Masters Honor
| MIN LEVEL | START LOCATION | START REQUIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|
| 956 | Karthak (Alchemy Society) (5, 10) | SK V Medallion (Complete Proof of Death) |
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DetailsYou step into the cool air of the marbled chamber. The riches of the Society are plainly evident. Pillars line the edge of the room and gold leaf picks out flowing scrolls on the top of each of the columns. Standing quietly in the center of the reception area stands Harris Dickinson. He waves you over impatiently. He smiles at you briefly, 'I'm not too sure how much I should say. But I suppose you need to know it all if you are going to do the task.' He looks around the opulent chamber as if to gain some strength from it. Then he sags visibly, 'Things are not going well for the Society of late. Its not that Aceth is a bad Master of the College. Actually it the opposite. Hes truly inspired. That causes jealously among others. Scholarship is a very cut throat business you see. We are only as good as our Lecturers and Masters. We have the best in every aspect. Unfortunately Aceth is brilliant, but also naive to many of the more unpleasant aspects of his position.' He straightens, then continues in a stronger voice. 'You see, we are not just an Alchemy College. The discipline of Alchemy touches many areas, plant, geology and magic all interweave into one whole. We have many different departments teaching our students these separate disciplines making them fully rounded Alchemists. Our success is obvious.' He waves at the rich surroundings. 'Aceth has written a paper on the building blocks of the Volmar Mountain Chain. He postulated that Mount Volmar the massive dead volcano is the youngest geological element in the whole ridge. This has embarrassed a few key figures and they are seeking to discredit Aceth and his manuscript. Aceth is correct of course, I would never have thought it myself. I mean the Mount Volmar is thousands of feet tall after all! But the volcanic rock is tougher than the other parts of the mountain chain. So over time they have eroded leaving Mount Volmar to tower over everything. Simple and a work of genius. But its so easy for the less educated in the field to say, 'Look how tall Volmar is, it must have been there at the start. How foolish is the Alchemy Society to say otherwise!' He sighs deeply, 'We need this too stop. Our opponents are gaining too much ground by making our findings a laughing stock. There is even an apprentice running round the Alchemy Quarter discrediting Aceth's work and the Society as a whole. Apparently he is handing out tracts which mock Aceth but I don't know what to do, how do we stop him?' You think of the pain Aceth is suffering at the loss of his Daughter, he does not need this as well. You must put a stop to the spreading of these Mocking Tracts. And quickly. You tell Harris not to worry, then turn and walk into the street. With a critical eye, you now see that all is not well in the Alchemy Quarter. There are heavily robed figures who seem to be avoiding the street corners that the City Guard are standing at. You then see that these heavily robed individuals seem to be handing out little pamphlets to anyone who will take them. This is obviously the source of the rumors that are plaguing Aceth. You follow one of them to see where they are getting their material from. After a while, the man you are trailing runs out of pamphlets and walks south. Near the Harbor gate you see a furtive Apprentice dressed in dark robes talking secretively to a small group surrounding him. As you draw near, the small group finishes whatever that are talking about and disperses into the crowd. The furtive Apprentice glares at you, 'What do you want? I don't know you...' You smile, and say that you have been sent to help. The robed figure stiffens slightly then leans in close, 'We are running out of time. The City Guard is getting suspicious, so we need to increase the pressure. If they don't take the Tract, make them sorry. Either way they get a bad memory of the Alchemy Society.' He winks at you, then hands you a scroll. 'I've run out of Tracts, you will need to get some pages from the others. Now hurry, I don't want to get caught.' He then look behind him as if to check that the gate behind him was still open. You see that the coward has his escape plan all sorted out. You had discovered that the other conspirators were less likely to talk to you that the Shifty Apprentice. You had to... forcibly convince them to give you their pages. After compiling the Tract you do not really follow what the point of their argument is. You think to yourself that you had better ask the Shifty Apprentice. He watches you as you walk up to him. His head tilts in confusion when he sees the Tract in your hand. 