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dnsmantra
post Jan 23 2022, 06:14 PM
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This is mostly just going to be copies of notes at the time they were written, so we have everything in one place. These are my notes and notes from Malcolm, Kiwi and Ignatius.

Jarle

---

Pre-Info Sun 16th Jan

I've done some thinking and dredging of older memories. I have been to Salvas before, but it was a number of lifetimes ago, back in the 700's when I was still bound to my father's tree. Things have naturally changed a lot since then, but the general premise of the plane and its nature remains. I have augmented my memories with divinations of various kinds.

There are two main powers native to the plane, which oppose one another. They take the form of twins, Ju-Trex and Ku-Trex. They respectively represent humanity, and corruption. While good and evil aren't really concepts there, theologically, the majority of things we would consider goodly, tend to align with humanity and evil with corruption. When I say corruption here, it is of the mind, body, soul. It is warping of beliefs, hearts, mind and morals. It is insidious and spreads much like a potent contagion might. In recent years, the rise of the Dracon Corpus has bolstered this corruption, being that onyx magic itself tends to warp, rend and 'corrupt' the body.

On Salvas, the concepts of creation and destruction are replaced by humanity and corruption, theologically and throughout their creation myth.

For many years humanity kept corruption at bay. I am loathe to say there was balance, for I'm not sure there was, but the spread was contained. This largely came about due to the sacrifice of a great hero over an age ago in our terms. I suspect at some point near the start of what we would call the 2nd Age. Their actions allowed the plane to thrive, but were shattered by a catastrophe last year. I presume that this was an outflowing of the Destroyer's power which Tristan mentions. This fuelled corruption and in the manner of a bonfire gave it a vast fuel source to burn and to use to spread. It is now rife. I would liken the current deaths and outlook for the plane as similar to the height of the Chaos Wars. If nothing is done, it is doomed.

Moreover, once it has consumed Salvas, and I suspect defeated and consumed its twin, it will look outward, hungry, ever hungry for more worlds to corrupt and devour. This would be a very bad thing indeed.

In terms of prospective allies, there is an individual called Gortak, who was once corrupted, but is no longer. He believes he owes the Knights a debt for saving him, but currently would not necessarily consider himself an ally. I believe our actions on Sunsday are likely to be able to influence that a great deal. Of note, he wants to fight back but is afraid to do so and is wracked with guilt. I suggest helping him fight back would likely be a good thing. Giving him a way to fight back, and helping him find the courage, would seem like a good thing to do if we can.

More widely, the people on the plane mostly have no hope that there will be peace again, that humanity will survive and thrive. If we can give them even a shred of that through our actions their lives will likely be the better. War is awful, and on this scale even more so.

Regarding those lords who serve Corruption, there are different ways we could oppose them. If we cleanse the corruption or at the very least stem the flow of it out into the world, then they will be weakened; some may be unable to manifest and their access to power will be significantly limited. Some of them are already manifest so could be opposed directly, which in itself would weaken Corruption. Alas, much like Tristan, neither I nor my shard can see who/where or how we deal with them. I suspect if we make great strides to cleanse the corruption they will likely make themselves known, or ways to find and combat them will become apparent.

To add, having delved a little deeper, I think our time on Salvas will be difficult, not just martially, but in terms of hearts and minds. Many of the people there hate the Knights for what Sirac and Tristan did last summer and thousands if not tens of thousands have died as a direct result. Know that I am not judging. I am well aware I don't know all the facts, and it would be hypocrisy in the extreme, given some of the regrettable lives I've led and decisions I've made. This is merely to share what I know and what the people there believe. Their beliefs are important as they are the people who will we need to convince, through action and deed, that we're really there to help.

To give some history, particularly on the hero who gave Salvas an age of peace and how it ended.

More than an age ago darkness covered Salvas. It was this darkness that corrupted the world, it's people and all that came here. This lasted until a great hero, Liath stood up began to fight against them. Ultimately, she gave her life in this fight, dying to the hand of a powerful General. As he crushed her body, ripped out her heart and raised it in triumph above his head, the heart began to pulse with an alternating black and white light, spreading down his arm and burning him to ashes. Its power then rippled out and spread from there bringing peace to the land and an end to the darkness.

