... and the adventuring company was so pleased with all of the work I've done in identifying all of the loot they brought back with them from their expedition, that instead of paying me in silver, I got this amazing hat! It should improve my abilities to bond with my animal companions significantly. I guess they didn't have a Beastmaster or anything like that, but really, it's almost as valuable for its historical significance, and as a fashionable accessory! Violet practically turned green(er) with envy when she saw me wearing it.
From the Journal of Zivilyn, Windling Magician: Beyond the First Gate
Sandrin, a trusted friend of mine and an Air Sailor, recently contacted me with a request for some help in a difficult task he had in mind. It seems he wanted to impress a Windling Troubadour named Inspree (I can't blame him, I hope I left a good impression myself; she's a lovely lady, and man has she ever got some pipes!). She had recently agreed to help one Semyon in exploring the mysteries of the Cloister of Silence, up just past Grakor in the mountains north and a little east of Throal. The Cloister, as I would hope most people know, is a kaer established by pre-scourge followers of Rashomon.
Naturally, what with Rashomon going mad and becoming Raggok, this was an inescapable temptation for a number of Scholars to potentially meet some people from before the scourge; you see, the gate was guarded by a group of monks that were in a sort of trance state, as previous journal entries by other Adepts have mentioned. Some sort of horror-twisted creatures that look like twisted Shrieker Bats, and by twisted creatures that seem an awful lot like harpies. I'm not sure why anyone would bother twisting harpies; they're already filthy, despiccable, vile creatures. Who can comprehend the horrors, though? Anyways, they've also been under siege by forces from Grakor, as well; it seems the modern Raggok cultists wanted to defile the monastery as well.
But of course, this is all just repeating old journal entries, and not even my own, so it's not exactly my story; I just wanted to get it settled in my head, to make sure I've got the backstory here.
Anyways, Inspree and Semyon had an idea on how to get through the gate, and since Sandrin was so eagre to help, I could hardly say no, especially with a chance to meet a celebrity like Inspree! I hope some day I'll be able to hear a song of hers about me. Joining as well were Daldorer and Rose, a pair of Nethermancers who I believe I have travelled with a time or two before (although Rose is also a Questor of Floraanuus now, it seems, which is not at all what I would have expected from a Nethermancer), and Reyis (another Windling Shaman; I've heard of a few others around Throal, but never had the chance to meet one before!). We had no trouble along the way; I suppose if I were a bandit I might look at an obvious group of adventurers complete with a pair of horse-sized wolves and think better of my profession too. Then again, if I were a bandit, I suppose I'd also be an idiot, so you never know.
We got to the Cloister, and I got a chance to spend some time examining the wards, which I have never seen nor heard of the like before (I suppose the uniqueness may have helped them withstand the scourge). And I definitely was not so starstruck that I could barely even mumble around Inspree. I was just letting my fabulous hat do all the talking! I can certainly see how others could have confused what I was doing, of course, so I just wanted to set the record straight on that.
We enjoyed a pleasant dinner, shared stories, and discussed the plan for the morrow. Inspree, being as smart as a whip, had deduced that the crystals held in the hands of the meditating monks were not just any glass orbs, but would resonate when the proper song (or something matching it, more or less) was sung. She would sing, and we would kick the butts of whatever warped creatures showed up, as they apparently do every time someone starts testing the kaer wards.
We got into positions, Daldorer drew a few Life Circles of One to protect Inspree, Rose made a Bone Circle off to the side, and Inspree started singing with as much power as any Troll could have mustered. And it was working, the monks were starting to awaken... and also, I swear it was like creatures just crawled out of nowhere onto the cliff walls nearby and started jumping down on us. Fans like that, Inspree could do without! Also, a bunch of Gnashers seemed to just eat their way through the ground to our side. Fortunately, it was as if Daldorer and Rose were oracles. Most of the gnashers got caught up in the Bone Circle, dealing with the spirit in there (which was nice, saves me the trouble of dispelling it to keep people from accidentally stepping into it and getting bitten or something), while the rest ran into the Life Circles and died as they went.
That fight wasn't so bad, in the end. I got a bit scuffed up, and Inspree got knocked down by being screamed at, and a few of the others took some minor injuries, but overall nothing too bad. Sandrin helped her sing when she got the wind knocked out of her and when she was busy trying to sing two parts at once (as the monks woke up, they were supposed to start singing, but some were missing), so we prevailed, the gates opened, and those poor twisted creatures were put out of their misery (The bats, that is. The harpies I can only presume become harpy spirits or something like that when they die, so they're probably still miserable insufferable slimey foul things). All told, I think there were about six of them.
