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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sephiroth no Miko" data-source="post: 1771195" data-attributes="member: 4796">In which our Heroes seek a corrupted Celestial of a shrouded Nature through Abyssal dales, Baatorian caves, and Gloomy plains, eventually dealing the Fiends an unparalleled blow of a most grievous Sort. Cast of CharactersBurrow (Pl/male earth mephling/Drd11/NG) -- AshyZoe Windwalker (Pr/female human/Fav12/CN) -- ThaneeBlade Stopthrust (Pl/female spiker/Ftr12/LG) -- Isida Kep'TukariKiaros Ilivenia (Pr/male elf (ghost)/Rog7/CG) -- SerpenteyeDonner Hund (Pr/male halfling/Ftr6,Hnd6/N) -- FerrixVladimir Kronenheim (Pl/male dwarf/Pal5,Nec7/Dustmen/LG) -- Kajamba LionFlaust Conkersforbrains (Pl/female tiefling/Rog6,Ftr3,Cha2/Xaositect/CN) -- deadestdaiFormatPlease put speech in "quotes", thoughts in italics, and any game-related info such as skill checks or spell use in [brackets] at the end of your post. Use of colored text for speech is not mandatory, but appreciated, as long as the colors don't burn out my retinas. Once in a while, I'll be using spoiler tags, [spoiler]like so[/spoiler]; y'all should know the drill.Please try to post at least once every other day (excepting weekends) if there is something for you to respond to. If a player has not posted in at least week and is holding up the game, I will NPC the character as necessary. If a player is gone for more than 2 weeks without posts or an explanation, then I reserve the right to declare him or her MIA and start recruiting for replacements. I understand that sometimes life just throws you a curve ball and you may suddenly find yourself short of time but please, please do the courtesy of dropping me a note in the OOC thread if you're going to be away (planned or not) for some time-- I'm willing to work around absences. Thanks!And So It Begins...From Pihnmid's Inscriptions, a handwritten collection of translated excerpts from the legendary Book of Inverted Darkness:"And in those dim days before the War of Blood, when Good was Evil's central foe and fiend did not war with fiend, a celestial named Maeldur was ripped from the heavens by a fiend named Daru ib Shamiq. Maeldur was a native of the Celestial Mount, with shining emerald flesh and a dove's wings of purest white, like the snows of Pelion. Shamiq was of the clan of Baern, first among the fiends of the Three Glooms and sires of the General of Gehenna. Shamiq, in motives twisting and tangled, took the noble Maeldur and told him of things no creature of purity should know. The words of the Baern had power-- at least in those days-- and when shaped into the form of dark secrets, they wrought terrible consequences. Maeldur was changed. The celestial was a creature of light no longer. And though much of its essence was stripped away, it was given great powers of a different kind. Daru ib Shamiq then hid the Maeldur away, fashioning a talisman that let others speak to it in the words of the Baern-- the only words it could now hear. Even today, the creature torn from the Mount serves some central, fiendish purpose. Shamiq, however, disappeared into the First Gloom, at a place called Daubei's Obscure Woe." ************Rewind. A month ago found you storming the Citadel of Broken Souls on Minethys, the cold and blasted fourth layer of Carceri, alongside Sir Praetol, a paladin of great virtue from the prime world of Qua-Nosham. Qua-Nosham has long been plagued by the machinations of fiends, and Sir Praetol sought to take the fight to the enemy by striking at a baatezu outpost hidden deep in the Red Prison, for the devils had been particularly vexing in their attempts to sow misery and disharmony. The daring offensive caught the fiends off-guard and the defenders were slain to the last, the fortress left in ruins to be buried by the layer's relentless winds.Curiously though, the force stationed at the Citadel wasn't as strong as expected, and an examination of the battle plans liberated during the attack soon revealed the dark of it. Not long before, a group of baatezu, including a few of the high-ups from the Citadel of Broken Souls, had raided a remote yugoloth fortress on Gehenna, and stumbled across a strange creature called the Maeldur there. The plans revealed little else, but it was clear from the language that the Maeldur was a being of great power. Immediately, the baatezu set about securing their prize, and wrapping it in utmost secrecy and spiriting it away from all prying eyes. In fact, it was only by luck that you managed to get ahold of these papers at all; they were due to be destroyed.Unfortunately, not long after the return home, Sir Praetol fell prey to a strange wasting disease, one that has stymied the best efforts of the priests and healers of Qua-Nosham to treat it. A few others in his company have also fallen ill with the same malady but fortunately, the lot of you seem to have escaped unscathed (though it has not slipped beneath your notice that all that have succumbed to this mysterious illness were of a lawful bent). Therefore, before his lapse into into a deathlike coma, Sir Praetol charged you with uncovering the dark of the Maeldur and why the baatezu are so desperate to keep it from falling back into hands of the 'loths. He was most insistent upon this point, and you eventually agreed after it became clear he would settle for nothing less.You returned to Sigil and spent several days parking your ears for latest chant, particularly about suspicious baatezu activities (well, more suspicious that usual), picking the heads of graybeards, and scouring magic shops and faction archives for any mention of the Maeldur. It all came up for naught until Kesto Brighteyes was able to pull a priceless old manuscript, motheaten and yellowed from age, from his fabled back room at the Parted Veil. True, you had to endure an hour or so of his Defiers' screed about the false superiority of the powers and how they're peeling everyone about their 'supposed' divinity but it has given you your only lead on Maeldur so far (see the excerpt above).... unfortunately, it's not a whole lot.Further research on the Maeldur or Daru ib Shamiq have all hit the blinds and you're canny enough to know not to go rattling your bone-box too much about them. Whispers have a way of getting around the Cage, after all. However, your efforts have not entirely been in vain-- you turned up an old book entitled Localities on the Outlands: Volume IV, the Gate-Towns that notes a small estate by that name of "Daubei's Obscure Woe" was built in the gate-town of Torch. Granted, the mouldering tome is several hundred years out of date, but it's better than nothing. Looks like it's time to take a trip to Torch then; good thing you know of a portal to just the place in the Market Ward.Tonight, however, you grab the chance to kick back and relax a little at the Ubiquitous Wayfarer. It's pretty lively in the tavern right now, with serving maids pushing through the crowds, taking orders, delivering drinks as fast as they can pour 'em, and laughing at the good-natured banter tossed their way. A quick glance around reveals a typical Sigilian crowd: Chaosmen and Guvners discussing philosophy over frothing mugs in one corner; a tiefling snuggling up to a bariaur near the fire; various primes, planars, and petitioners mingling freely (though a body would be hard-pressed to tell one from the other); a tanar'ri sitting with an aasimon at a nearby table; a pack of imps dancing around a band of singing githyanki over in another corner. The night is still young and tomorrow... well, who knows what tomorrow will bring?OOC: Consider this a chance to get into character a little before we really sink into the meat of the adventure. Since you know where you'll be going in the morning, you're welcome to buy supplies and whatnot as needed-- just let me know. And for simplicity's sake, let's just say you all have rooms at the Wayfarer.Links<a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=100695" target="_blank">Out of Character</a> | <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=100816" target="_blank">Character Gallery</a> | <a href="http://s92908152.onlinehome.us/hellbound/" target="_blank">Image Gallery</a> | <a href="http://mimir.net/cant/cant2.html" target="_blank">Cant Dictionary</a></blockquote>

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