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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gina" data-source="post: 1502551" data-attributes="member: 10990">Near Alder’s LookJuly 8th I don’t know what has happened exactly. I remember laying a trail to our camp. We spent the night uneventfully, and made our way back, intending to go directly below to continue the tests. The plan almost worked. We were approaching the great fortress, Alder’s Look, when I noticed a bird behaving strangely. A corpse-raven in a tree. It was watching us and was definitely not a normal bird. So, not thinking, I changed to an Eagle and pursued it. I got a few strikes in with my talons and a few strikes with flame before it landed and shifted to an Ape. I knew then that I should get out of there, but I waited a moment to cast one more flame at it. Then, I found myself entangled in the trees, unable to break free as it blasted me with lightning. I think I’m dead. That bitch orc-druid killed me. I watch as she tears at my body, throws my journal to the side, then takes all that I have from me, the magical orcish short spear, the disc to summon Kerchik. I hope that she doesn’t figure out how to use it. Bitch.  My few other belongings, bedroll, some coin, I really had very little with me. She comments rudely as her foul hands touch my things, then after she has finished, she leaves, triumphant.Very soon after, my friends arrive. They seem shaken. They must have thought that I would prevail. Thaile and Tieran have been my friends since we were children. They look so sad. I want to comfort them, but I can’t reach them, I can’t touch them to tell them that I’m all right and still here, somehow. Kefk and Kytum-up look sad too. Mor’Elandi has that pompous Elven look about him. He always seems smug, no matter what the situation. I think he may not be happy to see me dead, but I can’t tell. I can still feel Asmathias....he is not dead, but a part of him is with me still, I know it. Mor’Elandi makes a quip about camp being quieter without me as they prepare to take my body back. Thaile remembers that I had spoken of reincarnating Riva when he died, but that I did not have the power to do this. She suggests that they locate Graystone to ask if it can be done and the others agree. I want to come back, but I have begun to hear the voice. The great voice is speaking to me, to all of the dead. I see them around me, walking.....toward....Alder’s Look. This is not what we have been taught. Right now I should be standing before Maal to be judged, Around me, I can see spirits, other ghosts all moving toward Alder’s Look, on their way to the great voice. In the distance I can hear their voices, calling out.....I hear Riva, he’s searching for something, but I don’t know what. He does not seem in distress, he is just seeking something. I must follow my friends. If I lose sight of them, I will never be able to return. I must return, I have things that I must do, must finish. I have to kill that orc-bitch. I follow my friends to the Kobold warren under Smitson’s Farm, then to Johnson’s Farm and the new Kobold warren. It seems that Maluki-kip did not trust us after all. As I listen to my friends and the Kobolds’ discussion it becomes very clear that they know a great deal more than they told us about Alder’s Look, the idol, and several other things. I am distracted by the great voice though, so I missed much of the conversation. I can see the idol very clearly, its aura is the same color as the voice, which calls to me, to everyone. We are the restless dead, but the restless dead are evil. I am not evil, not that I know of anyway. All of the dead can see it. I am sure of that. This is not what the afterlife is supposed to be, it is very different from what we have been told. The voice is neither good nor evil, it just IS. It transcends the concepts of good, evil, balance, law, even the natural order is less than this voice. It is more than morality....it is beyond my comprehension. I cannot put into words what the voice is like, though the nearest I can come is the voice is that of a shepherd or a gardener tending the souls who come to it. As I listen to the voice, I realize that it sounds a little like Slithia. I wonder who or what it is that wishes to tend to the dead. It is not the gods, that I am certain of. Rather it is something else, perhaps the children of the old ones that Asmathias mentioned to me when he first came to me. I recall that the place of beginnings, Alder’s Look, is watched over by the “children of the old ones”. Perhaps these children are the ones who tend the gardens of ghosts or spirits or whatever it is that we are. Even as I listen to the voice, I become aware that something or someone is trying to hide this place, hold it down and silence the great voice. Why? Well, that is the question, isn’t it? Perhaps whatever awaits us at the end of the tests will tell us that. The gods do not want this place found, they would prefer that the voice just go away. All of the gods save one, Korok. He wants this place found, of that I am certain. I recall that the Koroketh are the