Rabdos and possessed Ibizar Mc Killar

Spin Spit Under Oath

Spin-Spit Under Oath

Capítulo I

Provengo de un clan de Gnomos que habitaban la parte central de las Montañas Kalistrianas, sobre el paso de Ulister en las tierras de Deltharess.

Todo fue felicidad, hasta que mi poblado fue esclavizado por un clan de Gnolls al servicio de un poderoso señor de las Shadelands. Nos hacían trabajar en una mina de Plata en las faldas de una recóndita montaña lejos de las tierras de nuestros ancestros.

Mi padre fue cruelmente asesinado junto con mi hermana mayor el día que fueron capturados. Mi madre murió al año siguiente debido al maltrato y las vejaciones que sufrió por parte de las hienas durante su cautiverio.

Yo sobreviví debido a que por mi corta edad, 8 años si mal no recuerdo, y el tamaño de mis dedos, podía realizar labores de limpieza en ciertas herramientas e instrumentos que los grandes no podían… Y por eso fui mantenido aparte, nunca ingrese a la Mina, ni aspire los gases que de esta emanaban y enfermaban a mi pueblo según me contaban en las noches los mayores.

Todos los días era la misma rutina… Debía limpiar decenas de objetos, entre ellos una especie de caldero, que debía ubicarlo sobre un torno y hacerlo girar rápidamente, a la vez que masticaba unas semillas que debía escupir dentro de manera rítmica mientras frotaba la superficie, sacándole brillo.

Es por eso que todos en la mina me llamaban Spin-Spit, durante 20 años lo hicieron…
Ya no recuerdo cual era mi verdadero nombre…

Me volví un experto en uso de muchas de esas herramientas, dentro del la cabaña también había una habitación llena de planos y mapas de los alrededores donde se encontraban marcadas las estructuras y refuerzos dentro de la mina. Llegue a conocer la mina de memoria sin siquiera haber puesto un pie en ella. Con el tiempo descubriría que mi pasión por la Ingeniería tuvo su inicio en esos días.


Capítulo II

Un buen día, mientras dormía tuve un sueño demasiado real… una voz me hablo y me dijo que tuviera paciencia, que pronto llegaría el día que sería liberado… Pocos meses después, me encontraba dentro de la cabaña donde solía pasar el día limpiando trastes y herramientas… Cuando de pronto me pareció ver una sombra… que enseguida se materializo ante mí… Era “un Tipo Alto, con orejas puntiagudas y de cabellos lacios y rubios… Un Elfo (“Whispering Blades”), que me miró fijamente mientras ponía un dedo sobre sus labios… Una vez pasada la impresión, este me hizo algunas preguntas sobre la mina y los prisioneros, yo me apresure en responder…

Me dijo que me quedara ahí, esperando a que todo acabe…Que una vez que liberaran a los demás, el vendría por mí.

Me asaltaba la duda…Yo tenía toda la información en mi cabeza, pero me agarro de sorpresa y tal vez, solo tal vez no acerté en algún detalle porque el tiempo pasaba y pasaba, la angustia me estaba alterando… hasta que de un momento a otro se escucharon ruidos y gritos guturales de Gnolls que alertaban a los guardias que estaban dentro de la mina.

Al parecer algo había salido mal… Se escucho un gran ruido y unas explosiones y luego el sonido de rocas cayendo… La montaña se venía abajo… Esta cayó tanto sobre los Gnolls como sobre lo que quedaba de mi poblado sepultándolos vivos…

El Elfo, volvió por mí... En su mirada fría se leía la desdicha… “No pudimos rescatar a nadie”…Que sucedió??? Pregunte. No lo sabemos, pero no tuvimos nada que hacer, las explosiones se dieron arriba, fue inesperado para todos...

Recuerdo haberme quedado paralizado después de oírlo…

Su voz me saco del trance, la sentí a lo leeeejos… “Eres el único sobreviviente”… “reacciona, debemos irnos”… Yo era el último miembro del Clan “Deep Diggers of Deltharess”.

Me llevó con sus compañeros, todos se veían abatidos, “…Pero al menos lo intentamos” Dijo un Dwarfo de tupida barba Roja, (Grunn Khan). A un costado Una mujer que se veía muy alta y hermosa (Ksenia Strongwill) estaba de rodillas y pedía con los ojos cerrados, por las almas de los caídos…

Esa noche tuve un sueño similar al que meses atrás viví. Pero este me mostraba un camino distinto... En él me hablaban y me daban la oportunidad de elegir una senda sin vuelta atrás, Ella me abriría las puertas de un camino que si decidía recorrer, me llenaría el alma de dicha y retribuciones… Acepte.


Capítulo III

Viajamos por meses… El grupo resulto siendo de lo más variado:

- Los hermanos Grunn & Tavis Kahn, dos de los Dwarfos más osados… Y borrachos que he conocido.
- Ksenia Strongwill, mi guía y maestra & Crean D’artificer nuestro líder
- Daurelien “Whispering Blades” el Elfo, & la encantadora Halfling llamada Florianne “Charming Tale”…

Fue Ksenia la que noto que yo estaba predestinado a ser un seguidor de La Gran Soñadora, así fue que con mucho cariño y paciencia, como si fuera su hijo me fue instruyendo en su credo…

A pedido de ella el grupo me adopto, como a uno de los suyos. Fueron como mis padres, mis aliados y sobre todo mis amigos, con el pasar del tiempo me fui volviendo mas hábil, mas fuerte y más seguro, poco a poco me fui convirtiendo en uno de ellos, hasta que llego el día, a mis cortos 28 años, en que me encomendé Bajo Juramento a la “Gran Soñadora”, la Diosa “Desna”, (“La Diosa de los Sueños, Las Estrellas, Los viajeros y La Buena Suerte”)… Y este juramento fue escuchado y aceptado, así fue como me convertí en un “Libertador”.

