Editing Chronicle - Abyss (section)

== Lore and Legends ==

We were back in the Gnomish halls, safe for the time being, and took some time to heal, train and consolidate our lore understanding. One thing that I was keen to stress was that we should NOT use the shards, no matter how tempting [[Milai]] found it. The two occasions we knew of in history that shards had been used by good had both led to the death of the user, and I now believed [[Gelmir]]'s poem in [[Zundar]] to be a warning against using the shards. [[Milai]] was not convinced, although [[Lanzi]] was and argued on my side.

We all agreed that balance was important, and that [[Bavarik]]'s sword and the [[Sarnim Stone]] were the two key artefacts that brought unbalance. The stone was inherently evil, whilst the sword was a powerful artefact for good. The one was here to balance the other, but both belonged elsewhere and not on the Prime. It was likely that the stone was put on the Prime by the Gods after [[Bavarik]] won his holy avenger from the Gods. We also discussed the fact that [[Sutur]] may have been more important than we realised; we did not know what was in the tower, we hadn't talked to [[Orodruin]]'s folk whilst there, it was in the shadow of the volcano [[Malek]] and there was an ancient prophecy that if [[Sutur]] fell then the Prime would fall to evil.

Lanzi had studied [[Staves|Lastar's Claw]] and discovered that he could use it to safely hold parts of the stone, much as [[Lastar]] had in the 1st Age. After some discussion with [[Milai]] she agreed to surrender her shard to [[Lanzi]] so long as he could hold it safely with the claw. I gladly agreed to do the same, removing any temptation to use the damned artefact. The shards were held floating above the claw with some dweomer I did not care to understand.

The enemy were likely to consider the sword in the same way as the shards, unwilling to destroy them but wanting to keep them to deny the opposition the chance to use them. If they were to destroy a part of [[Bavarik]]'s sword it would almost certainly mean that [[Ragnarak]] would be inevitable to restore balance. This was unlikely, but a dangerous possibility.

We suspected that [[Iki Moko]] covets the advice of [[Inwe]] and [[Cillian]] due to their Intelligence and Wisdom, which complimented his strength. Unfortunately this meant that he recognised that he needed the help of others to succeed; a dangerously wise point of view. It was almost certain that he understood the need for the [[Efreet Hearth]], which led us to think that we should take possession of it before it fell into the wrong hands.

We spent some time considering the wheel we saw in [[Minas Olga|Olga]] - with the book ([[Codicil]]) in the centre, the hub of the wheel. The next level of symbols were arranged within the wheel, with [[Odin]]'s eye at the top, [[Yggdrasil]], the world tree, on the left, the hearth (which we now believed to be the [[Efreet Hearth]]) below, and the sun or star to the right. Outside the wheel were arranged the four elements and the symbol of [[Minas Olga|Olga]], which represented the Astral Plane. Importantly, the wheel was in motion and the position of the elements changed over time; however, the relative position of the elements remained constant, so if you knew the position of one you could predict the position of the others. Also important was that the pentagrams we saw were showing the positions in the present, not in the past, and changed whenever the wheel turned. We also speculated that the position at the top of the pentagram marked the element that was in ascendency. It should be possible to predict the motion of the wheel if this were the case. The ages were marked by a reversal within the wheel rather than a turn of the outside, and it was [[Yggdrasil]] and the Sun that reversed; from this we proposed the following meaning for the symbols: the eye of [[Odin]] represented divinity, which did not change, and the hearth represented mortal desires, which also did not change, the tree represented life and the sun death (marking the resting place of the soul), and these two reversed depending on whether positive or negative influences were dominant.

[[Inwe]] we saw as the evil's [[Lastar]], as she sought a champion to wield [[Bavarik's sword|Swords]] as she used the stone - still in balance but with evil triumphing over good. This made us doubt that we were ready to take her on in her fortress. The talk of balance also made us consider the prominent evil characters, [[Orcus]], [[Inwe]] and [[Iki Moko]] all represented different aspects of evil, and themselves were in balance. Dragons were also an important balancing factor, and as [[Rantor]] had been called onto the Prime a new dragon of radiance had been born to balance him. This worked both ways, though, and our actions in killing [[Tung Mi Lung]] had unbalanced the Inner Planes, weakening the Plane of Air. We asked the Gnomes about [[Blaven]]'s pool, as this is where we suspected the dragon of radiance had been born, and they informed us that he was of [[Orodruin]]'s folk, a descendant of [[Enrodir]] and linked to the House of [[Dor]]. It was clear that we needed to seek the help of the dragon of radiance, and also restore some balance to the Inner Planes by working for Air.

