The Master Of Zooz

[Malchik]

The Temple of Freedom is not in the High City and there is some problem at the check point with Aldhelm not having the correct paperwork. However when the guards notice that your one day extensions have been granted by the Palace, they accept your story that he must have dropped his pass. You collect your weapons at the bottom of the long walk.

 

The ancient temple in Kolokon conforms to the pattern of all ancient temples. It has three levels. (The ground level is where shrines to gods and goddesses are found, altars for offerings etc. The lower level is for funerary monuments to the famous and departed. Below this, reached via a trap door, is an ossuary. )

 

However two things have happened. The funerary monuments and bones have all been removed leaving the two lower levels empty. You find out that the items removed have been placed in the Skull Temple at Ippikander which is in itself used as a museum of the 8 ancient temples. These objects require special protection and someone has decided Ippikander is the best site to hold them all. It may be assumed the same has occured at other temples too. (Aldhelm has gone below ground level only at Dohoti which has its monuments and bones in situ.)

 

Secondly the place feels dead, as if a vital ingredient is missing. The upper floor contains monuments to sundry local deities - Shlepp, the god of travel; Shamooz, the goddess of false friendship, Qitara, the god of seashells and Hyte the goddess of mountains. You make an offering at each shrine but get the impression that for some reason this level is as 'empty' as the others. The architecture is dull. Perhaps there is something about Kolokon itself....

 

None of you feels there is anything to help you here. A priest of Shamooz is the only other person in the place.

[DragonDudeAW]

Aldhelm approaches the priest of Shamooz, "Exscuse me sir, perhaps you could give me a bit of background about this temple and the artifacts that it once held?"

[Malchik]

Thr priest turns to you with a smile. "A devotee of the goddess perhaps? So few understand. They think she encourages false friendship when indeed she gives you the power to see when it is false. Never trust anyone. That way you can't be betrayed! Ah, well the artifacts that were here? It was before I came but I understand they didn't work. Or that is to say no-one knew what they were meant to do, if indeed they ever did anything. Whatever it was, some thought they should do something but couldn't because of the problem with magic in Kolokon. They might have been right or wrong. It's one of those imponderables. Not that we had much. Bones of course in the ossuary but that goes without saying. A few chipped urns and shields. We didn't have any of those glowing statues you find in Ippikander, Golconar and Dohoti. It was all pretty dull really. There was a book I remember being told. It was in code, or might have been. Nobody knew what it was really. It talked of eleven children and called them Dark Portals. But it didn't make sense. It was the eleven you see. Eleven children and eleven letters. Still, it was all nonsense I reckon. But I'm blathering on."

 

He glances at the party.

 

"No false friends here that I can see, may Shamooz bless you."

[phawk69]

"I'm sorry, did you say the eleven? I don't understand," T'skar questions, "Should that make some kind of sense?"

[DragonDudeAW]

"The number eleven has no semblance that I know of. The group of brothers that I have been trying to find, the ones that have been disrupting the balance of the magic and ether, has only five members. Whom these eleven dark portals are referring to is outside of my knowledge."

 

Turning back to the priest, "If I wanted to find more information on this book, where might I look besides looking for the book itself? Is there anything you could perhaps suggest?"

[Malchik]

"The book I presume is in Ippikander. If you want to double check that there is an archive here attached to the local newspaper. Obviously you won't want to read through all the back copies but the woman in charge knows quite a lot about what is there. She knows quite a lot about many things. She is not a follower of Shamooz I am afraid. If you go there, ask for Darasha. As for 'the eleven', I'm surprised you have not come across it before. It is an old Bashkheri folk tale about a group of powerful magic users who would be nearly invincible if they all came together. In the tale they are children who are all but immortal. They had things in common such as parents that died tragically or from whom they have become separated."

 

He laughs.

 

"It is but a myth. I remember hearing an old friend talking of a Child of Water, fishboy, whose name began with a P and I think one was called Kyrikki and had something to do with Fire. But there are no immortal children in Bashkher. The lives of most are squalid and short. The book gave eleven kinds of magic and the message Dark Portals. As far as I know that was all. Others try to link it to the myth. But wouldn't we have heard of children of Death or Healing if they existed and how could there be children of Time or the Mind? No. But it is a book of great age - a magnet to scholars and cranks alike. Talk to Darasha if you need to be sure where it is now."

 

He smiles again.

 

"I am afraid I must go. There are seventy shrines to Shamooz in Kolokon and I must visit each one daily to deal with any offerings. I'm afraid sometimes others are tempted to steal even from holy places."

