Azimuth 2 - Session 38 - The Prophets of Regression
General Summary
New Keeleon
Urgent Sendings
After resting in the Chamber of Titles, the Lightbringers sent several urgent Sending messages. Gertrude warned Bishop Rannyl of the genasi and Tarterian Traders, and said to guard the Flower of the King. She also told her brother, Gerlach, to find and protect Romsca’s sister, Yeempa. Romsca warned Hceehc of the Golden Fur about the Prophets of Regression. She said to beware repeating their history with empty promises. She also reached out to Yeempa, telling her to be ready for Gerlach’s contact. Ilmendwyth sent a coded message through his Sending Stone. He said the Prophets of Regression were hunting the Four Great Beasts to recreate the Severance. He also warned their “raven might be a vulture”.Letters and Forgery
Over the course of the next days, the group dug into the research, journals, and materials found in the Commandment of Sky Guildhall and the rooms beneath it. Chaka first shared the letters he found in the research room after the battle.Azariel, this cult built by Nabat’s follower is out of control and risking everything. Totally devoted to completing Nabat’s mission, but at any cost. I’ll eliminate him, then Gorod, and clean— WATCHGUARD IS HERE
Maalik’s replica will arrive soon, and then we can try again. And if it’s not powerful enough, Nabat was working on finding one of the other three. See if you can continue that work. We don’t have all the pieces to repair the Leviathan’s Key, not unless we get the crown to crush the rebellion and take Her new pet down first. Beburous went to find some extra insurance for the next attempt. He’s expecting us to be ready when he returns. – AzarielIn Talmid’s office, they found an incomplete document. It seemed to be signed by Oknar Jod of Porgorag and was addressed to Watchguard Inzun. It called for the immediate arrest of Borscha Brickwell and the recovery of a dangerous item. They felt it was an in-progress forgery and likely and attempt to get the Eight-Pronged Residuum Ring from the Darksteel Foundry. The group theorized on the implications of these messages, but they came to more questions. They sought answers in the studies and writings found in the genasi’s research over the next days. It took time to sort through it and determine what was relevant and important.
Goals of the Prophets
Maalik’s journal discussed the Prophets of Regression. Beburos was the leader and the one with the drive pushing the group’s goal. He had approached Maalik, Azariel, and Nabat “decades ago”. Maalik felt unease towards Beburos, however this was soothed by someone she referred to as her Patron. Both Beburos and Maalik’s Patron seemed to be sources of rare information. Nabat’s role was research into the Four Great Beasts and to develop a fanatical cult following of the Primordial Elementals. Maalik brought money and connections to powerful figures and to her Patron. Azariel was the muscle behind their operations, both for movement and transport, as well as threats and influence. The Prophets of Regression were seeking to bring about “The Regression”. Beburos aimed to make a world free from the Dragon pantheon. It referred to the Primordials as the original, true rulers of Azimuth. Once the Dragons were gone, the Primordials would be the only pantheon of the world.The Severance and the Great Beasts
To accomplish this goal, the Prophets sought a way to redo the Severance, a mythological event from creation stories of the world. The genasi’s research went into the myths and cultural stories surrounding the Severance, including The Cycle of Ages belief.And at the end of this time of conflict, the great Primordials receded to their planes though the doorways of the world that led them here, and the divine and their creations stood victorious, and named their prize Azimuth. Though it was not to last. Each would-be pantheon did not count the others as their allies, and they planned to claim this realm only for themselves. Fighting started anew over who would claim this prize. Gods of realms of prominence and those yet unknown warred using their creations at the loss of many lives. As those they had made dwindled and the world once more faced lifelessness, some gods, through empathy or clairvoyance, came to realize this place would never know peace while the divine could so freely influence the world and those upon it. With the effort of those gods of good, the plane was cut from the reach of all divines. Azimuth, so removed from the fabric of the vast multiverse, was set adrift, out of reach from those who’d bring only more misfortune to those precious lives that inhabited this world. And so ended the Age of Creations, and so began the Age of the Severance.After this, there were copied lines of old texts similar to the information Gertrude heard from Bishop Rannyl Grimsunder.
- “A mechanism that fuels the Tear. Four Siphons and Four Keys. The elements shall now prevent the divine.”
