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Quest Archive
Baron Nocturnis and Jaryd Nevarre When one door closes another opens. We have embarked on a new quest involving the evil Baron Metchel Nocturnis and the troubled Jaryd Nevarre, Dark Slayer and brother of our friend, the noted paladin of yore, Martel Nevarre. F'Nor of the Mists of Avalon has written an excellent account of the events which have occured to date, which may be found here. Background on the Edinburgh Quest XMackenzie's excellent photo journal of the quest may be found here. Recent news can be found on our News page.
The Challenges of the Dark Slayers First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Triumverate Valorite
The Seven Riddles of Scaramandine the Elder
The Four Minions of Scaramandine the Elder Dale Larkspur Strom Elkhart Ariel Wyndmere Ariel Redeemed Istan Magrul Below find older articles which appeared on the Edinburgh Forum, concerning the Orb of Soul Seeking and the Edinburgh Quest.
Some
months ago, when our village was newly founded, a carpenter named Sawyer began
to show up in the village, dropping in at the Whispering Pines Tavern. There he met with Dearro and Duncan. His visits, however, seemed to always be accompanied by
massive amounts of spawn. Eventually
this built up to a massive attack of ettins, whom Sawyer claimed had stolen
furniture he had made. This story
is recounted on BNN as “The Helpful Stranger,” on 9/5. I gave Duncan GM
crafted furniture, by Sawyer, which is locked down at the Whispering Pines. The story is archived at: http://uo.stratics.com/news/QuestandEventNewsFrames.shtml
as are many of the other stories that follow. On
October 4, there was a BNN article on “Pirates Raid Coastal Cities,” which
can be found at the same address. Though
this did not seem related to Edinburgh at the time, we now know that it was. Shortly
after that a miner showed up in the village by the name of Smithson.
Now we had spawns of earth elementals.
Eventually Fred Adams and others discovered the corpse of Smithson in the
woods near town. He had been
murdered by elementals. They buried
him under the large tree behind the town hall.
With the death of Smithson, a golden elemental arrived on the scene and a
pile of strangely colored gold appeared, locked down at the back of the mine.
This golden one could speak, saying things like: “b gne” and
“Smithson stol my gld.” He
would gate back to Felucca, and once we followed him there and killed him, but
he came back, rezed I guess like a human. At
that time some boxes were dug up in the cave, which contained some ore and tools
crafted by Sawyer (I am vague on this, however).
On Oct. 14 BNN posted an article about “Strange Sightings in Edinburgh
Mine.” The ghost of Smithson
began to make regular appearances in the village, often at the same time as the
golden elemental. Smithson could
not be rezed. Next
the pirate Caine showed up on his ship the Red Tide.
They took the golden elly aboard the pirate ship and sailed off.
Some of us attempted to follow by ship, but lost them.
We looked for then in Buc’s Den, but could not figure out how to access
the caverns. Brigand attacks became
a regular feature of life in the village after that.
Later Fred Adams was able to enter the caverns beneath Buc’s Den and
there encountered the spirit of Smithson. It
was decided to hold a séance to contact Smithson. The
séance was held on Oct. 24. Kain
of the Death Corps attempted to speak with Smithson.
From the séance we learned that Smithson is not truly dead, but is under
some sort of spell. CoV aided
mightily in the defense of the village. Find
this story at: http://uo.stratics.com/news/CatskillsFrames.shtml
as “Edinburgh Séance Yields Mixed Results.” Then
a new character showed up. Fletcher
was approached by the assassin Spyte the Knife.
Spyte was seeking a special crystal ball. He claimed to be in the hire of someone though he would not
say whom. After Spyte left, Caine
the pirate showed up and asked if there had been a stranger in the village and
threatened Fletcher that she would meet the same end as Dinna if she helped
Spyte. Caine tried to get into the locked room in Fred Adams house to get a
crystal ball that was there. In the
meantime, brigand attacks picked up even further with evil mages thrown in.
The golden elemental started to ask to be taken on a boat though he would
not say to where. A
story was posted on BNN, dated Oct. 25, of a “Pirate Captured in Yew.” Under questioning, the blackguard revealed that he and his
mates had been hired, at Buc’s Den by a conclave of evil wizards.
The recent series of pirate attacks on the cities of the coast had been
paid for by these evil mages. They
sought crystal balls. When one was
found a mage would seclude himself with it, but apparently the one sought had
not yet been found. This story is
at: http://town.uo.com/bnn/article_287.html. Last
Saturday members of United Pirates showed up and aided Setzer Gambini of DC and
me in defending the village from pirate attacks.
Smithson spoke to me, seemingly in a whisper saying “Seek me among the
pirates.” We sent to Buc’s Den
and were finally able to enter the caverns.
There I saw the spirit of Smithson.
He appeared to be under some type of spell. Talking to someone he called master. He repeated the phrase “No dest object variable found,” at least
twice before disappearing—apparently a coded message. The next evening the United Pirates had a major
run in with the golden elemental and the pirates.
