NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 1430141" data-attributes="member: 2292">“Right, who were these bastards?” Geoffrey demands, applying healing magic to Yip.  Although the wound in the kobolds stomach has closed, the pain has returned almost as soon as the adrenaline from the fight wears off.  Everyone else is already two steps ahead, gathering together the corpses and pulling free any treasure and identifying marks.  Their small supplies of gold, marked with the sign of a serpent, are set aside as are the silver snake-masks.  More importantly, two vials of amber liquid similar to the one thrown at Yip are found in one of the archer’s pouches.  The liquid is quickly dubbed a fireball potion, and they are given to Yip to ensure they are thrown with accuracy when needed.  The valuables divided, the more important of who they are is returned to and addressed in force.“We only have the archers to go on,” Halgo says, “but I’d say they’re Sulrathi.  Dark skin and hair, the style of the swords, and the masks.”“Southern Sulrathi,” Amarin pipes up.  “If you look at the robes, they’re different to the style worn by the nomads that keep trying to invade your countries.”“What’s the difference?” Geoffrey says, picking up a snake-mask and a holy symbol that resembles a coiled serpent.  “A sulrathi is a sulrathi?”“Well, they’re generally more organised,” Amarin says, his eyes rolling back slightly as he tries to remember some obscure texts.  “And, to be honest, if the southerners had invaded your empire none of you would have an empire to stand in.  They’re more driven, and their magic is almost as powerful as the Seldarni academies of the time and they’re more skilled in the arts of tactics.  The Imperial states, particularly Thilt and Chulduur, were in no state to…”“It’s okay,” Geoffrey interrupts.  “We get it.”“You did ask,” Amarin says.  “In any case, the southern Sulrathi tend to build cities rather than live in nomad clans, and their religions tendencies are known to be slightly darker than their northern kin.”“They worship dif’rent gods?” Blarth asks.“No, but they have a different church,” Amarin explains.  “And the priests tend to be politically powerful, rather than some shaman or prophet struggling to keep feuding tribes united for a vision of conquest.”“So why didn’t they win?” Geoffrey asks.  “If they could have done it, why didn’t they step in when the northerners invaded?  Why let the empire form?”“Partially, its because they had to fight their way through the old kingdoms to invade the empire,” Amarin says cautiously.  “That’s not necessarily a fight they could have won.  Mostly, though, it’s because they don’t care. They do what their priests tell them to, and the priests aren’t big on temporal power.”“What they want then?” Yip asks.Amarin shrugs.“I’m not really sure,” he says.  “I’ve never really made a detailed study of Sulrathi theology, or any theology really.  What little I know comes from historical sources.”“They want entropy,” Geoffrey says.  He holds up the coiled snake symbol, it’s silvery surface catching the red light of the cave.  “The symbol of Set.  From what I remember, he’s supposed to be destroying the world and giving birth to all evil.  Chaos, destruction, devastation, lies; all of them are his stock in trade.  The Church has a standing order to execute any clerics found within imperial territory without benefit of a trial.”“You do seem to do a lot of that,” Amarin murmurs quietly, but he’s quickly learning the wisdom of keeping such comments from Geoffrey in times of tension.“The real question,” Halgo rumbles, his tone slightly concerned, “is what a bunch of desert dwellers, particularly sulrathi that live in an area further south than the borders of the empire, are doing in a cave half a world away from their homeland that contains some kind of gods secret, particularly when they don’t desire temporal power.”Everyone thinks about this for a second.“Actually,” Geoffrey ventures.  “The really frightening question is how a bunch of Sulrathi made it onto Bor, then cross country, and then into the tunnels, without being noticed by anyone other than the dwarves.""Actually, to be fair, the dwarves didn't notice them - not for long," Amarin corrects.  "I mean, I'm assuming that guards that notice things tend not to end up dead without getting off some kind of warning...""He doesn't know us that well yet," Halgo mutters to himself, grinning, but everyone takes the psions point. It's not a cheerful thought. Geoffrey sighs. "We might have to have a conversation with Oleg about magical security on the docks," he says.  "And we should probably mention the prospect of border patrols sweeping the coast-line - I don't think the current method of relying on an impenetrable coastline, savage wilderness and freezing cold is really working as well as he thinks it is..."</blockquote>

Verification