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The time before the Scourge was one of learning - and many scholars traveled to the Eternal Library at Thera to study. One such student was the nethermancer Eolim Belial, who worked as an apprentice for many years at the Library, becoming a student of the works of Jaron the Everliving.
When he returned to his home in the province of Barsaive, Eolim wished to emulate the works of the ancient scholars of Thera. He established a monastery in the Twilight Peaks that drew magicians and scholars from all over Barsaive to study there. Eolim called the community that grew up around the monastery "The Order of the Silver Twilight" - a Name to echo the peaks themselves and the myriad paths of astral space.
The study of the astral world and the deep secrets of the Netherworlds were the Order's greatest area of study. Under Eolim Belial's direction, the Order's scholars learned many secrets of the spirit worlds and wielded mighty magics. They also discovered a terrible truth that would govern the fate of the world: the coming of the Scourge.
When Eolim learned of the coming Horrors, the Order turned all of its efforts towards learning more about the Horrors; how to protect against them and perhaps even how to master them. Eolim Belial became especially obsessed with the study of Horrors and is said to have become a master of summoning and binding lesser Horrors in order to study them.
The Order became increasingly more remote and cloistered, closed off from the outside world and absorbed in their studies. The humble monastery became like a fortress as new defenses and fortifications were built. Master Eolim Belial was seen on several occasions speaking with Theran emissaries. Some say he was exchanging information while others speculate that Eolim came to distrust the Therans and refused to share his knowledge with them. It is known that he refused the Therans' Rite of Protection.
What the Order learned of the Horrors is unknown because the few communities that had commerce with them lost contact just before the Scourge when the members of the Order sealed themselves within their citadel with mighty magical wards. After the centuries-long Scourge had passed, the Order and their researches were all but forgotten by most.
Ten years ago, a party of explorers followed a map into the Twilight Peaks to find the lost citadel of the Order. When they returned, they claimed to have discovered the place, still sealed by strange and powerful wards. Unable to break the wards, and beset by the monsters that inhabit the peaks, they were forced to abandon their search.
Kole claims that the Order's citadel in the Twilight Peaks was breached by a Horror during the Scourge, but that a small group of magicians were able to use the Order's great knowledge of the netherworld to send out their spirits into astral space even as their bodies perished. These spirits choose to secretly instruct certain name-givers with the secrets of the Order, so that their work could be carried on. Joachim says that he was trained by the spirits of the Order and founded the Order of the Silver Dawning to complete the work that the original Order began. He claims rights to the accumulated knowledge and magic gathered in the Order's citadel in the Twilight Peaks and is planning an expedition to recover it.
The horror was not yet willing to surrender its prize, so it began seeking out nethermancers that it could corrupt, offering them training in exchange for the possibility of using them as tools to break the wards of the Citadel. Joachim Kole is the horror's current and most promising protege. He has concocted his story about being the legitimate heir to the Order of the Silver Twilight to allow him to attract skilled adepts that might be able to penetrate the Citadel's many defenses and aid him in wresting free the secrets of the Order. He might well contact the player characters claiming to be the rightful heir and desiring their help in overcoming the ancient defenses of the citadel, only to turn on them once they have outlived their usefulness.
A six-foot long staff carved from an unknown type of wood, worn silvery-gray with age and use. The staff itself is smooth and featureless, bound and shod in dark iron bands that have silver inlays of magical symbols upon them. The staff glows with a faint silvery radiance when bathed in moonlight.
The staff was created centuries ago, and has passed through the hands of many magicians, who have in turn passed it on to their students and successors. Eolim Belial was the last magician known to wield the Twilight Staff and it has been believed lost since shortly before the beginning of the Scourge.
Rank 2 Cost: 500
Key Knowledge: The character must learn the Names of all of
the magicians who have wielded the staff and whose sigils are engraved
upon it. The gamemaster may decide how many different magicians have wielded
the staff and their names, but there should be at least six.
Effect: The damage of the staff increases to Strength +5 steps, Strength
+6 steps against Horrors and Undead only.
Rank 3 Cost: 800
Key Knowledge: The character must learn the Name of the forest
where the wood for the staff was cut.
Deed: The character must travel to the wood where the staff
was cut and there, by the light of the full moon, carve his or her own
sigil into the staff.
