We stood in silence. Not knowing what to expect, we had, by unspoken agreement, taken up a position several yards to the left of the ancient doors. Within moments a sudden wind came upon us, seeming to emanate from the massive doors themselves, and it was touched with a biting cold as if the deepest winter were riding the gale. I brought out my gem of frost resistance to combat the frigid air that was chilling us to our bones, engulfing us in a magical warmth that was hard-pressed to overcome the gathering cold. We huddled together—Rharihini, Human, and Hadjjin alike—against the cold, and took comfort in each other from the fear of the unknown. A frost began to cover the doors then, and soon the area around them. A full moon lit the mountainside with an eerie glow, giving the doors an unearthly beauty.
How we had come to be there was almost as important as the coming adventure was to be. I myself had returned to my homeland plains with thoughts of regaining my name and place in the Herds. Without name and family, without honor, I could never claim my son or my mate. Lovely Epharim, whose voice and skill as a bard more than matched her beauty, stood at the other side of the party watching me with guarded eyes. My disguise had not fooled her, but, other than the occasional times when our eyes would meet, we had not been able to share in our love. How I longed to hold her in my arms and praise her for bearing such a fine son in these terrible times of Nachtim and war.Beside her, watching the display of combined clerical and arcane magic with a mixture of fear and wonder in his eyes, was the Rharihini ambassador to the Dominions (now called the Shatters). Having been recalled over one year earlier to prepare for this mission, he was one of the best fighters in the Herd and my rival for Epharim. Malakim was proud and traditional, fully supporting my exile from the Herd for being a male that practiced magic. He too had seen through my disguise and had forced me to reveal myself to the female clerics and mages. Even though he disliked me, he had made sure that I would use all my abilities on this mission. Whether or not this would further damn me was unknown at the time, but he made sure to tell me his plans for Epharim. Saying that he would gladly mate with her and raise my son as his own was both compliment and insult. To this day, I still don't know which was meant.There were a few other Rharihini fighters with us as well, all male—as tradition holds—and all of them the best the Herds could provide. That they were here was testament to the importance of this mission, as was the fact that one was a paldin. Rharihini holy fighters were very rare and, due to the fact that they possessed some clerical magical abilities, usually only female. That the Herds were allowing males, under strict supervision of course, to practice any kind of magic was an unexpected boon to my cause.
The doors exploded in a shower of ice and metal, leaving a dark, gaping hole in the mountainside that the pale moonlight seemed to be afraid to penetrate. We approached with our own magical sources of light that were not so fearful and checked the room beyond the wreckage of the doors. Seeing nothing of immediate danger, we cleared away the debris and entered the empty room. There were no visible doors, so we began searching the walls, floor, and ceiling for hidden doors or entrances. Grung found it on the wall opposite that of the shattered doors, or rather stumbled on the magical portal and disappeared. We quickly followed him in and found ourselves in an area we knew.
One thing that can be said of Rake's Keep was that it had been designed with Rharihini in mind. The halls were large enough to accommodate two of our large equine bodies abreast, and the ceilings were tall enough to prevent our Humanoid half from constantly stooping. Even I, at ten feet tall, a full foot taller than most Rhaihini, would have no problems getting around. Of course, Rake's architect also had a sadistic side, as the walls and doors had been covered with a decorative twisting and thorny vine pattern. Reaching into this spiked artwork to the handles to open a door was very much like reaching through a wild rose bush to pluck a flower from the far side, only these thorns were much longer and made of a darkened metal. As we remembered from our dream trip here, a mailed glove was required to keep the flesh on one's hand.We spent several hours going from one room to the next, doing our best to destroy any Nachtim—undead Rharihini—as we found them. However, we lost all but Epharim, Malakim, and the paladin of our Rharihini escort along the way. Our goal was to stop whomever or whatever it was that was creating the Nachtim, but we were confounded at every step of the way by the various forms of the Nachtim. One particular variety had wraith-like powers to draink your life away at a mere touch, and both Taryn and myself had felt this terrible power, both of us losing the ability to cast some of our most powerful spells. That was when we discovered the two Kevalinu arguing. One we knew as Rake from our previous journey here, the other we assumed—incorrectly, we found out later—to be Tocair. Those of you who know your Samru history are sure to have heard the rumor that Tocair was to blame for the Hierodule Plague that is continuing to afflict the peoples of the Shatters. Whether or not the other Kevalinu was indeed Tocair, we knew him from our previous visit here when he had helped us. I skipped much of this search of Rake's Keep, as this is where our real adventure would begin ...
Grung, realizing that Kevalinu were noted to be highly skilled and powerful mages, cast a silence spell inside the room we had found them in. While this would prevent us from casting spels within the sphere of silence, we believed it more to our advantage, as we could then attack Rake physically with our superior numbers. Rake must have also realized this, as he pushed his way out of the room and into the hallway where the rest of us were waiting to enter. The other Kevalinu followed, drawing a sword of red metal, and it was now a race to stop Rake before he could escape or worse. As Rake began making the motions of spell casting, our adventuring group surged forward to prevent him from completing it. At the same instant, the Kevalinu we thought was Tocair struck Rake from behind, and both Twilight and I cast magical missiles that struck home. While this served to disrupt whatever spell Rake had been casting at the time, the distractions caused the miscast spell to take on unwanted properties. Some kind of gateway opened before us, trapping the five of us in its field and transporting us to parts unknown...
We reappeared inside a room with bare, earthen walls. In the middle of the room was a large pool of blood and body parts, and motion from the far side of the room grabbed our attention long enough to glimpse a Sila Aseku in a blood-red robe closing the door on its way out. More motion brought our eyes to three misshapen Humanoids with very unusual weapons. They turned to face us. Our first thought at seeing the red-robed figure at the door was that it had been Archmage-Exaltant Eidolon, bane of the Dominions and a wanted traitor. We had thwarted his plans before, though he had escaped not only from us, but a party of the most powerful archmages and priests of Candor, as well. His reputation for using blood and matrixgates, as well as his preference for evil, spurred us to give chase. However, the three misshapen Humanoids blocked our way and would have to be dealt with before we could continue.
