A Sacrificial Scene

[*antiquety]

A desolate temporary portal in one of the wards ((Unelaborated location, find it yourself!)) caught the eye of Rakenir Kelageryn. A large human warrior of Kord. Where many sane people would've questioned the safety of entering an unmarked an unmapped portal, Kords teachings reminded Rakenir about one thing: bravery is the greatest quality anyone can have. Without hesitation he stepped from the wards of Sigil into the charcoal fields of the Quasielemental Plane of Ash.

Rakenir drew his claymore, looking around the somewhat familiar seeming place. No. Familiar was the wrong word, he was used to deserts of snow, this was ash. Not cold, never the essence of life. Just dead. Wrapping a cloth around his mouth to avoid breathing in the easily fluttering ash as he decided to step in further. The direction? The only source of light nearby. Feet sinking into the fine ash which kept raining down slowly much in the same way snow would. Each step sending more of the waste scattering around.

Everything was eerily quiet, nothing attacked him and nothing he had to be too afraid of. Reaching to the light source growing ever dimmer, which turned out to be an altar, surrounded by pillars with etched arcane symbols. Around which lied four corpses, enveloped by a thin layer of ash. Walking around the altar, keeping his distance initially he checked the corpses only to notice each of them had their throats cut. The scene was still fresh, even if the planar attributes had preserved the scene. He didn't need to know about magic to get the picture, it was a sacrificial scene, too ritualistic for almost anything else.

One symbol struct out among all others. A curled backward S. Meaning of which escaped him, although he did make a mental note of it.



Seeing his tracks gradually start to vanish in the rain of ash, he decided it was time to head back while he could still find a way back.

Brief Introduction to the Character
For narrative purposes what may be relevant to know.

Rakenir Kelageryn is in one glance a large and blunt warrior type, more likely to act first than think. Although at times can display surprising amount of cunning and forethought. Very devoted follower of Kord, the Brawler as such valuing bravery and strength.

Standing at a respectable 1.85 meters, with a physically well-toned body. He tends to demand some respect with his warrior attitude and confidence alone. Raven black hair kept untamed though at a medium length, blue eyes unwaring and ready to match challenges put forth, even those he has no hope in defeating, but then Kord teaches that everyone should scorn cowardice.

[*MimiFearthegn]

//Image reference for the symbol found:

[*antiquety]

((Well since the others didn't reply!))

Having not made all that much sense out of the scene in the first time, Rakenir later on returned with someone he figured was more of an expert. But still fiend blooded, so all they said had to be taken with caution, Annie the blue clad tiefling merchant and enchantress. Whom brought her friends Abigail Weir. Though in his mind he always added an extra -d to the surname, just for how this vampire talked. That and it was a vampire? Hard to trust them. And then there was also halfling. Cora something.

This entourage of "experts" studied the scene to determine possible reasons and causes for the ritual. Rakenir had taken a bit of a step back and let them make their observations:

- Five pillars around the altar in steady distances, possibly forming a pentagram?
- Four victims, two men, two women. Balanced as miss Weird put it. Positioned between the pillars, one of which was left absent of body. Women and men were paired across eachother, coincidence is a possibility. The "sacrifices" as it may be had no immediate sign of struggle, throats cut neatly. May have been willing sacrifices. Absence of fifth might mean one of them chickened out at the last moment.
- Positioning of the corpses and the ritual space indicates that the throats were cut on the altar, the blood used as an essence for the ritual at hand, and bodies neatly drawn back. Suggests that there were many more performing the ritual, too much work for one.
- Four sacrifices suggests something of great potent took place. Did it succeed or did it fail? The dull shimmer of the altar still suggested something happened, and the scene did not seem like a place of mishap or angered entity.


Leaving the next few theories to be contemplated on. Where did they come from and what were they trying to achieve?