Effect: At the cost of 2 Strain, the wielder of the staff can
make the astral aura of any subject in line-of-sight visible to normal
sight for one minute by making a successful Spellcasting Test vs. the target's
Spell Defense.
Rank 4 Cost: 1,300
Key Knowledge: The character must learn the fate of Eolim Belial,
the last wielder of the staff.
Effect: The wielder can cast the Circle 6 Nethermancer spell
Blessed Light. The casting test uses the wielder's Spellcasting Step.
Rank 5 Cost: 2,100
Deed: The wielder must seek out Eolim Belial's ghost and seek
his blessing on the staff, permitting him to perform the ritual of passing
it on to a worthy wielder.
Effect: The staff's magic can temporarily block a Horror's access
to astral space. Upon striking a Horror, the wielder expends 4 Strain and
makes a Spellcasting Test against the Horror's Spell Defense. If successful,
the Horror is forced into the physical world and is unable to move into
astral space for a number of Combat Turns equal to the wielder's Spellcasting
Rank. The staff does Strength +8 Steps Damage to Horrors, Horror Constructs
and Undead.
Thess'a'il has been in the physical world for centuries, and it has become obsessed for some reason with the Order of the Silver Twilight. The horror hungers for the collection of magical knowledge and lore that the order protected for decades in its mountain fortress and which now lies behind the powerful wards held strong by Eolim Belial's final blood magic ritual. It will go to any lengths to devour that cache of accumulated knowledge and wisdom.
Unable to breach the wards of the citadel by itself, the horror has cultivated acolytes over the years in hopes of finding a Name-Giver capable of breaking Belial's wards and giving the horror a way to reach its prize. Most of these "students" have been nethermancers who have made foolish bargains with the Horror for power or knowledge. The followers of the horror have been unable to reach the Twilight Citadel and have been destroyed by adventuring adepts or by Thess'a'il itself for their failure. Over the centuries, Thess'a'il's power in the physical world has waned, but the horror remains terribly powerful and possessed of great astral influence. Joachim Kole is the horror's current and most promising student and it hopes that it will not be disappointed by another unfortunate failure.
Use the statistics for a Bloatform (Earthdawn, p.299) for Thess'a'il with the following changes:
Near the beginning of the Scourge, many name-givers throughout the land of Barsaive were retreating into their kaers and sealing them behind them to wait out the long centuries of the Scourge. Save for some of the Elves and the long-lived Obsidimen, those who entered the kaers knew that they would never see the outside world again. They could only hope that their great-grandchildren would be able to emerge safely from shelter into a world free of the horrors. This brought many people to despair and the sealing of the kaers was a time of great loss for all of the name-givers.
One such kaer was Named Kaer Talloria, after the magician who helped to build it. Talloria worked unceasingly to excavate the shelter for her people and create the orichalcum runes and wards that would hold the horrors at bay for the centuries of the Scourge. She was tireless in her efforts, working long into the night only to be up the next morning before anyone else to begin work again. She was driven to protect her people.
As the first horrors infested the land, Talloria studied them carefully, gathering all of the information that she could about these creatures. She began to grow increasingly concerned as all of the reports of the horrors indicated that they were terrible in strength and power and that the worst was yet to come, for the first horrors to appear were weak for their kind according to the Therans. Talloria began to fear that the defenses provided by the Therans would not be enough to protect the people.
She began researching the horrors, and carefully examining the remains of the horrors that could be recovered, to formulate another means of defense against them. She also delved deeply into the arts of nethermancy, studying the ways of the netherworlds in hopes of learning more about the nature of the horrors and how they could be defeated and kept at bay from the feast of name-giver flesh and souls they desired. Talloria worked even harder than ever, locked away in her laboratory, consumed with a fierce passion to discover a way. Many people of the village grew concerned for her welfare but they respected their magician and feared the horrors, so they said nothing and waited.
In time, Talloria began work on something in the central meeting area of the newly constructed kaer. Her work was concealed behind a misty curtain of elemental air, so none of the people knew what it was that she was building. But they all trusted Talloria and so they waited and watched until the time came for them to seal the kaer.
The horrors had grown too numerous on the surface for the people to remain there any longer. Word had come that even mighty Thera had sealed themselves behind their dome of True Air and Fire to wait out the long night of the Scourge. Attacks from ravening horrors were coming almost daily and the people of the village retreated into their kaer and Talloria enacted the rituals to seal the portals of the shelter and activate the magical wards given to them by the Therans to keep out the horrors.
