Suicide Spire

1/27/2009

First, the possibly unrelated stuff. Rimalon's cat familiar, Triss, was turned to stone by an ascendant during an invasion of the water creatures, and soon after crumbled into dust. Of note, Triss, the cat had green eyes.

Now, the night after, a bunch of cats suddenly appear in Solhaven. And by a bunch, I mean they practically fill the entire town. Clumps of cat hair blow across the ground like tumbleweeds and the stench of cat pee is so bad it becomes visible.

Most of the time the cats are doing normal cat things, but every so often you'll see a cat digging nearby, or the cats in town would turn toward North Market expectantly. Most people never thought much of the digging that I can tell. You'd also have GM controlled cats who would attack at first, but once calmed would start doing normal cat stuff, crying every so often.

A day or two after the cats showed up, there was more digging, but then suddenly something crashed underground and there was a loud metallic screeching. Earthquakes followed soon after, and the ground split in North Market, creating a large fissure. Steam would escape from the fissure and there were a couple reports of seeing green eyes in it (though I saw similar elsewhere so I'm not sure if it's specifically connected to the fissure), but not much else was noted.

Last night, the cats reappeared, with more digging. Suddenly the fissure started spewing red dust and the earthquakes started again, becoming more and more frequent. Finally, a stone spire suddenly rose from the fissure, reaching miles into the air. A boulder too heavy to move and too big to bash also fell right into the place that would block going up the spire.

A small speck was seen falling from the top of the spire, eventually becoming a body that slammed into the market. The body clutched a wand in its hand that was covered in sigils and runes filled with a red crystalline substance. In its chest was carved "The flesh is weak." The cats were also feeding off of the dead body that crashed into the ground...and, after the feeding, the cats were rather happy and content, with the sound of purring. The body was carried off soon after for examination, and a parchment was posted in the Market that started the thread.

Gretchen (Nilandia)

1/27/2009 - A posted parchment

Following the events of this evening, a parchment was posted in front of the tall rock spire that has so rudely disrupted the goings on of Solhaven's North Market.

It reads:

Let it be known that this rock, and all of its contents, remain off-limits until a thorough investigation can be conducted. Interested parties should gather upon Leyan, the 28th day of Lormesta, during the early evening. Violators of this edict shall find themselves subject to penalties of fines and jail time.

The parchment is marked with a heavy seal, and bears all the hallmarks of an official document.

OFFICIALS

1/29/2009

In other news: Emmoal Telic, partner to the late Master Jegrato Plin, and Adrio Halthei, partner in Jegrato's banking firm, appeared in the Market last night. Emmoal appeared to (desperately) want the research Jegrato was conducting in his laboratory supposedly now situated at the top of the spire, while Adrio wanted to collect on debts owed to his firm.

After some arguing, the two of them got permission from Adriela, one of the Vornavian guards, to go up the spire to investigate. The boulder was removed and a group slowly made their way up, pausing to dig past various obstacles. Along the way, a few clues were found that pointed to Jegrato's presence on the spire and possible identity as the body that had fallen from the spire, including a jacket sleeve that appeared to match that seen on the dead body, a parchment outlining Adrio's firm's intention to sue Jegrato for nonpayment of debts and a portrait of a woman and child that Emmoal identified as Jegrato's wife and daughter. Inside the jacket sleeve was a golem figurine with the word 'Live' written on it in Gnomish.

Reaching the top, we came upon a house with a locked door that zapped anyone that so much as touched it. Neither Emmoal nor Adrio had the key, and they agreed that Jegrato's estranged daughter, Pliss Plin, probably would. They agreed they would try to get her to come tomorrow night (now tonight) and see if they could open the door. With that, Adriela told everyone to leave while she secured the area.

Gretchen (Nilandia)

Tie-in

Aydan references the gnomes work in the [Solhaven Cataclysm] that through Jegrato's work they were able to turn elementals into plinite by binding them and their power in place.