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Of Rifts and Research

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:58 am
by fearecia
*** This is continued from the "Diseased Wood" string in the same forum ***

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The devils had been conquered again, but they weren’t any closer to understanding why this sudden influx had occurred. Did it have something to do with the Sphere of Death being taken? The devils had fled to the temple when Zagrat was threatened, so there was some tentative weight to the theory. Too many questions, and still few answers.

Still, at least she finally had a chance to catch up with Anera, and Jasra was here too. Blackfox was also hanging around, and his sharp intellect could only prove useful. It was past time for them to try and find out more about this magic that was affecting the lands. The lizard, of course, was more than willing to participate in attempting to ressurect a Zealot of Death, just to see if it was possible. Jasra took a little convincing, but eventually acquiesced to join them in the attempt.

The Shrine to Death in Tranos was as it had been left when the Sphere had been stolen; destroyed and succumbing to diseased magic. The body of a Zealot lay rotting on the ground, stinking the place up. No one was much of a fan of trying this here, but it was the best they had a humanoid body that might respond to a spell. Sharing a rune, the lizard and dragonkin cast the resurrection spell together, Jasra adding her expertize with the restore spell in case more was needed. For a moment, the Adamantine Rune of Life glowed faintly, but then quickly faded away. There was no soul to call home to this body.

Foiled in the attempt, and learning nothing beyond the fact that the soul was long claimed by Death, the group traveled to the Wildlands. There, sitting in his pot like always, was the old sage. Only, what had once been a vibrant old man eagerly asking after books, was now a mumbling remnant barely clinging to life. Perhaps if they could heal him, they could learn more of the diseased magic.

The ebon kin began, casting a simple body restore spell. For a brief moment, the sage perked up, chattering in dozens of languages all at once. The newfound energy, though, passed as quickly as it had come, leaving the old man slumped once more in exhaustion. Antidote was attempted next, with no affect.

All eyes fell on Jasra, the elven wizard the only one capable of using the restore spell. With the skill born of long practice, she sent the energies towards the sage. Once again, he sat up, mumbling and jabbering away. This time, though, the incoherent mumblings blew a bunch of old leaves into the area before he slumped back once again.

The group discussed it a bit, and decided to try cure confusion next, hoping perhaps they could make some sense of the sage’s ramblings. The spell, though, had an incredibly undesirable effect. The sage’s eyes did indeed clear, but he fell into horrified screaming. The group looked to each other worriedly, unsure if it would just be wiser to allow the Blackfox to put the old man out of his misery. The episode, though, ended, just as quickly as it began, the victim returning to his incoherent mumbling.

The group wasn’t ready to give up yet. They now knew they could help the sage, at least in brief spurts. Joining together, the three guild masters all focused on casting body restore, channeling their combined healing energies. Jasra once again channeled magic to the old man, supplementing their efforts.

The sage jerked upright in his pot, grabbing a handful of the old leaves. As the combined energies hit the leaves, a massive tree suddenly began to grow, startling all in the group. Then, as if time were accelerated for the tree, it began decaying just as quickly, until only a larger pile of old leaves was left. The sage, apparently, felt completely full of energy, and leapt out of his pot, running around the area jabbering madly. In moments, though, he was back in his pot, only this time, he passed out and began snoring.

They all shared a look, concerned for the poor old man, but also surprised and fascinated. Fearecia, at least, was ready to draw some conclusions. She strongly suspected that the magic that had been cast on this area was, in fact, still active. Anera confirmed that something, at least, was strange about the area. The dragonkin was also fairly sure now that the nature of the spell was to drain energy, both physical and magical. It would explain why nothing seemed to be healing, and why their spells seemed to fade as quickly as they were cast.

Also, bonus: body restore apparently could work on plants, if enough people were channeling the spell.

All that was well and good, but it left them with one very important question. How do you stop a spell designed to devour all magic and energy thrown against it?

The group dispersed, leaving the poor sage to his slumbers. Moving back through Devardec, Fearecia stopped and picked up her sharpened katana from the weaponsmith, before returning to the guild. If her assumptions were correct, the experiments in her office were rather dangerous, and she needed to remove them as quickly as possible.

Re: Of Rifts and Research

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 2:45 pm
by fearecia
She hung the katana on the wall with a sigh, the memory flashing across her mind. Another day, another caravan attacked. This time, at least, the caravan had actually been a bunch of Devardec Guards, luring the bandits into a trap. It had actually been a fairly successful maneuver, but the way it had ended had left a bitter taste in the dragonkin’s mouth.