Los Libertadores son un grupo de elite dedicado al servicio de La Gran Soñadora con el fin de liberar a los oprimidos, a los esclavizados, a los atormentados y a los maldecidos.

Fui adquiriendo conocimientos y dotes, también perdiendo compañeros y ganando nuevos. Adquiriendo experiencia y respeto. Poderosos Magic Items y dignas recompensas.
Un buen día, guiados por Eriberth de Holy Rock, el High Priesta de nuestra Orden, fuimos enviados en una misión especial.

La lucha constante contra “LAMASHTU” “La Madre de los Monstruos, La Locura y Las Pesadillas”, nos llevo a un Poblado que era azotado por terribles pesadillas que atormentaban a los pobladores.

Las pesadillas eran causadas por la magia maligna de un altar que se encontraba en un templo oculto, perdido en el tiempo, en unas cavernas subterráneas, muy debajo del poblado.

Nuestra misión era destruir el Altar y acabar con los que estaban dentro, sobre todo con aquel o aquella que había despertado el mal que allí dormía.

El pueblo estaba mentalmente sometido y atormentado. Los pobladores en su locura se mataban entre ellos, luego por momentos reaccionaban y no entendían lo que pasaba… El Caos reinaba entre ellos.

Así fue que guiados por los rumores desperdigados por la región llegamos a el poblado maldito.


Capítulo IV

… Nos internamos en las profundidades y batallamos contra los primeros guardianes, la locura, la fatiga y la desesperanza que emanaba el Templo… Poco a poco fuimos internándonos, ganando terreno hasta que fuimos emboscados y atrapados sin salida en el Ábside del Templo, en donde el mal era más poderoso y más fuerte. Se habían escondido, nos habían atrapado.

La High Priest había Summoneado a sus Minions mas poderosos y los había potenciado. Habían creado campos de fuerza invisibles que evitaban nuestra retirada… Y se habían tomado posiciones estratégicas bien guarnecidas… La lucha fue Épica, lo dimos todo… Una y otra vez cayó un aliado y este fue curado y devuelto al combate… Pero eran demasiados, y la Negatividad que canalizaban los priests calaba profundamente en los nuestros…

Cuando Ksenia cayó nuestra única esperanza era cargar contra la High Priest, el equipo se dividió…

Así fue como entre Crean y yo pudimos llegar hasta la High Priest, no sin antes ver como caía el resto de mi grupo batallando heroicamente… La atacamos con todo, Crean con su magia y yo apoyándolo con todas mis fuerzas… Ella estaba agotada y bastante mal herida, pero en vez de curarse opto por lanzar un terrible hechizo sobre mi compañero… No pude protegerlo esta vez… Un rayo negro que salió del dedo de ella que impacto en su pecho, Dedo de la Muerte fue lo que intuí... Fue lo último que ella hizo en este plano, al lanzar el hechizo había abierto sus defensas, bajado su escudo y yo le había pedido a Desna “No fallar”, me sentía fuerte, sabía que podía darle… y así fue que el impacto de mi Maza destruyo su cráneo… Esta se desplomó y las bestias que quedaban con ella…

Capitulo V
… Después que cayó la Priest mire a mí alrededor… Había sobrevivido, contra todo pronóstico la suerte estuvo una vez más conmigo y fue así como me encontré frente a nuestro objetivo, al altar de piedra del Templo de “LAMASHTU”.

En el Altar se podía ver una concavidad dentro de la cual un líquido negro flotaba; en el aire cercano se percibía un olor y se sentía una pesadez en el ambiente que te aplastaba contra el suelo, dificultando la respiración.

Todos… Mis compañeros y La High Priest y los Monstruos yacían muertos tras de mí, mis fieles amigos, mi familia, mi única familia en todo “Golarion”… Era el único que había logrado sobrevivir a la locura, a la pesadilla y a los ataques.

Sostenía la poción de Heal en mis manos, aquella que la heroica Ksenia evito tomar, aun sabiendo que moriría si no lo hacía, ya que de ella dependía el poder anular la magia que protegía el maléfico Altar.

Aun con la furia y la desesperación que me invadía el terrible recinto, pude controlarme, respire, arduamente, y concentre mis esfuerzos en avanzar hacia el ábside, debajo del cual se encontraba la fuente del mal.

Me detuve frente a él Altar e inicie los rezos de consagración… Enseguida empezó a brotar sangre de mis fosas a la vez que una fuerza extraña, cual campo de fuerza, entorpecía mi movimiento, cosa que pensaba imposible… Sin embargo mi fe pudo más, esta fuerza casi evitaba que pudiera realizar los movimientos necesarios del ritual... Con mucho esfuerzo logre coger mi Holy Symbol y sentí como mi Aura me protegía, al fin pude terminar el cantico y vertí la poción sobre la fuente.

Al instante el líquido negro empezó a bullir, encontrándome tan cerca note, no sin asco, que el líquido oscuro era sangre putrefacta, donde gusanos de dos cabezas flotaban y empezaban a retorcerse de dolor en ella… Una vez que la última gota toco la bullente superficie, un sonido terrible y una Maldición se escucho como un eco lejano, gritos y lamentos empezaron a resonar cada vez más fuerte….cada vez más cerca.


