#50 - Shrines and Situations

Journal of Clarion Tritone, Champion of Dol Arrah, Vassal of the Sovereign Host - Zarantyr 5th, 999 YK 

Aleae and I had returned to the Golden Chalice, meeting with the adventurers whose acquaintance we had made the day before. We had spent the night at the Arcadium, a most impressive and formidable stone structure about half a mile outside of the city wall dedicated to the worship of the Sovereign Host. We enjoyed the beauty and serenity of the place and collected our thoughts on the events of the previous night. I spent most of the night in prayer while working on a miniature semblance of the statue of Dol Arrah found at the center of the shrine dedicated to my beloved goddess. She was rendered in red-hued stone as a stately human female in knight’s armor, hand on hilt, looking down. At her feet was a dragon perched on a cloud—Dol Arrah is sometimes depicted as a red dragon. I carved the image from a piece of wood from a Walnut tree which I picked up on our twenty-eighth day of travel from Arcanix. The moon seemed to let its light dance upon the fallen branch in a way that could only have meant that the Host wished for me to take it as a gift, and I could think of no better use for this formidable piece of wood.

From our meeting we quickly gathered that the night had been most eventful, at least for Kard, who had apparently freed a shifter girl called Aza from the hands of her uncaring evil stepfather, Cutter, and had subsequently lost her again as she had escaped during the night. Some in the group were worried about her safety and Rendar and Cypher had left the others to track her down. Kard, somewhat surprisingly, did not care much about what should now become of the girl, or perhaps he had simply expected it. Upon my suggestion he left for worship at the Arcadium.

After spending a short while outside the Golden Chalice in the company of Grapnel—whose Karrnathi origins keep me on high alert while filling me with a sense of pity—Cypher returned with news from the venture. He informed us that they had established the location of the girl, or at least that of the stuffed ghost tiger Cypher had given to her as a present the night before, and that it had lead them to a warehouse in a dockside district, a rough part of town.

While many details were unknown, the possibility that a young girl was in danger was reason enough for me advocate for a concerted effort to investigate the premises Cypher and Rendar had identified.

Upon arrival we spent a few minutes of reconnaissance. It was determined that Cypher would attempt to take a look insight through a window on the south side of the building, fifteen feet high. He was keeping in magical contact with Aleae who he asked to aid him shortly after he arrived at the window and looked inside. Grapnel and I lifted her up towards the window and she swiftly disappeared into the warehouse, followed by Cypher.

I was poised in anticipation of word from Aleae informing us of the situation inside the warehouse. Magnus could not bear this wait and began crushing his entire body into the door close to the window through which Aleae and Cypher had disappeared. From the way his body was met by the door I could tell that opposite side of the door was heavily barred by something. Sooner or later the brute force of Magnus would make its way through whatever stood in its way, but upon noticing Rendar rush towards the other door located on the east side of the building, which we had established as another possible point of entry to the premises, I decided to follow him, instructing Grapnel to join me.

As Grapnel and I approached, Render had already successfully cleared the door and began to make his way inside. Loud crashing noises and a deep rumble emanated from within. A battle was obviously upon us and I began to weave sounds of war into the air. I was filled with a great joy I hadn’t felt in many years while rushing into battle surrounded by my newfound acquaintances, I suddenly felt like I was amongst my war comrades.

Upon entering I saw Grapnel and Rendar rushing towards an earth elemental, which was approaching from the western part of the building, crashing through a series of stacked boxes piled all throughout the warehouse. Their trajectories were to meet twenty-three feet west of the door. As I joined them I was able to reach my sword to divert a great swing the earth elemental had targeted at Rendar.

From the south, my left, I saw a strange bolt of many lights making its way towards our location, it was changing colors and shapes many times mid-flight. It turned out to be an expression of Aleae’s magical powers; my dear eladrin friend had been standing atop a set of boxes near the southeast corner of the building. It struck the elemental, which suddenly appeared to melt into the floor. Had I not heard about earth elementals abilities to move through many earth-based materials as if they had no substance, I would have assumed Aleae possessed abilities far greater than anything I had ever known, and she had undone the elemental with one strike of her magic. I positioned myself in a clearing between the boxes closer to Aleae and in between the two doors. I was poised to jump at the elemental the second it would reemerge. By now Magnus, Cypher, Kard and Rungo were joining us. Cypher seemed to have helped Magnus clear the path of the other door from the inside and now the four were preparing to help in the fight with the elemental.

The elemental arose right next to Aleae, crashing through some of the boxes she had been standing upon. Gracefully she rose into the air and yet another bolt of strange energy emerged from her hands and hit the elemental as she made her way to the floor. This time the bolt twisted the elemental in its place and it dropped to the floor, making contact just as Aleae landed standing right next to it.

I threw my longsword at the elemental and, drawing my warhammer, began running towards Aleae’s location, ready to protect her, for I was doubtful she would be able to withstand a possible direct hit from this large creature. The elemental took a ferocious swipe at Aleae but she was able to avoid it. As we were all rushing in on the elemental, trying to meet our target, Magnus was the only one to successfully land a series of fierce blows.

