is not inconceivable that Xanderghul’s shard may have, over the thousands of years it has been lost, been carried and drawn towards the next shard. If Natalya regains consciousness maybe she will be able to shed some light on part of this mystery…”, the look on Lady Heidmarch’s face suggests that she doesn’t hold out a lot of hope that this will happen.
”Ziomarra, I understand your concerns and I would be playing you false if I said that I didn’t have some concerns as to the perils that may lie ahead but, can you not see what this may represent? The Sihedron was perhaps one of First King Xin’s greatest creations…to have the opportunity to find it’s lost parts, to learn from it and, ultimately, to reform it would allow us to learn more of Thassilon than we could ever hope to have achieved in a thousand lifetimes. It would provide the tool by which Magnimar can ensure it’s safety for millennia and…it would write our fledgling lodge into the history books forever”
Turning to see Sharika arriving with a tray, ”Aaah, I see our tea has arrived…Sharika, could you please serve our guests?”
Lady Heidmarch continues, ”History tells us that what is found can never be truly unfound…regardless of any reservations you may have, I’m afraid Ziomarra is correct… if we do not follow this path, in time others must inevitably hear of this discovery and seek the other shards… the Consortium, or worse may end up finding artefact that we may not be able to counteract… I urge you to consider this quest… for Magnimar, for Varisia, for the Society and… for your place in History”
Ziomarra grins a mirthless smile and shakes her head. "Well, if I had been content to perform Harrow readings for tourists at two silvers a session, I would not have left Kaer Maga. And if I truly thought that secrets were meant to stay buried, I would not have petitioned to join the Pathfinder Society!"