Capítulo VI

Sabía que con mi rezo y la poción había librado de la magia que protegía al Altar, pero también presentí que no era lo único que había liberado. Cogí mi Mazo Mágico en el cual había imbuido un Hechizo de Disipar Chaos, (casteado por el mismo High Priest en Holy Rock, nuestra Catedral) y habiendo sido Bendecido ya antes durante el combate por mí mismo y note que la magia de mi hechizo estaba por acabar…

Con mi Holy Symbol en una mano y mi Maza en la otra, Pedí con toda mi fe a La Gran Soñadora que me de la fuerza para destruir esa Maligna fuente de mal, recite las palabras de Poder Divino y este vino a mí, me invadió y lo agradecí como nunca antes lo había hecho, pero en el instante en que levante mi arma… Con otra Maldición soltada con la rabia más intensa apareció ante mí su sombra… enseguida reconocí su forma… Esos seis brazos los reconocería en cualquier lugar, era “Yochtalar” una hija de la Bestia misma,… “Ella” no iba a dejar que yo destruya una de sus fuentes de poder y de placer…

No tenía alternativa más que destruir el Altar o enfrentarme a ella, en una lucha desigual… Ignore su presencia, y solo hice lo que tenía que hacer, para lo que fui entrenado… Entregue mi suerte a La Gran Soñadora y Golpeé con todas mis fuerzas… Todo sucedió demasiado rápido, cuando mi Maza toco el Altar se desencadeno una serie de sucesos que no pude seguir del todo… mi Mazo estallo en mis manos, mientras de el salía una luz cegadora que alumbro la totalidad de la nave del Templo… Se escucho un grito en un idioma Infernal e irreproducible, pero que mágicamente entendí, “MISERABLEEEEE INSECTO” MALDITO SEAS… Mientras sentía que la luz me abrazaba y protegía, escuchaba como la piedra del Altar se rompía y este caía en pedazos al suelo… Sonreí porque sabía que el Vínculo entre LAMASHTU y el Templo estaba roto… Pero Yochtalar seguía ahí...

Escuche las palabras de un hechizo detrás mío, palabras con Furia, con odio extremo, con sed de venganza… La suerte estaba echada…

De espaldas reconociendo sus palabras, sabia el poder que iba a estrellarse contra mi cuerpo una vez que ella terminara de recitar su “Blasfemia”, cerré los ojos, cogí mi Holy symbol y lo pegue a mi pecho mientras sentía que mi muerte no iba a ser en vano... Había cumplido mi promesa y mi espíritu encontraría descanso eterno al lado de Mi Señora…

Todo fue tan rápido… No note que la luz llego a la bestia… y esta no logro recitar las últimas palabras del mortal conjuro… Yo estaba preparado para partir cuando en eso se escucho un grito de dolor… de pronto abrí los ojos… la luz había desaparecido… los gritos también… de pronto todo era oscuridad….


Capítulo VII

… La oscuridad dio paso a la Luz, una luz que me rodeaba y giraba en mi entorno y se escuchaba la voz de alguien que recitaba palabras de invocaciones… Detrás de esa voz otras “Voces” que pedían ayuda… Decenas de ellas…

Aparecí en un círculo con símbolos Arcanos y religiosos… Rodeado por piedras y decenas de Gnomos que alrededor de ellas que me miraban…

No entendía que había pasado… De pronto una voz me hablo… Reconocí la voz de aquel que había formulado la invocación…

Donde estoy pregunte… yo seguía mareado por lo sucedido…

Con un crisol de emociones, herido y sangrante... recordando rapidamenet la escena viendo a mis amigos muertos...Habiendo estado a punto de morir... Viendome rodeado de Gnomos en un circulo de invocación quién sabe dónde… Mareado, muy mareado...La voz del anciano se pronuncio... su voz sonaba dubitativa pero calmada... "Tranquilo... Te han enviado a ayudarnos... Le pedimos con todas nuestras fuerzas que nos envie proteccion y ayuda y nos ha escuchado"... Curaremos tus heridas y podras descanzar de tu largo viaje...

En ese momento las fuerzas me vencieron… Se me nublo la vista… Una vez más todo fue oscuridad…

A los dos dias desperte, y me informaron la situacion... Este Clan estaba siendo atacado constantemente por unos seres Goblinoides que ellos llamaban "Snorkers" y por unos "Malditos sean Todos" Gnolls...

Sin duda entendi que Desna queria que los ayudara, me habia protegido en le Templo y me permitia seguir librando causas en su nombre...

Trate de organizar las defensas, de averiguar sobre el enemigo, pero este ataco demasiado pronto... Eran demasiado resistentes... Nunca antes vi Goblinoides de ese tipo... El poblado fue destruido... Y todos capturados... Maldita sea, la escena se repetia...

Porque se ponia esta prueba delante de mi... Era demasiado... Mi amor y fe eran intachables...

Fui capturado en combate y me nockearon... Por momentos despertaba y vi como era Cargado amarrado a un palo por Gnoll... Era llevado por montañas...

Llegamos alo que parecia ser una edificacion en la cima de una montaña...
Una voz muy fuerte, tan fuerte que hacia temblar las paredes parecia ordenar a las hienas... Desaganse de resto, cocinenlos.. Pero a este guardenlo.. nos puede servir mas adelante...

Una Hiena noto que yo estaba despierto y me golpeo fuertemente en la cabeza...


Capitulo VIII

Cuando desperte estaba aun amarrado de manos, se notaba que era de dia... En Silencio pero con mucha fe le reze a mi Diosa... Yo senti que ella me habia escuchado y una evz mas senti que tenia la fuerza necesaria para poder realizar milagros...

Me cure por completo... Y ya con fuerzas urdi un plan para escpar de ahi...
Escuche a una conversacion sostenida en "Common" eran dos mujeres que se reian terriblemente.. logre oir "y viste sus caras de terror mientras los achicharrabamos..." y la otra respondio... "Yo disfrute mas de ese gordito que nos lo comimos crudo"...

Era terrible, ese par de desalmadas habian cocinado y comido vivos a los pobres Gnomos...

Tenia que huir de ahi como sea... Logre pararme y busque una esquina afilada para cortar las cuerdas que amarraban mis manos...

