Hi guys,
You broke camp and continued east looking for some kind of mythical trouble, on the final day of year 1622 Solarum Temporum. Boamund saw a pool from a far, with a glinting spike in it, and on inspection the pool was thick bubbling tar and the spike was 12m of iron. You all (Except Bog) felt visions of the Luathans you'd seen before in a supernatural storm on Giraine. Ahappi and Fraud felt much more- Ahappi stood enraptured, his eyes wide in wonder but with a far-off gaze, muttering about dragonships and monsters. Fraud, in contrast, ran into the tar, and valiantly crossed it with little struggle! He was battered with the power of the magical spike but did not succumb- instead, it merely inspired him further and he firmly embraced it.
He then got a vision from the Luathans: a great purple warrior, singing beautifully, hit the pillar with a massive maul, driving it into the ground. The earth sungs back with a rhythmic ringing sound and a crack spread from the pillar in writhing path like a serpent. The serpentine cracked path crossed a war-torn, ravaged landscape, finally reaching a fortified structure that crumbled into ruins, amidst which a single rune (that of the Lone Eel; and the ruins matching those underneath which you found it) was seen exposed. More cracks spread. The seas came pouring onto the lands, dragging mists with them. Fraud received a 1-off magical effect of “Sing To the Lone Eel” (invoking the Luathans' connection to its isolation). And intuitively Fraud knew also that the Luathans invoked Seshna's power to crack her body, shrugging off her tormentors; ruining the land in the Shattering to save it. With much more struggling, Fraud made it back across the tar; having to half-swim his way, barely avoiding sinking into the tar but with a protective Abjure Breath from Ahappi just in case. You talked over the amazing site and Ahappi still seemed detached and distant, but you eventually moved on.
Boamund next found six giant green lizards feeding on a huge slug's body, and Ahappi frightened them off with a powerful Dark Foreboding. That resolved the matter, and you passed. Boamund later spotted a rockfall coming from a hillside nearby and shouted warning in time to save the party-you all flung yourselves safely clear. Inspection of the incident suggested it was more natural- Miguel saw tremors still happening on the hillside, and no hint of an intelligent agent(s) behind it all. You then entered a rougher badlands area- very rocky, mazes of canyons, hills, craters, holes, cracks where foul gases seep out, and wracked by frequent quakes. It felt like the Shattering was still active in this region, not just echoing from the past. Scant vegetation clungs where it could; grim, spindly and bereft of much colour. Again Boamund spotted danger and shouted warning: there were two holes nearby and a rumbling came from underground, so you were prepared when two more of the acid-spewing centi-mantises burst forth: one out of the hole near Boamund, but another digging a surprise burrow near Bog. Both spat acid; one dissolved Boamund's right leg armour (with Miguel's Cleanse spell proving useful to stop it) and the other eventually did some serious damage to Bog's shield. You ganged up on them and battered them down in due time. Miguel harvested some more mandibles and Bog gleefully munched on more tasty legs.
