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Comment
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Ulwe
Ulwe
Posts: 1630
(10/24/05 5:37 pm)
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Re: The burned man
Ulwe glances over to Madragar, then looks back at Tsai Zhuun.
"If you know Stonecrusher is Ghuruskalli, then you must know my folk as well. I am of the Shei Hythriad. You would know also that we never make oaths or promises lightly. Though now I will pledge this to you as witnessed by my comrades and before my Lord Orlanth and his ally Humakt: If you swear to be honest and true and serve us with all your strength and abilities to destroy the Shadow and halt the Drowning Dawn, I will do whatever I can to repair your broken body and wrecked soul."
Ulwe bows before Zhuun and then extends his hand to seal the bargain.
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Jubilex
Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 4734
(10/24/05 5:45 pm)
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Re: The burned man
Tsai Zhuun grasps Ulwe's hand and uses the priest's strength to pull himself up from the ground. Once standing, the burned man replies "I swear it."
"Now," he continues in a somewhat less formal tone. "Let us go back into the Haven - the steel-clad chamber in which you found me. It is safe from the Xorn, who glide through stone like eels through the water, but cannot breach metal so easily."
Tsai Zhuun takes a step but instantly buckles into the stone wall behind him, grimacing with pain.
"I will need a crutch."
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squarefodder
Khelzhad
Posts: 796
(10/24/05 6:04 pm)
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Re: The burned man
"Folded once and folded twice
roll the day into the night
coals aglow, too bright for sight
hammer long, the bond to forge
and strength of steel be thy reward"
Khelzhad tries to gauge the honesty of the deal before him.
[Sense Motive + 3]
Edited by: squarefodder at: 10/24/05 6:04 pm
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Ulwe
Ulwe
Posts: 1631
(10/24/05 6:05 pm)
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Re: The burned man
Ulwe keeps a hand on Zhuun's arm to steady him. "The Haven is accursed. Once we entered within, all our water was poisoned by the foul taint of Chaos. Is there another way?"
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Jubilex
Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 4735
(10/24/05 6:53 pm)
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Re: The burned man
Khelzhad gets no sense that the stranger is anything but what he says he is.
"Coincidence," Tsai Zhuun murmurs, dismissing Ulwe's objection with a wave of his hand. "Your water turned to poison the moment you entered this place. Its potency has simply grown with time."
Edited by: Jubilex at: 10/24/05 6:55 pm
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squarefodder
Khelzhad
Posts: 797
(10/24/05 9:34 pm)
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Re: The burned man
Khelzhad helps Tsai back into the Haven.
"I'm sure one of my craftier kinsmen here can make you a decent cane from this debris."
Edited by: squarefodder at: 10/24/05 9:40 pm
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Ulwe
Ulwe
Posts: 1632
(10/24/05 9:53 pm)
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Re: The burned man
Ulwe motions for the others to follow.
"Zhuun, we have not much time, so tell us what you know. What are the machines and where are they located?"
Edited by: Ulwe at: 10/24/05 9:53 pm
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doggius
Pogar
Posts: 1333
(10/25/05 7:47 am)
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Re: The burned man
"Yer too kind hearted, me cousin" Pogar thinks to himself. "Let 'em fall ta the ground like gurrow's dung, like the gurrow's dung he be" Pogar continues through his head.
But, regardless, Pogar moves off, to search through the debris to find something that would be suitable to use as a cane or crutch. Although Pogar would sooner see this burned mans head chopped off, he knows that the majority of the group wants to help him, and this man can provide information to help the group.
Steeled in his mind, however, is if this man makes one wrong move, Pogar himself, will enjoy taking his new pointy toy and shoving it through this mans neck. Until then, he will try to do what he can to make sure this man is comfortable and willing to continue to help.
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Jubilex
Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 4736
(10/25/05 8:03 am)
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Re: The burned man
Back inside the Haven, Tsai Zhuun leans heavily on a thick vertical support beam. With their collection of light sources the companions get a good look at the room. There are more than a few patches of odd fungus growing on the rotting timbers, but none of them are even remotely the size (or general friskiness) of those to the south. Pogar grabs a torch and pokes a quivering purple mushroom, just to be sure, but the thing seems inert.
All around the interior walls of the room are regularly spaced steel brackets that appear to be designed to hold the many long support beams that lay strewn about. Janes the carpenter quickly surmises that the chamber, with its high ceiling and distant walls, was once filled with rooms, staircases, and apartments - like a massive wooden house enclosed in steel. Yet, the house has been torn down and all its contents put to ruin.
Tsai Zhuun accepts a bit more water before speaking, and he often takes long pauses. The burning smoke of his self inflicted immolation must have badly injured his lungs.
"We stand within a fortress called Rylzhalor by its creators. It rests like a crown atop a great bloom of obsidian and volcanic rock through which many tunnels and shafts were carved in the Age of Twilight. It is a gateway to the underworld."
"Kalzkorag the Builder, a great hero among the dragonewts, constructed the fortress and led many expeditions into the depths. There he found the mortal enemy, the Xorn, who had a fortress of their own. It was the Xorn that first discovered the essence of Chaos they called entropos, and with it they were able to create machines that were as dangerous as they were powerful. This fortress, called Xazlan, was filled with these machines and after their victory the dragonewts carried them to the surface and locked them away - here."
