The Hunt for the Four Bastions and Fall of The Northern Kingdoms
By
Azure Cerridwen
Preface
This is the tale of how the people of Northern Kingdoms were tricked into destroying their own homes by the power of their own faith. The False Prophet, Clain, claiming to be sent by those forgotten Divines no longer in the Pantheon. However before we can begin this tale it is important to note the state the Northern Kingdoms were in just previous to Clain’s appearance.By
Azure Cerridwen
Preface
For centuries the Divine had wielded a heavy hand in the affairs of Altera. I’m sure if matters remain the same, in time this will be hard to believe but it was not uncommon for Divines to appear before mortals in all kinds of guises, for seemingly no reason at all. Jishrim would make himself manifest and cause chaos wherever he went and was one of the more active Divines in our realm. However the other divines would appear quite often as well, causing miracles wherever they went.
However after a time the world started to fall out of a balance. We did not know it at the time but seas grew restless, crops grew faster than they should and the wildlife acted strange. The people went to the Grand Shrines where the Divine Silas appeared before them. He explained the Divine's excessive presence in Altera was causing the world to fall out of balance. That it may come to pass that the Divines would step back to right the imbalance.
It was after this Silas disappeared and the heavens were silent. Prayers went unanswered and the heavens were still for the first time in recorded history. Some thought that the Divines were fine. Others worried that the Divines left us due to disobedience. Still others were unsure what to do without any Divine guidance that we had become so dependent on.
Then several months later a man covered in strange tattoos came into our midst. His name was Clain and he claimed to be the chosen representative of the Forgotten Gods. He preached his sermons in the Grand Shrines to abnormally large crowds. The people were mixed upon his message that Divines were fading and that we must anchor them to our world.
He claimed that without the recovery of the stones in the heart of the Bastions and their placement into a device called the Anchor, our gods would fade from the Pantheon and be forgotten. Some called him a heretic for daring to question the gods power in such a way, others believed him and still others were simply curious to see where this man’s raving lead. To my shame I fell into the later part and played a part in the tale to come.
I will attempt to recount the events as close to reality as I can. Using a combination of my own first hand experiences, and supplement it with the stories of individuals I deem reliable. The story truly begins a few weeks after Clain’s sermons had grown so widespread that I heard of them in Arget and went to see the man in person to see what he had to say. It seems my trip had fortuitous timing as he was gathering people for an expedition to the far North of our known world. To a mountain to the southeast of the old Dwarven place of Korog’s Standing. It was there the first Bastion was to be found and so we prepared.
The Bastion of Ice
Volume One
Volume One
The journey to the Frozen North I was accompanied by many of my friends and my wife. In fact it seemed almost everyone of note within Altera was present for our hike including the Wizard Naelwyn and the living armor Vorar. Clain lead us ever northward from our landing point across ice sheets and then up a mountain. Some rushed ahead eager to find glory or dangerously curious. However the wiser of us stayed back, moving slowly knowing how dangerous the snow was and the dangers it could hold.
It was at the tip of one of these cliffs that I could see for miles, down and around me that I was struck by the immense beauty of the world. However before I could appreciate it too much the call came out from somewhere in front of our group. A camp was found, our destination. The snow and large group made it slow hiking but eventually I found the entrance. It was a small easily overlooked hole in the ground.
The members of the expedition were forced to go one by one down through the crevasse it was quite narrow starting out. Barely wide enough to afford a single man passage and once inside there were were huge drops to a floor perhaps twenty or thirty feet down in places onto icicles. The line was stop and go until we reached what I assumed functioned as a sort of foyer to the Bastion. The narrow ice caves had opened up into a large cave when an otherworldly voice whispered to us all these words.
When naught but darkness looms above,
And silence greets thy prayers.
The intrepid will find here a failsafe,
But beware ye who tread beneath.
Before ye shadows lie
And silence greets thy prayers.
The intrepid will find here a failsafe,
But beware ye who tread beneath.
Before ye shadows lie
Clain professed this as his proof the gods were with us. However I had been in the presence of the Divine before namely Rahas. It was hard to imagine a being of such power being reduced to such a whisper. However it was proof that something otherworldly and beyond mortal powers was at work here. Here I remember Naelwyn taking this moment to want to further examine something in the cavern while the rest of us spread out to explore the numerous caves that split off from the main cave.
