Journal Entry 28.00 A New Threat

The party discusses their ambush at the isle of Sar Kilnil, Urik tells what he knows of Raxemores, Aja reveals her thoughts as to what Kinsi might represent

“That’s not what I heard,” the orc at the end of the table belted out. Even in this place, his voice rose above the other drunk orcs he sat with and the rest of the packed tavern. “Bent Tooth was bad, he was sent to us to kill Master Urik.” As Bent Tooth’s name was said, several of the other orcs raised their tankards in memory of their fallen school mate, “Bent Tooth,” they yelled as one.
The first orc stood up, “Gehrig Bent Tooth was a traitor,” he yelled again. “Don’t you see?” Several paused and looked to him in confusion. Two other orcs, further drunk than the rest, raised their glasses again and started to shout ‘Bent Tooth’, but then paused as it began to dawn on them the others weren’t joining in.
“Whatcha’ mean, ya’ blunt blade, how was Bent Tooth a traitor? It was his clan that was killed,” one of the more sober orcs glared at the first orc. Standing up, he put both fists on the table, “I suggest you explain that remark. Bent Tooth was one of us and deserves respect.”
“But for how long, he had only been with us a few weeks then he suddenly has his tale about how the Gore Reavers are killing his clan, stuck out on an island. And it worked, I tell you, his tale lured Master Urik and his pinker servants out to investigate.”
“That happens,” the second orc responded. “It happens a lot, any orc foolish enough to sit on a chunk of rock in the middle of the sea is asking for it. Be a coastal orc, be a ship orc, but never be an island orc. That’s what my mother always said.”
From the corner, an orc about to pass out mutters, “You don’t even know who your mother is. Hell, I could be your mother.”
Several of the orcs laughed. One of the cheering orcs stopped suddenly and blurted out, “Hey, wait, I am an island orc. My whole clan comes from islands.”
A different orc guffawed at this and spewed a mouth full of ale from his mouth, “Yeah, and if they’re like you, brother, all your kin are nothing but a bunch of emergency anchors. Tie a rope to their necks and tell them to hold a few rocks, and suddenly they be useful.”
The insulted orc lunged at the orc who had insulted him but got tangled up in his chair and fell flat on the table before rolling off the end to fall flat on the floor with a thump. Several of the other orcs stood up to stand away, ready for a fight, only to join in the laughing once they saw the orc on the floor choking and laughing at the same time. “You are so right, my kin be rather that stupid,” he got out between coughs. . . . Urik sat back in his chair. He had been getting ready to stand up and intercede when Graykar put a hand on his arm, “Easy, see, they are doing fine. This excursion is good for them.”
Urik grunted. It had been Aja’s idea for several of the orcs doing well at the school to be allowed to visit one of the harbor bars and let off some steam. A monitored visit, that was.
Aja commented, “I could do without them calling us non-orcs pinkers. It’s rather insulting.”
Graykar smiled. It didn’t matter if the orcs got into a fight or not, at least not to him. Fights happened all the time in these bars. Sometimes people died. However, he knew it was a pride thing for Urik. Were one of his orcs be the cause of another patron dying, he would take it personally. Graykar knew Urik truly cared about his students and how well they might fit in. Living up to what was expected of a typical orc wasn’t enough, they needed to be better. Graykar knew that Urik wanted orcs as a whole to be respected in Chrailis.
Morvion took another drink from his tankard, “He’s not wrong. That island was a setup and a trap,” referring to what the orc had said about Bent Tooth.
Aja nodded. “I have to agree. I believe Bent Tooth did turn on us, and all those troops we encountered on the island were set in position waiting for someone to enter the fort.”
Urik scowled his thoughts, “We never recovered Bent Tooth’s body and no one actually saw him betray us. He could have been killed in the crossfire. If not that, the child definitely would have killed him.”
Aja wasn’t so sure. True, she never saw Bent Tooth take aim at her with his bow, but those arrows had come from his vicinity. Multiple times.
“It was still a trap,” Morvion said. “That was enough arsenal to kill an army. We were lured into that encampment.”
Graykar added, “By my count, there were almost 150 enemy troops present. I checked on some of the poisons they were using once we got back. That stuff wasn’t cheap. Overall I could say just outfitting that group might have been nearly 5000 gold.”
Urik, possibly tense from being worried about his students in a public place, spoke slowly. That he was angry was not in doubt. “I know, and I agree. It was a trap. And I intend to learn more about who set it up. I am just saying it wasn’t one of my students.”
