“Aeson Sunson, Korolful’s Earthstar, Son of Rigsdal the Polestar and Friendfast of Orlanth, I am Kallyr Enerin’s Daughter, the Starbrow, Queen of the Kheldon and Once Prince of Sartar, and you are my only hope…”
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Fireday, Harmony Week, Storm Season 1626
Aeson was awakened from a bad dream by a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder. Though it was still cold and dark, a storm raged. He was covered in cold-sweat. Then he noticed that a soft, twinkling glow remained in his room. A liminal hand made of stardust reached out to comfort him. A voiced soothed him. It was Kallyr Starbrow, the rebel queen who summoned the Dragonrise and destroyed the New Lunar Temple, who drove Fazzur from Dangerford to avenge Tarkalor, who tried and failed the Lightbringer’s Quest, who tried and failed to light the flame of Sartar, who died at the hands of King Pharandros’ sorceror-assassins on a hilltop at Two Sisters, and whom Queen Leika of the Colymar burned upon her pyre.
Kallyr told a story. Though beautiful and made-through of stars, she showed Aeson the Dolorous Wound that never healed. It was that wound, she said, that kept her spirit bound in her body, that kept her dead, and hid her soul from everyone who was looking for it. When Leika finally lit her pyre and her body burned, her spirit was free and she returned to Rigsdal’s Court in the Sky World.
But Rigsdal had been looking for her, too. When her spirit had not arrived in the Sky World, he sent many scouts out into the worlds to find her. One of them, a Star Captain named Antaersus from the House of the Hunter, fell somewhere upon the Cinder Pits and was trapped by a forgotten god there whom no one now recalled. Kallyr now wanted Aeson’s help in finding and returning Antaersus to the sky.
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Wildday, Harmony Week, Storm Season 1626
To obey Kallyr’s geas, we travelled to Old Man to speak with the Orlmarth Ring to learn what they might know about the Cinder Pits and receive whatever aid that might give us. Berrik wanted especially to speak to the Kolating, Stands Aside. The shaman spoke little but said what was important, telling us he knew the Star Captain was in a particular pit, among other spirts, held there by a dead god.
No one ever goes there.
Berrik wished the shaman to make an enchantment to protect against spirits for him, which the shaman did. Stands Aside also told us to take water, and we visited the Helering, Blue Arvale, for that. She gave us a small amphora of water from her basin. Armed with the Kolating and Helering magic, we climbed the ridges towards the Cinder Pits.
As the land changed around us from wintergreen snows to heated rubble and ash, we found the large pit, belching fumes, fire, and smoke. A fractured stone gate of ancient design, certainly a relic of the Illavan Clan, lead to a paved path that spiraled down into the crater.
We’re not in Nymie anymore.
We found ourselves in a great subterranean cavern, a pit of fire, smoke, and ruins surrounding a melted obsidian tower. We were not alone, for the below us we could see a few tall men with mottled ash and red skin, who bore the runes of Sky and Death, and many urzani. Other liminal spirits of earth and fire moved all around us. We moved quietly, not wishing to call attention to ourselves.
We found a unsealed but once-opened tomb on the passage downward. Though we could only translate fragments of the ancient Theyalan script carved upon it, we explored it, angering the ghost inside. We had no proper offerings, and those we tried he resolutely refused. Fearing to anger the ghost further, we apologized and resealed the tomb.
Soon after, a wandering urzani came upon us and though it demanded us to stop, it was not aggressive towards us. It brought us to one of the ash-and-red men, who in turn brought us before a man named Philoren, who claimed to be the majordomo of this place. Philoren told us he and his men were shadzorings. His lord, Verinus, was summoned, and we awaited his arrival in a throne room of sorts, surrounded by ancient ruins, shadzorings, and urzani.
And, thus, we met the Sky Lord Verinus of the Pit.
Places and People
The Cinder Pits .
In a Gods War battle pitting the storm gods against the sky gods, this was the place the dead gods were cast down and burned. It is fuming bowl of ash and smoke. Loud noises can sometimes be heard coming from within. It lies within the bounds of the Orlmarth tula. No one from the Colymar Tribe has entered the Cinder Pits since the Lunar conquest in 1602 ST. No one goes there, and no one who does comes back.
The Ghost of Kallyr .gG
Kallyr Starbrow, Queen of the Kheldon Tribe, was foremost amongst the rebels fighting the Lunar occupation and in her time she was the greatest Orlanthi hero since Sartar and Harmast. A member of the Royal House of Sartar, many hoped she was the Argrath liberator when she raised an army against the Empire in 1613. However, that rebellion was crushed by the wily general, Fazzur Wideread. After that, the Lunars have caught her several times but never managed to keep her. For many years she lived in exile in Heortland with King Broyan of the Volsaxi.
Kallyr was a Vingan, never wedded nor bedded since she took the oath to free Sartar. She travelled to the Sky World and defeated a god. Afterwards, she bore its power in a jewel set in her forehead. Aloof and ruthless, she was relentless in her pursuit of a liberated land and people.
She became Prince of Sartar and made the Dragonrise that destroyed the New Lunar Temple and drove the Lunars from Sartar after a generation of occupation.
She once lead an army of holy fighters called the Candle Dancers, who could run on air or water, and included ten heroes from old times come back to help her, though they were destroyed by Alkothi demon-men at Dangerford. The loss of her Candle Dancers led Kallyr to commit to her rushed and disastrous Lightbringer’s Quest.
She died at the Battle of the Queens and could not be resurrected.
Philoren the Tall .l,
A shadzoring, this red-hued man towers over even Aeson and is extremely thin. An unkempt black beard dangles past his waist. At his side is a shining shield wider than Aeson’s shoulders, which depicts a snarling god with flaming hair.
Lord Verinus .cj
A shadzoring, like his second-in-command, but his skin is as crimson as the setting sun, with patches of ashen grey, and he is covered with numerous scars from battle. He is shorter than Piloren, massive where the other is thin, and neatly clean-shaven. He arms are as strong as iron rods, and his smile is perpetually curled with a permanent sneer.
Foundry Chat Log