June 24, 2004

Grant of a Dead King

It was a day like any other when the Fellowship convened at it's guildtower in Malas for another bi-weekly meeting. As the group greeted one another and chatted in the sunshine, one of the ever-present sentinels of the guild tower suddenly threw down his spear, doffed his cap and announced he quit. All were in shock as this silent sentry had never uttered a word before. He quickly beckoned his partner to also escape some unseen, dire situation. When pressed, he spouted something about a mage stopping by with a warning of an impending disaster and that the wise would vacate the area. The sentry also related that the mage claimed to live in the basement of a library and that his name started with an R. With this, the sentry bid a hasty farewell and was gone.

Astonished at the sudden transition from a day of bright sunshine and blithe chatting to one of forlorn and impending catastrophe, the people gathered for the meeting quickly set out to find which library had a basement and contained a mage named with something that started with an R.

After a bit of pondering, it was remembered that the library in Jhelom did indeed have a basement. The group set out for the island city at once and soon entered the library just a few blocks east of the bank. A mage was seen studiously examining a tome and when the members of the Fellowship identified themselves, he introduced himself as Radcliffe and began shedding some light on the nature of the sudden threat.


Radcliffe in the basement of Jhelom library		 Apparently, there was an ancient spirit that was angry and seeking to befall it's wrath upon the crumbling continent in Malas. Radcliffe had gone to warn the Fellowship of the impending catastrophe but had only been able to leave a short message with the now-terrified sentry.

Radcliffe also said that, although he was a medium and could manage some basic communication with the hereafter, he would have to cast an arcane spell to manage more concise communications with a spirit that had been departed from the physical world for so long. He then laughed at the prospect of casting the spell since the reagents required were difficult, if not impossible, to procure.

Emboldened by the idea of a difficult challenge, the Fellowship members present persuaded Radcliffe to merely mention the required items and that they would then be gathered. With a hearty laugh and a pitying look in his eye, Radcliffe named off the items needed for the spell: hide of an ancient wyrm, a scroll from a balron(daemon writing has a different inscription style from that of men), an item from a succubus and one thousand bits of grave dust. Only when these items were gathered could the spell be attempted.

With a quick nod, the Fellowship quickly began working out it's strategy with some sent off on a specific task while the others prepared for the battles ahead as ancient wyrms rarely surrender their hides by request.


Casting of the arcane spell		 It but a short while, all the items were gathered as promised. Radcliffe stood mildly impressed as he examined the bloody wyrm hide and other items.

Leading the group outside, he laid the items out in what was a seemingly required arrangement for the spell. After meditating for a short while, Radcliffe began casting the spell. As he began is arcane cant, energy seemed to flow up and through him. With each new group of forgotten power words, a shower of sparks erupted higher and wider. The group now understood why an outside location was a pre-requisite to the spell's casting!

And just as fast and bright as the light show had been, it was suddenly over and Radcliffe stood in silence, his eyes tightly shut and his face blank of expression.

When he at last spoke, he related his communication with a spirit that was in the vicinity of the ancient crypts by Yew. Only there, perhaps, would the Fellowship find the answers they sought.


The party locates the angry spirit		 The group set out for the crypts near Yew and began scouring the area for signs of a spirit. The crypts were an ancient structure built in almost mythic times, even before the enslaving reign of Mondain befell Sosaria. At the lowest level, one of the party caught sight of an ancient ghost near an opened sarcophagus. Ignis Corus happened to be a medium and soon made direct contact with the spirit.

In the ensuing conversation, the spirit expressed it's anger at it's resting place being disturbed and it's hallowed bones removed. It also told of the terrible calamity to be unleashed if it's remains were not returned to their consecrated place in the sarcophagus. The Fellowship promised to return the bones and asked where they might be found. The spirit indicated they could be found on the site of Jhelom fortress, an island it had once held in life over a millenia ago.

With only a vague locale and name, the party headed back to consult Radcliffe on the whereabouts of Jhelom fortress. Being a scholar, Radcliffe told of how Jhelom Fortress once existed but was destroyed in a war. The refugees had set sail to escape the ruins of war and had settled and built what is now modern-day Jhelom. He also expressed some suprise that the spirit had been found inside the crypt itself, that this meant it must have been an important personage from the past.

Perusing the library's collection of ancient maps from antiquity, Radcliffe produced a map showing the supposed location of Jhelom Fortress. The island depicted in the map lay north of modern Jhelom and the party set out once again with shovels in hand to begin searching for the bones.

After crisscrossing the island, the group finally began digging where the map seemed to indicate. They turned up a chest of treasure and had to battle the horde of creatures defending it to resume their mission. With the monsters defeated, a scrabble of bones was soon noticed among the upturned dirt from the digging. They were carefully and solemnly collected and the party began it's return journey to Yew crypt.


The spirit manifests and is revealed		 As the party entered the lower sanctum of the crypt, the spirit was already there watching. It quietly bade "return my bones to their rightful place" and the party soon placed the remains back in it's sarcophagus. With the last bone returned, the ghost suddenly transcended from the nether realm and took the form of a physical being. A richly adorned man quietly approached the sarcophagus, running his hands over it and thanked the party. With a sad look on his face, he made his way to the neighboring sarcophagus and indicated that it was the tomb of his father. On the other side of the room, he continued the tomb there was that of his grandfather.

At last he introduced himself as the ancient ruler King Mer'jl'khan and that he could now enjoin his eternal rest since his bones were at last where they belonged. For centuries he had languished when the tomb had been violated and his remains pillaged. He thanked the party for their help and said with his spirit now able to rest, the calamity would be averted. As a token of his appreciation, he gave a rune to the party and said he gave them a blessing and a grant on the land he and his forefathers had once ruled in ages past. With a final thanks, he disappeared to join his forefathers in eternal rest.

With the spirit sated and the crisis averted, the pressing concern now was to discover where and what the rune led to. With a shimmering blue gate thrown open off the rune, the Fellowship entered to see what await on the other side.

Coming through to a lush plain west of the city of Britain, a towering structure stood with a pair of ankhs ascending the main edifice. Given this grant by a dead king and turning a curse of disaster into a blessing for the future, the Fellowship thus came into a new home.

Back to Quests