Alree An's page

"I am ready, I have prepared my spells and I have studied, Makoto's painting to the best of my ability. I can teleport us there, and hope that there are no wards in place preventing such magic from working. Prepare your final requirements. Also, I can only bring three people per teleport, and Tavros, you count as two... Because of this, I have had to scribe extra scrolls to account for this. I have six scrolls, one to take the first of us, another to get me back, and a third to take the second group. A set of three more will duplicate the efforts. If we have to leave in a hurry, there will be some delays.."

After the group gets their final spells selected, Alree An teleports you to the location painted.

teleport roll, studied carefully, trip #1: 1d100 ⇒ 24 - success
teleport roll, very familiar, return for second group: 1d100 ⇒ 61 - success
teleport roll, studied carefully, trip #2: 1d100 ⇒ 84 - success

Having successfully arrived, the group stands outside the door. Some have taken precautions to disguise themselves, but Tavros really doesn't have a method to obscure his bulk and distinct appearance. You hope no one comes way down here.

Initially the group doesn't move and whispers quietly to determine their next action for getting through the door.

"I can handle magical silence, and getting us in and out."

The group returns after several hours, and the gnome again answers the door and invites you into his realm of barely controlled chaos. He passes you a small parcel with the scroll in a tube, and a small bag with shiny new masterwork tools for all sorts of small device work. "Doze arr for de feexing of clocks." he winks. "Ok go be heroes.."

You depart from the man's workshop and having purchased a few other mundane items (Champawat's list) you return to the temple to make your next plans.

"Ok, lets break this down step by step. What are we doing? I need to beseech the gods in the morning for this to be a success. I will have to be particular about my spells."

"Easy he says....like I'm going to buy turnips.." Alree An mutters to herself in a huff at Teniel's suggestion. "Well, anyone want to come along? I will stop at a few temples first, that might be the best bet, at least we may make some contacts with some of the priest if possible. They may be aware of higher level practitioners or those who are capable of creating magic. I have spoken to the elder brothers here and they have given me one contact, though from my understanding the man may be retired from the crafting scene."

Alree An gets herself ready "So who is with me? Disguises? We are going rapid travel style."

"What do we need from town? I have only a few contacts here, some of those items will require specialists to create. Things like that don't sit on shop shelves. I can talk to Captain Miar who is more familiar with the area, or I can try to reach out to my contacts, but these things take some time."

"I can handle the silence aspect."

"Right then, how many days do you think we need to prepare or gather necessary materials or tools? The trial will come soon and we may be dragged into a legal mire of testimony. The faster we act against Lady Vinsing and determine if she indeed as the dragon turtle eggs, and what, if any, her involvement with Notorosake is, the better. If she and her Tiamat worshipping folk are in league those trying to bring about the Apocalypse, it means their efforts are much more well funded and organized then before."

"I can hopefully get us inside, to the door. Who can get us past the door? Hopefully quietly?"

"I will attempt to pray for protective and dispelling magics."

"I meant those that encountered the doors." nodding at Makoto and Lucina, "So that I may have as accurate a picture of the area as possible to teleport us to. Although fooling any passersby with a closed door would also be useful."

Day 23 - Late Night

The group is dropped off at the Inn where they originally met Lord Gongula without so much as a word from the lord himself. Lishon escorts the group a bit to the inn and sees them off and then nods. "Clearly, tonight's escapades should be kept under wraps. I hope you found what you sought. Farewell." The man curtly turns on his heel and walks back to the waiting coaches.

After another journey back to the temple, your group shuffles off to get some well earned sleep.

Day 24 - Morning

The next morning Alree An meets with you again. "Ok, what do we do now? What do we have? We have some doors and some information. I think the door is something we can act on immediately. If we prepare ourselves we can try to get in there. Are you able to recreate an illusion of the area by the door? It will help me when I teleport us there. I hope they do not have any warding in place. We may want some magic to fight traps or wards. Hmmm. I am not really a dungeon breaker type, any ideas?"

Alree An replies, "I couldn't find anything terribly interesting. I was able to sneak around a bit, and turn invisible, but I didn't get into any secure areas, or hear any juicy tidbits of information."

"I'm sorry, that falls more into the realm of the arcane, than the divine. There must be other magics we can use to achieve our goals."

"If you describe the place to me in detail, I may be able to teleport us there in the future, when we are more prepared." mutters Alree An, very quietly, her hand over her mouth you suspect to prevent any lip readers.

