"I have indeed. But first my donation into the club..." Sura passed over the suitable amount of gold.

Balast took the book calmly and nodded.

"There might be a simpler approach to Ambaldros.  If I can infuse sufficient of my essence into him he will start to desire destruction.  Given suitable persuasion it should be possible for him to be  wish to try his desire on conclave stones.  For the rest lets say I might be able to assist in some form."

He turned and sat on a chair and started reading the book.

Balast

"We'll organize the guest suite for you," said Mordalahi. "And begin reining in the machinations of the Athanor. Until a certain clarity is gained, we cannot afford to be luxurious in our scheming. Perhaps the Shrine can consider this a blessing. We shall endeavour to speak to Ambaldros."

Balast began to read the book.

"I can't help you with that," explained Mordalahi. "You must assist yourself. It is written in code, of course, and the formulas are blurred. Occulted."

[Chapter One]

The introduction to the book explained that it was written mostly in code, and that it was meant to be the first book studied by a novice of the Athanor, an alchemical and political organization founded in Niborkerese. It had the aim of illuminating all, and bringing immortality to the wisest, as well as the study and understanding of Yggdrasildic lore. It says that all but two of the six chapters found within contains a secret formula to be uncovered; once all four formulas are achieved, the novice might approach the Athanor and request initiation. If their claims are true, initiation will be gladly given and further, open studies can be reached. It says that it is vital, however, for the novice to have an alchemical lab - including an athanor - and a high tolerance for adventure and mysticism to succeed.

Sura

The demon smiled.

"Ah, this will be suitable. No enchantments, I gather? Mundane gold of the highest purity? Not a trap? I will know if it is, of course, Lord of Sand, but I fear such things are below you."
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:20, Mon 08 Mar 2010.

Balast nodded.

"I wouldn't ask for your help.  I will succeed or fail on my own here as I should.  For now I would suggest keeping the pretence of Marcento being alive in place.  Soon I may be able to take his form and nature if not his power in order to assist with the charade.  Can I borrow or purchase an alchemical lab - the book seem to state one is needed for this."

He continues reading.

"No enchantments, no tricks." Sura said smiling.

Balast

"Every room within this house is fitted with an athanor," said Mordalahi. "Including your guest suites."

[Chapter Two]

The Conjuration of Flames
The Building of an Athanor
The First Step in Refining the Soul
The Sol Nigros

1. The Alchemist is to construct his Athanor out of the steel that have not seen the flames of the sun;
2. He is to be given the heart of a sacred virgin in this endeavour;
3. He is to light the fire with the words of the wise, the symbol of his attunement to the path of self knowledge;
4. The fire that is raised is to be as hot as the fires of the phoenix, and the Alchemist is the dragon, with scales in hand;
5. When a perfect balance between the heart and gold is found, both are to be cast into the Fires of the Athanor;
6. Divination is the first mystical art, and is to be consulted in this act;
7. Om.

Sura

Marthak's smile turned into a grin.

"Very good, Lord of Sand, very good," he said. "The Hydrathapoles Club will be very happy with you after they accept your donation. Of course, the gift isn't a confirmation of enrolment within the fine organizaztion - no, you've still a meeting with the First Knight of the Hydra of Thapoles. You'll refer to him, of course, as Lord Knight Zast. If you care to see him now.."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:12, Thu 11 Mar 2010.

"Yes, yes. I will meet him now Marthak." Sura said impatiently, eager to learn the secrets of the club.

Balast continues reading carefully.

Balast

[Chapter Three]

The Burning of the Spirit
The Attainment of the Alchemist
The Third Step in Refining the Soul
The Sol Solar Citrinitas

1. The Alchemist has not yet burned the impurities from his body;
2. He is a simple man playing at a greater game, but to win he must take his own sympathy;
3. He must conjure wildly and blindly, menaced by rage and the fallacies of man, cursing himself for forever more;
4. For thirteen days he must work to destroy himself using the pettiest methods that are needed to be eliminated;
5. Coming finally to the Athanor, where he will Evoke the Alchemist eternal, and if he does fail he will burn and die and never try again, though if he is to succeed it will be like the lightest shower and the flames will purify him with the blessing of the primordial;
6. Evocation is the third mystical art, and the eternal Alchemist is to be consulted in this act;
7. All shall burn, and returned, the infallible.

Sura

Marthak nodded. He was led through the pleasant gardens before entering within the gilded doors of the Club itself. Written on the door was the Club's motto: "Ench nod Yjan'oth erdnod Hydrathapoles".

Inside the house, the stone floor was covered with rugs of magnificent red. A long hallway met the two, with each of the fine doors closed. There were many vases and fine paintings on the walls and tables. Sura passed fifteen doors before reaching the one at the end of the hallway - the finest of the lot.

Marthak nodded. "He's expecting you. Go right ahead. I cannot touch the door myself."

