Black Zenith [Adventure RPG / Chapter Four: Fires of Heaven]

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Spoiler Hooray, AP exams are over for me, oh yeah!

Savannah turns, eyebrow raised in interest, when she hears the box Bohw was using clatter to the ground. The leader goes on to say something about someone else looking at it. Having finished patching up what she can, Savannah figures why the hell not.

"Yeah, alright. I'll take a quick peek at it." She waltzes over to the box, nudging it with her foot gently before bending down and picking it up. She pokes around at it a few times before finding the indentation and sticking her thumb in it. She's not really sure how to activate it, so she mutters a quiet 'shard places or something' like she heard Bohw do earlier.

"Right then! Valonar it is!" Bohw commands, turning over to Selphy. "You hear that? You know where Valonar is? Head to there, not like we got any better leads!"

She looks over her shoulder to Savannah as she examines the metal device. "Oh and knock yourself out girl. Not literally though, be careful."

Selphy nods and swings the airship around, letting the wind fill the sails and setting a good pace. We shall fast travel momentarily.

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SpoilerTentatively raised Watson's damage reduction to 25%, subject to further evaluation.

Finally given a chance to relax for a while, those remaining aboard the airship are left with a chance to rest and recover. Selphy steadily pilots the battered ship across the landscape below, bathed in the twilight of the two suns.

Meanwhile, Myra has busied herself with the study of magical theory.

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SpoilerExcerpt from the Book of Warding


Chapter Three - On the Nature of Barriers, Page 127

... it is important to remember that barriers are one form of the manifestion of our attunement to our magical forces, and, as with anything else, it is important to train and develop. This is basic knowledge. What few realize is that the layers of magical power we use to shape such barriers are more often than not built with brute force, through little more than the inherent power of our magic. Even a child can often create such a barrier - the nature of the barrier is such that it comes to us instinctually when we feel threatened. This, too, is well known. But it is surprising that even many of the most esteemed mages still use this basic form of the barrier, never developing upon it or questioning its practical use. Even those who do tamper with the magical flows they employ when building their barriers rarely do so to great effect. A priest may temper it with divine power, giving him a shining barrier that is, although visually impressive, still none too different from in actual application to the basic barrier. This is also true of practioners of more questionable magic, who also often employ a barrier tinged with their personal magical flavor, often resulting in eldritch shields and the like. Through my research, i have discovered that there are only common variants of the barrier employed by a wider range of the population. The most well known type are the variants of spellward, which are each designed to block only against certain things. A fireward, for instance, would deter fire, but would interfere with little else, which can be useful in a wide variety of situations. Each variant of the spellward shapes the magic differently, the magical matrix lending the ward strength, aswell as changing the trigger to only employ the spell's power against the ward's chosen subject. The fireward for instance might be effective against both fire and lightning, but would crumble almost immediately from having a mere pebble dropped upon it, should one refrain from changing the trigger - the magical structure simply would not support the physical pressure, resulting in an immediate drain of the ward's power source. I have heard reports of divers using very powerful versions of a waterward, for instance, fiting them to themselves in accordance with their goal in diving. In one tale i recorded, the diver shielded only the insides of his mouth and nose, keeping strain off of the barrier by keeping it out of the water. Where his peers shielded either all of their body or just the head, they would expect their barrier to last a short while and then run out of power. By keeping his barrier out of the water, this particular diver could rely on it to last a great long time, knowing that he could count on it to prevent accidental swallowing during stress or the like, as it would not expire from other force placed on it as more regular barriers would. This concept of protecting only what is necessary with our magic is important to mages who would study this field. Knowing when, how and where to employ a barrier can make a great difference. Without consideration, we may shield against things we have little desire to. Some untrained mages often shield against even air, and without the magical attunement and knowledge of how to alter your spell to allow air through, this can lead to some rather embarrassing situations for young casters. One report speaks of a mage who fainted during a duel after having kept a barrier up for a longer period against his opponent's barrage of attack. Until then he hadnt even known that he accidentally shielded out air with his barrier, and the mistake cost him the academy championship.