She’d been there, of course, helping to fend off the attacking bandits, hoping to find answers. There had been a single, lone bandit left in the Temple of the Gods off the East Coast Road. He’d been there to signal the others, and be a standard bearer: nothing more. The guard had overwhelmed… and slaughtered him.

Fearecia turned to the window of her office, looking out over the city. She never recalled seeing such a blood thirsty response from the Devardec Guard, had never seen them react with such an eagerness to destroy. Something had changed in the years since she’d been in charge of the guard, and she wasn’t quite sure what. She knew Kollin would never have encouraged such a response. Like her, he would have encouraged capture of the lone bandit in an attempt to gain information.

The guard had even gone as far as to pile the bodies of the dead bandits at the wall near the city gate.

A shudder rattled her scales at the memory, at how happy they’d all been with their success. Certainly, the trap was a maneuver well executed and deserved praise, but the aftermath? Gleefully killing lone sentries in the name of Devardec, and then piling corpses at the gate? Yes, clearly, the roads needed to be cleared of the corpses; she wasn’t arguing that. Usually, they were simply gathered and burned off the side of the road. Or, at least, that had been the modus operandi in her day. Piling them near the gates felt like a warning to the other bandits, and a grisly one at that.

She’d made a point of advising Lamaenor to have the bodies cleaned up before they spread disease.

Fear turned away from the window, taking a few minutes to unbuckle the straps to remove her pack. The blood thirsty glee of the guard didn’t sit well with her at all, so, she might as well sit this one out. Asides, there was a much bigger problem out there, still unsolved, and plenty of adventurers to handle some bandits. She wasn’t needed in this fight.

Leaving all civilized items behind in her office, the dragonkin prowled towards the doors of the guild. Rukath, sharp eyed as ever, commented on her lack of weaponry. “Going on a bit of a hiatus again?”

She chuckled and nodded. He’d seen her leave the guild a few times, and unarmed usually meant some trip into the wilds. “Indeed, but I won’t be far. I’m going to the Enchanted Forest to see if I can find any answers. You know how to reach me if needed.”

He nodded. “Of course. I’ll send a pigeon if something goes amiss.”

She smiled. “Thanks Rukath. I appreciate it.” She gave him a nod before trotting away down the street, getting to a slightly more open space where the downdraft of her wings wouldn’t blast Rukath with sand. Then, it was off into the sky, a black arrow soaring towards the heart of the Enchanted Forest. It was time to go dragon hunting.

Re: Of Rifts and Research

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:38 am
by fearecia
She was really beginning to hate this fog. Honestly, what about the place made the stuff so utterly pervasive? Was it the temperature? The river? The woods?

Could just be because it’s an enchanted forest.

She scowled at the little voice in the back of her head and told it to shut up.

Granted, much as she was annoyed by how the fog limited her ability to see and navigate, that didn’t mean she didn’t also find it useful. Her black scales allowed her to vanish into the fog in record time, letting her dodge any number of fog giants she didn’t feel like engaging with. It also muffled sound, making everything vanish into an enclosed silence, which only aided in keeping her hidden from the things that sought to do battle with the invader in their territory.

Frustratingly, it also kept the dragons hidden from her. For weeks now, she’d searched for them, sticking her nose into every hiding hole she could find. The forest, though, seemed determined to keep them secret from her. The trees hemmed in tightly to keep her on the trails, preventing her from penetrating between the trunks. The canopy was too dense to fly or see through, preventing her from hopping between forest floor and sky to find her prey. She’d tried scouting from above a few times, looking for any signs of the massive temple dragons, be it downed trees or a plume of smoke. The trees seemed unaffected, and the fog hid any defects.

She’d taken breaks, of course, heading back to the guild to handle matters and visit friends. She was no fog giant, and staying in this place too long would certainly drive her mad. Still, she kept coming back, kept searching. Every so often, the wind would shift, and she’d catch a smidgen of their scent, that deep, earthy, scorched odor that could only mean dragon. So, shadow in the fog, she kept searching, hoping eventually she would find the dragons that must have some answers to the problems facing the lands.

Re: Of Rifts and Research

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 1:58 am
by fearecia
She sighed, finding yet another dead end in this never ending fog, and still no sign of where those monstrous dragons were hiding. The ebon kin knew defeat when it was staring her in the face; still, she hated giving in to it. Yet, she had responsibilities back at the guild, and she couldn't stay out here for forever. No, she'd have to wait for something to happen again, and hope that she could pinpoint the dragons when they decided to kick up a ruckus once more.

A quick spell later and she was back at the guild, prowling towards the doors to have a chat with Rukath and catch up on events while she'd been gone.