"We will meet up with Lord Gongula later today. From what I understand Lady Vinsing's daughter is no pony loving wide eyed child, but every bit as shrewd and manipulative as her mother, and a woman nearly grown herself. I believe Lord Gongula said she was seventeen. "

Day 22 - Morning

The party is the evening of Day 23

During a morning soak in the hot springs your group gathers and a tired Alree An speaks, "Good morning friends, I spent most of the night traveling around and talking to people trying to make this work. There is a minor noble, Lord Pradu Gongula who apparently has an interest in working with us. Lady Vinsing has a daughter, and this daughter has been the center of Lord Gongula's interest for some time. Our man has sent gifts and tokens of affection to said daughter, all of which have been happily accepted, but without audience or visitation, or much more than token acknowledgement. Clearly mother does not approve either as this minor noble lacks the station and wealth she feels is due her daughter. In exchange for allowing us to join his entourage under the guise of guards, personal attendants or valets, one of us is to recover a valued necklace that the daughter wears frequently. While a source of pride to Lord Gongula that the daughter wears it, her lack of interest has left him sour at the significant amount of wealth invested in such a gift. He wishes it swapped with one of lesser value, but, according to him, near identical in appearance. The replacement also has some enchantments on it, that he wishes to see implemented. I initially balked at this, but he assured me that the enchantments do no direct harm, and I suspect it is true. More likely than not the enchantments allow him to spy on the daughter and family or perhaps alter her mind in a favorable manner. While still distasteful to me, I am less concerned about the manipulative designs of these nobles, than I am about a potential end to our reality. I told him that we would tentatively agree to it. I hope I didn't overstep my role, but time is of the essence here. We need to reply soon so that we can meet Gongula and be briefed on everything necessary to play the part and not offend anyone. I have not obtained any layout of Lady Vinsing's home, but I hope to still at least get a rough layout. Otherwise we will have to wing it in our search for information." She sighs and slips further into the water relaxing and awaiting your replies.

"Good idea, Champawat, perhaps if we can have your group attached to one of her rivals retinue, that may work best. Then you have an in to the party, and we don't have to go through whatever vetting process the lady has in place. Now, to find a rival, who will agree to let us join their retinue. How shall we convince them it is in their interest to bring us along. They will want something to make it worth their while. Something that won't implicate or embarass them, but may embarass the lady. Either that or something tangible such as information as well. Hopefully we can deliver, making more powerful enemies would be a step in the wrong direction" she chuckles.

"The biggest problem with the entertainment angle is that the party is in two days. There is scarcely any time to get that set up. These things are planned out months ahead of time, and go through all the proper channels and the entertainment is often about who know who. I will see if I can try something. Perhaps one of the scheduled entertainers will get sick at the last minute." she winks.

"If, and that is a big if, we can somehow get your group in at the last minute as entertainment, Lucina, Champawat and I can attempt to sneak around and gather some information. Second, security is extremely high, as Lady Vinsing has many rivals, and she invites them to her parties to keep tabs on them. Believe, sneaking around the host's home during a party has been a standard since time began. We can expect significant obstacles. Third, if Notorosake is involved with Lady Vinsing in some capacity, and he turns out to be at the party under some guise, we will be stepping into the spider's lair. The creature has already encountered your group and would recognize you. She would not allow a violent spectacle to occur at the party, but we would be marked and not likely to make it home safely. "

Alree An grinds her teeth and shuffles. "I had hoped it to be a way in, but it is at great risk. Can we refine the idea somehow? There will be plenty of distractions, but also plenty of guards. I will try to get a map of the grounds and a schedule of events. That will be a start at least. If there is a theme or some special occasion we may be able to leverage that to our advantage."

"I am trying to find out more information. Most certainly you will need an invitation, as it is for the most prestigious attendees. All attendees will be recognized and will come with a retinue. We may be able to sneak in as staff or perhaps we can merely sneak in while others are distracted. Getting information on this is tricky and it is not always accurate. There are many hands to grease as well. I will continue my work, if wish to know anything specific, let me know and I will try to address it."