Una vez libre me escabulli entre las sombras y ubique en un cuarto contiguo todo mi Equipamento... Me lo puse con mucho cuidado, para no hacer ruido... Sin embargo no pude evitarlo del todo y mi Escudo choco contra mi peto y tuve que imporvisar...

Ya ocn mi Holy Symbol en mi mano invoque el poder de Desna y cree una imagen a semejanza mia y yo me volvi invisible...

Asi fue como sali de la habitacion donde estas mujeres estaban "cuidandome"... me desoriente en un coredor por el que pasaban Snorkers, Trolls y Gnoll, con mucho cuidado avance y no se como termine en una habitacion... Luego en otra, y en otra... Vi unas escaleras que bajaban y empece a descender...

Una vez abajo no queria continuar, hacia adelante sentia que era demasiado peligroso ir... y hacia atras lo mismo.. Me encontraba en mi peor Nemesis, Atrapado pero Libre a la vez... Me sentia abatido... Tenia que ordenar mis ideas, tatar de entrar en comunion con mi Diosa...

Medite horas de horas... Trate de no recordar lo sucedido, pero las imagenes venian a mi y no podia evitarlo... Empece a llorar sin darme cuenta... Pase asi largo rato como en trance...

Le pedi a Desna que no me abandone...
En mi cabeza senti sus palabras... "Tranquilizate... La Suerte esta siempre de tu lado"


En eso perdi el contacto y escuche otra voz...
Tras de mi un Dwarfo preguntaba.. "Hey tu...Quien eres?"

Empece a llorar nuevamente sin poder controlarlo... Pero esta vez no por pena...

Lord Channis Lauros Journal

Journey to the Dark Passage

When we left Vazud yesterday we never expected the events that led us into our doom. I’m right now outside the dark passage with my mind totally exhausted after our last encounters.
I look into the darkness with concern for the friends we lost and for the uncertain future we have ahead. It’s time to tell the story of our misery.

Everything began with a teleport spell from Malek’s arsenal that put us right at the entrance of the infamous Dark Passage. We traveled right toward the center looking for an entrance into the mountains, and we were lucky enough to find it real fast, or so we thought at that time.

The entrance was protected by some sort of Guardian, an ancient red dragon lich, better known among the scholars by his short name, a dracolich. He asked for our motives to be there, gave us some information about previous visitors, the Scarlet Brotherhood accompanied with a succubus, and warned us to use only our natural form of movement while wandering the sanctuary under his watch. We thank him for his advice and agreed with his requests. Finally, we entered the sanctuary inside the colossal mountains.

The sanctuary seemed to be a never ending maze full of dead ends and weird hidden gardens. We tried to get around without hurries but the place seemed to be huge. In one occasion we found ourselves in the middle of an avalanche and we survived by sheer luck rather than skill.

After several hours of travelling we really got bored. We decided to spend the night inside the sanctuary so the priest Addon could memorize a Find the Path spell to lead us into the tomb of Thariz Dun. The next day we started following the priest, but we decided to do it faster, so we used our supernatural flying abilities to gain some precious time. The spell leaded us into the exit of the cavern, where our problems began.

The dracolich guardian blocked our way out stating that we have broken his rules by not using our natural form of movement. The punishment for such behavior was a summary execution. Without giving us time to reply, he breathed a cone of fire from his mouth that burned us into ashes. We barely managed to survive and tried foolishly to repel such a devastating attack. Our efforts were in vain, the dracolich seemed to be invulnerable.

The reason overcame us and we decided it was time to get of the dragon’s lair. The problem was how to do it. The dracolich summoned an air elemental to attack us but Malek used his enchanting powers to convince the elemental to fight for us. The elemental carried us into a whirlwind and tried to escape. Unfortunately, the dracolich moved much faster. He dismissed his elemental and blocked our exit one more time.

Panic overwhelmed us. Malek used Sefrus to transform it into Jabair, our friend, a very old and powerful silver dragon. Malek asked Sefrus to use Jabair’s powers to get out of the mess we were involved. Jabair grabbed the wizard with one claw, with the other claw grabbed Ibizar and with his mouth grabbed the paladin Bahmut. Finally, the silver dragon took off and flew as fast as he could, toward the main corridor of the Dark Passage.

In front of the dracolich remained the priest Addon and myself. But suddenly something odd happened, Arath the priest of the sun appeared into scene, probably arriving using his travel domain powers. He summoned an air elemental to get us out of there. Unfortunately, the frightful presence of the dragon was too much for both the elemental and Arath, so he just ran away from danger as fast as they could, totally scared by our antagonist. Addon and I were alone one more time.

By instinct I just tried to survive, forgetting about our friend the priest and leaving him to his fate. I stopped time and moved as fast as I could. I was moving so fast that everything seemed to be frozen in time while I was moving. I reached Jabair and rode the dragon’s back hoping it was our only chance to escape.

Addon was left miserably and he would probably be eaten by the dragon. The priest lost morale, he threw his mace away telling the dragon it was the only magical item he had and that we were carrying several artifacts in our bags. Finally he used a spell to meld into the stones around and pray the dracolich would be greedy and chase us rather than waste time with a priest with nothing to collect for his treasure. His plan worked, the dracolich seeing his treasure slip from his claws chased the party and breathed fire over us again, almost killing Bahmut. Fortunately for us, we survived once again and left the cave. It seemed the dracolich could not left out his guarding post or his lair and remained at the entrance looking at us in complete anger.

When we were outside, an astral construct I had built to aid us reached the dracolich and started to attack the dragon with fury. The dragon got mad and in mere seconds smashed the astral construct until the golem fell apart completely shattered by the mighty creature. Lucky it was my construct and not me.

We started to get out of the Dark Passage to think our next move but a new enemy appeared into scene. An erineyes, a devil.

