Resugent was conflicted, he didn’t know if he should cry, scream, or destroy this machine. “Hold one moment Khalid,”
Turning back to the machine, "Do you have any proof of what you have said? Your claims if true could change everything, is there anything I can take from here that would prove what you have said?
Also do you have any more information on Morris Leonin?"
The Kas AI spoke with gravity as a small device extended from a hidden alcove on the far side of the room.
“This is a copy of my entire AI information banks with full camera vids and sound feeds with time date stamp and DNA confirmation of all involved parties. Under colonial law it should stand up in a court of law. If plugged into another computer bank it can be used to replicate the Artificial intelligence here,” the Kas AI said as Resugent reverently lifted the incredibly rare earther technology, its value easily in the hundreds of thousands of ghaz.
The AI stated, "Mortis Leonin, Blood Cup Inquisitor, last logged date of use of this AI was one week before your arrival.
His query status remains: Where is the original Bible penned by Cardinal Bray kept?
Query answer provided: The tower of Solitude near Brez once owned by Lord Cristos Dugari gifted to the House of Grimaldus between the port of Unen and the City of Brez. Current status and inhabitants unknown.
Final query made by Mortis Leonin: What is the current coordinates of the Tower of Solitude?
Answer given."
Resugent recognizes the coordinates as his own Tower.
“Mortis Leonin left at that time. His final words were, I need the Censer of Siedermann to open the way.”
Paladin Resugent began to sweat, what he held in his hand could destroy the entire structure of the Church of One. He wasn’t even sure of his own faith…was everything he believed in a lie? Was it possible to lose your entire identity so quickly? What would he do now? Could he even continue his quest to go after Leonin? Part of him felt that he needed to get this information back to Lord Grimaldus…would he listen? Would he just kill me?
Mortis Leonin…was he still evil? He worked with undead…surely that was evil…but if what the A.I. said was true…then didn’t he also do evil? What if he died going after Mortis…the truth would die with him…Was there even a God? No he had to think these things through later, he had to secure his tower and keep the Bible out of Mortis Leonin’s hands. After that he would go to his Cousin and try his best to get him to listen. With this evidence he had to listen…things had to change. Resugent secured the small device so he would not lose it.
" Khalid PhoenixKiller, we must go, we have to stop Mortis Leonin, the few I left at the tower will not be able to stop him. After that…then our true destiny begins…"
And so it was that Khalid Phoenixkiller and Sir Resugent of the Tower learned of the truth behind the church of one.
With the Kas AI copy safely held by Sir Resugent they left the Observatory of Bishop Kasanth.
But their adventure did not end there.
(This ends week 5 from week 5-8 the earthers have made the long journey back to the northern Goblin Lands. Behind them they have left the Cursed Ruins, the strange lab, and are beinf hunted by Gor’ab. Find out why here (link to be updated)
It took them over a month on foot to reach the Tower where it stood halfway between Brez and Unen. The landscape nearby had changed dramatically since they left. The dry seasons of Auf Ka and Auf Tor were over and the rains of the season of Auf Kol left them sloshing through knee deep mud.
A mile away from the tower, they found a soaked camp of two tents. There they encountered five squires who failed epically at their watch.
“What are you doing out here boys?” asked Resugent, “Why aren’t you in the tower?”
“An Inquisitor took the tower Sir Resugent. He said you were long dead and wouldn’t be coming back. Its good to see you sir!” said one squire named Ham.
“Hamfist the second, son of Lord Hamfist of Dunesphere your father would think you daft for sitting out here in the rain. And Goblins could cut your throats while you sat here you were all so distracted.”
“Sorry sir, the Goblins been avoiding us, they want the tower,” replied Ham as he chewed on his thumb.
“How many Goblins?” asked Resugent.
“One hundred from Brez,” said Ham, “They yelled something about the Inquisitor oweing them money? They have been camped outside for over a week.”
At that one of the squires sneezed, oozing greenish mucus. Resugent said a small prayer and placed his hands on the boy’s head. The sneezing stopped and the mucus first turned from green to clear and then stopped dripping completely.
“Thank you sir,” said the squire, “I feel better.”
“God will make everything better, all we have to do is believe it will become better,” said Ham.
“And act when needed,” interrupted Khalid pointing at the Tower of Resugent in the center of a teeming mass of Goblins.