Balast continues Reading, aslight smile on his face

"Thank you, Marthak. I look forward to our next meeting - may it be a permanent one." Sura gave a smirk to Marthak, and entered the room.

Balast


[Chapter Four]

The Attainment of Brother
The Destruction of Inferiority
The Fourth Step in Refining the Soul
The Sol Rubedo

1. The Alchemist, thus purified, is to devote himself to the Greatest Work;
2. He must take the proof of his experiences by writing the secrets to the formula down in an Alpha Magnus;
3. He must then, this done, reach the City of Purple, where he shall endeavour to find the athanor of mens souls, reaching the place where alchemists work;
4. He will be given a final test, charged in taking a substance that will assuredly kill him;
5. But no; he will metabolize before death can occur, and be reborn, sprung from death, a brother of the athanor of mens souls, an alumni of the sacred initiation, to partake in the second trials;
6. Illumination is the fourth magical act, and is to be consulted in this test;
7. Immortality of the Dao.

Sura

The room within was surprisingly humble for a creature who ran such a luxurious club. A simple wooden payer mat lined the western wall, and incense burned from all points within the room, filling the air with the stench of sandalwood. The desk of the First Knight of the Hydra of Thapoles sat facing the door, rose as Sura entered. He was a proud man, a thin man, with copper hair and dashing eyes. He was dressed in simple brown robes with very little embellishment. You'd mistake him for a simple servant or acolyte..

"Ah, Lord of Sand," said Zast. "Make welcome here."

He gestured to an empty chair.

"Make yourself comfortable, take a seat, and we'll talk about initiation, enrollment, and possibly membership," grinned Zast. He fumbled underneath his desk for a moment, drawing out two fine silver chalices and a long jug filled with a green liquid. "Do you drink the naturas, Sura?"

He sat and he stroked an invisible beard, send flakes of dead skin flying. "I don't drink." he said simply. "A fine establishment you have here, if i may say so."

Balast continues reading carefully.

Balast

The book ends claiming that it is the only key to accessing the 'vaults of information eternal, as possessed by the Athanor of the Soul, and the True Body of masterful Adepts, brothers all'.

(OOC: Looking back I think I made some logistical errors with you reading the book - the last chapter should be Six, not Five. It was not purposeful, and otherwise you've got access to the full text anyway - just a heads up)

Sura

"You may say so," said Zast, First Knight of the Hydra of Thapoles. "That is the first test, of course," he motioned to the bottle containing the green liquid, the naturas, "For that is strychnine absolute - poison of a breed to fall even a God of the highest order. Those who wish to impress us, to drink fully from our wells with no thought to - the proper ways, the necessary curiosity - would be killed in minutes."

He smiled fully, now. He placed the green jug beneath his desk once more, and filled his own chalice with a particularly non-poisonous concoction: scotch.

"You see, 'to drink the naturas'.. to drink from nature. It is an ancient saying, naturas itself coming from naturas arcandum nossilus .. 'to rob the mysteries'. The original Church of the Sacred Tree - it was their code. Man must make his own energies, store his own power - it shall not be taken from things greater than it all! To drink from God - hah! Those who are learned in ancient Sacred Tree mysteries - surprisingly few, even amongst the most distinguished Yggdrasildic Scholars - would know it to be poison: poison from highest."

He rubbed his hands together, enjoying the lecture.

"Of course, there is no liquid - alcohol or otherwise - known as 'naturas', for that very reason. A taboo, yes, in Script - in the Divine language. Ancient words.. were you to simply ask, 'What is it?', not drinking blindly, than I would have told you: strychnine absolute!"

He finished his scotch, poured another.

"Do you understand, Lord of the Sand?"

Balast smiles wryly and sits up.  He thinks for a minute and then stands and heads for the house of Marku.  He needed to determine what had happened in the chamber of Marcento and the god had had two lives left so if he had not returned he was still alive.  He also wanted to speak to the daemon again.

A grin spread across Suras face - a grin so wide the dry remnants of skin flaked off his face. "Certainly." he said slowly. Sura likes this guys style.

Balast

"Friend," said Mordalahi, son of Marcento. He placed his hand on Balast's shoulder. "Perhaps it is best that you stay with us for a while. Searches for my father have begun. We have every man, demon, sorcerer and alchemist working on it. Will you let me show you to your room? The visitor's suite has quite the library.."

Sura

"Yes," said Zast, First Knight of the Hydra of Thapoles. "Now, tell me, Lord of Sand, did you wish to join on a whim, or are you already aware of our purpose, goals, et cetera? The demon tells me that your donation is quite sufficient. I will trust him."

Balast smiles wryly and shakes his head.  His eyes unfocused and his mind is far away.

"I will stay but it makes little difference now.  One of my paradoxes is in Alkan and the realm is under attack by another god.  I will be freed and will not be able to stop myself attacking the tree.  Nothing I do can change what I will do and no action can save the tree from me so unless you can provide me with a tool powerful enough to defy the floods extremely rapidly I would crave only a quiet corner until I am unmade."