Our injuries from the numerous battles in Rake's Keep were coupled with more during this battle. Although these Humanoids did not look it, they were very difficult to defeat, and it took everything we had to eliminate the abominations. This left us with very reduced capabilities and, coupled with the head start the figure had on us, we decided to retire to our pocket paradise to heal and recharge our spells.
The pocket paradise is a magical, extradimensional space created by a rod-shaped artifact. Normally the place the pocket paradise takes us to is a tropical island with soft breezes and sand, plentiful food and water, a secure place to rest. Because we knew it to have only a limited number of uses, we tended to only call upon it in dire emergencies. As a matter of fact, we had used it just before setting off into Rake's Keep to safeguard my son, Telarnim, and Grung's adopted Human daughter, Angie. We didn't want them to be left alone and unprotected in the mountains that were full of Nachtim and Sakistini. The moment we stepped inside it this time, however, we knew that something was amiss. The extradimensional space was completely alien to us, though it still provided what was required of it.The differences in the pocket paradise were not the only things that led us to believe we weren't on the Samru that we knew—at this point in time, we didn't know where we really were. During the battle with the misshapen Humanoids, my use of arcane magic had worked as I wanted it to, but with strange side effects. Rather unusual auditory and visual components, seemingly unrelated to the actual spell effects, had me deeply perplexed. Clerical magic seemed to be in a similar state of bizarre operation as, when Grung and Taryn prayed for their new spells, they received the spell power from an unknown source. They were very reluctant, and rightly so until we could determine the new source of their spell power, to attempt any spell casting. Because we could not get the magical healing we had hoped for, we were forced to remain inside the not-so-perfect paradise for an entire month. I'll not go into the specifics between clerical and arcane magic—as I know it—but I can say that other than a mild intellectual interest in the side effects of our arcane magic, we were fully confident in using our magic.I was not very happy with this sudden turn of events. Epharim was left nearly alone to face Rake and his Nachtim, both Malakim and Rahalim Trueguard—the Rharihini paladin—had been severely injured and could not possibly hold up for long against the forces Rake commanded. Add to this, my son was stuck in a pocket paradise that would soon end, dropping Telarnim and Angie back into the mountains unprotected. Since we could do nothing but rest and heal, I began reviewing everything I knew about matrix gates—which wasn't very much—certain that our only escape would be in repeating the experience with Kevalinu magic.
Our return to the blood gate room was on our terms, but we arrived in darkness. Using our magical light sources, we turned to investigate the room in more detail. Other than the single door, there were no windows or hidden openings in the earthen walls. The bodies of the misshapen Humanoids, as well as their strange weapons, had been removed sometime while we were inside the paradise, though the pool of blood had been allowed to dry without being disturbed. The smell of rot was very strong.
The wall that had been the gateway had some residual magic traces on it, as I discovered by using a detect magic spell, but otherwise was a plain wall. It did have a painting that was most unusual, however, and I quickly made a sketch of the image. I had never seen this image before, one of an elongated red skull with a sword driven into it, though further research could probably turn up something.
The door we found to be locked and, after we opened it, sealed with wax and a string. Fortunately, only one side of the wax seal had been broken and, using the unbroken side as a guide, I duplicated the image to finish repairing it. It was crude, but would probably pass a casual inspection.The door had opened up on a narrow set of stairs that led upwards to another locked door. We found this new door to be sealed as the one below, though this time my repairs were much better and would withstand even close scrutiny. The room above the basement was hot and the air dead still. It was equal in size to the one below, but the walls, floor, and ceiling were of wood encased in mud, and the only things of note were a slightly larger door and a single window covered with a brown, waxy parchment substance. A thick layer of dust and dirt covered the floor except for a slightly clearer path made by many feet going to and fro from the basement door to the door at the opposite side of the room. The window was nearby this other door, on the same wall, and I made my way across the room to it while Taryn studied the tracks in the dust. She estimated, from the dust that was beginning to fill the newest of the tracks, that no one had been inside since the wax seals had been placed on the doors, maybe two weeks or so. We concluded that whoever had made the gate had forgotten about us, or thought we had returned to where we came. Either way, they didn't want us to come back without leaving some trace, hence the wax seals on the doors.I made a slight cut in the window parchment, a small slit so that we could get a look outside, and the view that I was afforded merely confirmed what we already expected. We weren't in any of the lands we knew about. The sunlight was white hot and seemed to have the effect of draining away what little color and moisture there might have been in the earth and air, making everything outside take on a pale white tan hue. As an artist, it reminded me of a new canvas with the preliminary sketch lines outlining a drawing, but still in need of paint to bring the scene to life. The lack of life outside only added to the desolation and my own despair, so I stepped away from the window as we began to make our plans.We eventually did see some people walking by outside the window, however, they were robed in a fashion that was both familiar but alien. It completely covered them, making it difficult to see what race they were. They were bipedal, from what we could see, and they seemed to become more active as night approached and the heat of the day dissipated. Our plan was to let Twilight and Vair go outside to search for clues about our whereabouts, and to get some clothing that would allow the rest of us to leave the building. Vair was able to fashion a disguise from some spare clothing he had with him that Twilight and I colored using minor magic. Twilight would have to use her ring of invisibility to conceal herself until she found a suitable disguise.
I continued to work on the matrix gate angle and my own research on portraiture while this was going on. Since I was not a part of these first few excursions, many of the details are very limited or nonexistant. I make mention of these excursions mostly to note that we were trying to find out where we were, and why. Further, a question has arisen in my own mind since I began writing this portion of this chronicle, that being, what was the true reason for opening the blood gate? If we were intended to be brought here, then how did the person or people responsible for the blood gate know about us? Conversely, if we were not the objects of interest, then who or what was? These questions have yet to find an answer.
In chronicling our discoveries about the people and culture of this city, I could add the events around said discovery. I feel this would detract from the actual purpose of this record, that being the recounting of our role in the events leading to the Scourge—the Cataclysm, as we now know it. Instead, I will only describe the details as necessary to set the scene, or add reason for a particular course of action.
