A Chat with a Solar
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The temple of the Sun Lord glitters golden beneath the same. Rather than walls, the majority of the temple is composed of what appears at first blush to be a raised round platform made of one of the largest slabs of marble likely in existence. Columns rise into the air as if to hold some massive ceiling, though instead of a normal ceiling, one finds the deep blue sky, studded by a disconcertingly close canopy of bright stars. One should not worry, however, as the rain never falls, and the wind never blows on this particular temple, but for a gentle breeze, whatever the weather outside may be.
Despite the austerity of the columns, warmth suffuses the grounds. A grand, marble statue of the Shining Knight stands a the center, a hand outstretched in benediction. Beside Him, the statue of Althea, their hands clasped in love. The central position of the temple to the others gives view to all of their children, and the two look upon one another with the solemnity of love that has been the center of so many tales and legends.
Masterfully designed mana lamps provide further soft, golden lightning where needed, their pedestals carved in the form of the Dragons of Light, over which Daeus is said to have dominion in His form of Draco Solis. Majesty, justice, and welcome suffuse the temple grounds. Around the central temple are a series of smaller buildings, each with a simple function and form. One houses the sacred book depicting some of the earliest known translations of the Laws of Light, which pilgrims from near and far come to visit. Another houses the well-appointed quarters of the Sunguards, and among all the ground bristle the Sunblades.
EXTRAS: +view
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Hun'rar Heavily armored knight with a dragon motif 1m 1h Iskandar Larger than life hero. 11m 3h Kore Tiny half-Mul woman with dark hair and blue eyes. 4m 54m Whirlpool I am stinky! 0s 1d
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Good news, everyone!
The Celestial that has been sighted at the Temple of Daeus has returned once more to stand watch. It seems you've finally the opportunity to deliver the quarterstaff, the shard of Animus' fallen divinity, to it and see what comes of it.
At any rate, you're arriving at the Temple.
Hun'rar has made sure his plate is in immaculate shape for this visit, every piece polished, the metalic red enemal shining like a new mirror. Sword at his side, helmet carefully tucked in the crook of his neck, hair freshly braided and oiled. He is as ready as he will ever be.
Hun'rar stands a few inches over 6 feet tall with broad shoulders, noticeable even under his armor. His skin is a dark mahogany and his face broad but with sharp angular features, his eyes an emerald green with unusual verticle slits for pupils like a dragon. His black hair is plaited tightly to his scalp and ends in a long braid that trails down between his shoulder blades. He wears a set of heavy full plate with dark red enamel and brass trim. The pauldrons are especially large, shaped like two dragon claws clutching his shoulders. Over his broad chest piece he wears a black open robe that goes to his knees with dark red dragons and flames embroidered along the trim. Hanging from a thick belt is an armored skirt of dark leather strips full of iron studs. His legs are fully encapsulated in dark red steel armor with two claw like protrusions on the front corners of his grieves. From his shoulders hangs a dark floor length brown and black cape of wyvern skin, the ends of it appearing singed and ragged. His helmet fully encapsulates his head, leaving only a T-slot for his face with sharp angular cheek guards that come to fang-like points. Additionally it has large overlapping armored scales starting at his forehead and running along the crest, getting smaller and smaller and connecting to scale shaped plates over his braid, giving the impression of a dragon tail. He wields an especially long bastard sword that hangs at his hip set with blood red garnets in the pommel and crossguard along with a broad steel shield styled as an open dragon wing. Despite his appearance he has an easy going pace, smiles often with his helmet off and exudes a literal aura that removes all fear in his presence.
Iskandar walks towards the temple. His own gear has similarly been made presentable, although perhaps not quite as thouroughly as Hun'rar's. He looks about with open curiousity. "This may well be my first time stepping into this particular temple." Iskandar thinks for a moment. "Oh who am I kidding, it is my first time in any temple in this city!" He then flashes a half-smile at the nearest Dauesite in view. "No offense."
Hinting at Giant-blood heritage, Iskandar stands nearly seven feet tall. He's fit and trim with a broad muscular build, made all the more visible by the swarthy skin showing on bared arms and legs. He wears open-faced headgear made of bronze that protects his forehead and cheeks, keeping his curly black hair out of his eyes and hiding just where his short dark beard begins.
The remainder of his panoply appears expensive and well-crafted. A dull bronze cuirass covers his torso, sculpted with muscles. A short leather kilt hangs to mid-thigh, and he wears sandals to protect his feet. Iskandar's forearms are encased in leather bracers inlaid with small bronze plates. The left is slightly longer and features an extra plate, but the bracer is scuffed and the plates dented subtly - likely from warding off blows.