The fight against the erineyes

The devil attacked us with all his powers, he summoned two barbazus to delay our actions and shot arrows from the distance, hidden in the darkness of the passage. We could not even see our enemy. The devil targeted Malek. We knew the erineyes would attack Malek until killed, so we had to kill the creature as soon as possible.

We started our defense but our enemy was smarter, he used the darkness of the passage to hide from us, attacking us with unholy spells, arrows and illusions. He didn’t cause us much damage, but we realized he had all the advantages.

We started to look for our enemy using blindsight, blindsense and true seeing. Nothing worked. He managed to pass across our defenses and found Malek alone almost at his mercy. Malek managed to escape and called for help. We immediately tried to capture the devil but he escaped one more time.

Once again, panic overwhelmed us. We started to run away from the devil toward the exit, knowing we were just 10 minutes away. The erineyes chased us for some time but we were fast enough to avoid him. We reached a safe place and tumbled into the ground, exhausted.

Here we are now, in the middle of nowhere, with two of our friends lost into a maze of caverns warded by a powerful dracolich. We have no spells, no powers and we are severely wounded without a priest to heal us. We cannot even get out of here using a teleport spell, because Malek used his last one trying to escape from the devil.

As for me, I’m too tired to mount guard, and I have no more power points as to defend myself efficiently in case of an attack. I know Addon is alive because I mentally contacted a couple of minutes ago, but alive does not mean he is safe. I feel bad for leaving him at the mercy of the dracolich. As far as I remember, we have left from battles before, but it was the first time I left a friend in the hands of our enemy. I firmly promise that won’t happen again.

Lord Channis Lauros Journal

Mistbow and the orthodox wizards

These few days have been a complete mess and although I’m completely tired I feel compelled to write some lines to describe the awful events that resulted in Bahmut’s death. A dark job performed by Mistbow, the infamous assassin.

Everything started a few days ago with the damned mist, a typical sign that Mistbow the Assassin is approaching. Of course when the mist appears everyone starts to scream and run and hell unleashes. This time it was no different.

Our chariot was ambushed while we were leaving the cartographer’s building, so we had to stop and fight. The assassin was over the rooftop of a small building with his bow at hand. The first two arrows were shot by the assassin, and traversed through the air with a characteristic hiss. More screams and shouting were heard when the attack was confirmed by the people. Most of them closed their doors and windows and sought for cover inside their homes.

When the arrows broke the windows of our chariot and made strange curves to hit exactly Bahmut’s chest, I suddenly knew we were facing a formidable foe. Addon promptly cured the paladin using a Heal spell. The rogue Canrith charged the assassin with bravery and ran until he found himself face to face with the murderer. I decided it was best to fight this rogue in melee so I conjured a dimension door to place Ibizar and me just right at the assassin side.

Ibizar attacked the rogue but he escaped and ran away until he fell over the rooftop. Canrith followed him and jumped down but there were no trace of our enemy. The mist was covering the whole place so we decided it would be safer to return to the chariot and stay together.

We waited several minutes until the mist disappeared. Mistbow never returned and we continued our way, feeling safe for the moment. At this time I realized I was more powerful than ever before, some psionic knowledge was suddenly unleashed inside my head and I felt like reaching a new psionic status. This caused me a bit of fear because I’m starting to feel unsecure about how more power I could handle. Probably I should talk to Muido about this so he could mentor me once again.

After the first attack we decided no party member would travel alone through the city. So we started to go everywhere together, knowing our dangerous enemy would be lurking in the shadows of every alley.

We visited some weapon and armor smiths first but we could obtain no help from them. Ibizar wanted to enhance his magical equipment but it seemed the “arts” are an obscure and very dangerous topic here in Vazud. Although it is not illegal, it seems some people are afraid to talk about it openly.

After this failure, we went outside the city to look for the Church of the great harvest. We traveled on foot because we didn’t want to call attention upon us. The journey took several hours and night arrived before reaching the chapel. We had to ask for shelter to one of the farmers outside the city gates. Fortunately, night passed away and everything remained calm.

Next morning we continued our journey to the church. On our way, we found several crops dying and very poor people surviving in miserable conditions. The world seemed to be falling apart, but we had no time to solve every single problem. We headed directly to the chapel.

The chapel was really a small hut. We found a farmer-priest who received us with a sad expression on his face. Before we could ask anything, he told us he could not solve the problem with the crops. He explain we were there trying to find a replacement for the administrator of our farm who had recently passed away. He told us he was alone there, although he suggested us to ask a couple of farmers who could be prepared to take the position.

We leave the poor cleric after giving him some gold pieces for his church and returned to Vazud. There was no way for these poor people to help us.

Right after we went through the city gates, the mist appeared again. I was wondering this Mistbow should be a terrible pain in the ass for the authorities. Five hundred thousand gold pieces of bounty is a great price for an assassin’s head. Just to confirm my suspicion, the guards at the gate stepped aside as if trying to avoid any confrontation with the rogue.

This encounter was much more difficult than the first. Mistbow started attacking Malek this time causing him several wounds. Fortunately, Addon was doing a great job healing the party and Malek recovered almost immediately. After this first strike, Mistbow disappeared again in the mist.

We waited outside the city for a very long time. Ibizard, Addon and Bahmut decided to look for the rogue right at the middle of the mist, a dangerous move in my opinion, but that was what they did. I couldn’t wait any longer and entered the city again.

To my amusement, when I approached my friends I heard a terrible scream. Mistbow was attacking my friends again. I summoned a construct with the ability to use blindsight to locate his enemies and used a dimension door to appear near the rest of the party. My construct located Mistbow immediately and charged. Bahmut followed the golem and used a fireball to try to disperse the mist. It didn’t work.

After such futile intents we could see a shadow attacking Bahmut with a single arrow. An attack from an assassin received from ten feet away could prove to be very dangerous. And so it was. Bahmut fell to the floor, he was dead.

