The Grail

"AND SO THE BLOOD OF ORCILL FLOODED OVER THE LANDS NEWLY BORN. IN THE WAVES OF THE BLOOD WERE BIRTHED NEW BEINGS WHEREVER THE BLOOD WOULD FLOW. AND IT CAME TO PASS THAT THE BLOOD RAN THIN, AND DRIED INTO THE SOILS OF ISLES ACROSSED THE KNOWN REALMS. YET HIDDEN AWAY FROM THE EYES OF GODS AND MORTALS ALIKE THERE WAS BLOOD. AND IT CAME TO PASS THAT IT REMAINED HIDDEN, TIL FOUND BY SOME PRYING EYE AND CLAWING HAND." -- excerpt from the Holy Text of the Voquiban Rangers of North Terran, dated around the beginning of the Age of Man, 42,000-40,000 B.V. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUPerIOR Record 00000000--5376--VARIABLE--USURP--CORONA--MYTHIC--137833

High Librarian Povrieck, Iurvings --- SUMMARY

The term, "The Grail" in this case refers to a small structure composed of an as of yet not-entirely-identified metalloid substance that, at one point, contained approximately 750 Frelles of the preserved blood of Orcill Juneya, also known as the "First Blood". The structure is approximately 120 centics tall, tapered from a bottom circumference of 60 centics, to a middle circumference of 15 centics, which continues until the structure concludes with a carrying vessel approximately 25 centics in diameter, 45 centics tall, with an internal liquid volume of approximately 900 Frelles. This structure was recovered, at the conclusion of a long term operation of all sectors of the Knights, by Captain Commander of the Watcher's Knights Alweyn Darv Videt. It was found upon an altar structure made of solid gold, shaped in ways characteristic of a particular cult - the Children of the Wind. The altar was located within a Cathedral located near the Ferund Hills of Anibock East, which was breached only after longwinded combat with, and the several months-long active search for the entity known primarily as "Old Coyote". The process of recovering The Grail begins in 194 AV, when Fables and rumours began to be spread across the Isles near Southern Daphon of a Creature of the night that had been luring hundreds if not thousands of children away from home for purposes at that time unknown. Officers of the Knights Inquisitor began to take note of these stories and, in cooperation with local chapters of the Knights Regular and of the Rangers, discovered that there had been a rash of children gone missing without cause over the past decade, totalling in conservative estimation at over 19,000. The stories and causes of these dissappearances, regrettably dismissed often as the ramblings of grieving parents and the imaginings of other children, almost universally involved a unique and ominous figure. They went by many names in many tales, but the most common term was "Coyote", others being "The Piper", "Pied Piper", "Siren", "Old Witch", "Baba Yaga", "Krampus", "Man of the Sack", "Baubas", "The Wolf", "The Raven Man", "The Crying Woman", and many more. This figure was later identified as, indeed, Coyote, a member of the group of Immortals known as the Children of Earth and Sky. Somewhat unknown to the wider academic community, he had been hibernating in the lands of Daphon until awoken by the actions of the Twelfth Daphonid High Sage. This Sage, known by the title the "Mad King", was one of the most powerful users of Magick the Isles had ever known. In the process of a ritual of Sagery, this Daphonid constructed a Locus over the course of 101 years of concentration with the intended purpose of serving as a vessel for the remaining scraps of the "First Blood". The First Blood has long been believed by most magical authorities to be one of, if not the, most powerful mystic objects in the Isles. The substance served as the medium between the creative force of the greater K'Reai and the depths of Death, becoming imbued with creative powers seen by no other being nor substance in the Isles' history. In the process of creating this vessel, it was presumed that this Sage died from the effort. It was later revealed over the course of the investigation that the newly awakened Coyote killed the Sage King and stole away the grail. Although the First Blood was believed to have been permanently absorbed into the fabric of the Isles, it became apparent over the course of the investigation that certain deposits of the First Blood remained hidden away. The Grail, beyond simply being able to collect these deposits, could also detect them and granted its holder visions of their location. Coyote, after acquiring the Grail, had been pursuing the acquisition of these hidden First Blood deposits for over a decade to 44 AV. The kidnapping of children more than likely was a means to an end for Coyote, as it appears, though never tested, that sacrificing children to, or having children worship the Grail, makes the visions of First Blood locations more clear, and may even grant the holder of the grail small wishes. Consul Barrion Owilleerin, the current Consul Regular of South Daphon - Perimi West sent an official request for investigative support to Odysseus, Blessed Knight of the Inquisitors. An investigative Company was sent under the leadership of High Knight Erec Cleonora. The various stories of survivors and of victimized families revealed a common set of themes and circumstances;
"I was rounding up the boys who had gone out to the woods, a fog had rolled in. It happens this time of year, what with the rains and the heat, but it was thicker than usual. It was already dark, or at least seemed dark, which was strange for the warmer months, so I was in a hurry to get them. I fetched almost all of them and sent them back with the dog. They go out to play in that stretch of the wood often, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for them to be so far back in but I had this uneasiness about it. Eventually I came into this large grove, hunter's grove we called it because it was a big divot and deer and boar would run in and have hard times climbing back out, and I was worried the boys would have the same trouble. When I got near it I heard this sort of whimsical whistling noise, from where it was coming I didnt know. I swiped through the fog as best I could and finally came upon one of the