At his belt is sheathed a short one-handed blade. The relatively small size of the weapon coupled with Iskandar's great height makes it difficult to pinpoint what exact type.
Kore, in Vardaman regalia, stops to flash Iskandar a brief smile. She shrugs briefly and then takes a deeep breath, turning slowly to look around as she does. She even waves at one of the priests, apparently not feeling self-conscious in the slightest about her Vardaman regalia (though, in truth, this amounts largely to a silver harp necklace and her temple coloured clothing.) Hun'rar may be immaculate but the monk still dresses like a well-equipped peasant. As is the standard.
Kore (Koh-reh) is a well-toned but still rather slender young half-Elf. She is 4'7" and about seventy-two pounds, with black hair and blue eyes, as well as the dark skin that marks her forever as a half-Mul. A relatively pretty girl Kore is nevertheless scarred on her arms and hands from years of hard work. She wears plain clothes, black tunic, silver belt, and thin shoes. The Holy Symbol of Vardama hangs about the girl's neck.
First things first: You're going to have to get past the guards at the door to the temple. While ortdinarily it's open and accessible to the public, the times when the Celestial are present tend to present a little more waryness on their part. While it is no doubt quite caable itself, nobody wants to be the guards who were on watch when agents of ASumit try to kill it or what have you.
"Greetings," says one of the gaurds as you approach. "Can we help you with something, friends?"
Hun'rar offers a crips salute to the guards with his free hand "Blessings of the Hunter. We are looking for an audiance with the most Holy Represenative of Heaven. I am Hun'rar, Warden of Gilead and Dragon Knight and can vouch for these peerless allies." he says gesturing to the other two, hoping his status as a paladin will count for enough to get the audience.
"We have important business we should really only discuss with their Holiness," Kore adds in that quiet voice of hers, those blue eyes staring up at the man in question. She is tiny, and perhaps seems moreso with the staff in hand. She blinks a few times, watching the guards' reactions carefully.
GAME: Kore rolls sense motive+5: (6)+24+5: 35
"Do you mean the Highfather?" asks the guards, "Or... I'm guessing you don't mean the Highgfather," he says with a sigh. "Wish that thing'd up and away. No offense, but having an actual angel around gives me the creeps. Don't even like to look at it." He's not alone. They're beautifuly, but terrifying all the same.
That's divinity for you, right? "And it seems you're not wanting to tell us what it's about but --" he pauses, he stiffens.
"Yes. I will let them in."
And then he opens the door.
Iskandar stands a bit straighter when Hun'rar salutes, even though he doesn't offer any such greeting of his own. As soon as the doors open a bit, he does try to stand on his tiptoes and peer inside. Then he walks in, turning his head to keep his eyes on the guard who had been speaking, and then seemed to change his mind and say something else. "Temple guards," he murmurs to himself. "What an odd bunch."
Hun'rar raises an eyebrow at one of the guards but proceeds regardless. "Be on your toes, they seem a little off." he says quietly to the other two as he enters, his armored grieves clicking on the floor along with the soft clicks of various parts of his armor.
"So far, he seems trustworthy," Kore replies quietly to Hun'rar, those she does seem to at least beo n her guard. The monk proceeds through the doors ahead of the party, the tap of the quarterstaff against the ground accopnaying her every step. She seems to be fairly contnet iwth what is occurring. If... Curious. Those blue eyes dance everywhere as she goes.
The doors are opened for you and in you go!
The TEmple of Daeus is much as it always is: a place of solemnity and contemplation and prayer. It's just that, you know, there's a Celestial here today.
The Solar meditates in the center of the temple's open chamber s, it's great wings folded behind its back and with a radiance that's almost impossible to look directly at. A blazing sword lays across its lap.
A group of priests are just starting to depart as you arrive, glancing over their shoulders, generally, in your direction. It seems they've been directed away.
Hun'rar takes a deep breath to calm his mixture of nerves and excitment as he takes everything in, walking closer he takes a reverent knee. "Your Most Holy Countenance." he begins in an even measured tone, drawing on the courage provided by Gilead. "We come bearing a relic of great import and seek council." he adds using the most official language he can thing of.
"Aren't we going to tell him the story first...?" Iskandar looks the slightest bit surprised. "After all, we shed much blood on many floors of the tower and then shed even more blood in what to this day I can only think of as some pocket dimension." He fingers the round pommel of his sword. "Some of it was even our own," he adds after a bit.
