The Untethered Harbor is a small island in a mist-shrouded sea. The island is dotted with bright little meadows, tall trees bearing ample fruits and nuts, and clean streams of water that flow from a spring near its center and on over small waterfalls and into little pools. A small stone house sits by the spring, its walls lined with bookshelves, and numerous covered workbenches can be found in various glades and clearings. The night on this island lasts only two hours, while the day lasts twenty-two, and each season lasts only a third as long as on Golarion. Anyone who passes through the fogbank around the island eventually breaks through the mist, only to find themselves back at the island. The entirety of the Untethered Harbor feels to be a place of peace and learning, and any with evil in their hearts who travel there find it unwelcoming.
* * *
In the Untethered Harbor lies a room unlike any other. Even when not present, Raen's intensity hangs in the air. Artifacts mundane and fantastic fill the room, albeit in a well organized fashion. For years now Raen has spent time each day within the room. A presence unknown, abstracted, brooding secret, looks over the contents. Two items in particular stand out.
The first is a massive piece of stone. Upon the stone is a spiral of writing. The spiral takes up the entire stone, spanning a diameter twice the height of a man. The Jotun letters have faded slightly, as the stone is so old that the exhale of Groetius has begun to take its toll. For this is The Tale of the Deathless Frost. It is not a replica.
The other is a notebook, well constructed, but well worn. The left hand page contains a genealogical tree. The hand is not Raen's. The names and notation are written in Hallit. The right hand page contains numerous notes, these in Raen's own hand. There is name upon this page, circled with a question mark next to it. The name is Ilivorr Karanasi. From the mark is an arrow leading to another circled term, Frozen Tears.
Here Raen continues the search for answers. And here Raen will find them...
* * *
Some time after the events at Zephyr Hall, Raen settles into something of routine in her private demesne. Perhaps out of habit, from long months of adventuring in much more deadly locales, she weaves several spells each "morning" that grant her the powers of flight, darksight, great health, secret armor, and even a feeling for when anyone might manage to look over her shoulder. The bulk of her days she spends about the island, studying and reading, crafting and tinkering, gardening and harvesting. For her short nights, she sets an Alarm before taking her rest in a bower among the limbs of her largest fruit tree.
On most days, she chooses one of her old companions to check in on, weaves an image of their likeness, and opens a window to their presence in her mind. On other days, she uses the same magicks to keep tabs on her enemies.
On occasion, usually in the early "spring" and "autumn" -- only once every two weeks, in Raen's world -- she returns briefly to the Material Plane for a closer look at old connections, or else for raw materials or new spells she might need. On these days, she prepares a slightly different suite of spells; somewhat more teleportation magic and somewhat less divination, among other adjustments. With each journey, she puts in place a Contingency: should she ever be rendered helpless, dying, or dead, a Teleport spell shall take her to Torag's Forge in the Mindspin Mountains. With each journey, her confidence grows that her old companions have found their new paths, and will tread them well.
In concert, a conviction that she must meet with unfinished business grows too.
Much of Raen's initial attention is focused on the matter of the Orb. The device remains hidden away in its extradimensional prison, for she dare not use it, but still it weighs like a lodestone in her mind. She thinks often of the dragon whose ancestor's soul remains trapped within its depthless confines. A dragon that undoubtedly still seeks the Orb.
Naximarra.
The bargain with Naximarra was simply enough: in exchange for the dragon's intelligence about the frost giant stronghold of Skirgaard, Raen and her companions committed to see to its dissolution as a blow to the Storm Tyrant's ambitions. But Naximarra made clear the motivations for this aid: to see the Orb's dragon-soul "freed." And that makes for a puzzle. For Raen has no wish to see the Orb used for evil, and knows that its power of enslavement cannot truly be used for good, so its destruction is desire she shares with Naximarra -- if its soul were to pass on to Pharasma in the Boneyard. But should it instead take on a corporeal form... she would be responsible for unleashing yet another terrifying force for ill onto Golarion.
Her first task, therefore, is to acquire every scrap of knowledge, lore, or conjecture about the Orb that she can. Time does not seem to press, so she pursues both breadth and depth. She first begins with several of the great libraries of the Inner Sea: the Arcanimirium and the Forae Logos in the Wise Quarter of Absalom, the Founder's Archive and Museum of Ages in Magnimar, and the Jeggare Museum and Academae archives in Korvosa.
|
It takes a long time, a long time, for Raen to find anything of note that she doesn't already know. It's not until she stumbles upon a book in the newly recovered library in Xin Shalast.
It starts with a name, Baelgoroth. The dragon whose soul inhabits the orb itself...
--------------
Scrying on Naximarra used to be easy. A few months after Raen's vigil started, she met with a red dragon easily a millenium old. The dragon appeared to be deaf, and communicated via sign language. Raen committed the exchange to memory, but was only able to parse out a single sentence, "It is time. We have found him." After that every attempt by Raen has been foiled with a non-detection spell....
Raen paces on her island, cup and saucer in hand. An earthy redbush tea steams its fragrance into the air, competing with the flowering fruit trees that stand nearby. She turns the memory over again and again in her mind, pondering not the dialogue so much as the characters and setting.
Likely a Great Wyrm
It also is likely NOT in the inner sea region
At length, Raen decides that knowing the Orb inhabitant's true name is of some value and worth pursuing. Force will not avail her here; she must find another way. She sets down the teacup and carefully peels open the old Thassilonian tome again. What secrets are hidden in the spaces between its scrawled runes?
And if the text should fail her, perhaps the priests of Pharasma at the Grand Cathedral in Korvosa, or even the Godsmouth Cathedral in Kaer Maga, might be persuaded to beseech their Lady for advice.
After exhausting what knowledge she can find from the books (her preferred domain), Raen turns to the wisdom of the gods. She travels to Kaer Maga, in the Bottoms district, to stand before the imposing spires of the Godsmouth Cathedral. She speaks to the nearest acolyte to request an audience with the High Priestess of Death, Delana Karaheis.
"The High Priestess is most generous," Raen bows respectfully. "I bring a quantity of rare incense to aid in the ritual."
"What is it that you wish to know?"
"I have prepared a number of questions for the Mother of Souls," Raen replies, and hands a prepared parchment to Karaheis. "I must stress that the matters to which these inquiries pertain are both extremely sensitive, and of the utmost importance to the safety of Avistan, and indeed to all of Golarion. I ask that you keep these matters to yourself and trust in your discretion."
1. Would the destruction of the relevant Orb of Dragonkind send Baelgoroth's soul to the Boneyard for your final judgment?
2. Would the destruction of this same Orb of Dragonkind constitute a boon for the free peoples of Golarion?
3. Will this same Orb of Dragonkind remain undiscovered by others in its current location for at least one year?
4. Does the dragon Naximarra have any living, corporeal relatives?
5. Does the dragon Naximarra have any living, corporeal, and younger relatives?
6. Does the graveknight Skirkatla still elude your final judgment?
7. Does the fire giantess Quivixia still plot revenge against me?
8. Is Zephyr Hall safe at its current location and in the hands of its current keeper?
9. Is Illivor Karanasi currently alive?
