"Hmmm. Based on the possibility that part of Nivara's soul escaped from Thaeir to the material plane to wake the dormant body that she left there in case of her death, I'd say that souls traversing planes to reach their goals is something that is likely to happen, Elthana being elsewhere probably wouldn't change that fate. I also get the feeling that if you asked Elthana to leave the Nivara killing to you guys and sit out somewhere she wouldn't be too keen, though I could be wrong," Mireah states Cocking a questioning brow at Elthana as she does
"No, you are quite right. She would not.....Hmm you make a point though a phylactery holds a soul..Elthana woke" Muir pauses and changes his course of questioning "...Once the phylactery is destroyed what happens to the lich and soul?"
"by my understanding a lich can survive without it's phylactery, though it is the phylactery which makes the lich's body immortal. Once slain it will always return as long as the phylactery is intact. The desperation of the souls and body, the spell which regenerates the body as long as the spell holds, it's all very very powerful and potent stuff."
Vin has kept quiet, simply listening, but as the others speak a question pops into his head that he can't help but voice.
"How do we find this phylactery? I mean, there is no point going against Nivara until it is destroyed, right? That makes finding it our priority, surely", he says, scratching his head a little nervously having interrupted the flow of the conversation and drawn attention to himself.
"Family or not, we all have our duty," Sam answers, more for Griff's sake than the question needing an answer. "And since our mission has more or less been about saving the world as we know it from day one... Sometimes you have to set aside what the heart wants for what the heart needs, eh?"
Sam is about to reply to Gewyn and his comment about being a small pawn - probably something snide like "Yeah but a big pain" - but before he can Mireah is spinning and bringing up Elthana's problem again and he doesn't want to distract from that.
"Wait... everything else aside for just a moment... This is great coffee!" Sam interjects. "Thank you, Delores..."
"But on the topic at hand, are you suggesting Elthana will need go through a rebirth? Like you are? So she'd... Start over? Grow up all over again?" Sam asks. He... he doesn't quite know how to feel about that. It's obviously better than losing Elthana altogether but...
"Surely there's some kind of magic or something to make her, I don't know, off limits to a soul entering her? Some way to block Nivara's part from trying to invade Elthana? If it's in a fill-ack-to-me already," (Sam does his best phonetic pronunciation) "Could we trap it in a different one? On Nivara doesn't have access to so she can't be reborn and can't invade Elthana?"
Elthana listens to all that is going on around her. Feels weird as they talk about her as well as though she isn't there. She does smile when Mireah seems to know her pretty well. Damn right she isn't going to stand by while the others fight Nivara. She'd fight her alone before she'd allow that.
"Any idea what the phylactery of Nivara could be? Even size wise could help. Any way we would know what it is when we see it?" All this was so new to Elthana, she wanted to be as prepared as possible... even if it might be awhile before they are strong enough to attack.
Muir's face becomes gravely serious "Yes, Yes these questions are important....How do we find one etc. etc. Please Mireah if you can provide any help in that realm please do. However, Hector this question is for you. Were you there when Elthana was created? What specific details can you tell us about that day? And before any of you interrupt and start telling me there are more important things to be done, hush yourselves."
"I don't know too much about it, I'm sorry... And with the general taboo of the workings of undeath, especially in this plane, you'd be hard pressed to find the play by play of how to make a soul vessel..." Mireah sits and thinks.
Hector sips his coffe and stora s little to life as Muir's questions make him cast his mind back to the days before vampirism and elemental planes of air. "Nivara became obsessed with overcoming death, this was back in the material plane mind. She researched all kinds of spells and visited places of power, of research, but when people found out exactly what she was after it was considered poor taste at the very least. But it did lead her to some odd places, rumours in tomes of temples and shrines directly opposing death forced her to travel alone to depths of the material plane that had long been forgotten and abandoned.
After one of these adventures she came to us with a book she had uncovered in a temple, that book had instructions on a ritual to inflict vampirism upon oneself and also a few backups which included the knowledge of the clone spell, I believe this was sometime just before her and Sergor set up base at what would become Marblestead. The book had a symbol on the front of it, the dead snake, something I would later learn is Nectyran's mark.
I was aware that Nivara had learned how to create the clone, but the materials needed were expensive, hard to come by, she wanted to clone all of us, offered as much but myself and Mori declined, Sergor was interested but I'm not sure could afford it, by this time we had built a home near a druidic temple there, started a small village and offered the druids some help in return their leader Garth I believe his name was, would allow Nivara to freely move to and from Thaeir. She made us vampires in order to 'preserve' our lives and went off chasing fairytales from that book, said she needed to see the throne of death somewhere in Thaeir...