Perhaps if we had taken the Wizards lead perhaps we would still have our homes. Clain no more than a minor footnote in history, but that was not what fate had in store for us. We explored its twists and turns until we came across a passage further down. It lead to a cavern so massive it boggled the mind. I cannot understand how the weight of the mountain above was supported with such a large space but what truly caught my attention was what grew there.
There were trees this deep underground but they grew not leaves but icicle parodies of leaves and their seeds were made of solid ice. A friend of mine Jaden Seeker had the forethought to take samples of the trees. The seeds and leaves melted away to nothing leaving nothing but a normal branch when outside the Bastions confines. Still it seemed within this chasm there was a great tree in the center. It had symbols upon it that triggered when certain places within the room were stood on.
Clain claimed what we looked for was within this tree locked behind a seal that required numerous people to assist. He stayed at the front door waiting for the doors to open and it seemed the vast majority of the expedition had the same idea. I accompanied Nireth and found one of the several pressure plates and we waited as we stood upon it. It took some time and a great deal of folks shouting but eventually the door was triggered and we approached it. I was eager to press in but there was a crowd before me and Nir urged me to be cautious a warning I was imminently glad to have listened to.
Clain approached the stone with the crowd surging around him and I could not see the pedestal upon which it rested, or indeed anything in the chamber for the crowd. Clain emerged from the chamber with a large crystal like oval stone in his hands. I assumed it to be the Bastion stone and there was a large cacophony as people questioned him about the stone. Due to this we did notice it immediately but a swirling darkness was coming from the place the stone was placed.
It was only when the first person screamed that we turned and saw the swirling blackness as it rose ever taller and larger from the tree. It spoke in a strange halting voice only a few words “stone” and “take”. At this point I should mention the chamber was very cold but I ensured both Nireth and myself were properly clothed for the cold weather and I was used to both extremes.
Yet nothing could prepare me for the chill that seeped through my bones at this darkness’s proximity. My thick furs of were no protection against the chill. I was struck in awe at the creature we had unleashed and it was only when Nir tugged on me to drag me away with the now fleeing crowd that it broke my trance and we fled.
The darkness followed us but was sluggish thankfully for in our initial haste we realized we had went the wrong way and now had to detour from our path around the darkness. The way into the chamber was a ladder that I have no idea how it handled the massive weight of our entire expedition climbing it in a dead rush.
As we reached the top there was a blockage. The original path in could only facilitate one or two souls at a time and it took great effort then. People milled and pushed to be first and nearly knocked us off the tall precipice we were on into the swirling blackness below. It was then Nir tugged me out of the crowd and pointed to the side.
A few brave souls were using the frozen trees as platforms to jump from one side and bypass the clog. It was dangerous but we were still roped together and a scream from below that was went unnaturally silent drove the fear from my head. We took a run and go and ran across the fragile cracking ice as we jumped from limb to limb. It was slow going but at least we were moving.
We were among the first to exit the cave and I hung back long enough to yell at the cave so people could follow my voice to the exit in the chaos. After several dozen people ran out we found ourselves on the mountaintop. The path we had made through the snow on our way here was clear now. The entire expedition save for those few souls who perished in the Bastion ran down the mountain side to our moored ship.
I do not remember much other than running so fast when I did I reach the boat that I couldn’t stop in time and collided with the mast of the ship. Nir collided into me and we tumbled to the side, watching the people we had outpaced hurry to the ship.
I was relieved we had escaped alive and was catching my breath when I saw it though. The darkness from below was swirling around the entire mountain we had fled from. It was massive and my fears that we had unleashed an ancient evil seemed to be coming true.
There was utter chaos as most yelled for us to leave and others cried for us to wait for those left behind. The black mist though grew ever larger and silenced the latter as we sailed away as quickly as we could. Thankfully the mist did not pursue as we sailed away and we made our escape. The ship returned to the Grand Shrines where two camps had now solidly formed in the masses.
One lead by Ovar Sif Sigurd wanted to execute the heretical Clain. He argued the black mist we unlocked was a clear evil we had unleashed into the world. The other half wanted to protect him and they were at that moment lead by Dummni Plug. They argued for the voice we had all heard as proof of Divine favor.
The two squared off and I feared it would come to a fight but eventually they departed after arguing for sometime. After that Clain told us gathered that he did not know the location of the other three Bastions but that they were somewhere in the Northern Kingdoms. It would be up to us the people to find them.
I was still torn at this point but my curiosity and desire to learn burned greater than my caution. Thus I returned home to ready ships, supplies and allies to search for these Bastions.