The Heart remained at the temple where Liath fell for an age where it protected Salvas from Corruption and was a holy relic revered by all. In Orgus of IM1021, the Heart was taken by Sirac and Tristan from said temple, and such Corruption was allowed to flow back out into the land. It began to spread rapidly. The deaths I spoke of previously are as a result. Some residents of Salvas will listen to us to get our side of the story, some will attack anyone simply for being associated with the Knights and very very few indeed will take our side. They believe this to be a world that the Knights corrupted, turned their back on and then cast from their minds.

There are many different rumours among the people about what did or did not happen in terms of the heart being taken. Some talk of trade, some of theft, and more besides. In many ways it is unimportant as to what did happen and why. Belief and wounds of the heart and mind are slow to heal.

It sounds like all we can do is keep going forward and do everything we can to help this place and its people, for it sorely needs it.

I have the basic concept for a ritual sorted in my head. I think I can open and close it and that I have sufficient legatic power through my blood and lineage to do so. Indeed it is probably all too apt given how corrupt my father was. My intention that it is simple in formulation, that we demark a shape, I open, then we place relics/foci which have sufficient history about them so as to give weight to their use. I suggest at least four of us try and bring one thing each (if someone has more, all the better). In turn these objects are placed their import related and an associated word or meaning attached. Power relating to that word is then imbued into them and through them the shape. For example one might use a set of holy wrappings used extensive to wash and cleanse wounds as something to signify "cleansing". We might then use cure disease miracles to imbue them with power once placed. We do this for a number of objects so that our purpose is clear. E.g. we might place things to represent cleansing, corruption, restoration and humanity, to signify the cleansing of corruption and the restoration of humanity, then we might place a number of other things to support or witness and lend their power, e.g. a symbol of the knights, religious relics and so on. Then we close.

The structure here is simple - foci that define the meaning and purpose.
Followed by foci that lend power and support to that purpose.

Naturally, open to better ideas, but if nothing else, if we have objects to represent cleansing, corruption, restoration and humanity or similar, and something to represent the knights, then we have a good basis we can build on.


Mission Report Sun 16th Jan

This is a quick account of what we found and dealt with on Salvas. There's more that could be added to flesh things out, but this is the gist.

There's a large area of corruption where the land is blighted focussed around the old temple of the twins. The leys are filled with evil spirits, black, bronze, ebon and onyx magic, with onyx far outweighing the others. In following the leys to reach the centre, we encountered resistance in many varied decaying/corrupted forms. These were both people who had been twisted and changed, undead bound with magic and spirit, some of which were I think sourced from onyx magic as purely spiritual attempts to discern or deal with them failed, and others. There were husks of druids who had turned against the cycle of life and death and fed off the land to sustain an ageless dead, but not dead, state.

We met some reasonable druids who we tried to convince that what was happening was not in the natural cycle. We shed some doubts and they'll think more. And we met some fae/dryad type creatures which were possessed by the corruption and which we freed.

At the temple was a burned out charred heart inside a ritual. I think the heart was from a creature called Tilenorax as we fought it later and it had no heart and I'm pretty sure this was the name I learned in there. Being in there and touching the ritual was very dangerous, but also the only way of scrying about some things as it linked you to that being, and corruption. There is more potentially that could be found there, but by doing so, it will call forth potent creatures of corruption.

The confluence of the leys was not itself at the temple but a little way further on in a grove of perpetual slumber where druids slept and time (for them) ceased. Sadly those within had slept and become corrupted.

We performed a ritual of cleansing using the objects and stories we'd brought with us, which seemed successful and it started rolling through the leys. I suspect it will take some time for us to know how much impact this has had, but it is a good start.

At the temple we had learned that the last bastion of the people, a group led by a master tactician called Harvey Steadfast were to be attacked, by the forces of Talenarax. The bastion had lost hope and my foretelling was that it would be a last desperate stand and when they fell all hope would end. We obviously couldn't allow this so went to fight in their place. It was as brutal as you would expect but we succeeded. Talenarax himself showed up. He was missing his heart but regenerating it allowed him to be hurt and then defeated.

