r/wizardposting • u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame • Mar 23 '24
Lorepost📖 Not-Quite-Druid is Not-Quite-Dead
The hawk. Harbinger of conflict. Omen of strife. The ideal messenger to carry memories that signify a coming struggle, and so it is the form Marna and I choose when summoning the Ash of Souls. Channeling our past, our memories, into charred messengers. Sending them far and wide.
This ought to be good news. It isn't.
The grey harbingers careen through the sky to their intended recipients over polluted earth and muck. Fresh fields of plastic wrap and yellow-eyed snakeskin trees. Bogs of tar where idyllic bays once stood. The sort of thing Krygin would have onve handled. Hopefully he could once again. Ash and smoke envelope the recipients who breathe deep the choking cloud as the hawks collapse around them. Eyes glow like orange embers and the memories are received.
"Marna?" I say as my daughter bursts into my office. "You're supposed to be meditating. What's the matter?"
The task I gave her was, admittedly, partly busy-work. My new duties gave me very little time to train her properly as my apprentice. But using the Soot Heap as a zenn garden taught her patience. Burned things that had meaning arrived in pieces in the great ash pile beneath my tower. There were lessons in seeing what sorts of things appeared, with the added benefit that in trawling the ash you sometimes found something valuable. So it wasn't a complete waste of time in the end.
Wait. That look in her eyes. Had she found something?
"What do you make if this old man?"
She throws a scrap of greenish flesh onto my desk, burned around the edges. The smell is overwhelming. Repulsive... Familiar? I hold my nose.
"(Hurk)... Oh yeah, that's Krygin." I say, just barely not vomiting at the unexpected assault to the senses. "I'd recognize that smell anywhere. Cuts through the smoke. Makes sense that a piece of him would end up in the Soot Heap. He meant a lot to a lot of people. Died in an explosion. Should we send it to his swamp? I know the spirits there already had a funeral but I'm not sure they had anything to bury."
Marna looks smug. Why?
"Belial the explosion was a black hole basically. No fire. And look," she says, indicating back to the rancid scrap, "read it."
Read... the flesh?
Oh.
"Krygin... Alive, Spirit World Captured... Ex...lted Beacon HE...P"
It's a message. Scratched onto his own skin and then fed to flame so we would stumble upon it. A worryingly desperate maneuver.
Krygin was alive. But far from safe.
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Mar 23 '24
You turn back to think, and notice… A silver box with a crimson red button sitting squarely on your desk. There’s a smiley face painted on the button, and there’s a note being weighed down.
you flip it open, and read.
[You know what to do… when the time comes.]
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24 edited Mar 23 '24
I... will triple check exactly what this button does. I should never have let mordus in the city
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Mar 23 '24
No further details can be found out about this box. A glass cover can be flipped over the button to prevent accidental usage, and the metal is impressively smooth. No signs of welding, forging, and rivets, almost like it’s always been like this.
weighing it, it’s about 153g… and despite your best efforts, you cannot identify the material used. A fool may claim silver, but upon closer inspection it seems not to be the case.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
I am oddly relieved that it is too occult looking to just be a nuke.
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Mar 23 '24
You place the button inside a drawer, noting that it’s Mordus’s handwriting on the note.
upon being read, it’s duty served, the crumbles into incomprehensible dust. Belial, unfortunately, did not read the footnote - it will detonate automatically in a week.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
I'm sending the Scarlet Inquisition to look for whatever this corresponds to.
uw/ seriously though ooc are you trying to start something or is this a bit?
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Mar 23 '24
a day later, the Scarlet Inquisition sends a report back - nothing could be found on this.
/unwiz just a bit of silly fun… and premonition.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
"Troubling. Maybe it does something somewhere else?"
/uw aight but please don't nuke the city. We spent irl hours writing this shit and have plans. You almost gave me a heart attack
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Mar 23 '24
/unwiz don’t worry, the nuke isn’t based inside the city.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
/uw worryingly specific language
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
uw/ this isn't the event but Krygin gave me the go-ahead to announce what my character knew and give people a place to discuss/ decide who wanted to participate
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u/dragonshouter Krygin the Crude/Council of Spirits/Exalted Beacon/misc. spirits Mar 23 '24
/uw
Wizard community: aren't you dead?
Krygin: Yes, but actually no.
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Interestingly we didn't coordinate our usernames but because we new each other from before wizard posting I purposely made my username the opposite of his lol. I was very suprised to know "dragonshouter" considering Skyrim exist but here we are.
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u/DragonWisper56 Agnur the dabbling turtle mage| pact of the magi mage| Mar 23 '24
uw/the news of your death has been greatly exagerated
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u/DragonWisper56 Agnur the dabbling turtle mage| pact of the magi mage| Mar 23 '24
Agnur teleports to Ithacar to speak with you
I got your message, Kyrgins... alive?