boys, the Tryull's kid, who was standing still, staring ahead at the other side of the pit. I grabbed him and shook him to get him to snap out of it. He was gasping and starting to cry and he pointed over to the other side of the pit. I started to rush over there but stopped in my tracks, as soon as I saw what the boy was pointing towards. The other two boys were near the far side of the pit from where I first entered. Both of them were paralyzed in the same way the first kid was, staring ahead at the wall of the ditch. Ahead of them, crawling down over the dirt, was this monstrous dog-like man, whistling on some strange set of pipes. The boys seemed to be fearfully captivated, unable to step away, and so I screamed and rushed towards them, not knowing what I could even. The dog-thing turned towards me, which stopped his playing the pipes. The boys seemed to wake up, and began to scream at the top of their lungs. The second before I could reach them, the dog-thing waved its hand and a wall of fiery dust flew up from the ground at me and tossed me backwards, and burned my face and hands. It was tremendously painful, like little knives dragging themselves into my flesh. You can see my skin, its covered in these purple scars now - the doctor started to count once, he gave up at 300 and he hadn't even finished one arm. It seemed to dance around over my skin, stabbing and tearing all over me. I writhed on the ground as I heard the screams of the boys and opened my eyes just enough to see the dog-thing stuff the two of them into a huge leathery sack and run away. The tryull's kid came over to me, still yelling back towards town for help. A few moments later the rest of the town came over and as I drifted unconscious from my wounds, I felt myself lifted up and carried back to town. The Doctor, Dr. Catav for those who dont know him, was the one who carried me back, along with Father Tryull, and they say the dust was covering my body and glowing bright orange until they left the fog of the woods. It got on their hands when they picked me up and started to burn them too a little, they've still got some scarring on their fingers. The Tryull boy was fine, as were the other kids, and he told all what had happened while I was under. The only kids that had been lost were Ernith Festure and Plessy Markon. Their families were inconsolable. I was treated by the doctor up until two weeks ago after that, though we never figured out what that dust was. Its been a month and a half since it happened. I tried my best to save all the kids. If my telling you my story can help you find that dog thing then I'll tell you everything you want; you can have my help, my property, my life if you want it, I don't really care anymore. I just want to see if we can get the kids back. Failing that, whatever that demon was that stole them away; I want him dead." -- Jornun Sarduss, a shepherd and children's caretaker in the farming town of Cuverbon, and the only adult witness of the last recorded instance of a kidnapping performed by Old Coyote and the Children of the Wind.
Whence plotted upon a map of Daphon, revealed a trail of frequency correlations suggesting that those performing the kidnappings were oriented near the Order of Daphonid Sages. The Daphonid Order, although no longer the official government of Daphon, having been replaced with the Confederation of Daphonian Poleis in AV 19, still maintained extreme prestige and power. Not only were they held up by the people of Daphon and of the Isles at large as kinds of religious authorities, they furtherly were some of the most powerful and influential users of Magick in the Isles. The High Daphonid, leader of the Order, was the twelfth - known colloquially as the "Mad King". The Twelfth Daphonid had extended their lifespan far beyond natural circumstance by means of dark magick and garnered a reputation for abusive, tormentuous, and horrifying experimentation. It was this anecdotal reputation and the plot of instances of kidnappings that caused the Inquisitors to begin making preparations for an invasion of the Daphonid Palace. The Blessed Knights, knowing that the Daphonid were an extremely powerful and seclusionary organization, believed that their presence would not only cause the Daphonid to potentially permit a search if ordered, but may prevent the consequences of violent outbreaks. A contingent of 1,000 Knights Regular from across Daphon were dispatched to join the Blessed Knights for the breach of the Daphonid City, but, when they reached the gates of the walled city, they were let inside without struggle, only to find a group of heavily armed survivors barricaded within the city's outer quadrants. It was learned at that point that the central compound surrounding the palace of the Mad King was occupied by around half of the Daphonid Order, which had been persuaded away to join and become the "Children of the Wind", a cult that was specifically dedicated to the creation of some dark object of Sagery, which, it was later discovered, was the Grail. The Mad King had been corrupted by some evil spirit, founding the Children of the Wind, and spending over a century in mystical concentration to construct a device specifically for the holding of the First Blood. The Blessed knights then breached the central compound, fighting heavy resistance until breaching the Temple Mount. The Altar of the Grail, where the device was assembled, was discovered, along with the long-dead body of the Mad King. After capturing and interrogating the highest ranking remaining sage that had been corrupted, they learned of Coyote and of the current plot of the Grail. Despite having an exceptionally large assembled force at the Daphonid compound, the Blessed Knights resolved to have only a small detachment of stealth forces for a scouting mission to discover the situation ahead. It had been explained to the Blessed Knights that Coyote and the rest of the Cult had fled to the North of Daphon, in order to regroup around what was known as the "Grim Temple", a former sacrificial grounds of some ancient society that had been captured by the Daphonid in ages past.

Item type

Unique Artifact