Tsai Zhuun stabs a finger at the floor.
"Yet now the Xorn are weakened by this war and their allies are dominant. The mortal minions of Chaos rule Rylzhalor and seek to use the entropos machines to fulfill their dark prophecies. The Xorn sought to use the Army of the Drowning Dawn to march on the Shrine of Oak, where venerable Zhoskelgar awaits his final rest. That doom may come to the dragonewts, but not before the Drowning Dawn heralds a long and terrible night for your people."
"The Gorgon..." Tsai Zhuun clutches at his chest as if his heart suddenly stopped. "... a vile beast... patient. It stands with the Cabal of Torus... who are masters of the entropos. Their machines will tear down the walls between the worlds and bring the hand of Salhaug into ours, if only for a moment. It has already begun and cannot be stopped, but perhaps it could be changed... its purpose diverted."
Tsai Zhuun takes another long draught from Ulwe's waterskin.
"Get me to the machines and I will see what I can do. Beware, for all that oppose you have no life before them. They know the Hand of Salhaug will destroy the island and they will die with it. They do not care. They will fight to the death."
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doggius
Pogar
Posts: 1334
(10/25/05 8:11 am)
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Re: The burned man
"And we be fight'n ta the death too" Pogar says. "If'n we be runnin 'n hidin, we be dead too, juss like them. So, we be fight'n too." Pogar says simply. Then adds "But, they dont have Pogar Stonecrusher on they'r side! Me thinks me lads'll fix what be wrong." Pogar finishes with full confidence.
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squarefodder
Khelzhad
Posts: 799
(10/25/05 10:51 am)
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Re: The burned man
"Have you heard of the Song of Fire?", asks Khelzhad, whose interest has been piqued on this subject ever since Sangraal returned with the rumor.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 1446
(10/25/05 11:17 am)
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Re: The burned man
Draxim, satisfied by the man's oath given to Ulwe, will add his own question.
"You were able to 'excersize' the Gorgon, what can we do to keep one of us from becoming its new 'host'? Also, could you recognize it if he was in one of us?"
Edited by: Kenner at: 10/25/05 11:21 am
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Jubilex
Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 4737
(10/25/05 11:20 am)
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Re: The burned man
Tsai Zhuun is quick to answer.
"It is a foil to their plans. The prophecy cannot be translated for it was written in the dark speech - the language spoken by the gods of Chaos themselves. Thus, no one knows what form the Song of Fire may take. Not even the Gorgon."
"Still, I can promise you that beyond your own torches there is nothing aflame within Rylzhalor. The Cabal has seen to that."
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doggius
Pogar
Posts: 1335
(10/25/05 12:20 pm)
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Re: The burned man
"Then, what'er we ta do?" Pogar asks.
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Jubilex
Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 4738
(10/25/05 12:25 pm)
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Re: The burned man
Tsai Zhuun sighs with exasperation.
"I know something of the preparations our foes have made, and the forces they have summoned to fulfill the prophecy. They are both potent and thorough. Alas, even if we reach the heart of their scheme there may be no way to stop it."
"I think it likely we are all going to die."
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doggius
Pogar
Posts: 1336
(10/25/05 1:20 pm)
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Re: The burned man
"Bah!" the dwarf dismisses with a wave of his hand. "Ye no be worried o' the things we'er ta do. Ye telled us that it no can be done, methinks differnt. Ye go on and tell us all that ye can, and we be takin' care o the problem" Pogar finishes with a confident smile.
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yucatanyeti
Sangraal
Posts: 1677
(10/25/05 2:44 pm)
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Re: The burned man
Sangraal stops and listens to the stranger as his tells his tale.
"Well then, from where we stand now what directions do we travel to get you to the machines?" he ask of Tsai Zhuun.
[OOC: Sangraal is asking if Tsai Zhuun can give them directions starting from this room on how to get to the machines Tsai Zhuun seeks ]
Edited by: yucatanyeti at: 10/25/05 2:46 pm
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 1747
(10/25/05 3:24 pm)
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Re: The burned man
"Wait," says Madragar flatly.
"How did the allies of the Xorn access the fortress where the Dragonnewts had locked away the machines? What happened to the Dragonnewts."
His voice if flat, without affect. He sounds as though he is reading a particularly dry text. But his eyes glitter with a wild light not seen there before.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 1447
(10/25/05 4:41 pm)
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Re: The burned man
"You were beggin' to die when we found you. Changed your mind? I know we are all askin' you questions all at once but what can we do to keep one of us from becoming the Gorgon's new 'host'? Also, could you recognize it if he was in one of us?"
If he continues to ignore Draxim's question, Draxim will keep badgering him until he gets an answer.
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Jubilex
Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 4739
(10/25/05 5:02 pm)
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Re: The burned man
"Southwest. Top level," he answers Sangraal.
Then, to Madragar: "The dragonewts in this part of the world have been diminished. After many years guarding such a vast store of entropos many of them were driven mad, or terribly mutated. When the Xorn and their allies came there were few left to oppose them. The Dagger itself was struck down and now Zhoskelgar is alone, or nearly so."
Finally, to Draxim: "Your priests should know that possession of a living creature is not so easy, but in any case..."
The burned man reaches out and takes hold of Draxim's shoulder.
"This armor has secrets it has yet to reveal, as do all gifts from the Black Wolf, Zhoskelgar."
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