We learnt that [[Orodruin]]'s folk were a distinct race, like Half-Elves but a mix of Dwarf and Gnome. They were comfortable with planar travel, like the gnomes, but also skilled craftsmen, like the dwarves, which is why they had been able to assist with making items that were connected with the artefacts on the hearth.

Colours were also important, and we had already surmised that deep purple colours were a sign of evil, whilst bright blues were a sign of good and [[Odin]]. We had seen the colours of the crowns, but the shards were less obvious, as their colours only became apparent when they were used. We had seen [[Frastor]] use the Gem of Law, which gave off a blue light, and we had seen the gnome [[Destrin]] use a gem that the gnomes identified as the Gem of Natural Wonder and it gave off a grey light (grey is likely associated with neutrality).

Turning to visions, we learnt that [[Methras]] was the brother of [[Inwe]]. [[Pakluk]] was a good dwarf from the house of [[Dor]], but was being swayed by evil. His (possible) father was [[Kagrul]] who was a senior dwarf for good, but was likely to fall to the corruption of his son if nobody intervened, so there was an urgency to our mission to find the lost souls of the north.

[[Guerin|Dordraug]] and [[Grazgul]] had met in Amorsland.

[[Hersht]], an Efreeti, was summoned by [[Orodruin]] and asked about how to shape the metal they found in [[Malek]] (Adamantite). The pentagram was green, inscribed with tourmaline on white. [[Orodruin]] was wearing a blue cloak, which was at least a good sign. The hearth was the answer, with heat and anvil. The hearth was made for Urdlin the Dark of the Abyss, and could be found in [[Orcus]]' realm. [[Orodruin]] stole it from [[Orcus]], which is what brought him to the Prime.

We also learnt that [[Guerin|Daudrag]] was going to lead [[Inwe]]'s forces in the attack against Caladhon, taking the place of [[Merc]] as her champion. It also seemed that [[Gwendolyn]] had travelled to [[Zundar]], something our enemies did not seem to be concerned about, even hoping that she would interfere with the gate there. The other, more worrying, news was that [[Guerin|Daudrag]] was specifically tasked to hunt us down!

I spent most of my time, when not discussing lore with my colleagues, helping the gnomes in whatever way I could. I was not just a capable healer, but could help prepare troops for battle, intervene directly to sway the course of a battle, or even raise champions from the dead if the worse were to come to pass. For my efforts, and those of the party, the gnomes were generous in replacing items lost, giving healing potions and information as we requested it in preparation for our next journey. They also prepared scrolls of introduction from Ichshoos to the Halflings and [[Orodruin]]'s folk (who they knew were in [[Minas Morgul]]), should we ever meet them. On a more practical note, the skin of the great demon we had felled was made into shields for Milai and me; the skin being able to reflect lightning and some rays of dweomer.

We discussed the future of the rings of power, and the gnomes expressed their dismay that the gems had been taken from the elves, to whom they were gifted in good faith, and bound to the dwarven rings. They were all powers from the Prime, unlike the major artefacts, but we agreed that they should eventually be divided and returned to those that were intended to hold them.

One other event of note, to me at least, was that [[Milai]] had asked for the eye of [[Odin]] to be imprinted onto her hand. She was grateful for my Lord's intervention when she had lost her limb, and through me as his vessel on the Prime the limb had been regrown. Whether she was truely turning into a convert of [[Odin]] remained to be seen, but she at least recognised the power of [[Odin]] to intervene for good when it mattered.

Finally, once we had all satisfied ourselves that we were ready to continue, we agreed on a course of action. We would first travel to Caladhon to warn [[Perion]], expose the traitor and get his army moving in order to fight for good alongside our allies. Then we would travel to [[Minas Morgul]] to seek an audience with [[Orodruin]]'s folk and discuss the location of the [[Efreet Hearth]]. Then, if possible, we would seek to retrieve the hearth and return to the Prime, hopefully in time to support [[Perion]] in any military action.