He is definitely not dead and his followers are still at large. We can only find out more about him by touching his heart/ritual at the temple.

Humanity's Hold, as it was called, now has a safe haven for the local people and a way gate made via smithery between it and The Rest. Alliances were made and we started to make good steps to restore hope, food, supplies and to win over the hearts and minds of the people through our actions.

We begun the forging of a new blade, Humanity, with which to rally around and fight back corruption. Its power is new and nascent, but is something we can build upon in future forays.

The thing we didn't quite get to is Gorthak. He, the one of the three high priests who was ascendant at the time the hero's heart was taken and who was corrupted (and then let in the corruption) and was cleansed/healed, is holding at in The Dead Place. This is a dead forest which the corruption can't get into because there is no life left to corrupt. The forces of corruption are working around this by using rituals in the netherworld, employing corrupt druids to heal the land there so it becomes alive, but alive with corruption and various other means. He is okay for now, but we should act to help when we can.

They also use plague pits dotted accross the wider land to spread and draw corruption from the area around the temple and spread it further.

There's much more that can be said about specifics and the creatures we fought. I believe Malcolm was making a list of the many and varied ways they ripped our arms and legs off.

Fire, Jade Weapons/damage, purge the dracon corpus, ways to free people of possession, ways to mend things or protect equipment from being broken and moderate dispelling magics were all vital in dealing with some of the creatures/people. Some of the stranger ones needed to be off the ground to stop them drawing upon it, others were protected while they were moving and needed stopping. Others had a magical shell around them which needed dispelling. Some could use their weapons to exploit the weakness in the flesh and blood of the body. Some way to control golemic creatures would be very useful.


Creatures of Salvas

We encounter a 5th rank Undead that was bound with magic and spirits, he could be defeated with a dismiss... clearly bound with magic. Greater Corrupted Dead. Came with a pack of 3rd rank Corrupted Dead.

We also encountered some Undead that that had to have their fear removed on them before they could be hurt, I didn't even get to see these as I was being carried over the acid lake in a darkness.

There we're some Golems attacking the Hold, they needed a dispel of the 6th rank and then flaming weapons to destroy. You can use mundane weapons to destroy but only after a melt spell had been cast on each limb to remove their armour. Bring flaming weapons.

The priests we fought alot of, favoured the Cause Mortal prayer and embodied a wight or wraith alot. I didn't see too many priests trying to control us. Their wizards of course favoured the shadow strike or causing our chests to be cut in half with Onyx. My advice would be... if you are going to Salvas, spend a day with a friendly Onyx mage to become better vs them.

We met some druids of old, who had died but had given their life force or nature has driven them on... If druids could make undead, these were druid undead but weren't undead....make sense? Their weapons were extremly potent, to the living. Advise do not fight them if you have a beating heart. Also they had to be removed from the ground to hurt. This was clear as you could see to power flowing into them from the ground.

There were some beats who need Flaming holy weapons/ Jade weapon or a purge to dragon Corpus cast on them to defeat.

There were also creatures that needed a miracle of Remove Fear and Paralysis cast on them before they could be slain and the area the corruption is in is tainted with spirits and onyx magic. No specific spells or miracles a such, but heavily tainted with both.

There were also creatures whose names were something along the lines of "UnDREAD Spirit". Because necromancers are extremely tedious.
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dnsmantra
post Jan 23 2022, 06:40 PM
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I've also started thinking about our future options and strategy. I'll update here when I have more.

- Talenarax is definitely not dead. His followers are still at large and they seemed unphased by us defeating him at Humanity's Hold. He should definitely be a target to find out how we properly defeat him (which we can only learn of at the temple - I'll see if I can learn the shadow port spell so I can get there and back quicker).

Jarle
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dnsmantra
post Jan 26 2022, 01:56 PM
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By way of an update, both from scrying, observation and my own instincts.

Between the martial forces of The Watch, the ministrations of the Buggledexters and our own actions and support from the Rest, the native forces of corruption that have been allowed to run rampant since Orgus last year are now being pushed back fairly rapidly. The world 'native' is important here. This is Ku'Trex's corruption, that of the twin, rather than so much the invading corruption fueled by the Destroyer. I'm not as yet sure how to distinguish precisely between the two, but this is a positive at least.