As the group prepares for the piracy trials that will be coming, Alree An advises that she has discovered a possible lead to the dragon turtle eggs. In Ren Denaio, a certain high ranked and socially elite noble is known to have a fascination with all things draconic. "Off the record, she is a priestess of Tiamat. Although no one who call her out on that publicly. She is extremely well connected, wealthy, and wields significant influence within the city and beyond through its trade networks. There surely is something she knows, and she may even be involved. Certainly, she could even linked to our Oni nemesis. Lady Vinsing hosts frequent elaborate feasts and balls, event designed to curry more favor and keep tabs on people. It turns out that she will be hosting a ball in two days on the grounds of her elaborate estate. Anyone feel like crashing a party?"

Alree An responds, frowning "Yes the trials, that will bog us down for a bit with all of that, although I guess it is for the best. I have been in contact with some people. Ren Denaio is a temporary home to many given its location in the trade networks. If Notorosake was trying to sell the eggs, he or his agents 'may' have come here. I say 'may'," at that she winks, "because I believe we have uncovered a possible associate of sorts. We need much more information." She whispers, edging closer, "I think you are the ones who can accomplish that."

"We should talk more privately if you are willing to move with this. Even here we may not be safe from prying eyes and ears. It is possible Notorosake would be keeping tabs on us somehow. He knows of me, although has never taken any efforts to confront me, perhaps deeming me no threat."

Yeah it seems with UMD shenanigans you can try to 'fool' the hat into thinking you are different race(and therefore type?). You can't aid another on UMD nor take 10, and 1 autofails w/ 24 hr restriction as you noted.

Lucina as you get settled into the serene nature of the temple and its surroundings your dreams are more peaceful, although the eyeball given to you by the crone will wriggle an move at random times. (Not sure where you keep it).

Makoto as you question one or more of the brothers about the Monastery of Kao-Lor, they shrug and are unable to provide anything useful. "Can you provide more background? There are many temples in the world, and we have not her the name Kao-Lor before."

"Here we train in self perfection in honor of the Master of Masters, the Perfect Human, the Enlightened One. Though we venerate other deities and spirits."

Tavros you express interest in training with the others, but you find that while the three brothers understand you and your group, the younger students and other brothers and sisters do not. Some of them speak a smattering of modern Common or Vudrani and other languages, thus the group will have some success depending on their linguistics skills and the person's particular language and skill with it.

You are able to discern that despite some trepidation, there is an eagerness to train and practice with someone your size and for example with horns, as it lets the students consider new challenges they cannot experience with other human or smaller than human sized challengers. (There are two halflings at the temple also.)

Alree An spends much time meditating in the gardens peacefully, or in the hot springs bathing. She is also absent a lot using her travel magic and other abilities to contact her alliance and find information on Notorosake.

At one point she stops by and asks the group when you are all assembled, "Have you made any decisions about seeking your master? Or will you stay in these lands and continue your search here?"

The group spends the long week getting to port on the ship as best they can. If it wasn't for the meager accommodations, one could consider it a type of get-a-way. However, there isn't much to do, aside from work, and sit around. There is not much room below decks, so most of the time is spent on deck, weather in the beating sun, cold wind, fog, rain or splashing salty sea spray.

The crew grows restless in time as they are eager to get to shore to spend their new fortune. Gambling has been rampant during that time, and the captain had to put a moratorium on it before some of them had gambled away their new fortunes. A few wiser ones were considering settling down and starting businesses or other ventures. Luckily few fights break out nor do the captive pirates attempt any escapes or anything.

The final day a cheer goes up as in the distance other ships are being sighted, and within a short time, land based birds and then land itself. It takes some time before you actually reach the land once spotted, and by then everyone is working and moving about to get the ships ready for docking. Once in the harbor its all noise and chaos and shouting and directing where to go, and the captain is calling out a hundred orders as once. Your group does it best to stay out of the way or make yourself useful. The ships finally puts their gangplanks down, and the captain and the officers who had been piloting the other ship, disembark to meet with the harbor master. In short time, a large unit of guards arrives to haul off the pirates to the brig. Shortly thereafter a swarm of dock workers moves about both ships moving cargo to and fro and starting other repairs that were not capable at sea.

The captain takes a few moments to stop by and explain that she will stay with the ships with a few skeleton crew members to take care of them. Most of the other crew heads into town to see about their fortunes. The captain convinced most of them to not spend all their winnings on a night of drunken debauchery, but place it in safe keeping.