Sometime after the event singular clouds of these black mists would appear throughout the Kingdoms seemingly at random. However I will discuss these more at length in volume two as they had direct bearing on the search and eventual discovery of the second Bastion.
Search for the Bastion of Wind
Volume II
Volume II
The world was searching and given the first Bastion was found in the frozen north I had a suspicion that one would be found far to the south. In the barren wasteland islands of scorching desert. I was particularly intrigued with a supposed ruin somewhere in that desert called Arduin, I had discovered mention of it in Thiils library many years back. All that it had was a map of the circular building with strange pictographs carved into it and that it was found in the desert.
This was further collaborated my suspicion that it might prove to be a Bastion when Ovar Sif Sigurd came to me. He brought with him a map of the Northern Kingdoms that included the leylines of magic across our world. The first Bastion was very close to a connecting point and there was one to the far south.
Below is a copy of the map given to me. I once sought to keep it secret however with the fall of our home the leylines of that land is no longer of any concern.
Given the way the map was situated and my previous suppositions it seemed possible that the Bastions might be hidden in the four corners of our world hidden along the ley lines. I told Ovar of my suggestions and we both deemed it likely that another Bastion might be found north of Riseport. Thus Ovar returned home with plans to search that place and I returned to ready my work to the south.
I made an unusual acquaintance eventually named Sankera Fi Falidar. He was a flamboyant elf hailing from the Sterling vassal of the Quays. He had with a ship captain he had contracted to sail him south and came to me after hearing of my own expedition planned south. He offered to take on most of the costs, supply the ship and captain if I would merely merge my crew into his. I considered it a great stroke of luck and agreed to his terms.
It was during this preparation that I had several encounters with individual clouds of the Black Mist we had unleashed. First it was in Heaven’s Reach during a gathering to tell stories, it made the briefest appearance before people went out searching for it. Then again in Zima’maloj which prompted the first evacuation of the city to Arget. Both of these encounters were brief and the mist interacted with us very little. They still seemed to sap the heat from everything around them by mere proximity but I did not then or now know of any fatal encounters with them outside the Bastion.
Eventually the day came for us to sail south to the desert and we picked the southwestern most isle to set our base up and attempt our expedition from there. It was an easy enough journey south and shortly upon disembarking we discovered a stowaway. He was bound and confessed to following us in hopes of stealing a Bastion stone and returning it to Naelwyn.
The confessed intention of theft and extra unexpected drain on our resources did not go over well. We bound the elf and threw him in the brig for the extent of the journey. At the end he was released to Sankera in the Quays as it was his ship I am unsure what happened to him. Regardless while myself, Ater and Jaden were interrogating the prisoner Sankera and the crew disappeared with our dinghy to explore the eastern dunes.
It was with much frustration that later in the day when a sandstorm started brewing and still no word that we took it upon ourselves to rescue our over eager captain and crew. We swam the channel and using the newly soaked gear covered our faces to keep the flying sand out of our voices. It took us nearly an hour, and even Ater who was used to desert travel had trouble tracking them.
However eventually he succeeded and we found them taking refuge in an ancient Sooleran tomb. From there we started exploring and again our captain and rest of the crew rushed ahead of us into the tombs depths leaving myself and my friends to study the upper parts of the tomb. We discovered a staff with strange markings and some ancient Sool weapons. We also found daggers at each tomb which Ater warned us not to disturb but the rest were fine to take.
We eventually found false walls that we could push open and connected with our now trapped captain and crew. Poisonous vipers had found themselves trapped in the room as well which made their rescue difficult and Ater was struck in the face by these vipers. These appeared capable of spitting venom from quite a distance. Jaden managed to clear the path for the rest of the crew to reunite while I washed the venom from Ater’s eyes before the damage became permanent.
Once the crew was reunited we searched the rest of the tomb finding small nick knacks, there was discussion about what and where to loot and what to leave. In all it was an interesting discovery but there were no hints to the Bastions location found there. We would have to search farther east on our next trip as our supplies were running low.
We had a brief encounter with pirates on our second trip and our mast was damaged. Given the winds though we were forced to follow it to our destination rather than turn to another port. We were in dire straits if we could not repair the ship or find a new one. However there was some hope found even in this despair on our arrival to the desert.
We managed to drift right to the location I had been searching for, The ruins of Arduin. It stood atop a desert hill and was visible for miles. Atop it were two great statues of snakes each eating the others tail. One was white and the other black. Upon the ground was various markings just like described in the map in Thiil but no matter where I looked I could find no secret entrance. No meaning for the markings. No chamber.
