The Master Of Zooz

[phawk69]

"You have been most helpful with news on the temples, maybe you could help us with something else as well? We are wondering about the swords of Zooz, if there is anything in your archives on these weapons, or on the towns where they could be found?" T'skar queried, cautiously.

[DragonDudeAW]

" And also, perhaps you could tell us when these temple disturbances began to occur? Have these issues just arisen recently or have these issues been gradually growing in magnitude? Any information would be of great help. Also does the name Ruhir mean anything to you? "

[Malchik]

Darasha turns to T'skar.

 

"There are five swords in museums at Papred, Dohoti, Ippikander and Memtuz. There are rumours of a sword lost at sea off Golconar. Also there is a so-called expert who insists there are at least two more. According to him one was last heard of in Akitaron, a ruined city in the middle of the Shorava desert. He also believes there has to be one in Zooz, although I do not find his reasoning compelling. You may know that the swords are numbered 1 for nine, 2 for nine etc. No one has satisfactorily explained that yet. I'm just an old woman but I have to say it would seem more logical to me to expect 9 swords rather than 8."

 

She turns now to Aldhelm. "The disturbances are recent. We are usually a little behind on the news here owing to the time it takes anyone to struggle up into the mountains. It seems however to have started at the same time as that terrible problem in the swamps of Ooo. Old women being turned to stone! I hope someone finds a way to stop it spreading. Having a statue made of onesself is vanity but turning into one is a terrifying thought!"

 

She goes to look in a book.

 

"The legends of Ruhir seem largely confined to the coast between Golconar and Papred. He was a mage who travelled with a number of companions in that region. He is depicted as very charismatic but profoundly flawed. He is said to have sought immortality for himself and his companions trapping their souls in statues intending to release them when they were truly immortal. The legend is not unique to Bashkher although of course the details and names vary. I hear this from visitors. There is the story of Darendor from Levdia and Shaura on Jourtres to name but two."

 

She smiles. "Do you have more questions?"

[DragonDudeAW]

"Darendor and Shaura? What can you tell us about these legends? And are there more of mortals seeking immortality as Ruhir apparently did?"

[Malchik]

OOC> Goodness, all these posts. Tiax is going to need a summary!

 

On topic

 

"I can't tell you too much. These tales are always different when told by different people. Were Darendor and Shaura different legends with one basis? Were they unrelated or were they, as some say, a group of brothers? Certainly they all sought immortality in different ways. Shaura went to Jourtres to experiment with merging the souls of man and beasts and then disappeared somewhere in its jungle heart. Darendor tried to trap souls of the dying to act as a protection against death. He was unsure if it would work so he used his poor daughter Axana. It is said it got to the point where if she so much as looked at someone, they dropped dead! He killed her, by accident but she was saved by another. That legend is even more intriguing. Apparently a vision of Axana kept appearing in the dreams of a boy trapped for hundreds of years inside a mountain. When he finally got out he went straight to her. She was already dead but he somehow was able to move the world back a day. Tiemmo his name was. I've always found that so romantic. But - well - what is wrong with romance?"

[tiaxanderson]

OOC -> You could've decided that before I read all the posts :P

 

Tiax smiles "I don't think anything is wrong wit a little romance and I've always been thaught that even the most strangest and weirdest of rumors and tales are always based upon a core of truth."

 

'Turn back the time for a whole day? That's some incredable magic...'

 

"But it is for us to find ou how much of it is truth. Do you have more information on that boy? I think I'm interested."

[Malchik]

"I don't and that is strange. Usually the creatures of myth occur across several stories. But the boy appeared from nowhere and rescued the girl and they disappeared together. Maybe, if the girl caused mortal men to drop dead where they stood he had to take her to a secret abode? Darendor was killed later in an uprising although his spirit still haunts the site or so the myths have it. These are tales from Levdia by the way. I only have one visitor from Levdia and he appears every two years or so. Few from outside Bashkher come here so it is easy to remember those who do. They will not generally declare their origins but I know enough to work it out from their tales. Of the eight countries outside Bashkher I have seen several Tagfierans, a Levdian, a fighter from Jourtres and a Niyobian. Only the Levdian has been here more than once. It was he who told me about Shaura on Jourtres. The fighter was a gruff down to earth type who had no interest in myths. The Niyobian had a tale of a girl who lived in the forests. Wherever she went grass would grow where her feet touched the ground and birds and animals simply appeared from the ether to sing for her. Liune her name was. I love such myths. Do you have any to tell me?"

[phawk69]

With a twinkle in her eye T'skar giggles, "We may have a new myth for you, romance and all. Only time will tell. By the way, do you have any information on islands on the south coast of Bashkher? Or of a young man named Auriel, likely from that area?"

[Malchik]

"Nothing of interest to you I am afraid. Oh unless the silly notion of vampirism appeals. There is an island off Selma where hundreds of years past people kept disappearing unexpectedly. Most of the island is taken up by a long abandoned castle and the townsfolk believed something lurking there claimed the victims. They blocked up the entry and the disappearances stopped. They say that the vampire still lives there. I fear there is a much simpler explanation. Those that disappeared wandered into an unsafe ruin. No one ever went to look for them preferring to invent a rumour. I have never heard of anyone called Auriel but then I don't suppose I've heard of more than a tint fraction of 1 percent of the inhabitants of Bashkher."

[phawk69]

"Does that tint fraction of one percent include anything on Arminder Sagrami? Any information you may have on her could be most useful, as it seems we may need to see the sword of Zooz at Ippikander, and get into the Temple there." T'skar says ruefully.