In all the shuffle you haven't left the ship yet, and it is quite a while before the captain returns to advise you. The captain spoke to the harbormaster and will try to sell one of the ships. She also informed him of Tavros' presence, which seemed to generate some concern. Eventually a large horse-drawn wagon arrives. Tavros is covered with a tarp and moved quickly to the wagon with little fanfare, and kept under the tarp. "Alree An has agreed to take your group to a safe haven, a smaller semi rural temple on the edge of the city." You realize at some point Alree An must have left the ship but you did not see her. Now she comes walking down the docks and climbs aboard the wagon with your group. She takes the reigns and your group sets out riding the wagon. You have your treasures safe in a large strongbox. You have some worry as foreigners and ones with a large amount of treasure that there max be sizable taxes or other 'fees' designed to alleviate you of all that excess gold, but strangely, you encounter no administrative overhead regarding the treasure, and you wonder if you aren't perhaps breaking some laws, burdensome and maybe unfair as they may be.

The port city of Ren Denaio is a whirlwind of sights, sounds and smells. Leaving the chaos of the docks and that rough and tumble part of town, you take a long cobblestone road along what appears to be a walled portion of town. Perhaps at one point the town was surrounded by a wall, but you soon discover it long outgrew their defenses. Reaching a side gate, the wagon is stopped by several gate sentries. Alree An steps down and moves to greet them. In a short while, the glassy eyed guards are smiling and waving your wagon though the gates. A ride of about an hour later and you are a few short miles outside of town and Alree An takes a side path to a forested glade. Surrounded by quite pastoral countryside, the glade fits right in. In the center of the glade, shaded by tall oaks is a stout stone temple and several wooden outbuildings. It would appear the temple is also a working farm and the perhaps some of the fields and vinyards you saw on the path in belong to the monks who step forth to greet you.

There middle aged men, who seem similar enough in appearance, facial features and stature to be brothers, greet Alree An and your group. The tarp is finally pulled away from a sullen, stiff and confused Tavros. The three men all inhale and purse their lips, but nod to each other and smile and greet your group. "Welcome to Kellinton Abbey. I am Brother Tobin and this is Brother Borg and Brother Korm." The men seem out of place here, as most of the people in the city you just came from had been olive complected and dark haired. These three men are quite fair skinned, pale even, and although their hair is greying you could tell it was once sandy blonde.

Alree An thanks the men and turns to you, "We will take refuge here temporarily as we plan our next course. I'm sorry Tavros for having had to smuggle you out in the wagon, less hassle for everyone. Out here, you will have a little more room to breathe, but there will be temple visitors and you may unsettle them. For all of you, we are close enough to the city that we can make easy forays in for supplies or other goods and services."

"I know this was a bit of a crazy day for all of us, but it feels good to be off that ship. Anyone fancy a bath?"

Alree An replies to Makoto. "The Test of the Star Stone is now more. Ancient Legends did tell of it, and we have heard of the stories kept alive despite the previous dark times of the Destroyer. But no. Not since the Destroyer's time has anyone ascended in such a manner. By other ways, yes, but Absalom was one of the targets of the Destroyer as I understand it."

"I will have to see who I can contact when we get to a port. I have been away for a bit, although occasionally I utilize magic forms of messaging to stay in contact with certain people. It will be hard to keep up with Notorosake, he has access to massive resources, and seems to be at least one step ahead of us most of the time. In addition, he is but one of many such agents that are working to bring about the end times." She runs a hand through her hair seemingly exasperated with madness that one envisions runs through the mind of these villains.

"I will contact who I can over the next few days. I feel if we can rescue your master, that will be a huge boon for our alliance. I would hope to invest time and effort to that end."

yes sorry, 26.5K

"Well, in addition to being a spirit, he is hard to kill since he can fly and turn invisible and turn gaseous change his form, and he regenerates fully from even mortal wounds. There are tales that he has been around for centuries or more. He also has magic to aid him and protect him from harmful magics or scrying. He also has powerful allies that he can turn to. Clearly he and his insane allies bent on this quest of destruction cannot be reasoned with."

When you speak to Alree An later about the other ship and possibly buying it from Miar and using it yourselves. Alree An ponders for a moment. "That is a conceivable plan. We would have to hire a crew, which will take a while, but if that is our purpose, a ship would allow us to move about this area. We may need to determine our next path. I myself am committed to recovering your master, although I am always keeping the prevention of the return of the Destroyer as my primary goal. If I can stop Notorosake that will help, but he has thwarted our alliance many times."