"Not so much a whim but you could say that i was looking for a place which i did not know existed and found it here." Sura said, still smiling. "However, this does leave me in the dark about the specifics. Perhaps you could detail them to me?"

As His presence had already been established within two realms at once, and was meeting resistance in both of them, Chalybis realized that if He wanted to be victorious in either of them, He would have to gather a lot more power. The Alkanites were too powerful to consume easily enough, whilst the cultists 's numbers were far too insignificant to sustain His infernal ravening. No, if He wanted to absorb legions of worthless souls to fuel His power, He would have to expand His presence to yet another realm, and He knew exactly which one that would be.

The perfectly blue sky of Niborkerese was torn apart as Chalybis willed Himself to appear here as well, knowing exactly what He was intent on doing here. He knew that souls were considered the main form of currency in here, their so-called owners being unaware of the true power something like Him could gain by harvesting them. Nothing in this pathetic fallen place could hope to deny Him what He demanded, and He was certain this visit would make Him far more powerful than before.

The rift that was His form grew rapidly, the infinite gears grinding away at reality until all blue was gone from the sky and only a cloak of silvery metal remained above the surface of the city. His many gazes instantly sought out the largest concentration of souls beneath Him, determining that this was coming from some kind of market - the slave market. Large orbs filled with souls drifted in the sky above the city, far too close to Him for their own good and an obvious first target for His hunger.

Spiralling cones of darkness descended from the rift as He gazed over the orbs, each one forming into a narrow yet powerful vortex that attempted to tear one of the soul jars free from its supports so that He might consume it. This seemed almost too easy to be reality, but Chalybis knew full well that if there was anything here which defied reality itself, it was Him and nothing else...

Sura

Zast smiled.

"We are a club - not a cult or sect, though we function as a monastic order of sorts, but that is only for the learning benefits held within that school of teaching. We are the creatures of the Hydra, with infinite heads, resembling our thirst for knowledge; and the Aharyathapoles, the unknowable beast of razors and blades, which represents our will to fight for that informatiuon. No art is forbidden or taboo within these halls. We offer tutelage, but at some point all alumni must pay the cost - through teaching of their own. Furthermore, no knowledge is free, and your first class must be earned through initiation - the seizing of fire, of holy wisdom, of dark knowledge. That is the Hydrathapoles Club. We are knights of the Ancient Arts."

Balast

Mordalahi said nothing, but only nodded, freeing Balast to go where he will.

"If you require your rooms, I can send a servant to show you, friend," he said, grimly.

Chalybis

Chalybis manifested above the slave-markets, drawing down as he did so. He saw the pathetic creatures beneath him run and gather there weapons, where they began shooting pitiably at Chalybis's form. The relatively tiny blue spheres began to gravitate towards him, heavy cages rattled and shifted, as some of the lighter pet-creatures and the canvasses which protected their wares were whipped into the maw of the machine..

As the glasses shattered, however, Chalybis found that the souls did not fall to him - rather, he sensed powerful sorcery within them, and little else. Was it possible that they did not actually contain the souls of those they trapped?

The cones of darkness vanished instantly as Chalybis realized that He was being deceived, about to make way for something far worse as He turned His full attention to the mortals and divines responsible for this unacceptable nonsense. If He could not simply harvest the souls He wanted directly in a relatively harmless fashion, He had no choice but to tear them out of their still-living bodies instead, something which they would surely come to regret soon enough. He ignored the pitiful weapons they were attacking Him with for now, choosing to focus upon their impending destruction instead.

Clouds of silver metal began to form within the black orbs on His surface, gathering into an entire swarm of massive metal columns as they took shape. One by one, they were released; pillars of the known and feared silver metal that plummeted down towards the surface of Niborkerese. As they crashed down upon anything that was not mobile enough to get out of the way, they burst apart, forming into a torrent of liquid silver that swept over streets and squares alike, infecting everything it came across with its dreaded curse.

High above the scene, Chalybis was extremely pleased with Himself, knowing that if He could not get a group of souls here, He could at the very least gain an army of mechanical minions which He could send of into Alkan to tip the scales further in His favour. He had long since stopped caring about the potential use those below Him might have when left alive, having determined that none of these pathetic creatures was anywhere near powerful enough to be worthy of anything but a slow and painful death at His hands.

"I understand that knowledge is not free. I am willing to pass on what i learn to others in the club. Sura is anxious to learn the lessons they teach here.

Balast's face curls into a snarl.

"What I need is to be restored to my own.  With my own power I might be able to at least do something against this god who now appears to by Mad.  I apologise for my curtness but the idiot is coming close to causing untold damage simply because he knows nothing and understands less.  Can I beg the services of a daemon to talk certain matter over with."