She decides that the safest course of action for all parties is to try and avoid answering the question. Unbidden she hears a voice speak into her mind.
By word or deed you shall never speak of hidden Talashaku!''
Satazia flinches in head for a moment but realizes it is just a memory from her training and not an actual voice speaking to her.
Shaking her head internally at her own foolishness she looks back at Maridal with a feigned look of confusion on her face.
''Who does this one work for?'' She makes sure to add just a little bit more bewilderment to her tone. ''This one does not work for anyone or any group within your fair city. That is why she wants to know if anyone needs work done.'' Internally she smirks to herself.
None of that is technically untrue and if he presses me and I can always feign outrage that he treats guests in such a way.
.
For the first instance in their interaction, Maridal is caught off guard by Satazia's pronouncement. How quickly and perilously doe swing the pendulum of etiquette, grazing even the most agile partners in the esoteric procession of proper forms! He stutters slightly in reply, his pale cheek reddening slightly at his own breach of protocol,"I... spoke presumptuously mistress Satazia, and had not considered in my small imagination that you might be among those worthy champions we recently referred to as "Lone Wolves," for independent mercenaries were banned from the city by an edict of the late Mad King Galthus, who considered them all to be potential assassins poised to unseat him from a narrowly-won and tenaciously-held throne. As it was, this did not prove to be an entirely unwarranted precaution, since the Raving Prince was in fact struck down by just such a solitary man of arms... In any event, this edict was lifted by the Upper Guild Council following the demise of that ill-minded sovereign, and though few of your kind now inhabit our fair city, they are once again welcome to ply their fortunes as fate may allow."
He continues now, more steadily, to address the remainder of the half-breed's inquiry, "As to the question of employment, my liege house, Guild Desbiraes, as well as the direct patron of this establishment, is in fact in need of a body guard for its representative in the Palladium of the People..." he pauses slightly, slowing his speech and considering the next words carefully, "... the greater details of which venture I am not, unfortunately at leisure to disclose in the present, public circumstances in which you and I find ourselves."
However, he continues purposefully, "If my mistress would be pleased to attend me later within the discrete confines offered by one of this establishment's convocation chamber, these details could be provided."
"Should you wish to pursue this course of action, I can arrange for suitable accommodation in this caravan house, including filing the proper documents in the Guild archives. I am visiting this afternoon as Desbiraes' representative to one of its many mercantile clients, and thus can prepare and deposit the forms upon my return to the Guild House in the District of Dividends later this afternoon, and then return before nightfall to accord the Lady Satazia access to her bed chambers. Does that meet with your desires?"
Bodyguard work? I could not ask for a better assignment. That should grant me access to both important people as well as access to potentially restricted areas.
Reigning in her excitement before it makes Maridal suspicious, that one is cleverer than he appears after all, she nods her head in answer to his questions.
This one would be interested in pursuing such work, though she does have questions, nothing major of course, just who she will be guarding and why they might need a bodyguard? In either case the one called Satazia will be pleased if you will find her accommodations and begin her paperwork.
While she awaits his response she thinks back to some of the things he had already told her.
Palladium of the People? What exactly is that? I know I read about it somewhere.
Report of Avarnamyrityur of the Great Clutch of Vityadyah of the Waning of the Moon of the Eon of Blossoming Fire in the Wake of the Death and Sacrifice of the Great Mother
The Great Palladium of the People is, even in a city crowded with immense edifices, by several measures the grandest. Its foundation stone (e.g., as were all such establishments in the days of the First Expansion, by runes of the esoteric Deinysicithean script which was then both a spoken and written language among scheming sorcerers of the Devonorian Kabbals) was purportedly set by the Mercerar the Finder, a storied scion of House Ischichos, who discovered the three great spawning beds of the curious multi-hued crustaceans he dubbed isquamusseos-asadellenae-fanicosoussos – ‘collectors’ after losing a hunt animal to the depths contained within one’s kaleidoscopic shell.
In any event, the Palladium of the People was originally named the Imperial Palladium, and was a market and court for the ruling Devonorian agencies in the city, at the head of which was the Mercerian Vice-regent and the Grand Chancellor of the Imperial Exchequer, and advisory position who also ensured the interests of the Imperial House remained foremost in the agenda of the Vice-regent’s council.
Following the independence of the city from Imperial rule, alongside the rest of the Hundred Kingdoms, the governing functions of the Vice-regent’s council was taken over by the Grand Council of the Bargemasters Guilds. Still, as the heads of these guilds were not Imperial citizens, but rather subjects, as were all non-Nommo in the Empire, the Palladium was renamed to express its new representation from the Sea Folk, Cindarians, and Kai-lio, including Nommo half-breeds, who now made up the ruling assemblies of the Greater and Lesser Council.
The vast dome of the Palladium is over a thousand feet in diameter, and rises to a similar height. Through the massive oculus which pierces its summit are by some mystical means focused the rays of the sun from above the waves. The vast concavity within the dome contains several small palatial structures and adjoining barriers towards its center where the business of the Great and Lesser Guild Councils are conducted.
I observed several ramps to lower levels, but was unable to obtain leisure to access them personally. Based on both inference and the overheard conversations of merchant and Guild representatives gathered within the hall, I surmise they contain several levels of tunnels, including a hidden and guarded passage to the Great Exchequer, as well as the Palantine Residences of the Three Great Guilds.
The structure is guarded by an independent order of watchmen known as the Pallidum Sentinels, who each wear a distinctive set of completely-enclosing and deep violent armor which pulses ominously with winning hum of an electrostatic current. These watched mine, all other visitors’, steps closely…
Maridal nods with an diplomatic countenance,
“Rest assured, mistress Satazia, these and other relevant details with be made clear in the… appropriate circumstances this evening.”
He turns to leave, the folds of his rainbow-striped tunic rippling in a dizzying display as he begins to depart,
“Please make yourself comfortable here, mistress, and enjoy the hospitality of the Bounty. Open account on the grace of House Desbiraes and I will be pleased to settle it upon my return, along with the arrangements for your accomodations in this good house.”
Satazia is left to contemplate the Hall of Joy and its occupants. It hosts a wide variety of travelers from distant lands. Perhaps the most curious is a table near the center of the room surrounded by what appear to be travelers from the distant territory of Ashlaguttah, the Land of the Emissaries, and the greatest empire of the Sundered Seas. An Asherak accompanied by a number of Echnin guards, Satazia can only assume, and a number of mysterious robed figures is making remarks in an excited tone that might just be audible to an attentive ear.
AUSTORIANS:
Austorian Hydrochemical Phoenix (underwater version of Alchemical Dragon from Ultimate Combat)
DESCRIPTION:
Among the most distinctive of the battle barges that cruise the troubled waters of the Greater Orbragg, the Hydrochemical Phoenixes are some of the most powerful creations of the Detliefsmaenner Karathusians, an esoteric and, some assert, heretical order of Summoners who were also responsible for one of the largest hydrophoenix aquaries in Unquenchable Valor, second lowest of the original Seven Cities where this caste held the greatest influence. Now, only a few remain, including three in the employ of the Four Buergermaesters of the Wavebreaker Shipwright Guild
This ship is made of wood and is usually crafted in the shape of a . It is held aloft purely by its alchemical engine, a complicated and dangerous device that has a tendency to explode when the vehicle becomes wrecked.
If an hydrochemical phoenix crashes and the hydrochemical phoenix has a driver, that driver can make a DC 30 driving check as an . If the check fails, the alchemical engine explodes, dealing 10d10 points of fire damage to all objects and creatures within a 60-foot radius of the alchemical engine. A DC 20 save halves the damage.
Colossal Water vehicle
Squares 60 (20 ft. by 75 ft.); Cost 100,000 gp
DEFENSE:
AC 2; Hardness 5
hp 900 (449)
Base Save +0
OFFENSE:
Maximum Speed 100 ft.; Acceleration 30 ft.
Weapons Up to 6 Large direct-fire siege engines in banks of 3 positioned on the port and starboard sides of the hydrochemical phonenix, or up to 4 Huge direct-fire siege engines in banks of two on the port and starboard sides of the ship. The siege engines may only fire out the sides of the ship they are positioned on. They cannot be swiveled to fire toward the forward or aft sides of the ship.
