I walked into TS after awakening last eve and encountered a large group of talkative individuals. Danecker, Shadowlyn, Sojourn, and Albiez were discussing the pro's and con's of following the silver Drake himself, Litorth. He has one follower at this time and is eager to gain more. Unfortunately no one appeared to be interested in the slightest. While Albiez was screaming Litorth's name, Jeremis, his one follower was trying to console Lapiz who had just recently got attacked by an Arachnian. And Litorth, calm as can be, said his own name and the runes begin to twirl about his head briefly before leaving him and heading straight for Sojourn, It was a fear spell and I must say I haven't seen a Drake run that fast since Windfury was running from all the Spurians wanting to do him in. All Sojourn could say when he walked back into TS was that he had been turned and then hung in head in shame.
But while all this was going on, something terrible was happening somewhere else. Oake appeared in TS suddenly, quite pale and with tears running down her cheeks. In her hands she held a breathtaking gleaming crystal dove charm. I could only stand and watch as people gathered around her.
The first words I heard were that Tolian was gone and now so
was Medares. She said he was gone, and that he had taken
Veradona to Moloch. I had to leave the area momentarily but
when I returned I saw Athyn, looking just as overwhelmed
and grief stricken as Oak. Fawnna was near by and she also
had one of those curious charms, but this one was of a majestic
shimmering crystal dragon. People were rambling about him doing
it himself, wishing they could ease Athyn's pain, releasing a soul
from Moloch's prison, Alynia wishing she could have done more.
At this I glanced at her and asked her what had happened and all
she said was that Veradona had kidnapped her and Athyn and that
Medares had come in and killed her and himself in the process.
Oake and Weldoian were thinking that maybe he still lived and
needed our help to get him back out. Oake wondered briefly why
he had not said how before, but then Weldoian said maybe he had
left some answers in his journals..Then Weldoian, lost in thought
perhaps? recited something from his past. He said that when he
first got the feeling that someone needed him, it brought back
memories of a foot he once owned, yes you read this right, a foot.
He said it was the foot of someone named Ghazhagh, and that he
had this feeling once when he was alone in the room of that old
haunted house, and had that remembrance of his friends foot. We
were all kinda stumped at that point on what this had to do with
anything and Prattle standing there saying "Something is afoot"
certainly did not help this situation but was funny nonetheless.
Anyway, to continue, Weldoian said that Ghazhagh was a friend
of his and said that some shadow king or lord had captured him
and cut off his friends foot and then he said it could be used as
a blunt weapon! But on with the rest of this tale, a group of us went with Athyn back
to the house he shared with Medares in the northern woods. As soon
as we got in the door Athyn headed straight for Medares's room and
that was when Oake noticed the silk star charts upon the walls, there
were two of them, the first one had the words "The Dragon aligns
with the Dove.." The second one had the words "The Secian uses the
quill" At that point Stanrar got curious and opened the desk up to find
a vellum scroll within it. Athyn told us the scroll had the words: "Within the Prison awaits the scroll, Freedom is found within the ancient
egg, Sealed by the stars released by the moon's kiss, The eggs treasure
opens the passage, Returning the scroll to the tome." We were all pondering what these messages left by Medares all meant
when I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw that Lilly had taken
a sudden interest in the rune inscribed orichalcum door that led into the
room we were in now, the Observatorium. Curious, I took a quick peek
and saw that there were words upon it, looking again I made out the
words "Stars and Runes, the keys to the universe" Well needless to say,
since this was the only thing I was able to point out that none of the others
except Lilly had noticed yet, (I think anyway) I practically yelled for them
to read the writing on the door. Stanrar had made the connection that
Medares was the scroll and the Tome was to make us think of where we
would go to put a Tome in the first place...From there we headed to TS to
find Loiosh as she also had one of those charms, a luminous azure crystal
Secian charm. She came with us and we headed down south to the Spurian
park, through a gate and a hidden path, then another gate and under a
wicked looking black stone arch. We all went into the prison cell there
to search for more clues. While Loiosh stood and munched on some pretzels.
