Mega-Adventure Prologue--The Council and the Fellowship

[BigB]

Having had the chance to cool down after her encounter with the Sage Nura is ready to say something again.
Nura marks that she want to say something. when recognized. She stands up.
"I am Nura Emzotel, a shop owner in Orussus. Everyday I am gone from my shop it costs me money but Better to waste resources then being dead. I agree with my friend Jallembo, and I too is willing to help the best I can. But what should we do if we get the remaining shards. The cultists will still have the phoenix shard and they will still pose a threat. As I se it we need to make them fear us and not the other way around, we should not only find Lichworm’s shards but also locate his minions."

Khairi has listened long enough, as a man of action he can no longer listen to politics at work. Nura Emzotel, has the right of it! Only we must do more than cause fear to these cultists, we must recover all the shards and eliminate all the cultists we can. Each nation should then establish an order sworn to safe guard these shards while they are hidden in some secret location while no one group has knowledge of the location of the other shards. The longer we sit here doing nothing the less the chance of success and the greater chance of our doom. I am Khairi ai Baheder of Sairundan, it is time for action.

 

[Someone]

Nodis add his opinion: "I tend to agree with the elf. If the shards are well hidden, and the legendary wizards of old couldn't destroy them, it makes little sense for us to look for them. What are we going to do with these shards if we find them? However, these 'cultists' are waved around like the boogeyman, and surely they are (mostly) humans. What of them? Who are these cultists? Wouldn't it be better is we go after them and kick their cultist asses?"

 

[ethandrul]

Hasin dwarver ranger

Humph- thanks for recognizing me most honorable ones- and elves.


Why not build an army to distract these cultists? watch for them to make a mistake- then use it? WHY WAIT??? We are NOT soldiers! we are ADVENTURERS! Send us to the tombs, make us part of the defenses there! Or send some of us to the tomb in the fire desert- we can retrieve one of the corpses that were found there- raise it...or animate it and ask it questions. I'm sure we can convince it to cooperate. and I'm sure we can at least glean SOME information from the poor soul.
And another thing, this looming disaster is a threat to all life- why do i not see a dignetary from the goblin holes? Where is a representative of the most glorious and terrible blue dragons? or does this threat only bear notice of a few nations?
I might suggest requiring papers to move freely between districts, maybe arcane marks authorizing travel between countries- if we can limit the cultists movements- perhaps we can slow the progress of their agents. It may be distasteful, but until we can find the location and identity of the cultists, we need to accept that distastful actions may be what is called for.

Now then- I have spoken my piece- I volunteer to help i strongly recommend a more detailed search of the open tomb, and retrieval of a corpse...or at least a portion of a corpse or 2

 

[Knight Otu]

During the brief pause between the statements and the proposals, Ashnar looks at Peladus. "You have been unusually quiet so far." she whispers to him.

As the time of debate comes, Ashnar motions her desire to speak. Assuming that she is recognized, she starts
"I am Ashnar, a wizard, and Knight of Monemvassia. In my short life, I have been apprenticed to a temple without a god, survived a great fire, and battled bandits, goblinoids, gnolls, and sahuagin. I died, and when I was returned, the color of my eyes had changed. I have seen a dragon and escaped from the eruption of a volcano, supposedly caused by Gundar himself. My gender has changed. Things have transpired in my life that I would have called impossible only a few years back, seemingly defying common sense and logic. I have seen enough to know that 'stability' is not lasting if it is not supported. Empires cease, cities fall to strive, buildings fall to ruins, fortifications crumble, magic unravels, hearts grow weary, muscles tire. All mortal things are fallible, but we can help to keep them stable, so Sela helps us. I have seen both treason and loyalty, for good reasons and for bad, from halflings, dwarves, humans, and elves. I have heard of orcs and kobolds doing heroic deeds. Disbelief on account of heritage, prejudice, is not well founded. If you distrust someone, do so on account of unfamiliarity or familiarity with them.

The threat of Vildaxaranthus may not be real, though I believe otherwise. However, on smaller scale, threats like this have surfaced. Monemvassia was threatened by Causticus. A small village southwest of Orussus was long occupied by kobolds under the control of a false dragon called Eskaron, a lycanthrope of a type of beast that shouldn't be native to the region, but was born there anyway from the account I have heard on the travel here. Grand Vizier Xanthar mentioned that fear and panic can paralyze people. He is right, and worse has happened in that village. The villagers dreaded that someone might learn of their plight. They feared that someone might try to rescue them, and subsequently fail. Yet the rescue came, from outside and then inside, even from some of the kobolds. But it needed a catalyst, heroes from outside.

If Vildaxaranthus comes, we will be just like that village. Who would be our heroes from outside then? Travellers from Sairundan or the mountains? Sailors from the sea? They would face worse odds than those who saved the village.

And if the Rise of the Lichwyrm is a 'hoax', there will still be the next Causticus or the next Eskaron to content with. Whether this particular threat is real or not, a united front, and well-trained defenders, can give people a sense of security, and hope. Hope that they will need if the Lichwyrm returns, hope that they need if their freedom is threatened otherwise. I would, however, suggest not to name such a league, if it comes to pass, after a single nation."