The pirates were seeking Smithson. Their
story is posted at: http://www.extraweb.com/ultima/ The golden elemental was at our Halloween Party
on Oct. 30. That story is posted
at: http://uo.stratics.com/news/CatskillsFrames.shtml,
“Golden Elemental Disrupts Edinburgh Festival.” On Nov. 1, Spyte was again at our village to
bring us a warning. He told us of a
massive attack that evening on Minoc and warned that Edinburgh was next.
He indicated that this attack would be more than the village could handle
alone, suggesting we call on our allies. He told us he was meeting tomorrow with Telos Agrilia of MDJ
to give him more details. Spyte has
dealt with Telos in a preceding quest involving the balron Tish’Baal.
The Defenders of Justice were heavily involved in that quest and Spyte
obviously wants to keep them involved. Spyte also indicated that there is a special
vein of gold in the mine that our miners have been unable to tap and the pirates
are after gold. He said that it is
gold which compels him as well. He
indicated there is no love lost between him and the pirate Caine, but he finds
Caine useful for information. Spyte
asked if we had found a special crystal ball. Then Ursula the pirate showed up.
She sought Fred Adams with a message for his ears only.
She refused to give the message to any other.
She displayed a grizzly item; an ear she claimed had been sliced from the
head of a cleric. She was there on
a boat named the Red Tide 2 and is Caine’s second in command.
She said she would return with her message for Fred. Spyte followed her to her ship.
We then had a massive spawn of brigands the like of which we had not seen
before. Apparently the golden elly appeared after that
and was taken to sea by the Goblins of War.
They posted the following facts, which they gleaned from this incident: ~
Goldie thinks Smithson took the Gold only by what Caine had told him ~Goldie
thinks a "bot" will take him to Gold only by what Caine had told him ~
Goldie Likes and Trusts Caine ~Goldie
gets seasick ~Goldie
likes to eat "Bg Fsh" (Sea Serpents)...don't ask ..LOL ~Goldie
says, "Smithson is gn" not dead ~Goldie
Wants "His" Mine left alone Last
night the pirate Ursula came again to the town hall at the same time that Spyte
was meeting with Telos. She
indicated she was Caine’s second in command and that Caine thought she was his
woman. Other messages were also
given to others, but they all seem to indicate the pirates want the surrender of
the town hall or a ransom (of the crystal ball?) or there will be a massive
attack on Sunday night. No exact
time was given. In
his meeting with Spyte, Telos was told that the pirates are after the golden
vein in the mine, but that they are mere pawns in the pay of a conclave of evil
wizards. Spyte also seeks the
special crystal ball for a woman who is paying him well. Spyte wears the verite gloves of Beetchel Kire from a
previous quest. When he went near
the gold pile in the cave, these gloves began to vibrate.
There is some kind of evil being or artifact buried under the gold pile.
This is what the conclave of wizards seeks.
This item or being is VERY evil and powerful.
Telos also felt that the phrase Smithson repeated, “No dest object
variable found,” means the crystal ball can be used to communicate with
Smithson. The golden elemental
appears to be a form of protective magic to guard the gold in the cave and keep
folks from discovering what lies beneath. Apparently
Smithson was attacked by the elementals and “killed” for breeching the
protective gold. He is not truly
dead, however, but under a spell. Additionally, Spyte and Ursula have had a “thing” in the past. Caine is apparently aware of this former relationship and hates Spyte. There is still some interest between Ursula and Spyte. We may be able to use this information to our advantage.
Let me begin by saying that many of the
persons and items referred to in the following tale were part of a preceding
quest. Stories of this quest can be
found in the Stratics news archives under the following titles: “The Banishing
of a Daemaon,” “Daemon Tishba’al Defeated in Yew Crypts,” “The
Salvation of Lord Kire,” “Of Men and Madness,” “The Truth Revealed,”
“The Ghost of Eric Returns,” and “Rats Plague Britain Farmlands.”
Characters from that quest who feature in ours are Spyte the Knife,
Beetchel Kire, Lord Stanton Kyre and Anton Wyrgant. An artifact of great importance also appeared in that story,
the special verite armor of Lord Kyre. Last even I received an urgent message from
my old friend Telos Agralia. I did
my apprenticeship as blacksmith under his tutelage and I know him as a man of
great courage and wisdom. He was the main contact from the Tishba’al quest and
Spyte has involved him with the Edinburgh quest.
He keeps books locked down in the Brazen Monkey tavern, his home in
Felucca. Last even he found a
message there from Beetchel Kire asking that they meet.
Upon meeting with Beetchel, he was given an important book, The
Journal of Stanton Kyre. Kyre
is an ancestor of Beetchel. After
reading the tale set forth in the book, Telos journeyed to Empath Abbey, where
he met with Anton Wyrgant, a Priest of Justice.
