Adventures

Quests

Sister Syllona sat in the Traveller's Rest inn, watching the locals and travellers eating and drinking. Electric blue eyes in a tanned face scanned each person, not exactly sure what she was looking for but sure she'd know it when she saw it. She reached up to draw strands of her shiny raven black hair behind her ear. The soft, heavy tresses reached halfway down her back and sometimes got in the way. But she didn't have the heart to cut it to a more practical length. She wasn't much of a traveller; enjoying her own city of Geanavue. But the dreams would not go away, ever since she came into possession of the object. Her right hand strayed to her chest, feeling the hard outline of the somewhat triangular metal object. It was here, near this small town that she needed to be; why though, she wasn't yet sure. Just following her faith and the will of Mosia (Reanaarese for the Holy Mother). Syllona had been here for just two days and had put out the word here, at the other tavern (run by a dwarf), and at a few other shops that she was looking for reliable people to accompany her to the dungeon of graves.

It had taken her a while to dig up the story behind the dungeon of graves. Evidently, many hundreds of years ago, the forces of good allied to destroy the main temple to Xiznoom, the Harvester of Souls, somewhere near the present day city of Xaarum. With their temple in ruins, the surviving high priest fled the city with an army of enemies on their trail--an army of heroic fighters, clerics and paladins led by Zelkor, a powerful wizard. The exact fate of these evil priests was then unknown, for not only did the they disappear, but so did the army of light that followed after them. Some said that in the eternal scales, the loss of so many good men was a fair price to pay to rid the world of so much evil.

The Congregation of the Dead, however, had not been destroyed. Years later, a graveyard was found not far from this town although the town wasn't more than a weypoint then along the Coastal Tradeway. The graveyard had a hideous mausoleum and the entire graveyard was sunken atop a hill. Symbols to the Harvester of Souls appear all around the graveyard. It is believed that these graves are in fact the final resting place of the pursuing army of heroes that had been destroyed to the last man. Peaceful creatures of the Forest of Hope, where the graveyard appeared, disappeared and vanished. Though many rangers and druids investigated these happenings, the cause of the creatures' disappearance was not immediately determined. Some years later, a powerful group of adventurers, led by Borfred, a high priest of Naemae, investigated the evil happenings and found the sunken graveyard leading to a labyrinthine underground complex. Bofred and his companions found great hordes of evil creatures in the caverns beneath the graveyard. Though some of his companions returned from their expedition telling tales of fantastic treasure and ferocious monsters, Bofred himself was never seen again--presumed lost in the catacombs beneath the cursed mausoleum.

For the last 100 years, ranks of adventurers swarmed to the new-found dungeon. Many fell prey to bandits and monsters in the surrounding wilderness. Of those adventurers who survived to reach the mausoleum and the sunken graveyard, rumours suggest that most were slain by guardians of green stone before they even entered the dungeon or that they perished on the very first level. Those rare few who returned from deeper treks speak of horrible undead and of creatures that cannot be slain. All who have explored Rappan Athuk seemed to offer this one universal piece of advice: "Don't go down the Well."

The only other things she had heard was that there was indeed a monster on the first level immune to everything. It is amorphous and smells terrible. The advice was that the wise man flees from it. Also that deep in the dungeon there was a vast cavern housing monsters of gigantic size. A beholder 20 feet in diameter had been seen. Syllona sat a pondered her information as she observed those around her. The Traveller's Rest was a large comfortable inn. The common area was full of tables and more private booths ran along some of the walls with curtains for privacy should anyone wish it. An old man, she now knew was called Raeddry, served behind the bar. His wife, Jyra, would bustle out periodically from, Syllona assumed, the kitchen to gossip with locals and speak politely with travellers. Another man helped behind the bar and with the more strenuous tasks. Four women, two middle-age and two much younger, served drinks and food to the patrons. Syllona had noticed the youngest woman smiling and speaking with a young man who looked to be a soldier from the castle. The young woman wore the traditional engagement choker around her neck suggesting the two were probably engaged if the mooning eyes between the two were anything to go by. Syllona smiled at the young couple and said a silent prayer to Mosia to bless their union.

Seeing her mug was empty, Syllona decided to go to the bar to get a refill. She rose from her chair to her average height [5'5"] and made her way to the bar; her clothes were common, not giving any clues about her but the long silver chain around her neck bore a pendant of a house with a ring encircling it, proclaiming to all who would know that she a priest of the Home Foundation. Her figure was trim but well proportioned not that this was the type of establishment that she would have to worry about any rough treatment.

She quietly waited her turn at the bar until she caught Raeddry's eye, "A refill of your ale please," she said just loud enough for him to here. With a nod, Raeddry took her mug and quickly refilled it, coin was exchanged and Syllona returned to her table.

Syllona settled into her seat again, hoping she would soon be able to gather a group of adventuring types together so they could explore Rappan Athuk and maybe then she would learn what her purpose was.

As she sat there, she couldn't help overhearing a couple in a booth only a few feet away, the curtains were drawn so she couldn't see anything. It was obvious the man was well in his cups and getting a bit too fresh with his companion. Out of the corner of her eye, Syllona caught a glimpse of a flash of light, like rainbow colours, under the curtain and then the drunken man began to apologise profusely to the woman, even offering her some coin to appease her. The curtain suddenly parted and a lovely young woman, with long black hair much like herself, stepped down from the booth, tucking some coins into a pouch at her waist...

@for those not familiar with KoK, the gods have multiple names [e.g. in real life, God has other names like Heavenly Father, Jehovah, etc.] The gods each have a specific name in each human language as well as several names in merchant tongue. The church of a god has it's own name too. I.E. Shyllona is a priest of the Home Foundation who worship Mosia, the Holy Mother.

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