There is a voice. It belongs to a different priest, one who just arrived. A younger girl, it seems, perhaps late in her teenage years.
"There is no need," says the child, combing fingers through her dark hair, eyes flecked with gold. "I can sense what you bear. I've chosen this one to speak through, she bears the blood of the Celestials in her veins." There's a self-conscious smile, that's the girls, even as she speaks to you the words of another.
"Please, tell me your story."
Hun'rar glances over to Iskandar "Blood shed in rightious cause is no hardship." he says reciting an old lesson. "We tracked down a servant of the demon-summoner who plagues this city, where we found this artifact which the enemy was trying to corrupt." he says calmly, letting the others fill in more details.
Iskandar turns to look at Hun'rar, surprised again. "There was a bit more to it then that," he says slowly. But then he turns back to the Solar and considers. "...although I suppose perhaps we can save the entire journey for another time, and for now - just this once - skip to the end. Yes, we found this artifact. The Shard. It may have -been- corrupted, somewhat. It caused crystal structures and figures to appear and we had to overcome these as well. And once the dark crystal was defeated --" he turns and gestures at Kore, along with a respectful incline of his head towards her. "--we heard a voice. A message."
"Something started to speak to us. It said, ah..." Kore pauses for a second and closes thos cibrantly blue eyes, taking a deep breath. She speaks in a louder ,slightly eeper voice as she relates: "THAT WHICH IS DONE CAN NOT BE FULLY UNDONE. EQUILIBRIUM CAN BE RESTORED BUT YOU MUST FIND ME, YOU MUST NOT C-" The tone is less "loud" then emphatically forceful, as if she were reading a great proclamation with all due gravitas.
"A shard," says the dark-skinned cleric girl. She turns away from it, as if it is painful to see.
"A piece of a fallen god's divinity, but just that. Most of Animus' essence was absorged into the Sea of Mana and back into the Source, but fragments escaped. Taara would have them. So would others, seeking the Fallen God's restoration. Please, lay the shard beneath me. It is one of many but no less important for it. How many mortals can say they've lain hands upon the death of the divine? As for these words... I do not know whence they came, but perhaps you can discern whom spoke to you."
Hun'rar ponders for a moment, still on one knee "It seemed to me at the time it was Animus that spoke to us, as if... some part of his personality survived and sought to put him back together, perhaps not the god as he was but perhaps... the person? Though... in fairness talking about who we face it could have just as soon been a ruse. His lies and deciet shades all things in mistrust. However that is what it seemed to me, perhaps there is an entity that was part of Animus outside of his godly powers."
Iskandar thinks back and then nods slowly in agreement. "The part that rang loudest and truest with me was the part about 'find me'. A quest!" He glances at Hun'rar and Kore to see if they share his excitement at the prospect of such an adventure. "Of course, the last part that was cut off, was clearly a warning most dire...but such is the way of prophecies and clues isn't it? Sometimes a very important part is left out!" He doesn't seem to find this the least bit concerning.
Kore does, at least, stop to offer a quiet smile to Iskandar before adjusting the staff and then stepping forward. She comes to her knees, placing the shard before the cleric as she bows her head. The half-elf doesn't bother to speak.
"No," she says after a moment. "Not Animus. Someone else. Someone in posession of another Shard. If they wanted you to find them, they must be in danger. I can not 'find' them through the Shard, though. The connection, such as it was, is hard to track." She pauses a moment, as if contemplation even if its the angel doing the contemplating.
"You must find them, in some manner, however. If they have another Shard and spoke to you through it, they can speak to what they warned you of. I am not a God and therefore not all-knowing but I can perhaps point you in a better direction. A sense of place, perhaps, if not specifics."
Hun'rar lowers his head "Keeping another shard out of the hands of evil alone is a quest worth pursuing." while he doesn't show Iskandar's enthusiasm outwardly he certainly agreed to such a quest very quickly. "Your wisdom and advice on the matter more than eclipses that of our own.
"I will go wherever is needed," Kore replies simply. She then moves to pick up the shard, intending to rise to her feet once more. "In which direction do we travel?"
Iskandar rubs his short beard in thought. "Yes, a place to start may be all we need. We traveled quite a bit on our hunt for that airship captain. What was his name again...?" Iskandar suddenly snaps his fingers. "Oinig. Yes. Supposedly quite the swordsman. I would have liked to have tested that rumor, but I suppose now we're not likely to get the chance..." he trails off, seems to remember where he is and the quest at hand, and then looks attentively at the priest.
"I'm afraid the magic came from somewhere within Dragonier," replies the girl, a hand going over her mouth after she says that name.