The elemental once more disappeared into the floor. Rendar had rushed towards the southeast corner of the building, searching atop stacks of boxes where he had felt the location of the ghost tiger earlier. Just as he had found the tiger and was trying to pry open one of the boxes, looking for more of the girl’s belongings or the girl herself within, most of the boxes in that corner burst into pieces, parting to all sides as the elemental arose once more. The blast threw Rendar into the air, but he recovered quickly.

Cypher was now holding some kind of rod in his hand with which he began moving the elemental around the room. I was pleased to see that he was going to be able to provide us with a bit more control over this being. Our combined force crashed in on the elemental and it was surrounded during the last moments of our battle. A mighty swing was crushing down on Kard, but I was able to hold it off with my shield. I doubt that his mind, that seems so intensely set on hating warforged, had much appreciation for my aid, but who knows, maybe the experience of good deeds by warforged could soften his tortured soul. Rendar landed a mighty hit, which broke off one of the elementals arms.

As I noticed a man and a halfling entering the warehouse from the same east facing door I had entered and heard Cypher call out Cutter’s name, looking in the direction of the other door, I assumed we were about to face more adversity. Only a moment later one of the men threw a container at us, which contained a significant amount of alchemist’s fire. Most of us were merely brushed by the fire, yet Rendar was hit the hardest, and flames emerged at various spots on his armor. Seeing the tactical disadvantage in finding ourselves fighting at multiple fronts I called upon the powers of my beloved Dol Arrah to help me end the elemental. I landed a mighty blow with the dragonhawk banner and with Dol Arrah’s divine energies pulsating through the weapon the elemental split into countless pieces.

Magnus rushed to meet the halfling that had just appeared in the door and with a mighty blow crushed him and sent his lifeless body flying back out the door. Meanwhile Rendar, still showing signs of flames emerging from his armor, and I were beginning to unleash a series of blows upon the man who had thrown the container spreading the alchemist’s fire. The rest of the party headed in the direction of the other door, where Cypher had seen Cutter. As I swung my warhammer back, adding momentum to my next blow, I was struck hard by an unusually massive arrow. Judging by the force with which it crushed into my chest it had obviously come from the bow of a formidable warrior hidden somewhere in the dark corners of the warehouse, north, north-west of our position. Clearly this battle was not yet near its end.

Knowing that a second hit of this strength would most likely leave me incapacitated, I focused much of my attention on averting a second arrow finding its target, successfully; the next arrow glanced off my shield. We did not have to wait long until the warrior revealed himself. It was the gnoll that had shared the company of Myrcose, who now stepped from the shadows ahead of us, preparing himself for close combat as he unsheathed a short-sword.

It was at this moment that a mass of writhing black tentacles sprouted from the ground all around, some lashing wildly to inflict wounds while others attempted to bind us. Cutter’s man, weakened by our initial blows, was immediately crushed by these tentacles. Rendar and I could make out that the gnoll who had been approaching was not surrounded by tentacles, so it seemed that it would be wise to hasten out of the spell field and into battle with this—as Aleae would often point out—“irredeemably disreputable creature.”

Rendar, his armor still partially aflame, and I were hurt by some of the tentacles but were able to break free and rushed towards the gnoll. While our weapons were clanging against each other—one of the most beautiful sounds I had heard in a long time—the gnoll struck me as entirely different from any gnoll I had ever seen or heard of. He seemed completely removed from the battle, fighting very skillfully but showing no signs of any kind of emotion. This is entirely uncharacteristic for gnolls, who are known to appear as if bathing in anger and aggression as they fight. Was it possible that this gnoll was not acting of his own volition? This thought alongside Cypher shouting “What is the meaning of this!?” from somewhere south, south-west was the last I was aware before the gnoll sunk one of his swords deep into my side, causing me to lose consciousness.

Most warforged and scholars might discard what I experienced as nonsense, but as the gnoll’s last blow struck me and it was as if a chord was struck, a chord composed of nine tones. So far I have never heard another warforged speak of experiencing anything while they were incapacitated. I experienced no time, no space, no thought or other sensation, but there was only this sound. Personally I believe that what I heard is a manifestation of the nine deities of the Sovereign Host.

Hearing this sound before, while lying incapacitated upon the fields of Karrnath, was the reason why my dear friend Killian’s words had made so much sense, when he spoke of how he had been guided by the Sovereign Host in his belief that I had not fully perished and why I began to understand the priest’s words to be true when they would say that the world is as the gods and the gods are as is the world.

As Cypher reactivated me once the battle was over and I arose, I felt much stronger and more in tune with the arcane energies that fuel my abilities. Undeniably, my beloved Dol Arrah and the Host’s ninefold energies had had a major part in it, but I also can’t deny that I believe that the warforged artificer, Cypher, might possess unusual powers, with which he might have activated parts of me that had previously laid dormant.

Upon rising, I noticed the unconscious body of Myrcose on the floor twenty-two feet from me. As the others quickly filled me in on the few moments I had missed it became clear that he, being a powerful user of arcane magic, had been the main source of adversity we had encountered during this battle. Luckily he had been swiftly overcome, obviously underestimating our combined abilities.