Älia the Wise's page

"Yes. I am still looking into possible rationals for what occurred."

Alia briefly jumps in. "I had five separate mages examine my mind under public supervision, and then I examined the minds of the others. There has been no tampering."

"Dalton isn't wrong. Mercenaries can be bought. Moreover, relying on the cover that they provide is a flimsy political shield. If they aren't associated with the government, their neighbors could declare the mercenaries bandits and do peace keeping missions to police the borders. Or they could declare a war of restoration to restore the Brumik monarchy and protect it from 'brigands.' Such a fiction is actively destructive to their sovereignty. Worse for Brumik, war with Andril will speed the crown's consolidation Xilres. What you are describing sounds like suicide for the warmongering merchants. Either you have not revealed the full picture here or these merchants are being induced to act against their own interests."

Alis breaks her silence. "There is more than one way to catch a rabbit. Your military and political observations are keen, stone child. There are two reasons we have chosen this particular course of action."

"As Krokar says, we believe this will result in the least bloodshed of any solution we have come up with."

"Secondly, it will be a long term solution to the merchant class oppressing the citizens. We don't plan on elimination them - far from it. We plan on unseating the individuals with the mindset of making coin by staining the country red, and establishing the government as the real power once again. Beyond that we still expect the merchant class to be very influential."

Alia gives Toramin her piercing gaze. "And I assure you, we do not withhold information. We have promised you that."

"With your permission Pazeek I would test the extent of these wards. If it is protection rather than immunity we should be able to make it through. Liamsho knows how to deal with teleportation wards."

"I would ask your permission to work with your underlings on these matters of import, for my talents may be of considerable use. As I see it from your end, my benign crimes and Dalton's absolute control over my enture in this place means I have little choice but to obey if I want to taste freedom. What have you to lose?"

The council gives Alia an expectant look, who shifts from her unmoving posture. "I will consult with Tiasar for his advice, but from what I remember of your kind there is none more likely to keep an agreement. Dalton could scance have chosen a more reliable creature to bind."

"It is possible, but the nature of contingencies is limited to only having one, and I'm not sure if that precaution is worth no longer having the life-saving contingencies we currently have in place."

"Yes, but I will have to wait for tomorrow to cast it. Rygat left us long before we started using memory magic, and regardless he is not a caster."

Your guys salt levels are off the charts today :P

"We are currently working on magic to help with the extreme conditions of the deep ocean. It is leading us far further down than we expected."

"I don't know how often he invokes it, but I know enough to know he has a much more thorough knowledge of it than myself."

Alia moves, like a piece of granite coming to life. "We have discussed the matter and believe we have reached a suitable compromise. We will tell the king of the Forge. If he deems it necessary than he can tell the rest of the Voices."

She turns to Dalton. "I have some knowledge of primal, or wild magic. It embodies the nature of unpredictability. A very risky endeavor, one less traveled but full of riches if one treads carefully. Tiasar knows more of that magic than I."

"The reaches of magic are far, and my knowledge of it is beyond yours. If there was more to learn from divination magic, it would have already been done."

She waves a hand dismissively. "She's not even on this plane. Security is no issue. I'm sure the magic just wasn't noticed when it went off. A contingency to alter memory would have no visible effect."

"I'm not sure when it occurred or how. But it's clear there are very obvious gaps in her memory."

"The very same. I have learned a great deal from Acera, but not the secret of her regeneration, for it is a fact that she herself is not aware of. She was granted it by some superior figure that she can't seem to recall. I am sure magic modified her memory upon capture."

The ancient drow gives a small smile to Dalton. "It's quite the conjuration indeed. Perhaps I could show it to you sometime." She looks around at the party and council. "I think that we should not contact Nareth until we learn more about what happened to Rygat."

"I must protest. I realize that killing him may end up the only option, but let us at least learn about him first so that we know if curing his insanity is possible."

You can almost hear Heff's eyes boring into Älia. She takes a deep breath. "I don't know. We would first have to discover what exactly caused his insanity."

"I think he can be rehabilitated. He was heading down a dark path, yes, but something broke his mind. Bringing Nareth in would eliminate any chance of turning him back, if the chance does exist."

"If we contact him we must be strict with terms. He cannot go rogue and use his own methods. We don't operate like that anymore."

After a pause, Älia adds almost as a side-note to the information they just learned. "We do not know of a Malose."

"We are heavily undecided on the matter, so until circumstances change we are taking the safe route and following up on historical leads while leaving the blade alone."