- It was almost unanimously agreed that this ritual was likely religious or contacting some form of entity, and the sacrifices were to appease them enough for favorable terms. But it was also noted by Annie that they weren't an expert in these types of rituals.
- The most curious question was to theorize whether they came from Sigil, or was the portal the result of the ritual, for someone forbidden to force an entrance? After all, the portal was there surprisingly conveniently open for some time, it could of course be a coincidence altogether.

[*MimiFearthegn]

If the ground around the sacrifice had been examined, they might have noticed that the only trail led to and from Sigil - so while the individual footprints were hard to pick out, they probably came from Sigil.

//Mini-event 2 of this series has been placed in the module. Hint: look in the inner planes. It will be there until reset! :)

[*Taurus Daggerknight]

Following a tip that a recent murderer had fled into the Ice plane, Dace went through the chilly portal, cuffing down a potion to keep the frigid winds at bay.

There wasn't much sign of any recent -entry- into the plane from the portal, so he was about to turn back, satisfied that this was a dead end, till a set of strange formations ahead caught his eye.

Five pillars... frozen, but definitely carved, not naturally formed. Five pillars that hadn't been there the last few times he came, and situated somewhat alarmingly close to the portal....

He moved on for a closer look. An altar soon came into view, as did the grisly scene of a what appeared to be the left overs of a sacrifice, best he could tell. Five pillars in all, each with corpses chained to them. Three men, two women. On the other side of the scene, more corpses, both of men and the native salamanders. Average equipment, but all uniform, bearing a strange symbol he couldn't recall having seen before. He made a note to double check his own archives on the Siren afterwards, though first he got to work trying to dislodge one of the bodies from the ice.

He didn't exactly have a surgeons precision, but -most- of the body detached successfully. Enough that he hoped the coroners at the Prison would be able to help identify it and its equipment.

Not too much else left, he began to make his way back to Sigil, then paused and looked up the mountain pass.

The giant fort had a fairly clear view down at the scene.... a small detour seemed to be in order.

[*antiquety]

The familiar chilly breeze enveloped the large man, while it may bother many. To Rakenir the border of the plane of Ice and the plane of Air felt home. Cold wasteland where resources were few and the environment was a harsh mistress. His good mood soon to be washed away. Drawing his claymore to ready himself.

Again one step behind. he thought with a frown.

Rakenir cursed lowly seeing the familiar scene taunting him again. This time there were more corpses and a fighting scene. Salamander corpses on one side and armored humans bearing the mark on the other. Once more five pillars and an altar.

First a quasielemental plane, then a paraelemental plane. His planar knowledge was rusty as he hadn't been the greatest listener of things beyond things present in his life at the time. But the inner planes seemed to be tied, two near opposite sides as well. Was it important or coincidence? What if the elemental planes were used as a large shape of the scene here? These were silent theories which had no merit on their own. And such frustrated him.

"Experts" had last time failed him, he saw no reason to try to consult more, no this would have to be more personal now. The taunting light on the altar prompted one reaction out of him, an annoyed growl and an attempt to push the altar with shimmering light over, and soon after the two closest pillars met the same fate. Calming himself down a little soon after, there was no point dwelling in the past for this. He gave a once over looking for answers to the following questions before taking his leave:

• Indications in the corpses tied to pillars of sign of struggle, any uniting factors of their heritage or where they might originate from.
• The armored corpses bearing the mark gets a similar once over, undressing two of them almost entirely to see if there are any common traits or markings which might give a lead.

[*MimiFearthegn]

He gave a once over looking for answers to the following questions before taking his leave:

• Indications in the corpses tied to pillars of sign of struggle, any uniting factors of their heritage or where they might originate from.
• The armored corpses bearing the mark gets a similar once over, undressing two of them almost entirely to see if there are any common traits or markings which might give a lead.

The corpses tied to the pillars were frozen solid, and from what you can tell, it doesn't look like they were exactly happy about being frozen to death.

The frozen cultist corpses - as examined by both Dace and Rakenir - appear to have been rather ordinary looking humanoids - two humans, one elf. Their main identifying feature was the symbol. . .