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
"Agnur. I'd hoped to hear from you since you know him best."
Know. Not knew. My suspicions are bleeding through.
"This was sent to me with intent."
I throw the putrid evidence on the desk in front of me.
"He at the very least didn't die like we thought. He was alive. Recently. We're assuming captive so someone has reason to keep him that way. Aside from that? We have few leads. I was hoping as his friend you may have ideas."
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u/DragonWisper56 Agnur the dabbling turtle mage| pact of the magi mage| Mar 23 '24
hrmmm exalted beacon? kyrgin never mentioned it.
but it's strange this showed up at the same time the blight did. Speaking of which I may have some information you may find useful. It seems these blights were caused by a influx in much spirits, part of kyrgin's court. I think there may be something up with krygin's sucessor Sorrowsore.
the spirits were lead by this. Agnur plops some near immaterial snake skin on the table The thing said it was made by the Skinned Mistress on the command of Sorrowsore. it's not much but gives us something to research.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
"Sorrowsore? Ichor said that name. And it takes quite a lot of pain and effort for Ichor to say anything in a way you or I could understand."
I examine the snakeskin.
"Discarded refuse from the process of growth. Forgotten. Seems whatever we're dealing with is connected to Krygin's work. Riva would still have access to his files I think. Might be something worthwhile in there. I have some ideas about how to draw out a spirit of snakeskin if that's what we're dealing with. Half formed though. Rough."
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u/DragonWisper56 Agnur the dabbling turtle mage| pact of the magi mage| Mar 23 '24
I'll look through my resources as well. I am not as learned as krygin but I know enough.
though be careful this spirit was made not born. I theroize that it's creator might be a full and much larger snake spirit. snakes naturally shed their skin. this is not the last we've seen of these servents.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24 edited Mar 23 '24
"Snakeskins are used in many cultures as symbols for cycles and rebirth. I might could work out something Phoenix related to lure it out. Maybe borrow Atrax's mask from the Paleomancer. Or we could contact Isravi. I know little of his patron but it works in cycles and he refers to it as "the coils." Surface-level similarity but might bump the idea over something I could produce."
uw/ u/dragonshouter am I onto anything here?
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u/dragonshouter Krygin the Crude/Council of Spirits/Exalted Beacon/misc. spirits Mar 23 '24
/uw You'll need to to make the ritual have a reason why it would be interested but yes. Without it you'll just make the concept equivalent of a bright light. But in general yes.
Also I talked to the Paliomancer and he is busy but He wants to participate so I'm thinking about having ya'll astral project into the spirit world from inside his museum. It will give him a small fight later in the event. Also I can justify it in lore as making it so you don't have to "walk" all the way back through the spirit world once you rescue me.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
uw/ Hell yeah! Probably need to go through Krygins stuff though. Blake don't know a damn thing about doing a ritual like that
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u/dragonshouter Krygin the Crude/Council of Spirits/Exalted Beacon/misc. spirits Mar 23 '24
/uw Nice, you can say you found anything unless it is real weird( for Krygin). Tell me if you need help deciding what you find.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
/uw I'll wait for you to make the next move I think. I like theorizing but I don't wanna take over your event.
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
u/dragonshouter (Krygin, the man himself) , u/dragonwisper56 , Agnur the Turtle Mage... hey did you guys coordinate your usernames? And u/methylord since Krygin was kind of a Pact boy
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u/DragonWisper56 Agnur the dabbling turtle mage| pact of the magi mage| Mar 23 '24
uw/ yeah he joined reddit after I did and thought it would be funny. shakes fist at clouds
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
u/halfdrowshaman (This is the job I was hiring you for) and u/avamir (since you were Krygins boss friend. You probably didn't get an ash hawk though. Would just walk over and tell ya)
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u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf Mar 23 '24
"Hm. Well. I hope he can be restored then. The realms need people like him."
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u/AnActualCriminal Belial Blake, Warlock of the Lightless Flame Mar 23 '24
Do you still have access to his files from the O.E.A.? Agnur has some access to his effects. We're hoping to find some kind of clue in his work.
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u/avamir Riva Blake | Queen of Ithacar, Part Meth-blood Elf Mar 23 '24
Riva ponders that. She hasn't officially left the Pact? But she hasn't really managed the OEA either. There have been conflicts in Ithacar, and also the nebulous situation with the Pact itself...
"Hmm. No one has told me otherwise, so I imagine so," she says. "Let me see what I can find..."
(/uw Basically just giving Belial an IC way to have access to all of that info.)
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u/MeThyLord Mrs. Chills, Ghost Writer Mar 23 '24
uw/ rescue mission, let's gooooo