Alree An takes the eye gently, "Oh my, its sort of spongy." She gazes at it briefly and seems lost on thought. She examines it for a bit, focusing and detecting magic. "I cannot tell much about it, but it does have potent divination abilities. Despite the nightmares it may perhaps be bringing you, I think this to be a powerful tool if the dreams can be interpreted correctly. I have a gift for you." She reaches into a small pack and pulls forth a small doeskin bound book. "Here, a new dream journal for you." Smiling, she passes the small journal to Lucina, who examines it, and finds a fresh untouched set of sheets ready for her memories. "Have you tried directing your dreams? Are you able to dream lucidly ever?" She pauses thinking, "I often dream of the stars, the void above us, sometimes I am flying through them swiftly, towards some unknown destination. I have not been successful at understanding its meaning. Perhaps there is none. I am priestess of the void and travel however, surely the deities are trying to tell me something no?" She frowns slightly. "No matter for now. Look they appear to be ready to unveil the figurehead." She claps her hands and walks to the front of the ship where most of the crew seem to be assembled.

Lucina sits with Alree An and they talk and discuss Lucina's dreams. Alree An listens intently and is quite focused on Lucina's descriptions. "I am not skilled at interpretation, but I believe you have an ability and this eye you speak of that was given to you, it is curious. Do you believe if you believe it to be a boon or a bane? Why would the crone give it to you? I wonder if she knew or suspected something about you."

She listens with great interest in the latest dreams that Lucina had on the island after acquiring the eye and regarding the undersea structure and associated dreams.

"The deities have interesting ways of working their influence. I wonder if this is a way of attempting to tip off us mortals without direct involvement. They have always acted ... strangely ... when it comes to matters of the Destroyer." She bows her head reverently and adds, "No disrespect meant to the gods of course. They guides us in so many ways, but are often a mystery for us to understand. I believe this is a challenge and in many ways strengthens our faith and need to seek greater understanding." she sighs contemplatively.

"Will you continue to share with me your dreams? I think there is something to them, something that we should pay attention to. I feel as if I did not stumble on to your group by accident. My travels have always seemed to place me where I need to be. I will do my best to help you find your missing mentor."

She grasps Lucina by the hand. "If we reach a reasonably sized city, I can perform a Commune. It requires a lot of incense usually, but if I can get access to it, we can ask some questions of the gods if they are willing to answer. They don't like to share too much information, but if our questions are direct and specific, we can get some answers. Think on this if you have time."

"May I see this eye that was given to you?"

Day 10 - All day

There isn't much to do on a ship unless you are part of the crew, so the group works on their hobbies, artistry and attempts to entertain themselves and others. Tavros has mixed results in dancing with the crew, but does get a few to sign on and attempt to learn his moves.

Teniel and Makoto work on refurbishing the ships figurehead. Currently it is a buxom woman looking forward. A standing joke among the crew is to climb or swing out in front of the woman and rub her ample bosom for good luck. As the pair examine it, they can see that wood is well worn. There is some concern from the crew that you will ruin all the good luck that has been worn in over the years, but the captain figures a fresh paint job won't hurt anything. There is also a standing joke that the figurehead is supposed to represent her, although the resemblance isn't quite there. As word gets out, quite a few of the crew, having become quite accustomed to the oddity of your group, grow brave, and offer you Makoto and Teniel bribes on the side to make the figurehead look more like the captain.

Lucina has some troubles sleeping. The eye she was given by the old crone seems to come to her in dreams and she will see in floating vaguely in the upper corner staring at her, or as one of the eyes of people in her dreams. The eye seems to be searching and she wonders if it is a manifestation of her will to find Goodwin.

Alree An spends much time meditating. She often spends nights staring out over the deck seated on a carpet she lays down and sits cross legged at. Occasionally she will sleep there as well under the stars instead of her quarters. Lucina, often sleepless herself has run into Alree most nights as she steps on the deck to get some fresh air.

"Tell me of your dreams?"

"That's quite amazing. What was his overall goal with rescuing all of you? Perhaps the goodness of his heart?" she muses more to herself. "It appears he invested most of his time and energy into the project. It also seems as though he had significant resources available to him. This does make sense."

"That was very impressive. Your artistry and storytelling is quite thought provoking. I am not familiar with your people. Where did you learn such things?"