Athyn said that the scroll had a picture with constellations on it and the
words "Dragon, Dove, Secian, and Quill", the picture also had two rectangles
connected by a thin line. Not finding any clues there we all headed back
the way we had come but not before Stanrar in a fit of glee perhaps? Giggled
at the arch. We stopped in TS to get Aliyah and Kyrinne. Here I left the group
for a bit of time to head back down to Veradona's lair and snoop around. The
last time I had been in there the prison door had been locked, this time it was
wide open, it was easy for me to think someone had known I was coming. Not
sensing anyone in the lair with me, I slipped through the prison door and began
searching, for what I did not know but I just felt I had to do it. Unfortunately
the only thing I found was a hidden crevice that was for Secians to use as I
learned later. But briefly I was filled with excitement, I thought this must
mean something so I briskly headed back to TS in search of the others only
to realize they must have gone back to the Sage's house. So I headed there
next and saw Athyn holding the strangely glimmering crystal orb in his hands,
as the others stood near by trying to solve the many clues left by Medares.
Loiosh suggested having the charms held against Athyn's orb would reveal
yet another clue, so they decided to try it. The Quill charm (that Athyn had)
and the Secian charm (that Loiosh had) were aligned together and so Athyn
bravely reached out for Loiosh's hand and Loiosh with her teeth clenched
together did also, yes folks they actually held hands..Fawnna and Oak did
the same and soon silvery light begins to flicker within the charms. Athyn
put the orb on the floor, and while holding his quill charm close, we all
watched in awe as wisps of silvery light weaved from the charms to the
orb on the floor. The silvery lights within the orb grew and after blazing
from the orb for mere seconds, an odd click was heard. When next we
gazed upon the orb, we noticed a hole had opened in its shell, looking
inside there was an intricately carved crystal rod. There was no messages
on the rod itself but we knew this was the egg's treasure that would open
the passage. We just had to find the place that the message "Return the
scroll to the Tome" best fit. We surmised that the best place to locate a
Tome was in the Sages guild, especially since Oake had seen a new bookcase
there. And that is exactly where it was, filled with an odd assortment of
literature..such as an ancient emblazoned tome of rune mastery, a closed
rune branded skin tome, a closed faded doeskin tome, and others. Even
on the bookcase itself were the words, "Within every book lies the doorway
to another world." Taking the rod in hand, Athyn quickly set to work at trying
to unlock the book case as a golden light flared around the rod, then it was
unlocked and all the many runes on the bookcase itself glowed with a silvery
light. Soon the whole bookcase began to gleam with those silvery lights and
they soon formed a curtain of bluish white light right before us. As the curtain
shimmered, we started to see flashes of darkness within and as we all stood
there speechless, the curtains faded away to reveal the passage to Moloch's
plane. Looking through the inky blackness we caught sight of Medares
surrounded by beasts which none of us had ever seen the likes of before
this point in time. Oake went through first and after we all followed, we
saw up close the danger we all were in. Medares himself was being attacked
by several venomous skitterlings, they were spitting, biting and webbing him
like there was no tomorrow. The web faded away from Medares, and while
Athyn worked at keeping Medares alive, Meqetlh, Mala, Loiosh and Stanrar,
and Noctorus, began to battle them as I stood there unmoving, frozen in fear.
Medares urges us to get back through the passage, that it would not stay
open long, but then he got webbed again and we could not leave him. Aliyah
urged him to come with us, as did Mala while they still did battle with these
horrid beasts. Medares was again trapped in a web and since things were
happening so fast, I did not see the web fade away and somehow, gaining
my voice I cried out that we might have to drag him through. He pointed at
the portal that would lead us out and urged us to GO. Then he got webbed
yet again as did Noctorus, then myself. Medares said that he could not keep
it open much longer and once again insisted we go, that he would not go till
we were all out, he could not for the portal would close only when he went
through it. At last we made it out and held our breath till Medares also
came through. The bookcase was closed and the light soon faded, Athyn
wisely locked it back up. It was overwhelming at that moment, the Secians cried, Mala, as Oake stated
earlier, roared so loudly it gave me a start, I wouldn't want to hear that while
traveling alone through Spur's darkened paths.. I am not sure if this tale will end here though for a black shadow appeared
ever so briefly over Oake's head before fading away, did something somehow
escape from that portal while we were busy trying to stay alive? We did not
see anything come through while we were back in the library but that does not
mean something did not slip through unnoticed while we were all inside that
dark place. Oake was able to pick up the red glass long dagger and was planning
on keeping it as a momento. What an experience, it was nerve wracking and exhausting for me just to
be there, I can't imagine to know what Athyn and Medares were feeling
but the looks on their faces said more than words ever could say. Reported by: Leyara Rin