*** Bombard, standard (x4)
Attack ram 8d8
CMB +8; CMD 18
DRIVE:
Propulsion alchemical (6 squares of alchemical engines in the middle of the ship; 8, hp 120)
Driving Check (alchemy) or (arcana) +10 to the DC
Forward Facing the ship’s forward
Driving Device steering wheel
Driving Space the nine squares around the steering wheel that sits at the front of the ship
Crew 10
LOAD:
Decks 1
Cargo Up to 20 tons or 70 passengers.
OPPONENTS:
1 Thundercrasher Charger, 2 Thundercrasher Gorgerakers
#1. (x1)
Thundercrasher Charger/Horde Beast of Charr’Tarr (Fiendish, Chaotic, Evil, Extraplanar, Voidpawn)
Thundercrasher Chargers are armored beasts with dense carapaces known to ram defensive emplacements when faced in the caverns of Charr’Tarr
CE Huge Animal
Init +0; Senses low-light vision, scent darkvision 60 ft. Perception +14
Defense:
AC 22, touch 8, flat-footed 22 (+14 natural -2 size)
Wounds 34; Vigor 45
Fort +12, Ref +7, Will +4
Resist cold 20, electricity 20, and fire 20
[b]DR 5/good SR 11
Offense:
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Tail+14 (3d6+12 plus stun); Tusks 4d6+28; Scythe Stalk 2d4+14(x2)
Space 15 ft. Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks Smite Good
Statistics
Str 27, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 8
Base Atk +7, CMB +17, CMD 27 (31 vs. trip)
Feats: Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Tail), Weapon, Focus (claw), Weapon Focus (bite), Channel Essential Energy, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved, Initiative, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Power Attack,
Skills: Perception +14
Special Abilities:
Bane Blood (Ex): When a Thundercrasher is damaged by a slashing or piercing weapon, its blood erupts in a blue flame. This causes 1d4 points of fire damage to the character striking the Thundercrasher, if the character is within 5 feet of the Thundercrasher. A Reflex save (DC 10 plus damage inflicted on the Thundercrasher) negates the fire damage. If the damage is caused by a successful critical hit, the bane blood instead affects all creatures within 5 feet and inflicts 1d6 points of fire damage.
Feed (Su): A Thundercrasher can feed on the pain and suffering it causes. Feeding is the only way a Thundercrasher can heal damage; cure spells fail, and natural healing is impossible. Once per day, a
Thundercrasher can attack with a natural melee weapon to draw strength from a living opponent. If the attack hits, the Thundercrasher is cured of an amount of damage equal to that inflicted on its opponent (up to the opponent’s current hit points +10). The wound caused in its opponent is spiritual, and cannot be healed naturally or with spells until the injured creature is purified. The creature suffers 1 point of Charisma drain each day until its wound is purified, at which point the drain is undone. Purification requires the creature to be the subject of a turning attempt which causes turning damage equal to or greater than the Thundercrasher’s HD, or an atonement spell (no XP cost).
Smite (Su): Once per day a Thundercrasher can make a normal melee attack to deal extra damage equal to its HD (maximum of +20) against a good or lawful opponent.
Twist Reality (Su): The presence of a Thundercrasher causes its surroundings to bend around it. The air is darker in its vicinity, wood seems to warp, and flames turn blue. This grants the Thundercrasher concealment (20% miss chance). Even creatures using blindsight or similar abilities are subject to the miss chance, but it can be ignored by a creature using true seeing.
Warp Magic (Ex): Thundercrashers are unnatural creatures, and a strange aura exists around them that warps magical energies. When a spell or spell-like ability is cast within 30 feet of a lesser Thundercrasher, 40 feet of a greater Thundercrasher, or 60 feet of an arch Thundercrasher, the air around the Thundercrasher wavers slightly. The caster must succeed on a Concentration check (see chart for DC) or the spell is miscast and lost. If the Thundercrasher is the target of a miscast spell, each creature within 10 feet of the Thundercrasher must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or be jarred by the dispersing magical energies and nauseated for 1 round. Make the Concentration check to determine success only after all other distracting factors have been resolved (but before attempts at counterspelling). Thundercrasher and half- Thundercrasher are immune to all effects of warp magic.
Keen Sight (Su): Thundercrashers have low-light vision and 60-foot darkvision. Thundercrasher see as if under the influence of true seeing (caster level 20th), and can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell.
Immunities (Ex): Thundercrasher are immune to poison and all natural diseases.
Resistances (Ex): Thundercrashers have resistance to cold 20, electricity 20, and fire 20.
Stun (Ex): The Thundercrasher’s tail can deliver a powerful, stunning blow. A creature struck by this attack must make a DC 23 save or be dazed for 1 round. If the strike is a critical hit and the target fails its save, it is instead stunned for 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Strength-based.
Smite Good (Su): 1/day as a swift action (adds CHA bonus (+0) to attack rolls and damage bonus equal to HD (10) against good foes; smite persists until target is dead or the fiendish creature rests).
Swallow Whole (Ex): The Thundercrasher can swallow a grabbed opponent of a smaller size than itself by making a successful grapple check. Once inside the Thundercrasher, the opponent takes 2d6 plus the Thundercrasher’s Strength modifier points of bludgeoning damage per round. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 30 points of damage to the Thundercrasher’s interior (AC 10 + 1/2 Thundercrasher’s natural armor bonus). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. The Thundercrasher’s interior can hold 2 opponents one size category smaller than itself, 8 opponents two size categories smaller, 32 opponents three size categories smaller, or 128 opponents four or more size categories smaller than itself.
Tusks (Ex): The Thundercrasher’s tusks deal 4d6 plus twice its Strength bonus points of damage when it makes a charge.
Scythe Stalks (Ex): The Thundercrasher has two long stalks with scythe-like blades sprouting from its body that it can use as a natural secondary attack. Scythe stalks inflict 2d6 points of slashing damage, and do triple damage on a successful critical hit.
Voidspawn: Voidspawn are creatures born in the unnatural ecology of the Void, whose corrupt nature affects their surroundings. All calling and summoning spells cast within 30 feet of a voidspawn gain the evil descriptor (altering their effects, in the case of summon monster and similar spells where the creature conjured is affected by the descriptor), even if the caster could not normally cast evil spells. Voidspawn also leave traces of their evil on their destroyers. A creature who kills a voidspawn (summoned voidspawn cannot be “killed” for these purposes) must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 voidspawn’s HD + voidspawn’s Charisma modifier) or have the voidspawn’s aura cling to it for 24 hours before dissipating. The voidspawn’s evil aura is the same strength as when it was alive, and while it does not replace the creature’s natural aura, it is revealed as surrounding the creature with detect evil spells and similar effects.
#2. (x2)
Thundercrasher Gorgeraker/Horde Beast of Charr’Tarr (Fiendish, Chaotic, Evil, Extraplanar, Voidpawn)
A particularly menacing breed of the Thundercrasher’s Gorgerakers are covered in dorsal spines that rake the sides of the deep clefts of the Charr’Tarr, causing an eerie harbinger of their approach for Austorian units unlucky enough to be sent to face them
CE Large Animal
Init +6; Senses low-light vision, scent darkvision 60 ft. Perception +7
Defense:
AC 18, touch 11, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex natural -1 size)
Wounds 30; Vigor 40
Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +4
Defensive Abilities:
Resist cold 20, electricity 20, and fire 20
DR 5/good SR 11
Offense:
Speed 40 ft.
Melee bite +13 (4d6+12/19-20 plus ); spines+13 1d6(x3); tail+13 (4d6+6plus trip)
Space 10 ft. Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Smite Good
Statistics
Str 24, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 10
Base Atk +6, CMB +14, CMD 26
Feats: Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Tail), Weapon, Focus (claw), Weapon Focus (bite), Channel Essential Energy, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved, Initiative, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Stealth), Run, Bleeding Critical, Critical Focus, Diehard, Endurance, Improved Critical (bite), Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills: Perception +7; Stealth +12; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth
Special Abilities:
Impaling Strike (Ex): A Thundercrasher’s tail is a primary attack that deals piercing damage and has a ×3 critical damage multiplier.
