martes, 1 de diciembre de 2009

Lord Chanis Lauros Journal



Prelude before a heavy day

It’s very early in the morning and a pale sun is starting to rise over the horizon, yet we’ve already been in grave danger. The potential first Knight of Abraxxas almost died and Brother Alesco has been severely wounded. However, we managed to survive one more time and it’s time to spend some time writing my journal.

The Party finally joins

Yesterday morning, Malek, Ibizar and the peregrine priest arrived using a teleport spell. We immediately put them up with the latest events and it was time to plan our counterattack. Malek told me one important fact, the Church of Good had requested a helping hand from Abraxxas and they had made a pact. The outcome of such a pact was the next ordeal of the first knight of Abraxxas in many millennia. The chosen one was a knight of pure heart known as Sir Sigard the Welldoer. This event could bring some attention to our lands, so it would be better to be prepared for nasty surprises.

We took some frugal breakfast served by Alfie and then followed the trail of ashes toward the Ancient Temple of the First Pantheon. Nothing interrupted our journey and within one hour we arrived at the temple, only to find Brother Alesco and the rest of the monk, camping outside of it.

When the group finished the proper introductions we asked Alesco to remain outside while we explored the temple for any traps or other perils. Their impatience was notorious. Unfortunately, after several tries we couldn’t open the heavy doors guarding the entrance to the temple and nobody spoke of battering them down. Once again, we recurred to Brother Alesco, he replied it was easy to enter the temple. We only needed “faith”. Unfortunately in my case, my faith in the First Pantheon was little more than nonexistent so I looked to the priests to see if they had any bright ideas.

After several minutes, no one in the party could open the doors. Even some of my friends resulted injured due to some powerful magic protecting the entrance. However, Malek remembered the words from Brother Alesco: “you only need faith”. To our amusement, Malek kneeled before the doors and started muttering some words in a strange language. The doors finally opened and we had before our eyes twelve statues of the gods of the first pantheon, equally flanking both sides of the main god, Abraxxas. Malek took some steps towards the last one and kneeled before him. He was praying showing an intense devotion I have never seen before on the young wizard. The rest of us started to search the place for answers.

Inside the temple of the First Pantheon

We immediately starting analyzing the statues inside the temple, and started looking for secret doors and hidden corridors. After inspecting the enclosure, we found nothing of interest and decided it was secure to let Brother Alesco and his comrades to pray inside the temple. I went out to tell the man the good news. They were very excited.

Brother Alesco also told me they listened by casualty some of our conversation inside the temple and they overheard something about the crowning of a knight of Abraxxas. We made a mistake to discuss these matters with the monks of heightened senses around but the harm was already done. I didn’t know the details about the ceremony so I couldn’t help the monk with more information. However, the monk wanted to know when would happen this event in order to be present. Malek decided we would inform them all in due time.

While the monks were praying, Ibizar continued his inspection of the statues and found secret compartments in two of them. We decided to let the monks pray only for a few more hours, so we could inspect those secret doors alone.

The time arrived and the monks left the place. Before leaving, Brother Alesco asked for clean water and a place free from intrusions for the rest of the night. He argued they needed to perform some sort of purification ritual, so they needed solace and a peaceful environment. They should not be interrupted during the ceremony. I assured him there would be no problem with his request.

After the monks left, we closed the entrance and Malek used a spell to detect secret doors. A strange coincidence surfaced, all statues had secret compartments on their bases. At first we weren’t sure about opening them or not, but he had to take action. The rogue Canrith used his skills to find a way to open the hidden compartments, making sure there was no kind of nasty traps protecting the sanctuaries.

We decided to explore the base of Abraxxas statue first. We found a black book and some other relics. The book had the symbol of Abraxxas on its cover. Nobody wanted to touch the items. The power inside this chamber was overwhelming. We really felt intimidated.

We continued searching the place for a long time but Addon didn’t agree with our methods, he thought we could be desecrating the place. I think there was an obvious danger only by messing around with godly stuff, but we needed to find some answers if we wanted to be useful in this plot.

When Addon left the place, he found Gerald at the entrance, very worried and with ill news to share. He told us a knight in our keep was attacked and he was dying with a horrible wound in his torso. We made a bad mistake here, we all teleported immediately to our keep leaving the temple completely unprotected.


