[Game Thread] Chapter 4: Tainted Sands

[DaveTheMagicWease]

Gwyn nods the giant, "Good man. Now, let's get going."

Gwyn took to the air, gracefully floating through the air, his "deputies" following in his wake.

[Surreal]

Between their flight and Rockfoot's enormous stride, the group quickly moved beyond sight of the wreckage, not that many paid them much attention anyways. Sure they were an extremely odd group to behold, but even though the survivors had mostly been rescued, there were still many fires and crumbling buildings to cover their departure.

Once they were in relatively remove position, Sul whispered something to Celestine for him to relay...

"Rockfoot, our new comrade, could you please set the box down?"

Rockfoot obliged and set the box down near Celestine. The druid then placed his hands upon the box and closed his eyes as if in concentration, when in reality it was simply cover for Sul so slip from the cloak into the box as well.

Once in the box, Sul suffused his essence into the strange paradimensional construction, as he had done once before. He wasn't entirely certain of the outcome, but it was an idea...

Almost immediately, he felt his senses suddenly expand. The world and he perception thereof shifted. There was the prime as always, as well as the ethereal and the mindscape superimposed. Now however, it seemed as though there were an extra... depth, for lack of a better word.

"Well now... that's... interesting..."

[zarzak]

"What's "interesting"?" Celestine asked, his voice stern. Interesting with Sul usually meant unsettlingly close to evil.

--

OOC: Just a little rp until Fil reappears - when he does we might want to discuss porting over to the seven heavens and then trying to port back closer to the mournlands ...

[Surreal]

"I think... I think I can see the temple..."

[Surreal]

"You can see them?" asked Celestine. "How goes the battle?"

"It is difficult to tell... it seems so far away... but the sides seem to be at a standstill. There is a significant force of demons gathered around the periphery, but they are unmoving, as if there were a wall preventing their advance. I am not sure if there is anything we could do to help, even if we were to find a way to the temple ourselves."

[ChristopherGroves]

Clear of the larger debris, Gwyn could see more clearly. There above, in the spirit realm, was the temple. The wreckage of the Sonia lay largely behind them. Ahead of them lay smaller patches of debris, the collateral effects of massive devastation.

And for a moment, and brief at that, the faint outline of a huge, shadowy, wispy gorilla trying vainly to move a pile of granite and ironwood ... just off and to the right ...

[Fil kearney]

The anelic giant is the first to spot the oddity with his high vantage point,
"Are you mising a monkey?"

[ChristopherGroves]

As the summoned creature faded into a wispy haze, Gwyn considered the possibilities.

Rass *could* have been seperated ...

[Fil kearney]

Having stepped sideways, it s easy to exit town without interruption.
The temple is still a high-threat area, but at least the humans here at the ground level are of apparently no concern for now.

The question remains,
"Where to next?"
But Sul can't really pin down who thought it. .. maybe everyone?

[zarzak]

Celestine lets out a sigh.

"Well, our next destination, I believe, is the mournlands ... how to get there is the question. We can look for conventional transportation, or ...."

There is a moment of silence before he continues.

"Or, I can have us use a route that could potentially be faster ... at worse it won't lose any time. The effects might be a bit ... disconcerting ... for some though." The druid glanced to the box containing Sul.

"I have been blessed with the ability to travel to the seven heavens and back ... and I can bring guests. On the return trip I can attempt to bring us closer to the mournlands then we currently are, but I cannot guarantee that we won't end up on the other side of the continent. At worse, though, we won't be any further away from our goal."

[ChristopherGroves]

Retinue in tow, Gwyn separated himself from the others momentarily to check the rest of the debris field. As he approached, he heard the faint muffled sound of someone ... singing?

.... and when there's time ... I'll have some fine ... Aundairian wine ... So!!!! ... 54 bottles of wine ...

.............................................


A few minutes labor and the shifter had been freed from the wreckage. The violence with which the Sonia met its end cast a far larger debris field than anyone had anticipated. Together, they rejoined the others.

"Look who I found ..."

The moment of shock was brief; each of them had witnessed far stranger and unbelievable events in the past ... well, in the past few weeks even.

That left just the matter of travel to the Mournland at hand. Shifting through the spheres seemed the only quick way to attempt the journey, unreliable as it may be.

[Surreal]

"The... 'seven heavens'? how would that affect one such as myself?" asks Sul, concerned how the realm of the peaceful dead would affect one such as himself. Ironically, he had now been to several layers of hell and back,

Celestine ponders for a brief moment, "To be perfectly honest, I do not know. But... what's the worst that could happen? You're already dead."

Sul almost laughs at the rather ironic quip. "True enough. Well, let's give it a try then. There's nothing much else to do here now."

[ChristopherGroves]

Moments passed ...................

...

Mystical discussions ... arcane, divine and natural ... and the force of will, personality and sheer drive focused all on a single task. The team *must* proceed to the Mournlands ... and soon.

...

Every second seemed precious and though the minutes dragged on for what seemed to be an eternity, in reality a scant handful of time passed.

A decision had been reached.

Destination: Mournlands ... via the Seven Heavens!

[Fil kearney]

With nods of approval from the sheppard's companions, the dimensional box was stashed away with Sul still aboard, and all joined in a circle.
With a moment of concentration, the spirit world began to hum, and it was as though every speck of matter began to radiate it's own light, humming within their minds a song of complete serenity-- The light became searing bright, and the receded-- leaving the encircle companions in a glen of soft grass that seemed to be humming the same song through the breeze-- an incedible call to a home none knew they had-- Celestine breathed this song, Gwynn's radiance bathed in it, and the giant nearly cried from the forgotten feelings crystalizing just beyond memory... and just as suddenly the song receded, the radience retreated, and delicate memories shattered as the sheppard triggered the cecond leg of the journey to the Mournlands.


Aptly named, the Mournlands. Like a shock of cold water, the very fabric of the multiverse was crushed by sorrow-- The physical and spiritual fused into one dreamscape-- the mist in the far distance seemed to move like the curtain of the beyond, the land of the dead permeating the living land; the legendary cataclysm simply felt like the most potent necromancy ever conceived.. the land itself was undead, like a ghost, or a karrnath zombie. The soild lacked life energy. The air was stale, like ash. Dark clouds crackled lightning with no promise of life-giving rain. Bleak, and unwelcoming. Sul shuddered from the condensing of planar boundaries where the dead walked as though alive-- like a cave-in even he could not escape.
in front of the travellers laid glistening rocksheets impssibly smooth, separated by fine sand that stretchd behind them for miles.. the horizon shifting and blurring into the haze of the distant shroud separating the once-Cyre from the rest of Khorvaire.

[zarzak]

Celesitne shakes his head, the last vestiges of the blessed realm fading from though. "I don't go there enough ..."

"Well, luckily for us, looks like I was on target ... though I'm not sure how happy I am about it. This place is about as bad as hell. Literally."