Kharash picked his torch up from the ground before placing a heavy clawed hand on Sul's shoulder. He grinned, exposing sharp teeth, and offered him the torch. "Why don't you lead the way, knight?"

"May the Light guide you to rest." Sul whispered, bowing his head as the knight faded away, taking pride in the fact that he had help a lost soul achieve what it had long awaited for.

Sul took a deep breath before giving the Watcher small smile and a chuckle. "A knight Indeed. I can only hope to be worthy of such."

Turning to Arizima, he lifted the torch. "There is much that has been lost to time, and we do have a trial to finish. If you could inform Griswold, Master Wrenn?" He added as he began moving. "He is as part of this as the rest of us."

[Private to GM: Unsure as to the sword? I assumed it was ethreal in nature prior to the ceremony, and returned as such? Or did it stay with me? And if it did, did it come with a sheath and straps. xD]

Wrenn followed Griswold's path out of the room, in search of the squire, hoping to bring him back to regroup with everyone else in the next room.

"Griswold, the oath has been taken by Brother Sul, and the knight has led us to the armory to lay claim to the things that remain there. The knight asked me to pass on to you his well wishes on your trials, and Sul has asked that you join us in the armory."

"You are an interesting squire, Griswold. In the world of the arcane, those who seek to grow and progress in knowledge and power seize the opportunity when it presents itself. Yet there you were, with that very thing sitting there in front of you ready for the taking, and you walked away. Consider me intrigued, and honored to be your acquaintance, Griswold."

Wrenn found Griswold crouched down over the unconscious Roland, trying to make sure that the irksome boy wasn't getting any worse.  He turned and grinned at Wrenn, "Brother Sul is a good man."  He stood up and saluted Wrenn.  "And so are you.  When you're not vanishing my friends out of existence that is!"  He laughed awkwardly.  He sighed and shook his head.  "Honestly, I'm worried that the Orders wont accept some upstart claiming he was starting a new order.  I hope our good Brother is prepared for his life to become much, much more complicated.  They'll probably call him crazy at best, a charlatan and a criminal at worst.  Still, at least he isn't a squire.  That would be like giving the finger to the entire knighthood and its traditions."

"Well," Griswold cracked his knuckles, "enough sombreness." He pulled Wrenn over to Chris and whispered to the boy, loud enough just for them to hear, "If I am not mistaken, we have the coin for Farrissa." Then loudly, pushing Wrenn towards the hall, "I think the young ones should be okay.  Egos Battered and bruised, maybe, but okay.  Now let's see what this old place has stored up for us!"

As the party gathered itself and made it's way down the stairs, the torch light gave the barest flickers of light into the space below. The stair was short in length and opened into a larger room. As if on cue, braziers in the center and corners lit up brightly as Brother Sul placed his foot on the solid floor.

The room was white marble, ornate and veined with a gold mineral that sparkled against the firelight. The room smell faintly of spice and perfumed oil instead of the musty smell that had permeated most of the tomb above. What grabs your attention immediately is the quintuple stands arranged in the center of the room, glass encasing their contents.

Closest to the stair, hanging from a pedestal is a sword. It is a true longsword, not the bastard sword that goes by the name. Shining steel greets the light hungrily and reflects that light with a fierceness. The hilt looks to be bronze, with a blue stone set in the centerpiece. The haft is wrapped with simple cord, leading to stone of the same type in the hilt caged in the bronze of the weapon.

Flanking it on the left is a pair of heavy leather gauntlets. Every open surface, save for the points where a knuckle or the wrist articulates, sits a thick metal plate. They appear to be sized for a humanoid hand.

On the right of the sword, a thick cape, fur-lined on the inside and at the neck, seems to exude power from the brilliant red color of the outside. Though encased, it moves and shifts slightly as if blown by a wind.

The last two items sit behind the others. One is a great, leather bound tome with a simple locking latch on the front. It is easily as thick as the fist of Kharash just from casual look. The other is a simple silver ring inset with a red stone of some sort.

Along the walls are racks of weapons and armor, their outlines clear beneath carefully wrapped leather and sealed with wax. A chest the size of a footlocker rests against the far wall. Next to it lies sit the mummified corpse of a knight, his arms and armor identical to the spectral Sextus. His arm drapes over the chest, his other holding a now rusted sword, several arrow shaft protruding from his breast and arms. His leg is bent at an odd angle and looks broken.

Sul strode slowly forward as he looked upon the room, marveling at the relics of the armory that survived the ages. "Centuries these have lasted. Please take care." He said quietly, turning from the armory towards it's guardian.

"Even in death he protected this place." The acolyte said as he knelt next to the corpse.

