Fallen World (Mature, Dark)

[Gli'jar]

Canthan takes his seat, relaxes and listen to William and Big before beginning his own soliloquy. “The nations fell upon their neighbors, consumed or were consumed, devoured or were devoured. For years there was war. War and disease. War and decay. War and despair. War and death. Who can say how many died, how they died, or who can count the ways. This is not history, but truth." Canthan pauses, closing his eyes as he turns his ear towards the sky. Opening his eyes, a brief flicker of madness passes over them in wide eyed awareness before he smiles and continues.

“A larger tragedy befell us all however. There is a stairway from basement to attic, a spiral mystery that makes us one household. The trout and the raven, the cricket and the ram, and even the swallow in the eaves is brother to the spider in the vault. And this stairway broke in every tread.

Cel-Candon is dead. Dead from end to end. However, like a snake bereft of its head it continues in its deaththroes. Parasites infect the corpse, unable to recognize the obvious. They hide in her myriad folds, dark corners and recesses expecting her to rise up again. We must purify the body, force those who cling to her body to release and seek succor elsewhere. To that end, Cel-Candon must be razed. Let us preserve the frame so that one day we may rebuild the tread.”

Canthan takes a breath, directly addressing those in the group.“Within Cel-Candon, an object of power resides that prevents its purification. We are to facilitate this purification process by obtaining said object. We begin our journey with General Mokninchel at Aeil-Candon."

 

[Nephtys]

The waiters deliver your orders with effortless efficiency and leave you to your conversation. The room, one of several airy and comfortable chambers decorated with exquisite if somewhat cynical taste, holds another five tables spaced fairly widely apart. Two of them are empty, but the other three hold an eclectic mix of creatures. At one an Incubus entertains a party of what seems to be wealthy merchants, keeping a conversation (something about the impact of the scarcity of souls on the open market and its effect on the commodity prices) alive and well, occasionally interrupted by merry laughter. They all seem too preoccupied to pay any attention to you. Another table holds a group of well-dressed Goblin women, casting lusty glances at the incubus while gossiping viciously about their friend who just left. And the last table seats a lone human in a black cloak, looking out over the city trough the window, seemingly deep in thought.

From the living rose-bushes climbing the walls of the room rose petals in every natural colour drift down gently around you every now and then, somehow avoiding to land in your drinks. From another chamber lovely (though to some of your tastes pretentious) music drifts in and outside you can see the sky begin to darken, casting much of the city beneath you in shadows.

 

[Trollbabe]

Aeryk tugs his cowl up over his head as he passes the servants and enters the "symbolic" gates. Places like this make him uneasy its too easy to forget the horror and decay that reside outside. He takes a seat with the others and listens to them talk back and forth. As Big spills the beans two things grab Aeryk's attention: "The Mistress can't get in through the normal means and thus we've been "hired"." and then he mentions "The spirit wisp guided us to you as likely companions so you must already have been in her sights." The wisp went to William in the tavern. If Ysande, Canthan or Big were capable of infiltrating the ruins then the Lady would have left it at that... but she didn't she sent them to William. Very interesting!

From beneath his cowl Aeryk's pale yellow eyes watch the others, "What do we know of Cel-Candon?"

[sblock=OOC]Knowledge (Geography) +11, Does Aeryk know anything about Cel-Candon?[/sblock]

 

[Autumn]

"That is the question," Ysande murmurs softly. "Which, if you are still wondering, is why I brought you here to talk rather than racing straight off to Aeil-Candon. It would be a good thing to pool our knowledge and formulate some initial ideas before we do anything precipitous. Besides, of course, that I prefer to have a little time to get to know the people I work with."

She smiles ingenuously, big blue eyes blinking; a picture of naive innocence.


OOC: Bardic Knowledge +18 once again, this time for any stories, legends, gossip and so on that she might have come upon relating to Cel-Candon.

 

[WarlockLord]

"My joy is unbounded. Questing for a species I hate and for an item I don't care about. Well, that's life for you! says Mystic, draining his glass of water. "Enjoy your narcotics, despite the fact that narcotics are for suckers."

"I wonder if this item has defenses so that only a follower of the Lords of Sacrifice may pass. The Lords of Self have already expressed an interest, we shall see how the scales are balanced."

OOC:
Knowledge (arcana) +23,
Knowledge (planar) +28,
Knowledge (dungeoneering)+23,
Knowledge (religion)+25
What do I know about Cel-Candon?

 

[Gli'jar]

Canthan begins mumuring to himself, "Cel-Candon, General Mokninchel, Aeil-Candon, reliquaries."
[sblock=OOC Canthan Skills]

Knowledge (arcana) +23, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +12, Knowledge (the planes) +23, Knowledge (geography) +12, Knowledge (religion) +12 [/sblock]

 

[Nephtys]

Cel-Candon and its sister-fortress/city Aeil-Candon are located in the north-eastern corner of Ijainvaa, in mountainous and inaccessable terrain. The two cities were both important elven strong-points before the fall and had been for thousands of years.

For about half a millennia in the Age of Desolation (the time following the Godswar) Cel-Candon was the heart of a global elven empire and its people (according to their own and their allies histories) took a leading role in the healing of the world.

Mystic+Canthan:
[sblock]You have both heard of a somewhat darker version of that history. According to those tales, massively suppressed by the elven government, the elven arch-mages and -clerics used sacrificial magics on an unprecedented scale, wiping out several intelligent races to accomplish their miraculous feat. That those races once existed and became extinct in that period is known, but the conventional history explains their extinction with environmental destruction combined with several race-wars between those lesser races for ever decreasing natural resources. The truth may be somewhere in between.[/sblock]

During the Fall (the invasion of the world by Lord Xileg) Cel-Candon was perhaps the most formidable enemy of the invaders and only trough overwhelming force and the strategic genious of Yangava was the fortress taken. The Citadel of Cel Candon is one of those rare places where Outsiders are unable to go (for reasons you don't yet know) so She had to use a combination of mortal (mostly fiendish Humans and Slave-soldiers but also early versions of the Fleshcrafted) and undead troops to gain her victory. To honour her victory Lord Xileg added the honorific The Ravager of Cel-Candon to her titles.
You know, from Yangava's own lips, that the undead can no longer enter Cel-Candon, but you don't know why.

Canthan+ Ysande
[sblock]You have heard a few tales of General Mokninchel and his deeds in the Abyss, but nothing of his activities since the Fall. Apparently is quite a powerful Balor, but somehow crippled or twisted and therefore despised by his kin. As a result he's become one of the most hateful enemies of Ingarr (so called Lord of Balors, and Lord of the powerful domain Ramengres north of Ijainvaa) and consequently perhaps the most loyal servant of Yangava. That he is in charge of the operations in Cel-Candon says something about the importance of your mission.

You know nothing specific about the reliquaries of Cel-Candon, besides the fanciful tales told to local children, but you do know that it was probably the most important seat of power in the ancient world (see above).
[/sblock]

 

[WarlockLord]

OOC: Does outsiders include pseudonaturals, or not? Because this really screws our summoning...

Mystic muses. "Interesting...has some new threat popped up that requires us to open the gates for an undead attack? Or have we an artifact of sacrifce?

Or even a plan?"

 

[Bloosquig]

"I was figuring on making a plan once we got a better briefing from the General out there."

Big shrugs. "Kinda hard to decide what to do with just hearsay and general knowledge. But if any of you have any lore or know any secrets about the place I'd be glad to hear them."

 

[Gli'jar]

Canthan nods as the others recount their information filling in where holes are apparent.


OOC Canthan will wait for the others to reveal what they know and he will fill in the holes