The clothing that Vair and Twilight returned with was unlike any I have seen in my travels. Either a uniform gray or black, it had very little artistic or aesthetic style, though Vair managed to bring off a sense of individuality, probably due to his acting abilities. The clothing resembled something more akin to loosely fitted and tied rags than anything else. Twilight's garb was particularly revealing for the Human norm, and reminded me greatly of the clothing worn by the women found in Candorian brothels—places Humans go to purchase sexual activities. As I mentioned earlier, details of this excursion were difficult to obtain. Suffice it to say that it is my belief that they had "appropriated" this clothing from a local equivalent of a Candorian brothel.
A few other things became evident as we learned more about this strange city we found ourselves in. Metal of any form was a rarity, and certainly not used for money or personal decorations unless you were very rich and powerful. Indeed, the objects used for currency were nothing more than ceramic disks, scored into six equal pieces that could be broken off to make exact payment. They called these disks "wheels," and the pieces were known as "bits." As with personal decorations, metal weapons were only carried by the extremely wealthy and powerful. Metal armour like Grung's plate mail or Taryn's chain mail was unheard-of.
We noticed that written signs, documents and papers, books and such, were not seen in public. When we finally learned why, it was much too late. Writing was forbidden, so naturally no one was supposed to know how to read. Of course, to be a mage you had to be able to both read and write—at least with modern arcane magic—therefore magic was forbidden to the general population. Without being able to use magic or metal weapons, no reading or writing, our chances of getting back alive and expediently were getting slimmer by the second.
The fact that we were not as careful as we should have been in public places about our ability to read and write would cause us much difficulty, and was the direct cause of setting us onto the mystery of the Scourge. It now seems quite possible that it was our actions during the investigation on behalf of the Kevalinu Gothic that accelerated the beginning of the Scourge, though it is my belief that the events would have/did occur even without our presence. However, I will leave the paradoxes of time travel to the more learned and wiser minds, as I am getting ahead of myself.
The culture of this time, mostly the caste system, is very important to understand. Basically, everyone there was a slave of one sort or another, even though they had a very small group of people who were called "free men." The only real free men were the elder races, most notably the Dragon Lords. The Dragon Lords, the same ones that Power banished to the heavens, were there in the flesh. They resided in a magnificent palace in each city as the overlords of it, and were directly served by Kevalinu titled "thaumatarchs." Castajamir, the city we found ourselves in, was controlled by the Dragon Lord Mendrion and the Kevalinju Thaumatarch Gothic. We know that there were 96 thaumatarchs, but can only surmise that there were an equal number of Dragon Lords. It was left to the Kevalinu, as second in command of the city-state, to deal with the more mundane aspects of the city, such as dealing with the people. A few Kevalinu were not bound to one of the Dragon Lords, but served others of the Elder Races.
The thaumatarchs were attended by the templars, who were in turn served by the carnifexes. Templars were easy to spot, as they wore red robes, and always had two of the carnifexes with them in public. They could also use magic, either arcane or clerical as to their own personal calling, and could read and write. The templars were there to execute the laws of the city and seemed to have free rein to do this at their own discretion, though I suspect that they had to account for their actions as would anyone else in the city. That a head templar existed would indicate that this was true. In fact, it was the head templar that we were so interested in—Y'dhailan. You will note that the spelling is different, yet it was a younger, hornless Eidolon, and he was the right hand of Gothic.
Another group existed that I have trouble placing in the caste system as I know it. Certainly above the average citizen, they seemed almost equal in rank to the templars. They were called "jammers," but what that is in reference to is not known. This group was the most exclusive of any seen in Castajamir, always dressed in white robes and masked, and we were never able to learn much about them. We did manage to learn that they commanded fantastic airships, roughly twice the size presently employed by Candor and much more elaborate in design, as well as a type of matrix gate. The airships were powered by a different type of magic, though we didn't have the opportunity to research it further.
Directly related to the jammers were the merchants and nobles. We didn't try to learn very much about the nobles, though the one we did see was Human, and I surmise that they were retired or very wealthy merchants. The merchants we met were certainly of the younger races, and seemed ready to sell out anything if it would bring a good price. It was one of the merchants that spied me writing down a name in my sketch book and told a templar as soon as we had finished our business with him.
The free men were a small working class that didn't report directly to a noble or merchant. They probably had managed to pay off their owner, but that hardly made them truly free. Travel was very limited between cities, being controlled by the jammers at outrageous prices. Though, if the terrain around Castajamir was any indication of what the rest of Samru was like, then it was a wonder why anyone would want to travel.
Slaves were easily recognized by the collars around their necks, and were either personal slaves or gladiators. Obviously, the slaves were the most numerous of the population,consisting only of the younger races, and for the most part, seemed to be well treated. Breaking a law, if it didn't get you killed first, seemed to be the way to becoming a slave. My own stupidity at writing down a name while in a public place was what got Taryn and me thrown into the gladiator pits. My small consolation was that this also brought us to the attention of Gothic, and joined us with a female Hadjjin gladiator named Pakalot.
A note about the races we found in Castajamir. Throughout our time spent in that ancient city, Taryn and I were the only Rharihini. Humans, Hadjjin, bade'in, and Aseku were common, Kevalinu and whatever the jammers were were next, and there was even a contingent of kobkode, but no Rharihini. Perhaps Rharihini existed elsewhere on Samru then, but the responses we noticed from the nobles and others gathered to watch the gladiators when we were fighting in the arena lead me to believe that there were no Rharihini anywhere at the time.
The gladiators were the major entertainment for the citizens of Castajamir, and when Taryn and I found ourselves locked in the cages near the arena, we were stripped of all our possessions and ornamentation. Just to ensure my cooperation, the templars had cast a spell on me that made me stutter whenever I spoke. During the brief battle with them before being captured by the use of a sleeping poison, I had used magic. This was their way of ensuring that I would not do so again. Pakalot explained why while we waited for gladiator training. Most mages were thought of as defilers, as they sacrificed living things to power their magic. In modern times we call t his magic either Death or Life magic, and even though I do not practice in these types of magic, the templars felt it better to be safe than sorry. Perhaps it was a proliferation of mages that practiced these types of magic that caused the area around Castajamir to be so barren ... At any rate, we trained in the use of the local weapons, bone and wood equivalents to modern metal weapons, for about a week before Taryn and I were sent to the arena.
