Just a Myth
Author: Rune and Tetch
Just a Myth
Date: 11/13/10 Date: August 21-22, 1010 Place: Abe’s Land Gathering: Just a Myth Greetings and Well met, fellow Adventurers. It was requested I recount what I could of the adventures from this summer termed “Just a Myth.” I do not rightly recall what I was doing in the real world, but I suddenly found myself having a very odd, very vivid dream. Within the dream, I was not *quite* myself. I was a healer in the guild called “The Brotherhood of the Sacred Shield.” The Guild served a god named Valinaar, a god of healing, life and guardianship. Our Brotherhood was intent on protecting the innocent and healing the wounded. We were one of the more established guilds in the city. There were other guilds as well. The Mages Guild was referred to as the Order of Magic. It was also an older, more established Guild. I vaguely recall feeling that the people of this order spent too much time thinking, and not enough time doing. Be that as it may, the Order of Magic did seem to have the best of intentions, and worked at creating better things for the people and the world. I can’t really fault them for that. They too worshipped a specific god. I do not recall the god’s name in this world I found myself in, I know him by another name – but more on that later… There were two guild visiting our land, and living within the kingdom at the King’s behest. The first was the Midnight Shadows, a guild that seemed to revel in the worship of a goddess of whispers, secrets and dark arts. Assassins and thieves. I recall not trusting this guild, and their dark (but they insist not evil) goddess. I want to say the goddesses’ name is Kerynax, but I’m uncertain about that, and I’m sure I’ve mangled the spelling. The second was a guild let by Cecil, called the Children of the Reaver. The Children worshipped another god, of which I do not recall the name. The Children believed every life had a ‘wild’ side, and it was best to release that beast from time to time, understand it, and ultimately control it. This gave them a bloodthirsty, barbaric reputation, but in working with them, I found this to only be a ‘skin deep’ perception. They were more feral than civilized, it is true, but they channeled this ferocity into defending and protecting, not random acts of barbarism. There was also a city guard, and a group of knights, as well as a group of merchants. I didn’t interact much with any of those factions, so know little to nothing about them. In the dream, the King, Pius, had died (or so we had been told). I believed it the work of a powerful curse, and believed this for some time, the truth was a lot more complicated than that, but wasn’t learned until much later. The Cardinal, one of the King’s most trusted advisors, was to find a new successor to the throne, as the King had left no will. There were several nobles in competition for the throne, Iawen, Aravarii, and Ren among them. I do not know the details, but it was discovered that Quinn was actually the king’s son, and he became King later on. I didn’t have a lot to do with this aspect of the Dream… In the dream, I was more than just a healer, but to keep my alternate persona safe, I would rather not delve too deeply into that aspect. I had learned a few things, or rather ‘just knew’ them when I became this other me… There were five gods, not just the four that everyone knew: Valinaar, Kerynax, the god of magic, and the god of the reavers. The fifth was a goddess of destruction and death called Zerastryx. I knew that she has been imprisoned in a special prison closed with five keys. If this prison was opened, it would mean the end of the world, as this dragon goddess of death and destruction would lay waste to all the world. I also ‘knew’ that there was a group dedicated to opening this gate, and I had to discover them and stop them. I sought to gather the keys and keep them safe. I discovered quickly that the keys were Orbs of Power – one for each god and goddess of the world. I found the Orb of the Reaver, and gave it to Cecil, seeing as he was the ‘rightful owner’ of the Orb belonging to his god. Additionally, I had every reason to believe that Cecil would not give up the orb, and could keep it safe from anyone attempting to open the locks. I discovered a second orb, that which belonged to Valinaar, in the possession of Rorin. On a hunch, I used some of my magical ability to ‘read’ him, and discovered he was one of the death cultists intent on freeing Zerastryx. I had no ability to act against him, and without proof could do nothing to stop him. He used the orb of my god to open one of the locks, destroying the orb. It was around this time I found Chan crying. He was a confused and lost villager in my dream mind. Being dedicated to helping the weak and helpless, I did what I could to bring him comfort. He was going on at length about seeing two people in every person, about good people doing bad things, about dragons and golems and death raining from the sky. Being something of an auger, I not only understood what he was saying, but knew what he was saying was true. Chan had further claimed he had seen many objects out in the forest. Hoping to locate more orbs before the followers of the Death Cult, I made my way out into the forest. It was there on the path I found the mage… I don’t know what else to call it. It was a object, flat and colorful, that depicted a wizard. Looking at it, I suddenly realized it was a representation of Antioch. My memories of the Realms, or rather, mine, laced with a good portion of Tetch’s came flooding into me. I was me again, more or less, but I was also a little Tetch, and the other persona that I was inhabiting all at once. I understood I was ‘sent’ to help this world survive, and needed to keep ‘playing the part’ I was ‘assigned’ to; to continue helping. There was a brief altercation with a magic (or cursed, depending on your point of view) ring that caused me to go into a bestial frenzy. Cecil managed to take it from me, and being a Child of the Reaver, was not adversely affected by it. I was still intent on finding more Orbs before the Death Cultists. Shane and I worked together to try and locate more orbs. We used a spell (find the path, I believe) to find the area where another one lay. The place was in a graveyard. The dead were all up and moving, crying out to be returned to the grave. It took some time to do so, but once the Orb was located and removed from the are, the dead were again able to be put to rest. Sadly, Lady Iawen was ‘confused’ into believing the Gate that held back Zerastryx was evil, and needed to be destroyed. She destroyed two of the seals. The cultists got the rest of the orbs they needed, and completed