06/03/05

A Rebellion in Jerris

After battling the Horror King and freeing his victims, the Samsarans returned to their home in Throal. They had gathered several trophies, including the twisted, bony crown of the Horror King himself, and set about creating a Trophy room there, to keep the various treasures and artifacts they had acquired.

When wandering the city, Nazeer was approached by a Human Named Kos Steelgaze. Kos had a job for them, but first he needed to know something: Where did their loyalties lie? After some consideration of this question, the Samsarans determined that their loyalties lay with the free peoples of Barsaive, and no other. This answer was satisfactory to Kos, who revealed that he was a member of the Falcons, the air defense force of the City of Jerris. The Falcons had been outside the city when it was taken by the Denairastas during the war, and had been unable to return while it was under their control. He was looking for a group of adepts to infiltrate the city and aid the Rebellion against the Iopan usurpers. The Samsarans gladly accepted this offer, and made their way to Jerris.

In the city, they were met by agents of the Resistance, and escorted to their secret headquarters in the ancient sewer tunnels. There they met with Chardis Morningfall, the head of the Engineers guild in Jerris. He told them about how the Iopans had come to him, asking for volunteers to help them discover the secret of the ash that blew in from the Wastes and fell constantly on the city. Apparently, the Iopans had managed to clear out a kaer in the Wastes, and planned to use that as a laboratory to study the ash. Chardis did not completely trust them, but finding a method of stopping the ash-fall would be a tremendous blessing to the city, so he agreed. He arranged for his people to contact him secretly though a messenger spirit, and sent out five volunteers. The first spirit arrived successfully, giving the location of the kaer and directions through the Forest to find it. But the next spirit never arrived. He had waited as long as he could, and now he wanted the Samsarans to journey into the Wastes, find the kaer, and determine what had happened to the Engineers.

They were lead through the sewers to the Poison Forest, where they met the Obsidiman Purifier Orin Draneth, who gave them some healing poultices against the rotting disease of the forest. The Samsarans journeyed into the Forest, and after battling some of the corrupted creatures within, they emerged on the other side and headed into the Wastes.

After traveling through the desert of blowing ash for a short time, they discovered a crashed airship, and the entrance to the kaer. There was no sign of activity outside or in the kaer that they could see, so they made their way into the airship, where a group of ashen cadaver men attacked them. After defeating the cadaver men, they discovered two Iopans who had been trapped inside the vessel by their attackers. One of them was nearly dead, and the other was poisoned by the ash getting into the various cuts and wounds on their bodies. They both had strange marks on their faces, and the conscious one explained that they were Oathbreakers, and that mark indicated that he had betrayed the Denairastas by refusing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the ship. Nazeer offered to dispatch themright there, since they were obviously dead men anyway, and the Iopan took him up on this disturbing offer. Buulgath and Phylinius left the ship while Nazeer performed his gruesome deed.

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