Ancient Legacy Arc

Rose. That alone should have been enough to know it was a bad idea. I thought she meant to look for a lost child. That is something she would do. She would also would hide her true intent from me until it was almost too late. I set up my work room for something routine. It was anything but routine. She tried to scry on a deity or deities. I thought her tutors were getting somewhere but that reckless streak must have to be beat out of her. At the last minute I realized what what going to happen and I stopped it. It would have killed her but instead it left her blind and ungifted. It could have been so much worse. I'm not sure if her condition is divine retribution or just an injury. I was not injured yet I was only a few arms lengths away. I had my clothes bleached and my workroom looks as though the Audrian sun has shone directly there for several elven lifetimes. Nothing died in the blast but everything that had any magical properties was stripped of them. They are slowly coming back.

There may yet be hope for Rose's sight both mundane and magical. I don't think it was just the light that did the damage. I procured several test subjects from the docks and subjected them intense sunlight. I managed to burn their eyes like Rose, but unlike Rose the damage could be healed by the healers. All was not lost though. I observed several interesting findings about the eye and how painful even minor injuries can be. Might prove useful in the future.

So . The stars have shifted position in the heavens. The stars that are supposed to represent seven of the gods and goddesses have gathered. Mother Ocean, the halfling couple, the gnomish inventor, the old man, the Lady of Magic and the dwarven craftsman. Rose had been babbling about this before the incident but I don't take a whole lot of stock in the movements of the stars and such. This however may be something entirely different. It was not long ago. Well not long by my elf blood standards that the stars changed. There was the rise of a scorpion arrangement of stars that was said to mark the accention attempt of the dark elf Milara and there was the snake formation that marked another's attempt.

These are not new formations but a shift in the order of things. They circle around the old man. Lucinda, Prunilla, Deliar,Mother Ocean,Dorand,Goran. Human, Halfling,Elf,Dwarf, Gnome. Is there any significance to the sequence I wonder?

And the gathering, is it something new or has this happened before and if it did happen before what were the circumstances then?

When I interrupted Rose's scrying to save her life, I knew within a few heartbeats it was wrong but in that time Rose tells me she had travelled a lifetime. What is the significance of this time disparity?

We travelled to the Library in Bydell. It would seem that someone had found a reference to our previous constellation consternation. The discovery of the granite markers in Brenuth mountains proves this has happened before but it gives no hint as to what happened at the time. What a group. They sent a blind woman and a flighty magically mentally handicapped halfling into examine the item. While they -looked- I engaged some of the Bydell staff to do some research for me. Divine retribution through the ages. Has there ever been another case like Rose's? The fragment was not dated. It was only know it was donated from a patron in Erylin and came from around the cataclysm. The other strange occurrence was the quite literal disintegration of an elf. Seems he arrived at the sanctuary in some some distress and was taken to bed. The well meaning idiots in the group failed to get more from him than Grandfather and he was cold. Then, he just went to mushy putrid goo. If I wasn't so used to the smells from my various projects I would have tossed the contents of my stomach into the potted plants. Instead I grabbed a sample of the goo. It might prove useful.

I figured since the events of the constellations made one historical record they may have made more. Oral histories seem to survive time and cataclysms far better than books or parchment. Bardic tales, even the most preposterous often contain a kernel of truth. In that vein I made some overtures to several bardic associations looking for tales.

Elves by nature of their long lifelines are closer to the cateclysm. I put on my best elven gown and used a bit of glycerin to tip my ears and flirted with the counter staff at the Great Library. For a few pieces of gold they agreed to post my missive where elven bards might see it and want to contact me.

Bydel might be one centre of collections but many collectors I have found in my dealings in magical items and artifacts are not so academically motivated. They tend to hoard their treasure tightly but can be aswaded of them for either something they deem better be it another treasure of a fistful of gems or true. I visited several of my associates and let it be know that I was searching for artifacts from the time of cataclysm that might relate to the current constellations or perhaps the ailment spreading across the land. I am not so much interested in those disappearing. People disappear all the time. Many to my dungeons. It is the re-appearing one that wither and rot at an alarming pace that are interesting.

Dragons do what dragons do. I fail to see how this surprises people. Its been how many years since they started to return? People acted shocked that one is marking a territory and demanding tribute. I wonder what the longer established lizards think of this? Perhaps there is some alliance. I'm not going to be the one to approach the Black Plague or Fisty about it though. I figure they're reactions would be anything but subtle and we'll know about it in time.

Sometimes you follow along. You never know where you might end up or stumble onto. Its been a very long time since I ventured deep under the Mountains of Ire. Some new passages to the endless dark seem to have open up in that vicinity. It was quite interesting. No place I could go on my own, even with an army of Maralith. Thats why it was best to be in a group. A few were known to me. A few not. Most were typically annoying. After many days of travel we came to an odd chamber. It seem to radiate some divine energy. Not my forte so I couldn't say if it was one particular divinity or many or few. What was there seem to be a memorial of some kind. Murals carved into stone panels were almost a story of sorts. So much is left to interpretation. I don't know why if they took the bloody time to carve the pictographs they didn't bother to carve a few tablets with an explanation for them. I guess that would be too damn easy. Of course it was only partly intact as well. It looked as though the piece in Brenuth may have once been part of it though how a piece could end up in Brenuth and the cavern still be intact is somewhat of an impossibility.