Sul proceeded to whisper a prayer the Light to guide the soul before moving and preparing the body. He guided the corpse to a state of rest before sitting beside it with his legs crossed in front of him. "From the Light, we are born,"Focusing, he guided the light to appear before him, a single miniature silver flame as if on an invisible candle. "A single flame of life,"With a steady breath, the silver flame settled upon the corpse and slowly spread across the body. "We spread light until," ashing the corpse slowly before settling on the floor."We are free from strife."

Once done he gathered the ash to release later, when they were outside in the open air.

With the ceremony as complete as it could be for the moment, he turned towards the group. "Forgive me. I could not in good conscience move forward without a at least a proper send off for the knight. What have you discovered?" He asked, seemingly wanting to change the subject.

---

Lots and lots of continual sacred flame to ash the corpse and thaumaturgy to keep the smell and smoke from going crazy. xD

Anyone want to help make a better send off chant? xD

Arizima watches Sul work for a moment before moving to look at the tome with interest.  Her eyes widen in a surprise and recognition but she says nothing until he's finished instead carefully examining it.  Once he's finished she gently coughs and stands next to it. "I would assume this the manuscript the knight spoke of.  It is... an odd thing.  It rather resembles a flawed attempt to emulate the Ashrok'a of my home."  She shakes her head.  "My apologies.  I'm sure that means nothing to you.  They are... mystical tomes that tell the true histories of each of the great houses.  More than that they hold closely guarded arcane and mystical secrets and their own grand power."

She pauses to look at the tome again with a frown.  "The binding and the design... all signs point to this being a crude imitation of a rather rare and closely guarded technique.  I can't tell you what's contained within the book.  Only a true examination of it's pages would yield the truth.  All I can tell you is that someone went to great trouble to create this.  It probably means less to the rest of you but to myself the implications of its very existence are... potentially troubling."

"Warfare might not be my particular area of expertise, but I do love a good war story! That cloak seems to be one I've heard many tales about, those worn by famous generals throughout the years. Though they each wore cloaks of different colors, the constant movement even without a breeze sticks out soundly in my memory. Unfortunately, there's been so many tellings of such cloaks, that I seem to have forgotten which one this is and what its particular trait happened to be..." Wrenn seemed rather agitated at having forgotten details, and was running through bits and pieces of various stories to himself trying to recall the details.

Kharash didn't recognize any of the items before them, though he was pretty sure they belonged to Delius at some point.

Instead he walked past them, to the wall. "Well spoken, Sul," he said as he slowly ran a hand along the wrapped weapons and armor. "I am sure we can find an appropriate place for those ashes. Perhaps Gammon can help us with that, as well." He broke the seal of a piece of armor, and opened the leather wrappings to take a better look at it. "What do you intend to do with all these things?" There seemed to be equipment here for quite some knights. "You may have to start looking for followers. Some recruits to keep this gear from wasting away."

The acolyte chuckled at the small woman before he looked around at each of them. "I am a man of faith Arizima. Whether you believe or not, the gods guide us through our obstacles. While you may see it as luck or happenstance, there is more to our meeting and you joining us than chance." His tone was tired, but cheerful as he smiled at Arizima.

"I believe these are relics of a time long past that may be needed in the future. But for our current purposes, there are five of us, and five relics. I would say fate had a hand in this. While i cannot give it to you, so long as you accompany us, and i have no need of it, you are welcome to read through it." He offered, keeping the invitation to join him open even after these trials. "Though i may be curious as to what it may contain if that is indeed the manuscript Sextus mentioned."

"We can figure out the magic behind each and see which would help each of us best. And everyone welcome to any armor or weaponry you think you might need to use. I doubt i'll have followers anytime soon. Gammon and Inara have done well at keeping this place a secret, and I cannot hope to carry all of this to someplace safe so it must stay here for now." With a shrug to Karash he moved towards the chest to verify what may be inside.

As Brother Sul tends to the body of the fallen Sextus, there is no smell or smoke. It is as if the gods understand the significance of this gesture and endeavored to make it as peaceful as possible. When the ritual was done, the ashes collected, and the items investigated, the room seemed to dim slightly.

When Arizima stands next to the manuscript, she can feel the power behind it. An ancient power that practically hums beneath her fingers if she touches it. No matter how she tries, however, the tome does not open. More work will need to be done to claim its power.

As Kharash breaks the seal on the wrapped armor, it proves that the smiths of old were true masters of their craft. A gleaming portion of splint mail greets him, a quick look telling the paladin that its sister pieces are all there. It appears as if it was forged in the last year, not over a millennia ago.