At the window in the top floor of the tower stood a man dressed in an Inquisitor’s uniform. The strange Inquisitor extended his hand and suddenly the entire crowd of one hundred Olgogs grabbed their chests. Some yelped, some roared, some died quietly, but all of them died in that instance.
Sir Resugent saw the elusive Mortis Leonin for the first time. His wild white hair made him look mad. A small bushy white mustache graced his upper lip. His deep blue eyes were ringed in brown. And his expression was one of fury and madness.
“I order you to hand over the Censor of the Most Beloved Squire,” yelled Mortis Leonin, “If you don’t I will kill your entire household as quickly as I killed those Goblins. I need that Censor, and therefore I must have it. You cannot and will not keep it from me. You are thieves, you must have stolen the Censor. So close to my goal and the one piece I need you have. Give it to me NOW!”
“Not the most respectful piece of scum eh?” asked Khalid in a whisper.
“I can see why you dislike this man,” answered Resugent in a whisper.
Khalid whispered, “Resugent we have traveled many months together on foot. I know of your love for those under your care. But I down right worry if we hand over the censor, Leonin will still kill all your people.
You saw, a wave of his hand is all it took for him to kill a small army.
We need a plan or we will lose badly here.”
Resugent whispered back “Yeah, do not believe he will do anything but kill no matter what. Not like he offered anything in exchange for it, no he is insane and needs to go. However he doesn’t know that we understand that, we might be able to offer him the Censor in order to get close to him then try to take him by surprise. If only there was a way to come invisible, sigh that kind of power is beyond me.”
On’tor entered in time just the catch the last bit of the conversation, she whispered back “Well not quite invisible, but nearly invisible by passing from shadow to shadow. And with this blade, i should be able to combat the techno-simulacra nicely. Just a quick summation of ho i would try to handle things on my part.”
Resugent spun around drawing his blade. “Back Goblin, any closer and you will join those others. I have important things to do here, I do not have time to deal with your kind.”
Wow, so On’tor was ever so eager to be helping out and her actions over stepped her bounds. Noticing what she got herself into, she casually admitted .“Ok, easy there. I was just offering a suggestion to how I might be able to help you on your way. I mean no offense, and i can see you obviously don’t need my help. I’ll just be on my own way.” And just like that, she back away using her own shadow.
“Jez, just don’t sneak up on people. You startled me there, look if your not going to be violent you don’t have to g…o… Oh, where did you go?” Resugent shrugged, “did he just pout and then leave? Oh well, we have bigger problems, like that tower, that is going to be a tough nut to crack.”
Ka’ab (Ur Rhug ) Dressed in Armorfiend Hide Vest and he’s using Translate.
Orog (Tla’loc’al Tribesmen) in Nightmare hide armor.
Ka’ab and Orog carefully stop out into the open aiming to be in the 2 sight and making enough noise to be heard if they missed htem. Then Ka’ab says "Hello, we do not mean harm. We couldn’t help overhear part of that conversation. We would like to help bring down that Earther who just killed so many. Our power is not great, but our skills vary, and we maybe of help if that is your intention. We might not have approached you, except for your reaction to scaring that olgog off.
Oh, and she might be still around, I think you spooked that Olgog as much as she spooked you. At least I would act as he’s still here. "
“Greetings then,” said Khalid stiffly, “To you both.”
He coughed uncomfortably and then said, “We need help Resugent.”
Then he looked hard at Ka’ab and Orog and the shadow into which the karovian olgog had fled. Then he said, “But what reason have we to believe you are here to help us? Give me one good reason to believe you and I’ll take the help.”
Then he paused saying, "Leonin is a powerful madman and the more targets we give him Resugent, the more likely we will survive to defeat him
Ka’ab smirks "Well, I don’t plan to just be a target. The best reason I can give you is that madman just killed a hundred gogs. Whatever he wants, we are against.
I will tell you a bit about us, I’m adapt with Shadow leyas, and can shadow jump. I know the basics of the other elements besides Light Leyas. Orog knows some light, air, and water leyas. I do prefer to be more subtle actions compared to outright combat. And Orog is adaptable to most situations.
As for believing us, I guess we will have to prove ourselves to you with action. Words won’t mean anything.
Can you fill us in on what’s going on, or at least some detail?
