Origen of Nethys's page

"I trust your judgment at this point, more out of necessity now that we have another burden to bear. Get some rest. If you like, you can use a dormitory here in the Forum. Just go upstairs and walk until you see an open door, that'll be for you all." As he finishes his speech, it was plain on his face that rest was next on his agenda as well. He bows his head into his hands and calmly says, "Teleport." A bright white light nearly blinds anyone who's eyes were open to see. Then, as expected, Origen was no longer with them.

"Yes young man, I understand that she was running to get here. What I meant was, why was she trying to get here in such a hurry?"

It's not necessary that they do... But they probably will After a few unsure seconds, the guard fumbles with his keys, and unlocks the front door. Taldo is too concerned with his new friend to notice the beautiful and intricate glowing runes all over the inside of the Forum. He just runs in, and begins searching the faces of the people he's awoken for any sign that they've met the woman in his arms. The man she knows to be Origen, in his night gown and cap, approached with an air of mixed concern and annoyance. "What's going on? Why have you woken us?"
Seeing the girl in his arms, he looks her over and says, "Put her down here," he indicates a nearby couch, "carefully. Now explain yourself."

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Origen grins, nods and takes Mael's bag back after he takes the 20. Turning to the others, he offers the same favor.

Origen sighs, "Fine, she can come with us..." After he sees Sera walking along with her he says, "How about that, we add one more to our number, and we have an open seat in the carriage...ironic." Hopping back into the carriage and out of the rain, he uses the empty seat to lay his soaked cloak down and keep himself dry.

As the party reaches the gates of Gisli, it's very clear that his trades-town is more alive and full of energy than any that the Clemanites remember seeing. They'd heard the latest news and gossip from their suppliers and other travelling contacts, but this picture had never quite been painted for them. The group saw more people in their first glimpse inside the walls than they'd ever seen before in one place. Animals, food carts, street urchins, merchants, and the occasional guard, statuesque against the wild backdrop before them; all of it drenched in the day's rain which had begun to lessen in heft.

The carriage trudged slowly through the mud and madness and Sera and Tena were accosted on all sides by merchants pleading with them to come into their tents and out of the rain. The guard uses the blunt end of his halberd to keep a few beggars back and away from the carriage. Origen encourages the driver to continue on to the local Forum. Once they arrive, Origen invites them all--except Tena--into his office.

The building is unassuming looking: stone and wood like the rest of the street, it honestly could've been anything if not for the brightly shining Two-Toned Mask carved into the door.

The inside is far less unassuming.

On the one hand it's considerably bigger on the inside than the outside, and every surface is covered in brightly shining runes. In the foyer they see an older gentleman holding a class for four acolytes: conjuring fire. Tena is fascinated by the lights and sounds present in such a marvelous ritual. Origen leads them up a twisted staircase to the second floor, which seems to be naught but a series of corridors. He leads them down one hall, two lefts, a right, and on until the third door. He wastes no time in producing a key from around his neck, using it to unlock the door, and heading inside, key in hand. "Have a seat, I'll get your supply money."

Entering the room, they're further astonished, it is also bigger than the distance between doors outside would lead them to believe, and this room is also laden with bright runes. The Clemanites see several seats available to them, and Tena sits in a very comfortable-looking chair, absolutely giddy with excitement. "Not you, Sylph, this is for my...er...friends here, if you'll kindly wait outside." She frowns, but gets up and leaves as requested. Seeing her gone, he approaches the area behind his large desk and speaks loudly "SEE INVISIBILITY!"

A dark shadow grows and bursts in front of him revealing an iron chest. Unlocking it, he pulls out three bags of gold. He sets them all out on his desk, and locks the chest back. Afterward, he speaks again, "INVISIBILITY, and in the Name of the All-Seeing Eye, PERMANENCY!". Now the shadows in the room seem to cover the chest and the shadows shrink until the chest is no longer visible.

"Alright, here's the money up front as promised, try to keep it hidden, I hear Lore likes to frequent some...less expensive establishments in the east quarter. You can't miss him." He then shakes each of your hands individually and wishes you luck before sending you out the door.