Aaaaand, of course nothing is ever that easy. Turns out this was the *first* gate, and we had to go open a second one immediately. Oh goody. You know, I definitely woke up this morning thinking "hey, Zivilyn, you should go get screamed at by warped bats that send you staggering around like an idiot in front of a beautiful woman" anyways, right? Well, apparently having started the ritual of opening, we invited disaster if we didn't get to the next gate quickly and start opening it. Thankfully, the monks knew the way (although one of them made the mistake of calling on Rashomon for strength before he could be caught up on certain key events that had happened while he was dreaming for 400 years, which I would totally have warned them about first thing except I was busy making sure Inspree was fine!), and knew how to do it, so that didn't mean we needed to defend the gate for another several months while Inspree and Semyon studied the problem. On the downside, the group that probably crawled out of the astral just as we got up there was way worse than the first wave had been, and we didn't have any spare time to enjoy a Hero's Feast, which would of course have gotten us all back on our feet. I swear, every adventure I've gone on lately has been like that.
There were four of them that attacked. Fighting them is definitely rating among the worst experiences of my life to date. One of them sort of sang us to sleep, then latched on to Sandrin and started chewing on his face in what I can only assume was a spectacularly unpleasant time for him. Another one had a bulging throat like a frog and croaked so hard that it would knock you flying. A third was huge and hit like I imagine a charging Dyre would have felt like if I'd had the misfortune of being hit by one, whispering all the time like some sort of creepy animated tree. And the last one would scream in your face and scare you almost senseless, and I'd like to update that after being hit by it when it charged I feel like that dyre might not be so bad in comparison. If ever you feel like you're having too good of a day, I can recommend opening a kaer with this style of ward. I promise, that'll fix your day up *real* good.
So anyways, Sandrin ran up first, to protect the monks, he being the closest thing to a warrior we had. As mentioned, the creepy singing thing glomped onto him the second it smelled blood and proceeded to introduce him to its fangs. I am so glad that wasn't me. Howler bravely joined him at the front, and promptly took a savage hit from the weird whispering thing. The froggy one croaked at us and knocked us around (which would have probably been more inconvenient if that stupid singing one hadn't been manipulating us into lying down already), and the shouty one went after Daldorer, who really should get some armour. That sort of thing went on for a bit, before I managed to weave some assistance to Sandrin helping him to Wriggle free, while Howler immediately sensed an opportunity and just bit that creepy thing right on the hand, giving Sandrin a chance to escape and stop being a chew toy (Sandrin, if you're reading this, you owe Howler a nice juicy steak for keeping you from being one yourself).
And about this point, I gained a great deal of appreciation for why it is much better to have Nethermancers on your side than against you, as Daldorer and Rose immediately proceeded to redefine the monstrosities' existence as living pain and putting Astral Spears into them. Reyis made it pretty much rain cats on the whispering one. And this is when I found out that I do not like getting charged by a pigheaded weird shouty thing. Also, the froggy one came my way as well. For a moment there, things were looking very bad for me. I think I got a bit lucky here, and was in the end able to stagger away and commence with providing spells to improve the combat effectiveness of Howler, Sandrin, and Reyis' dire wolf (whose name escapes me at the moment, I shall have to ask Reyis about that later. Well, I'm sure he'll submit his own journal, you can find his brave friend's name there as well). It all got a little blurry for me, as I was barely conscious and was busy trying to focus on my spells, but I think the creepy singing one eventually got stabbed and bitten to death, then the whispery one smacked Daldorer but was shortly afterward finished off by Reyis who had been struggling to get to his feet while Invoking Leopard Spirit after Leopard Spirit all the time, then the frog-throat thing went down to the jaws of Howler, and we managed to finish off the weird boar-thing all working together.
Inspree was, thankfully, still alive, and the monks were able to finish opening the second gate (which had some neat devices that you could whisper into and be heard at great distances if you were at the other device, each of which were shaped like big dishes with the side where the food goes facing each other. It was really fascinating!). With the gate opened, the people inside were hastily informed that they should not call upon Rashomon because he had gone mad in the intervening centuries while they had been in some sort of stasis (apologies, I would've studied it more closely, but I'm pretty sure opening myself to the astral to get a look would have literally knocked me unconscious. Frankly I was already kinda planning a hero's feast to get us all back on our feet). Thankfully, with the monks who we had cautioned earlier regarding the dangers of calling upon Rashomon, the people within were warned in time to not call upon him themselves, because that could have gone disastrously if they had. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm faster than them, and thanks to my Wizard spells so were all my friends, but I really did not want to save a kaer from invading icky stuff just to see it instantly corrupted and be chased off by a murderous horde of mad cultists who would probably join the town of Grakor in causing all manner of problems.
Which reminds me. You all should probably prepare for an incoming stampede of Scholars, each desperate to be the first to submit their research on the Monastery before their fellows. Do me a favour and tell them I got here first, and let me know what their faces look like when you do, will you? I mean, if you can, even get an Illusionist to preserve it in detail (yes, I know, this is scarcely the thoroughly-researched and detailed information they'll be bringing in. But they won't know that at first... apparently someone spread rumours about my celebrity status as a scholar a while back, and what's the point in being quasi-famous if you're not even going to enjoy it?)Statistics:Posted by Sharkforce — Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:54 am
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