Our first and last arena fight was against eight lizardlike beings that I have no known modern racial equivalent of. They were excellent fighters, and at four to one odds with weapons that broke more often than not, we were not able to compete for long. To win you survived, and the two of us, slaves to a noblewoman we had never met, came within inches of losing. It was only Grung's attack that prevented us from dying, though it cost him his freedom and nearly his life as well. Unknown to us, Gothic took an interest in us and acquired us from the noblewoman. When we awoke, the three of us were inside Gothic's palace, about to be sent upon the path of the Scourge.
To say that we were enslaved to Gothic is not entirely correct. Granted that we were fitted with collars marked with his signs, a device I still have, yet he spoke to us after sending his attendants away, in a way that made his service seem more like a geas or a quest. Pakalot had mentioned that we were mentally blank, something that sounds more like an insult than anything else, but Gothic explained this in greater detail. It appears to me now that all the races of that long-ago time had some form of psionics, a mental awareness of everything around them. We, being from a different time period that had either lost or evolved out of this skill, did not have it. We were, in effect, nonbeings to the rest of the population, invisible in thought and action. Gothic saw that as an advantage, and bound us with the threat of invisible stalkers to hunt us down if we failed to comply with his demands.
His quest was most intriguing, especially since he trusted us with it and not his templars or carnifexes. It consisted of us investigating the strange deaths of a number of his templars, finding out who the killers were, and what their motives were. It was obvious to us, since he presented the quest to us without the templars and carnifexes present, that he suspected one of them. He didn't know who he could trust, and neither did we. He gave us two weeks to find out what we could report back to him. Why two weeks I have no idea, except that he might have been informed by a Dragon Lord of the coming events being two weeks away.
While we were given our quest and details to get us started, Twilight and Vair had managed to penetrate the palace defenses to effect our escape. When they saw us being led out of the palace, apparently freed, Twilight went on to spy on Y'dhailan. She found a number of incriminating messages on a desk in his room, managed to make a copy of them without being discovered, then located our possessions. Unfortunately, she was unable to bring them all out, settling instead on taking out the ones she felt were most important to us. For Taryn, she brought out her magical sword, and for Grung, she retrieved his spider cloak. For me, she returned my spellbook. While not having everything available to us, these items; the copies of the notes from Y'dhailan's desk; and a writ from Gothic that told his templars and carnifexes to leave us alone; enabled us to begin our quest from a much stronger position.
Y'dhailan had been under our suspicion simply because of our prior—strange, to say it correctly, it would be "later"—dealings with him. The copies of the notes only fueled this distrust, yet didn't answer all the questions Gothic wanted of us. From the notes we learned that Y'dhailan was involved in some kind of conspiracy, and that a coconspirator wanted him to have the templars cease their patrols around a particular street. Why?
Another note stated that Bloodhawk—whom we learned was a jammer or had dealings with them—had called upon a group called the Nine Punishments to deal with the "visitors," and that he hoped Y'dhailan could handle things on his end in a better manner. Who were the Nine Punishments, and who were the visitors? Were we the visitors?
Yet another note implicated the mistifs for the deaths of the templars, but was contradicted in another note that said it was a templar that was purging the ranks. These two notes were from templars or carnifexes under Y'dhailan's control, which seemed to indicate that he was investigating the same thing we were. How did this tie in with the other notes, what were Y'dhailan's motives? Who were the mistifs, and why would they want to be killing the templars? If they were killing the templars, were they hired to do so, and by whom?
Lastly, we found a note from a slave saying that an object called the warp gem was completed for Y'dhailan, and asked when it could be delivered. The warp gem had been made from a piece of the "matrix diamond." My question was, what is a warp gem? We discussed this and believe it to provide the following properties. One, it allows Y'dhailan to travel about like the Kevalinu, or two, that it enables Y'dhailan to capture the soul of a couatl named Larkspur. More on this later.
I would also like to know what the matrix diamond was. During my research on matrix gates, it was revealed that the Kevalinu matrix gates were made using a single gem keyed to one place but having ties to the other gateways. If Y'dhailan's warp gem is indeed a means for him to travel about in a manner like the Kevalinu, and if he had it in his possession when the mages and priests attempt to destroy him, then he probably used the gem to gate away to another of the Kevalinu gateways. Because of the Cataclysm, many of the old gateways are now underwater.
We underestimated the forces gathered against us and the events that were transpiring around us. Even though we had guessed that the time period was before the Cataclysm, we didn't realize that it wasn't that far off. We had taken up a new residence in one of the many abandoned houses in the Warrens—the poor section of Castajamir—to make plans and wait out the heat of the day. As was true in Bahr Al'Raml, most of the activity took place after the sun had set.
Our plan of action was to go to the Street of the Scouring Wind, a short street near the border of the Warrens and Merchant section that had been mentioned in one of the notes, and check out the area. Twilight would use invisibility and wraithwalk to check out the interiors of the buildings we were interested in. This was one of the tried and true methods we had employed before quite successfully.
About halfway to our destination an incident occurred that brought us to a temporary halt. Using my size and height, I surged through the gathered crowd to get a better look at what was going on. I soon discovered the source of the screams that we'd heard a few moments before, a Human female—a templar, from the red robe she wore—had collapsed on the ground. She was now surely dead due to the unnatural birth of numerous black, winged creatures from inside her stomach. The carnifexes with her must have been stunned for a moment; however, they were now wrapping the templar and creatures into a cloack and, a moment later, rushed off in the direction of the palace. Apparently another attack by the invisible mistifs, if they were indeed making the attacks. I reported this to the others when they managed to push their way up to me, urging that we should proceed with haste lest we be discovered.We continued on to our destination and, after walking the street from one end to the other and back again, we located three businesses with standing guards. These guards didn't seem the type to try and keep you from stealing; their attention seemed focuesed on the street and the passersby. We figured the businesses would be a good place to start. The group settled down at an outdoor cafe to wait while Twilight moved off to investigate the target buildings further. It was on her way back from this investigation that she noted our friend Pakalot, the gladiator slave, having a heated conversation with a free man gentleman. Knowing that Pakalot was supposed to be in the gladiator pits—she had left us a couple of hours earlier to return to them—yet seeing her along the street we had come to investigate, Twilight moved closer to hear the conversation. What she stumbled on was even more surprising than having found Pakalot there.
