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Liquid Awesome
Alrighty, gang, I'm going to stop posting stuff about my job woes and start posting more story hour. Just in case I somehow attract another reader or two down the line, I don't want a big self-pitty-fest sitting in the middle of my story hour thread. But I do offer one final thanks to you guys for your support.
I'll be posting several new updates in the next few days. I'm going to intersperse the action updates (as the party continues to try to battle their way out of the temple) with summaries from the Jounal they recovered in the Oubliette. That way I can keep you from getting bored at having to read one giant chunk of journal text. I hope you enjoy this format.
Journal of Titus Pontius Macer
The creature encountered in the oubliette is Titus Pontius Macer. He was left behind in the Temple of Bane to record the last days of the faith until “The Rekindling”. He kept a journal for most of the first century after the Death of Bane but it is largely indecipherable due to the madness that quickly overtook him after his transformation to undeath.
The journal tell of the history of the Cult of Bane in the Northlands:
They originally came at the behest of the Druids who desired their aid against the Elves of the Greatwood. Those Elves had become possessed of some foul force and began to use their powers to pervert nature to their own ends. The Druids could not abide this but at the time they were a small and insular group that enjoyed little acceptance in the Empire. They called upon the aid of the Cult.
The Banites swept into the Darkwood (as it was coming to be called) and set up a stronghold. This stronghold would later become the site for their temple. Upon entering the conflict with the Elves, they were initially frustrated by the elven Druid’s capabilities to Reincarnate their fallen to be sent back into battle. In response, the cult adopted the practice of making sure they retained the bodies of the fallen Elves and reanimating the corpses. This prevented the reincarnation and provided the Cult with a steady workforce of undead to aid in construction of the temple.
Initially, some of the Druids objected to this practice. But its brutal effectiveness at turning a foe into a disconcerting and unfeeling ally was above reproach. Eventually, the leaders among the Druids fully endorsed the practice and even facilitated it by using their swift means of movement through the wilderness to deliver the elven bodies back to the temple. This extended to them combing the woods for signs of battle between the two elven factions and delivering the dead of both sides to the Cult for reanimation.
The uncorrupted Elves objected strongly to this. The Druids pain no heed to their pleas for several reasons. First, they were the cause of these problems by virtue of the dark pact that caused the corruption in the first place. Then, when the fighting turned really ugly, many of the Elves retreated to the south rather than fight former friends and family for the Greatwood. That meant they were clearly outnumbered and on the losing end of most of the battles. The Druids figured that the least they could do was contribute the bodies of their fallen to the cause of defeating the corrupted Elves.
But the Elves on both sides quickly learned a way to counter this. Before battle, they would cut off a braid of hair and leave them with their own priests and Druids. In the event that they were killed, they would quickly be raised or reincarnated such that their bodies could not be turned into undead…
I'll be posting several new updates in the next few days. I'm going to intersperse the action updates (as the party continues to try to battle their way out of the temple) with summaries from the Jounal they recovered in the Oubliette. That way I can keep you from getting bored at having to read one giant chunk of journal text. I hope you enjoy this format.
Journal of Titus Pontius Macer
The creature encountered in the oubliette is Titus Pontius Macer. He was left behind in the Temple of Bane to record the last days of the faith until “The Rekindling”. He kept a journal for most of the first century after the Death of Bane but it is largely indecipherable due to the madness that quickly overtook him after his transformation to undeath.
The journal tell of the history of the Cult of Bane in the Northlands:
They originally came at the behest of the Druids who desired their aid against the Elves of the Greatwood. Those Elves had become possessed of some foul force and began to use their powers to pervert nature to their own ends. The Druids could not abide this but at the time they were a small and insular group that enjoyed little acceptance in the Empire. They called upon the aid of the Cult.
The Banites swept into the Darkwood (as it was coming to be called) and set up a stronghold. This stronghold would later become the site for their temple. Upon entering the conflict with the Elves, they were initially frustrated by the elven Druid’s capabilities to Reincarnate their fallen to be sent back into battle. In response, the cult adopted the practice of making sure they retained the bodies of the fallen Elves and reanimating the corpses. This prevented the reincarnation and provided the Cult with a steady workforce of undead to aid in construction of the temple.
Initially, some of the Druids objected to this practice. But its brutal effectiveness at turning a foe into a disconcerting and unfeeling ally was above reproach. Eventually, the leaders among the Druids fully endorsed the practice and even facilitated it by using their swift means of movement through the wilderness to deliver the elven bodies back to the temple. This extended to them combing the woods for signs of battle between the two elven factions and delivering the dead of both sides to the Cult for reanimation.
The uncorrupted Elves objected strongly to this. The Druids pain no heed to their pleas for several reasons. First, they were the cause of these problems by virtue of the dark pact that caused the corruption in the first place. Then, when the fighting turned really ugly, many of the Elves retreated to the south rather than fight former friends and family for the Greatwood. That meant they were clearly outnumbered and on the losing end of most of the battles. The Druids figured that the least they could do was contribute the bodies of their fallen to the cause of defeating the corrupted Elves.
But the Elves on both sides quickly learned a way to counter this. Before battle, they would cut off a braid of hair and leave them with their own priests and Druids. In the event that they were killed, they would quickly be raised or reincarnated such that their bodies could not be turned into undead…