The group leaves their message for the dragon turtle or for his marid accomplice. The captain, crew and Alree An wait as the group makes their final preparations before the sail away in search of Goodwin (in a roundabout way) and attempt to assist Alree in her organization's efforts to stop Notorosake and his organization's plans to bring about the Apocalypse by way of the Destroyer.

Restocked with supplies as best as possible, and with some the wood of a few felled trees, and a renewed mast, the ship makes its way from the turtle island and heads back to port.

Alree An and the group meet and she asks, "Tell me more about Goodwin."

Alree An ponders. "Well the ship may be crowded, but we can manage somehow. Shall we discuss with the captain? Lets find this Goodwin fellow for you and hopefully we can staunch this latest effort to bring about the end of times."

She hustles off across the beach towards the ship.

Alree An ponders for a moment. "OK. Well Notorosake wasn't prevented from stealing the eggs, but he still has to sell them. He will do so on the black market, and while we cannot track him with divinations very easily, it may be possible for us to track down the eggs and find him, or at least recover the eggs. Also, once we are closer to civilization we can look into finding your man Goodwin. I will help in this, if he would aid in our cause. I know you probably cannot speak for him, but if you can assure me he is of good heart, he will, I imagine, aid us. We have people of much darker souls aiding our cause, as the risk is to great, even for many evil hearted people. What say you?"

"We won't be going to the undersea ruins, there is nothing there for us. It is a place of great danger, although we would like to know of its location. There are others that will assist in this endeavor."

"Notorosake is powerful and an dangerous foe, but he is simply but one minion of a larger darker shadowy group that is trying to bring about the Destroyer again. He does move swiftly, and his powers of invisibility, flight, shape change, and ability to charm and influence the minds of others make him a great threat. He also uses many magical items to mask his coming and going. It has been extremely challenging to keep track of his movement."

"No, my mission so far is to watch and keep track of what he has been doing. There are others, far more powerful who will take action when it is needed. Now that we have concrete evidence, I don't know what will happen, but many powerful people will be involved. "

She ponders for a moment. "You say your father, this Goodwin....would he help in the cause? What is we helped you find him?"

"There are those who are insane, or think that sometimes it is best to start over from nothing. Then there are those truly evil who somehow benefit from the chaos and destruction and loss of life. Those who feed on the souls of the lost. What does an evil spirit have to lose? They don't need to eat or care about economies collapsing, they revel in the chaos. Who can understand such minds?"

"I know the rune because it has turned up before, and it is one that was documented historically as being associated with the Destroyer. It is probably more correct in that it is a symbol, and less a rune as it does not translate into any language."

"Oh my goodness. Now I understand why you do not know of the Dark Times."

"Well I will try to summarize what happened. The Dark Times as most refer to it happened so long ago now, that few truly know what happened. Perhaps three thousand years ago a being of immense power came from another realm. Much speculation, research and divination has been spent trying to determine what this entity was, but there is precious little to know. What information has been collected is accumulated by those with the mightiest of powers at the time, and by working with the very gods who are worshipped on this world. The being known as the Destroyer slipped into our reality, and began to well, destroy. He started with severing the bond between deities and their worshippers, effectively locking out the gods from assisting. How this was accomplished is not known, and the gods of course are reticent to answer, not wishing to admit that something was able to overcome their divine authority. After the gods were effectively banished, he closed all access from other worlds. Travel through the astral, ethereal, shadow, all cut off. Demons, angels, elementals, all trapped here or prevented from manifesting. Summons failed to work. Planar travel shut down. Within a very short time, people in power began to notice. Many ask, had the gods abandoned them? For your average peasant in the fields, life was fairly normal for a bit as they have no direct connection to the deities or their servants, nor the ability to traverse the planes. Powerful archmages, and the High Priests were very concerned. Powerful heroes and legendary mythic figures assembled to determine what was going on. At this point, the Destroyer had not yet revealed himself. Initially many thought it the work of Rovagug, or other evil gods, but that line of reason did not add up. Shortly thereafter, weather patterns changed, the sun darkened, and the world grew colder. The Destroyer appeared for the first time and began to lay waste to empires singlehandedly. No army, mythic hero, elder wyrm, or archlich could stand against him. For a thousand years nations were crushed. No one could understand why, the Destroyer never spoke, never communicated his desires other than to wantonly kill and destroy. Some speculate that it fed on fear and death, or chaos. Others thought that the souls of those vanquished fed the Destroyer and made him more powerful. To his day no one really knows. All that is known is that after a time, the Destroyer left. This wasn't a tale of heroes rising and defeating him. No, this time evil and darkness had won, and merely grew bored with us. The Destroyer left, the gods returned, and the world began to rebuild. In every nation there are signs of his destruction. Ancient ruins, the earth scarred from battles. Mass graveyards where the dead still walk. People suffered, freezing to death as they starved. The populations of the world dwindled and hung on by a sliver. After he left the skies slowly returned to normal, and people began to rebuild, fearful that the Destroyer may return some day."