Wyrgant told Telos what he knew from his studies of these events of long
ago. What follows is a compilation
from these two sources. Telos sent
me a pigeon saying he had information of great import to share with the Village
Council. I hastily called together those members who were available: myself,
Dearro of Moh, Watts and Chyna. This
is the information that Telos shared with the Council. Four generations ago, Archon of Minoc ruled
as king of that region. He ruled
with a firm hand, and created enemies who were jealous of his position for
Archon was unwilling to share any of his power.
A group of these enemies formed a council of evil mages, which they named
the Necromari. They determined to
wrest the throne from Archon, but were not satisfied to merely take his life and
usurp the throne. The Necromari
wished to make Archon suffer, by taking the land and then killing off Archon’s
subjects one by one till only Archon remained.
These evil mages then planned, having destroyed before his eyes all that
he loved, to torture the king slowly to death. To affect this end, the Necromari sought to
create an artifact of great evil and power.
This vile object would enable them to achieve their wicked desires.
The mages commissioned a great tinker and mage, Scaramandine to create
this loathsome device. The artifact he created was named the Orb of Soul Seeking.
The Orb was able to reach out and latch onto a man’s very soul.
It would not kill him immediately, but would lead his mind into madness
as his body was leached of all vitality. The
unfortunate victim would become more and more emaciated, skin withering to the
bone. In the end, the Orb of Soul
Seeking would absorb the soul of the unfortunate victim and that person would be
beyond all hope of resurrection. Its
first victim was Scaramandine, its creator. By absorbing the souls of its victims, the
Orb would assimilate the person’s knowledge.
Over time, the artifact became intelligent, a sentient being of
malevolent purpose. The artifact
chooses its own master or perhaps victim is the better term, for all who have
attempted to master it have been destroyed and their souls absorbed. The Necromari came to fear the device, but
still wished to control if for its power. Working
out of their base in the ancient dungeon of Wrong, they hid the Orb in a secure
location, taking care to shield themselves from its power by using a pure
element—gold. Now the mages began to kill the population
of Minoc in earnest. Archon
immediately sent out a call for every great fighter of virtue to come to the aid
of Minoc. He formed an army to
attack the Necromari and silence the Orb. Lord
Stanton Kyre was chosen to lead this army of heroes.
As leader of the army, Kyre was supplied with a special suit of armor.
This suit was made of verite obtained from a meteor that had fallen to
the earth. The armor was then enchanted to make it impervious to the
magic of the orb. King Archon put a second plan into motion,
unbeknownst to Kyre. He hired a
thief to steal the Orb. It is
unclear why he did this. Maybe as a
fall back plan if Kyre failed in his attack, maybe because he lusted fot the
power of the orb for himself. Lord
Kyre led a successful attack against the Necromari, taking the dungeon of Wrong,
but as Stanton pulled his sword from the body of the last mage to fall, he
learned that the Orb of Soul Seeking was gone. No one knew what had happened to the Orb or
the thief who had stolen it. The
killing stopped and with the passing of the years, the Orb was forgotten. That is until Smithson unwittingly uncovered that artifact.
This is the object that lies buried in the Edinburgh mine.
The ore that covers it presently shields us.
It is the Orb itself that calls forth the golden elementals, which arise
from the ore itself. With the
smelting of these elementals, the power of this shield has been diminished.
We must not let the shield of ore be broken! The only way the Orb can be controlled is
by one wearing the specially enchanted armor of Lord Kyre.
Unfortunately this armor is in the possession of Spyte the Knife, who
received it as payment for betraying his former master, the daemon TishBa’al.
Whoever wears the armor and seizes the Orb of Soul Seeking, that person
will wield the power of a god. Spyte
is aware of the armor’s special properties.
He is a man loyal only to himself. We
must get the armor from Spyte in some manner and give it to a warrior of great
virtue, one who will not be seduced by the great power the Orb would place in
his or her hands. Aside from the enchanted verite armor, the
only element that will shield the wearer from the power of the Orb is gold.
All should equip themselves with golden armor and shields and array
themselves in cloth of golden hue. While
an imperfect shield, gold will provide some degree of protection from the
Orb’s power. All miners should work diligently to gather as many golden
ingots as possible. All smiths
should devote their time to crafting these ingots into golden armor.
We call on all to bring forth their golden ingots, that they may be
crafted into armor. Additionally, it should be noted that two
evil men, long thought to be dead, have reappeared in Sosaria. Jonathan Rye and Gideon Night have both appeared in Edinburgh
in the past week. There is a strong
possibility that these two may be part of the Necromari, risen once again to try
and wrest to themselves the power of the Orb of Soul Seeking. Prepare!
An Article from Stratics
Yesterday, our village of Edinburgh withstood a series of vicious attacks, which continued throughout the day. Most of the attacks centered about the Orb of Soul Seeking, which had removed itself from the Edinburgh mine to our coast. There it lay, on the spot where Ursula's corpse had been found. Late in the afternoon, Scaramandine II appeared, attempting to cast some sort of spell over the artifact, again saying "Eh Loh Kla Teh." He failed in his efforts to gain control of the Orb, however, and left in frustration, promising attacks that evening. With his departure, a massive spawn of brigands appeared which was beaten back only with great loss of life.
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