"Liamsho has informed us of what he knew of the blade, and Tiasar contacted me after Dalton contacted him. There is currently two teams underwater off the coast of Yenrick, searching for anything they can find. If you want, Liamsho and I could attempt to backtrack the source. We haven't done so yet, because we feared of the repercussions of finding whatever is calling the blade."

"That sounds reasonable. We will be as transparent as we can with your future missions. The next one should definitely help with that. In return, we would like you to return the same transparency, within reason as ours will be, when acting with us. In addition, when there is something that must be kept hidden from you, we will be less evasive about why."

"Also, something needs to be done about the Voices. We have decided to attempt diplomatic ties with them, as we did with Andril. And we would like you to be the envoy between us. Hopefully the dwarves and us can be mutually beneficial."

The council briefly dismissed the party and talks for the better part of half an hour, after which they are allowed back in. "We have decided that a greater deal of trust must be issued both ways between your group and the Aestherics. What do you want to know?"

"Unfortunately, manipulation will happen. Even our own members cannot know everything, partly for security and partly because some information simply cannot be known by those who are not prepared to know it. It's not a question of treating you as children, it's a question of keeping you and those around you alive. Would you rather know the truth in your grave?"

"The Fourth Room is as it has always been. Acera remains tight-lipped, but it is only a matter of time."

Älia turns her head slightly. "I agree with Heff on this matter. We value truth, but that doesn't mean everybody can always know it. Heff has secrets from everybody, even me. After two centuries I've learned to trust him. What do you wish would change?"

"I am honored by your confidence, but I must admit that I have never heard of your organization before. Can you tell me a little more of your organization's history, purpose, and methods? Also why are you interested in recruiting me? I'm am no warrior."

Älia answers Ianna. "I would be surprised if you have heard of us. We act with the utmost secrecy. The best protection is your enemies being unaware of you. Our history, purpose, and methods will be explained in full during your training if you accept. To be short, we are a secret organization of exceptional individuals who act for the good of all. We have grown from a size small enough to fit in a house to large enough that we have hundreds of active members. Our methods are numerous and varied, everything from stealth to subterfuge to magic to violence and everything in between. Warriors are not the only thing needed to protect Erandor. You have been chosen partially for the connection to your brother, but mostly because of your character. Your motives, your goals, your ideals, your actions; they have all shown you to be a compassionate person who wants to help those in need. At our most basic level, that is what we do. Help people who need it. Because of that, we want you to be an Aestheric."

After everybody is seated, Älia speaks. "Heff will be in soon, but I called for us to meet early to address two issues. The first ties into the second and must be addressed immediately. When the present group were made special members of the Aestherics and advanced quickly throughout the ranks with little training, Jasper and Drosil opposed them. The rest of the council approved it, so we went forward with your initiation. However there are two main concerns with this. Your lack of training in our ways has had you act recklessly. Drawing unnecessary attention to yourselves. Attacking Targ during a reconnaissance mission. Blatantly ignoring the objectives of your mission." The council stares on in silence for a moment. Then Älia continues. "However, results do not lie. Everything you did was with good intentions and overall had good results. In the end, that is what truly matters. After much deliberation on the matter, we have decided that you must go through full Aestheric training before continuing to be field agents." It's clear from Jasper's face that he disapproves of the decision. "Your virtues and effectiveness show that you are good Aestheric agents and we want you to continue to do good in the world. If you find that acceptable, we will begin your official training tomorrow." The council (save Heff) looks at the party expectantly.

For those paying attention to the magic, it appears to have taken Älia very minimal effort to do that much healing. She looks at Gabriel and the rest of the party. "Yes, I can feel the life force drained of you. Tomorrow come to me again and I will tell you if the power is still taking hold, and I will remove it for you. I have no qualms about healing it, but the material components are very costly." Anybody that fails their save against the negative levels will be healed by Älia free of charge tomorrow.

With her work done, Älia gestures and with a whoosh disappears.

As the party is debating on their next move, Gabriel emerges from the tunnel with Heff. Trailing behind them are thirty newly freed prisoners and a badly wounded white horse with wings.

"Good, now you're all here." Älia raises her staff in the air and a massive energy flows through the area, closing wounds. Only one channel and the entire party is at their full strength.

"We will have agents stationed here for weeks to help clean up and rebuild. You may stay and take care of any business you may have for as long as you wish."

Älia takes the lead cube, staring at it for several seconds before waving her hand and making it disappear. Then she turns to Acera.

Hell hath no fury and all that.

