Earth, Wind, And Fire
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Dear Father Phillip-
As I sit here in the hulk of an Infernal Death Dealing Device I thought I should send a missive to you as the situation here has gotten very grave, and I am starting to feel that I am out of my depth. I was also starting to wonder if I has done something to aggravate My Lady Isis but I believe the fact that I am writing this message to you means her benevolence still shines upon me.
Where to start?
It began on the second of Kym-Nark-Mar, The day started as ordinarily as a day in the Sandy Desert of the Baalgor Wastelands can, the day was hot, and our tempers hotter so I put my thinking cap on (well actually I bought that later, if you go to the desert take a hat, it reduces brain fry) and tried to come up with a resolution to the heat, and the only thing that came to mind was getting out of there. Then I remembered your teachings about how we can call upon the powers of Isis, so I approached the others with an idea of making a teleport scroll with the Intervention of Isis. The others actually seemed pretty keen so we got the people with the most magical talent together and I explained to them what I wished to do. We got together in a Focus circle to try and bring together the power required for this. We held hands, us of various faiths, races and styles and concentrated our power until I prayed to Isis, it was very moving, showing that you were right in saying great things can be done if we work together and leave this melancholic land of broken dreams and crushed hopes.
“Oh She who moves, please gift me with the power to navigate the rivers of your power and create an instrument to help us in our quest ”
and I felt Isis’s grace and power channeled from the others to me. The feeling was indescribable and I think the power and beauty of it overwhelmed me as I suddenly had the power to do what was required. I then tried to channel that power into the scroll and quill and there was a surge and most of the power left me in a rush, but inexplicably the scroll was wordless and the quill was still. I sat there wondering what had happened and noticed that everyone was watching me. I carefully stood up and looked around, Nothing had happened. I checked the scroll again but it was still stubbornly empty. I intoned a short prayer in my mind to Isis and . . . nothing. I had failed, I turned and informed my companions of my failure and they took it in stride saying that we could certainly try again tomorrow. I thought about it and nodded and smiled but all the time thinking to myself that I had done everything correctly and how would tomorrow change the outcome, but they were fairly sure so I told myself to review the whole ceremony so I could try to find where I went wrong. Looking back I think it was the hubris in my heart about the power I was using, rather than thinking of how I could help My Lady Isis I was thinking of the raw power coursing through my veins and what I could accomplish rather then She who is queen of the wind.
My companions were surprisingly happy, even though I had failed. The day then turned to trudging through the sand, which is a somber job when walking through the sands of ancient times.
Then happily we came across a diversion, it did seem that at first combat was going to ensue but our companions assured me that this wasn’t the case and that it was a Quorian and Eandroth caravan and that these guys would have supplies for the desert. I smiled as this was genuine good news for me as I was missing these things. I walked up and one of the blue haired/tentacled guys started chatting to me like a used fish salesman at the docks at Aracho and we eventually came to an agreement on shoes, a hat and some waterskins.
Then trouble struck, apparently Mollinur the gold grubbing dwarf unsurprisingly stole something from the caravan in a previous meeting and the Palladin of Rurga and Belros Ustace, the priest of Rurga, turned the dwarf in for it. He then had to atone for his crimes, which I wholeheartedly agree with, however the timing certainly could have been better as we had an agreement with him to guide us to Troker, and the penance turned out to be him helping the people whom he had done wrong. This was more than fair on their behalf because in this place you don’t need anything that makes your life more difficult as it can end up as a sudden death.
After all this had been sorted we trudged on with only a few of our former companions and guides, as the others joined Mollinur in his quest for redemption under the watchful eyes of the Eandroth, and I hope and pray that he finds it. Our spirits which had been uplifted slightly (except for poor Xerx’ses whom constantly seems in a slight state of distress or self flagellation. You have to meet and talk to him to understand) have dropped again and We continued to trudge, the slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of men who have nothing left in life except the impulse to simply soldier on in the face of adversity.