Powerful Bite (Ex): A Thundercrasher applies twice its Strength modifier to bite damage.
Ferocity: A creature with ferocity remains conscious and can continue fighting even if its hit point total is below 0. The creature is still and loses 1 hit point each round. A creature with ferocity still dies when its hit point total reaches a negative amount equal to its score.
Blood Rage (Ex): When a Thundercrasher takes damage in combat, on its next turn it can fly into a rage as a free action. It gains +2 and +2 , but takes a –2 penalty to its AC. The rage lasts as long as the battle or 1 minute, whichever is shorter. It cannot end its rage voluntarily.
Bane Blood (Ex): When a Thundercrasher is damaged by a slashing or piercing weapon, its blood erupts in a blue flame. This causes 1d4 points of fire damage to the character striking the Thundercrasher, if the character is within 5 feet of the Thundercrasher. A Reflex save (DC 10 plus damage inflicted on the Thundercrasher) negates the fire damage. If the damage is caused by a successful critical hit, the bane blood instead affects all creatures within 5 feet and inflicts 1d6 points of fire damage.
Feed (Su): A Thundercrasher can feed on the pain and suffering it causes. Feeding is the only way a Thundercrasher can heal damage; cure spells fail, and natural healing is impossible. Once per day, a
Thundercrasher can attack with a natural melee weapon to draw strength from a living opponent. If the attack hits, the Thundercrasher is cured of an amount of damage equal to that inflicted on its opponent (up to the opponent’s current hit points +10). The wound caused in its opponent is spiritual, and cannot be healed naturally or with spells until the injured creature is purified. The creature suffers 1 point of Charisma drain each day until its wound is purified, at which point the drain is undone. Purification requires the creature to be the subject of a turning attempt which causes turning damage equal to or greater than the Thundercrasher’s HD, or an atonement spell (no XP cost).
Smite (Su): Once per day a Thundercrasher can make a normal melee attack to deal extra damage equal to its HD (maximum of +20) against a good or lawful opponent.
Twist Reality (Su): The presence of a Thundercrasher causes its surroundings to bend around it. The air is darker in its vicinity, wood seems to warp, and flames turn blue. This grants the Thundercrasher concealment (20% miss chance). Even creatures using blindsight or similar abilities are subject to the miss chance, but it can be ignored by a creature using true seeing.
Warp Magic (Ex): Thundercrashers are unnatural creatures, and a strange aura exists around them that warps magical energies. When a spell or spell-like ability is cast within 30 feet of a lesser Thundercrasher, 40 feet of a greater Thundercrasher, or 60 feet of an arch Thundercrasher, the air around the Thundercrasher wavers slightly. The caster must succeed on a Concentration check (see chart for DC) or the spell is miscast and lost. If the Thundercrasher is the target of a miscast spell, each creature within 10 feet of the Thundercrasher must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or be jarred by the dispersing magical energies and nauseated for 1 round. Make the Concentration check to determine success only after all other distracting factors have been resolved (but before attempts at counterspelling). Thundercrasher and half- Thundercrasher are immune to all effects of warp magic.
Keen Sight (Su): Thundercrashers have low-light vision and 60-foot darkvision. Thundercrasher see as if under the influence of true seeing (caster level 20th), and can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell.
Immunities (Ex): Thundercrasher are immune to poison and all natural diseases.
Resistances (Ex): Thundercrashers have resistance to cold 20, electricity 20, and fire 20.
Stun (Ex): The Thundercrasher’s tail can deliver a powerful, stunning blow. A creature struck by this attack must make a DC 23 save or be dazed for 1 round. If the strike is a critical hit and the target fails its save, it is instead stunned for 1d4 rounds. The save DC is Strength-based.
Smite Good (Su): 1/day as a swift action (adds CHA bonus (+0) to attack rolls and damage bonus equal to HD (10) against good foes; smite persists until target is dead or the fiendish creature rests).
Swallow Whole (Ex): The Thundercrasher can swallow a grabbed opponent of a smaller size than itself by making a successful grapple check. Once inside the Thundercrasher, the opponent takes 2d6 plus the Thundercrasher’s Strength modifier points of bludgeoning damage per round. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 30 points of damage to the Thundercrasher’s interior (AC 10 + 1/2 Thundercrasher’s natural armor bonus). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. The Thundercrasher’s interior can hold 2 opponents one size category smaller than itself, 8 opponents two size categories smaller, 32 opponents three size categories smaller, or 128 opponents four or more size categories smaller than itself.
Spines (Ex): The Thundercrasher can fire up to three spines per round at a single target as a standard action (make an attack role for each spine). This attack has a range increment of 30 feet and deals 1d6 plus the Thundercrasher’s Strength modifier points of damage. The Thundercrasher can fire a maximum of twenty-four spines in a given 24-hour period.
Sunder the Earth (Su): Once per day, the Thundercrasher can drive an appendage into the ground, sending out tremors and pollutants through the area. The effect is identical to an earthquake spell (caster level 18th) centered on the Thundercrasher, with the additional effect of noxious fumes which rise from any fissures. If fissures are created, creatures within the earthquake’s area of effect must succeed on DC 20 Fortitude saves or suffer 1d4 points of Constitution damage from poison.
Voidspawn: Voidspawn are creatures born in the unnatural ecology of the Void, whose corrupt nature affects their surroundings. All calling and summoning spells cast within 30 feet of a voidspawn gain the evil descriptor (altering their effects, in the case of summon monster and similar spells where the creature conjured is affected by the descriptor), even if the caster could not normally cast evil spells. Voidspawn also leave traces of their evil on their destroyers. A creature who kills a voidspawn (summoned voidspawn cannot be “killed” for these purposes) must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 voidspawn’s HD + voidspawn’s Charisma modifier) or have the voidspawn’s aura cling to it for 24 hours before dissipating. The voidspawn’s evil aura is the same strength as when it was alive, and while it does not replace the creature’s natural aura, it is revealed as surrounding the creature with detect evil spells and similar effects.
All around him the chaos kept unfolding. Sven was dead, though Hrugnir hoped that he would be able to be resurrected soon. The soul catchers were probably the only reason why the Austorians had been able to hold on for as long as they did. All that were left were himself, Sigun, and Hragni. And even though more of the monsters were appearing, it looked like the Austorian military was arriving with the speed and discipline that had kept their last city 'safe' for all of these years. Still, it was time to go. There were questions that he did not want to have to answer...
"Sigun! Hragni! We have to get out of here. Let's move."
.
Despite Hrungnir’s valiant assault upon the fulminating Charger, the great Thundercrasher stubbornly persisted to continue its barrage of attacks upon the noble Abluted scion and his friends.
The detritus-filled waters of the Plaza continued to stir ominously, energized, none could doubt, by the ponderous motion of the hordes massing below, deeper in the orchid-colored tides of the Greater Orbragg.
Once again the unearthly keening of the horde commenced, shaking the walls of Last Redoubt to their very foundations. The waters over the Plaza once again disgorged harbingers of the horde, a pair of spine-laden Gorgerakers, among the most fearsome in aspect of all the Thundercrasher brood of the Charr’Tarr caverns.
Assuredly unbidden, the eerie susurrations of their bristled carapaces bring to Hrungnir’s mind the report of Gorthain’s Company, who had unsuccessfully attempted some dozen cycles previously to destroy the noxious luminescent shard, buried deep within the inverted caverns of Charr’Tarr, whose un-mortal energies it is said gave rise to the various broods of the monstrosities that issue forth in seemingly unending waves from this strange clime. Several of Gorthain’s elite Dragongarda accompaniment had been anhilated by a small swarm of these creatures encountered in the pocked chambers beneath the dreaded stalactite whose unearthly power had birthed their murderous forms. Could they possibly fare better than the storied twain of Herath Stormshield and Eithgar Rightblow?
But just as their hope appeared to descend in a complete eclipse, the darkness parted to reveal the glistening azure profile of a Hydrochemical Phoenix, one of the greatest vessels that once formed the teeming battle fleets of the Greater Orbragg.