The second type of barrier-variant commonly employed is the forcefield. At first glance, it is very similar to the basic barrier, but is constructed to last almost indefinitely. Most forcefields can withstand relatively little punishment, but are often enough to keep the curious away. Forcefields are interesting because they renew themselves from the latent magic in the air around them, which is a trait that is incredibly difficult to reproduce in other magical branches. As of this writing, i believe the latest discovery is everburning flames, which appear to be incredibly difficult to produce and even then require that the mage feed them magic directly once in a while. Yet in forcefields, this form of self-sustainance is easy or even trivial to cast into the spell. The forcefield is commonly used in high ranking wizard's homes, both to keep unwelcome visitors away and as common decoration, such as by indefinitely levitating your favorite tome over a pedestal - most commoners find that sort of thing impressive and a hallmark of wizardry, and you may find it a useful skill if you have issues with local the local citizens lacking respect. Regardless of your employ of the forcefield, keep in mind that it is merely a cheap parlor trick, and will not do much to deflect a determined individual, and will definitely be of very limited use to battlemages, who prefer the much more stable and reliable basic barrier. In addition, do not forget that the forcefield will drain the area around it. Do not keep forcefields in your laboratory or around magical artifacts. It may interfere with the magic involved, leading to unforeseen...

(Myra turns the page. It goes on like that for a while.)

After several hours of cruising through the sky, an indistinct speck of gray on the horizon starts to take shape, soon becoming great spires and districts of sprawling stone dwellings as you draw nearer. High walls with guard towers interspersed at regular intervals incircle the city. Seen from up high, the city seems to be built entirely from stone, a massive gray sentinel watching over the surrounding farmlands, with a great fortress of towers and ramparts at its center.

As you draw nearer and pass over the outer walls uncontested, it becomes obvious that the streets are abandoned, only a few people passing by below, their heads down and backs bowed. For the greatest city in the kingdom, Valonar is far too empty.

Myra put away the book, realizing that the time to move again was upon the group. It's getting to be a good read, too! She stretches her wings out, after hours of remaining still and focused. Flapping her wings just enough to hop up onto the railing, Myra scans the scenery below. Quite empty...is this place hasn't come to be hostile, has it? The ravenfolk is unsure of how well it may work with this amount of distance, but she nonetheless attempts a Detect Evil spell upon however much of the city below she can.

Oh right, that box! That shiny box, she should try poking at that now that her beak isn't inside a book. "Savannah," Myra turns her little head to the woman, "do you still have that encyclopedia-box? I'd like to have a peck at it, if you'd allow me."

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SpoilerThat excerpt was surprisingly fun to read. You should write the entire book out. How many chapters are in it, anyway?

"Ack!" Savannah recovers, having been staring emptily off the edge of the airship. She clutches at her head, grunting. "Crimeny, that thing. Here." She holds out the box to the ravenfolk. "Knock yourself out. Hopefully not literally, although I wouldn't be surprised."

Savannah shakes her head, taking a breath, before turning to Mael, Taran, and Torhold. "'Ey. Any of you know about a... city or something named Somye? Near mountains?"

Myra bobs her head in confirmation as she accepts the box, levitating it before her. She doesn't bother asking it anything at the moment, surprising as that is, but instead examines the box, particularly the indentation. Perhaps she can identify what sort of magic is to be projected into the nick.

Your detect evil spell doesnt seem to return anything in particular. But then, you probably wouldnt expect the people plodding about below to be downright evil.