I should note here that the complexities, duplicity, and treachery found in nonRharihini politics is sometimes very difficult for me to grasp outright. The more we learned in Castajamir, the more confused I became. In writing this, I continue to make discoveries that the nonRharihini members of our group probably figured out long ago. I am continually amazed at how much I am able to pick up, even after it no longer means anything.
When Pakalot and the gentleman got up and went to the largest business on the street, one of the ones we had picked out for further study and the one that Twilight had found some very interesting things in, Twilight returned to tell us what she had discovered. From her report, we felt that we had been sold out once again in Castajamir—this time by Pakalot—and that Y'dhailan was involved once again as well.The gentleman with Pakalot was a leader of the local rebellion against the Dragon Lords and Kevalinu, and had approved the alliance with Y'dhailan. Pakalot had questions about this alliance, after hearing some of our plans and concerns about Y'dhailan, and had come to see this gentleman about it. She had mentioned us to him, thus our fear that she had sold us out. Somehow Y'dhailan had involved himself in the rebellion and had tied them in with his own plans, though we still did not have an accurate picture of what those plans were.
This explained a couple of the notes from Y'dhailan's desk. One asked Y'dhailan to reassign his templars away from the Street of the Scourging Winds, and the other—in the same handwriting, though neither was signed—stating regret for Akee's execution to protect the secret.
We quickly made our way to the building that Pakalot had gone into, and made a preliminary examination on how best to get ourselves inside. As is usual for the bipedal races, they had not designed the building with Rharihini in mind. Stairs, narrow, twisting corridors and doorways, trapdoors, all added together to form pitfalls and obstructions that were impossible for a Rharihini to navigate past. Taryn and I would not be able to assist the others in any inside actions, even though Grung insisted that we try. Instead of arguing our plan in front of the store, we crossed the street and concealed ourselves in an alley where we could watch the storefront. We didn't have to wait very long, either, though our rather heated discussion prevented us from noticing it at once, before Pakalot ran out with two of the rebellion's guards in close pursuit.
It should be noted that both Grung and Twilight were invisible in preparation for our planned assault on the store.
Taryn and I used our greater size and speed to push ourselves across the street after Pakalot, while Twilight, Vair, and Grung followed in our wake at their best speeds. After brushing the two guards out of our way, shoving them from behind into the walls of the buildings on either side of the alley and stunning them for a moment, we decided to concentrate on capturing Pakalot and letting the others take care of the guards. We were not far behind her when she ducked into a cafe, making for the back door, so we circled around it to catch her on the other side. The others had passed the two stunned guards and were just entering the cafe, Grung slightly ahead of Twilight and Vair, when we spotted Pakalot emerging from the back of the building. Taryn took one arm, I the other, as we picked up Pakalot and darted down another alley at a gallop. A couple of turns later, and we set her down to question her.Grung soon found us, though Twilight and Vair stopped at the back of the cafe to deal with the guards. The guards had other thoughts about their situation, however, and must have figured out that Pakalot had given them the slip. They returned to the headquarters to report what had happened. After waiting a few minutes and not seeing the guards, Twilight and Vair followed our tracks and joined us.While we learned more about the rebellion's plans, and Y'dhailan's involvement in them, we still didn't have enough to go to Gothic with. Just as we were about to let Pakalot go so that we could return to the rebellion's headquarters, we were attacked by the Nine Punishments.
The Nine Punishments were something of a legend in Castajamir, as we had learned from an earlier talk with Pakalot; a group of citizens feared and respected. At first glance, they reminded me of the hierodules of our own time, and they still do. They had us surrounded, including one that was flying, so our only recourse was to fight. One thing was abundantly clear from the sudden silence of the city around us, we were on our own.
I began our attack by using magical missiles against the flying Punishment, with Twilight joining in a moment later. Grung turned to face the ones coming at us from behind, casting a magical web from his spider cloak to hold them off, then turned to the three attacking from the right of our position. Taryn joined Grung, drawing her magical sword. Vair and Pakalot turned to the two attacking from the left, and we learned something new about the mental powers of the gladiator slave when she created a fire elemental and set it after one of the Punishments.
Those of you who have been in personal combat know that it is very difficult to remember exact details of the fight once it is over. Many of the events are happening simultaneously, yet our group has grown used to each other. Without a real plan and being outnumbered by superior forces, we were still able to provide a shifting defense and counterattacks that quickly brought down the flying Punishment and a gray-robed Punishment on Grung's side of the battle zone.
Grung slipped into his web, again using an ability of his spider cloak, to dispatch the Punishments within it. To assist him, Vair had loaned him his magical sword. Grung killed the first one he came to without much trouble, but found the second one to be a bit more difficult. In the meantime, Vair was taken to the top of a building near Grung's web by another Punishment and had been pushed into the web to trap him. I faced the Punishment being attacked by the fire elemental and cast a web at the pair, knowing full well that the web would ignite the instant that it touched the flames of the elemental, but I counted on it. The Punishments caught within it would suffer some of the damage.Within Grung's web, the Punishment that he was attempting to kill suddenly breathed fire at him, igniting the web and catching both Grung and Vair as well as itself in the resultant conflagration. Grung had suffered many wounds during this battle, and this fire damage was enough to kill him. Since I was closest to Grung at the time, I charged forward to pick him and Vair's sword up, then moved on to battle the Punishment that had killed him.We had killed two of the Punishments by this point in the battle and, once I had Grung's body safely slung across my back, it was only a few more sword thrusts and a discharge of magical electrical energy before I made it three. Even as I swiveled about to find a new target, Pakalot's elemental brought that Punishment to an end and disappeared. The remaining Punishments decided retreat was in order and got out of the area, even though they still had a superiority over us.We gathered up the bodies of the dead Punishments and beheaded them to the sounds of a city coming back to life. Soon the templars would be arriving to find out what was going on, and we decided it would be prudent not to be anywhere around the area when they showed up, writ from Gothic or not. We took Pakalot and the heads of the Punishments with us, back to the abandoned building we were calling home.Rather than tempt fate with Gothic, we explored our options with Pakalot's contacts. However, we quickly realized that they wouldn't be able to raise Grung. Gothic was our only chance at getting a Raise Dead spell for Grung and, even with the heads of the four Punishments that we had killed as evidence and payment, I had dim hopes that Gothic would do anything. We had to try, so Taryn and I left for the palace after we had completed a more in-depth questioning of Pakalot. Twilight and Vair were to remain behind to keep their presence from being known, though I was sure this was a false hope, and Pakalot was sent on about her way.