'You should have given that away, why have you got it?' Smiling you ask him to clarify some points in the Tract, you are a little confused by it. You hand your copy to him. The Apprentice nods, 'Yes I see.' He then dashes into the Harbor, dropping the Tract. He is so fast that you stand there for an instant frozen in shock. You are not used to opponents running from you. You take one step to follow then remember the Tract on the floor. Picking it up, you look for the Shifty Apprentice. But he is long gone in the throng of people. The Shifty Apprentice seemed a little too good at that. You suspect he has had lots of practice at quick exits. You head better return to Harris in the Alchemy Society and tell him what you have discovered. The quietness of the Alchemy Society's marbled splendor is like a welcome relief from the busy Karthak streets. Harris is talking to one of his students, you wait till they are finished. The old Alchemist sighs heavily. 'The work never stops you know. I am always amazed how hard some students work in comparison to others. But that is another story, have you stopped the spreading of the Mocking Tracts?' You shake your head, then tell him that the person responsible for spreading the Tracts ran off, and you didn't even get a look at his face due to the heavy robes he was wearing. Harris winces at your words, 'Well, you did your best I suppose. I thank you.' The Tract is un-read in his hands. You ask him if he has actually read the tract. Harris laughs, 'No, why should I. It will just be a twisting of the concepts of the thesis proposed by Aceth. If you twist some of the basic assumptions, the whole thing will crumble. This is the weakness of all theories I'm afraid. No matter how ridiculous the twisting of those assumptions can be. The damage is still done.' You give him a quizzical look, and tell him to read it. You think he will be surprised. Harris, opens the brightly colored Tract. 'The look of it is not very academic. I'd fail any student handing this in!' You see his eyes cloud in confusion, then amazement, then outright amusement. 'This is drivel. I can't believe I worried about this. It's simply a rant about the heresy of saying that the Mount Volmar is younger than the rest of the mountain chain. But nowhere does the Lights Writings mention anything about Volmar. It just says that “The heights can be climbed, insight can be gifted through the salt of the soul.” What's that got to do with the age of the mountains?' The then flips the final page. Silence fills the stone chamber. Harris stares open mouthed at the page in his hand. 'They say that Aceth is paving the way for The Dreadlord to return...' The Alchemist blinks at the page, then looks at you dumbfounded, 'They say he is working to bring The Dreadlord back... Harris laughs, 'You have just arrived by boat I take it! The Dreadlord is a mythical figure, he is a Necromantic Warlord. He can raise zombies on massive scales. Other Necromancers summon one or maybe two zombies at once. Extremely powerful Necromancers can do maybe four at a time, which is bad enough. The Dreadlord can turn entire towns! The Dreadlord's zombies are also not as stupid as normal ones. They were fast and often even clever. Utterly devoted to their master of course. Their claws were supposed to drip with a venom that stuns an opponent into a deep slumber. Thus preparing the way for another turning. It was a horrific cycle so the stories go. Only the Templars of Light drove back the festering hordes the last time. They have not been seen for hundreds of years.' He shakes his head, 'The Dreadlord is a myth. Enshrined in story and extrapolated so far that the truth is now unknown. There is no way an entire town can be turned, that's just silly. But it's part of the attraction of the legend. The majestically powerful enemy defeated by the steadfast Light.' Klines is sat back from his spotless desk. He sips from a tumbler half full of Morukan Brandy. He sits up as you enter the well appointed room, 'Excellent, you're here. I have just received word that Aceth is more than pleased with how things have turned up. He mentions an amusing Tract you provided him to read.' Klines beams up at you. 'Well with another successful Contract I need your Medallion as usual.' Klines takes it from you, 'You are collecting a fist-full of victory notches here Hunter. Keep up the good work. And since the Contract was extended by the Patron I think another reward is in order. You may go and collect it from Vault 2 in the Hall of Vaults. Well done Hunter.' 'After collecting your reward, I have another Contract for you. The Patron is Gillan Blackmore in the Poor Quarter. When you have completed the contract, meet up with Sathkaan. You will find him in the Lieutenants Head. It's the best pub in the Poor Quarter. Please don't keep him waiting. It's not a safe place to be. The small Vault is cool and well lit. A delicate stone figure smiles at you. 'I take it you are here for your reward?' The statue gives bends down and gives you a large bundle wrapped in a dust cloth. 'I wise you all possible success in the future Hunter.' |