By spring if things continue at the current rate then the endogenous corruption outside of the manifest lords, such as Talenarax, would be under control. However, those lords remain an issue, and the exogenous corruption brought to the world is a thorn that needs plucking free.

The lords are largely unaffected by the work of the watch and other do-gooders. They would need specific mercenary action if we were to oppose them. And as we saw last time they are neither easy foes, nor is it clear how we would defeat them permanently.

At this point is probably important to say that prior the events of last year, the world was loosely balanced. If we want to restore the world to how it was we should look to try and ensure the native powers of corruption with the world are used in a suitable way, and that respect for them is not utterly crushed. This is tricky, given how the more insidious powers linger beneath them pulling the strings and fueling problems in the world, and has the potential to go wrong. The people would need to be carefully helped to use those powers in a way which are beneficial to the world (such as the natural cycle of life and death, growth and then decay) rather than in ways which are more negative. Perhaps involving some of the druids we spoke to previously would be helpful here?

Of course, we could seek to eradicate 'corruption' completely, seal away the Ku'Trex and leave the world a beacon of light. As many examples in the past have shown, while this might seem outwardly noble and a 'good' thing to do. It has a myriad of potential problems. I can expand if people feel the need. I think I prefer the term 'decay' than corruption here really. Things decay, and die, and from that new things grow and new life comes. There must be endings for there to be new beginnings. In a large metaphysical sense.

Realistically we have a lot of choice here in terms of our goals and what we could do for the world. Seeking a balanced world again, feels like the right thing for me, for the people of the world. And certainly ridding it of the Destroyer's outside influence.

On to specifics:

- Cleansing the temple would be exceptionally difficult. Neither I, nor my shard, nor Talthar can figure out how it would be done or if it’s even possible at the moment. There are likely aspects which are shielded, and certainly we know that some things can only be learned of when at the location. We are going to need to go back anyway so we can find out more about Talenarax, their plans and what or who they really are. This should be a matter of priority. If there is time amid the danger, we can try and learn more of cleansing the temple at that time.

- The next step to empowering the sword Humanity (given a distinct lack of artefacts and similar on Salvas) is to infuse it with some kind of faith or hope, essentially tying it to the spirit/soul of humanity. We should seek to find out who the goodly high priest of the twins is, where they are and then speak to them. They could likely help us in this.

- I sought to learn if there was any way to return Liath or the tribute she left behind. And sadly, but expectedly, there is not. Only a sacrifice in similar circumstances could match it, and there's nobody on Salvas I can perceive who could come close, at least at this time. Not to say there isn't of course.

- I then mused about protecting buildings and locations from corruption, in much the same way a Rite of the Bright God, Strongholds and the like can function. I believe we could find ways to protect a decent sized building (e.g. a small keep) from corruption, but it would be a significant endeavour. If we wished to a group of us could probably find the means to protect somewhere in this manner in a day's dedicated travel on Salvas with suitable preparation.

- There are a couple of other remaining settlements, outside of Humanity's Hold with people in. They are not particularly close to humanities hold, but we could certainly go and help them. Alternatively we could strike out, assault and reclaim some of the previous holds. This latter seems like a win-win, as we not only drive back some of the corruption, we also reclaim somewhere defensible and make ourselves rather than the locals more of a target.

- I looked at whether there were known ways to empower the helds of local soldiers, militia and leaders such that they would be better able to strike out and fight the corruption themselves, resist it and so on. I have no specifics, other than such rituals would be possible, but would require effort, skill and sacrifice. Much like the banner rites and so on of used by the helds of the legions, or those similar which empower the ritter orders, valdstyn and the like. Requires planning, but doable if we decide to.

- Similarly there are champions of humanity, like Harvey. They aren't quite the same potency as those of corruption at present, but could be empowered further. I looked for relics of their world that could be found and returned to them to bolster them, but found none (at least scrying). That's not say there aren't any. History is often buried deep and well shielded. Empowering Humanity such that notable people of their world can summon an echo or a copy of its blade, and that when wielded it empowers the common troops seems like a good starting point. If we could construct a humanity's banner and banner rites around it, that too would help. These are all options though, and they'll all take time.

