Announcements - 2010/04 - Shedding Skin
April 2010 - Patch Page
Original Link - http://ac.turbinegames.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=550:shedding-skin&catid=39:articles&Itemid=53&NavItemid=53
Shedding Skin
When, in time, these words are the history of my people, I pray that my efforts are viewed not as betrayal or folly, but as the calculated decisions of a man seeking absolution and redemption.
He lifted the quill from the page and paused staring into the dark corners of his room. He found solace in those dark corners now; it had not always been so. In the course of many lifetimes he drew upon his memories and questioned every action and course that he chose. Every path since first stepping in time with his dearest friend lead him to the precipice upon which he now stood. Each decision was weighed and measured in real time and then revisited over the ages to determine if it was for the best.
For Isin Dule it ceased being about right and wrong when he followed Ilservian Palacost in his search for aid. There was nobility in a decision to save a life and for a friend as dear and long-held as Ilservian there was nothing that Isin would not undertake. This, he reasoned over the long years, was the only decision he made without taking the calculated choice. It was a decision of the heart rather than the mind and the one decision that he truly regretted. Even when he left his studies as a young man where reason, temperance and careful study had bridged the vastness once filled with faith and fate he had weighed each option time and again before rationale won out and his time as a man of faith ended. Reason came with a price and his wisdom was kept closely guarded, a secret that would serve him well in the ages that followed.
Staring into the dark, Isin reflected on the tumult of the last several years and arrived at the same conclusion he had reached in every previous reflection. This course was correct and best. He turned back to the page and lowered the quill to meet the parchment.
My erstwhile companions, lost to the ravages that the madness of shadow imparts, provided me an opportunity I had long thought lost to me. It is only through their decisions that I see the eventuality now presented me; an eventuality which provides an alternative to the chaos that breeds at the edges of the Shadow. I may yet transcend the frailty of my emotions and resolve, for the countless thousands who flocked to our banners, the horrors of this curse. For this reason alone I thank Ferah and Ler Rhan for their part.
In the several years since my spire hovered over “the Caul” I have studied the work of the entity called Aerbax and learned of the misguided plans it had. There, in the work left behind, I discovered the means to redemption – a means to channel the maddening sway of chaos elsewhere. The full effect of this taint will not be removed, we are ever bound to the darkness of this world, but there is a means to alter our course and shed this skin in which we have dwelt too long.
Again he paused and lifted the quill, this time in reaction to a sound along a corridor in a distant hallway in his home. The gift he requested of Atlan’s Son had arrived. He closed his eyes and thought now.
‘Ilservian, I owe you apologies. I was not the friend you needed in the wastes; I too felt the hatred you harbored, the pain you endured and I was not the strength you needed – rather, I fostered these ills and drove you further to madness. I failed you, my friend, when I did not counsel against your calls to the darkness or did not hear the whispers that responded.
‘When I could not see you any longer as we stood outside the Lyceum at Jaline, reason replace by hubris and the wholeness of the Dark, I should have done more to call to the man I knew. My decision and path laid before me then and every night that has fallen since has been trod upon a lonely path. For the centuries since your fall I worked against your return.
‘Now, I turn to your greatest foe, the son of Atlan. Who, like I, pities what you have become chooses to provide me with a gift of a single stone – and I accept.’
“Master Dule?” speaks a voice at the entrance of his room, shaking Isin from his thoughts. Isin turns his head to see the umbral woman hovering at the portal to his room. “We have Asheron’s stone.”
“Very good.” He responds, placing the quill flat on the parchment rising from his seat as he does. He walks toward the umbral woman and the two begin the walk toward the room prepared for his final gambit.
“Master Dule?”
“Yes?”
“You have taught us much in quelling the darkness in our long allegiance to you. We have come to trust and understand how it is that you alone of his generals were able to maintain reason amidst chaos but,” the umbral woman slid before him and stopped as they reached the place where the stone shown bright blue against the darkness, “we are curious why you are so certain that we can shed the shadow and regain a life, like those of the Isparians who now make our world home. Why – why do you think this is possible?”
The response came quickly, with deepest sincerity and the most genuine smile that Isen Dule had ever possessed, “Because I have faith that it will.”
The umbral woman bowed her head and spoke in return, “…and we have faith in you.”