Accessibility of your leaders has always been a hallmark amongst the Rharihini, but not so of human cultures. As was true in Candor, a legion of functionaries, slaves, guards, and others of self-proclaimed or real positions of power had to be dealt with before you could gain the audience with the person you wanted. In the meantime, you have to wait, and that is just what we did. Even the writ that Gothic had given us to provide us a freedom from the templars and carnifexes had no effect on the time we had to wait. The slave that attended us certainly couldn't read it, or wouldn't admit to being able to, and my threats of going to find Gothic on my own were not even considered. We continued to wait, even though the amount of time we'd been gone would worry Twilight and Vair. Sooner or later they would start to search for us, jeopardizing what little freedom they had, should they be caught. We waited over fourteen hours before a slave finally came to get us.The long wait had affected us in ways besides making us tired or bored. Maybe this was planned for, calculated to ensure the proper submissiveness of the seeker, but it failed somewhat in my case. Having dealt once before with the costs and timing involved with having someone raised from the dead, I was furious and resentful for the long wait we had been subjected to. However, I was also wary of the power Gothic had, and guarded my feelings lest they get the better of me and spoil whatever slim chance we might have of getting Grung raised. I needn't have bothered, however, since after hearing my carefully edited rundown of our information so far, Gothic felt it would be better to pick through Grung's dead mind rather than have him raised. We departed with Grung's body, but left the Punishments' heads rolling on Gothic's audience chamber floor. I was aware then, but recall it even more now, that Gothic seemed to be very weary, as if he had too many pressures bearing down on him. I am quite certain now that he knew a lot more about our investigations than he let on, or had numerous other facts that he was trying to combine into some sort of pattern. His eyes had the look of the hunted, rather than that of the hunter.
On our way back to the house, not far from the palace, we encountered an ambassador's entourage. As slaves, we were supposed to bow and avert our eyes, but I dared the punishment if caught and carefully glanced to see who would brave the wastelands around Castajamir. I got the shock of my life when I caught sight of the ambassador's honor guard, Kobkode! Not the merchant types most Rharihini have come to know, these were warriors complete with colorful metal armour, weapons, and a proud bearing. They were escorting a Couatl, and the Kevalinu we had seen with Rake was a part of the entourage.
I was so excited and astounded by what I had just seen that I could barely contain myself. If it were possible to meet with this Kevalinu, I surmised, then we could get back to our own time.
We hurried back to the house, bearers of good news despite our failure to get Grung raised. Our problem, however, was what we were going to do with Grung's body. In the heat of the day, decomposition was accelerating and the stench was really beginning to bother us. I couldn't keep carrying around the body, and there was no place where we could feasibly store it. We decided that we needed to take the body outside the city to give Grung a proper send-off. We were fortunate that the wait to see Gothic had taken us through the heat of the day, so we gathered what we needed and departed for the city gates.
It had decided to hold off telling the others what I had seen until after the matter with Grung had been settled.
The gate guards gave us some trouble until we presented the writ from Gothic, though that seemed to clear up whatever hesitation they might have had. Upon seeing the wastelands up close, we concluded that we wouldn't go so far out that we couldn't use the lights of Castajamir to find our way back. We soon found a suitable hollow at the base of several large sand dunes and prepared his body to be burned. There were no trees available for a traditional Rharihini grave, which meant that we would have to burn his body. I could no longer cast a ball of fire, due to the life energy drained by the Nachtim wraith, so Twilight would have that dubious honor. We also needed a piece of Grung to be able to perform a raise dead spell once we found someone that could cast it. While I thought a finger or an ear would do, Twilight lobbied for the whole head.
Must be a necromantic thing, I thought then, though I now see another possibility. A speak with dead spell would have been useless on a finger or an ear, nothing for Grung to speak with, and the chance of having to cast one before he was raised was a good possibility. At least Grung had died in the heat of battle, an honor preferred by the clerics of the warrior god Sangre. He'd had his honor in life and in death.On the way back to Castajamir, Taryn and I got a chance to stretch our legs, and I took the opportunity to review some of the details about the Punishments. They had had a tattoo on the backs of their hands that was very familiar, an elongated red skull with a sword through it. It matched the one painted on the wall of the basement where we had arrived in Castajamir. Obviously, they were connected—but how? Were they indeed the symbols of Iron Scream, as I now believe they were? How had they found us, and would they again? Did we arrive at some kind of blood gate, or was it simply a blood sacrifice to Iron Scream? Why had the Punishments broken off their attack on us, even though it had been obvious that they were still stronger than we were after their losses. I had more questions than answers.Grung had set up a meeting with a Jammer for the following night, but that had been while Taryn and I were in the gladiator pits. While we needed to speak with a Jammer to find out what they were about, I had no idea what Grung had in mind when he set up the meeting. Vair had been with him at the time, but Grung had apparently been very cryptic in what questions he had been asking. Vair didn't have any better an idea of what Grung had intended than I did. First, though, we all needed rest and a chance to rememorize spells or pray. We returned to the house to make preparations for the following night.Our meeting with the Jammer, for Vair and myself, was neither fruitful nor revealing, it simply happened. We found out that it would cost us 1,000 wheels each to leave Castajamir with no questions asked. It seemed the Jammers provided the airship and some kind of matrix gate transportation, but other than that, we still had no better idea of what the Jammers were or how they fit into the events happening in Castajamir. Twilight's second sojourn back inside the palace and Y'dhailan's room was much more productive, as we learned upon our return.Y'dhailan had moved our possessions, Twilight's main reason for going back inside, but she spotted a small box on the desk and took it in the hopes that it held the warp gem that we had read about in the first batch of notes she had brought out. It would have been a good bargaining chip to get our things back, possibly even our return to our rightful time. What we actually found inside the box was possibly even more valuable than the gem itself; papers and notes that would provide the proof we needed to have Gothic's geas lifted!One of the notes was coded in a cipher I had discovered in my research into portrait cards, and I went to work on it while Twilight read the other notes aloud. It was almost frightening to hear about what all Y'dhailan had knowledge of. Y'dhailan's contacts went beyond what we expected, all the way to the four Metal Gods—Iron Scream, Mock, Decad, and Sardonicus. They were to anchor the four quadrants of something called the "Cephalomorph Matrix," what appeared to be some kind of trap designed to snare the 96 thaumatarchs and four others. Was this where the legend of the Lost 99 came from? Who escaped? At the same time, he had plans with the Ebon Depths to invade the lands of the Dragon Lords.Several sheets revealed a story outlining how to become a dragon, both good and evil versions, and seemed to be very old. While this would be scary enough in its own right—I cannot imagine the suffering Samru would be put through if Y'dhailan were to become a dragon—there was the coded note I was working on. I was halfway through decoding it, discovering that Y'dhailan had been gifted the first of the three steps of his demonic goal, when the door burst open and a carnifex stepped in to announce a house search.