keepers of knowledge and great works of the hand, maybe if I can return to life, I can convince the others to go to the temple in Three Oaks and find more information about it and its origins. The tests...they are for the living, but I think that they may lead to the same place that they dead are seeking. The Great Serpent’s Eye. It watches and guards. I suspect that it might be our destination, but I know very little for certain. My friends are bedding down for the night. I listen to the voice throughout the night. It is comforting. The Kobold Lair under Johnson’s FarmJuly 9thThe night passes uneventfully. Graystone comes and tells my friends that he was near enough to see my death, scouting the orc-tribes. Unfortunately, he was too far away to aid me. Reena is with him and she looks well. They both seem saddened to see my poor dead self. Graystone has more information about the Orcs and their movements and plans. The Orc tribe is the Bloody Spear. There are 300 or so total, but not all have come yet. They speak of their high king and his coming. Their Animal Master (the Orc Druid who killed me) and their First Warrior are in the midst of a disagreement over whether they should go to Alder’s Look first or to Eaglesford first. The Animal Master (Monkura is her name) wants to go to Alder’s Look. The First Warrior would prefer to destroy Eaglesford first. They may divide, which would be good, since they are a powerful force, with many animal masters among them. The Garresh is also home to an Orc tribe, the Grinning Death. Still, they are not moving and their war drums are not beating, so they are not as great a threat at this point. The Grinning Death tribe have a Render with them and are reputed to be led by a necromancer. The Orcs have moved into the area because of a prophecy, which includes the bright light. They want to return to their ancestral lands: Alder’s Look and the surrounding area. Graystone takes my body away, to see if he can find someone more powerful than he to cast a reincarnation spell and so bring me back to the world. Reena and my companions stay to see to the defense of Eaglesford and the Kobold warren. Reena is good at defending. She is a half-orc, born to a farm woman after an orc raid some twenty years ago. She grew up with her uncle, in a small hut in the forest. I met her several years while out gathering herbs. She saved me from being torn to pieces by a rather angry bear. I was not accomplished enough to befriend it yet, but I was able to befriend her. She is a mighty warrior and does errands and the like for Graystone and Mistress Hara. After Graystone leaves, the others decide to go to Eaglesford. Tieran goes to see Mrs. Wiggins, to see if she can teach him some new spells. Sadly, Tieran’s skill has surpassed hers and she has little new to offer. Thaile and Reena go to Hara, the halfling witch. In exchange for five vials of spider poison she identifies the potions that we had been unable to identify previously. Thaile then goes to Mrs. Faegen’s. She shows her the rubbing of the copper disc. Mrs. Faegen was horrified that Thaile had even come across such a blasphemy and said that it should be destroyed if we ever came across it again. The center areas, which had been ritually defaced, must have contained some even greater blasphemy. If we find it again, it should really be taken, on further consideration, to the great temple in Frane. In Burlywire’s everyone meets up again. The warden is there, bragging about his (highly improbable) exploits. Mr. Burlywire mentions that Kales has struck it rich and is living it up in Three Oaks. So, Leiden really did know where wealth was to be had. We also hear that the Lord seems much improved since Garrett came through and went on an errand to Three Oaks for him.Nothing seems out of the ordinary, other than the fact that most of the local farmers are in town rather than in their fields as they would normally be. Orcs have recently attacked some outlying farms, but none have come to the town proper— yet. Thaile gives a somewhat edited account of the exploits of the party, taking the focus away from the Warden and his group for a time as the farmers listen eagerly to her tales. July 10thNight passed uneventfully in town. I listened more to the voice, I do not tire of hearing it.After leaving town, we see smoke from one of the farms. A group of orcs works at burning the place and they seem to be eager to draw attention to it. I follow as my friends move toward the farm. Battle followed, Kefk and Reena moving forward to the fray, while Tieran, Thaile, and Mor’Elandi drew the attackers to themselves, splitting the force. At least one of the orcs was a druid, based on the spells cast. My companions won this battle, but at least one, possibly more of the orcs escaped.As they died, the Orcs' spirits rose from their bodies, moving joyfully toward Alder's Look and the voice. They are creatures of evil and should not be going to the same place as the rest of us, yet all of the dead move in the same direction. I wonder what is happening....</blockquote>

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