"
Resugent was conflicted, yes, he knew that the Church was started by a shapeshifting alien, and that he shaped their core beliefs. They were all manipulated into fighting his feuds and enemies. The Demon spawn were aliens he wanted dead, and their magic was just something done on this planet, not spawning from the devil. But those were his beliefs for his entire life, that cannot be thrown away at the drop of a hat, and this Goblins…what was there other name? He couldn’t remember. He had fought against him his entire life, even if they weren’t demonic they were still his enemy right? Even if they were, sometimes there are greater enemies, sometimes one must try to put their old hatreds aside. Easier said then done.
Looking at Khalid “I do not trust these Gob…these individuals, however Leonin is our priority right now. If we must accept help from these thin…these individuals, then so be it.”
Turning to Ka’ab “We need to get past that thing up on top to get inside, perhaps some kind of distraction, I might be able to help with that, if I can get close to one of the bodies of the ones he killed. I can place a blank spirit inside of it and have it run around creating a distraction. What do you think?”
Ka’ab nods “I can take you to a shadow near a body, and when it starts moving, I can take you out. They should never see us. Then the others can move in as well. This Sounds good, but we’ll want to move quick, as if he can kill a hundred with a wave, one won’t last long.”
Some time later, the gathered party were discussing plans and heard the obvious sound of someone or someones walking through the brush. It was followed shortly after by the hurried whispering arguing back of forth of some nearby travelers. It was clearly arguing, so there were at least two of something or someone very crazy arguing to himself/herself. Wait a second, it was the guttural sounds of native olgog speak between a male and female. It wasn’t clear enough to hear what they were saying but by the sound of it, the male had harrumphed in triumph and what won the argument.
After just another second, a young male olgog with sea glass lenses in front of his eyes and with bones fragments braided into his beard walked out from behind the brush. He had has hands raised, but was obviously armed, and then began to speak in the common tongue. For such an appearance, he had a somber tone when using the common tongue, “Please allow me to speak, for I feel there has been some misunderstanding. My name is Zhor’ab from the lands of Karov. One of my tribesgogs had overheard you men talking and felt like it was a good time to reveal herself while joining in your conversations. She did not realize the raucous her actions would cause and was even more taken aback by the response. Please come out here, On’tor.”
There were some more grunting, and then in an embarrassed huff On’tor stepped out. Zhor’ab added “Now come over here and do what we spoke about.” On’tor approached giving Zhor’ab a certain look, she was shaking her head in defiance but still going through with the motions. Now standing next to her tribesgog, On’tor said " I am sorry that I startled you."
Zhor’ab quickly shot her a look, then continued to press “Anddddd…”
On’tor looked down, and with gritted teeth said "and eavesdropped onto your conversation. " As if that had made everything ok, she very enthusiastically continued with “but i was very happy to see earthers that were looking to attack the earther who had done such atrocities from over in the tower. i thought that we might have a mutual enemy and that we could easily work together. As i said before i totally have ideas how i could be of use entering…” And with that Zhor’ab said, “Ok now, let’s give the gentlemen a moment to process what is going on here and we can wait patiently. Yes lets wait PATIENTLY for a response. I do apologize for her overzealousness, but i assure you we could find a way to help.”
From the distance a figure could be seen riding hellbent towards the group. A black horse carrying what appeared to be a large Chooruvian blue guard was on it’s back, and a large dust cloud raised behind them. However, as the figure drew closer, it became obvious it was an Olgog, an Ur’Tor from Ka’Rhug. Once close enough to shout, but at a safe distance, the Olgog shouted,
“Hail friends. I am Kharos of Ka’Rhug and I seek Khalid Pheonixkiller. I come to offer aid in his endeavor, and I am here to help however I can.”
He sat back in his saddle and waited for a response. He wore a badge of service on his right side, and by his daisho swords, it is obvious he has been of service to the people of Chooru before.
Ka’ab says “I don’t know about the Earthers here, but I welcome all the help we can get. I doubt this will be easy.”
(OCC sorry, I had to post already, have family plans right after work tomorrow.)
Two olgog, one old and one young arrived to the gathering. They were armored, but were looking haggard after the long journey. They both looked at the two Earthers and then at the dead army of Brezans.
“We come from the Earther-Olgog city of Simonsburg. Earthers are not gor there. We were following a Brezan army, and find them dead. What killed them? They must pay.”