We searched for several hours finding nothing and almost ready to give up when we heard voices carried on the breeze from north of us. We took our time and ventured that way wondering if perhaps it was a local Sool caravan. If so perhaps they could help us repair our ship.
The caravan proved very friendly and welcoming to us as it seemed we had found them at some sort of ritual meeting and mixing of clans. In fact I believe Jaden Seeker was engaged to one Sool woman during the festivities. Eventually however the festivities came to an end and after some delicate negotiations with the Caravan elder we managed to get the ship repaired.
Returning home however we were in a dour mood, having spent a great deal of time and personal energy in the search for Bastions and not finding one. It was to become even worse. We were attacked by the same pirates again and lacking any weaponry to return fire were forced to flee from the to the east. Our only advantage being our ship was smaller, faster and more maneuverable. So Jaden who was now filling in for our mysteriously absent captain sailed us east.
As we weaved between the islands however we had another encounter with the Black Mist. It scared the pirates off and then turned its attention to us. I was in the rigging of the ship when I heard yelling from below and turned. The Black mist was floating no less than ten feet from me nearly twenty feet from the deck. Yet what fascinated and terrified me was it had my face now.
I lost all control and dropped to the deck where I collapsed onto Sankera’s finance. Thankfully he broke my fall and I didn’t unduly injure him. However the mist did end up drawing attention to a hole in one of the cliff faces. It was there that we decided to investigate next. Yet given our injured state, damaged ship and shaken crew we thought it wise to resupply and perhaps have a new ship constructed before returning to those seas.
Thus we elected to wait and I returned my attention to my daugthers’ city in the south. Abandoned Zima’maloj. Its recovery was a simple one and a mystery unto itself, however it has little bearing on the Bastion search other than the meeting I had with the Black Mist yet again. There it lead us to places, repeated new words and eventually when it appeared large spiders would overwhelm my party; saved our lives. I was injured at the time and not entirely coherent but we were cleansing some ancient catacombs underneath Zima of a spider infestation and underestimated their number. Roy was bitten almost immediately and left in convulsive fits, Ater was dragged off by a spider and Jaden and I were fighting in a dying torch light.
We set the vast webbing on fire in a last desperate attempt and Ater who had already been drugged into the rafters by the spiders dropped down on top of me. It was then that I thought the battle was surely lost, for all around us flames burned, spiders kept crawling out and attacking, and the mist simply watching us from above. I’m told that it was then Jaden looked up and asked it for help. It then emitted some sort of light and the spiders disappeared.
Afterwards I came to the conclusion that the Black Mist was perhaps some sort of proto elemental that was born when we removed the stone from the Bastion of Ice. That it attacked us at first due to it being newly born and as any newborn it is scared. Scared animals will flee or attack and it’s mere presence is dangerous so I theorize that the deaths it caused in the Bastion of Ice were purely accidental. Regrettable but not necessarily hostile. I also theorize that as it became more worded and seemed intent on observing us that it was learning.
Nwalme of Riseport thought this was dangerous and he is correct. However with no way discovered even now that could harm them, I thought it would be wiser to attempt to teach the Black Mist. That perhaps if it could be taught it might show some sort of gratitude much as a child feels for a parent. Perhaps a dangerous line of thought but regardless that would be the last time I saw the Black Mist upon Altera so I never got to test my theory.
Now after the Zima’maloj recapture I received word that finally Sankera had commissioned a new ship. One with cannons that could return fire at the blasted pirate scum. Thus our crews gathered and we set sail south yet again. Once we passed the declining city of Azerport, we encountered the pirates again. They had been waiting for us. They had a huge ship, dozens of cannons and multiple decks. I can only guess that they had stolen it from perhaps Azerport with the cities decline after Marr left her.
We engaged with a brief battle where we did minimal damage to his ship and he hailed us for parley. He wanted us to abandon our ship and join him on his deck. Incredulously our financier was willing to agree to these terms. I and most of the crew refused. Sankera left with his fiancee to discuss terms with the pirate captain. Thus started the long stand off where we watched them get taken below deck.
I remember all of us not lowering our weapons believing this to be a trap and ready to spring into action should betrayal happen. It was then through some small blessing of the wind being completely silent that I was able to make out the whispers inside the ship. The betrayal had happened and he had jailed Sankera and intended to sink us. Using Sankera and his fiancee to guide him to the Bastion.