With a sharp jerk of her hand, Älia raises Acera into the air. After a few moments Acera's broken body regenerates and she takes in life-saving air, sucking down oxygen like one that just came back from the dead. She takes half a moment to glance around and barks a spell, but as it lashes out it dies before moving a foot. Älia speaks, and her voice echoes off the stones and chills all who can hear her to the bone. She pauses and speaks again, then drops the now regenerated Acera to the ground. "Take her to the fourth room." Suddenly Acera is lifted off the ground by invisible hands, then she vanishes into thin air.

"Acera will no longer be a problem. I imagine it will take some time to break her, but we intend to learn every detail of what she knew. For now, return to the Colosseum and Krokar will take care of your return to Andril."

"You have all done great things here, and you have shaped the world for the better. You have ended two great evils before they could come to full power. Only the gods know what kind of havoc they would have been able to cause."

Not ten seconds into daylight and there's a whooosh sound. Out of the ether steps Älia. She walks forward slowly, leaning heavily on her cane. It occurs to the party this is the first time they've seen her standing. Her unblinking eyes fall on Toramin (you think, it's hard to tell since she has no pupils). "Heff has informed me of what occurred. Congratulations on your success. I know you are all weary from the burden you have carried and the fighting you have done. Turn over the egg to me and let Acera regenerate. I will take over here, you all deserve a rest."

"Get her to me and I will be able to keep her restrained without issue."

"This is... big. But we have a more immediate problem. If its science as you say, does that mean my worry for Raul's men is unwarranted? At least, to the degree I mentioned?"

Raul dismisses the whitecloak.

"Yes, just make sure if one falls he is healed or killed again."

She listens to the other suggestions about keepin Acera down. "I wish I knew more about this lesser immortality so I could inform you more. I regret to send you in unaware, but we have little choice."

"What is our goal for this action? Is our primary concern retrieving this Egg or ending whatever-that-woman's name was threat? If it is the former, then I think Rilka should be given some form of magic to make a quick egress. Our focus then should be capturing the egg and returning it here, regardless of the cost to the rest of the group. If it is the latter, then what provision do we have to neutralize her should she prove unkillable? We have encountered an unkillable opponent in the past. We should consider what resources we have to contain her and suppress her magic if violence proves to be less than efficacious."

"Getting the egg out her grasp is more important. If she proves unkillable, break off her jaw. That will prevent spellcasting." The drow is very calm as she suggests the grisly action.

After half a minute a whitecloak with his hood down walks in. At Raul's command he sits, where the ancient drow examines him for a time. Eventually she nods. "It has taints of necromancy, but it's not a spell. It's science. It appears to be a strain of the same disease that we experienced during the war in Xilres."

Raul looks thoughtful, sitting back to think on Gabriel's suggestion for a minute.

"Of course, have one come in."

Raul nods, speaking into his ring.

Älia nods. "Simple, but effective. I support this plan of action."

"The Egg has very distinct magical properties. It is not hard to detect, but Acera is somehow obscuring it right now."

"Most drow were stripped of their spell resistance long ago, but some of very old blood like myself still retain it. The best weakness to exploit is our weakness to sudden bright light. It can temporarily blind us."

"Any entrance to the Underdark is long lost or forgotten, and best kept that way. I am aware of no such way to get there without planar travel."

"Do not fear of racism, child. You are long from that. This is the first I have heard of Lindale's departure. I will look into it."

"I had her location an hour ago, and that was underground in the northern district adjacent to the wall. But she protected herself and I haven't been able to locate her since."

"Clear your mind. Do not resist me." Älia faces Dalton, and she remains that way for a few minutes.

Älia speaks very suddenly with no motion or tell that she was done. "You were visited by a manifestation of Arcanotheign, Herald of Nethys. You should consider yourself blessed that she turned her attention to you. But you should know that she finds us mortals curious creatures; I doubt this will be your last visit from her. And take care, for her intentions are as predictable as the weather."

Älia turns her head slightly to Bjorkus. "The dragons have left this land long ago. The dark elves were involved in the Great Dragon War, but so were the rest of the races. They were punished badly for their actions by the metallic dragons."

Do keep in mind that in this setting dragons haven't been seen by anybody younger than 400 years old. There are only stories left of them, and even the concept of such a powerful beast is a hard concept to grasp.

Krokar and Heff look to each other, clueless looks on their faces as Dalton tells of his...encounter. Älia listens silently, and after a significant pause of nearly half a minute she nods. "With your permission, I would search your mind for your memories of this event."

"Wise Alia, forgive me if I have overlooked a piece of the puzzle, but how is it you know of Acera's understanding of this doom relic? Given your description, it seems quite likely things are as you say, yet take this enforcer for example." Dalton pointed at Raul. "A lycanthrope strongman willing to turn his back on his master?" He knew this was likely to upset Raul and quickly continued, talking over him if necessary; an indirect insult wasn't his point. "Even his agents have a level of sophistication I wouldn't have suspected." And perhaps an indirect compliment would balance that.