Aja started to argue again when she caught Graykar’s glance at her, his eyes wide and glaring in warning, obviously trying to get her to be quiet. Well, where were all the corpses of the villagers? she wanted to retort. Keeping it to herself, she just huffed before taking another drink from her small copper cup. Whatever grog the others were drinking, she was glad for her spiced wine. One of the best cantrips she had ever developed was her create intoxicant cantrip. Some day she needed to expand on it so it could produce more than just two types of spiced wines. Maybe a cantrip that produced a chilled wine when she had time. That thought mollified her some.
Urik felt this was as good as time as any to broach the subject. He reached into his leather side bag and pulled out the dark iron disk and sat it in the middle of the table for all to see. Engraved on the front side was a gauntleted fist. On the back was a modified pointed six-pointed symbol. Not a true hexagram, but close.

“I’ve had some doubts, so I took this to the city temple and verified it. This unholy item is the symbol of Raxemores.”
“I’ve heard that name,” Aja said.
Graykar nodded, “So have I. One of the original gods?”
Urik shook his head and quickly put the disc away. “No, he is one of the elemental gods. They said he is the most powerful. He even has an entire land of people who follow him. I was told hundreds of other gods follow him and that he has his own pantheon. Only the thirteen are more powerful than he is. Even then they keep their distance.” He paused for effect, and to take a drink. “Now, this I found interesting, he is also the god responsible for the ‘Day the Gods Died.’ Legend has it he killed hundreds if not thousands of godlings that day simply to take their power. Legends also have it that he almost killed the 13 Gods of Peace that day and that they only escaped because Raxemores trusted the wrong follower. ”
“That’s not good. Majalacturis is bad enough, now we have a real god after us?” Morvion asked.
“Uh gee Urik,” Graykar teased, “Morvion picks a fight with a god who killed but one goddess so you had to go and pick a fight with a god who killed hundreds of gods and even had a day named for his deeds? Who you going to pick a fight with, Aja?” he continued, looking at Aja.
“No one,” Aja responded quietly. Well maybe the Lords of Delusion and Grandeur, they are responsible for my Aunt, after all, and more or less have my father prisoner, she thought to herself.
Graykar gave her a slight side look because he sensed he was lying. Not good, he thought.
“It could be the priests were out there for other purposes, they probably weren't out there because Raxemores has a concern for us.” Urik continued.
“Another purpose than killing us you mean,” Graykar came back with a smile, looking back to Urik. “That sure seems why they were gathered on that little island.”
“No, I don’t think so. I think the priests were out there for a worse reason,” Urik said.
“Worse than killing us?” Aja objected, her voice rising a good octive in her indignation.
“Yes, worse. I think that Raxemores might be partially responsible for why the Gore Reavers have been attacking the other great pirate clans. Orcs have never really followed a god before, not truly devoted and discipline like, we are too chaotic. But if Raxemores is starting to corral orcs into his worship base, he may be looking to expand his empire.” Urik explained.
“Like you are trying to do? Unite orcs behind yourself and Josca,” Morvion dryly commented.
“I, we, may be the balance,” Urik explained. “Have you not wondered about our rise to power. Have you ever heard of anyone rising as fast as us? I believe we are the tools of the gods preparing to fight a great battle.”
“You think we are the balance of power?” Graykar asked. “I must confess, I know of many lives and have never heard of a rise from commoner to our level of power in just months. Such power usually comes with a great cost. What worries me is the few stories I can even relate too of nobles doing this usually have a moral component where the rise to power comes with an equally grave consequence. Then, of course, those who rise to quick unearned power go bad, become evil, and must be killed themselves.”
“We did arguably save the world from Perlachio,” Aja piped in.
“But, he wasn’t a god. And we didn’t face him, we only broke his machine,” Morvion argued. But then to Graykar, he said, “I’ve earned my power.” There was no joke in his voice.
“Back to what you are saying, Urik. You don’t think the priests were out there for us?” Graykar said.
“They were there because the Gore Reavers were there. I think the Gore Reavers laid the trap, we are seen as a possible extension of Chrailis and they either wanted to test us or eliminate us,” Urik said.
“Aren’t we special?” Aja muttered.
No one said anything for a few minutes, the orcs they were watching over were now wrestling with each other. One picked up a stout chair and slammed it into one of his comrades who immediately went down. The attacking orc looked at the chair, still in one piece and grunted as he set the chair down and took a seat to watch the other orcs continue their robust expression of a good time.
“Good old ironwood chairs and tables, virtually indestructible,” Graykar mused, “The only true survivors of these bar fights,” Grayakr mused.
Urik watched the downed orc, almost ready to intercede with some healing, when the orc started to crawl to his hands and knees as he recovered his senses.
“That it was a trap doesn’t bother me so much as the ultimate nature of the trap. That child. It almost killed us. Whatever placed it there knew it might.” Morvion finally said.