Chiefly the design of the Karathusian Kabbal, a society of Detliefsmaenner beast-masters famous for the hydrophoenix aquarie, perhaps the greatest to once shadow the streets of Unquenchable Valor.
The hull of the vessel is made of metal-hard buloke planks, supernaturally large samples of which were cultivated in a subterranean herbarium within the Karathusians’ home city. This shell is coated with a shimmering liquid varnish that glimmers as if aflame.
Deliberately carved in the shape of the mighty war beasts that bear the sorcerers of the Detliefsmaenner into battle, its appearance is all too welcome to Hrungnir and his friends, in spite of a traditional reserve among the Abluted and Lustrated of the Old Faith regarding the great, winged creatures and their uncanny resemblance to some of the Fallen One’s minions.
The great vessel bristles with four immense bombards now being loaded by the crew.
”Aye, Father of the Stormwinds, the cavalry has arrived!” cries Sigrunn through the denouement of the horde’s keening.
Zalona’s gaze shifts to take in the origin of the grating plea. She observes a pair of curious vessels, one positioned in the path of the other, as if to block the view westwards.
Glowing sigils recognizable as those from one of the three great palace stationed at the edge of the pits on the east of the city hover above the obstructing vessel.
Likewise, the obstructed vessel is surmounted by a series of runes identical with those emblazoned on the great gate that rises from the ruins beyond the pit.
”Incredibly petty, there’s no doubt about it” a new voice imposes itself upon Zalona’s consciousness, the origin of which the Rusalka soon discovers is a female Sea Folk dressed in a bright livery of a shade comparable to that of incandescent drifting vessel which Zalona has recently espied in the waters above the vast expanse of Merceria
”Desse'kesifabirez and the other two original Great Guilds are determined to make Henares’ entry among their ranks as unpleasant as possible. I mean, this doesn’t even really make sense as a slight, since they’ll all be quite capable of getting an up-close perspective on the Pale Oracles forces soon enough when the delegation arrives at the Palladium. This is just pettiness for its own sake.”
”We, however,” she quickly continues,”may not find ourselves afforded a better vantage than this, and thus I wonder whether you might be interested in a closer inspection of the soon to be rulers of our fair city through my humble looking glass?”
As she finishes she proffers a small telescopic lens to the Rusalka.
Zalona glances at the lens and back to the woman. Thank you. She takes the lens and gets a better look. She then asks, while she is examining the obstructing vessel, Who is the pale oracle anyway?
I'm Zalona by the way she says as she hands back the lens.
Having already doomed his companion, Walks-A-Shadowed-Path continues in the language of resolute uncertainty "He whose name has been freed from language had, at one point, collected a group of the children of his enemies. He decided to perform a ritual. This ritual required the death of half the children to power it, and so he did what was required. The souls of the children he slew he stored in gems for further use, and then he took the souls of the children he did not slay and put them into the undead bodies of those he did. He then returned them to their homes." Walks-A-Shadowed-Path waits for the realization of what happenened next to dawn on the Chosen's first.
Taking another sip of her drink as she gazes around the room, Satazia frowns a little when she discovers her drink is finished. Deciding to order another she casts another eye at the table with the Asherak, Echinn and robed figures.
Deciding to eavesdrop, she begins to swim a little closer to the table from Ashlaguttah, pretending to gaze all around the room while focusing her ears and peripheral vision on the table.
As she listens in she tries to remember any details of Ashlaguttah that might be relevant or helpful.
Ictaiojh'Oc'Xylthixr awakes from a dream, basking in the warm green glow of the azulbryn discs etched into his breastplate.
Dreams, dreams of nothing. As is such in this once great city, the city of Mourn. Maybe one day this city will live again, maybe there is still a chance, there must be a gather of Deep-ones.
Within seconds his thoughts were broken by cries of tower's magical servants. He snapped out of his lulled state, now take over by a since of urgency and curiosity.
"Could they be guests or more of those damned cultists? Get the others into battle positions."
Ictaiojh grabbed his greatspear and rushed through the hallowed halls to a balcony overlooking the gates, needing to get a better look at these strangers.
Ashlaughuttah -- The Land of the Emissaries:
Also, pronounced Ashkalutaugh or Ashtaloo, this eastern immense territory of the Sundered Seas is an empire devoted to the veneration of the Yugoloths, each of whose principle dominions rival a western kingdom in size. In the wake of the Dragon’s defeat, the ancient inhabitants of city-states, nations, or empires recorded variously as Tanshanabar, Ormauth, Yhersult, Saal-Ortakk, Endaranil, among others, found themselves at the mercy of the rising waters, and all their gods deceased in the recently-concluded conflict between the Dragon and Her creation.
Presumably as a route of last resort, a pact was made with the General of Gehenna, the ruler of all Yugoloths. It is possible that the desperate bargain which these peoples with the General of Gehenna was the product of a pre-existing cabal of Yugoloth worshippers within some or all of these kingdoms, though the accounts differ. In exchange for a great quantity of souls offered as infernal coinage to the enigmatic master of the Grey Wastes, the peoples of these forgotten Pre-Accord lands secured their continued existence beneath the waves in vast citadels of burnished brass, all formerly war engines in the armada of the General’s armies. Transported to a very different climate, they now move across the sea floor by means of a bevy of immense clawed appendages.
It is also reported that the ruling class has interbred with Yugoloths, and that a race of Asterak-Daemon crossbreed is found here, and nowhere else.
Much of what is known of the Land of the Emissaries in the west is either rumor or conjecture raised by the passage of its brightly colored caravans into important ports of trade such as Merceria and Baxtaron.
In previous centuries, Devonoria warred with Ashlaghuttah in a series of indecisive wars. However, the decline of Devonoria has decreased its interest in warfare.
The great cities of Tainursruptas and Oinosursruptas are, respectively, the centers of worship for the General of Gehenna and the Oinoloth, and are not mobile as are most of the other citadels of the Emissaries.
Tainursruptas is a remnant of an impossibly ancient Pre-Accord metropolis. The major feature is the Citadel of the Harbinger, a vast monolith of unnerving angles whose summit is sheathed in a carapace of roiling, ichor-bleeding chitin. This vast fortress comprises some half of the entire city, and reaches thousands of feet, its foundations burrowing deep into the ocean floor, and its uppermost chambers rising menacingly above the waves. Within is a chamber where the Harbinger regularly takes audiences with the General of Gehenna.
A small population of humans or elves is rumored to live in the uppermost part of the Citadel of the Harbinger, the purest survival of the pre-Accord civilization that gave birth to the empire of which this fortress is the center.
In addition, the city is surrounded by a dense wall of impenetrable ink.
Oinosursruptas is shrouded from the rest of the sundered seas by a thick barrier of supersaturating bones of all varieties and dimensions. It also appears to be a survival of a Pre-Accord city. The greatest landmark is the Gate of Power, a massive structure which faces the Emissaries’ few rivals to the east.
In the past, a civil war waged between these two cities in the course of which the Oinoloth was deposed and Oinos’ursruptas sacked. It is believed by many that the General of Gehenna and the Oinoloth may be preparing a new conflict.
The recent news of the region comes from an embassy to the Melting Isles of the Ice Elves, where the messengers of a slave caravan complained of their desperation to replace the loss of the breeding pits of Oinosursruptas to an unprecedented invasion. It was not by the hand of the General or his representative, and this has greatly unnerved the representatives of the greatest empire in the Sundered Seas. The second city of the Emissaries is currently inaccessible, held by some immense darkness even greater in strength than the infernal patrons of this evil realm, a might which has turned back with seemingly little effort any attempts to reclaim the city by the massed armies of the Emissaries. All that is known is that Oinos'ursruptas has been claimed by a power that either identifies itself as, or is so known to the Emissaries as, the "Wise Ones" or the "Knowing Ones" or the "Bright Ones".
