Cade's Notes

Relating to House Atreides and the History of Numina Anterth

First Event

• There is a gateway that's sealed by magic that's nigh impossible to dispel- but an ancient and we believe otherworldly draconic warns us that something is being "sealed in"
• Of course Mold then touches the door and we basically all scrambled to follow up only to be in near darkness against some feasting deep dwellers
• The remains of the party before us are but scraps and melted flesh, it smells horrible and it looks like they didn't make it any farther in-- perhaps our quarry is much smarter than that
• The others are wary of Darius and while I know he is hiding something, I do not doubt his persistence and want to get to wherever we are going. It is a bridge we will cross later. For now, I believe we have found the cultists who delved ahead of us

Second Event

• We have found a temple of some sorts. A temple whose secrets are revealed by the light of the moon- shed by Damian's axes
• The walls are rebuilt in moonlight, projected all around us and this place is grand and beautiful and hard to believe that this is a place that can give birth to a dark that can take the world
• Judging by the writings, this place is as old as the writing and if Darius is to be believed. This dates back to the Brink of Existence- maybe even before.
• I found a wall. A wall with a mural of four dragons. A platinum, a gold, a gem, and one gleaming white... two are on either side of a cloud-like mist with eyes of its own in the center. Of course I touched it--
• And of course, I was granted a vision-- of a slaughter, of a temple, of this place high above nearly touching the stars and overlooking a beautiful landscape... Numina Anterth of the past?
• A woman- a priestess?- despairs as she touches a mural and calls upon their "protection"-- perhaps these dragons were worshipped long before? Revered? Is this a temple to them?
• She doesn't live long as when she turns a warrior tainted by scales of a black dragon runs her through with a blade of black obsidian-- carved and curved and made for death
• I can feel what she feels, hear what she hears and I feel the fear and regret, I can hear the chaos and the screams and orders for the place to be cleansed in the name of... Astarot -- so, it is an ancient name, a very ancient name
• I recall the stars most of all and the knowledge of where we are-- the tallest peak in all of Numina Anterth that oversees the valleys and plains and all of its people, dedicated and-- she fades along with the vision as she looks up at the stars.
• The others touch the mural with the moonlight and are witness to the same... and we all know now-- whatever we are facing, tried to escape before

Fifth Event

• The moonlight touches further and lights our way with every step. We have been walking alongside a mystical warrior. He's always ahead of us and we are merely following him instead of the whispers that beckon us forward. The warrior holds himself how I imagine a paladin of old-- regal and focused, a relentless power moving through and the walls around him are crumbled that much isn't changing. So, he had come here after the wreckage and the sacking of this place-- he had come too late.
• We followed him through a dead town and lingering shades-- scaled creatures with red eyes. Silent and shadow-dwelling, they shrinked back from the moonlight and did not bother us.
• For his safety, we left behind Akshan with some moonlight and beserkers to protect him-- and we followed the warrior to a true temple-- one with a massive carved dragon sixty feet tall that still fell at least two stories short of the ceiling. The temple in the moonlight is beautiful but broken-- all but the statue of what we see is Rezellion...
• The spear-bearing warrior stopped in the center of the temple and we couldn't hear what he said, the moonlight only shows us, but cannot give us all of the past. From the base of the dragon emerges the killer we've seen before-- the one with the black dragon taint.
• For the first time, we're able to pass the warrior and I can see him fully now. The billowing cloak hid the fact that he was shirtless, but similarly to Damian he was armored from the waist below. The cape was anchored to him with what looks to be leather straps around his shoulders and a brooch with a blazing symbol clasps the cloth together. I cannot see his face for it is behind a helm and his eyes are glowing, perhaps it is the limitation of the vision but his whole face is obscured by light with the brightest around where his eyes would have been seen. (Darius tells me the sigil I sketched is of House Atreides... I must tell Evie)
• The warrior and the killer lunged towards each other-- and in the exchange of blows, I saw claws rake against his chest, but instead light pulsed from the strike, revealing what looked to be armor of light-- the vision faded then...

Type

Journal, Personal