Sir Sigard the Welldoer


Leaded by Gerald, we found in a hut a heavily wounded knight. He was in pretty bad shape. It seemed he was affected by the same extraordinary attack suffered by Seven, Malek’s moondog. Our healing priests didn’t know how to heal this guy. They only knew he could die any minute.

We had no time to waste. Brother Alesco was the only living being around with the knowledge to undo the harm done to the knight. However, we faced a little complication, the monk asked specifically not to be disturbed during the purification ritual he and his comrades would perform during the night. We decided we would interrupt such a ritual because we were facing a life and death situation.

Ibizar and I, with Gerald on the dwarf’s back, flew directly to the hut where the monks were performing their ritual and saw several candles inside the enclosure. We asked Gerald to announce us specifying urgent matters.

Brother Alesco was obviously upset by such an interruption, but we had no time to waste. We asked politely for his help. He accompanied us to the cottage and found the knight lying on his bed.

At this point in time, we suddenly found in the middle of an impasse. Our friend, Arath, the priest of the Sun, invoked an incantation known as Zone of Truth, which creates an area where no one can speak a lie. Obviously, this could be considered an offense by lords and knights, and this was not an exception. We tried to stop him but it was too late, Brother Alesco was visibly offended and started to walk away toward his cabin. His last words were “My honor was been insulted twice tonight. Be thankful I don’t call for a duel”.

I couldn’t utter a sound and so my friends. Brother Alesco continued his path. The wounded knight, who introduced to us as Sir Sigard the Welldoer, could die any minute. We started an argument about what to do, but it seems this was not his time. We were advised Brother Alesco changed his mind and would cure our friend, the knight. We breathe relieved and Malek took the inmate to the monk’s cottage. After a few minutes, Malek and the knight returned and Sir Sigard was walking on his own. We celebrated the outcome and welcomed the knight to our lands, apologizing at the same time for not providing him adequate protection.

Desecration

We returned to the temple and decided to stay inside until the ceremony of initiation of the Knight of Abraxxas is finished but we found a nasty surprise. When we entered we discovered the statue of Abraxxas shattered down. The altar had been desecrated. The ritual was not going to happen.

One more time, hell unleashed and the Party discussed trying to find the causes. I decided to patrol the roads near our farm in order to find Brother Angus who was the priest sent by the Church of Good, in charge of performing the initiation ritual. Malek and Bahmut joined me and we all departed. The dawn was cold and sad, like our spirits.

We found a white chariot leaded by two knights. We made them a sign to stop and introduced ourselves as the lords of these lands. One of the knights introduced himself as Sir Baren the Heistings and the other one was a Scarlet Brotherhod member who never spoke. We asked to speak with Brother Angus but we were told he could speak with no one before the ritual. We told them about the desecration and decided to go to the temple and think what to do next. We escorted the chariot directly to the temple.


The gargantuan psionic aberration


I contacted Malek and told them we were arriving with Brother Angus, so they could wait for us outside the temple. I received positive answer and we continued our way. What we discovered at the entrance of the temple made our blood freeze and a shivering tremor traversed our spine. A gargantuan worm was blocking the entrance and was clearly attacking something.

We didn’t stop wondering the danger. We asked Sir Baren to remain there while we dealt with the monster. Ibizar, Bahmut and I flew directly to the aberration, but it was still several hundreds of feet away. We saw how the monster grabbed our friends and tried to swallow them. They defended bravely and harmed the monster, with Sir Sigard fighting courageously riding his noble warhorse.

When I approached the aberration, a danger sense clearly invaded my brain as I realized I was facing a creature with deadly psionic powers. The monster seemed to recognize another psionic entity on the vicinity and without hesitation, targeted me with a powerful psychic blow. I had to react quickly and retreat several feet away to avoid my brain being toasted.

A blade barrier spell summoned by the peregrine priest, Addon, was inflicting heavy damage upon the monster. Still the aberration remained alive. Ibizar charged the monster trying to kill it but the monster used one of his numerous abilities to flee from the fight. We have won this battle, for now, but danger was far from over. I could feel it around.

In the havoc of the battle we haven’t realized a body was lying on the ground near the creature. When we approached, we discovered Brother Alesco, unconscious. Bahmut healed the monk and he got up, muttering thankful words. He told us the aberration was a pet trained by the Splintered Mind to do their bidding.

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