The Disappearance

[Noa]

Priestess Jora
Moderator
Posts: 169
(5/28/02 5:53 pm)
Reply | Del All  The Disappearance
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A letter to the Temple of Thunder:

I've been in Highkeep for several weeks now and still have heard nothing from Valhal. He was to have met me here some time ago. The others have had no word from him and I begin to worry about his well-being.

We journied together across the plains and made it safely to this area. It was the second night of our battle against the goblins that he disappeared and did not return. He gave his word that we would meet the next day to continue cleansing the Keep and then wandered out into the night. It is highly suspect for a paladin to just disappear.

I have eyes and ears in the area seeking information and I will keep you updated.

Blessed Karana I do hope nothing ill has befallen him.

Priestess Jora
34th Order of Thunder

[Noa]

Priestess Jora
Moderator
Posts: 220
(6/24/02 9:21 pm)
Reply | Del  To the Order of Thunder from Jora on Luclin
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To the Elders,

My search has led me to Luclin where I believe I shall find Karana's Knight. What has befallen him I still do not know. I have reports that he was not attacked the night he disappeared but was coerced into leaving Highpass.

I have been visiting the bazaar on a regular basis and several of the locals are now in my employ. I shall keep you updated.

Jora

~~~~~~~~~

Jora folded the short note and handed it to one of the messenger bards en route to Qeynos. A wizard or druid would have made the trip faster but there were none in the Temple's pay present in Shadow Haven.

She had made no mention of the shadow following her during her journey to the moon. Was it friend or foe? The cleric assumed that she would eventually find out. 

[Noa]

Priestess Jora
Moderator
Posts: 223
(6/26/02 10:05 am)
Reply | Del  Re: To the Order of Thunder from Jora on Luclin
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The caverns were dark and quiet except for the rhythmic drops of water falling from rocks above to the water below. Jora expected to hear the sounds of battle in the caverns not this eerie quiet.

"Something is amiss..." her whisper echoed off the walls in the tunnel and they whispered back, "Something is amiss... amiss... amiss..." She shivered and slowly made her way toward an encampment she knew was ahead. Perhaps an army had surrounded the area and were waiting to ambush the bandits that had been using the area as a hideout.

A rock hit her head as she approached the camp. She looked up to the cavernous ceiling only to have another hit her in the forehead and knock her unconscious. The cleric's limp body fell to the ground and a small trickle of blood made a path across the rocky floor. Three older bandits, their grey hair long and unruly, walked out of the shadows and deftly tied her ankles and feet with ropes. As they lifted her from the ground her long crystaline robe caught on a sharp rock and the sound of ripping fabric filled the still silent cavern. One of the bandits grinned evilly as the robe fell open to reveal a long, slender leg. The oldest of his companions hit him hard with the back of his hand, "Do NOT even think about it or we're ALL dead."

They brought her to the water's edge and left her there. Bound, gagged, bleeding, and unconscious. Thus were their orders and soon they would recieve payment for services rendered. 

[Noa]

Priestess Jora
Moderator
Posts: 227
(6/27/02 5:31 pm)
Reply | Del  Re: To the Order of Thunder from Jora on Luclin
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Jora opened her eyes but there was no light in the room. The darkness was blinding. She ached all over. She stretched out her hands to touch cold, damp stone. She didn't panic. Not yet.

A brief spark of flint and steel.

Light shone for an instant.

Jora pulled her legs close to her, buried her face in her robes, and silently wept. 

[Noa]

Valhal The Righteous
Of course I'm fine,
I'm a paladin.
Posts: 45
(6/29/02 10:49 am)
Reply | Del  Faith restored
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A groan of disdain lept from the lips of the stranger that sat before Jora's sulking form. His eyes caught the firelight from the single torch in the damp chambers. The glare he held narrowed.

"Well priestess, it seems we meet again. Though I'm most sure that you do not remember me." The raspy sound of his voice fading to a wheeze.

A rattle of bones shuddered into the room. Varlamon, the man on the throne gave command to the undead creature. The skeleton paced towards the female grabbering her wrists forcefully and brought her to stand. She, by the position of the skeleton, had her arms spread out like a bird nailed to a tree by viscious children.

"Why?" Cried Jora in a half hearted effort. Varlamon's gaze set upon the girl. The torch flickered and the skeleton's grip held fast.

The dark man chuckled as he began to rise out of his seat. Long flowing garments covered his thin body and draped over the ornate chair. The whispers of their rustle were unnatural, sounding. It was as if the robes spoke themselves. Whatever the voices were, Jora knew, things were not well.

A prayer slipped from the mouth of Jora. She felt better, but she would soon come to find out that her might as a Priest of Thunder, would not ease the pain of what she would see.

"Bring him in." Varlamon paused between each word. He grinned as guards clad in black rust covered armor pulled in a form that Jora knew well. Val's knees dragged the stone floor.

"Val!" She loudly cried. She looked at Valhal with tears in her eyes. They had been in battle before, seen much blood together and healed those wounds together as well. But, she had never known the site that eventually would lay before her.

Stripped of his armor, Valhal Holystorm lay between Varlamon and Jora. He was limp and lifeless.

"There you are priestess!" He laughed. "There is the man you once knew... your holy protector!" Chuckles from the guards echoed in the large chamber. Jora wept.

Varlamon approached the body of Valhal and spoke "My my, it was a shame it took so long to come to this point, my son." He smiled, with a sense of pride, the pride of a house cat bringing a kill to it's master.

A disembodied voice pervaded the room. No one understood it, save Varlamon.

"I'll make a deal with you Jora. I will give you the right to ressurect his pathetic soul in exchange one thing." He smiled looking straight into the soul of the bleary eyed girl.

"What?" She wimpered. Her question both about hearing Varlamon proclaim Val as his son and of the deal.