Twilight quickly grabbed the notes and papers, then activated her ring of invisibility to vanish before the carnifex noticed her. Vair, Taryn, and I fanned out in preparation for battle, assuming that we had been discovered. I had the writ from Gothic in one hand and was heading for the doorway when the carnifex backed out and one of the Kobkode warriors stepped in.I tempted fate, taking the chance that the carnifexes didn't speak the language of the Kobkode, and asked the warrior what was going on, why the search. I was rewarded immediately as he welcomed the opportunity to speak in his native language, something he did not have much of a chance to do with the locals. The carnifexes did indeed not speak the language. The warrior explained that the ambassador, Larkspur, had disappeared and that they were conducting a house-to-house search in an attempt to locate him. He did not stay long, but did mention that I could reach him in the palace, should I discover anything. He then went on to the next house in his search.We continued to formulate our plans once the carnifexes were gone, attempting to figure out what all the notes meant, when I had a brainstorm. We had been searching for a key in our own time period that would release the "white one," and this quest was begun by an elderly Kobkode shaman. The details about the "white one" were sketchy at best, but we knew that Larkspur was a Couatl—a very lawful, very good being thought of as a god—and that he had silvery white scales. We also knew that Y'dhailan was last in possession of the supposed "key" to free him. If Larkspur was the "white one," then it was possible that Y'dhailan had just captured him. Coupled with the note I had finally finished decoding, which told Y'dhailan that he was to be gifted the first item necessary for his ascent to dragonkind and signed Iron Scream, then it was possible that we had a good case against Y'dhailan. We needed to help the Kobkode and the Kevalinu with them.I ran to the palace, thinking the Kobkode had completed their search during the time we spent planning. I was informed there that they were still out searching, so I returned to the Warrens and took up my search there. I eventually found the Kobkode and persuaded him to listen to what we had, and asked him to get the Kevalinu as well. We returned to the house where the others were waiting for me, and the Kevalinu—whom we discovered was named Ash—arrived shortly after. The carnifexes waited outside while we told our story.
It must be noted that I am in constant doubt of the "facts" that we collect, and this time was no different. I find it hard to believe that Y'dhailan/Eidolon is as evil as the circumstantial evidence would suggest. Even now, when we have finally discovered the motivation behind some of his actions, I still have to question that motivation. What little I really know about Y'dhailan points to a complexity beyond the obvious. Why else would he have so many competing plots going at the same time? How do they tie in together, and to what end? Maybe it is just my Rharihini naivete concerning treacherous actions, but I have the feeling that we have a nearly completed picture puzzle with a few key pieces missing that will make it whole and illuminating.
When Ash arrived, we presented our information we'd gathered on Y'dhailan, as well as our own thoughts about what might have happened to Larkspur. We explained how we had come to be in Castajamir, that Ash himself had been with Rake just before we were gated here. Lastly, we asked him if he could get us back to our own place and time. He suggested that we speak with Gothic first, so we packed what few things we had and departed for the palace.The instant we stepped outside, now night time, we discovered the invasion had begun. The Scourge. Scores of the strange jammer ships filled the skies, as others we could only assume by their strange design were from the forces of the Ebon Depths joined them in battle. Fierce fights were breaking out everywhere we looked, and strange white lines began crisscrossing the sky as a backdrop to the alien airships—the Cephalomorph Pattern. With no time to waste, Taryn and I took Twilight, Vair, and the Kobkode warrior as passengers. Ash lead the way on all fours, much like his distant feline relatives, as we raced through the streets towards the palace. We arrived there to find it already beginning to come apart, but our goal was inside. We let no one stop us on our way to the audience chamber, where we found Y'dhailan watching, gloating, as Gothic slowly vanished into the Cephalomorph Pattern.We charged in to attack Y'dhailan, much like we had in Mynedd Palace not so long ago, with Twilight and myself casting spells before the others could get in the way. Vair and Ash both took a more direct route, followed closely by the Kobkode warrior. Taryn circled off to come at Y'dhailan from the flank in a swooping, magical flying attack. Gothic was disappearing faster and faster, a silent scream disappearing as did his head and shoulders. I feared that we were too late to be of much help to him.Y'dhailan directed his attention at Ash, throwing a metal sphere at him that uncoiled like a serpent as it sailed through the air. Ash deftly caught it on the tip of his red metal sword, then let it slide off onto the floor, where it returned to its ball form. Ash continued his attack, saying, "I know you, Y'dhailan!" ... though Ash used Y'dhailan's True Name.
Please note that I have avoided attempting to write it down here, as doing so could invoke a summoning or other such True Magic. One must be extremely careful when dealing with True Magic.
