A2 Ch 3: The Seeds of War

Week 1:   Shen:   After stepping through the portal, Shen ended up at the top of the tower in Galren. Greeted by Rydel he takes him to see Daxius is his study. The mess in his room has noticeably grown. Daxius asks Shen why he decided to come to the middle of a war. He asks Shen to help prepare the defenses of Galren. They need to clear out the underground tunnels, dig a moat around the city and fill it with water, add glyph of warding to the four entrances to the city, etc. To do this, Daxius taught him Mold Earth and Shape Water. In addition to the tasks Shen also used the dirt removed for the moat to create an Earthen wall behind it and created extra pits along the roads of the North and West roads.   Week 2:   Bink:   Arriving in his home city of Ashurbanipal, Bink sees that the Arruce army has made camp in and around the village. Meeting back with his grandparents they ask about his journey and what he's learned. They take his journal notes to copy and add to their library. They also inform him of a strange illusion kids found while playing in the forest and of a young gnome in the village who has shown magical capabilities. Meeting at the edge of town with the young gnome names Orlin, they head to the part of the forest where the illusion was. Inside they find an abandoned city and a grotto area. The grotto has a stone door with a knocker and a riddle. Orlin solved the riddle and inside it looks similar to the temple Bink has been to with the party recently, but more intact and overgrown. Clearing away some of the growth he finds murals, the one around the pedestal in the center of the temple is almost identical to the other temple, however the wall mural was different. It shows Inglan the Tranquil meditating on a stone in the middle of a pond while Annika Sorceress of the Sea is in the background pouring mud out of her waterskin.   Bink found five volumes of journals, the first two written by Annika and the last three written by Leander. The ones written by Annika tell of the Maerin stone being close to fully breaking, fighting legions of undead, demons, and devils, and gathering the Ildari to the Faerin Temple to try and seal the stone. Leander's journals tell of him, Daxius, and Belramo continuing to seal the stones as they break throughout the cycles, but also researching other methods. Belramo has been looking into a method to destroy them, which Daxius and Leander are against. One of the last things talks about Belramo attempting to create a warhammer to destroy the stones of Rin.   Bink investigated the village and it seems like the inhabitants simple vanished. There were no signs of stuggle, attack, or people leaving. All personal belongings were in place as if life would continue as normal. Going back to the village, he returns home to his grandparents and studies there and in the library for the rest of the week.   Xar and Air   Arriving at Ghandon monastery they are greeted by the Steward Master Mura who welcomes Brother Aire back and invites them in to eat. While they eat, Warrior Master Folen comes in to poke fun at Aire and welcome him back to the Monastery. Folen sets up a meeting with the masters that Aire and Xar will go to in a couple days. In the days leading up they did the typical monk training, Aire got back into the routine immediately and while Xar learned the basics.   At the meetings, Folen asks about their travels and his vision, History Master Vamir asks about the rest of the group and what Shen is up to, and Grandmaster Urvash tells Aire that there are stories in the past of certain monks of Ghandon having a higher spiritual connection than others. Aire being the prodigal monk he believes through practicing his meditation, he may also be able to reach that spiritual level. He also tells Aire that he would like to speak privately and will call for him in a few days. Hisotry master Vamir also asks that Xar come to the library and tell him about his homeland so he can write it down and add it to the library. Xar is pulled from combat practice the next day to speak with Vamir and in exchange, Vamir takes Xar's katana over to Master Crafter Barwan to upgrade. He was given three options, of which he chose to have the katana silvered. That night, Aire had a vision of him leaving his meditating body in the zen garden during a full moon.   A couple days later was the full moon and Aire went to the spot of his vision. He left his body and in his spiritual form could see another monk mediating at the other end of the garden. He gets closer and realizes it is Inglan the Tranquil. After finishing his meditation they speak and Aire learns a little more about Daxius, Leander, Belramo, and the stones of Rin.   Bink:   After studying in the library for a few days, Bink hears a soldier outside yelling for every able bodied adult gnome to be at the village center by noon. Bink goes at noon and everyone is order to line up single file. A soldier is taking down personal info and then sending each of the gnomes to a cart in the back. Once it gets to Bink, they write down his info and send him to a cart. When asked what it was for they respond "You are now a glorious soldier of Arruce."   After some time with the soldiers, Bink makes it seem that he is very eager to kill some elves to the delight of one of the officers. He sends him over to a special group which scouts ahead for any elf resistance and takes care of it. Bink follows orders and with each group of elves, he kills them, and helps burn the ones that are captured at the stake. Eventually, a relatively even fight breaks out to which Bink continues to aim for the Elves all while secretly using his magic to kill the Arruce soliders. He is able to almost make the fight even when one of the soldiers sees him casting magic and outs him to the team. Turning his full attention to the soldiers, Bink fights until he is knocked unconscious before the battle is over.   He awakes tied to a tree and around comes an elf who is wearing the old symbol of Galren. Bink then realizes that this is a group of elves still Loyal to Luren, the leader they recently ousted from power. Moving from camp to camp and trying to reason with them doesn't seem to work even as he kills the other human prisoner, though he does make some leeway when he shows his healing abilities. From then on, each time the elves fought and came back with wounded, they would force Bink to heal them before tying him back up.   Week 3:   Shen:   Shen continues to help create defenses for the city, but also sends Pazuzu away to come back with a new spell for him.   Xar & Aire   After combat practice one day, a call comes for Aire from the grandmaster to come speak. Around this same time, a couple human initiates come up to Xar and take him aside to speak.   The grandmaster informs Aire of the history of the monastery and conflict, and why this time seems different. He asks for his opinion on the matter. Aire says he thinks he should help Galren and Urvash agrees, he has already sent out the Superior Masters to the surrounding territory that they protect to muster more troops. He says he wants Aire to lead a company of monks, Folen to lead another, and he will lead the rest of the Ghandon monks while the superior masters lead any troops they could muster. He then asks Aire to follow him to meet someone. They go into the mountain to a pristine pond area where Aire sees a young child meditating and levitating over the pond. After talking with the boy it is clear they he is innately magically adept and has been locked away by the masters to help learn his magic better.   Xar, talking to the humans, is let in on a plan to overtake the monastery. If he were to gather the masters in one place and leave entries into the area open, he would be rewarded with a master title upon victory. Xar agrees then immediately tells Aire the plan who then tells Folen.   The next day at combat practice, Folen makes an example of one of the two traitors, and scaring the other ones into giving up his co conspirators, they take those who are responsible away. He then gives a compelling speech about why Ghandon needs to help their brothers and sisters in Galren and that the monks of Ghandon will march again. Aire and Xar then use the sending stone to ask Daxius to open a portal to Ghandon and come through. After some trial and error with the symbols, they manage to open the portal and Daxius comes through to Ghandon. They come up with a quick plan and Daxius goes back to Galren, agreeing to open the portal when needed. The superior master should be back in about a week with those they were able to muster. In the mean time, Xar (with his returned and improved katana) decides to ask Daxius to open a portal for him to go to Galren.   Bink   After many more stops, making a new camp, fighting, and Bink healing the wounded; they arrive about a mile from Galren. The area is teeming with Arruce soldiers and they have surrounded the city. Bink tells them he knows of a secret way in through the escape route of the underground tunnels. Leading them to the tunnels and finding himself in an area he recognizes as under the palace he leads them up. They go to the throne room where he yells for help from Selren, gets his equipment back, orders his capture on his knees, stabs him through the hand then heals him.