Night wasn't too far away now. Boamund led you deeper into the canyons, expertly navigating their labyrinth. You reached the entry to a tall, narrow, cold, shadowy canyon where no breeze blew. The mists hung still and clammy. A thin veneer of frost covered some of the lower, darkest crevices. There was an unnerving silence and lack of silence; as if wailing voices drowned out even themselves. You searched the four caverns here but found them empty, although Bog was sure he spotted signs of old runes or something. You decided this wasn't the right place and moved on, soon leaving the canyons back into more typical badlands. Finally you camped in a reasonable spot. Ahappi was preparing for something else and soon left in a strange state of mind, purposefully headed north for the cliffs of the Fosnoir, and you knew there was no hope turning him back with that fervent gleam in his eyes. You discussed how this might be a good leaping-off point for some kind of heroquest: maybe a Night Dragon one somehow, or Bog even made some progress convincing Boamund that acting as a Yelmalio surrogate on a “Hill of Gold”-style theist quest might be worthy. You eventually agreed the former would be ideal, and concentrating, Bog and Miguel felt tension on their souls that led them back westward into that dark, narrow canyon. It was different there now…
Bog almost walking into a tall, noble-looking armoured troll warrior, whom he soon noticed was a spirit, leaning on its big spectral maul and regarding him with barely hidden contempt. He recognized it as an Uz hero from his time: a runelord (Kaarg's Son of Kyger Litor, the troll mother and main theist cult) who had helped lead the forces from his homeland to here. Bog addressed him with proper respect and Nortag pronounced that you had come here at an auspicious time:
“In the Second Age, the great mothers of the Castle of Lead in Halikiv heard the calling of Arachne Solara: they were to weave a new web, as Gift Carriers of the Sending Gods, to help mend the wounded world. They sent their kin to tunnel far through the underworld, deep into Hell and back again, to cross the lands and seek out their foes in the evil sea-empire. They did so invoking the powers of the Lesser Darkness, with the Uz departure from Wonderhome to mount war on the surface world of Komor, the Hurtplace, as our ancestors escaped the torment caused by the arrival of the dead Sun-Emperor's light into Hell. This land around here we called “Good Troll Food” and it was a great battle-ground against the enemies. The great mother Uz soon came, too, and brought their greatest powers of the dark and cold to aid their kin. These powers were concentrated here. Some called it the Four Corners of Hell; with four centres of power established by the mothers.” “All went well in the war against the evil Empire, but all did not go well for the great mother Uz. They were not familiar with some foes in the West, that the mythological powers of the Lesser Darkness had ironically strengthened. These foes wove their own terrible web, and it was the downfall of the great mother Uz; and many more; by wielding mythical powers of the Greater Darkness. Powers of Chaos, yezz. Those Uz that survived fled back through their tunnels to Halikiv, weeping their bitter losses and not at all comforted by the great feasting they had done on the surface. They collapsed their tunnels behind them and did not return. And so it has been since. I did not survive the battles, but my soul was strong. I pledged to stand sentinel here, keeping my Darksense on the evil. It too has been here since.” “This place is haunted by a Kozoru-an Uz shadow-vampire: in my time it was cursed as such by Zukozor, the troll counterpart of Vivamort among the hoomanz. This Kozoru was named Strelvak Ever-Hungry. He was the first betrayer against the great mothers here; his deeds twisted into traitorous ones by whispered, uncouth words of the evil foes. He helped evils to break free of bonds or slip into the world uninvited. These evils corrupted the power of this holy land, where once the power of Wonderhome surged forth onto Komor. The great mothers' powers were four, as I've said: of Subere, the Deep Hells; of Xentha, the comforting cloak of night; of Himile, the strong brother from the frigid north; and of one more, whose name was lost with his annihilation. They need help.” “You have crossed into the juncture of your Age, my Age and the Darknesses. Now the powers of myth are open to you, and to our foes. You must heroquest into this juncture, by taking the roles of Subere, Xentha, Himile, the Nameless One. To let the great mothers rest, you have many tasks. Subere must find her shrine and cleanse it, however it must be done. Xentha must do the same, and Himile. The Nameless One must see what befell their lost power. Each may invoke their namesake's power once. But, yezz, as one of you is a silly little Enlo, he will be the Nameless One- this feels right to Nortag.” Bog shuffled his feet in awkward obedience. “There is more. The Kozoru conspired to allow the great demon, Defiler of the Dark, to break free in the Subere shrine and take over, corrupting all of this area as a result. The root of the problem, and the greatest danger, is there. Ice demons, Hollri, then broke free in the Himile shrine, too. As night no longer touches the Xentha shrine, it is unknown what befell it; it fell into uncouth shadows. As the fourth place's power was annihilated, the Nameless One will know the foe when it is sensed. There will be little help and no rest for you in this quest-you are stranded here in space and time as I have been. May Kyger Litor bless you with your mothers' wisdom in this struggle. Succeed, and you may find new ways to confront our foes that linger beyond here. But fail, and your souls will be food for demons or worse.”