Not long after Kaer Talloria was sealed, the sorceress revealed to the people the artifact that she had so carefully constructed to keep the forces of the horrors at bay, should the protections of the kaer fail them. It was a great bell of bronze woven with True Earth and Air. The frame, structure and clapper of the great bell were carved from bone -- the bones of the victims of the first horrors, bones that still resonated with the terror of the coming Scourge. At first the people of the kaer were wary of such a gift, touched as it was with the power of blood magic. Some feared that the bell might be tainted with the power of the horrors, but Talloria was steadfast in her insistence that the bell's enchantments would help to keep the horrors away.
It was only a short time after the sealing of the kaer that the bell was first used. Some kind of powerful horror attacked that kaer, so mighty that it shook the whole of the mountain where Kaer Talloria was dug. It was as if the horror intended to uproot the entire kaer. While the people huddled in fear of what might be outside their shelter, Talloria rang the great bell she had created and it sent forth a peal that was like the crying of tortured souls, the screams of those victims of the horrors. The peal of the bell echoed all throughout the kaer. In a matter of moments, the terrible sounds of the creature outside stopped and all was still once again. The people hailed Talloria as a hero and gave many thanks to her for saving them with her creation.
Many years passed, and Talloria passed the guardianship of the Bone Bell down to her successors. The magics of the bell were carefully maintained, for the people considered it their last line of defense against the horrors. The bones of many of their kaer's dead went into repairing, maintaining and strengthening the bell's enchantments to make it a lasting weapon against the horrors. The magicians who maintained the bell became an Order whom the people of the kaer knew and respected for their great power, but also feared for their dabblings in nethermancy and blood magic needed to maintain the artifact. The bell was used several times over the centuries to drive off horrors that threatened to breach the kaer and threaten its inhabitants.
After generations had passed, the end of the Scourge predicted by the scholars of Thera failed to come about. The sphere of true earth had stopped its descent towards the bowl of true water and had held steady there for years. The people of the kaer were greatly concerned. Was the Scourge over? Was it safe for them to emerge into the sunlight once again?
The magicians of the Order of the Bone Bell thought not. It was a trick, they said, a foul deception of the horrors intended to make the people believe that they were safe while, in fact, the horrors lay in wait for them outside of the safety of their sheltering kaer. The magicians declared that the people would have to wait and be patient while they ferreted out the meaning of this omen.
More time passed and with each passing day, the people grew more and more restless. Dark rumors circulated and resentment against the magician-priests grew. Many said that the magicians sought only to maintain their power over the people, that they knew that the Scourge was over and they had stopped the progress of the sphere of true earth themselves so that they could rule over the closed kaer forever. The time had come and surely the horrors were long since gone. Open talk of rebellion began and the ruling magicians were forced to take harsh measures with those who spoke treason against them, but this only stoked the fires of rebellion higher.
Eventually, the people of Kaer Talloria rose up against the Order of the Bone Bell and killed them all in the center courtyard of the kaer where the bell stood. They then threw open the gates of the kaer to emerge into the outside world. It was only then that they discovered that Talloria's artifact did not work quite as she had planned. The horrors that were supposed to have been driven away by the bell over the years were in fact a single horror trapped in astral space near the kaer by the power of the bell. With the doors of the kaer open and the magicians slain, the horror took its vengeance on the people of Talloria and left the kaer a haunted monument to their folly.
I heard the tale from one of the few survivors of the kaer and she told me that the Bone Bell of Talloria still remains in the ruins of their kaer. I'm sure the horrors would not want such an item to fall into the hands of other Name-Givers, but who knows if they were able to destroy it?
That is the tale, for such is the truth.
If the characters do discover the bone bell, they will need to decide what to do with the artifact and if its power is worth the high price that it carries with it. The Bone Bell is an item that would be of great interest to those involved in studying or hunting the horrors (such as followers of the Horror Stalker discipline and the Lightbearers).
Rank 2 Cost: 500
Key Knowledge: The character must learn who created the bell
and what discipline she followed. Talloria was a human elementalist who
also practiced the arts of nethermancy.
Effect: The sound of the bell provides +2 Spell Defense against
Horrors and Horror constructs.