- “Great Beasts forged to quell the elements shall now be the guardians of the Severance.”
The Great Leviathan
The genasi chose the Great Leviathan as their target for the damage it had taken in the previous age. Using the unsigned painting provided by Beburos, they created the Great Leviathan Bearing Stone. The four Prophets headed north to the Leviathan Sea, and in mid-Jeran 5A 351, they battled and somehow defeated the Great Leviathan. Maalik’s journal said it took everything the four of them could provide, and “Even Beburous, who never reacts, never shows pain, looked haggard after that battle.” From the Great Beast, they recovered the Leviathan’s Severance Key. After returning, they studied the Severance Key. Like the rumored effects of the Siphons, the Key absorbed elemental energy and sent divine energy away, but on a smaller scale. The effects described and the drawn diagram of the item matched the Eight-Pronged Residuum Ring. After the genasi recovered, the attempted an "entry point test". The genasi went southwards to Red Lake in late Jeran, just over eight months ago.After Red Lake
After Red Lake, the writings only contained Maalik’s handwriting in a tired and terse script. It started with, “Nabat is gone.” She wrote, “The Leviathan took everything we had. With only three of us now, we cannot hope to defeat another Great Beast.” Beburos seemed unbothered by the setback, but there was a desire from Maalik to leave this place, as it was too painful for her to be here. Some type of dangerous interaction occurred between the Severance Key and the elemental fount which resulted in the unintended blocking of Chedae’s light. The Leviathan’s Severance Key broke into three pieces at Red Lake. “The founts are not powerful enough. We have to go to the Siphons directly.” Maalik tried to make sense of what went wrong. According to her Patron, the Leviathan Key was crafted by the gods. It shouldn’t have been possible to break as it did. Maalik wondered since it was created by the divine, if only the divine could destroy it. Drawing connections, her Patron had interfered at Red Lake. Now Nabat was gone, and Maalik wanted revenge. At the time of the writing, one of the three pieces of the key was in Maalik’s possession, one was “stuck” at Red Lake, and the last was lost. She assumed that her Patron’s “new pet” may have it now. The remaining research items they found were about rumored sources of residuum. Among the locations and names was Doravelzog in the Orichalcum Peninsula, and Psaro the Manslayer's actions in Parthenia. Demitri recognized the "Mine of Spider's Bane" as an asset of Adamski Sokolov. Maalik had connections in Santeem under her given name, Zarqaa Massoud. The last item was a design schematic for a replica Severance Key, matching the Eight-Pronged Residuum Ring.The Next Days in New Keeleon
At the end of studying all this information, the group theorized what this all meant. They wondered about Maalik’s Patron and if this was related in any way to Mortimr and his Entity. Gertrude and Romsca didn’t know what redoing or undoing the Severance would mean for the Dragon pantheon. Rulla had wanted to destroy the Chamber of Titles. However, Lord Lortuk and Godsguard Shumedzar advocated to leave it for study. Lortuk said, “I’ve heard of the Primordials before, it’s part of the myth of the Severance. This is the first I’ve heard of specific names associated with any of them. I have no idea where someone would have learned all of these titles from, allegedly, over 4000 years ago.” Coinguard Holarust continued recovering, though there were rumors she was seeking a different line of work. Watchguard Stuzrog left his post in shame. Publicly, Rulla closed the guardhouse in the Catlinites and posted queensguard soldiers in their stead. Rulla ordered the closure of the Commandment of Sky Guildhall and an end to all contracts they held. The merchants of the city seemed thrilled, though it was apparent this would be hard on the city’s economy during this transition.Watermill Gallery
Chaka met with Al'phonas outside the Watermill Gallery. The remainder of the “History and Heroes” showing was cancelled and all bids cancelled while the gallery underwent repairs. Al’phonas asked what they found out about his missing Great Behemoth painting. Chaka said they weren’t able to recover it, but they did find the Great Leviathan painting. Chaka asked about the initials “S” and “E”, but Al’phonas didn’t recognize them either. Al’phonas wanted to put Chaka’s painting and the Great Leviathan painting on display at the Galleria Magnifico. Chaka originally asked his name to be left off the piece until a later time, but with encouragement from the party, he signed his art with residuum paint. Al’phonas gave Chaka three thousand gold for the group’s assistance and in exchange for displaying the paintings at his gallery. Chaka thanked him and said he looked forward to their future work together. Al’phonas said Argilla had taken in Nedurr, since he showed promise with sculpture. He said, “Tarterian artists really need to stick together; there’s not many of us.” Chaka stopped by Argilla’s home. He gave Nedurr a small painting of them as a gift. Chaka also set aside a bag of coins for Argilla, with the intent to purchase his “Paint No Mountain High Enough” painting.Lord Lortuk and Future Plans
