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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kid Charlemagne" data-source="post: 193111" data-attributes="member: 93">Tor, June 18th, AE 420The party mulls this over for a moment.  Then Jovah asks Dahloss one last question.“Do you know anything about Mordax?”Dahloss thinks hard for a few moments.  “From what I know, Mordax is a kind of early demon-god.  Long since destroyed.  However, I’m not really the person to ask such questions, its really not my specialty.”“Whose specialty would it be ?”“Well, the preeminent demonologist in the Southern Kingdoms is Count Rosof DiJornal of Ghithor,” Dahloss responds.“Oh, lovely,” Corwin groans.Back at the Inn, Jovah asks Corwin what he meant by his comment.  “What’s the deal with DiJornal?  I don’t know much about him.”“Count DiJornal has got a pretty dodgy reputation,” Corwin replies.  “Lots of questionable actions, including one almost certain murder of another Count.  Back around AE 402 or so, he attacked Count Stormrunner over some minor quibble.  Stormrunner was a Paladin of Pendorianus, and DiJornal had a reputation for dealing in demonology.  He was considered Ghithor’s top mage.  He ran the Academy of the Arts Arcane in Speyer, which is where all the rich and noble wizards go to learn the trade.“He attacked Stormrunner, and killed him during a siege.  But he himself vanished during the fight, and went missing for fourteen years.  He popped up again right at the end of the civil war.  King Denghar had just issued a blanket pardon to all the rebel nobles, pardoning them for any crimes committed against other nobles. It was a big part of ending the war, giving everyone a new start, basically.  Elros Ekozius was the only one specifically exempted from the pardon.“At that point DiJornal showed up and reclaimed his lands.  His son had fought in the civil war with Ekozius, and was killed, so the lands were up for grabs again.  They checked him out thoroughly, and they had to give him his lands back, even though they knew he had killed Count Stormrunner.“But he is considered the best when it comes to demons.”“Great,” Gavin moans. “So do we have any reason not to think that this guy may be behind all of this himself?”“it’s possible,” Brennen says.  “But we need information.  And maybe we can get an idea if he’s involved by talking to him.  His lands are only a few days ride from Oakendell, we could fold there and ride over and see what he has to say.  Jovah, do you want to ask Bes if this is a good idea?”Jovah casts a divination to see if going to speak to DiJornal would be wise.  The answer comes back: Cautious questioning will reveal much to you; incautious questioning will reveal much about you.“Yup, it’s a good idea!” Jovah says, not revealing the exact response.The next day Jovah dimensional folds the party to Brennen’s estate near Oakendell.  They then ride off to see Count DiJornal, after warnings from Count Rovan and Reana’s grandfather not to trust him any further than they need to.Before setting out, Corwin scrys on Kentfield.  He catches him discussing course settings with the Captain of his ship.“What course should I set, sir?”Kentfield waves his hand dismissively.  “Whatever you like.  It doesn’t matter.”A couple days later during the ride to DiJornal’s castle, he tries again.  This time, he sees Kentfield packing a small valise.  One thing that catches his eye is a canvas satchel that contains a variety of tuning forks, of all things.“Tuning forks?” Gavins says.“Plane Shift?” Corwin wonders.  “That’s all I can think of.”Several days later finds the party riding up to the DiJornal family castle, which is undergoing renovations and repairs.  Jalea and Soldago stay in the nearby village to try and drum up some rumors on the Count, while Jovah, Brennen, Corwin, Gavin, and Reana go to meet him.  They are let in after a short wait, and DiJornal is a gracious and friendly host, offering them dinner and drinks.  It would be rude to decline, so despite misgivings, they accept.  Finally, Jovah broaches the subject that brought them here.“I’m not going to beat around the bush, sir,” the gnomish priest says.  “We came here because we’ve heard that you are the most learned man on this subject in the land, and we truly need the help of such a distinguished scholar.”Gavin rolls his eyes as Jovah continues to butter up the Count.“We’ve encountered a cult of demonologists who involved in something about a god named Mordax.  We’ve only got bits and pieces of information about this Mordax, and were hoping that your study in this area might help us.”Rosof DiJornal raises an eyebrow at the question, and a gleam seems to appear in his eyes.“Well, you are correct in that I have studied these subjects more than perhaps any other man in Ghithor,” he says.  “I do know of Mordax.”“He dates back to days before Vecna.  There’s not a lot of hard information from those times; Vecna destroyed historical texts predating him with regularity.  Mordax was the principal diety of the realm of Coldruin.  Coldruin was a powerful realm of the far north that raided and attacked the major kingdoms of the day until it was destroyed roughly 4,000 years ago.  Mordax was weakening even at that point, and with the destruction of his last group of followers he ‘fragmented’ as I would call it.”“You may be aware that there are a number of gods that have gone dormant, or ‘dead’,” Rosof continues.  “Nolon Destro gave way to Pendorianus and Elonkor, who split his life-death cycle between them.  Jehru’s portfolio of healing and justice was split amongst Kelloran, Urakos, and Tenos.  