Rank 3 Cost: 800
Key Knowledge: The character must learn the location of Kaer
Talloria and the fate of its people.
Deed: The character must travel to the location of Kaer Talloria
and ensure that all of its people are given a proper burial, after which
the kaer must be sealed and the true fate of its people carved upon its
entryway. If accomplished, this deed is worth 1,200 Legend Points.
Effect: All horrors and horror constructs within earshot of
the bell are considered Harried for as long as it is rung. All name-givers
within earshot gain +1 to their Social Defense against the attacks of Horrors
and Horror constructs.
Rank 4 Cost: 1,300
Key Knowledge: The character must learn the names of those Name-Givers
whose bones cover the bell.
Effect: The ringing of the bell can ward off horrors. The ringer
can make a Willpower or Willforce test while ringing the bell. This becomes
the difficulty for a Willpower test required by the horror to come within
sound of the bell. This effect lasts for as long as the bell is rung. At
this rank and higher. the sound of the bell also affects name-givers who
hear it like the Arcane Mutterings talent (Earthdawn, p.97) at Step 15.
This effect occurs automatically when any of the bell's powers above Rank
3 are used, despite the wishes of the bell ringer. All characters within
hearing range are affected.
Rank 5 Cost: 2,100
Key Knowledge: The character must learn the Name of the Horror
that destroyed Kaer Talloria.
Effect: At the cost of 3 points of Strain, the character sounding
the bell can force any horror that can hear the ringing of the bell into
astral space by making a successful opposed Willforce test against the
Horror's Willpower or Willforce. If the character is successful, the horror
is forced back into astral space for a number of days equal to the level
of success.
Rank 6 Cost: 3,200
Deed: The character must learn the fate and whereabouts of the
horror that slew Kaer Talloria. This deed is worth 4,000 Legend Points.
Effect: At the cost of 6 points of permanent damage and a successful
Willforce test against the horror's Spell Defense, the bell-ringer can
trap a horror in the vicinity of the bell. The horror is trapped in its
present form (physical or astral) and cannot leave earshot of the bell
for a year and a day. The character who sacrificed the blood magic may
then renew it at then end of that time to continue the effect. The horror
can escape only by the death of the sustaining character or the destruction
of the bell. The horror's powers are not reduced or limited in any way.
Once, long ago, before the Scourge, there lived a thief adept named Josara, who lived in the human kingdom of Landis with her people. Josara was a hero who performed many daring deeds and who advanced far in the ways of her discipline. She was a thief to her very core, and it was said that she could steal the sun and the moon from out of the sky if she chose to.
Of all of the many treasures that she stole in her long career, the one that Josara always said she was the proudest of was when she stole the heart of her husband, the air sailor Orlan Windrunner, himself a figure of daring and adventure. The couple loved each other deeply and they traveled the land of Barsaive in search of excitement and adventure. And what adventures they had! Plundering the ice caves of the gray ogres in the Tylon Mountains, unraveling the riddle of the tomb of the troll wizard Golthek'Nor and capturing a ransom in orichalcum in a daring raid on a Theran vessel during the Orichalcum Wars. Tales of the adventurous couple spread across the land and their names became part of legend.
The legends seemed to be at an end when Josara and Orlan undertook their most daring adventure: an exploration of the Spider Dens of the Liaj Jungle, wherein spiders the size of ponies spun their webs in the eternal darkness of the jungle overgrowth, forming a vast cave-like network of silken tunnels where many unwary travelers and would-be adventurers. Stories told of many years of lost and accumulated treasures within the dens of the jungle spiders and Josara and Orlan sought to discover the truth of those tales and come away with a handsome collections of trophies for the effort.
But the dangers of those silken halls proved too great for even skilled adepts such as they. Orlan was bitten and fatally poisoned by a shadow spider, one of the deadliest spiders of the lair. He and Josara managed to escape from the dens, but the master air sailor died from the deadly poison not long after, for there was no cure for the shadow spider's venom. Josara used the bulk of the treasures that she and Orlan had earned throughout their career to commission for her husband a fantastic tomb that floated high above the mountains and could only be reached by air ship or through the cooperation of a bound wind spirit that protected the tomb from would-be looters.
