THE FIRST LAND HERALD
The Circlet of Zoluren
428-05-29.
Today I will tell you the tale of a mysterious artifact, which may or may not be of any import at all, and how it came to be at the center of a great Conflict between the righteous and the Evil.
The artifact in question was drawn to my attention by the Warrior Mage Tirost, who called a general meeting in front of Asemath Academy some months ago to announce his discovery. He had at a previous point received an encrypted journal once belonging to a Prydaen called Lasika Priskorya, which he was able to decipher enough to obtain directions to a secret location she often used. There he found a small silver piece of circlet, set with a clear crystalline gem. Along with it was a note, which read in Gamgweth, "That which to nature is perverse, the Eye of Light may yet reverse." Finally, Tirost described the strange sensation when focusing his magical senses upon the gem: "Rather than a pattern, or familiar type of magical energy, it felt rather like the absence of magical energy."
Tirost then said that he believed the silver piece was a reshaped part of what was originally the circlet worn by Prince Vorclaf during his confrontation with Lyras. His reasoning was as follows:
First, that Lasika was well known to have an obsession with the Merelew, as evidenced by what she wrote in her journal. Thus she would have a potential interest in the royal family because of Princess Arilana's Merelew lineage. This, coupled with her interest in Necromantic influence and the circlet's possible relation to Necromancy (see below), may have led her to pursue the circlet and obtain it somehow. Alternatively, she may have simply encountered a lost artifact while digging a tunnel, a pursuit for which she is famous. Tirost also pointed to a passage of Lasika's journal in which she discussed a helmet she had crafted to avoid being spied upon. He believed that she wanted to weld together different 'magical things' in an attempt to make this helmet, and may have been attracted to something like the circlet for that reason.
Second, that the note stored with the circlet piece indicated the potential to affect a Necromancer, even to "reverse" his or her power. It is well known that certain artifacts are used to strip Necromancers of the "profane aegis," the demonic taint that prevents the gods from claiming their souls, and thus allow them to be killed permanently. Prince Vorclaf deposed his uncle Sirolarn and had him executed for Necromancy; an execution of a Necromancer would be quite difficult without such an artifact. Tirost hypothesized that perhaps Vorclaf's circlet gave him this power.
Finally, it must be noted that the circlet piece was of great interest to Necromancers, which they proved by brutally attacking Tirost at this meeting and absconding with it. I saw the well-known Necromancers Nefis, Talinel, and Jhien in the ambush, although the piece itself was taken by one I did not recognize. Thus, even if the evidence that it was originally Prince Vorclaf's was slim, it is clear that they believed it to be a threat. I heard Nefis upon the gwethdesuan network saying, "An item of that rumored power should not be in your hands!"
Naturally, this caught our interest. Those of us present on the side of the gods decided to meet again and develop a plan to take back the circlet piece from the Necromancers, and to search for any other pieces that might make the artifact whole. Tirost had spoken to Lasika's wife, Almiwey, and believed it had been split into three in total.
I took to deciphering the journal with a fever, and in the end Rafano, Collain, and I were all able to crack the code. Many thanks go to my crew of Olvi copiers, who took the algorithm I created and used it to write out the many pages of the book in Common for us. Unfortunately, there was not much of interest within that Tirost had not already managed to decipher. It was mostly the ramblings of a woman most tragically insane.
Once the deciphering had finished, the interested parties met again at Taelbert's Inn. Upon discussing the circlet, we were approached by Andiolf, a servant of House Denesal. He told us that the circlet worn by Prince Vorclaf into battle was a simple circlet of silver on his helm, and clarified that it was definitely not the crown regalia. "Plain. No gems. Just a simple band fitted around a helm." This would seem to indicate that the piece Tirost found, set as it was with a gem, was unlikely to belong to the prince. However, given the interest of the Necromancers, and noting the possibility that Lasika may have added a gem or that a small gem may not have been noticed, we decided that we must continue our pursuit.
Unfortunately, we were once again visited by a Necromancer. We discovered that a woman who appeared to be an ordinary patron of the tavern was in actuality some sort of undead facsimile of a person, a fact which screeched against the senses of the Empaths present. After Perune favored us all by dispatching the creature, we were set upon by Talinel, though thankfully we were able to strike him down -- multiple times, in fact -- before he rallied his still-putrid flesh into a quivering arrangement capable of slinking away.
We agreed that we must not meet in public any longer and retreated to a private, warded location. I asked Miss Azettie Poppy to check Lasika's cave again for further clues, meanwhile Tirost, Kaelie, and Oscearo set out to search for associates of Lasika by delving into the records of the mental hospital she once stayed at in Riverhaven.
Their research bore fruit, as they discovered a local Olvi woman by the name of Bellula had spent some time at the hospital with Lasika. Tirost gathered more to his team and they found and approached her. Being somewhat of a nervous sort, she first tested them with riddles. After obtaining some kind of satisfaction, she revealed that she held onto a piece of silver for Lasika and seemed relieved to be rid of it. She gave this piece to Mazrian.
Meanwhile, Miss Poppy sleuthed in the cave and managed to discover something Tirost had missed: a bit of encrypted note. Working quickly, she delivered it back to us and I deciphered it post haste. It read, "South of the good goat's milk, in the hole in the tree where Rihlo and I hid from the barky things." Rihlo was an earlier lover of Lasika, so it seemed certain the note was written by the mentally disordered Prydaen. A companion and I searched every tree we could think of, finally discovering a chest in -- well, perhaps I will leave you to riddle it out for yourself, if you're interested. The point is that we found the third piece.
At this point, Tirost gathered together as many warriors as he could muster to meet about confronting the Necromancers. Our spies had done good work, and we learned that they were holding their piece in order to perform some sort of ritual upon it. Most importantly, we also discovered the time and place, meaning that for once, we could be the ambushers! The group scouted the location and laid careful plans to stay nearby and spy upon the ritual until we could confirm that they had the piece.
Impressively, the plan worked. Fortunately there were few of them, and many of us. We stormed into the cave where they had begun their foul work and quickly slew the lot -- except for one who had the quickness to escape upon our arrival. It saddened me to see them all together, ragged and in pursuit of such dark ends. When will they learn?
Finally, we had all three pieces in our possession, and I must admit, they are of a volume that suggests they might really have been a full circlet previously. Unfortunately, a thorough Bardic examination revealed nothing as to their provenance, nor did I detect anything with my magical senses -- certainly not any sort of "absence" as Tirost mentioned. But who knows what the Necromancers managed to accomplish.
The next step will be to return these pieces to the Crown. I know the chances are slim, but if they hold any significance at all to His Highness, they will be seen home. It is with some sadness that I send them off, knowing as I do that their power and history remain a mystery, but I do rejoice in that we most likely succeeded in thwarting whatever evil plan was laid by those Necromancers.
Sincerely,
Navesi Daerthon
Zoluren's Herald, True Bard
Editor in Chief of the First Land Herald