They are commonly referred to as the ‘Dead Gods.’”“When Mordax fragmented, the bits and pieces of his divinity were snapped up by what we now know as Demon Princes.  Their strength originates from his death.”“Is it possible to ‘re-empower’ a Dead God?” Aris asks.“I don’t know,” Rosof responds.  “If it were possible, it would be incredibly difficult.”“Do you have any idea why Pazuzu would be working with other Demon Princes to bring about such a thing?”“If you have any knowledge of the Abyss,” Count DiJornal says, ”you are aware that each layer is ruled by a Demon Prince.  Pazuzu, however, has dominance over the skies of all the layers.  As such, he often acts as messenger to the Princes, and is relatively well-liked.”“Does Mordax have any connection to the Plane of Shadow?” Corwin asks.“He had a servant who did.  Solomoriah, also called the Shadowcat, was one of his main servants, and survived his destruction.”Brennen, Aris, and Jalea all wince at that name.  Corwin looks at them inquiringly, but they don’t give him any clue as to the cause of their consternation.“Where do the Shadowcat’s interests lie?” Brennen asks the Count.“He is the opener of Gates.  After Mordax’s destruction, he threw in with Xante, who is the goddess of secret knowledge and portals, and they worked together for a time.  There’s been a love-hate relationship there for millenia, back and forth between aiding and opposing one another.”“Yeah, we know,” Aris says softly.Some more questions are asked, but the main questions have been answered as well as DiJornal can.  The party tries to keep from using Kentfield’s name in conversation, just in case.  Count DiJornal offers to let them stay in his guest quarters, and they accept.“Whew!” Jovah sighs.  “And that was only half the divination!”“What??” Brennen exclaims.“Okay, so what’s all this about Solomoriah?” Corwin asks as soon as they are by themselves.“Umm,” Brennen starts.“Well, you see…” Aris says.“It seemed like a good idea at the time…” Jalea continues.“Didn’t he take care of all those priestesses of Tyaa and Xante for you?” Jovah asks, having heard the story before.“Uh, yeah,” Brennen says.  “Here’s the deal.  This was three or four years ago, when we were dealing with the orcs who were trying to use Gates to bypass the Hammerhold pass and invade Ambardor and Ghithor.  We were in a tower fighting some priestesses and Drow north of the Mountains, and we came into a room with a gem.  Captured inside it was Solomoriah.  He had been captured by the priestesses of Xante, and wanted revenge.  We let him out in exchange for him taking out the preistesses of Xante and Tyaa.”“Anything else?” Gavin asks.“Uh, no, that’s about the whole of it,” Brennen says.“What now?”  Reana asks.“I have an idea on how to figure out what’s stopping us from folding onto Kentfield’s ship,” Jovah says.  “Then I want to do a divination on Kentfield to see where we can intercept him.  But we need to leave here and go outside somewhere.  I’ll be calling a servant of Bes for the help.”They leave the castle and find a nice glade in the forest.  Jovah makes the preperations for a lesser planar ally spell.  When the casting is complete, a tall, stork-headed figure carrying a crook and ankh appears before the gnomish priest.“Jovah of Bes,” the celestial being asks, “what would you ask of me?”“We are opposed by a man named Kentfield, and he has warded his vessel against our approach so that we cannot dimensionally fold to it.  I’d like to know what it is that is stopping us, and if it is an item, I’d like you to go there and take it.”  Jovah hands the celestial a sketch of the vessel to aid it in teleporting there.“I see,” the being responds.  “And you understand that I will ask a service of you in return?”“Yes,” Jovah says, really hoping it’s not anything too major.“The service will depend on the difficulty of the task,” the stork-headed celestial says.  He stops and concentrates for a moment.“I see the problem.  I cannot go there any more than you can.  The vessel is warded with an unhallow spell, reinforced with a dimensional anchor.  None but those allowed may move through the dimensions on that ship.  It is an enchantment, not an item that prevents travel.  There is nothing I may do to help you in this regard.”Jovah sighs.  He isn’t too surprised by the answer; he’d been looking into hallowing the Fox Club.“Here is your task, Jovah of Bes,” the celestial says.  “You have in your possession copies of the Qurvalos Scrolls.  Take a translated and an untranslated copy of the Scrolls to the city of Augrim, and deliver them to the Guild of Scribes there.”“Is that it?” Jovah asks.“That is it,” the celestial answers, and vanishes.“That’s not too bad,” Jovah says.  “Not bad at all!”“Uh, Jovah?” Corwin says.  “Augrim is the last place Elros Ekozius was sighted at.”The gnome then casts his divination. “What is the best port for us to intercept Kentfield’s ship?”Kentfield is no longer on board his ship.Hearing this, Corwin springs into action, scrying Kentfield again.  This time, the mirror takes longer to come into focus, but it finally does.  Corwin sees Kentfield and Quinn strolling through the courtyard of a castle.  It appears to be morning, although it is noon in Ghithor.  The knights in the courtyard all wear armor fashioned of bronze or copper.  Corwin sees a banner flying, depicting a griffon in flight.  He tries to get a good look at one of the knights, dressed in a bronze suit of full plate.“Hey,” he says.  “That’s weird.”“He’s an elf.”</blockquote>

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