Chrysalis (updated 02-15-05)

[Tormenet]

Session 1, Part 4: Larassamnes Terrera

I am among the close circle of Equila of Jehna and Cato, Saint of the High Places. How then did I end up here in this village called Jahennum, a word in the older tongue referring to a place of fire?

There were some things I needed to check out to the north. Equila, may Avasara smile on her beautiful head, asked me to take care of it. I think she saw that Phrada is no longer a place of comfort for me. It has been fifteen years, but I still see the Ghinn siege in every cracked wall. The streets, now open and fresh, still resonate butchery, confusion, stifling smoke and screaming to me.

When I met Talos, I quickly realized he has no respect left for the institution of marriage.

So it is that I end up here, naked under the sun helpless to stop his entertainments.

Talos had yet another of the village’s youths encased in iron armor under the hot sun. The young man had stopped trying to escape the metal that was cooking his flesh. Talos’ face had taken on the look of an aristocrat enjoying a fine meal.

Three abominations meandered into town: a gnome, an Ionian human and a man of Median ancestry. Runners came and told us immediately while Alkimus went through his welcoming routine. The man and his villagers have their secrets, but not from Talos.

Talos spared the abominations, an usual act, as they had their own sentience and their spirits had a mark of Avasara despite their bodily condition. If Talos was to spare them, then so would I, as in the least such a miracle must be investigated.

They did not spare themselves though. One, an Ionian youth in his late teens, attempted to gut the veteran. Talos speared him through the throat, a blow that would have killed any but those already dead. The young man, Ajax by name, flopped to the ground and gurgled for a few moments.

The gnome, who behaved not at all like any of that race of master diplomats I have met in my time, appealed to Talos on behalf of his…comrade? Their relationship seemed undefined as yet, like they had just met. Hard thing to do here in the middle of nowhere.

The veteran abomination killer ordered me use Avasara’s power to injure the youth, another murder. However, the power had the opposite effect—the flesh at the youth’s neck sealed itself.

Abomination.

Amused at his own superiority, and with no one left willing to argue with him, Talos spoke his will.

I was to join the abominations. We were to travel to Draconia, one of the cities founded by the Leopard, and convince the veteran’s wife to return to her husband’s side.

I knew her name well, Charybdis. The racist spoke of her frequently. Perhaps he does have at least a little respect for his marriage, but probably more on the possessive side.

Before we left Talos had a spell put over all of us bind us to his will. Alkimus and his secrets.

The three seemed lost, quickly admitting they had no idea where they were.

Twenty-seven days north and east of Phrada, I told them. That cleared Ajax’s face. Thirteen days east of the Citadel of the Rock, I told them. Zaveon looked that way, toward home his face said. Nothing I said helped the gnome. He asked where “The City Established by The Will at the Place of the Third Gate” was. I had no answer. I am well educated, Avasara be praised and his mercy visited upon Equila, and have never heard of such a place.

I suggested we travel north, three days to Ka-Pi-Sa, an outpost of the Song Empire. Established around the foundation of a military camp, the city was growing and its administrators talked of attempting to re-open the trade routes cut by the Desert of Abominations.

We decided to venture to Ka-Pi-Sa to research a means to cure their condition and make plans for Carybdis.

 

[Tormenet]

Session 1 conclusion, Part 5: Jamili Legens

After a few thousand years of death, my return to the mortal world does not seem to have come without a sense of irony. For my entire life, until my (initial) death, I was a slave of the Sovereigns, or the “Eldritch” as my new companion Ajax refers to them. They were beings infinitely more powerful than anyone I’ve encountered so far in my brief return to this world, especially this Talos who made such short work of Ajax.

The Sovereigns controlled us through a force called The Will. And on my first day in my second life (or unlife, as the case may be), I am put under another compulsion by a member of an organization seeking to tap the powers of the Sovereigns.

This quest that Talos has had cast upon us pales in strength compared to The Will. Whereas The Will was a constant voice in my head that controlled most of my physical and mental actions, this current compulsion is more of a pull, as if the horizon was a magnet and I, an iron filing.

While it was certainly discomforting to find out that my companions and I have returned to this world as “abominations,” I have become overjoyed to hear the whisper of the Echoes in my head more strongly than ever before. The Echoes (or the “Akashic memory” as it is called in this era) have been with me my entire life. However, it was only at the times when the strength of The Will weakened that I was able to hear them with any clarity. My ability to hear the Echoes has proved invaluable as I have been able to master quickly many of the languages and customs of my new environment.

Our journey to the Songian outpost of Ka-Pi-Sa provided us with an opportunity to learn some more about each other. Lara, the servant of Avasara we met in Jahennum seemed leery of the three of us that had emerged from the Desert of Abominations, which seemed understandable. Certainly it could not be coincidence that the three of us (four, if you count the Songian woman who apparently died in the Desert) appeared at the same time in that corpse field. The fact that I momentarily held the form of a companion of Ajax’ who died along side him furthers that point.

Our goal at Ka-Pi-Sa was to equip ourselves for the journey to Draconia to locate Talos’ wife, Carybdis, and bring her back to him. We had taken many valuable items from the corpses in the Desert and found in this town several merchants willing to trade them for other goods. Though, this was my first experience with a commerce system such as this, the ability to persuade these merchants to give us favorable prices came naturally to me. We commissioned the creation of some enchanted items which would take a number of days to create. Prudence dictated that we maintain a low profile in the town, to decrease the odds of someone noticing our pallor, or that we were not breathing.

After two weeks, we made a final purchase of some horses and headed out for Draconia. The map we purchased showed us that we would have to take an elongated route around the northwestern rim of the Desert of Abominations. After several days of travel, we came across the Somal River as the sun was setting.

When night fell, we could see shadowy forms moving toward us from the other side of the river. The forms stayed on the far side of the river, but the hatred they directed toward us was palpable.

As dawn broke, the forms dissipated. We crossed the river on horseback, but after a couple of hours of riding, the beasts stopped in their tracks and refused to proceed. We retreated across the river, and decided that it would perhaps be best to restrict our movement to the daylight hours. Nightfall brought the return of the shadows, and as with the night before, they remained on their side of the river.

The next morning we set out again, this time on foot. The horses would have to fend for themselves. After a full day’s walk, as the sun began to set, we approached a small fortification. As we entered the keep we could see the shadowy forms coming from every direction.

We found a ladder to the battlement at the top of the keep. The shadows levitated and attacked us. We quickly discovered that mundane weapons could not harm them, only enchanted ones. We were hopelessly outnumbered and eventually were forced to retreat to the ground at the center of the keep.

At the moment when our fate seemed sealed, Ajax had a revelation. “Water!” he screamed. “Water keeps them at bay. They could not cross the river.” Lara understood and quickly called out to Avasara. She created a circle of water around the four of us on the hard floor of the keep.

The improbable barrier worked. The shadows circled us, an incorporeal mass of hate. But they could not pass over the water. We remained in the circle the entire night. Lara tried her best to curl up and get some rest. The other two abominations and I had no need for rest, so stood throughout the night – a little bored, a little frightened, more than a little confused about the circumstances we’ve found ourselves in.

The rising sun crept over the horizon, and as it had the two previous nights, dissipated the shadows like a morning fog. It was as we prepared to step out of our aqueous haven, that we noticed a discrepancy between this morning and the previous two. On the western battlement, a solitary shadow remained, watching us.