The chest proves to be the coffer for the Order. Neat stacks of boxes labeled with copper, silver, gold, and precious stones are present. Several carefully wrapped cloth bundles reveal jewelry and vials of colored liquids. It appears to have not been touched since Sextus guarded it with his final breaths.

About this time, soft footsteps can be heard on the stairs. Chris emerges hesitantly, Kyle and Gerard in tow. All three of the boys seem awestruck by the sight of the armory. Chris breaks his silence, speaking in a hesitant voice. "Gammon is at entrance. He says Lady Inara is here," he says as his eyes begin to wander to the various weapon and armor racks, as well as the relics.

OOC:
The coffers contain 2300 cp, 1000 sp, 80 gp, 2 x Bloodstone, 1 Carnelian, 1 Citrine, 1 Jasper, 2 x Moonstone, 1 Smokey Quartz, 1 Zircon, 4 x vials of liquid

There is enough on the weapon racks and armor stands to give you 1 martial or simple weapon of your choice as well as a set of metal armor, though it is not tailored to fit you in the case of heavy armor.

Griswold had yet to cross the armoury's threshold, clearly unsure about his presence in this place.  However, his mood quickly changed with the boy's arrival.  From immediate happiness, at the mention of Gammon, to sudden exasperation, upon hearing Lady Inara's name.  "Ugh," he exclaimed, "of course she'd come.  But I knew we could count on Gammon!  If he's here, Jacoby must be too." His voice cut through the comfortable silence, like a piercing shriek.  "Good news everyone: we'll have plenty of help to carry the injured!"  Emboldened by the news or, more likely, simply forgetting his previous reluctance, the Half-elf strode over to one of the weapon racks.

He picked up a lengthy, arched bundle and hesitated there.  Fingers gently caressing the seal, before popping it open and revealing the remains of a longbow.  It lacked a string, of course, but testing found the wood strong and pliant.  Pleasantly surprised he held it up as he walked over to one of the armour displays, calling out, "Good wood."

Momentarily setting his bow aside, a quick tug sent the armour stand's leather wrap tumbling to the floor.  Griswold waved away the dust and looked at the full suit on display.  He shook his head woefully.  "I am sorry, but..." his eyes and hands drifted to the sturdy breastplate. "I'll be separating you from your brothers."  He unlatched the sculpted metal plate and lifted it from its resting place, reclaimed his bow and turned to everyone.  "I think this will be enough for me.  Let me know if you need me to carry anything else!"  He said with a confidence unfitting his frame.

OOC:
Griswold will take a longbow (ammunition and string pending) and a breastplate, if that's okay.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:50, Wed 06 Dec 2017.

Arizima bursts into a fit of laughter at Sul's words quickly doing her best to silence herself.  "I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend.  There's just a bit of unintentional comedy attached to those words.  I appreciate your generosity of course."   She eyes the various artifacts with interest once her laughter dies down.  "I don't think these should be assigned a new home just yet until we can give them a more thorough examination but it would be best if we took them with us.  We can't study them or find out more if they're gathering dust after all.  If anyone's too filled with false modesty to carry one I can keep a few in my pack until we have the time to discuss the matter at length."

Arizima grabs the tome and places it in her pack before eyeing the rest of the artifacts.  She takes a moment to look at each of the unclaimed artifacts in turn before picking them up and offering them to anyone in the group willing to hold one.  Once that's done she glances back toward the stairs with a curious eye.

OOC
Arizima avoids the mundane armor and the weapons.
If anyone doesn't take one of the five items on display she'll hold onto the others if no one objects until the group has a chance to examine them further.

"Hmmm..." The acolyte's face scowled in thought as he looked to the others within the room. "I feel... off. I stand by what i said earlier. Fate brought the five of us to this place. And the five relics here seem part of that omen."

He moved to stand in front of the Sword, eyeing it as his mind whirled. "I'm sorry, but if Lady Inara requires the Sword of Delius, a relic passed down through the Order that i now am part of... " He started, turning to look back at the others with uncertainty in his eyes. "Then i am not sure i would be willing to give it to her. At least without the reasons being... well... strong?"

He moved his hands up to the medallion and rubbed the flame between his thumbs as he considered his new position and what it might entail. Without some kind've doctrine for the order, he wasn't sure what he should do.

"Well," Griswold said shifting his equipment about in his arms, "you are not part of the order."  He nodded backward at Arizima, "Throw that cloak on the pile!" He said jovially rattling the items he carried, then turned back to Brother Sul.  "You are the order."

Arizima nods to Griswold before gently folding the cloak and adding it to his new pile.  "I don't particularly care what happens to the sword.  If you feel it would be wrong to part with it for whatever reward this Lady Inara promises you then that seems fine to me."