Back home our village was growing, the druids tried but couldn't stop Sergor from taking over the portal and then after several years myself and Sergio came here looking for her, we never saw her again. Elthana's body was technically created hundred and hundreds of years ago." Another sip and Hector glances over to Muir wondering if that would be enough to answer lingering questions and theories from the loxodon.
“Let is look past Sergors lies and transgressions once more and if you would correct me if I am wrong but Elthana believes she had a few memories placed in her prior to waking yes? Was this part of the clone spell? You see, I am wondering if Elthana is now more than a clone. It doesn't make sense that Nivarra would purposefully make Elthana the phylactery because if she were to die well there goes the phylactery, but what if she has inadvertently become a small one of sorts because of the memories she had implanted already?”
"hmm, I suppose it would depend entirely on what kind of memories have been transferred. The soul can hold certain senses like a muscle acting on its own. But Elthana has only mentioned worsening dreams since coming to Thaeir right?" Mireah answers Muir but directs her questions to Elthana so as not to be rude.
"Elthana may act like a small phylactery-style off shoot, but I'm in agreement that it's highly unlikely this was done on purpose. Why would nicara intentionally keep her soul in a living vessel, a vulnerable one..."
"Do you think we can speak now?", Vin whispers once Muir is outside.
With Muir gone he decides they can, "This throne of death that exists somewhere on this plane. Is it a throne to the Raven Queen or to Nectyran? It was a shrine to Nectyran she found on our plane, so I am guessing that is what she sought here, but wanted to make sure. It may just be my muddled memories, but this is all just too confusing. Hopefully Muir has it all straight"
"I can be answering that one actually." Griff chirps up, apparently pleased to not be confused by the topic of conversation for once, "the throne to the raven queen is not being in this plane, but through it, and in the shadowfell. Our stories are telling us that the raven Queens domain was being the shadowfell before she vacated the realm to be trapping Nectyran there... The stories are telling it as a cunning strategy by the raven, because it is being an impossible battle, no one can kill death, and death cannot be killing undeath either..."
Elthana feels awkward as people talk about her and her memories. To be sure, she wasn't sure of her early memories... which were actually hers and which were planted. She is even more surprised as Muir leaves the room and heads outside. Turning to Mireah as she asks her question, she isn't sure how to answer, "Well, the nightmares are what I was hoping for help with. As for the rest I have no idea."
She sighs as everything is starting to weigh heavily upon her. She follows Muir outside to see what is going on with him.
"Thanks Griff. I get the feeling I am way behind in understanding this", Vin replies.
"So Nivara found a shrine to Nectyran on our plane, which led her to come to Thaeir. But she couldn't reach the throne of death because it was actually in the Shadowfell and Lumithor barred her way. Then after talking to him she went to see Vox Tontritor and started her current plan, which involved tricking Vox Tontritor into killing Lumithor, turning her into some kind of Zombie, and then performing this ritual to become a Liche; Waking Elthana in the process with a portion of her soul, alongside some memories which make no sense to me. After all, if she was going to inhabit the body herself, why load any memories into it at all? Anyway, after that, she used Vox Tontritor's influence to turn all the Djinn's against those with draconic heritage, starting a war to weaken her enemy and in the process collecting perfect kobold corpses to swell the ranks of her army", he rattles off. "At least that is what I think is going on", he says, looking around and wishing Muir was still in the room to correct him.
Before stepping out to see Muir, Elthana turns back to Vin as she overhears him summarize the situation. "Just a comment on my memories or lack thereof. I didn't have nightmares of Nivara until we arrived in this plane. I sure hope when we go back, that they stop. As for awaking memories? I wouldn't say that is true... my childhood memories that I have, those were implanted, given to me by Mori. I think the real memories I have are the nightmares I had on the material plane.. one of digging, of Sergor in the distance, of terror and screaming.. but I don't really know what to make of those. Well.. other than the digging of course."
"This would all be much easier if someone could just point us at something to hit and to break and to destroy in order to fix things," Sam notes sullenly. He prefers simple problems and solutions...
"come, you have things to be getting on with, why don't you all go for a walk to the lake and I'll make breakfast for you all before you go. Hm?" Delores offers to the remaining group.
Mireah, without thinking dutifully gets up and starts moving. Whether it is her love of the outside or wanting to not help cook, she leaves without a word.
