After rescuing the newly-Exalted Illyana from the clutches of the mean nasty pirates, and some rather uncomfortable conversation in which some people tried not to admit they were Anathema too (why wasn't anyone scared of the glowing girl?) the intrepid adventurers set off for Abalone, their prior destination.
With them, was a captive pirate, Tatjana Blacksail?, who, after a bit, suddenly started to scream, "They're coming for me! Save me!" and struggling to get free. On the horizon as dusk was falling, was the ghostly shape of a sail. Shortly following the shape of the sale and the prow through the mist, the ship took form. When seen clearly, the rigging was in tatters, and there were gaping wounds in the side of the ship. Clearly this ship should be at the bottom of the ocean, yet there it was, sailing ever faster toward them.
"The Lost Soul!" screamed Tatjana, whose branded shoulder was beginning to smoke as she writhed in her chains. The Exalts aboard took one look at Tatjana, then at the Lost Soul approaching, and came to a decision. They chucked their poor captive overboard, to flail about in the foamy sea.
The Exiles sailed as quickly as they were able, but the Lost Soul kept up with them as they crashed through the waves. Worse, it was beginning to catch up, for it was a warship, and they were aboard a trading vessel, built to hold cargo, not to run swiftly.
Up ahead, signs of another sort of storm were beginning to rise, with strangely colored winds and eerie wails. Zerak chose to enter the Wyld Storm, thinking to throw off the pursuit of the ghost-ship. As they crossed the threshold of the storm, the raging winds and rains ceased, and the world became oddly calm. But all was not right with the world, for the Wyld energies had twisted everything around them into chaos. Soon the crew found themselves sailing through strange and wonderful things... birds that swam through the water like fish. Fish who flew in the air like birds. A gigantic shark swam above them, looking as if it were going to attack, but they held back, and the beast closed its massive jaws around another fish - its favored prey.
Even their senses were warped... they could taste the colors of the wind, and see through their fingers. That was nothing, however, compared to what happened to the hapless crewman who suddenly warped into something vaguely squidlike. Nothing is safe in a Wyld Storm. The boat's hull shifted and began to grow new leaves.
The Eclipse, Drake, remembered how his prior incarnation had treated with the fae, and cried out to the storm, that they were on a diplomatic mission, and should be let to pass. The ravages caused, however, were not due to fae themselves, but to the chaos of the Wyld itself, and the cry seemed to fall on deaf ears.
After a bit, however, they were approached by a manmer. Such was the only way to describe a half-fish, half-man creature that spoke with a bubbly voice. And when he spoke, what came from his fishy lips, was not exactly the reverse of words, but the reverse of the meaning.
A very confusing conversation ensued, wherein the manmer eventually agreed to get them out of the Wyld storm, in return for their ship and crew. "We have no Door." The utterly compassionless bastards agreed, of course :) and didn't even bargain. They were probably just relieved to have an end to the conversation.
The manmer and his fellow man and womanmers led them to an island with just that. A door and its threshold, upon an island, with no walls or rooms beyond. Illyana took out her key and placed it in the lock, then opened the door. Beyond the doorway was the living, breathing jungle of the East, a far cry from the endless waters of the West, for sure! They stepped through, and let the door close behind them. It disappeared into the trunk of an exceedingly large tree, and the Exiles looked around themselves in wonder... to Illyana, only, did this look familiar. It was a place she had traveled to before, before she'd been captured by the pirates.
--- adapted from the Tomb of 5 Corners --- The four Solars made camp that night, killing a nearby panther for food, while Illyana kept the skin, claws and fangs for trophies. They went to sleep that night, leaving one awake to guard them. And it was a good thing the lookout was awake, for bandits had seen the smoke from their campfire, and quietly surrounded their camp. The Solars were not quite taken by surprise, but nonetheless a battle ensued, leaving them with a lot of dead bandits and another captive.
Drake convinced the captive that he was wrongly attacked, and in fact he was there to MEET the bandits and their leader. The captive gladly led them to an overgrown mound in a large clearing, happy to still be alive! Atop the hill was a wagon, but no horse, just a couple of bodies lying on the ground.
As the Solars approached, they realized that they weren't bodies... they were still alive! ..in a fashion. They were walking dead, Zombies. The two shambling things were quickly dispatched, and there was talk of leaving for friendlier territory when Drake suddenly realized that he'd been there before, but in another life. In fact, he'd commissioned and built..something..there. Something grand and solemn and beautiful. He knew the doorway leading underground, though it had not been scarred and blackened and destroyed when he had seen it last.