It was then that I told Jaden and he gave the order to fire. Thankfully a new crewman below us had the foresight to rig all the cannons to go off at once and had been busy loading them himself out of sight. Thus at point blank range our smaller ship tore massive holes into the galleon. We ended up taking them by surprise and instead of returning fire the pirates tried to board us.
A battle upon the deck erupted which only ended when a series of explosion happened in the heart of the other ship. The other pirates were confused as were we until Sankera and his fiancee ended up dashing out of the ship and jumping to ours before the Galleon started to sink. Our earlier barricade had allowed them the chance to escape and they had set their powder kegs to explode as they escaped.
The mighty Galleon now with a massive hole in her side tiled and then sunk beneath the waves in a matter of minutes. The pirate crew attempted to come aboard but no longer possessing the high ground nor being tied to their ship we drifted free as we cleared the deck of the scum. We ended up capturing the ship captain and recovering a lockbox full of small riches. We divided the loot and he ended up going back to the Quays for interrogation. However he did give up the location of a Bastion on the side of a volcano just south of Arget.
He however was told it was not possible to open and thus was searching for another one. Thus we sailed south and to the island we had last been too. It was there our hearts sank a bit. Ropes and ladder had been fastened to the side of the Bastion where before none had been. Someone had been here already.
I wished to enter and explore but I was unable to having been injured in the previous skirmish. It was then elected that I stay behind and guard our prisoner. It was there that I got the exact location of the Bastion of Fire. Despite having lost the initiative with this Bastion perhaps I could regain it with this new information. I did not yet know that the Bastions had a lock system that required them to be opened in an order and required the previous stones to unlock.
That was found out when Ater, Sankera and Jaden returned. They shared with me how it did appear like this might indeed be a Bastion as their was a pedstal to place a small stone the size of the stone. Above it a great floating stone suspended by some sort of magic hung in the air. A wall with similar markings to the ones found on Ater’s staff blocked their way deeper though.
With mixed feelings of our discovery already been made by someone else and also now requiring the cooperation of Clain to attain the second stone, we returned home to decide what to do. The people in my group did not trust Clain and wished to recover the stone for independent study. Yet that no longer seemed possible.
It was not long after that a Jason of Breakwater called for a meeting of all those concerned with the Bastions and Clain himself to meet in the Grand Cathedral. It was there the plan to raid the second Bastion was made.
The Bastion of Wind
Volume III
Volume III
Jason of Breakwater had gathered us all in the Grand Cathedral to arrange an organized group to raid the second Bastion. The mass chaos in the first Bastion made this a sensible precaution as it is a large miracle more people did not die in the first Bastion from the unorganized pushing and shoving on high ledges and the like. He would not give up the exact location of the second Bastion to prevent others from trying to break the door down. However I Confirmed we were speaking of the same location.
Clain spoke briefly and had some sort of black spectral mist inside his cloak. I am unsure if it was the same mist as before or not as it did nothing other than stay in his cloak and I can’t imagine being in that close proximity with the heat draining mist in his loose fitting clothing. Still he gave a small speech and seemed quite nervous about the whole endeavor. I’m unsure if Anhald convinced him to help them or threatened him though I lean towards the later given how his life eventually ended.
Thus we all set a date and prepared for the journey south. I tried to gather my friends and prepare as best I could but when the day came it was just myself and Nir who i knew in the crowd. I ended up giving my extra supplies and potions that I had made for my allies to Jason, since he seemed to be the one in command of the expedition.
The island seemed mostly the same as before only there were bodies at the bottom of the cliff I didn’t recognize from before. I couldn’t tell much about them other than it appeared they had attempted the climb up the cliffs and fallen. To prevent the ropes and ladders from breaking under the strain Jason had us climb in small groups.
Nir and I was near the last of the group and we climbed for nearly ten minutes even with the ladders to reach the top. It was probably two hundred feet in the air by the time we reached the opening.
Inside it was much as my friends had described it but I did not appreciate the scale until I saw it in person. The floating stone was the size of a large fishing vessel and the wall was massive and spanned a hundred feet wide easily reaching all the way to the tall ceiling.
I was inspecting several of the more interesting designs on the wall when it started to crumble before me and I had to step back. I turned and saw Naelwyn was near the pedestal and so was Clain. They had placed the first stone on the pedestal and wall collapsed into sand. Perhaps it was sand all along and the placement of the stone merely dispelled whatever magic held it up.