The Asterak gestures grandly, his vermillion robes and elaborate baroque mantle, inlaid with a discordantly-delicate filigree of shining golden hue, as he appears to commence once again his speech to the two robed figures,
”By Name of the Great One Who Waits in the Tower, I cannot bear your intransigency on this matter – whatever trespassed between the Lord General and the previous occupant of the Tower cannot shape our present endeavors; I can scare imagine that the ones who so easily seized Oinosursruptas’ famed Gate of Power of shall long turn their eye from the mysteries of the Citadel of the Lord General and His Harbinger, or do you imagine yourselves so much greater that you will prevail where the marshalled armies of the Waiting One endured for not the space of an hour?”
He shakes his head as he continues,
“Ancient Ones, I cannot imagine that you are so deceived,”
The Echinn guards stir slightly, perhaps unsure of their loyalties between the Asterak and the robed figures seated opposite him, on the far side of the embossed marble expanse of a gaming-table.
After an uncomfortable pause, a silken, serpentine voice emerges from one of the hooded figures,
“We are not, of course, unaware of your travails, revered Ashgannath, but it remains that the councils of the Lord General and His Harbinger are their own, and not yours, or mine, or that of another, and our task remains what it is, and will not become what you wish,”
After a brief pause, the robed one continues, in a more menacing tone,
”And my own power and that of the honored Seilatoth will assuredly oppose any such design. We shall perform our mercantile duties as instructed by the Emissary, and we shall observe the present circumstances. And we shall not seek any dealings with the Pale Oracle or his forces. I tell you that the council of the Lord General and His Harbinger are their own, and the seizure of the Gate of Power shall be met in His own manner, in His own time. Even if you should manage your scheme, the Lord General will oppose any foreign entrance into our territories, and the Gorh’Tonh will no more aid Oinosursruptas than the lidless gaze of our foes to the east.”
The voice concludes in a deep, threatening cadence,
“Now cease this prattle in the presence of the boundless"
The slender Sea Folk maiden, her gossamer mantle rippling mysteriously with a force greater than the currents which Zalona can personally detect in the surrounding surge, proffers a small, slightly-tarnished tube of some gilded material for the Rusalka’s inspection,
”I’m told, and I have no weighty cause to doubt, that this little trinket has its origins in a plundered cache from beneath the ruins of the Vice-regal Siege works. I confess I have wondered intermittently since acquiring it from some rather unscrupulous intermediaries whether Viceroy Hatarr espied the imminent conclusion of his ill-fated reign through this very lens. In any event, it offers an exceptionally powerful, keenly-focused perspective on the horizon – a significant advantage, I imagine, for aiming large siege engines of the sort once produced by the Siege works, when this city ever still troubled to defend itself with the traditional din of arms”
Zalona perceives, through the aperture of the oculus, on the far horizon southward, an encroaching mass of literally mountainous dimensions… no… several! The cyclopean profiles of three enormous sea beasts come into view, resembling in equal parts a killer whale and a sort of… penguin?
As if reading her mind, the Sea Folk maiden continues,
”Cynophantis, the totem of Nassiral Hate, though that is actually a curious corruption of his true Gorh’Tohn name Nash’Ralh Haath, is widely held to be a pod of killer whales, but it is actually a collection of seven ancient Symphony Dragons, stronger and far larger than any otherwise encountered, greater than the most exalted great wyrm. These are, I presume, the three strongest members of the totem. There are seven in all.”
She then regards Rusalka quizzically, slightly narrowing her frost-blue eyes as she simultaneously narrows her smile,
”I am Avlislene, a proprietor of the Font of Mysteries, and you must indeed hail from a remote region to have no knowledge either of the heirs of ancient Avendeenea’s technological prowess, nor of the recent emergence of the Oracle and his totem among their ranks.”
She smiles coyly,
”Perhaps you might enlighten me regarding your origins and destination, and I may in turn furnish additional light upon the present events unfolding in our fair city, especially the major players in this little theater”
Interesting, Zalona says, listening to the woman discuss the history of her spyglass and the true nature of the enormous beasts that they are looking at.
She senses the woman is trying to flirt with her--something that could never work, but she does want an answer to her question about the pale oracle, so she nods.
Where shall we talk? I'm looking for an Inn myself. Do you want to find one with me where we can rest and converse, or do you already have lodgings someplace?
Listening to the conversation between these hooded figures and the Asterak, Satazia makes a mental note to herself that these are figures worth looking into.
Casting her eye about the bounty house, Satazia frowns a little as she has not yet seen Atkali, her kinsman who she has been assigned to watch, just as he has been assigned to watch her.
She decides to take another quick look about the room for Atkali, on the off chance that he has simply found a clever nook to hide himself away in. She has found someone who it seems seeks to oppose the ''bright ones''who have conquered Oinosursruptas after all and these ''bright ones'' way be the same group that is searching for her home. Atkali should be informed so that he may monitor the Asterak if she is otherwise occupied.
“By the illumination of the Ghostlight are all things revealed…”
-Illavtenestria of Karthis, in the 999th year of the Accord of Athanes
It is the advent of perhaps the rarest of all possible circumstances in the conflict-riven lands of the Sundered Seas – a chance at peace.
Know that for the greatest part of the last generation the merciless forces of the Witch Queen of the Ice Elven Dominions, the one known principally as the “Dawn of the Lightless Sun,” have striven ceaselessly with a beleaguered alliance of the Hundred Free Kingdoms of the Sea Folk, all and several once provinces of the Invincible Empire of Devonoria. Verily, the combined forces of the Fourfold Alliance, comprised of many-storied Anavondoria, war-ready Scarnth, the treacherous cabals of Trabazsh, and the blade-blessed assassins of Grathes have striven mightily with the seemingly endless horde of Ice Elven war beasts and their handlers, most dreaded of which are the Witch Queen’s Deathspeakers, an elite society of the ‘Chosen’ who have tasted death but returned to serve their pale liege in perpetuity, years without ceasing.
For these many years the Fourfold Alliance sought to turn aside the predations of the Elven carracks, whose fearsome profiles oft betided a daring raid to capture yet another island in the ill-rumored archipelago that lies between the territories of the Hundred Free Kingdoms and those of the Witch Queen.
It is said in the annals of Illavtensestria, the well-known Roll of the Free Years, that the conflict began during the reign of Queen Astania of Anavondoria, when the Princess Ellesia was abducted by an ambassadorial entourage of the Witch Queen.
Or, rather, when it was discovered that the Princess had been so mistreated, for the actual impetus for the war began when the possessed body of the heir apparent viciously rent the soft throat of her beloved parent – some abominable sorcery of the Elves having replaced the gentle royal child’s soul, strength, and mind with that of a ravening beast.
Though a renegade representative of the House of the White Fang asserted ceaselessly before his execution that the treachery had not been the doing of the Witch Queen, he was not believed, nor did his words avert the war. No further mention was ever made of the words of this Elf, the name of whom was not even recorded in Illaventensestria’s annals.
In the wake of Queen Astania’s assassination, and the death of her heir, her nephew, the Duke of Ostocar, declared unceasing battle upon the Elves, summoning mercenaries from the Kai-lio of Scarnth, as well as the Cindarian assassin guilds of Grathes. The diverse population of the cabals of Trabazsh offered their services to the Ostocarian Regent for unknown reasons.
For many years, the course of the conflict assumed the perilous motion of a fearsome pendulum arc, the fortunes of either side rising or falling on the turn of the season and the tide.
Finally, the Ice Elves have triumphed, forcing the Fourfold Alliance to a parlay in the fable-shrouded halls of Ghostlight Keep.
The keep in its current form is hundreds of years old, and has over this period repeatedly changed hands between the Free Kingdom of the Sea Folk and the Ice Elven Dominions, a fact which is unsurprising considering its strategic location at the eastern border of the Sea Folk Kingdom of Anavondoria and Frostpoint, the furthest west of the Melting Isles.
Moreover, its foundations surround an important branch of the slipstream, the supernatural underwater rivers that bear their passengers at phenomenal speeds throughout the known regions of Larnisar’s seas.
Indeed, not only the fabled Cities of the Spire, but also besieged Anavondorian capital of Karthis, as well as both the Devonorian metropolis of Luthlarius and the ill-rumored Gorh’Tonh stronghold known as Garh’Tanh’Tonh, can be reached by a short journey from the lower structure of the keep.