"There are some of us who watch, vigilant, hoping that will never come true. But there are some of the darkest evil who revel in such destruction, and seek to see the Destroyer return. Our Oni nemesis is one such evil spirit. It takes a special kind of evil to wish for the destruction of the world again, for even the most hardened and dark hearted would think twice about what it means. We fear however that there are some actively seeking to bring about the return of the Destroyer."

Alree An stares at the rune as Teniel presents it. She looks away briefly then back again whispering. "No....no....nooo..." She drops to her knees in the sand and tears well up in her eyes. "This cannot be. Please let this be a bad dream."

She composes herself somewhat. "You must be wondering what I am going on about. You hold a rune of the Destroyer. His symbol. The place you speak about under the sea must be a remnant of his time on this world. We occasionally find them. They are a mystery to us."

She looks back and forth as you don't register anything.

"The Destroyer..." She chokes on the words nearly, as new tears stream down her face. "How do you not know?"

She listens to each of you in turn as you comment on what has happened recently. With each revelation her expression grows more concerned.

"May I see this rune? I fear for the worst and pray that what I suspect is not true. I hope this undersea location is not what I think it is. And though you may take comfort in that we will not be going there, it will be no comfort to know what I know about what may be unfolding, but I will explain all if necessary. "

"I do not think he is capable of raising a storm or manipulating the weather, but he does have access to resources far stronger. The ghouls, I cannot explain, I doubt they were linked, but again, perhaps he has gained access to powerful allies, more than he already has."

She paces back and forth in the sand, kicking small tufts about as she mulls over the conversation.

Alree An smiles at Makoto and holds her arms out wide as she inspects her aura. "A pleasure to meet you. Would that the times not be dire, we could become better acquainted." She rubs her chin between forefinger and thumb thoughtfully. "I suspect he means to sell the eggs to raise money, or perhaps it is part of a ritual. You say the ship and crew paused for a time? What do you mean? In the ocean?"

Her expression turns sour and she grows very pale, her eyes widening. No...it couldn't be...that would mean..."

Her voice cracking a bit, "You say he left a sigil behind? How so? How did that come to be?"

"A water spirit? dragon turtle? Hmmm. I don't believe they are part of this." She frowns and ponders, approaching slowly again and giving up on the sand, putting her delicate shoes into her satchel and continues speaking in your tongue.

"A flying invisible gnome very much fits his methods and abilities. The gnome is just the shape he took at the time."

Makoto thinks back to her studies and lore, and recalls that the oni, or 'ogre mages' are evil outsiders with powerful magical abilities, and that flight, invisibility and shape changing are well within their documented powers.

"My name is Alree An. I am a priestess of the Void. We seek to prevent the world threatening plot that Notorosake and his masters seek to unleash. Please, tell me everything that this gnome said and did. I have been tracking him, although my divinations are crude and my abilities always put my one step behind him."

The captain and the crew return to their preparation for leaving as the group stands there pondering their options and discussing whether to leave or go.

Before long you notice someone standing nearby on the beach that you hadn't before. Startled and immediately on guard as someone sort of appearing from no where, you ready for action.

The person, a woman, and seemingly an elf, waves her arms and says "No, no! I'm here for peace. I have an urgent mission!"

She seems tall, and her skin is much more darkly complected than normal elves, but not the coloration you might suspect with drow heritage. She stands cautiously in the sand. One hand holding some pointy slipper type shoes, that match her wispy outfit, and the other open. She wears a fair amount of jewelry. Her top is a pale lavender and comes to about midriff and her leggings the same color, baggy and stopping at the knee. She carries a hip satchel made from white leather.

Barely waiting for a reply, she calls out again, "Have you made contact with the oni, Notorosake? I have knowledge that he has made his way to this area. He is extremely dangerous."