"During recent struggles she has had to direct her attention away from her concealment spells, allowing me to finally pierce through her magic. Your pressure exerted on her allowed me to do this. However she soon realized her mistake and again directed energy towards concealing herself, which is why we were able to turn this city-wide battle to our favor."

If Raul was offended by Dalton's comment, he doesn't show it.

"It's possible she is being used by some force from beyond the veil as well, is it not? For if there is some fog of doubt as to the happenings in the Abyss, perhaps she is merely a pawn in a more sinister scheme. Then, even if she does not know the true end of her actions, they may be guided by a defter hand. Certainly a deadlier one."

"That is certainly a possibility. You are wise to be wary of this. Either way, through her would be our gate to the higher power."

"In any case, such guidance would have to be remote and not in power yet; she worked under Targ for a reason and certainly was caught unaware here - both the lot of us and Raul were opponents in waiting under her own banner. Much of my energy is spent, but it then seems the element of surprise may be our greatest asset...

"Yes, the sooner we strike the better. The more time we give her to regain her strength the smaller our chances of success. Before you leave, remind me about your spent spells."

"We have only begun our mission here." Älia's ancient voice drains the mirth in the room. Krokar motions for everybody to sit down, then whispers something to the guards and closes the door. Älia waits until the movement stops then continues. "I have looked into the veil between worlds and seen the evil that lies in these lands. It was contained before, but is now exposed to the world. Long have my kin been vengeful over their fate due to the end of the Great Dragon War, and they do not forgive or forget. Acera's power has been strained in the recent events and I have glimpsed through her illusions. She is of my blood." Älia goes silent for a moment, and it appears her knuckles grow white on the shriveled staff in her hands.

"She is acting with a group of extremist drow whose origins and motives we do not yet know. We do know they are cultists of Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders." Her dark eyes narrow. "And they have acquired the Egg of Lolth, an artifact thought long lost during the war on Eclavdra and the Underdark." Älia leans back, recalling the memories of old.

"Ages ago, a group of heroes - having fought through hordes of giants - uncovered a plot to sow war and discord throughout the world. Eclavdra, a high priestess and an influential leader in the drow city of Erelhei-Cinlu, was behind these machinations. The heroes swept through the Underdark, battled the kuo-toa in their profane warren, and took the fight to the vault of the drow itself. After all this effort, their job was not yet finished. They discovered a strange item that enabled them to leave the Material Plane and take the fight to the Spider Queen herself in the Abyss. It's not clear what happened to these adventurers, but the egg eventually found its way back to the drow, and has changed hands many times since before becoming lost in history..."

"Until now."

Älia shifts her hands around on her twisted staff. "The Egg is a fiendish vessel of complete destruction. Acera does not know the gravity of the power she intends to unleash upon the world. But in this time of her desperation, I fear she will resort to using it. We must bring her to heel, by any means necessary."

"You do." The council looks at the drow for a moment. You wait a good thirty seconds, but the other council members seem content to wait. "No mortal can see the implications of every decision, the ripple of time escapes our view. In the brief glimpse of the moment we gather what facts there are and make a decision here in these hallowed halls. It would be ignorant to say we have not made mistakes, nor will we never make another, but to ere and to learn is the existence of our short lived races. Here we would minimize the mistakes made through ignorance, pride, and greed."

Yeah, she's got quite a history. If you cast legend lore on her your head would probably pop.

"You confuse ideals with truths, one of stone. We do not advance a single idea of truth, simply truth as it is, in all it's beauty and harshness. We remove the masks and distortions others would thrust upon it. Freedom is the same, each person should live to their own idea of freedom so long as it does not limit the truth or freedom of others. Our ideas are not complex. We believe the people should know the world as it is and should be able to shape it as they desire. We are but humble servants of the whims of the many. Our side is with the majority. Small power struggles do not interest us." She blinks, and with a chill you realize this is the first time she has blinked the entire discussion. "In short, we keep powerful men from abusing their positions."

Älia shifts, and the others all fall dead silent as she speaks. Her voice is quiet and commanding, clear as a bell and has the accent of the old land, an accent long dead. "Do not dare presume we lie to you half-breed. Each of us sitting at the table has sacrificed more than you will ever know to create this. If we aspired for the power you believe we are ravenous for then we would not be asking this of you. We deign to use free thinking spirits of the world for our members instead of one nation's resources. To do so would advance their purposes instead of the world's."