"Why take him back... of course. Yes, take him back to the Temple." His face wrinkled as the rage overtook him.

Jora was confused. Why all this work only for me to take him back to the temple where he would evetually be restored to his old self? It did not matter to her. All she knew was that Val would come back into the safety of her protection.

Varlamon made a gesture at the skeleton that held the young priestess. She began to drop to the floor, but the renewed sense that everything would be alright helped to catch her before she fell to the floor.

**********************************************

An hour had passed. The preparations had been made so that Jora could once again see the faithful face of her companion. She knelt and began to pray in front of Varlamon, his guards and most importantly before the body of Valhal.

A soft glow covered the dead paladin. His body twitched as life crept back into his muscles, bones and mind. Jora released a tear of joy.

The singing sound of a sword coming from a sheath made Jora jump. She did not have time to react however and a armor clad knight quickly came to Jora's side and struck her head with his hilt. She was unconcious.

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Jora awoke only to find herself laying on the ground in the desert of Ro not to far from Freeport. The light of the sun blinded her for the moment, but she saw that Val laid beside her. For once in the days that had passed Jora felt safe and happy.

"On to the temple my friend, we will surely find your fate there." Speaking as she arose helping Val to his feet.

Her head ached, but she knew it was nothing like Val was feeling and so she did not complain. They began to creep along the sandy landscape in the direction of Freeport. Hopefully the nearby city would at least be a place of rest, as well as a way to find passage to their home of Qeynos.

Valhal Holystorm
Holy Knight of Karana "Retreat? I have at least 10 more hitpoints!"
Protector of Saga

[Noa]

Valhal The Righteous
Of course I'm fine,
I'm a paladin.
Posts: 46
(7/5/02 2:26 pm)
Reply | Del  Re: The Disappearance
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The two companions had made their way to an inn on the port side of Freeport. Jora knocked upon the door. It creaked as it opened revealing a frail old woman.

"Looking for a room are ye? Aye, well come in, we've plenty." The woman spoke with a hint of lingering dissappointment.

"Ev' since the finger wiggla's discov'd how ta get to the moon, we've not seen so many as used to travel by boat." She looked at Jora and Valhal curiously. She took them over to her small wooden desk where a register lay and asked for their names.

"Jora Annwyvn and Valhal Holystorm, m'lady." The priestess answering for the both of them.

Smiling, the old woman took down their names and proceeded to show them to their room. They didn't have much gold, Varlamon's guards had stripped them of their wealth, and so they came into a small one bed room.

"If'n ye need anything just give me a tug." The woman pointed to a braided rope. Jora looked at her in an awkard fashion, Valhal was seemingly somewhere else though standing with both of the ladies. The innkeeper chuckled a bit and explained there was a bell on the other end, not an old woman. Jora smiled and turned a little red for thinking what she had thought, as she set Val upon the bed.

"Rest well" said the woman as she scampered off at the sound of another knock at her door.

"You've not said a word since we entered the city." The priestess said with thick concern upon her tongue. She looked Val up and down and began to undress him so that he might rest more, perhaps then he would be ready to speak.

Valhal shivered as though a sickness had come over him. Jora did what any Priest of Thunder would have, she prayed to cure the illness the pale looking man had. But it did not work and Val became more sickly despite the efforts and faithfulness of his friend. Jora frowned.

The paladins skin began to moisten as the sweat from his vicious shivering turned to violent shaking. Jora, shocked, stood up and away from the bed. She had never seen effects of a ressurection come in so painful a form.

"Val!" She cried, seeing the horrid look of pain upon his face. She hurried to his side, Val groaned, and as she went to place her caring hand upon his shoulder Valhal grabber her hand and looked her fiercely in the eye.

"What have you done woman?!" He growled, frightening Jora,causing the shivers he had to leap into her soul. Valhal coughed and groaned. The room itself began to shake. Something was wrong very wrong.

This cannot be Valhal, Jora thought. And as soon as that thought had slipped away in her terror, a mist lept from the had of Val, pulling back into him a piece of Jora's soul. The paladin looked stronger as Jora began to grow ill.

"No!" Jora exclaimed as the pain forced her to blackout. Valhal stood over the woman.

"What... why did you do this... you should have left me dead!" He was angry, he had been pulled away from the peace of death, and he knew there was something missing from who he used to be. He gathered her up taking stock of where he was and burst through the door to his room, then to the outside. The old woman, surprised by the burly pale skinned stranger said nothing.

Crazed, Val began to run through the city with Jora on his back. Guards tried to run after him, but his anger gave him the stride of a dragon and they quickly lost site of the pale figure.

He kept his pace through the desert, he knew where he was going, but did not know why. The idea of reaching the temple was burned into his mind. Perhaps they could fix these unwanted affects from this rebirth, that must be why he was headed to Qeynos.
Valhal Holystorm
Holy Knight of Karana "Retreat? I have at least 10 more hitpoints!"
Protector of Saga

[Noa]

Priestess Jora
Moderator
Posts: 249
(7/23/02 9:23 am)
Reply | Del  Re: The Disappearance
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Valhal carried Jora from Freeport to Qeynos. Sometimes on the makeshift stretcher he pulled behind and other times he simply tossed her over his shoulder. Several folk gave him funny looks as he quickly strode by with an unconsious lady on his back.

Only once did Jora open her eyes on the journey. She knew something was wrong and when she'd put the pieces together in her head she gave way to the oblivion of darkness rather than fight for consiousness.

She dreamed and some of the dreams became nightmares. The priestess knew that some of the nightmares would come true. In that dream-like state she prayed that the dreams would too.
Jora Annwvyn
Cleric of Thunder
Saga