The Call of the Ancients

General Summary

Introduction

Tired after their long fight, the heroes fell asleep quickly as the darkness settled over the world. They heard the creaking of the trees and the unsettling sounds of animals rustling about. Each adventurer felt suddenly bitterly cold. The immense void of pitch blackness loomed over them and they as though they could disappear soundlessly into the abyss. A thin, pleading voice begged for anyone to stand against the darkness, stand so that humanity might have hope, stand so that future generations might yet live upon the earth. They seemed to see a narrow bridge, almost invisible with one end swallowed by darkness. Shadows began to slip across the span. As they glanced back through the darkness a long way away sat each person's bedroll/bed. 

  Cassandra, Farren, and Morganna Anne Louise Estelle of Ivannia were curious about the bridge and the pleading voice they heard. They felt a pull from the voice for a just a moment they stood on a narrow icy bridge above a bottomless abyss. The void yawned endlessly in front of them while shadows crept towards them. Suddenly, they awoke! Each person's blankets were coated in a thin sheen of ice, and their breath hung in the frosty air. They were freezing cold.

Sirkel , Viktor Maelstrom, Lilith and Tidran wanted no part of whatever they were experiencing. They felt a pull from the void and struggled mightily to get back to their beds. Suddenly, they awoke! Each person's blankets were coated in a thin sheen of ice, and their breath hung in the frosty air. They were freezing cold.

 

Morning

  Most of the heroes set about fixing a hot beverage and stoking their campfire to shake off the cold. Lilith however enjoyed the cold; her metallic parts often worked better when she didn't have to worry about them overheating. The group of adventures camping in the Beyond discussed their plans for the day over breakfast (they were nice enough to untie Sirkel first!) They would continue with their quest to find the Moilt and get wood for the settlement.

Quite some distance away in Ivannia, Morganna was busy with her own plans for the morning. She messaged her uncle Francois and was greeted by his somewhat groggy voice. He mentioned that maintenance was looking into the temperature controls as it seemed their bedrooms had cooled down unexpectedly the night before.

Morganna then opened her mail. Many of the messages were the other houses accepting her invitations to a meal. (She would use each meal in an attempt to garner votes for her bid for a council position). House Champlain also again mentioned the Vroaordun but this time he added there might be a way to translate the gibberish messages. 

A Message from a Moilt

  Back in the forest, the adventurers finished eating and broke camp. After about a half days march they finally came within sight of one of the small hamlets dispersed throughout the wilderness. This one was quite small consisting of only about a dozen or so huts. A couple of men who were repairing a fence looked up as the group walked into the hamlet. 

One of the men greeted them "Welcome to our hamlet strangers! We are the Vor'akk tribe. What brings you out this far?" Tidran stepped forward and returned the man's greeting. He explained that they were looking for a moilt and asked if the man knew where any might be. The man smiled pleasantly "Turns out we have one right here!" he said proudly. "We keep him over here in this hut. Many people have sought wisdom from the creature albeit sometimes the visions they get make no sense. One simpleton claimed to see people flying through the air!"

Cassandra exclaimed "but people can hover, especially in Ivannia!". The man gave her a very perplexed look but he was polite enough not to argue. "Never heard of such a place" he shrugged "but if you want, you can visit the moilt". He led them to one of the huts and opened the door. A delicious smell of something like fresh baked bread mingled with some sort of fragrant spices came from the doorway. 

The group debated for a moment about who should go in. They saw a very unusual pale creature with a multitude of eyes peering at them from a cage inside the hut. The weren't quite sure how the interaction would go.

Finally, Viktor pushed forward and approached the cage. Suddenly, his vision was entirely filled with the many eyes of the moilt. He blinked, and the moilt was gone. In its place was the most delicious looking loaf of bread which he had ever seen! He felt the overwhelming urge to step forward and take a bite of the delectable bread. The urge overwhelmed all sense of caution, and he bent down and took a bite. 

The taste was amazing. His eyes half closed in bliss as he chewed. Regular bread could never compare to the wondrous flavor of this bread. He swallowed, and his vision went black. He woke up a few seconds later to see his friends looking very worried and somewhat incredulous. 

From the rest of the groups point of view, they watched as Viktor approached the cage. He paused for a moment, and then seemed to be in some sort of a trance. He dreamily approached the moilt and suddenly stooped down and took a bite out of the flesh along its back! The group's eyes widened as he chewed, grease and blood running down his chin. He swallowed and then stumbled to the floor!

As Viktor came to, he had a pounding headache. A thought kept playing over and over in his mind. "That which was, is. Things which have been are. The ancients desire is not yet sated." Viktor shook his head, but the thought kept stubbornly playing over and over again. He shared the thought with the rest of the group. The heroes discussed the cryptic message; they didn't like what it seemed to imply.

After a few minutes, the message subsided a bit in Viktor's mind. He was horrified when Farren informed him what had really transpired. Viktor quickly wiped the grease from his chin and asked if anyone had a mint of any kind. It might be a very long time before he ate bread again!

A Grave Situation

  Meanwhile, Morganna had finished going through her mail. Her communicator bracelet chimed and she answered it. She was somewhat surprised when the head gardener of House Estelle began speaking. The man sounded both excited and cautious at the same time. He explained that they had found something which he felt demanded the princess' immediate attention. She was intrigued and agreed to meet him in the Estelle gardens.

Morganna entered the gardens where she had spent many an hour as a child. The head gardener greeted her nervously. He said "I've been gardener for your house most of my life, and I know every inch of these grounds. This morning though I found something was wasn't there before. I think you should come take a look". He walked with her and then pointed. Morganna looked in the indicated direction. Out of place on the smoothly manicured lawn she saw a very ancient looking tombstone with a couple ragged looking shrubs around it. 

