Legacy-003

Resplendent Earth

• 23: For the first time in a while, the Solars had some time to themselves and were busied with various personal matters, entertainments, training & activities. Then Potrimpos called. They traveled up to the monastery and met with the serpent god who informed them that he had found the Sun Spire, which was the tomb to the Incomparable Judication Sect and was approximately a ten day journey to the west. Then suddenly, they all awoke from the dream, Potrimpos' message fresh in their memory. They immediately began preparations and left with the Abbot's blessings and well wishes (after he and Aapo had a little heart to heart concerning Ginger and his diplomacy methods with her parents). The Solars began their journey and were soon joined by a massive white owl, Whispering Bear's companion.
• 27: During the day the journey was made more miserable by a terrible thunderstorm that drenched the riders, leaving Sapphire Veil particularly more miserable than she already was upon horseback (even the floral arrangement Crimson Slate had woven into the horses mane was not enough to make the ride any more pleasant for her).
• 28: About midmorning the Solars reached the bamboo forest, which turned out to be much more dense than they had expected. Crimson Slate whipped out her sky cutter and began to cut swaths through the growth, creating a neat, if not somewhat zig-zagging, path to traverse. Even with this newly created passage, the marshy grounds made for a slow journey through the forest.
  • That night, while Aapo was on watch, he noticed that they were no longer alone in the forest. High above them in the tree tops he could barely make out from the reflection of his glowing caste mark many eyes staring down upon them. Aapo quickly woke Crimson Slate and within seconds the entire party were awake and wary. The area was lit to reveal dozens of small red panda beastmen in the tops of the bamboo with spears poised to attack. After various failed attempts of communication, Crimson Slate discovered that they seemed to understand Old Realm and spoke to them. They discussed her words and must have found them less than pleasing as they released a rain of spears upon the Solars below. The battle was brief, with Whispering Bear dropping beastmen with arrows until Crimson Slate finished the battle by clear cutting a section of the bamboo forest, notably the section where all the beastmen clung to the bamboo far above. After a lovely fall and crash to the ground, the beastmen were defeated.
  • Following Alabaster Mountain, Aapo & Crimson Slate's very sad attempt to construct a cage from bamboo, they choose one prisoner and continue their journey west. When the beastman wakes and Crimson Slate speaks with him, explaining that they are only travelers who are passing through with no ill intentions towards his people. The beastman, who identified himself as Chimi, says that they were only protecting their food. Crimson Slate asks that he pass her message on to Chimi's tribe and leaders and he agrees. Upon agreement, Crimson Slate oath binds Chimi, calling the attention of the gods down upon him and making him aware of a great many things that none of his people should know. A very terrified and changed Chimi is released and flees. During the remainder of the journey through the bamboo forest, they see a number of Chimi's people, but none of them make any moves to attack.

