Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 1673007" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #276] The Second Test, part VIII[/PLAIN]"You have passed the second test," the first water woman said."You may well be the ones for whom he has waited," chimed in the second."You have earned the right to stand before The Great Oak," they said together and gestured toward the door of the cold shrine. "Err. Thanks," Feln said. "But how do we get in?"They said nothing but continued to point. Morier ducked outside and then quickly darted back in. "I think you should probably see this," he told the group.It was nearing sunset and the shadows were long inside the walled compound. The vibrant green branches of The Great Oak stood out vividly against the rose-colored sky. But their eyes were drawn immediately to the hedge that girded the tree. Directly opposite the doorway to the shrine in front of which they were clustered the thorns seemed to be glowing as if someone had painted an archway on them in silvery light. The VQS hesitantly approached the hedge and as they came, the thorns in the doorway of light receded until there was an actual arched passage through the barrier.They entered and found themselves immediately in the hushed presence of The Great Oak. The area within was quite dim since the tree's vast canopy blocked nearly all light from reaching the ground where the group stood feeling quite like insects. It was like being inside a great cathedral coupled with a sense of being swallowed by a living thing; there was a quiet and stillness in the air, but the very ground seemed the thrum with energy. For a moment, they could do nothing but stare in awe, then an owl hooted and Martivir fluttered down from one of The Great Oak's branches."Marty!" Ixin cried and caught the bird on her fist. She nuzzled against his downy breast with her nose and tears of joy were hot and wet on her cheeks. "I was so worried...""This is a good place," the owl told her. "It's safe here.""You have done well," a voice said - or rather didn't say. Not exactly. There was no sound save for the rustle of leaves in the wind and the creak of ancient, wooden limbs. But each of the group felt words form in their head and knew without being told that it was the voice of The Great Oak. "As I hoped you would.""So Sheesek was the great evil?" Feln asked after he overcame the fact that he was speaking to a tree."Sheesek was the instrument of a great evil," the tree answered after a pause. "Her magic came from a corrupt source that has long been absent from Orune. Its reappearance signals that the wheel is turning once again.""Chaos!" Karak grumbled, his fist and teeth tightly clenched."In part, Karak, son of Kignar," the Oak answered. "But only in part. The power of Blight Magic comes from Chaos but its evil is far darker than the desire for mayhem. It is destruction incarnate. The dissolution of all that lives. The lure of the void."For a moment, Karak's mouth opened and closed like a fish drawn from water and his beard wagged over his chest. "How- How do you know me name?"There was another pause and the tree said, "My roots go deep and far into the earth. They touch many things and places. I know much.""Could you answer some questions?" Ledare wondered."If it is within my power to do so," replied the Oak."Is this Myth Drannor?" the Janissary asked at once. She'd clearly had that question in the forefront of her mind."No," answered the tree and Ledare's face split into a relieved grin."Then what is it?" Feln asked. "A temple?""Once," the tree told him. "It was a place to learn and worship known as the Aronerai School where favored souls were trained as druids and priests. But the wheel had turned and what once rose ascendant now has fallen to ruin and decay.""Is that Aphyx's doing?" Morier asked."The fall of the Aronerai School?" the tree asked and Morier nodded. "No. The school fell to a barbarian warlord aptly named Bargol the Wicked. He came seeking the Dridanis priest's treasure and his followers laid waste to the school in their fruitless search. I destroyed them once they tried to leave.""Destroyed them?" Vade squeaked. "Are you a... a god?""No, Vadenhuffer T. Briarhopper IV," answered the Oak. "But I was planted here as a seed by the hand of Dridana herself.""Well, do you know what the "T" stands for in my name?" Vade asked and several of the others shot him dirty looks. He shrugged. "What? I'm just testing.""Trouble," answered the tree. "You were named after your grandfather who himself earned the name due to his many brushes with the law and frequent incarcer-""Okay! Okay!" Vade shouted, hold his hands up in submission. He grinned uneasily. "No need to tell my whole family history, right?""So this is... or was, at least in part, a temple to Dridana?" Feln asked trying