Morganna stooped and looked closer at the tombstone. It appeared really really old and weathered, as though it had been there for an age. Big and bold at the top was the date. The birth date was the same as Morganna's own, but the death date . . . The death date was approximately three thousand years in the past! She stopped cold as she read the name below those impossible dates: 'Princess Morganna Anne Louise Estelle of Ivannia'. Morganna felt very small, and she swallowed hard. 

After a long minute of staring at that name, she read the epitaph. At least, she tried to read it. She read it once but, the second she finished reading it the words blurred and then sharpened again. The epitaph now read something different! As she watched, the epitaph continually blurred and sharpened, each time saying something slightly different. 

Without a word, Morganna stood and turned swiftly from that horrid gravesite. She walked quickly back to her room determined to forget what she had seen. The princess absently picked up a letter from her desk; her hand shook ever so slightly. She glanced down and noticed she had picked up House Champlain's note about the strange message. She hurriedly prepared and then strode over to House Champlain, glad of the distraction from her thoughts.

A Trade Agreement

  Unaware of the princess' unsettling morning the other adventurers were busy in the small hamlet. They first purchased a hot meal for their party from the villagers. To their surprise the entire meal for everyone cost as much as a single mug of ale back in Northam. As they ate, Tidran brought up the possibility of obtaining shipments of lumber from the hamlet. 

Their host's eyes lit up at the mention of shins for lumber. He agreed that his hamlet could chop enough wood to rebuild Beyonder's Blades within a week. After a bit of bartering, Tidran agreed to his price. Sirkel mentioned they still needed to transport the wood somehow. The head of the small hamlet then agreed to deliver the wood for an additional fee. 

After some more dickering back and forth, Tidran struck a deal with the hamlet. The Vor'akk tribe would deliver a steady supply of raw lumber through Beyonder's Blades to Northam. To keep up with the demand, the tribe would reach out to several of the other hamlets in the area for additional workers. The tribesmen seemed happy with the deal. Even before their meal was finished, the sound of axes and saws rang through the air as the hamlet got to work!

A Reluctant Translator

  Back in Ivannia, Morganna was greeted by the head of House Champlain. He thanked her for coming and got right down to business. He had heard that the town of Nebalich might have a Heeldran which could translate the message from the Vroaordun. He had secured transport to Nebalich aboard one of House Bonaparte's airships.

Morganna and Champlain walked and floated over to the airship dock. Bonaparte greeted them both: he would not be coming on the expedition but he assured them the pilot was quite skillful and he wished them the best of luck. The princess and the councilman boarded the airship. The massive armored ship took off with only the faintest of vibrations as it lifted clear of the dock. The engines purred quietly as the pilot gave them full throttle.

After only a few hours the port town of Nebalich came into view. In just a few moments they were over top the docks and the pilot skillfully set the ship down. Morganna followed Champlain's lead as the two threaded through a rather seedy looking section of waterfront wharves.

Soon enough Champlain entered a run-down warehouse. Several men with surly expressions glanced sideways at them as they entered. "What do you want?" one of them asked grouchily. Cousteau asked him about the heeldran. The man chuckled in an unpleasant sort of way. "Aye, I might have such a creature. Comes in handy for keeping beasties away from my fishing boats. What do you want with it?" When Morganna asked to talk with the heeldran the man seemed genuinely amused. "You're welcome to try and talk to that thing all you want, just keep your fingers out of the cage if you like them attached to your hand!" He pointed noncommittally toward the back of the warehouse.

Morganna and Champlain walked further back and saw a small cage set up. Inside was a blue creature with green eyes, webbed hands and feet, and a rather nasty expression on its face. The heeldran smiled nastily at them as they approached and made a very rude gesture with its webbed hands. Morganna approached the cage and began trying to talk with it. The heeldran licked its lips with a slimy tongue, pointed at Morganna, and then pointed at its mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It mimed a chewing motion and sneered at her.

One of the men in the warehouse laughed as he observed the princess' interaction. "You'll have to beat anything you want from that miserable thing" he chuckled. Morganna walked back to the first man they had spoken with. "How much for the heeldran?" she asked. The man paused, his eyes running over the princess' rich attire. He seemed to be doing calculations in his head and after a moment named what he thought was a very high price.

Morganna handed him the money and waved her hand toward the cage. It floated off the ground and followed her as she walked back to the airship. Champlain was not overly thrilled to bring such an ill-tempered beast along. He informed Morganna that he would take no responsibility for the creature. 

Back aboard the airship Morganna again tried to talk with the creature. It mimed choking her and seemed to laugh in a nasty gurgling sort of way. Morganna drew her sword and looked sternly at the heeldran. It suddenly sank down on the bottom of its cage as a great weight seemed to press down on it. Morganna quietly offered the creature two choices: be crushed down into a greasy smear or cooperate and she would set it free. 

The heeldran paused for a moment. Morganna brought out the recording from the vroaordun and played it. After a moment the heeldran began to trace symbols in the bottom of its cage. Champlain came over and recognized them as trade symbols used around Nebalich. He consulted a translation guide for a moment and then was finally able to understand the message!

The vroaordun was curious about the increased traffic over its head and wished to establish peaceful relations with whomever was up there. The message also contained a warning about "waves from behind". Champlain shook his head as he translated the warning. These aren't ocean waves, they seem to refer to a sequence of events catching up to us somehow. 

A Disturbing Revelation

  All of the adventurers communicator's chimed simultaneously. They answered and got a dire message from House Bonaparte. His specialists had finally made some sense out of their instruments. It seemed that the past was merging with the present in unpleasant ways! He was concerned because their dreams (which everyone in the Ninth World seemed to have experienced) seemed reminiscent of the apocalyptic end of the Eighth World. Apparently, humanity had barely survived some sort of extinction event around three thousand years prior.