 

[Amaury]

Jallembo listens to the woman by the name of Ashnar and frowns a bit. Is she mad? What is she talking about? Dead and sex changed? And raised from the dead?? There are some seriously disturbed types around here.. be careful my boy.. he thinks a bit more worried.

 

[Knight Otu]

As she sits down, Ashnar catches disbelieving glances. With a sad smile, she thinks to herself. And to think that I have left out the crazier stuff that has happened.

 

[Velmont]

Opale nods after the speach of Ashnar. She has heard of that Causticus, she had fought that Eskaron. She was one of the people who wanted to speak with the kobolds, and she had the good intuition. the illusionist she was knew pretty well that appearance means nothing.

 

[Rystil Arden]

*A young woman in the back wearing a cloak similar to the Sice Housemistress and Xanthar's stands up to talk after being recognised. Her aura of beauty and charisma is nigh unearthly, so much so that those familiar with the effects of charisma-enhancing cloaks would be surprised if she wasn't wearing one. Whether it is partially due to magical effect or simply due to Valessa double-dipping for this girl when she handed out beauty, she is a figure of perfection, with big crystal-blue eyes, silky golden tresses, and a robe that is purposefully cut so as not to be too voluminous and hide her lithe but well-curved physique. As such, all eyes immediately turn to her, well except maybe the elves.*

[SBLOCK=Vanitri, Ashnar, Tenebrynn, Rinaldo]Keeping in mind that the reason I let everyone craft like crazy was that I advanced the timeline two years to give Rayne time to research all this, you recognise an older Laynie--though still eight years younger than the one from the future. I calculated the other day that after those cards from the DoMT and the cloak she got from Sin, Laynie has a total of +15 to Charisma-based skill checks before any ranks (many of these competence or circumstance bonuses, but still). Yikes! She would do as well as someone with 40 Charisma If she actually trains in those skills, some day she might catch up to Rinaldo[/SBLOCK]

"Xanthar and Ashnar are both absolutely right that Lichwyrm or no Lichwyrm, a protection force is a good idea. But I agree. I suggest we not name it after Medibaria. Call it the Lyruan League after the woman who had the resolve to unite so many people and defeat the Lichwyrm so long ago, a woman who cared for the people of every nation whose delegates are now present in this room."

*Xanthar, capitalising on the stir made by the young woman, follows up on her suggestion.*

"You are right, of course, Ms. Valsice. The name should reflect our shared desire to keep our people safe. As such, the Lyruan League is a fine name. There are dangerous creatures out there that have ill-intent towards innocents in every nation. For those who haven't heard, the town of Brimbor was basically destroyed by dragons just the other night. This information, I think, would be easy for you to verify. Now, having heard about this Lichwyrm, I'm starting to think that this might be connected to his rise, but you know, even if I decided I don't believe in the Lichwyrm, this would still be a cause for concern and alarm. A rogue group of dragons strong enough to level a small town banding together? Okay, maybe our capitals are well-enough protected to repel or thwart such an attempt. Maybe. But not a one of us can say that one of our small towns, like Brimbor, could survive such an attack. Think of it, a whole town up in flames and gone. All those people dead, their dreams snuffed out. Right now, the only recourse is mercenaries, adventurers, and they are not cheap. Tens of thousands of gold was spent to hire adventurers to deal with that threat. How much better and safer if those funds were used to train our own brave men and women to create a sustainable fighting force?"

*Rayne takes the floor to make a few comments.*

"At the behest of a wise advisor, I have refrained from taking the floor for a while to allow everyone to talk and each express their own insights and experiences. But there are a few things you should know if we are going to take the threat of the Lichwyrm seriously. The most important thing to remember is that though the Phoenix Shard is taken, all hope is not yet lost. The cultists can begin to awaken the Lichwyrm with the Phoenix Shard, but without more of his power, they will be unable to free him from his bonds. There is, however, a danger that we must still consider. We are in grave trouble even if they can awaken him enough to converse."

"Of the phylactery shard, there are some whose location is, more or less, known. However, there are others that no one has ever been able to recover. You see, so paranoid was he, perhaps rightly so with chaotic and evil followers, that the Lichwyrm kept the locations of his shards hidden from even his lieutenants. Only his own twisted mind, and guardian creatures bound forever to the shard, would hold the locations. The cultists, knowing this, never bothered too hard to look for the missing shards--they didn't have the Phoenix Shard, without which they could do nothing, and if they could wake the Lichwyrm up enough to speak, he could tell them the remaining locations. The forces of good did look. They were aided by the placing of ley lines, which are somehow involved with the Lichwyrm's power--Professor Tyndall can explain that better. But several of the shards still remained unlocated, though we at least have a guess of the general vicinity."

 

[Ximix]

Ximix, High Elven Initiate of Gliran - submitted for level 3

Ximix sits on the fringes, listening, wondering at the various battles of intrigue and posturing, yet having no wisdom to solve the dilemma's before the group.

 

[Richard Rawen]

Richard Rawen - Human Fighter 3

OOC: My apologies for my absence, computer crashed.

IC: Richard will second Rinya's words above concerning the Dragon's Warning, adding that he was present when the event occurred.
Other than that, Richard waits, knowing his contribution will come when the words are done and he and his kind are in battle.