Descending Earth

• 2: As the Solars continue their journey, Crimson Slate and Tobias suddenly sense and realize that they have passed into a Demesne. They continue on and the bamboo forest begins to change and the plants take on a golden sheen and a crystalline texture (though they taste pretty much the same per Aapo's investigations). They come across a few ancient skeletons of an alien nature, human, but mutated in strange ways, with crystalline vocal chords still shining in the remains and plantlike features. The Solars marvel at the strange forest as they continue their journey, passing signs of ancient ruins buried in the earth.
  • Then the singing begins. Crimson Slate and Aapo immediately plug their ears and the party continues on forward. As the singing moves closer, they are able to make out the source; strange flying lemur-like creatures, and their song beings to sap the will of those who listen. Others cover their ears and they hurry on. Then they notice others are in the forest as well. Numerous people with plant features, wielding lanterns approach and reveal themselves. Their leader, Singing Cup, speaks with the Solars and reveals that they are the "grove folk," Demesne-mutated humans from the nearby village of Still Sky. They identify the musical lemurs as the tree singers and the place as the Dancing Grove. They had come because they heard the song, as they always do when the moon is at its peak, because they must - it was time for them to dance.
  • The grove folk begin, shaking trees to create a music of crystal chimes and the tree singers begin to sing along. As they begin to fill the grove, the Solars split up. Whispering Bear and Tobias choose to remain and watch, while the others side with caution and leave quickly. The grove folk dance to their music and after about half an hour of dancing under the moon, their dance becomes and act of self-destruction and becomes frantic and violent in nature. They seem possessed. Tobias and Whispering Bear, deciding they had seen enough, leave and travel quickly to meet up with their departed companions.
• 3: The reunited Solars emerge from the forest and can see the village of Still Sky in the distance. Not long after they see the weary and injured grove folk leaving the forest headed back to the village, though their number had diminished. They speak briefly and discover that the dancers have no memory of the night and one asks if the Solars who had remained to watch knew anything of what had happened to their missing number; that every full moon they are called to dance, and every morning they wake with no memory of the night and with fewer people than they had entered the grove with. The grove folk and the Solars bid each other farewell and each continue their own journey.
• 4: The Solars finally reach the end of their journey as they come into view of a lake with the impressive Sun Spire jutting from it's surface, linked to the shore by a long causeway. They quickly cover the distance and find themselves within the tomb. The tomb proves to be little more than a massive puzzle or combination lock. Fortunately Crimson Slate coordinates everyone and is able to descend, though alone, into the depths of the complex, deep within the lake.
  • While the others suddenly find themselves no longer alone above, Crimson Slate descends into one of the crypts. Preserved within his crystalline coffin, Crimson Slate comes face to face to her previous Solar incarnation, a life she had been touched by only recently in dreams before they had left Mahanaga on this journey. She noticed an intention in the coffin and guessed to press her head to it and activate her caste mark. This shown upon the caste mark of the dead Solar and his body was immolated. The tomb was activated and its treasures revealed to her, her own treasures from a previous life, including a magitech horse construct. The treasures of a serial killer of gods.
  • Meanwhile, the others were above entertaining a unique individual. Alabaster Mountain had encountered a houndish beast and it's master, a dark woman who identified herself as Sondok: She who stands in doorways. Kanji bolted and fled the tomb, followed by a confused Aapo. Through conversation the Solars discovered that she was a demon. A very forthcoming demon, who informed them that she had been bound to guard this tomb by Crimson Slate's previous incarnation and that only those incarnations could go below to plunder the tomb. Per her request each flared their anima (except for Aapo who was outside consoling a very troubled Kanji) and she stated that none of their previous selves were interred within.
  • Not long after, Crimson Slate emerges from below as Aapo returns to the tomb from outside, leaving Kanji to guard the causeway. Sondok tells her tale and proposes a deal to the Solars. In exchange for her freedom, she will allow them to claim the treasures of the tomb, which she dictates in detail. After much discussion, it is agreed upon, though Tobias and Whispering Bear refuse to have any part of the deal.
  • The deal is made and Sondok leads the Solars, minus Tobias and Whispering Bear, down into the four other tombs. Alabaster Mountain immolates the bodies, causing their treasures to reveal themselves. Once all the treasures of the tombs are gathered, they return to the surface. Crimson Slate releases Sondok from her bindings and she vanishes. The treasures are distributed amongst those who want them and the Solars begin the journey back to Mahanaga.
• 14: As the Solars began to draw near Mahanaga the smell and haze of old smoke lingered in the air. Continuing on, tensions growing, they reached the first outlying field to find it had been razed by fire. A weak and dying fox field spirit weakly watched them, unable to do more than slightly lift its head to gaze at them and then slump back to the ground. Aapo and Whispering Bear immediately took off towards the town as the others made their way on horseback.
  • Mahanaga had been destroyed. Many of the buildings torched and destroyed. And the manse was gone, nothing but a crater where it had once been, the power of its Demesne spilling forth without focus. And not a single living being left to be seen. Everyone was dead. The monks, the caravans, visitors, residents, even the Abbot who's beastform laid in the town with his monks, obvious that they had died fighting. The archway leading to the White Fields Steward was destroyed. The Solars swept over the town, searching for any survivors or clues as to what had happened.
  • After searching for some time, only one survivor was found. Much to Aapo's relief, it was Ginger. He took her up and kept her close, Kanji offering her what comfort he could curled up with her. She had been surviving in a niche down in the plaza well. She was traumatized, but somehow marked. Crimson Slate was able to see some sort of strange spiritual marking, a snake circling her brow, but knew nothing else of it.
  • They found few clues, a piece of some strange black material unlike anything they'd seen before. At that point the only information they could get from Ginger was that men in black came from the storm. The crater that had once been the manse was empty save for shattered stone. Potrimpos was no longer there.
  • Mahanaga was dead.
  • Sapphire Veil and Alabaster Mountain prayed to the White Fields Steward in hopes of summoning her, but were unable to do so. That was when Taruzake appeared timidly and approached. He knew little of what had happened. He was the first to encounter the men in black. They wielded essence and had demanded to be taken to the anathema. When Taruzake did not comply they struck him, when no one should have been able to do so. This terrified him and he fled to another sanctuary where his wine was located away from Mahanaga. When he returned, he found this desolation and the White Fields Steward simply gone, his realm empty and unclaimed. All of Taruzake's brothers & sisters lay near their destroyed fields, their minds broken, suffering but unable to die so long as their fields still existed.
  • When evening came Ginger became more uncomfortable and wanted to return to her well. She stated that at night the dead rose and that the well as safe. She particularly feared the Abbot. Alabaster Mountain immediately immolated his body. The Solars then set to gathering the bodies of the dead of Mahanaga and Alabaster Mountain immolated their remains, releasing what was left of these poor victims of violence. Crimson Slate bore the heavy burden of ending the lives of the field spirits, freeing them from their torment. In one life she slew gods for sport, now once again she was severing their ties to Creation, but this time out of mercy.
  • When they finished they set out and left Mahanaga behind. Taruzake would depart with them and be taken to a new place. He dictated the recipe of his wine to the Solars and they took some casks of his wine that had survived the attack. They would teach the making of his wine and spread it into the world, so that he would live on in the world beyond.
  • When the companions created camp, Ginger finally spoke of what had happened. The men in black had come demanding to be taken to the anathema. Then they had started to attack people. The Abbot and his monks came to their aid, but the strangers were too powerful. The Abbot transformed into a snake monster and fought the. Then the White Fields Steward and Potrimpos himself came to the aid of their people. The men from the storm used some sort of crystals to capture both of them. But just as Potrimpos had vanished, he transported Ginger out of the panicked crowd and into the well where they had found her. She knew little else of what had happened...only able to hear the screams of her people from the well. And then silence at day, and the horrible sounds of the undead at night until she heard Aapo calling her name.
  • That night, the Solars awoke to find a very large snake had slithered into the camp and was hovering directly over Ginger and Aapo gazing intently at the unseen serpent circling Ginger's brow. The snake was a god called Emerald Asp and he informed them that the child had been marked by Potrimpos and that all serpents were to aid and obey her. Ginger wanted to help Potrimpos, and he had given her a powerful tool in order to do so. This also further backed Aapo's claim that she was destined for greatness.
  • The Solars made plans to travel to the Keldin Cliff-Cities then to Nexus and then to Lookshy.They lay back down to get some rest before their journey began the next morning; six Solars, two gods, a fox that was a broken soul and a little girl general without an army who talked to snakes.