|
With a blinding flash and a crack like thunder, the stone bursts into flames. A single black point appears within the smoke, growing quickly into the form of a hooded figure. The figure silently screams, then breaks apart into two shadowy figures, fiercely attack each other before their forms once again merge, leaving only a single hooded figure, featureless but for a single glowing red eye. The burning red light cuts through the smoke, growing in intensity until it is unbearably bright before both the figure and the flames suddenly disappear.
Once the vision fades, you can examine the inscription more closely. A large circle is circumscribed about a triangle, with a symbol at each of the three points, one to the Northwest, one to the East, and one to the South .
Near the carved stone, you also find three small pots of a pungent, sticky substance that some of you recognize as bruorsivi resin, along with some rotting cabbage and other decaying food stuffs.
|
Knab starts as the shadowy figure (Could this be the same that took Sapphire!?) splits then assimilates itself, raising his inherited weapon instinctually - like a waking bad dream - and thanks the partial deafness in his left ear as it screams, covering the other with a metal gauntlet finger!
He sticks his gauntleted finger - now covered with ear wax - onto the Northwest section of the inscribed triangle.
Ruebella pipes up "We should go there?" to which Knab nods. She continues "Should we at least warn Gorm Greathammer?" dutifully using his full name in referring to him.
She turns to the party "What do you all think? How many of those thingies do we have left?"
Meanwhile, Knab gets to work rendering the bruorsivi resin...
|
I agree with Emdi. Seems like the base camp of the cultist was here. We need to go back with haste to our camp. I fear that they are too close to the enemy. We need to send a message to Gorm immediately.
Says calmly Fangor while he works, taking his time, on the resin.
Also, we need to relate what we've witness here, this strange dual figure that appears when we arrived. Seems noteworthy to me.
|
|
The rest of your exploration reveals little of interest, aside from the natural beauty of this very old (and very strange) forest. When you finally arrive back at camp--nearly two months after setting out--Gorm Greathammer excitedly welcomes you. He eagerly debriefs you on your journey, listening to you recount your journey and asking you to mark the approximate locations of your finds on a map so he can send follow up teams to examine them more thoroughly. He is particularly rapt as you recount your vision at the campsite, taking copious notes.
"Congratulations, Pathfinders, you've done an excellent job. Rest assured, though our work here is far from over, your eff...uh..." he trails off as a figure appears in the tent. The person's features remain completely obscured by their mask, which features a pair of stag's horns. The figure regards the occupants of the tent for a moment, then speaks.
"You have gone to great trouble, and while there is still much to do, the time for absolute secrecy among the Decemvirate has passed. You have earned the right to know more, to know who you are working to save. The one you know as Sapphire, who was merged with and possessed by some malign power, goes by another name as well. One that may be more familiar to you: Drandle Dreng."
With that, the helmed figure turns and departs, as suddenly as they appeared.
---------
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Far away from the Iobarian forest, two thick feet stick out of a brass tub, soaking the square body of an old dwarf with no eyebrows and half of his wispy thin head hair and beard conspicuously patchwork, whistling to himself through stained and missing teeth.
He thinks back on the creatures he encountered: the owlbear pair, the young ahuizotl with the uncannily strong tail, the "fabled but currupted" living wildfires, the ember foxes. He imagines fighting them under different circumstances, and what he could better do to save himself from being singed so badly.
Scrubbing the dirt and grime off his hairy back, Knab thinks on Sapphire being revealed as none-other-than Drandle Dreng, a man whom he had never met, and listened in on what the other members of this expedition said when they found out. He wonders if he'll ever serve some society purpose someday, if indeed being possessed of a deep and thorough memory was of high value among the ranks, even seemingly enough to substitute for a less-than-desirable personality.
By the time he has soaked to a prune and steps out, Knab looks back at the water, now cold, and black as soot, and now being squeaky clean himself, leaves in that tub the final remnants of having spent the last two months