Sorry for all the railroading. Feel free to do whatever you like. Go back to the bazaar cuz you saw something you wanted or to give some money to the beggars; go downstairs and watch the lesson, if he'll let you; go get a random guy on the street to fight you; whatever you want. Also, remember Tena's from Gisli; with her help, it shouldn't be too difficult to get anywhere you want to go.

Origen looks outside at the rain, and says, "There's a fine line between gentlemanliness and insanity. I'd rather not flirt with it today."

The driver hears the back and forth and stops for the couple.

Does anyone else give up their seat?

Maelius can see that the two are exceptionally pale, with white hair but otherwise humanoid.

"It's up to you lot," Origen says throwing up his hands, "But I'm not walking in the rain!" He refers to the fact that there are no extra seats anywhere in the carriage.

As the carriage pulls out it hails briefly, causing them to pull into the causeway briefly. Soon however, the hail turns to rain, for which they are equipped. The driver and guard pull the canopy down over themselves, and the rain continues throughout the ride.

"Oh yes, quite large," Origen replies to Mael's question, "I've lived there for nearly five years now, and I still get lost."

A little over an hour into the trip, as the hilly landscape seems to be washing past them in the rain, Sera and Oz see in the distance a couple holding each other as they walk, hunched over to keep dry. As they near, the couple look up hopefully to the carriage.

"Ah ha..." Origen says uneasily, "'Contact of mine' may not be the most accurate term. Lore is, understandably, his own man; we'll equip you for the trip to Gilsi, either this afternoon, this evening or tomorrow morning, whichever works best for you all. We'll compensate Lore for his time as well, and I'll be there to help broker the deal, but you understand we didn't want to approach such an important man without a team ready to go." He stands up and addresses them all, "I'll leave you to make your decisions; I'll be outside when you have an answer for me."

"Is it settled? Are we all going to Gilsi?"

The wizard chuckles at Oz's comment, "Yes, the Forum had a similar impression when they'd first heard of the Temple...200 years ago. Since then we've seen enough supporting evidence not to doubt someone who comes back with a token of Torag that could only have come from the Lost Temple. Also, his tracking skills were already legendary from the days of the Imperial War, so it wasn't a far cry."

The Imperial War had taken place in the recent past in which each land in the empire was attacked by a neighboring country. The empire proved too much for them all. I'm sorry about the piece-meal backstory, I'm more or less connecting dots of a story I want to tell...

After Mael asks his question, Origen sighs and says, "I'm afraid any equipment we lend you would only be for your trip to Gilsi. Grimstad is outside my personal jurisdiction, and I'd therefore have to appeal to the higher-ups to grant you any further assistance. And being as this is a need-to-know operation, that is out of the question. I will however give you your 300 gp up front so you might procure this gear yourselves." His eyebrows are raised, he knows that might sound unreasonable, but covert operations are very rarely well-funded and he's hoping these down-to-earth Clemanites might understand.

"Wonderful!" The wizard exlaims, he turns to Besh, "This is awkward, but...if you wouldn't mind..."

Besh rolls her eyes thinking, again?! But she throws up her hands and walks out the kitchen door.

"Now," the wizard continues, "the goal of your journey will be to find the Bracers of the King in the Lost Temple of Torag."

"The first thing you must do is seek out the scout named Lore in Gilsi. He's the only man proven to have reached the Lost Temple in history. I hear he won't be hard to find, but we'll be happy to accompany you to make sure you do if you like."

Origen's eyes shift before returning them to Osmundus "Of course not, dear boy, and I didn't say as much. I said I could offer you that much, you have my word as a Wizard of the Forum of Nethys, and these guards," he gestures toward them, "of the order of Ghazi, Commander of the Attican Armed Forces will keep me accountable." The two men nod in agreement.

Two of you know he's lying, but no one is saying anything...strange...

"Quite valuable in fact," the wizard replies, "You would be handsomely rewarded. I'm prepared to offer you 200 gold each, plus expenses to go on a particular errand which would help the effort greatly." He puts his hand in his pocket, and wears a smug grin. You see, he knows that most people don't make that much 3 months at a menial job. He certainly had Besh's attention.