"Hmmm. Based on the possibility that part of Nivara's soul escaped from Thaeir to the material plane to wake the dormant body that she left there in case of her death, I'd say that souls traversing planes to reach their goals is something that is likely to happen, Elthana being elsewhere probably wouldn't change that fate. I also get the feeling that if you asked Elthana to leave the Nivara killing to you guys and sit out somewhere she wouldn't be too keen, though I could be wrong," Mireah states Cocking a questioning brow at Elthana as she does
"No, you are quite right. She would not.....Hmm you make a point though a phylactery holds a soul..Elthana woke" Muir pauses and changes his course of questioning "...Once the phylactery is destroyed what happens to the lich and soul?"
"by my understanding a lich can survive without it's phylactery, though it is the phylactery which makes the lich's body immortal. Once slain it will always return as long as the phylactery is intact. The desperation of the souls and body, the spell which regenerates the body as long as the spell holds, it's all very very powerful and potent stuff."
Vin has kept quiet, simply listening, but as the others speak a question pops into his head that he can't help but voice.
"How do we find this phylactery? I mean, there is no point going against Nivara until it is destroyed, right? That makes finding it our priority, surely", he says, scratching his head a little nervously having interrupted the flow of the conversation and drawn attention to himself.
"Family or not, we all have our duty," Sam answers, more for Griff's sake than the question needing an answer. "And since our mission has more or less been about saving the world as we know it from day one... Sometimes you have to set aside what the heart wants for what the heart needs, eh?"
Sam is about to reply to Gewyn and his comment about being a small pawn - probably something snide like "Yeah but a big pain" - but before he can Mireah is spinning and bringing up Elthana's problem again and he doesn't want to distract from that.
"Wait... everything else aside for just a moment... This is great coffee!" Sam interjects. "Thank you, Delores..."
"But on the topic at hand, are you suggesting Elthana will need go through a rebirth? Like you are? So she'd... Start over? Grow up all over again?" Sam asks. He... he doesn't quite know how to feel about that. It's obviously better than losing Elthana altogether but...
"Surely there's some kind of magic or something to make her, I don't know, off limits to a soul entering her? Some way to block Nivara's part from trying to invade Elthana? If it's in a fill-ack-to-me already," (Sam does his best phonetic pronunciation) "Could we trap it in a different one? On Nivara doesn't have access to so she can't be reborn and can't invade Elthana?"
Elthana listens to all that is going on around her. Feels weird as they talk about her as well as though she isn't there. She does smile when Mireah seems to know her pretty well. Damn right she isn't going to stand by while the others fight Nivara. She'd fight her alone before she'd allow that.
"Any idea what the phylactery of Nivara could be? Even size wise could help. Any way we would know what it is when we see it?" All this was so new to Elthana, she wanted to be as prepared as possible... even if it might be awhile before they are strong enough to attack.
Muir's face becomes gravely serious "Yes, Yes these questions are important....How do we find one etc. etc. Please Mireah if you can provide any help in that realm please do. However, Hector this question is for you. Were you there when Elthana was created? What specific details can you tell us about that day? And before any of you interrupt and start telling me there are more important things to be done, hush yourselves."
"I don't know too much about it, I'm sorry... And with the general taboo of the workings of undeath, especially in this plane, you'd be hard pressed to find the play by play of how to make a soul vessel..." Mireah sits and thinks.
Hector sips his coffe and stora s little to life as Muir's questions make him cast his mind back to the days before vampirism and elemental planes of air. "Nivara became obsessed with overcoming death, this was back in the material plane mind. She researched all kinds of spells and visited places of power, of research, but when people found out exactly what she was after it was considered poor taste at the very least. But it did lead her to some odd places, rumours in tomes of temples and shrines directly opposing death forced her to travel alone to depths of the material plane that had long been forgotten and abandoned.
After one of these adventures she came to us with a book she had uncovered in a temple, that book had instructions on a ritual to inflict vampirism upon oneself and also a few backups which included the knowledge of the clone spell, I believe this was sometime just before her and Sergor set up base at what would become Marblestead. The book had a symbol on the front of it, the dead snake, something I would later learn is Nectyran's mark.
I was aware that Nivara had learned how to create the clone, but the materials needed were expensive, hard to come by, she wanted to clone all of us, offered as much but myself and Mori declined, Sergor was interested but I'm not sure could afford it, by this time we had built a home near a druidic temple there, started a small village and offered the druids some help in return their leader Garth I believe his name was, would allow Nivara to freely move to and from Thaeir. She made us vampires in order to 'preserve' our lives and went off chasing fairytales from that book, said she needed to see the throne of death somewhere in Thaeir...