It seemed to be a timeline. It started with what I interpret as a generic scene of the dragon wars which was followed by one of general Bloodstone, his army and then his banishment. The section after that had crumbled and was unreadable. There was nothing left to recreate that section and its destruction seemed due to time, age and natural forces. After the destructive section followed a depiction of the seven constellations and various carving that depected in order – Lucinda, the Haflings, the gnome, the dwarf, the old man and perhaps Mother Ocean. She fits the theme though the Muse would also have been a possibility. Several of these carvings depict possible artifacts or they could just be decorative touches. A lantern or wand, gnomish tools and set of plans, an idol and a piece of parchment. The parchment is the oddity. Why would a watery deity have parchment?

Following this section of personages is another section that had succumbed to time. It almost seems like more of this memorial was in pieces than intact because the next section was also in pieces. This time the pieces seemed to be more recent and deliberate in destruction. The very last section is puzzling. For wanting to document history, or send a warning or what ever the purpose of the is room it seems to be intentionally vague. People standing around some very ugly gnomish thing bathed in beams of light.

Off this misshapen chamber was another adjoined with a door. The door was warded in a very circumspect way. Always too much of a hurry, no caution. Too much of a hurry to pick the locks on the door to check for any wards and after the fact, after it was tripped there was nothing left to examine though the halfling did try. Go figure she tried to scry. I was almost disappointed she was only knocked on her ass, not permanently blinded. It was amusing though. I should laugh more often.

The ward I think was akin to a magical knock letting someone know the door had be opened. Whom I can only guess. The magic though was not generic, it had a certain signature to it. I recorded that signature in case I should come across another example to compare.

In the antichamber there was a spire of lighted crystal. Again with the divine signature, not arcane. Some just couldn't keep their hands off. Those not dedicated to one of the seven were violently thrown from the object. Those that were dedicated seemed to have some painful contact. I didn't speak to them of it. What I did do was a small experiment. This room radiated divine. The light that blinded Rose was divine and the elf that turned to goo was emanating divine energy. I took the sample of goo I kept and placed it near the spire. The spire flared and consumed the goo. And once again the ignorant started screaming insults. Its seems while I was testing the sample an icon of a scorpion appeared in the room. Cause or correlation I do not know. No one else had the foresight to bring a sample from the dead. Feather brain threatened to kill me.

Once all the excitement died down I returned to the outer chamber while the rest played touch the spire and bickered. Andrew was trying to make rubbings of full sized monuments. That didn't go well. Then the dwarves started to toss pieces around. I had to summon guards to keep them away from my interests. They do follow orders well. I didn't want to summon a maralith to help me, Mistress only knows that Toran's strumpet would have pitched a hypocritical fit. But they were kind enough to turn the larger chunks over so I could map the surface to scale. Now to put these pieces back together. All I could make out from the clear pieces was a tree or trees and a foot.

After several interviews I found someone to carve the pieces to put the broken bit back together. Also a good time to improve some of the frescoes in the Dove. While he can be a bit difficult to manage he does have talent. We pieced it back together but who ever destroyed it wanted it destroyed. The type of destruction to me reads personal ... rage or one hell of a lot of determination. My artist was able to do a rendition of what might have been there. The only think I can be certain of is that it involves a grove of trees and some single humanoid.

Weeks crawling around in the Deep and stuck that group and what do I come back to? Nothing ! A giant pile of nothing. This is taking far too long to go through. Someone is going to pay!

Seven

Five

Dragon

Failsafe

Seven steps to the pedestal . Seven members in the council that banished Bloodstone. Seven deities shifting in the sky.

Five races. Five figures.

Dragon grabbing for territory. A dragon was involved in banishing Bloodstone. Dragons leaving about the time the first shift in stars happened.

Failsafe ; An action taken or a mechanism put in place to avoid disaster.  Is the fastrot the failsafe? Get rid of a protective bloodline and the problem goes away or is the fastrot a clue that there is something wrong in the system.

Where does Milara fit in and his scorpion in the cavern.  His mountain went crazy magically dark after his failed assention and a connection with the Lumbral was made.  That insane language they speak is called shadow by some.

Where does the dragon fits - Lord or minion.  I would not think Fisteron would stand for some juvenile pushing his authority.

I shared what little I knew of the matter with Stormhaven.  It seems an unlikley paring but you can always count on the uptight to do the right thing.   The others don't care to include me since none other than Stormhaven has sought my council.  The world implodes.  Business oppertunity will abound.

It is worth it to see if the panel carved by my artist generates any interest.  The rage involved in destroying the orginal is interesting.  Having Stormhaven take responsibility for keeping it safe only lends provinance to its value when I sell it later.  If it gets destroyed, well means it was important and I have another made.

I had wanted to send the important panel with an accompaning representation of the rest of the panels but I was unable to come to terms with my artist.  It was a simple request that he refused to honor without either providings something that could be easily knicked or dragging his heels to a time frame well past what I needed.  His resistance made me wonder if there was some other task master he was serving.  I couldn't take that risk as he, Stormhaven and I are the only ones that know what the real panel looks like, not just the restoration we present to the world.   I assured Dani I would not kill him.  Nothing was said about him doing it himself.   I liked him.  Too bad he would not do as he was told.

I will let it be known I have a piece of histroy being authenticated by the Toranites in my circles.  Stormhaven in hers.  We'll see .

I've been thinking of expanding my empire.   I am getting nostalgic and I miss the quiet and privacy of the countryside.  The incident of the artist reminded me of this.   My own sources of Xeen's tools.  Paddocks of fine horseflesh.   I could even offer some of my more discrete clients a special experience, for  a premium of course.   Something to look into.