“Kinsi knew,” Aja calmly added, almost imperceptible from all the yells in the rest of the bar.
“What?” Urik asked. He had heard her, he wanted an explanation.
“When we left, she said to me, ‘Remember our beginnings’. I think she was referring to how we met her at Kerlostra. She was one of the harbinger children. That child, it was like Kinsi. If we hadn’t fled, it might have killed us. But had we brought it back to Chrailis, teleported it back immediately, I think the Coteries would have done for the child what they did for Kinsi.”
“Hmmm. Well, next time a child is about to kill me, I’ll remember,” Graykar said. “Are you sure though, that first pulse should have killed us.”
“You think the Coteries could have contained that?” Urik asked, “It might have killed all of Chrailis. That might have been the real trap.”
“That energy wave the child released killed everything else on that island, and that was just the first wave of it. If we had not taken the divinity of Codesta, I doubt we would have survived. Even then, we wouldn’t have survived repeated waves of that energy if we hadn’t fled the island” Morvion said.
“I think that child was just like Kinsi. So yes, the Coterie’s would have regulated it,” Aja said. “I actually think all, or most of the Coterie are like that. Remember Kinsi’s story, where she was found, everything was dead for several hundred yards. And then the Coterie made a point of sending people to Kerlostra to retrieve her as soon as they heard about her. I think they knew if they didn’t retrieve her in time, everyone in Kerlostra would have died.”
“Tars and I retrieved such an orc child,” Graykar said. Seeing a little confusion, he added, “This life, my current one, but before we all met up. Falgrieg was with us also.”
“I really need to meet this gnome, someday,” Urik said.
“So, just to be clear, was the trap to kill us, test the child and see what it could do, or have us bring it back to Chrailis?” Graykar asked. “The difference might matter.”
“We don’t know enough at this time,” Morvion said after some thought. “It could have been all the above. Put out the most potent weapon you can find and see what happens.”
“It was a death sentence,” Urik said
“What?” Grayakr and Morvion both asked.
“Everyone on the island was doomed to die if the planners knew what would happen. All those troops were all sacrificed. Either to kill us or test the child. I don’t think there was any surviving for them regardless of how the ambush went. Those troops were just there to hold us fast to the island. We are dealing with an opponent willing to sacrifice powerful game pieces is all I am saying. That makes Raxemores and the Gore Reavers even more dangerous.” Urik said.
By now, the bar owner was starting to call for the city militia to rein the in orcs. One had already gone through the wall near the front door. Urik got up to help put a stop to his student's rough play, doubling his size and letting out a booming yell, “Cease!” A few of the orcs were still fighting and Urik tested out one of his new abilities, his arms stretched out several extra feet longer than they should normally be able to, elongating to the where without taking step, he was able to grab the fighting orcs by the neck and separated them, holding them both in the hair, squeezing hard enough to make them choke. Once he had their attention he sat them down.
Meanwhile, Graykar made his way over to the bar owner with a small coin pouch in his outstretched hand, indicating his purpose. He smoothed things over so when the city militia arrived, everyone was happy and no charges were filed.
Still sitting at the table with Aja, Morvion expressed a thought he had been holding back for some time. “What do you think they are, these harbinger children?”
Aja looked at him and leaned in close. “What do I think? Keep this to yourself for it may be a heresy, but I think they are dragons. I think they are like Si’nassa. When they do what they do, send out that death pulse, like on that island, I think that is their birth. That’s what I think. I think it’s them being born and absorbing all the life force in the vicinity. I think Si’Nassa just happened to be the first to arrive. From what histories I can find, anyway, she was first. ”
“You mean they are born mortal from us?”
“No, I think they enter this world through a child. I suspect the actual child which was originally Kinsi was either eradicated or absorbed into whatever she would become. I’ve read that the first of the Coteries came to Si’Nassa and presented themselves in obedience, calling themselves the ‘Faithful’. Even then they held themselves apart from all the other races. As far as Si’Nassa goes, there are other great dragon powers out there. I think wherever ever they come from, Si’Nassa was already a great power among them and they instinctively choose to serve her.” She didn’t voice it, but she also suspicioned that Lord Azurellicus was like Si’Nassa.
“You ever going to ask Kinsi?” Morvion asked, almost smiling. Maybe he was making a joke.
“I don’t think so. I have wanted to, believe me. And possibly, I don’t really want to consider why so many more have been appearing over the last year with everything else happening. I was thinking the harbinger children are one of the after-effects of Coalescence. I still do. And if so, that this isn’t their world, this is only the world they are forced to live in. They are refugees who are carving out an empire.”