Mistbow disappeared and I ordered my construct to bring Bahmut’s body near Addon. Maybe it was not late to save our friend. Fortunately, Addon powerful magic worked. Our priest managed to catch the paladin’s last breath and returned him to life, although he seemed to be terribly weak, probably due to the effects of such a devastating arrow.

After the attack we decided to go back to the library and claim for our research papers. After leaving the building, something completely unexpected happened. We were targeted by a group of spellcasters. The orthodox wizards, whose dogma is centered on the phrase “magic is not for everybody”, attacked us fiercely probably attracted by the display of magic we caused when fighting Mistbow.

The attack lasted only a few seconds, we tried to defend ourselves and used more magic in the attempt. All the explosions attracted a nearby inquisitor who immediately demanded for an explanation. The orthodox wizards quickly disappeared.

We explained the authority we were just defending ourselves from Mistbow the famous assassin and from the orthodox wizards, a branch of violent spellcasters. Nevertheless, the inquisitor took all of us into custody for further interrogation. The questioning took several minutes and the inquisitor decided to let us go but recommended us to watch our steps. We told the old man we were just leaving the town in order to avoid more conflicts and he seemed to be pleased with our decision.

As a final conclusion, this day was a complete disaster. We have been provoked, attacked and one of our friends practically died. I believe such violent behavior demand a more violent response from our part. All attempts of reaching a peaceful solution with our antagonists have been discarded. The next time, we will be prepared.

Lord Channis Lauros Journal

After the initiation

When the ceremony came to an end, we all ran to look after Ibizar with concern but it seemed the dwarf was all right. He somehow managed to resist the powerful binding compulsion. Then we all gave our congratulations to the Knight of Abraxxas and had a little chat with the priest Father Angus.

He told us he could consecrate again the altar to Abraxxas but needed the statue to be rebuilt. I asked for resources to the task but this seemed to annoy the priest and refused to give us any monetary help. After some wonderings about what new steps the followers of Abraxxas would take, we all decided to leave the cave and use the arts in order to teleport to Rjurik, to the headquarters of the Church of Good and the Scarlet Brotherhood.

With Malek’s help, we appeared outside Rjurik and started to walk toward the city gates. The guards recognized us and let us pass promptly. An air loaded with sulfur notes could be felt while we were walking down the streets of the city of paladins, although there were too many devils at that time.

While we were advancing through the city streets, Bahmut’s sword, Goldwind, started to shake emitting a bright light, a typical sound when the powerful sword felt demonic presence. Bahmut tried to calm down his sword to avoid calling unnecessary attention to us, but it seems it was too late. A powerful demon appeared from nowhere and challenged Bahmut with contempt. Bahmut firmly told the demon he should take care when addressing a Lord of Rjurik. The demon seemed to be intimidated by these words, mumbled a threat and disappeared from scene leaving behind a fine sulfuric dust as a trail. After this incident Bahmut, Addon and Ibizar decided the city was no more a friendly place for paladins, so they decided to leave the town immediately. The rest of us continued our way alone with Alesco, Father Angus and the knight.

After the incident mentioned above, nothing else happened and we managed to reach the central plaza. There we coordinated with the followers of Abraxxas for future contact and we started our departure from the once bastion of goodness. We started to fly over the city when two vrocks approached immediately arguing it was prohibited to fly inside the city. We identified ourselves as lords of Rjurik and continued our way on foot. It was really sad to see the city ruled by demons, but this problem would not be solved by using brute force.

Outside the city, we found our friends arguing about the new order of things inside Rjurik.
Suddenly, Alesco appeared without notice and asked to go with us to our lands. We agreed and started the two day journey to our keep.

During the two day journey to our lands, we had time to share ideas with Brother Alesco, he confessed to us his feelings about the initiation of the knight. He thought it had not been a good idea. When we asked why, he told us Abraxxas was not exactly a God from the Second Pantheon. Abraxxas was a powerful entity beyond mortals and Gods.

Alesco also told us the Scarlet Brotherhood didn’t worship a single deity, instead they allowed their members to show allegiance for any god of the second pantheon, but it seemed Abraxxas was not on his list. When we asked which god he had allegiance with, he preferred to maintain such information in private. We respected his decision but this episode left us with some questions about brother Alesco and his motives.

Priorities

We arrived with no serious incidents at our keep and found Arath, the priest of the sun, with good news to give us. His immunity to compulsions was confirmed and we could proceed to remove from his chest the painful dark seed. I immediately contacted Eladan mentally so he could speak to one of the druids. After a couple of hours a giant eagle descended outside our chapel of Moradin. Once over firm ground, Jaana took human form and said hello.

We gave the good news to the druid and he told us about the risks of killing the dark seed. The priest would receive physical damage equal of the one inflicted to the seed. We all helped the priest with items and spells so he could resist more punishment and Jaana started to invoke a powerful incantation, a Horrid Wilting conjure. After the chant, all moisture seemed to evaporate from Arath and the priest screamed in agony. He was alive. Jaana then confirmed the seed was destroyed using a spell for plant detection. Arath smiled and cured himself. I must notice half the damage inflicted to Arath was received for Addon, the peregrine priest. He casted some type of share pain spell over Arath. I was amazed of the sacrifice done by Addon for someone he had just met.

We then gathered at the chapel of Moradin in order to discuss our pending quests to order them by priority. I have written a list to the tasks we had to accomplish:

- Go to the Great Harvest God to look for a new administrator.
- Fix the precarious peasant situation in our lands.
- Gather some wizards from Mathgathmna to help us clean our keep from potentially dangerous spells.
- Implement some sort of security system in our lands and our keep.
- Talk to the student in Mathgathmna that is natural to Antaria.
- Check what’s happening with the gathering of the Horde.
- Find the legitimate heir from King Cyril.
- Find out about the map found by Canrith in the ancient temple.