Back home our village was growing, the druids tried but couldn't stop Sergor from taking over the portal and then after several years myself and Sergio came here looking for her, we never saw her again. Elthana's body was technically created hundred and hundreds of years ago." Another sip and Hector glances over to Muir wondering if that would be enough to answer lingering questions and theories from the loxodon.
“Let is look past Sergors lies and transgressions once more and if you would correct me if I am wrong but Elthana believes she had a few memories placed in her prior to waking yes? Was this part of the clone spell? You see, I am wondering if Elthana is now more than a clone. It doesn't make sense that Nivarra would purposefully make Elthana the phylactery because if she were to die well there goes the phylactery, but what if she has inadvertently become a small one of sorts because of the memories she had implanted already?”
"hmm, I suppose it would depend entirely on what kind of memories have been transferred. The soul can hold certain senses like a muscle acting on its own. But Elthana has only mentioned worsening dreams since coming to Thaeir right?" Mireah answers Muir but directs her questions to Elthana so as not to be rude.
"Elthana may act like a small phylactery-style off shoot, but I'm in agreement that it's highly unlikely this was done on purpose. Why would nicara intentionally keep her soul in a living vessel, a vulnerable one..."
Muir rubs his chin “I will think on this.” He gets up and goes outside for some air
"Do you think we can speak now?", Vin whispers once Muir is outside.
With Muir gone he decides they can, "This throne of death that exists somewhere on this plane. Is it a throne to the Raven Queen or to Nectyran? It was a shrine to Nectyran she found on our plane, so I am guessing that is what she sought here, but wanted to make sure. It may just be my muddled memories, but this is all just too confusing. Hopefully Muir has it all straight"
"I can be answering that one actually." Griff chirps up, apparently pleased to not be confused by the topic of conversation for once, "the throne to the raven queen is not being in this plane, but through it, and in the shadowfell. Our stories are telling us that the raven Queens domain was being the shadowfell before she vacated the realm to be trapping Nectyran there... The stories are telling it as a cunning strategy by the raven, because it is being an impossible battle, no one can kill death, and death cannot be killing undeath either..."
Elthana feels awkward as people talk about her and her memories. To be sure, she wasn't sure of her early memories... which were actually hers and which were planted. She is even more surprised as Muir leaves the room and heads outside. Turning to Mireah as she asks her question, she isn't sure how to answer, "Well, the nightmares are what I was hoping for help with. As for the rest I have no idea."
She sighs as everything is starting to weigh heavily upon her. She follows Muir outside to see what is going on with him.
"Thanks Griff. I get the feeling I am way behind in understanding this", Vin replies.
"So Nivara found a shrine to Nectyran on our plane, which led her to come to Thaeir. But she couldn't reach the throne of death because it was actually in the Shadowfell and Lumithor barred her way. Then after talking to him she went to see Vox Tontritor and started her current plan, which involved tricking Vox Tontritor into killing Lumithor, turning her into some kind of Zombie, and then performing this ritual to become a Liche; Waking Elthana in the process with a portion of her soul, alongside some memories which make no sense to me. After all, if she was going to inhabit the body herself, why load any memories into it at all? Anyway, after that, she used Vox Tontritor's influence to turn all the Djinn's against those with draconic heritage, starting a war to weaken her enemy and in the process collecting perfect kobold corpses to swell the ranks of her army", he rattles off. "At least that is what I think is going on", he says, looking around and wishing Muir was still in the room to correct him.
Griff blinks slowly, "uhhhh, yeah?"
Before stepping out to see Muir, Elthana turns back to Vin as she overhears him summarize the situation. "Just a comment on my memories or lack thereof. I didn't have nightmares of Nivara until we arrived in this plane. I sure hope when we go back, that they stop. As for awaking memories? I wouldn't say that is true... my childhood memories that I have, those were implanted, given to me by Mori. I think the real memories I have are the nightmares I had on the material plane.. one of digging, of Sergor in the distance, of terror and screaming.. but I don't really know what to make of those. Well.. other than the digging of course."
"This would all be much easier if someone could just point us at something to hit and to break and to destroy in order to fix things," Sam notes sullenly. He prefers simple problems and solutions...
Gewyn shudders. "I'm sorry, Elthana. Those dreams sound truly dreadful. I wish there was more we could do to help immediately."
"come, you have things to be getting on with, why don't you all go for a walk to the lake and I'll make breakfast for you all before you go. Hm?" Delores offers to the remaining group.
Mireah, without thinking dutifully gets up and starts moving. Whether it is her love of the outside or wanting to not help cook, she leaves without a word.