destroying the seals. When she destroyed the seals, Lady Iawen ‘woke’ to herself, and realized what she had done. She wanted desperately to fix the mistake. We decided to do what we could to repair the damage. She was going to try and do what she did in the first place, but in reverse, to see if she could return the two locks she broke. As she was doing the ritual, a bandit came and killed both she and I. Having death watch, I watched in horror as the bandit dragged both Iawen and I away from the portal and deep into the forest. Cecil and Liselle noticed what he was doing, and came to our aid, but they too, were slain. I quite lost memory of what happened at that point. When I came to, I was short all of my money. Night fell, and Zerastryx was released into the world. First, several of her minions came forth – dragon men of differing power levels. They challenged us to various things, though I am uncertain why. A group of three (rather ugly) and old women came to us. They said they would help us, if we could get something from the spirit of lightning. We did manage to do that. (though for the life of me I don’t remember what they gave us to help, or who actually defeated the spirit of lightning for us…) Zerastryx came forth. She was represented as a massive bone dragon with a dazzling array of lights about her. She breathed death. She was massively strong, killing with mighty swipes of her claws. And this was in her weakened state – it would only be a matter of time before she became unstoppable… Gideon, a blacksmith, crafted a magic sword to do battle against Zerastryx. Quinn, backed by the guard and knights, went fourth to attack the dragon. He was killed quickly by the Death Breath. Desperate to do something, luck happened to be with me – I manage to raise the leader of the Order of Magic, Lugh. He told me, or showed me, that he had the Orb of Antioch (the God of Magic’s realms name, I don’t know his other name). Tetch had a plan. Grabbing the Orb of Antioch (with Lugh’s permission), I snuck into position behind Zerastryx. I ‘broke free’ of my Myth persona, and using the power of the Orb of Antioch and my MAGE call, I sent the dragon back to the pit. I knew it wouldn’t be long if we couldn’t find a way to seal it, but it gave us time to try something else. Gideon took the body of a golem and grafted its remarkable metal to Quinn’s skin, making him resistant to the Dragon’s breath. By the time Zerastryx re-manifested, Quinn was ready for her. He charged the goddess alone, as no-one else could get near enough to her, and did battle with her. With all the lights and darkness, it was impossible to make out what was going on, how the fight went. There was a terrible shrieking scream, then there was only darkness… Both Zerastryx and Quinn were gone. I am unclear what happened at that point, but it seems that time passed, as it was suddenly morning. It was raining. We were lost, and needed to find Quinn, the King, and return him… We searched. I was still ‘me’ and not ‘her’ and I couldn’t quite function correctly, so I called out to Antioch, and remarkably, he answered. He told me some things, and as he did so, I realized that he had made this world, had brought us here to defend it, and that the world was a gift of love – it was a present for his daughter, Minerva. He also restored ‘her’, though I was still ‘aware’ inside of her. I was returned back to the world, knowing we had to find Quinn, and find a way to reseal Zerastryx back into her hole. The Death Cultists had shown their hand the night before, and had been slain to a man. We did a short ritual, and found Quinn’s body. It took the combined power of 3 orbs, several healers and such, but we eventually returned him to life. Then we heard a cry for help. We followed the cry and came to a tower. We learned there were draconians still in the world, and a dragon had taken a hostage into the tower. Only two people could enter the tower at a time, and would face different challenges to enter. I do not know how many groups went into the tower before me, but I did end up going, with Janus. The first challenge was a martial one. I had no weapon but a dagger, so wasn’t much help. Janus used his shield to great advantage in the enclosed space, and defeated both foes. Next was a riddle contest. I do not recall the riddle, but I do recall I answered it rather quickly (much to the riddle-keeper’s dismay). Up the tower Janus and I went, up to the top. There were three beings in that precarious place: a White Draconian, it’s ‘champion, and a small, helpless creature that looks much like a black bunny with a skull face. It was the bunny that was calling for help. The champion challenged us to fight it in single combat. As it had longer weapons than I, Janus chose to fight it first. He lost. The champion put Janus behind him and turned to face me next. His long sword versus my dagger. “I take it this is not honorable combat?” I asked. “No.” The champion replied. I sighed, and took a stance, as if to fight him. Then I said, quite calmly, “All within the sound of my voice, rise and fight.” As Janus rose up, the champion turned to kill him, and I leapt forth to drill it (many times) with my dagger. His champion dead, the dragon gave up his prisoner to keep his life. I agreed, and brought the Bunny away from that tower. “Jack”, the Bunny, explained he was the youngest child of a god. He further offered to grant a wish, so long as it wasn’t greedy or self serving. I didn’t hesitate, I asked Jack to seal the prison of Zerastryx. He agreed to do so, and did. Victorious, we went back to town. Antioch came to me, and explained we were not done yet, the world was still unraveling, and it was up to us to make it ‘solid’. We first tried to make it solid by holding an official coronation for Quinn, then a marriage of Lady Iawen to Lord Arravari, then they made me a noble (how odd THAT was), but it wasn’t enough. Getting more guidance from Minerva and Antioch, we learned we had to do a ritual to make the world more solid. Going out in groups, most blindfolded or mute, we gathered various object, and did a ritual near a lake. I do not recall many of the details, I was rather tired by that point. When all was said and done, Jack decided to come ‘home’ with me. So, we helped ‘birth’ a world, one that is linked to ours, in much the same way Fairy is linked to Chimeron. It has gods and goddesses, monsters and men. In Truth and Service Rune (and Tetch) |
Created by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee
at 03-11-16 08:47 PM
Last Modified by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 03-11-16 08:47 PM
Last Modified by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 03-11-16 08:47 PM