- Apparently, the Destroyer doesn't care about the plane. It doesn't take a blauz to work out this is patently false. We know his power is there and heavily invested in it and is using the corruption and amplifying it. The fall of the world would absolutely be in his vested interest. In my view he certainly has agents working here, they're just well shielded and using the native corruption to mask themselves. When we go back to the temple asking who they are and who's working for him should definitely be on our list. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Talenarax was one of them, though he may not be.

---

So in short, options (including those we already knew about):

- Return to the temple. Work out who Talenarax really is, who they work for/serve, what their plans are and how to permanently defeat them. If possible work out how to cleanse the temple and who the forces of the destroyer are and what they're up to.

- Find the goodly high priest. Talk to/help him about further empower Humanity. And also probably just how we can help.

- Deal with one or more of the plague pits spreading corruption.

- Go to the Dead Place and talk to/help Gorthak.

- Ritually empower the soldiers/potential champions. Could link with empowering Humanity. Could be banner rites or similar. Requires planning/effort.

- Retake old forts now lost to the corruption, or go aid other settlements.

- Spend time empowering a location, a fort or similar, such that it can resist the corruption.

- Speak to the locals about using the native powers of corruption in a humane and natural fashion.

Jarle
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dnsmantra
post Jan 26 2022, 05:26 PM
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Skarrow has reminded me that we were being watched by something or someone (no idea if friend/foe/other) near the temple. Following up and trying to find out who/what would be useful.

Jarle
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Ferro
post Feb 16 2022, 02:04 PM
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To keep everything in one place, I’ll add this here….
I have been doing some sporadic scrying and I’ve found the following:
  1. There is no link between the Destroyer and Humanities Hold. While the faith is present on Salvas, it’s faint.
  2. There are two high priests, neither has been seen in the last year. They are divinities in their own rights, one is takes on the aspect of corruption, the other humanity (ie Ju Trex and Ku Trex respectively).
  3. I wanted to see if there was some kind of connection between Talenarax and Liath. There is not.
I also asked about Gorthak so we can understand how best to approach him in conversation when we meet him. He’s a believer in balance — some people are good, some are bad, but most sit somewhere in between and that’s probably where most people should be. He feels terrible guilt and regret for what he did while corrupted and when asked what he did and how he freed himself of said corruption, my gods said that Tristan will probably know more about this.

I couldn’t find out anything regarding the shadowy figure in Humanities Hold, but both high priests almost certainly still have active followers on Salvas.


--------------------
Stacey
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Ferro
post Feb 16 2022, 02:29 PM
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The High Priests

The two high priests do not have mortal names but are called names that can be associated with them… rot, decay, madness, love, hope, light.

They do not work against or oppose each other, instead they work in tandem and that is what their followers believe. The priests themselves aren’t connected — for example, they’re not twins or lovers or anything.

The goodly high priest of humanity was last seen shortly after the plane fell. As the evil high priest was always a tad more … ‘cagey’, it’s hard to say when he was last seen.

- - -



My gods still don’t know of this shadowy figure.


While I’ve been in humanities hold, I’ve heard talk about how nobody has seen the goodly high priest of humanity since he was seen fighting at the temple as it was taken. I’m convinced the shadowy figure may have something to do with him…


Kiwi


--------------------
Stacey
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Ferro
post Feb 16 2022, 04:07 PM
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Both high priests worshipped at the Temple of the Heart of the Innocents, which became the main temple on Salvas following Liath’s sacrifice.

When her heart was taken, the plane began to fall and the forces of corruption attacked. Although scrying reveals their reasoning to be “to corrupt the plane and take it over”, there is definitely something more which appears to be shielded from my scrying.

While we know that the goodly high priest is alive but not manifested, we don’t know where he is — scrying has been unsuccessful in finding this out. The gods just don’t know and advise us to seek him out and ask him ourselves. Likewise, scrying has not managed to identify if the evil high priest is alive, manifested, where he is or what happened to him. He just hasn’t been seen for a while either.


Kiwi


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Stacey
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Ferro
post Feb 16 2022, 07:17 PM
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.


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Stacey
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