3rd of Kym-Nark-Mar
Another day of trudging in this boiling heat, I had hoped that something would have miraculously changed but it is all the same. We moved on until we had to rest through the midday heat. Whilst I was resting those on watch somehow found a silver skull hidden in the shifting sea of sand, Master Aesyl was very determined to do something with it, what it was I wasn’t sure but I immediately feared the worst and we tried to make sure it wasn’t some tool of Evil. Master Aesyl was distraught about the whole process making me think it was indeed such a thing, but on closer examination the silver skull turned out to be relatively untouched by evil and the commotion Master Aesyl was making was from the uselessness the Baalgor Wastelands can cause to creep into your mind. Later that night I imagined the owner of the Skull, maybe a previous denizen of this horrible desert, trying to eke out an existence in a waterless, lifeless land and dying here. I decided to name him Owen and said prayers for him, imagining him and his wife passing in this place, with just his son or nephew looking for him.
4th of Kym-Mark-Mar
I rose early this day to Pray to Isis to give me the wisdom to use her powers in her name, and happily everyone else was happy to do the same, even if their methods of communing were different to mine. I moved on feeling lighter of heart after my prayers and started thinking that this quest wasn’t all but hopeless. I didn’t yet know how mistaken I was to be.
The first sign of trouble was a sudden weather change and a boiling hot wind started whipping up the sand, then a faint roaring started above use which we couldn’t see because of the scorching sand whipped up into the air from skin blistering wind.
Then a sand blasting Tornado ripped out of the sky, and I mean ripped, the noise was incredible, luckily Isis smiled upon me and I wasn’t picked up and torn to pieces but other members of the group weren’t so lucky. The weather then changed again as quickly as it had before and the Hurricane of sand subsided again, and us lucky few lived to see the result of the carnage caused by the twister.
Iana, Master Aesyl and the Palladin of Rurga had been ripped to pieces, with but an arm left of Iana that Azariel gripped, and nothing else.
We were stunned, CrIsis had faced many challenges but the mighty fury of nature herself had torn the heart of the party out. Tears were forming and then evaporating in Azariel’s eyes as this godless place can barely even tolerate grief.
Then a respite to this wrong came from an unlikely place, Master Cava slowly took off his backpack and pulled out an ancient scroll, with symbols of Lord Osiris in gilt lettering, he reverently handed it to me, it felt like warm silk in my hand. My hands trembled as I opened this scroll to read it, for it was indeed an Holy Relic. I called out the three words that were written upon the holy scroll
Ut’Alk
Ata’rev
O’tcin
and I felt the glory of Osiris flow around me and through me. Suddenly the stifling heat felt as a gentle summers breeze, the burning sand felt like soft scented talc powder flowing between my fingers. I turned with purpose towards Azariel who was still cradling Iana’s arm to his breast, his tears disappearing before they could even touch the ground. I gently took the arm from him and placed my cloak on the ground and then placed her arm upon it.
I stood and looked towards the heavens and the sun didn’t burn my eyes. I called to My Lady, The Queen of Resurrection and Life and she answered me immediately. To my surprise a golden mist surrounded Iana’s arm in a nebulous form, and slowly that form took shape into
IANA
and suddenly she was back, laying there naked on my cloak. Her eyes opened and Master Azariel looked on in amazement as she stood up, regenerated and resurrected. I thanked Isis wholeheartedly for hearing my prayer. Tears of happiness from Azariels face as Iana stood up. Master Azariel then took her to a quiet place to help her recover.
We were going to give them a moments peace but Cava, ever the sharp eyed, noticed something amiss off in the distance, and Lo and behold there was a mighty thundering coming towards us of in the distance, raising sand and dust that obscured it from our view.
All I can say is the efficacious of Isis’s resurrection was such that even Iana stood and turned towards this new threat with barely enough time to drink some water to ease our parched throats.