Uri snuck into the tunnel beyond, and saw the flickering torchlight at the bottom, noting that there were bunches of bandits inside, lazing around and having dinner on the cool marble floors. He returned with his report, and Zerak smiled, then went halfway down the tunnel and summoned the silent Mists, which sent them into a deep slumber. The Exiles soon entered the main chamber, which was lit through a shaft of sunlight that was cleverly multiplied through mirrors. They set about the dirty work of slitting all the bandits' throats with no opposition.
One of the bandits, as he fell asleep, however, had fallen against some sort of mechanism near the bottom of the single stairway that graced the room, which led to a door above. The stairway began to move with the grating of stone upon stone, and a surprised shout from above that was quickly cut off as the doorway closed, and hte stairway came to rest upon the next archway, opening a new door.
The Solars quickly learned that this was not just a First Age building of random. It had been their Ancestral Tomb, from when their prior incarnations had lived and died.
After fighting the Hungry Ghost of Illyana's First Age Zenith incarnation, and her loyal priests who'd been zombified, the group rested for a bit. Illyana reclaimed her lost Orichalcum Daiklave which, upon combining with her Key, shifted and became a Grand Daiklave. It seemed that its full potential had not been seen, however, and Illyana recalled that there were more pieces, secreted elsewhere so as not to fall completely into the wrong hands. They also noticed a large, four-armed statue in the room, which had black scorchmarks upon it similar to the ones on the door. The statue, however, was not harmed. Most of them prayed to the statue, as Illyana suggested, and the Unconquered Sun blessed them, restoring some of their magical energies.
After resting and arguing a bit, they returned to the main chamber, where Zerak cleverly used the Bandit's head to bonk the mechanism again... and it, beyond all normal reason, worked. The stairway shifted to the next chamber.
They proceeded through the chambers (though they did eventually use the mechanism as it was supposed to be used) finding their ancestral weapons and artifacts. Uri gained a trio of throwing Klaives in his well-trapped tomb, Drake a Powerbow guarded by a ghoulish horse creature, and Zerak found that although his bookshelves were missing, there was a sarcophagus with odd runes upon it. They opened it, and there was a rush of wind, and the robes which seemed to contain a woman sort of deflated, leaving behind the robes themselves and a tiara, which Zerak fashioned into a necklet/crown/thing.
Upon the final turn of the staircase, a woman ran out, and all of them recognized from deep within that this was the last link in their Circle, to complete the whole. But something was not right. She claimed to be an envoy, hoping to meet them there. She somehow knew that they would be there, and had prepared for their coming. However, given what they'd seen, it was not a welcoming party she'd prepared! The womans pale beauty, combined with the evidence of Necromancy and the vague rumors they'd heard came together... the Circle was broken, and she had become a Deathknight; a corrupted Solar bound to a Deathlord of incredible power.
The Deathknight tried to woo them to her side with sweet words, and the promise of eternal life and great power. Uri boldly claimed to prefer his women still kickin' of course :)
The Solars sought to slay the evil Deathknight, even though it seemed wrong to harm her, but her Articulated Soulsteel Plate saved her from the worst of the blows. Her companion, the ghost of the prior Bandit Lord, did not fare so well, however, and had to resort to dematerializing to avoid Oblivion. The Abyssal vaulted over the Solars, to the bottom of the stairway and began casting a spell. Drake ran to try to stop her, but as he leapt for her, they both disappeared into a swirling black hole, some sort of ominous portal. No one knows what happened beyond that door, but it couldn't have been good.
The remains of the circle, now numbering three, nursed their wounds and contemplated what to do. They decided there was nothing they could do for Drake at the moment (and frankly that low compassion helped) and instead they took their rest, and time to recover and let their animas die down from the brilliant displays of power that had erupted, before emerging into the new day. It wouldn't do to have the Wyld Hunt find them so soon.
Illyana led them toward the Kingdom of Halta, and they were stopped along the way by green-haired men, wondering how they'd come upon the wagon which had been stolen from a nearby village months before! Luckily Illyana spoke Foresttongue, and explained about the bandits, and the Haltans let them pass, though watched them warily.
And that's as far as we got. Please feel free to update, add, or correct whatever I got wrong. My memory is bad, and it's been a long time, but I wanted to record the rest of the story. -c-
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