Nortag directed you to a nearby rock where there is a low shelf holding a rough black bowl full of black dust, a tiny clear crystalline flask, a silky black scarf, and a grey sharply curved stone. “Here the shadows have brought symbols of your roles. Now you must take them.” You discussed, and decided (with objects in order here) Miguel would be Subere, Boamund as Himile, Fraud as Xentha, and the final one was already decided, with a gruff Nortag directing Bog to remove his false tusks (“you disgrace your mother!) and put in the stone one, which was uncomfortable. Nortag said he would meet you back here if your quest succeeded. If you used wrong powers like light or fire, you'd fail. You needed to stick to your roles.
So off you went! The quest-canyon averaged 10m wide and 25m high up to the clifftop plateaus. Huge patches of black lichens grew on the canyon walls and many other surfaces, like giant ugly birthmarks. There were many boulders and scrubby patches of sickly brush, with a few larger, more robust bushes. On the north (left) side of the entry canyon, a switchback path wound up the canyon wall. The canyon widened and continued roughly eastward but the remainder could not be seen from the entry to the canyon. Everywhere, shadows oozed and flitted around in ways that were unsettling even to Darkness cultists, and the temperature fluctuated quickly from cool to warm although there was no breeze, sun or other cause. Bog and Fraud knew this place wasn't a proper state of Darkness, but a bit of Hell run rampant, or even corrupted.
Boamund's sharp eyes again caught some danger in time: a ragged earthen pit broke open beneath you as you approached the widening part of the canyon near the switchback entry, and you nimbly leapt free. Something was down there in a tunnel at the bottom of the 3m pit but it moved out of sight deftly. You decided to proceed even more warily of such things. There was a lone palm tree by a trickling pool in the distance down the canyon. To the right, the canyon split and sent a side-canyon down to two cave mouths: one larger on the right and one smaller on the left. Both had weird shadows crawling around them; Helldark patches (Shades, probably) but they paid no one any mind. You first thought of going up the switchback, where you saw an ice-cave with great big icy teeth as stalactites and stalagmites, and plenty of frost and ice covering the path up to it, but something tugged you toward the two shadowed caves, and Miguel felt perhaps this was his Subere path calling to him. Nortag had said the greatest danger was here, so why not start with that? There were some ledges leading up to the clifftop here, but you took the big cave entrance, which narrowed and turned to the left as you progressed. One by one, a grey spirit on the Spirit Plane tried to drag your souls into its domain as discorporate victims but you all resisted as you passed [GM rolled poorly, lots of 90s; you rolled well. Oh poo!].
The narrow tunnel met with the other one at a Y-junction where a narrow cleft continued to the left (it seemed to much of a risky squeeze so you avoided it) and the cavern widened to the right, which Boamund then surveyed. That cavern widened to over 8m and expanded to over 6m tall toward its termination 13m away, and was cluttered with stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and fallen remnants of these. Stripes of black mineral crisscrossed the natural stone floor and walls here. Quickly, Boamund saw shapes lurking amongst the rock formations to the right: three strange shadowy giant scorpions with red demonic eyes. Fraud and Bog snuck up on them while Boamund drew their attention and Miguel rained down arrows. The fight did not go well at first: Bog was injured and Fraud's sword got clamped by a pincer, almost snapped in half. But you soon turned the battle around and dispatched these vicious foes.
At the rear of the cavern were two great coal-black pillars, heavily cracked, supporting a huge black Darkness rune embossed with a Magic rune over an arched doorway and short stone staircase. Old worn stonework was visible beyond: this surely is the “broken” Subere shrine that Nortag spoke of. Subere is a frightening old goddess that few have the bravery and power to worship, so you braced yourselves for horrors. Miguel knew of his power, to evoke Subere's rune magic of “Attack Soul” that would open Spirit Combat for him against a target, so hopefully that would aid you.
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