The earliest history of the site is lost to the ravages of the Great War in which the Dragon died, but the traces of the surviving drylander structures have generally been interpreted as monastery of Athanes Lighteyes, the Savior of Man.
The upper structure was constructed over a number of years by Tidras Sevtesthanavalon, an order of Sea Elf Druids who lovingly tended the growth of the coral plinths to their present majestic dimensions.
Four great towers of coral, cultivated by the druidic keepers, surround a final bastion, this one made corpse of a titanic medusozid, which is known as the Tower of Ghosts.
The Tower of Ghosts is the body of a strange inhabitant of the deep, known in their lore only as the Wanderer, which led the circle on a pilgrimage to this site, and then passed on to whatever new existence awaited it when the journey had been completed. They seem themselves as the caretakers of the resting Wanderer’s resting place, no matter who else occupies the keep.
Its name derives from the edifice’s eerie lime-green illumination in during the hours without sunlight, an effect of a variety of coral that covers both the keep and some of the surrounding rock.
Nearby, a deep but narrow trench divides the boarder of Anavondoria from the Melting Isles, and great beasts are known to hunt its depths.
Though the embassy of the Ice Elves and the Fourfold Alliance have occupied the two greatest of the towers, respectively the great western and eastern bastions of the keep, two other principle parties have, uninvited, effected a forceful entry into the proceedings.
The first is an embassy from the hated Invincible Empire, once the masters of the Hundred Free Kingdoms. Its Nommo overlords have never relinquished their claim on the southern dominions of Laarnisar to which they had once asserted mastery in the heady days of their supreme power in the world. Now a strange delegation of Herzog György Cziffra, accompanied by squat creatures not seen before in the known regions of the Sundered Seas, has occupied one of the lesser towers and insisted on a sending a representative to the negotiations. Suspicions abound that the Devonorians are attempting to decrease the position of the Fourfold Alliance and, by further intrigue, recoup lost territories transferred from their former subjects, to the Ice Elves, and then, hopefully, to their former Nommo masters. No matter the reason, their fulsome and cacophonous invocations of the Great Maelstrom that is the sole object of their divine worship has seriously unnerved even the steely Ice Elves over the last several evenings.
Finally, the Gorh’Tonh Legion of the Megalodon and of the Symphony – the latter the personal forces of the feared Pale Oracle Nassiral Hate, recently made master of the Broken City of Merceria – have also made an unwelcome appearance. Similarly, their motives remain unclear, but with the recent capture of Merceria, there are widespread and not unfounded fears that the Pale Oracle’s legions make attempt some variety of a coup during the course of the delegation, and seize the keep for themselves, perhaps as a fortified entry to the siege-city of Gorh’Tanh’Tonh, to which its slipstream leads.
But shadows gather, and the dream of peace heralded by the negotiations may yet end in doom…
You are quartered with Herzog György Cziffra’s Devonorian delegation along with several of your Austrian compatriots, who traveled with you to a caldera city in the Devonorian territories from the depths of the Dwarven Kingdom. The Devonorian delegation wishes to share your entreaty with the assembled representatives of the other major powers of the Sundered Seas.
Your daughter’s fervent entreaties as to the truth of the words of the Wonder Worker have brought you to an inn that is situated in one of the smallest towers of the keep. On the word of your beloved child, you have come to seek the answer to your people’s dilemma, which she promised in veiled terms would soon be unveiled at the keep by the irresistible power of the Bright Masters.
The series of gruesome confrontations in Merceria led to a bloody trail, absent your kinsfolk, to the shadows of Ghostlight Keep, where you now believe the sinister forces besieging the Hidden City will strike next. Satazia has managed to attach herself among the mercenaries of Scarnth to continue her hidden presence in the outer world.
Through a dreadful trespass, through the First Forbiddance by the order of Princess Eliasape, into the day when the Prince of Lightning struck down his Queen and vanished through the Grand Portal, you have returned with a warning, somehow mysteriously communicated by the past-image of Kallik that his presence will soon be known for ill and greater woe in the world. Intrigued, but fearful, the Princess has dispatched you with the delegation which she hopes will enlist the aid of the Fourfold Alliance against her mother, allowing her to seize power. She also, you suspect, may wish to make common cause with whatever ends are sought by the Prince Whose Name Was Lost.
Your brief encounter with agents of the Worshipful Masters in the Forbidden City have convinced you that some dreadful deed is afoot. Their belongings contained information that led to this far-off bastion. You have ensconced yourself among the cabbalists of Trabazsh, among whose diverse numbers you can hope to pass largely unnoticed as you seek greater insight into the intentions of these mysterious forces.
Zalona has a meal in the inn, and listens to the people around her talking, trying to overhear any rumors in the area that she should know about.
The main antechamber of the Crest of the Specter, Ghostlight Keep's accommodations for those not attached to one of the primary diplomatic embassies currently quartered at the fortress, buzzes with a fervid energy, for a strange occurrence has unsettled the already tense atmosphere of the proceedings.
In one corner, a group of mercenaries from Scarnth is enjoying a brief respite from their sentry duties for the Fourfold Alliance delegation.
Suddenly, one of their number rushes through the main entry way, flanked by luminescent coral, and approaches one of his comrades seated at the main serving-station.
Zalona begins to pick up the conversation as the seated mercenary replies to the messenger
"What is it Garonil? ... In the Tower of Ghosts?
An exasperated confederate replies,
"Yes Danovarn! There, and I don't know who's responsible. The Witch Queen's delegation hasn't even been in there for the last fortnight. What would be the reason anyway, we're already here and on the defensive? I don't understand how they would imagine that this kind of chicanery would improve their hand, but maybe we just don't know how they think."
The first mercenary begins again,
"And you say the writing's not in a language anyone can read?
Again, the exasperated Garonil,
"Yes! It just appeared there in the audience chamber, hovering in the midst of the assembled parties. The strange thing is the Elves seemed just as surprised as we were, but perhaps that's just part of the ploy, who can know? The High Duke's representative is trying to find one of the sorcerers to see if they can translate it."
As Zalona maintains her attention to the conversation, unbidden, the voice of her daughter arises in her recollection, Amasin's parting words now perhaps taking on a new meaning
"Soon, Mother, the power of the Wonder Worker will be made known among those who have not heard his truth, for he is preparing great signs for the nations, by which they shall know his power and fierce justice. I tell you that if you journey to this manse of the shade's illumination, you will come to know the truth of my words, and will believe also in the promise of freedom held forth by the Wise Masters. Go, and be sure when the opportunity arises, that you welcome the Bright One's heralds. Then you, too, shall live in your body forever when he claims the power of the Dragon and of the gods."
You are quartered with Herzog György Cziffra’s Devonorian delegation along with several of your Austrian compatriots, who traveled with you to a caldera city in the Devonorian territories from the depths of the Dwarven Kingdom. The Devonorian delegation wishes to share your entreaty with the assembled representatives of the other major powers of the Sundered Seas.
Hrugnir sat in silent prayer to the waves for guidance. He wasn’t sure how much to trust these...Deonorvians. He had never seen anything like them. In truth, there was much here that was new to him. It was times like this that he wished for life to be simpler. For all the evil in the world to be in a small, tangible form, like a ring. A ring which he could just throw into a volcano on the ocean floor. But life was never that easy, was it? Now it was time for politics. Even among his own people politics was a deadly game. Only now he didn’t even know the rules...
Other significant rumors:
A curious Amphian,a deep sea variety of Cindarians, was apprehended from the slipstream beneath the keep several days ago. He has not spoken a word and wears some kind of white war paint. He is currently confined to a prison cell, but simply smiles and appears unconcerned as if he is waiting for something. Many have been to observe him. He is said to be telepathic, and otherwise mute except for hand gestures. He seems to meditate intensely several hour a day, and gaze intently at things no one else can see. A curious interloper, to say the least.
A caravan from Ashlaguttah, Land of the Emissaries, is purportedly headed for the keep. It is said this particular caravan is attached to the City of the Oinoloth -- Oinosursruptas. It is said they are seeking aid for their beleaguered capital.