Before us was a huge cavern, so large I wondered how it actually fit inside the island we were on. Perhaps that to was also the magic of the Bastion at work. First we were lead to a ledge where a vast pit lay below us with the bones of many large creatures bleached white from age shone up at us.
The bridge was mostly intact but it had many large holes on it and when the first person stepped on it creaked and bits of stone fell to the chasm below. It was decided only two would pass at a time which took a great while as people were having to dodge ancient and new holes as the bridge gave way under the new strain.
It is my thought here and this is one of the first bits of evidence that the Bastions were at least tended to for a time by mortals in some long lost past. For what need to the Divines who supposedly crafted these Bastions to protect mortals have for bridges? I will return to this later however.
We came to a large open area on the other end much like the side of the bridge we entered on only there was no pedestal here. Only another opening to a place farther into the cavern. If there were were bridges here at one time they had since fallen away to the ground below. All that remained now was craggy foot and handholds on the sides of the cavern that might of one time been a pathway in the time of the ancients.
Unsure of what to do we attempted to press forward as we could see platforms farther in with something on them but not make out what. So all of us pressed forward, clutching to the sides for our lives as the fall would surely be fatal. I could not guess the height but it was farther down than it is at the top of Argets tallest tower to the ground.
We reached the other side mostly unharmed but a few were beset by bees and ants but I do not believe any perished here. Then we reached platforms. Upon some of these platforms were large wooden logs with strange carvings. I found it odd that the stone bridge was decaying into nothing and yet these wooden logs remained completely solid and unrotten.
My guess is these were tied and protected also by the Bastion’s magic as it was when the wind blew they made a strange music and by changing their placement we changed the music they made. There were three of these wooden logs in totals that required several men to turn appropriately. Then something shuddered and the ground shook slightly and a pedestal was now visible in the platform we had originally crossed the crumbling bridge to get to.
We returned across the same cliffs, more sure now of the safest path back and found what we were looking for. On top the Pedestal sat another stone much like the one from before. People gathered around it in awe, a few stretched their hands out to touch it but found themselves stopped by an unseen force. I then found the source of the invisible wall standing next to the pedestal practicing his strange arcane arts. Naelwyn, known as the Wizard, was nearby examining it.
He proclaimed that whatever magic was at work here it was immense beyond reckoning. That these stones worked as the keystones of the magic and that their removal would cause the entire works to collapse in on itself. Yet we still did not know what this magic was and what we were removing. If we all had, we likely would have slain Clain then and there and left the stone well enough alone.
Yet that was not to be.
Jason and Naelwyn conferred and agreed all non combatants needed to leave now. If we unleashed more of the black mist and we had to flee as one mass the bridge would collapse under all of our weight and trap us with it. A reasonable precaution but one I chafed at, for I missed the moment of the stones removal here and the fallout.
What I recount here is second hand and pieced together from various accounts both at the time of the event and afterwards. I and Nireth took our leave across the bridge although she basically had to drag me across. Then I returned to the ship the same way I came safely.
However for those that remained something very different occured. Naelwyn I believe was the one who removed the stone. Yet when he removed the stone not only did the magic collapse but the entire bastion started to come down around him. It also unleashed some sort of guardian. Initial claims reported it to be a Dragon but later interviews told me it was some sort of fleshy monster. Instead of fighting Naelwyn fled with the stone after taking serious damage from something, as he appeared with armor that was greatly damaged.
He climbed down the side of the cliff screaming at us to get ready to sail away as soon as he was onboard and we did. Unlike the first Bastion no black mist erupted from this Bastion, and whatever was unleashed seemed content to stay inside the Bastion as we were not followed. We returned to the Grand Shrines where Naelwyn was escorted by many people to a base in Port Silver that had been reclaimed for the purpose of searching out Bastions.
Naelwyn left with the stone and his couriers and I returned home with Nireth to Arget. There I removed myself from the Bastion hunt for a time as I believed Naelwyn would keep his own counsel about the stones, leaving the rest of us in the dark. I might have been right if not for the gravity of the situation we were causing.
Later I would reinsert myself into the hunt and group effort and lead an expedition into the sorrows to test one of the leading theories about the stones. The one that they were the wards of the Northern Kingdoms that kept out the undead. However thus ended the raid upon the Bastion of Wind, thusly named for the wooden whistles that released the stone..
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. Also Azure totally omitted the Sool exile thing cause he didn't think Ater would apperciate being reminded of it and it wasn't important to the Bastion hunt per say.