Gathering what few possessions she had, Josara set off on a quest that led her far and wide across the land of Barsaive. She spoke with many sages and scholar and magicians and always her questions were the same. The thief adept seemed to have become obsessed about Death and she sought to learn all that she could about that mysterious force of the universe. She even sought out some of the most vile and corrupt of individuals, like the legendary Keys of Death, those who proclaim to be Death's Questors, to learn from them or wrest their secrets from their dying hands.
Rumors grew that Josara was mad with grief at the loss of her beloved, that she had become obsessed with revenge and that her studies followed some dark and unknown purpose that threatened danger to others, but that was not so. Josara did not desire revenge against unthinking creatures following the dictates of their natures, nor did she want knowledge for the sake of power. Josara was a wise woman and like the nethermancers she began to see Death like a clear pane of crystal -- not a barrier -- but a window into another side, another phase of existence. She saw Death as a force that hoarded lives like a miser hordes gold, and as a master thief Josara knew nothing so well as how to relieve a collector of their valuable baubles. During her studies Josara decided that she would take the ultimate challenge: she would steal Orlan back from Death.
After gathering a vast and diverse store of knowledge, Josara made her way to the shores of the Death's Sea, where she prepared a special ritual magic. Her human versatility served her well as she made use of the many arcane secrets she had unearthed in her travels. For nine days and nights she worked and prepared in the rocky badlands along the shores of the fiery sea.
Finally she was ready and by the darkling light of the new moon, Josara drank a vial of a special poison concocted from some of the most toxic creatures and plants of Barsaive, including some of the venom of the shadow spider that killed Orlan. She lay upon a blanket embroidered with magical runes and symbols as she felt a terrible cold overtake her limbs despite the fierce heat of the Death's Sea. A lethargy crept over her, but Josara fought to keep control of her wits, for she would need them in her journey if she was to be successful.
Josara passed into the realm of Death. She felt herself pulled below the raging fires of the Death's Sea into an endless maze of underground passages, tunnels and caves. They were all lit by the flickering reddish light of the burning sea of lava above and, most amazingly, were filled with all manner of treasures and valuables, scattered all about as far as the eye could see. There was gold and silver, gems and fine weapons, even orichalcum coins and valuables enough to ransom a kingdom. Josara's thief nature quivered at the sight of such wealth, she could feel the fingers of greed brush across her soul.
But her will held fast. She had not come into the realm of Death to seek treasures, only the life of her beloved Orlan. Josara moved through the dim tunnels like a silent shadow, looking for her love, but she saw no one. There was no living thing, not a Name-giver, nor even the smallest mouse or insect in those tunnels and they stretched on and on like they might go forever. Josara began to despair in her heart that she would never find Orlan and that she might be trapped forever in those forlorn tunnels with untold wealth as her only companion.
"Passions!" she cried out in frustration, "I would give all of this wealth, all the wealth in the world, if only to be with Orlan once again."
Just then a man appeared before Josara in the tunnel. He was a human, broad and fat and dressed in the clothing of a wealthy merchant. He wore all manner of expensive jewelry and the purse at his belt bulged with coin. He was well-groomed and everything about his appearance and manner said that this was a man of great wealth, just the kind of person who cried out to Josara to be given the gift of theft.
"Would you indeed, Josara?" The man said and reached into the folds of his rich cloak. He withdrew a ruby the size of a child's fist, the deep color of blood, which gleamed seductively in the dim light of the tunnel. Josara felt her heart leap, for she had never seen so fine a gem. "Would you surrender all of this wealth that could be yours?"
Josara's thief magic called out to her, she knew that she could take all that this merchant had and much of the wealth all around her, she could be the richest thief in all of the world and live in luxury for the rest of her life. She grappled with the way of her discipline in her heart, her eyes fixed on the beauty of the gem before her. But Josara's love for her husband was greater than her faith in her path. She turned to the strange man and said, "Yes, I would give up any wealth for my love." The merchant nodded and smiled and in an instant Josara found herself on the shores of the Death's Sea with Orlan in her arms, reunited once again.
Because she had rejected the way of her discipline, Josara was no longer a Thief. She believed that the stranger she encountered in Death's domain was Death himself, who bargained her magic for Orlan's life, which Josara considered a fair trade. In the later years of her life Josara was content with a quiet home life with her beloved and she became a Questor of Garlen, still stealing from Death at every opportunity she had.
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