This new threat turned out to be a massive boat, with a large number of undead and renegade humanoids. Xerx’ses or CavaLord Osiris’s femur to blast it with magic, and it lived through a couple of hits but the last one brought it down, making me think it also had magical protection. I thought that the being that was the Hawk might have some important information so I decided to try to get to it, but even as I stepped forward menacing figure of the Demon Land Boat finally pushed through all the obscuring, and it was much closer then I thought, so I called upon Isis’s power to arm me, called out to my friends to spread out so it couldn’t take it all at once.
The next 2 minutes are a confusing blur, I called upon the strength of Isis by prayer, and she heeded my call, I then turned and started calling upon her power to force the undead from the area but while I was chanting I felt the cold magic of another and I was robbed of my senses. The next thing I know Xerx’ses was pulling me out from underneath the Devils Apparatus and I was flying though the Air to safety. Once I had recovered my wits I realized Xerx’ses had indeed saved me from certain death while putting his own safety in great jeopardy when doing so. I must find a way to repay him. We then took stock of our casualties and Injuries. By some great miracle only Overkill had fallen to this mechanical monstrosity, and the powers of the Scroll of Osiris still flowed through my mind and body. Again I knelt next to a body of friend this day, and again Isis found me worthy and answered my prayer. A soft golden nimbus surrounded Overkill and as I watched his wounds closed, his bones knit back together and took on their normal shapes and then he took in a big gasping breath and sat up. I stood and said another prayer to Isis for she had answered my call again in a most spectacular way.
We then quickly checked for survivors, and to my surprise there was one one, and that one was to be interrogated for this thing is a great threat to the world, and if there are more …
To my surprise he seemed to be conscious and when we came close he immediately started praying in a whispered voice
please my lord, hear my prayer
concerned I immediately urged the party to render him unconscious but he suddenly convulsed and died. Xerx’ses looked at the necklaces he was wearing and said that one of them bore the mark of Vald-Tegor, and reached around his neck to remove them. Overkill, who had been checking the damage to the demon vehicle and had just come up started to say something and Xerx’ses disappeared. Cava swore with enough imagination to embarrass a sailor, muttering something about those damned amulets. I think he might have meant a type of amulet the party had come across before and had almost come to blows over because they would teleport a single being somewhere else when touched. I took note of my companions who were in a grim state after the fight and started healing them, since Xerx’ses had the Femur of Osiris there was absolutely no doubt we would go after him, even if he wasn’t a friend that alone would have made us go. In the light of the situation I prayed to Isis for guidance, for it would do no good if wherever the necklace took us to was filled with lava or the like, and again She who gives birth to Kings came to me with a whispered voice.
Stay here and anchor them for the return.
She had commanded me to stay to facilitate their return, when all I wanted to do was return the favour Xerx’ses had done for me earlier and help rescue him, it was a hard decision but I had to follow Isis in her wisdom.
My friends then all took hold of the necklace and disappeared.
Now I am sitting here, looking at some strange Dwarven Siege Vehicle waiting for my friends to reappear from whence they have gone, not knowing if I shall see them again. The sun is slowly making its journey back to the earth. I will give them 3 days, for after that I shan’t have enough resources to get out of here, and if they don’t return someone will have to take up where they left off, for if they can’t get out of the trouble they are in I doubt my meager powers will be able to free them, but I would return with numbers of my fellow brothers and sisters of Isis and there will be a reckoning.
If this is indeed my last message please pass half of whatever is left of mine to my family and use the rest to better the church.
Yours Truly
As I watch the sun
fall from his throne
soon it will be gone
and darkness will come
but I will be waiting
a weapon in hand
and a prayer in my heart
Darkness shall never have me.
Indaris
Sent on the 4th day of Kym-nark-mar in the 22nd Year of Emperor Voelkian Itomas II.
Twister picture from WOTC.
Bottom poem picture by Andreas Rocha.