We decided to start with King Cyril quest and along our way try to complete the minor tasks concerning our lands, our keep and our people. But first I convinced Bahmut and Malek to talk to Alesco about some endeavor of mutual benefit.

I presented Alesco with a proposal for conceding administration rights to the Scarlet Brotherhood in exchange for a royalty fee. They would be in charge of the temple, and their responsibility would have to protect and maintain the relics inside it. They would charge their followers for a tithe and give us a percentage. All the administration plans and preparations would be ready in one month. With this pact, we should better prepare for a big number of visitors to the temple. A lot of people would gather around our lands and this could bring economic prosperity. Maybe we could be the founders of a small city around the temple. Only time will tell.

Visiting Rjurik again

After our conversation with Alesco, we left our lands and traveled to Rjurik one more time. We have found that in order to start with the King Cyril’s quest, we needed the relics we once gave the Church of Good into custody, the sword and armor of the King Cyril.

We had no surprises in our trip more than a couple of bandits that were not brave enough to attack us. But when we approached the city, we could notice the outside farms filled with decadence and poverty. It seemed the peasants were having a pretty bad time with this cambion as king. I knew that wouldn’t be happening under the reign of the old king.

Before entering the city, Bahmut hid himself inside one of Malek’s bag of holdings. We didn’t want to start a fight in the middle of the city. Then we entered the city and went directly to the Church to claim for our possessions.

We found a cleric who promptly gave us our magical items. Everything was indexed in a big book managed by the priests so they could easily find our belongings. We dumped everything inside our bag of holdings and went out to find a secure place to teleport out from the city.

Vazud

Malek handled the arts to teleport us the best he could near Vazud, because our next destination would be the Great Library of Vazud, a suitable place where we could look for some answers. It would be nice to visit my old man here. Definitely those days I was having more affection to Vazud than to Rjurik. It was a good idea to find a secure place for my father here at the Great Library.

We identified ourselves at the entrance and call the gnomish chariot driven by a dwarf, our preferred form of transport inside Vazud. The driver threw us a happy smile and seemed to be pleased to meet us once again. We headed directly to the Great Library and while the trip took several hours, it was good to witness prosperity had embraced most parts of the busy metropolis.

We arrived at the library and as usual, several people were gathering at its entrance. Some of my friends used their nobility status to claim preference while others paid a hustle fee of 150 gold pieces. At the end of the day, all of them had meetings with the scholars and commissioned them with research tasks of several topics. While we were waiting, my father came out and surprised us. I smiled at him and gave him a strong handshake and emotive hug. As I expected, my old man was more than happy here.

When my friends finished their endeavors, we all went with my father to his private office where we had a little chat. After some considerations, we decided to show our map to the city’s cartographer, who according to my father was one of the best cartographers in the whole world.

We found the cartographer Trevor at his workplace in the central plaza. Of course we got there using the dwarven chariot, our favorite way of transportation here in Vazud. I entered the place with my father alone and my friends waited inside the chariot, to avoid calling too much attention.

My father introduced me to Trevor and he inspected a copy of the map. Unfortunately, the copy was not good enough for him to find some clues about the locations in the map so I had to go out again to ask my friends for the original map. With the original map in my possession I entered the building one more time and showed it to the expert. This time Trevor immediately recognized we were talking about the great mountains dividing Cohen and Rjurik, with the Sea of Sand and the River of Agony as geographical notorious accidents.

Trevor made me notice four thousand years ago, the Sea of Sand was part of the ocean. It seemed the sand had somehow gained terrain to the waters during this period. Another thing that came to light was the big X marking a spot in the map. It seemed the mountain chain was continuous but at some point of time the Dark Passage was created, because the X was marking a location right at the middle of the Dark Passage. We could give no more information to the cartographer and went out with my friends with the news. My father came with me and we all stepped into the chariot for another travel to the Library.

We had to wait several days in order to receive the information from the Great Library, but it seems we were uncovering parts of the ancient history of the world with our recent findings. We were talking about these matters when the chariot suddenly increased his speed noticeably. When we asked the driver about this he was too busy driving with a frightened expression on his face. He only managed to scream two words: “The mist!”

Lord Channis Lauros Journal

An alternative solution for the dilemma

We all knew the ritual concerning the initiation of Sir Sigard could not be performed without an altar, but it seemed Malek had found a solution in our absence. There is another altar, the tomb of the ancient champion known as the Knight of Abraxxas, inside the Silver Lake. We should maintain this in secret if we want to succeed in our endeavor. Right now, I trust no one.

When the battle against the gargantuan psionic worm came to an end, we all decided it would be safer to prevent growing of the dark seed inside the chest of the priest of the sun, to let the priest rest for a couple of days inside the chapel of Moradin. It seems the priest has become immune to compulsions so it is possible he is completely unaffected by the geas spells. However, he will know after a couple of days and let us know so we can communicate with the druids. I hope we could bring our friend back to his normal form without harm.

Preparations for the ritual

After long discussions outside the desecrated temple, the party decided it would be best to go directly to the tomb of the Knight of Abraxxas, hidden beneath the surface of the Silver Lake. So the group chosen to go was conformed of:

- Ibizar
- Malek
- Bahmut
- Canrith
- Addon
- Channis
- Sir Varen
- Sir Siggard
- Father Angus
- Brother Alesco

We decided to bring Brother Alesco with us, as a way to show our appreciation for saving Sir Siggard’s life. Alesco quickly agreed and seemed to be very happy. We also decided to bring with us no squires and no other member outside the mentioned above, for security reasons.

When we arrived to the temple, the doors were closed but Father Angus prayed to Abraxxas in order to grant us secure passage. We entered the tomb and found it just the way we left it. With the image of a nasty undead behind the doors, the two iron golems flanking the altar and the support for the Axe of Abraxxas above the altar. The dome was supported for several columns and we could hear the whisperings of the water outside the tomb.