In the late afternoon of 18 Adroth, Rulla sent Lord Lortuk to gather the Lightbringers. He started banter with Romulus, though after the busy days, he was too tired to return the mockery. On the way to Breakwater Keep, Lortuk said the crown may be more willing to openly move against the Tarterian Traders now that the genasi’s actions were in the open. Lortuk had questions for Guild Marshal Hagar Krugg. Though, with the threat of two conflicts approaching, he said he may get busy quickly. He was happy there was a group of adventurers on the task and said to expect further contact from him on behalf of the crown. Demitri was skeptical, saying, “If the genasi are pulling the crown’s strings, Lortuk, how long is it before we find ourselves at odds?” Lortuk asked what their next plans were. He said the problems caused by the genasi came down to three main parts: Cleaning up the spread of corruption over the last months, undoing whatever happened at Red Lake to bring back Chedae’s light, and preventing the Prophets of Regression from being able to do so again. The group discussed what next move would be best. Romsca’s plan was to accompany Gertrude on her quest to Red Lake. She said, “I think with the assistance she’s given, we owe that to her.” Ilmendwyth agreed. Lortuk said the Eight-Pronged Residuum Ring’s effects may be helpful against the tumultuous elemental energies currently affecting Red Lake. Romulus wanted to investigate the corruption with the ankheg nest. Arwin said helping push the corruption back at Keeleon Castle may give them more standing with the queendom to help them. The party chose Red Lake as priority, then they would cycle back to the ankheg nest to aid Ranger General Labb and Lortuk’s research into the corruption.Breakwater Keep
They reached Breakwater Keep and were brought before Nalt Oknar Rulla, Godsguard Shumedzar, and Warguard Labb. Rulla asked about their investigation and the group provided her all the information they’d gathered from the guildhall and Chamber of Titles. Rulla focused on the genasi and their goals, and she asked questions about the dangers they posed and where they could next threaten. Demitri said the genasi were running the Tarterian Traders. Rulla instructed Lortuk to take that information to the crown and “get the fuck out of my city.” Lortuk acknowledged he would do so. Rulla thanked the Lightbringers and said she had one last thing to cover with them. As Nalt Oknar, she wanted to reward them for their efforts in both New Keeleon and Porgorag. Rulla said, “A group of adventurers is why this country is here. Heroes who saved our people when we were run from Tarteria long ago. I’m hoping a group of adventurers like yourselves can help out Tarteria again.” An ornate box was presented to the group. Inside was a written decree: “To the adventuring group, the Lightbringers, for services rendered to the cities of New Keeleon and Porgorag, this deed grants ownership of the grounds of the Rill Priory for as long as the Nalt Oknar deems it so.” Rulla said, “As adventurers, I know you’re likely itching to continue on right away. But as new residents of New Keeleon, your Nalt Oknar is asking you to attend tomorrow’s Champion’s Conquest as our guests of honor.” After the meeting, Demitri approached Rulla once more. He said, “I want to state my intention of wanting to fill the position of coinguard in this city. However, I find myself at a conflict of interest, because I think, as you know, I need to continue with the Lightbringers until this whole genasi business is finished.” Rulla shared that Holarust was looking to leave her role with the city and was continuing her work until a replacement was found. Lortuk watched curiously. Rulla confirmed with Stuzrog and Labb, and she said she’d look forward to learning more about his qualifications. With exhaustion after the days of research, the group’s thoughts turned to what would come next. They needed to prep to leave south towards Red Lake, but before that, they had the Champion’s Conquest festival tomorrow.
Report Date
24 Apr 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
17 Adroth 5A 352 to 18 Adroth 5A 352