The acolyte watched the two incredulously as they scavenged what they could. "And what of the quest? Did you not do this all to meet the Rose?" He had done that very thing, but now seemed to have other goals.

"I came along by the happenstance of our random encounter, and it seems as good a path forward as any other. That, and Kharash promised to protect me in case Griswold tried to eat me. What we do here is up to you, Sul, it's all your's now. Perhaps we can talk to Lady Inara before we proceed?"


Light Crossbow, I suppose, since I've nothing but a staff to my name.

Arizima shakes her head.  "I'm here for reasons of my own.  I wasn't formally a part of your competition at all really.  Any reward you were promised wasn't offered to me." 

Kharash carefully wrapped the piece of armor back into its leather wrappings. "Thank you, Sul," he said while firmly attaching the heavy bundle to his backpack. "This is of exquisite quality, and I'm sure a skilled blacksmith will have an easy job adjusting it to.. better fit me." After proper inspection, he also picked a fine dagger from the armory, and attached the scabbard to one of the leather belts of his armor.

"It'd be a shame to just leave these here," he gestured to the rest of the equipment in the room. "Especially once you've found other that are willing to follow your cause, this could be a good start to getting them well-armed. Perhaps we can take these back to town, to find some secure place to store them. Perhaps with Jacoby's help?" He looked at Griswold.

Finally, Kharash grabbed those of the five special items that hadn't been picked up yet, and put them in the chest with the Order's funds. "I can help you carry this," he said while already lifting the chest onto one shoulder.

"You hold on to that sword of yours. It is more than a weapon, it is a symbol, and not one to be given away lightly." He looked at his companions. "Now, let's see what the Lady has to say," and he made his way towards the exit.

As the gear is gathered and carted up, Gammon is tending to Kyle and Farrissa while Gerard looks like he is keeping a cold press to Roland's head while Lady Inara frets over him. Seeing the the group emerging with Chris in tow, she stands and moves to your group, looking you over. "Are any of you still injured? Did the creature possess more than Roland?", she asks, looking genuinely concerned.

The brazier room look like it has been turned into a makeshift camp, bedrolls and packs moved in. Gammon looks up from what he is doing and gestures. "I figured if you found this place, no sense in not using it. Jacoby is at the top of the mound. He is safe, wolves don't approach the mound," he states and continues to move around the room. It appears that the bones have been moved, though you don't know where.

"No, after Roland was released, Sextus' spirit managed to banish it." He glanced at the youths, and continued in a softer tone. "This place was desecrated - a corrupting ritual was performed, with the intent of hindering these trials. Before Sextus' spirit departed he told us that the one responsible knows you. Do you have any idea who may want to harm you, or the trials?" His gaze shifted between Irina's eyes, judging her reaction.

The now knight, at least in name, smiled in acknowledgement of their words, the confusion replaced with understanding. He turned to Kharash. "Aye, but it will take time. For now though, we have things to attend to, and this place is well hidden from the populace. Still, i must find a way to move everything as one of those that defiled this place escaped."

With their decisions made, Sul strapped the Sword of Delius to his side as he followed the Watcher back up. He had never finished his training with a blade before he changed his profession, but he still knew how to hold one.

"The creature, it appeared little more than smoke and sorcery, escaped after the boy was released. We did however, arrive in time to protect the Order of Delius' treasure." He added with a tap of his finger to the blue stone within the hilt of the sword to draw her attention to it.

Griswold gave a wooden, entirely cheerless bow to Lady Inara.  He said nothing and showed no sign of being pleased to see her.  It might have been mistaken for professionalism rather than coldness, had he then not proceeded to hurry over to Gammon with a big grin on his face.

"Gammon the deserving of a so much better title than Helpful!  It is good to see you again.  How fare the youths?"

Lady Inara seemed to pay no attention to Griswold as he paid her curtesy, instead focusing on Kharash and Sul. Lady Inara nodded at their words but didn’t comment for a long moment. Instead she thought and nodded, as if to herself. “It would seem that Kalaryl would interfere far sooner than we thought. You must believe me that we did not intend for any of this to happen. Kalaryl has moved his timetable forward but that is not your concern for now. We shall have a ceremony for the presentation of the sword at the festival,” she says with some thought. Her mind is obviously elsewhere during the exchange.

Meanwhile, Gammon greets Griswold cheerfully. “They will be okay physically, if not mentally. They have been through much for ones so young. I should have discovered the taint before you entered this place. So much is riding on the success of your endeavors that I lost sight of the safety of all,” he says severely.