You know enough about these kinds of magical devices to know that whatever is stored in them is often not readily compatible without the use of a spell, and you're convinced that the box is definitely meant to be used with some kind of spell to manage the data, which would then translate the contents into a form that would form a coherent monologue. You could then project that into a voice with a fairly simple spell. You have a few ideas about how a spell like that could be put together. (Roll 20+9)

"Ack!" Savannah recovers, having been staring emptily off the edge of the airship. She clutches at her head, grunting. "Crimeny, that thing. Here." She holds out the box to the ravenfolk. "Knock yourself out. Hopefully not literally, although I wouldn't be surprised."

Savannah shakes her head, taking a breath, before turning to Mael, Taran, and Torhold. "'Ey. Any of you know about a... city or something named Somye? Near mountains?"

The three of them glance at each other. "Never heard of anything like that." Taran mutters. Mael and Torhald just shrug in resignation.

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Spoiler

That excerpt was surprisingly fun to read. You should write the entire book out. How many chapters are in it, anyway?

I find that the only writing i am actually sort of decent at is any kind of monologue where i can just sort of go on about whatever i happen to think of. its just about the only thing i can write without sitting and staring at the text, wondering if any of it even makes sense

also i have no clue about the chapters. its magical theory written by a guy who prefers a (magically) practical approach. Reality doesnt have books like that, so how does that even work
Anyway, the book isnt really particularly large for its kind and Myra is quite a bit further in than that excerpt

Mayor looks up rather suddenly, his glowing eyes looking particularly shot and wide open. For one reason or another, he seems very startled and is now shifting uncomfortably from where he sits, gripping onto his shield tightly and occasionally glancing over at the magical encyclopedia artifact. Apparently something caught his attention and he seems rattled.

Bohw meanwhile, can't help but notice the squirming golem in the corner of her eye. She's curious, but rather than ask the golem who can't talk in the first place, she takes note of her location and peeks over the railing of the airship, trying to determine if she can spot anything that has spooked the poor fella, or anything of interest really.

"So this is Valonar, huh?" She asks, to no-one in particular. "Is there something we should be knowing about this place? Seems like there's something off about the whole deal..."

"Yeah," Myra agreed with the group leader as she continued to stare down the box that she was sitting atop, her claws just drawing circles around the indentation, "that's why I checked for any evil creatures like the Corshari. Nothing came up, so whatever is going on, it doesn't have to do with monsters or any malicious souls. Now, let me have a claw at this..."

Placing a claw upon the indentation, Myra casts a spell that will translate the box's contents into a coherent spoken language that she herself understands. After doing so, she asks the box, "Details on the location of the nearest crystal shard."

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Spoilerplease tell me that that description of the spell will suffice DX
I feel so stupid right now because I'm just like, "??? Translation? s P EE ch???" is all I'm getting from this

but if this works...

Guys.
Myra is going to go on an information binge. 83

"So this is Valonar, huh?" She asks, to no-one in particular. "Is there something we should be knowing about this place? Seems like there's something off about the whole deal..."

"I dont like those empty streets, either." Torhald says. "Great city like this should be bustling, but looks like only the homeless are down there."

Details on the location of the nearest crystal shard."

"Archive Index Two Four Seven, Soul Vessel. Specify."

Meanwhile, Selphy slows the airship, slowly bringing it to a halt. She asks where she should park it.

...Hm. That's an interesting response. And, soul vessel? Is that what the crystals really are? She doesn't really know the proper terminology for all of this...That may prove to be troublesome! She tries to specify her request, regardless. "...Soul Vessel in Valonar..."

"Memory unavailable. Presenting Valonar Memory."