They stepped into the room and Isin passed his hands over the smooth surfaces and jagged edges of the stone that Asheron used to anchor his people in portal space and to maintain the essence of the Isparians. He felt the power within the stone and watched as the anchors were moved into place surrounding the stone. The smoky darkness leapt from his flesh and swirled into the stone drawn into the place between.
Rollout Article
Original Link - http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=557-april-release-fiction&catid=81-2010&Itemid=68
April Release Fiction
The scene spread out before him was like something out of a nightmare. The investigator surveyed how much of the room was destroyed, noting the many things that lay broken as if by explosions or massive impacts, with much of the rest burned to ash. He wondered how anyone could have managed to survive such destruction. How was he going to find the clues that he would need to piece together the mystery before him? The attack was brutal and devastating, leaving little to go on. With a sigh he set to work, even as the Prince burst through the door.
"Sir Alakin, have you found anything yet?" asked the rather strained-looking Prince Borelean Strathelar. If anyone had a vested interest in this investigation, thought Alakin, it was the Prince.
"Have patience, Your Highness. I have only just arrived, and there is much that must be carefully gone through before I can un-puzzle this atrocity." Alakim said, in as calming a voice as he could muster under the circumstances. "Allow me time to cast the spells needed to answer the more pressing questions."
Alakim began the magics necessary to get the first answers he sought. He noted the tension plainly visible on the young Prince's face, and did his best to go as quickly as possible. Alas, such magics were not easy to rush.
As the magics revealed the first bits of information, Alakim breathed a sigh of relief. "Your Highness. The first question I can answer is that, yes, your fiancée is still alive."
The built-up tension in Borelean unwound visibly for a moment, and then some thought made him look even more worried than before. "Now what?" he asked as he began to pace. "She's not dead. Not at a Lifestone. Not reachable via any magic I know or have access to. Where is she? What happened to her?"
"I do not yet know, Your Highness. This will take time. The magical and physical investigations will take time."
"I can't afford to wait." snapped Borelean.
"And would Your Highness risk missing an important clue or destroying evidence due to haste?"
"You are correct. You must proceed with care as not to miss a thing, but I cannot stand here and do nothing," the Prince said exasperated. "Is there some signature you can point me at that I can target with some of my skills or abilities?"
"I can see one trace of her passage. It is here." Alakim pointed to a spot near the door. "If you'll give me a moment to be sure there is no other..." Alakim was cut short as Borelean shouldered past him, muttering in an Empyrean tongue reserved for magics that Alakim had never understood, even when Lord Asheron himself had tried to show him. The mage shook his head, but he really couldn't blame his Prince. Such a situation would be hard for anyone to deal with even in the best of times, let alone for someone with his Highness's temperament and under the current circumstances.
Alakim waited patiently while Borelean finished his spells. A look of grim determination came over Borelean as he finally had a place to direct his energies..
"I believe I can use Geomancy to track her, if I can get close to a point they've brought her through recently."
"So it wasn't a full portal?" Alakim asked.
Prince Borelean shook his head. "The signature here is too faint for it to have been a full portal. I'm certain I can rule out any other transport over a great distance as well. They must've moved her over several smaller hops. Normally, I could track her from here, but there's so much chaotic energy left over from the fight that the signatures here are all jumbled together."
As Borelean started to leave, Alakim stopped him. "Your Highness, if I may make a suggestion?"
"A quick one."
"As you say. May I suggest that you make some means for people to assist you in this search? Would it not be better if many people were searching, and not just one?"
"A good point" Borelean said, with some thought. He turned down a hallway and called out, "Sir Draithon, attend me, if you please."
A man in black Covenant armor moved into view a bit too quickly for the level of dignity he was obviously trying to convey. "Yes, Your Highness?"
"Stay here. Make sure the investigation is not disturbed. I will be preparing a number of gems. Once you've learned what there is to learn here, take the gems and seek adventurers to aid in this search. We will get Kei back, even if I have to tear down the foundations of Dereth to do so."
"As you wish, Your Highness." Sir Draithon said, with a salute to his Lord Prince. After being one of Borelean's personal guards for this many years, he was accustomed to the shifts in the Prince's mood. "Is there anything else you would have of me?"
"No, that's all. I'll make sure the gems are waiting for you by the time the investigation is done here. As soon as they're ready, I'll take the rest of my guard to start searching."
"As you wish." said Sir Draithon, with another salute. As Borelean headed off down the hallway at speed, the knight turned to the investigator. "Is there anything you need of me, to expedite this investigation?"
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