The embassy of the Witch Queen's daughter is of a curious nature. Many of the war beasts and sorcerer's appear somehow tainted in an unknown fashion. There appears to be a division between them and the servants of her mother.
The Herzog and his company are the second major association of the Devonorians that Hrungnir and his company have encountered since emerging, after much tribulation, from the depths of the earth.
Alongside the carefully-selected representatives of the Four Buergermaesters, Hrungnir alighted in spectacular fashion aboard a specially-fitted Hydrochemical Phoenix from the deep pit mine dug out of the immense caldera which dominates the Devonorian border city of Istillus.
Here, the wake of the glory of Athanes mine the slender threads of Orabantium, a miraculous alloy of Tungsten, Titanium, and Chromium of extraordinary strength found in only a few scattered locales.
Assuredly, the Devonorians were evidently awestruck to witness the vast quantities of Orabantium woven into the Hydrochemical Phoenix, and to have some hint by means of the Buergermaesters' representatives of the endless mines contained in the depths of the earth, of which the great mine of Istillus is naught but a drop by comparison.
Hrungnir and his companions have been increasingly horrified by the gradual realization that the great Maelstrom which is the Nommo's sole object of worship is in fact the raging spirit of the great darkness that sleeps so fitfully at the lowest nadir of the infernal Gorgaummoth, separated by some dark power from its uneasily-resting form.
This epiphany has especially arisen in light of the unvarying iconography of the Maelstrom, which consists of dense, undulating ribbons of skeletal sauroids. This, alongside the allusive prayers of the Storm Priests, who invoke a great power that arose from the earth in the wake of Athanes' death -- to what else could these dire incantations refer?
The dreadful sacrifices of the cult, which the refugee Austorians have been blessed to only have been a forced witness on a single occasion, have only further secured this identification.
The overseers--so called Lashmasters--of the Storm Priests ruled the city of Istillus with a terrible measure. In consideration of their interest in obtaining greater volumes of Orabantium, they agreed to provide an entre to a delegation at the famed Ghostlight Keep, where representatives of rebellious provinces, the Ice Elves, the legions of the Gorh'Tohns, and the strongest mercenary armies should all be gathered, all or several of which might be willing, for a price, to render aid to Hrungnir's beleaguered people.
It is clear, nevertheless, that the Herzog and the rest of his people expect this aid to be amply rewarded with the means to set on the march once again what was once known as the Invincible Empire.
One of the Herzog's emissaries approaches Hrungnir, clearly anxious to rouse him from his meditations.
Walks-A-Shadowed-Path joins the delegation being sent to the Fourfold alliance, but not for the reason the First Cub hopes.
Like all who walk a precarious tightrope, however, Walks-A-Shadowed-Path keeps his own council on such matters.
The tensions between the servants of the Witch Queen and those of Eliasape, the First Cub, have become more pronounced with the passing of each moon.
In the wake of the Grey Wolf Scion's return from his perilous journey through the Grand Portal to the day of the Lost One's treachery, and subsequent reception of a terrible warning from his own mouth through unknown means, several of the First Mother's anointed Deathspeakers, the holy half-dead emissaries of her indomitable will, arrived to accompany the strangely-altered ministers of Princess Eliasape.
Indeed, the Princess' minions all bare a mysterious taint, which so far as Walks a Shadowed Path can divine, arises from the roiling blackness of the star rock that crashed in an awesome display of power at the foot of the Rhimeward Isle.
The various warbeasts in Eliasape's entourage have begun to manifest evidence of the taint, as well as her loyal ministers in the wake of mysterious midnight seances conducted in the shadow of the stone.
Most troubling of all, the First Mother's scion has become evidently more twisted and malign, her heart and soul manifestly succumbing to whatever foul thing she has brought into the midst of the People.
Curiously, an open conflict has not yet broken out between the ministers of the Queen and the Princess, and there appears to be a knowing truce of an uncertain quality between them as they arrange the requisite portal networks and ghast spires in the Great Tower of Ghostlight Keep, the immense western bastion of the stronghold in which the Elven forces are currently sequestered.
It is almost as if the forces of both Mother and Daughter alike are... waiting for something.
Suddenly, an alarm has been raised in the Ghost Tower, the slender, luminescent central spire from which the entire complex derives it's name.
Some mysterious occurrence has transpired in the audience hall of the Devonorian embassy, to which the agents of the Fourfold Alliance now attend, and doubtless several of the comrades of Walks a Shadowed Path will soon investigate as well.
Alongside these matters, the agents of the Queen prepare the Shadow Circus in the walls of the chasm abutting the keep, for here, in three days, at the close of the negotiations, the First Mother's Deathspeakers will preface the imminent accord with a fantastic illusory survey of the history of the world and the People in it, a pyrotechnic spectacle that will be attended, by force if necessary, by all others presently quartered at Ghostlight Keep.
Zalona decides to give in to her most touristy desire, and go see what the Amphian looks like, if she can get in. If many others have gone to observe him, she figures they might be letting people in.
.
Hrungnir rose to his feet and bowed respectfully. He understood the situation, and while not brimming with excitement, he was pleased. What use was gold or gems to the dead? Regardless of the cost, what mattered was that his people could be saved. That the darkness might be pushed back. That they would not all join the spirits in the waves.
”I am ready. Thank ye for your patience.”
Hrungnir's rapid alteration of attention is soon arrested by the profile of Bertuska Boldi, one of the Herzog's feared cadre of Moonwater Knights, a storied order of anti-paladins and inquisitors of the Malestrom who derive their unearthly powers from the ritual consumption of waters tainted by the passage of the Banshee Moon Basconarides, and the Orb of Illumination, Illshaan, both of which ill-omened moons of Larnisnar pass irregularly bodily through the tortured waters of the Sundered Seas when their erratic orbits pass close to their parent body, leaving both bane and blessing in their wake. The Knights of the Moonwaters are said to drink of the pools wondrously and terribly altered by these irregular lunar events, a process which irrevocably alters their persons and sets them among the chaste of semi-immortals known as the 'Moonborn' throughout the Empire.
Boldi's opalescent helm, fashioned in the same leering osseous sauroid profile as the other representative of the Maelstrom Cult's iconography, shimmers with a decidedly unsettling inner illumination.
During the journey from Istillus, Hrungnir and his compatriots have also become aware of a certain degree of rivalry between Boldi's order and that of his now-apparent fellow--the Imperial Savant Vicuska Virag the Dispenser.
Truly, the Knights, their rival Bloedknechts, the Savants, the Great Houses, and the allied arsenals of the Storm Priests and the choirs of Surgechanters, potent Bardic emissaries of the Maelstrom, form an elaborate and deadly hexagram of shifting power which centrifugates in wildly varying orbits around the person of the nation's supreme ruler, alike the Imperator and Pontifex Maximissimus, and his Tribune, the mouth and hand of the Emperor's person.
Vicuska gestures politely, if pointedly, towards the room's sole egress, his elaborately-decorated claws, ribboned with a lattice work of highly ornamented filigree, unfurling slightly as he completes the corporal component of his entreaty.
The undulating folds of the Savant's vast black mantle glisten with tiny silvers of brightness, as if a moon had struck a nighttime tide.
"Worthy Dwarven master, the honored Herzog requests your, and your fellow anchorites' immediate presence in the audience hall. A mysterious occurrence has troubled the delegation, and my esteemed patron wishes to consult your expertise in a matter of language. It seems that a message in an unknown tongue has appeared, unbidden, in the midst of the convocation above. Perhaps your people, so long sequestered from the rest of the world, have persevered a knowledge among your religious castes that would aid in our attempts to decipher the message. Already, the Fourfold Alliance has summoned its Cabbalist allies to try their hand at the enigma, but the Herzog wishes to draw upon your expertise as well. If you would then, please follow me to the audience hall, and their we hall see if your Hall of Waves may prevail in the matter, where thus far the greatest of the Storm Priests have met with no measure of success"
The Savant's gesture continues steadily, leaving Hrungnir with the distinct impression that he has in fact delivered a command couched as an inquiry.