Brother Angus claimed he needed another two days in meditation in order to be ready for the ritual. Meanwhile, some of us remained guarding the tomb for possible intrusions and Malek teleported to diverse destinations in order to obtain two more relics: the Coin of Abraxxas and the Axe of Abraxxas, located in the church of Good and the Temple of Life in Vazud respectively. He returned after two days safe and sound and everything was ready to begin with the ceremony.

The initiation

It is still not clear to me if this was the right thing to do, because we are sure now Abraxxas was not a God embracing goodness or evilness. I personally think Abraxxas is more like a force of some sort, speaking to his followers in the form of a God, yet he seems to be the leader of the first pantheon.

Father Angus dressed himself with clerical attire in order to perform the ceremony. He seemed incredibly weak, probably due to the lack of food and water during five consecutive days. He started praying to Abraxxas in a very special manner, “Oh most holy father, please grant me the knowledge necessary to speak in your name”.

It seemed the words spoken in the ritual had to be an exact duplicate of the phrases spoken between Abraxxas himself and his first knight, more than four thousand years ago. From this moment on, Father Angus seemed to speak with a loud grave voice, not the one we were used to listen from the cleric.

Sir Siggard kneeled before the old man with his face showing expectancy, humility and profound respect. As the priest spoke, we all sensed the cave flooded with a great power of some sort, but I couldn’t assure it was divine. We saw lights from time to time surrounding Father Angus and Sir Siggard as a sign we were waking up something from a very long and deep slumber. I’m not a man who frightens so easily, but there was a moment during the ritual I doubted we were doing the right thing.

Father Angus words described Abraxxas as a god beyond gods, beyond good and evil, even beyond neutrality. This God does not believe in balance, he believes in being loyal to your own nature. Good or evil is not inherent for humans, so this god claims goodness or evilness is not for us to decide. He claims we are confused by the gods themselves who taint us to choose a side. For Abraxxas, humans should have no side as long as we remain loyal to our own nature. Whether humans chose goodness or evilness, they are only compelled to accept the consequences of their own actions. Abraxxas teachings show that if humans do not take responsibility for what they do, they are betraying their own nature and such behavior deserve punishment.

My thoughts were flying high as the ceremony progressed. Sir Siggard seemed to be in some sort of trance that was not to be interrupted. However, in the climax of the situation, Ibizar grabbed his war hammer and charged to the altar with clear intention to destroy it. A quick glance was enough to realize he was in some sort of trance, without complete control of his actions. Nobody was fast enough to react. Fortunately, Ibizar seemed to be strong enough to resist such powerful magic. We all knew what was this all about. The binding spell on him was finally active. Ibizar fell to the ground screaming in agony. Nevertheless the mighty dwarven warrior successfully resisted the incantation. The ritual came to an end and Sir Siggard the Welldoer was no more. Long live the Knight of Abraxxas.

Diario de Canrith: Más malas noticias

Somos unos imbéciles. No ha pasado un día desde mi última entrada en este diario y por nuestra falta de visión y fe hemos perdido el templo.

No voy a comentar sobre la batalla con esa aberración gigante en forma de gusano, pues francamente pese a su tamaño huyó al cabo de unos segundos y sus tentáculos no fueron más que un fastidio para mis habilidades. Además estoy seguro que el místico cubrirá a detalle ese encuentro en su diario. No, quiero aprovechar estos minutos de paz para llorar al templo desacrado.

Mi nuevo grupo sigue sin confiar en el Hermano Alesco, motivo por el cual no permitieron que nos acompañe cuando regresamos a revisar el templo. El hechizero pudo abrir la puerta tal como Alesco lo hizo en su momento, con una oración de fe. Creo que se ha convertido a los dioses del Primer Panteón. Una vez dentro uno de sus encantamientos le permitió detectar compartimientos secretos en las bases de las estatuas.

Fue un juego de niños abrir las puertas de estos compartimientos, empezando por el de la estatua de Abraxxas. Encontramos dentro un Libro Sagrado de Abraxxas y varios artefactos divinos con los que los mortales no deben jugar. Estábamos dispuestos a revisar las cosas a detalle cuando el recién llegado Sacerdote decidió salir a tomar aire dado que al parecer no tiene la fuerza de voluntad para romper algunas reglas en busca de lo que es necesario hacer para salvar al mundo.

Fue ahí donde empezó todo. En la puerta uno de los lacayos del castillo nos informó que el caballero que estaba en camino a ser ordenado en el templo había sido atacado. ¿Es que todos los que llegan a ese maldito recinto sufren la misma suerte? En nuestro apuro por salvarlo cometimos el más grave error del día: dejar sólo el templo.

El Hermano Alesco pudo, a pesar de haber recibido insulto tras insulto a su honor por parte de los miembros más desconfiados del grupo, curar al caballero. Pero mientras nosotros estábamos alejados, el templo fue atacado y el altar de Abraxxas destruído.

Lo que pasó después lo recuerdo poco, pues la desesperación me embargaba. Algunos se fueron a buscar al Sumo Sacerdote que venía en camino para la ceremonia. Otros nos quedamos en el templo, donde descubrimos un mapa en partes oculto bajo todas las estatuas.

Tenemos el mapa completo, pero no sabemos a dónde nos llevará. Tenemos al caballero vivo, pero no sabemos cómo hacer para ordenarlo. Tenemos el templo, pero le hemos hecho más daño en unas horas que lo que le pudieron hacer los miles de años que estuvo en espera.

Una sola cosa es clara: Las religiones del segundo panteón no tienen el poder para detener lo que se viene, aunque esto implique salvarse a sí mismas. Ya en estos momentos están haciendo alianzas con representantes del primer panteón y rogando que los ayuden. El cambio está más cerca de lo que imaginaba.