"Despite the size and population of Valonar, it is a fairly new city, built by King Melius II who, for unrecorded reasons, decided to construct his new capital where Valonar stands today, abandoning the old capital, Renna. I have little knowledge of this world's history and so know little more than what my scribes can tell me, but Melius was presumably quite mad and had an obsession with the 'unyielding strength of the great walls.' Perhaps he feared an invasion of some sort, or assassins. Whatever the case, the fact remains that he built the entire city of Valonar as one massive fortress, unrivaled in any part of the world from which we retain records, though i would like to add that my own fortress of solid stone, atleast, is superior to the central fortress located in Valonar, though that will unfortunately do the people i seek to protect little good in the days to come. I shall have to see if i can put more work into the outer walls without having to disassemble them entirely. But that is off topic. Within the central fortress lies the Kings Tower, a structure in the central courtyard of the fortress standing apart from the surrounding architecture, again presumably in anticipation of assassins, who would have been forced to walk the length of the courtyard in plain sight from the tower. The king held his court within the tower, and lived on the upper floors. This has apparently been to the annoyance of previous generations of kings who were less paranoid, who had to deal with several inconveniences resulting from this setup. I hope that the current king, Amond Varangian, will be an ally in the coming years. Certainly, he has allowed me lordship of Taraheen despite the unusual circumstances involved, though i suppose he could not easily deny me in this. Time will tell.

The region surrounding the city is particularly rocky, which might explain why Malius decided to build his capital there, for the easy access to stone quarries. Unfortunately, this also makes farming the land particularly rough, and as a result the city relies mostly on the rest of the kingdom to import grain and other foodstuffs to remain sustainable. The city traditionally maintains a sizeable cityguard, as well as the kings personal guard. Thanks to the cityguard and the militaristic layout of the city plan, Valonar is free of all but the toughest - or most ignorant criminals. Despite this, the regular population often suffers from lack of employment, and many beggars can be found on the streets as a result. This is primarily caused by the large amount of traders who regularly journey to the city's markets from far away.

Of signifance are the caves, where she says Remah waits."

"Oh, confound it," Myra says to her cohorts on the ship as she squawks loudly and flutters her wings in frustration, "Encyclopedia, my tailfeathers! This may as well be a personal journal!" She caws at Bohw as she telepathically vents her frustration to the group. "These are accounts based on Lord Ziras' memories! Comparing his memories to an encyclopedia...What gull!" Memories aren't as fantastic and useful as actual facts are! Memories can be switched, faded, worn, twisted, and added. And they can be biased and do not relate the whole picture! Just one tiny human's thoughts on the matter! Ughhhhhhhh! Even if that tiny human happens to be a very powerful mage...Myra was still quite upset, but this is still better than nothing. Since these are memories, Myra figures that she should ask about things that are particularly memorable: events and people. Speaking of people, quite a few names have recently popped up! Mayor's odd behavior aside, something kingfisher is going on. It seems that these people, and a forge of sorts, are somehow related to the crystal shards- er, soul vessels- that the group is after...Myra's calling cahoots! Cahoots, she says! Cahoooooooots! The ravenfolk sighs, calming down enough for her feathers fall flat once more, and asks the box, "What is the link between Ziras, Somye, Remah, Shanterel, and Razan?"

"Archive Index One Zero Zero, The Dawntreaders.

In the year of Third Ahn, a number of adventurers set out for reasons i still am not entirely certain i have understood correctly. The original reason is irrelevant, however, as the journey soon turned into a struggle against the machinations of two powerful evils. I, Lord Ziras Alcairde, then merely Ziras, was thrust into this conflict with no knowledge of any specifics as soon as i escaped from the Exile. See Archive One One Zero. Regardless, i soon found myself fighting for my life alongside complete strangers, then Riou, Somye, Remah, Kyllik and Redas, aswell as one other who unfortunately perished rather abrubtly. After the Exile, i knew not what to do, so i joined this rather vague quest, and we set out upon two different Paths. I later fell in battle but survived, and was returned to this world by a man of great power. Though i had been left behind, the other adventurers, aswell as two others, went on to battle the twin evils, and were eventually victorious, putting an end to the tyranny. However, something about this victory drew the attention of a great dark being, which slew most of the adventurers and cast the world into shadow. Aldieb claims the end is coming. And so i give my memories to you, in the hope that some use may lie within. We have no time for deliberation. For every hour we waste, it grows stronger, its grasp upon our world more complete. I will prepare."