Zalona wanders down towards the dungeon, not knowing at all where she is going, and just asks the first person she sees if they have heard of the Amphian, and which way to go to see him. If the person looks dubious, she emphasizes that everyone is talking about him, and she just has to see him, acting like a dumb tourist, which in this case is pretty accurate.
Walks-A-Shadowed-Path will quickly make his way towards the alarm.
Based on insights gleaned from the conversations of others, Zalona is aware of the general location of the dungeons, and the reaches which will most likely contain the curious prisoner whom she wishes to personally inspect.
The Rusalka speedily makes her way down the trench dividing the principle towers of the stronghold, descending rapidly to the caves on either side of the impression which provide a point of entry to the structure's lower levels.
Upon reaching the level of the dungeons, she suddenly finds herself being swept along into a vein of the trench that burrows into the sheer heart of the rock (
Emerging into a cavern illumined only by the eerie light of the phosphorescent coral native to these subterranean reaches, as well as the myriad schools of bizarre luminescent ichthyoids and crustaceans that dart among their teeming groves of barnacles mass, seeming to perform a strange and solemn ritual dance among themselves.
An arched bridge, fashioned in a wondrous and unimaginable manner that contrasts sharply with the rough, un-worked surfaced which surround it and yet grows imperceptibly from this same substance, covers the expanse connecting a craggy lip at the edges of the trench to tunnels that lead further within the complex.
On the right side of the bridge (), four militant figures assume what the Rusalka can only presume is a watch over the stairway leading upwards.
There are two sets of figures. Two appear to be Kai-lio, and can probably be identified as mercenaries of Scarnth. Two others are exceptionally large and bestially-features Gorh'Tohn Legionaries of the Legion of the Symphony, the personal legion of the Pale Oracle.
The First Cub of the Great Tupilek of the Waiting Queen Kinayashara has, by some mysterious and terrible sorcery, delivered her abominable throne of tainted star rock from the House of the Clipped Wings of the Hummingbird to its present location in her audience chamber within the largest of Ghostlight Keep's main towers--the so-called Spire of Keening.
Rumors among the Queen's small delegation of Deathspeakers and those of the People who hold with their ranks whisper that the portal through which Eliasape summoned the fearful mass of guttering black rock detonated with tremendous energy upon the hideous thing's arrival, as if its dreadful transportation had closed the ways through which it had sped.
Her frigid exoskeleton has begun to alter, as have those of her followers, in what seems to be the beginning of a kind of pupation period which heralds some new terror to emerge from the ensuing cocoon. Indeed, the previously icy whiteness of their exterior ha begun to mulch into a darked hue, tinted with veins of an unearthly Slytherin Green.
She and her pledged Deathspeakers, who have begun to be referred to by others as the Stonebound or the Stoneslain, are gathered around the dark meteoric slab from which Eliasape extends her cruel will, and are so-distributed when an emissary of the Fourfold Alliance is ushered into the Princess' audience chamber.
"Your Royal Highness, the Chamberlain of the Duke-Regent anxiously requests your presence in the audience hall of the Tower of Ghosts. Our Devonorian guests have been greatly troubled by the unexplained manifestation of a message in an unknown script, and wish to exploit the storied expertise of the Queen's Deathspeakers in the matter, if you will oblige by coming quickly, lest the ensign vanish as quickly as it appeared."
Unbidden, the words spoken through the past-shade of the Forgotten Prince force themselves upon the thoughts of Walks a Shadowed Path.
"Ah little pup, how very short is your seeing! No matter, for soon it shall be lengthened to the horizon in the light of the Bright Master, for his dawn is arising, and shall never set, and every people shall soon chant his name again and know the greatness of his will."
Several of the Queen's Deathspeakers and their cadre appear reluctant to comply with the messenger's request.
"Fierce lady, I seek merely to determine what the disturbance is so that it does not...disturb you. I meant no disrespect, but I would be happy to deal with the small matter of the Devonorian representative, should you but wish me to do so."
Zalona goes up to the guards and says Hello. I'm new in town, and heard that you were letting people see an Amphian you have in custody here. I would like to see him. She smiles winningly.
The two Kai-lio blades-men are fiercely armored in an elaborate, unusual, and, in each case, distinctive fashion.
One is shielded by a set of armor made of the shells of a entire shoal of rock crabs, the barnacle-crusted domes of the shucked crustaceans forming a dense, undulating carapace that increases by a not inconsiderable measure the already significant dimensions of his muscular profile.
He bears a massive trident in both his gauntlet-sheathed hands, the handle of which disappears into the large crab claws that form the most significant element of each vambrace.
His companion's armor is made from hundreds of thick, imbricated rows of sharks' teeth with many more the number of serrations than seems entirely natural.
The latter's chief armament is an urchin's fist, a bludgeoning gauntlet that encases his left hand, and a gut razor in his right.
The two Gorh'Tohn are each clearly by their massive size as specimens of the eugenically perfected orcoids who most heavily the Ogre lineage.
Unlike their Scarnthan counterparts, each Symphony Legionnaire is attired in the same fashion. Their glistening white armor appears to be made of an artificial substance, but whether or not it is metal is not apparent. Each sturdy set of arms also bears the insignia of the Pale Oracle, the twisted horns of the Symphony Dragon, the Tursaansydän[i]image).
Each bears a cruelly-tipped flay spear, the prongs of which have doubtless extracted painfully-excavated samples from countless victims.
One of the Kai-lio answers first,
"Oh, [i]that one. Indeed. He's up there," he gestures through an archway made of finely dressed, smooth stone embossed with some unknown, elaborate abstract pattern, out of the mouth of which rises a set of exceptionally wide, broad stairs, before continuing, "I suppose you can find a space in with the rest of the regulars who've come to observe his afternoon routine. Creepy little stalker, that one. I can't stand the sight of those eyes."
Following the veritable bloodbath that marked the departure of Satazia from Merceria, her trail having crossed with the strange company of assassins in the service of House Henares, a bizarre quaternary of four costumed Amphians known as the Jongleur, the Jester, the Jack, and the Joker, which had apparently dispatched the other agents of Talashku dispatched to assure the protection of the Hidden City and its inhabitants, the half-breed had followed the enigmatic message left by her fallen comrades to seek out the citadel of Ghostlight Keep.
Here, the scroll suggested, the forces seeking the destruction of the Hidden City would make their next move, whatever it might be, and whosoever it would strike down next in its wake.
Certainly, the conversation heard easily within the central entertainment hall of the Creste of the Spectre, the pale coral spire astride the Shade Height, the spire in which the emissaries of the Fourfold Alliance of the Hundred Free Kingdoms are quartered, has suggested ominous tidings of the near future.
Satazia notices a Rusalka leave the room after the entry of a messenger from the Fourfold Alliance. Perhaps she is going to investigate the disturbance?
The news has cast the chamber into an uproar, its usually near-deafening din now almost throttling Satazia's hearing faculties.
In an already tense environs, the party of Grathesian assassins and Scarthan mercenaries of the Fourfold Alliance seated at one table, and a number of Ice Elven Hunter-Seekers, an order of beast handlers that accompanies most of their enigmatic people's expeditions, at another would appear to be perhaps lilting towards a melee.
Based on the correspondence engraved upon the curious engraved metallic sheets the Deep One had recovered from the belongings of the servants of the Wise Masters, her trail has led her to seek the company of the Cabbalists of Trabazsh, the sorcerer allies of the Fourfold Alliance whose diverse ranks welcome new apprentices freely into their ranks for a period of testing. Thus effectively sequestered within the ranks of the Keep's occupants, Ictaiojh'Oc'Xylthixr has guarded well her hours.
Presently, she is engaged in a preliminary study of an ancient tome with the Cabal Scion Elehuddi, a powerful Sea Folk sword sage who has taken the Deep One under his wing, when a messenger arrives in the quarters of the Cabbalists at the top of the Shade Height, the immense eastern bastion of the Keep in which is quartered the divers forces of the Fourfold Alliance.
"If you would, Master, the Chamberlain of the Duke-Regent has desperate need of your expertise in matters linguistic. We must hurry to the audience chamber of the Tower of Ghosts"
Zalona proceeds through the indicated archway, wondering how creepy the eyes are, to have intimidated such a soldier.