 

He nods politely and hurries away.

[phawk69]

As they move on their way to the newspaper office, T'skar moves a little closer to Aldhelm. "My name is T'skar, and it looks like we are quite a few displaced people on this quest. There is something you might need to know, though. We had a little 'incident' in Dohoti that has alerted a fairly powerful Mind Wizard as to some of our 'activities'. We also nearly were captured when we came to port in Biksinder, and learned that it was the wife of a very powerful man who sent the welcoming party. She resides in Ippikander, so we may run into a little trouble there." Smiling rakishly, she raises her voice to the rest of the group, "On a more possitive note, I think we know who the 'Child of Ice' is anyway. But what good does that do us? I suppose it will become more clear in Ippikander." Shrugging, she moves back into the crowd, moving with the rest.

[Malchik]

You have some luck. Darasha, a short, elderly woman, with a face that shows she smiles often, is in the archive and not at that moment busy.

 

In response to your question about the book formerly at the Temple of Freedom she laughs.

 

"Very popular so I arranged for copies to be made. Let me give you one. It seems to interest all kinds of people although it actually has practically nothing inside."

 

The book is copied in handwriting but legible. Cover and fly sheet bear the words 'Dark Portals'. Then comes a list that resembles chapter headings numbered 1 - 11 as follows:-

 

1. Love

2. Healing

3. Light

4. Fire

5. Water

6. Air

7. Mind

8. Time

9. Death

10. Life

11. Earth

 

Anyone with knowledge of Tagfier would recognise the nine schools of magic studied in El Rhun plus the banished school of Life. Only 'love' seems out of place.

 

Each consecutive page then has the number and name at the top as chapter headings but nothing written beneath them.

 

Darasha nods as you look at it. "Many study it and some come back to see if I can help further. I can't. But they do occasionally give me their theories. One mage mentioned that he had heard rumours of a glowing child being hidden by the Sardani, a Wanderer tribe in Tagfier. He said her name was Rezi and she could be a child of Light. It prompted him to speculate that these 'eleven' may not be in Bashkher but spread throughout Zorlon. You really need to talk to a mage and we don't get them in Kolokon often because magic does not work here."

 

She sees you are genuinely interested in the list.

 

"There is an fascinating rumour attached to the name of our Temple. You may know that even though there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of temples throughout the land, only 8 are very old. In the days of prehistory it seems somehow the temples became connected in some way with an evil cult or group or man, the rumours are vague on the point. All were tainted except Kolokon and it became known as the Temple of Freedom because it was possible to worship here without risk of being affected. The curse or whatever it was has long since been exorcised - well..."

 

She rubs her nose.

 

"There have been odd disturbances reported in these old temples of late. All have had them except the Sea Temple in Papred and here. And in the case of Papred there could have been disturbances we haven't learned of. It is no longer used and sees so few visitors they might not have been observed. And of course the Government may have suppressed any suggestions of strange activity for reasons of their own. In Ippikander for example there has been so much weirdness only the upper floor may be visited. To get to the old sections you need a pass available only from Arminder Sagrami herself. And as she is not the most helpful person in Bashkher I suspect that is unlikely to materialise. Unless of course you have something she wants enough. Something like a cream that makes her look twenty years younger for example."

 

Darasha laughs. She obviously knows a lot about the country's first lady.

[karkarinus]

"This is indeed an enigma." Says Kalmer slowly. "Though not a great magic user myself, these are unquivocably the nine schools of magic that are studied in El Rhun on Tagfier! But something is amiss. Life magic was banished long ago, and as far as I know, Love magic has never existed. And another thing," He turns to Darasha, "I was under the impression that the existence of my homeland was unknown to anyone beyond it. Until I arrived here, we were indeed oblivious to the existence of other lands."

 

Kalmer turns back to Aldhelm and T'Skar. "I know of the Sardani, as - I am sure - do you. They are a strange lot, but generally keep themselves to themselves, at least where my folk are concerned. But what on Tagfier would they be doing with a glowing child?!?"

[Malchik]

Darasha purses her lips. "There are a few of us who know of the fate of Zorlon and understand that most people are aware only of the dimension in which they live. I could see you were not native to Bashkher and assumed you were of those few and had arrived via Colembaru as the others do. And it seems I am correct as you are from Tagfier yourselves. As for the rumour, I cannot attest its truthfulness. As I said, it was a travelling mage who told me. He had been to Tagfier and other parts of Zorlon. I am afraid though that while I know of Colembaru's gateways I do not know how they work. So I have never been able to use them myself. To be frank, I am not sure I would want to at my age."