Ryzar sits at the table in a relaxed, yet attentive manner -- only the act of his tightening-then-relaxing his interlaced fingers, held out on the table before him, gives any hint of nervousness. "Greetings, Master Tyr." Ryzar says, nodding his head respectfully, "I am Ryzar of Lormt, previously a Borderer for the land of Estcarp, before passing through a Gate, and arriving here in your lands". "You are not from Kalyr", Irluis says, looking slightly surprised. "I had thought you were half-kandar; evidently my assumption was wrong". "I count myself friend and travelling companion to the Witch Reylorna, Master Duplar, and Legionnaire Officer Kylar. All of whom you may know of." "Indeed", says Irluis. "Yes, it was my great pleasure to assist in defeating the tentacled horror which appeared in your guildhouse." Ryzar nods in agreement, then pauses a moment, gathering his thoughts. "As I understood it, our mission was to travel to a distant outpost which had fallen out of communication. We were being sent to see why the tower had become silent". "The Academy of the Mind had lost contact, yes", Irluis replies, "And one of their number sensitive in such things had detected what she described as 'disturbances in the ether' emanating from that area. Since she told us that she detected a very similar disturbance on the might of the tentacled abomination. We assumed a connection; that is why our guilds sent a joint expedition". "When we arrived there", Ryzar continues, "It was to a scene of days-old conflict. There was much evidence of brutal fighting -- though bodies were in little evidence. We encountered a few survivors, but they behaved in a deranged manner, attacking anyone in reach. We tried our best to subdue the poor wretches, when we could. Mistress Reylorna determined that the tower and its occupants had come under the influence of some outside force, which had caused them all to turn against each other, spawning a days-long killing spree. I immediately suspected some dark working of the Kolder" "The Kolder?", Irluis asks, "Who are they?". "Master Duplar and myself lent Mistress Reylorna our mental support, as she scanned the local region for the source of this vile influence", Ryzar says, "She made contact with a bestial mind that appeared to be the source of the killing emotions, and gained enough information from it for us to locate the beast and kill it, though it assaulted our minds as we attacked. In appearance, it was something similar to the tentacled horror, but smaller, and without so many tentacles. Later, Mistress Reylorna said that! when she was in contact with the beast, she felt a sense of 'wrongness'; an alien 'out-of-placeness'". "I presume Reylorna herself will be able to tell us more", Irluis replies, "What happened next?". "In searching the tower for more survivors, Master Duplar told us that he'd found documents indicating that the residents of the tower had become aware of some ruins from your distant past", Ryzar says, "A series of tall, slender, monolithic spires had been found, heading in a disturbingly straight line towards a range of hills, and mountains beyond. The documents indicated a belief of lost knowledge to be found, and a suspicion that there were others who might already be making use of that knowledge -- actions which I immediately recognized as typical of the Kolder, of course! I mentioned this to my friends, and they took the threat of a Kolder outpost seriously -- as it should be! -- and determined to locate these 'towers' and scout out their eventual destination". "You think these Kolder of yours built those towers", the Guildsman asks. "Of course, Master Duplar DID make use of a sorcerous device, found at the outpost, to make contact with his superiors. And they concurred that this evidence of ancient ruins should be investigated. Especially if the Kolder might be involved. So we went into the hills, locating, and then following the line of tall, slender spires of stone."These spires seem like unto trees. Made of some smooth -- but not polished! -- stone, their wide bases...", Ryzar stretched out his arms to indicate the thickness of the spires, "shooting straight up, without knot or branching, until, at a dizzying height, the top forked into a pair of bare limbs, shaped as if to hold, or support, some rounded object. As we followed them into the hills, we noticed that, while their lengths varied with the terrain, the height of their tops remained constant. "Ultimately, we came to a hill -- or maybe it was a small mountain -- which was higher than the towers. From across the wooded vale at this mountain's foot we could see that, where the line of towers would have met the rising slope, there was an indication of some sort of opening in the hillside". "Did that look to you like the work of Kolder", Irluis asks, "There is a line of towers much as you describe far to the south. They run beside the main road for a great distance, and are said to be incredibly ancient". "As we neared the mountain, we encountered and captured a....creature. A bestial kind of man-thing. A Vordral, I think I remember Master Duplar calling it. We were able to make conversation with this beast, and it informed us that its tribe lived in the ancient tunnels, but that recently strangers had come among them, dominating them into servitude, and reactivating the ancient devices. A Kolder Nest, for true and certain!" "I do not like vordral", Irluis says with a frown, "Evil, bestial things. Their minds are as twisted as their bodies. Do not trust them!". "Though our orders were to scout, and not to engage this enemy, we felt that we must ascertain for ourselves, the nature of the devices that were being activated", Ryzar continues, "So we entered the tunnel with great caution and stealth. Eventually, we encountered some guards, but these were no Men! Nor even Vordral! Though they had the form of men, they were covered with orange fur, and had the visage of a feline!" "I had only heard rumours that such people existed, in the abandoned lands of the far west", Irluis comments, "I had dismissed such talk as travellers tales" "And they used long weapons which fired a long beam of flame....or mayhap it was a bolt of red lightning. Whatever it was, a single touch could kill a man.....did kill a man..." Ryzar pauses for a moment, remembering his fallen friend Jaldaric. After a few silent moments, he continues. "Eventually we found ourselves in a room filled with cabinets and devices of all manner. Hearing someone approach, we hid ourselves, so as to watch them. Those that entered the chamber began to manipulate the devices, activating one device in particular....afterwards, I believe Master Duplar and Mistress Reylorna called it a 'Mirror'. No matter. I recognized it from the tales my people tell of their struggle against the Kolder -- it was a Gate". "These things are familiar to you?", asks Irluis, "In this world, they are ancient things, half-forgotten, almost legendary. They were all destroyed on the orders of the emperor, centuries ago. Or so it is believed". "And with it", says Ryzar, "the Kolder who'd activated the shining portal brought others into your world, though, I do not think the operator got what he was expecting, for it was Hank and Roy who came from out of the Gate. And those who were manipulating the device seemed perturbed over this. "However, enough was enough. We attacked, hoping to be able to capture a prisoner to bring back for interrogation. In the fighting I...uh...that is, the DEVICE was destroyed beyond hope of repair. It, uh, BURNED quite vigorously."After the fight, we took what prisoners we had, and fled the tunnels". "Such things are dangerous, and best destroyed", the Karzthani replies. As we crossed the wooded vale at the foot of the mountain, the Kolder loosed one of their flying waggons on our trail. The flying vehicle looked much like an arrowhead, yet flew without feathers or flapping wings. It dropped an explosive into the woods, in an effort to destroy us -- with no concern for their fellows, among us! Typical of the Kolder!" "They had a sky-raft as well?", Irluis asks, "The guild at Keylin have one, which has not flown for centuries. I heard it said they were attempting to restore it to working order. But I digress; how did you survive it's attack?". "Mistress Reylorna again saved us all by casting her spell upon the driver of the flying waggon, causing him to fall into a deep slumber. The flying waggon plummeted to the ground before he could regain consciousness. It's crash killed both occupants. We checked. "Then we fled. We fled until the strength left our legs -- and then we kept on! Master Duplar was adamant that we must get back with what we knew. We wasted no time getting back here". "It appears that you very extremely lucky to make it back alive", Irluis says. "Or perhaps a little smarter than the enemy". -- Tim Hall Weblog: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog Photos: http://kalyr.fotopic.net/