to make sure he understood things completely."Yes," replied the tree."But Aphyx killed her, right?" the half-orc went on."No," came the response. "The Queen of Filth imprisoned the Fruitful One, stealing her spark and binding it to a gemstone so that Dridan's essence could not be reborn to stand against her in the future. For Aphyx knew, as I know, that the wheel of life grinds ever onward and her time of ascendence would come again.""And that's now?" Ledare asked."Soon," said the tree. "What once was crushed beneath is drawn to the apex once more. Such is the cycle of things. It is as it should be. But Aphyx has sought to disrupt this balance. During her last great rise to power, Dridana and her brother, Brogine, stood at Flor's side to defeat Lady Pestilence. This time Aphyx has imprisoned Dridana, and Brogine has fragmented his own power, giving bits of his own essence to each of his Beastlords. Even the power of Flor is at an ebb on Orune. With the world in such a state, it is unlikely that Aphyx can fail to break the cycle.""And what happens then?" Ixin asked."The cycle stops progressing from birth to death to rebirth," the Great Oak told her. "Orune is blighted. Undeath reigns. The wheel stops turning. It is the end of things."There was a pause during which the VQS absorbed the import of The Great Oak's words. Finally, Karak broke the silence. "An' just how can we put a stop to all o' this?" he asked."Aphyx acts subtly, creeping into the world measure by measure," the tree responded. "Her influence is too easy to overlook. The followers of Flor must be warned. They must see what you have seen here.""What about freeing Dridana?" Feln asked. "You said she's not dead, right?""She lives. I can still feel an echo of her power," answered the tree. "But only the Keepers of the Grove of Renewal know the secrets of Dridan's imprisonment and you are not ready to face the challenges of The Grove."Karak harrumphed. "So where can we find some followers o' Flor?" the dwarf asked and there was a pause."Three day's march southwest along the Eginnion Road lies a settlement called Flavonshire," the tree said. "Therein is a shrine dedicated to Lady Mercy.""Then that's where we'll go," Ledare said and then squinted up at the darkening sky. "May we stay here tonight and head out in the morning.""Sleep beneath my branches and I will offer you what safety and succor I may," the tree said.That night, as they prepared to bed down, Ledare was whistling one of the jaunty tunes that Geneviève the Fair had sung at Arundel Manor. It seemed more than a little out-of-character for the normally serious Janissary."Why are you so cheery, kitten?" Vade asked and the half-elf shrugged."It seems as though our path is clearer now than ever before," Ledare answered. "We travel three days' time to the southwest in search of followers of Flor. When's the last time you felt like you knew - I mean really KNEW - what we were supposed to be doing?""Too long," Ixin answered for the halfling and Ledare nodded."Exactly!" she said, still grinning. "And since this woodland ruins turns out NOT to be Myth Drannor, then it is still possible that the members of Grey House are in the actual Myth Drannor. And they can shed further light on what it is we should be doing.""I like to make my own choices," Vade told her and then his face darkened. He clutched weakly at his stomach and grimaced. "Of course, that's gotten me into some trouble lately.""You mean the bear, Vade?" Ledare asked and the halfling nodded. "You shouldn't let it worry you too much. I've seen more than my share of men die and been very close to it on occasion myself. It was not your time.""I guess," Vade muttered, but he didn't sound convinced. Ledare knelt down and put a hand on the halfling's shoulder."Do you know what I was thinking while I was hanging over that trench by my fingertips?" she asked quietly and Vade shook his head. "I thought about my initial test with the rock in the road and my first appearance before the king. I thought about how I'd left things with an old friend of mine named Delaroux, about talking religion with Soriah around a fire late at night, and enjoying supper at Grey House with Ruze, Finian and Kirnoth before all the badness happened. I thought about about all those things and resolved to survive for the sake of what had gone before but more importantly about what I had left to do.""Do you understand, Vade?" the Janissary asked. "I had to survive so I could finish the tasks we have before us. Perhaps you too have yet to serve some great purpose in this world."Vade smiled up at her. "Maybe," he said. "Thanks for the talk." He went and sat down on his blanket, pulled out the Wand of Cure Light Wounds they had found on Sheesek and ran his fingers experimentally over the magical device.</blockquote>

Verification