Watson continues napping because a gentleman always needs his beauty sleep.

He'll probably get up if there's trouble or if SELPHY'S MEDIOCRE PILOTING CONTINUES FURTHER I AM TRYING TO SLEEP

((*laughs as Myra holds the party progression up with her inquiries* By the way, if Myra stops using the Arcanum vel Vitrum, will she have to use that spell on it again? Also as funny as it is to be holding the plot up with asking a box about things, I really hope that's not the case. xwx' ))

Myra ponders for a moment, letting the information seep in. Two evils, and a group defeated them...? It seems a large group of those names are known as those "Dawntreaders", and that Remah-person, who they're likely going to see soon, is one of them. The ravenfolk knows what she wants to do next, but first...Another question for the box! "Who is Aldieb?"

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Spoileri was going to complain about that. the box is not primary content.

((Yeah I know it isn't, so as fun as it is to force you into writing out loads and loads of background information, there's no need to hold the update to answer it. x3

So yeah you can just put those inquiries in a spoiler or something if Myra makes more inquiries in the future? But she's pretty much done with consulting the box for now, so
yeah sorry

OTL))

"Who is Aldieb?"

"Archive Index One One Nine, Aldieb

I do not know who she is or why she does as she does. She made the vessels and the sanctuaries somehow. She is powerful and knows much, but will not answer my questions. She appears infrequently. She has tasked me with creating a bastion for humanity. I will obey and hope she knows what she is doing. The only alternative is despair."

Hmmm, that's enough for now. Jeez, haven't they reached their destination yet? She might just run out of things to do at this rate! Sighing, Myra puts away the box. "Well," she began, flapping her feathers for the sake of stretching them, "I didn't learn much that was very relevant to us. I mostly figured out that Ziras, along with some of those names that have been slung around lately, are a group of past heroes called the Dawntreaders. They apparently saved the world from two great evils, which caught the attention of a powerful dark entity. That thing is the reason for the darkness covering the world now." She turns her head to Mayor, surprisingly, and stares at the golem as she announces to her group, "If there is anything...or anyone...that you'd like to learn about, you're free to use it or ask me to look for you."

She held her bird-of-death gaze for a moment longer, until she nonchalantly(at least as much as a bird can pull this off) turned her head, put the box away into her inventory, and pulled out her trusty Seerstone. "In the meantime, I'm curious about another thing, so tell me when we are ready to move out."

Myra activates the Seerstone to try and see this Remah person that they might be meeting soon enough...unless that "caves where Remah waits" bit was referring to a time long past for Ziras, and not for the party. Oh well, she'll find out soon enough.

Selphy speaks up. "A thought occurs. Does it have any records on someone with the name Sparrow?"

With Myra's spell still going, it appears the box has no issue with going on.

"Multiple Entries found, presenting archives.

Archive Index One One Eight, Nishio Sparrow

Nishio appeared briefly and without explanation along one of the Paths wielding a type of magic i have not seen before. He is responsible for Razan's resurrection aswell as for reported damage inflicted upon the Barrier of the Damned. I will keep a watch out for any problems that might arise as a result of that. He is the only hero who does not have a soul vessel, and his body - or that of Corvid - was never recovered. I did not know him well before his death.

Void Archive, Abigail Sparrow

Razan briefly mentioned this name in passing. I presume it to be of insignificance."

Bohw folds her arms, thinking of just exactly where to set the airship down.

"Hey, maybe set us down some place where we can gather a lot of info, I suppose." Bohw asks of Selphy, "The Castle, Guard Quarters, hell, a pub might do finely. We need to find the entrance to these tunnels, yeah?"

Nos stares from Bohw to Myra in turn, and his interest in either rapidly fades. He sighs, and lays flat on his back on the deck. Waiting for something exciting, apparently.

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SpoilerSuffice to say, ==>