This seemed to infuriate Y'dhailan, and though the battle continued for a few more moments, Y'dhailan once again managed to slip away before we could deal him the death blow. Before our very eyes, Gothic had ceased to be, absorbed into the Cephalomorph Pattern with the 99 others mentioned in Y'dhailan's note. His palace was crumbling down around us, making it very unsafe to remain inside. Ash handed the metal ball to Vair, then we all got out of the palace as quickly as we could. It was too late to think about searching for our lost possessions.Outside, I glanced up to see the shadowy form of a Dragon Lord attacking one of the alien jammer's ships. The dark sky was alight with the ships of the jammers fighting each other, and the Cephalomorph Pattern dominated everything with its simple white glow. The Scourge was in full swing everywhere we looked.There was no place safe enough to do it, so we discussed getting back to our own time with Ash right there in the street in front of the ruined palace. He said that it was possible to send us back, as long as we knew the exact instant in both place and time. That would cause a problem if we weren't quite perfect with our information, so Ash suggested that he send us to himself. There were sure to be time paradoxes, as he would have to get us there while still managing to stop Rake from sending us back.In truth, the trip back was unremarkable, except for the flutter of images back in Rake's Keep. We finally arrived back inside the room that everything had spawned from, with Ash's red sword pinning Rake to a wall to prevent him from casting the gate spell. To Epharim and the others, we had simply blinked out of the hallway and reappeared inside the room an instant later. We had been gone for two months by our own biological clocks. Obviously, time travel should not be taken lightly.We argued a bit then about what to do with Rake, but Ash finally coerced Rake to let us go while they discussed the Nachtim problem. Before we left, we all made it clear to Rake and Ash just how important stopping the production of Nachtim is to us. Rake scoffed at the idea, but Ash said he would do what he could to convince Rake.
We were waiting by the doors to Rake's Keep once again, though this time they were already broken open and it was daylight. We had gotten Angie and Telarnim out of the pocket paradise, finding them safe and none the worse for the short time they spent inside it. I was heartily glad to see the greens and browns of the trees and growing things all around us, drinking in the cool mountain air of the new day. Only two things kept me, kept all of us, from really enjoying this pastoral scene. One was the discovery that all of the Rharihini mages and clerics had died in the act of breaking down the doors, and the second was the fact that the fate of the Rharihini race rested on the arguments of the two Kevalinu in the mountain below us.
When Ash finally appeared to tell us the news and Rake's decision to continue with the production of Nachtim, though only with dead Rharihini, we nearly mounted a second assault on the keep. But, as Ash explained it, the only way to really stop Rake would be to imprison him once again. We did not have the capability to do that, so any assault would be foolhardy and bound to fail. Rake believed his Nachtim were needed in the coming war with the Ebon Depths. While this was far from a victory, at least the living would no longer fear being killed to make a Nachtim. A hollow victory indeed.
We decided to split up the group, as Taryn and I were needed with the Herds to explain what had happened. Vair and Twilight would take Angie and Grung's head back to Candor to get him raised and wait for our return. Ash agreed to send them back to Candor via a matrix gate, but he couldn't stay long enough for us to gather the Herds.
I have many questions that I would like to ask of Ash, many having to deal with what our presence in Castajamir had to do with the flow of time as we had known it. Was it indeed our destiny to go back in time to witness the Cataclysm? Did we affect the flow of time, causing the Cataclysm to begin earlier than it did? Would it, did it, happen even without our presence there? Perhaps I should be asking these questions of a Dragon Lord, whose concept of time is purported to be circular rather than linear. But would I be able to understand any answers the Dragon Lord gave?Frankly, the concept of dealing with gods and godlike concerns is a bit much for me. I am a bit more worldly than the average Rharihini, but I can imagine what the average Rharihini would think of all this. Even the average citizen of the Shatters would see it as none of their concern; it neither puts food on the table nor protects them from bandits. To be sure, the more we learn of our world, the more questions about it that will be raised.And there is still the matter of my return to good graces with the Herds, which at the close of this commentary has yet to be decided. Somehow it doesn't seem to be as important as I once thought and, without tangible proof of my worthiness to the Herds, probably a moot point. I'm ending this here so that I may finish the illustrations I have in mind for it, though the real ending is nowhere in sight. I believe my destiny lies in answering the questions I have posed within this commentary, to do whatever is necessary to avert or be prepared for the second Cataclysm that Rake believes is forthcoming, for the sake of Epharim and Telarnim and the rest of the Herds as well. To be honest with myself, I know that I will probably not be able to do either. Still, I must try....
I had not planned to be returning to writing this; however, events occurred that require some noting. For my own personal wellbeing, I must state that I have been exiled a second time from the Herds, though this was by my choice. I felt it was of greater importance for me to continue my work as a mage, unburdened by the constraints that would have been put upon me by the Herd Stallions. It was not a pleasant choice, as I was forced to leave Epharim and Telarnim behind, but I saw no other way out.
Just before the ceremony that put me back in exile, Twilight appeared. Why she came there I am not certain, and I know that she did not understand either my choice or the actions of the Herd Stallions. It was nice, however, to have someone I knew to talk with on the long road back to Candor. The unexpected part of it all, though, was having Malakim there to accompany us. Granted that he was the ambassador to Candor, but why would he want to make the journey in the company of an exile? Taryn remained with the Herds to complete the conference on Rake's decision, and I expect her back soon.
My main reason for continuing this is to explain some of the aspects of how our modern forms of magic operated while in Castajamir. It is true that I am not a cleric of any fashion, though I will mention what I do know of it and what I think it means. This is the first that I have mentioned any of this to anyone.
Arcane magic seemed to work as expected, though as I mentioned earlier in this commentary, it had strange auditory and visual side effects. I believe these strange additions to be caused by the subtle differences in how we draw upon the aksata energy, and perhaps the closeness of the Dragon Lords. Why this is so, I would hazard to guess. Perhaps when Power interceded in the Scourge, the paths to the akasa were changed to what we now know. I plan to present this to the Onieromancer in the hopes that he might have an answer.
The problems that Taryn and Grung had with their clerical magic stemmed from the fact that their gods are Young Gods. Because they tried to draw upon the akasa through sources that had not been created, their magic was not the same. Grung refused to use the spells he had been granted, simply because he did not know the source of this power. Taryn called upon whatever god was supplying her spells, and cast a Create Holy Symbol. This would give her, as I understood it, a holy symbol for whatever god was granting the spells. While she should have received the short piece of frayed rope, the symbol for Malahim the Ropebreaker, she instead received a symbol from Mock. That explained the selection of spells she had been granted after her prayer. She, too, refused to use her magic, and crushed the vile holy symbol beneath a hoof.
That said, I will once again end this, hopeful that I will not discover something else amiss within thise pages that requires me to write. I seem to be a much better painter than writer.
