The Requiem

[OmniChaos]

	Baelmus III Kereath stands just with in the Ashenwood, the scaladar at his side. He knew that those who called the Ashenwood home would not welcome the golem but better to have the thing close to him then have it tearing the place apart looking for him should he run into any trouble. Kereath could feel the spirits in the air, the sense that the whole place was watching him. He quickly dismissed it, he had come to find something and if he would be left alone to do so then he would not disturb anything in the process. Kereath climbs up and sits on the golems back then silently commands it to move forward, he also commands it to go around tree's and such. It had been hours sense he entered the Ashenwood and he had headed stright for its heart. The little changes did not go unnoticed to him, the forest was quieter and seemed more intense in its air. He could swear that he saw flashes of eyes or a fleeing tail, but it was the whispers at the edge of his hearing that really bothered him. He was sure that had he been alone moving thru the tree's he would have run into something, his luck had been in no small part to the golem. Kereath had not gone into Rashemen blind to the beings that called it home. He knew that golems were a real threat to spirits as the things had no weakness to their brand of power, golems never weakened or tired. They did not know fear, pain, or have a soul to corrupt and take. No the forest would need to call on something powerful indeed to deal with the scaladar and he hoped to be done with his business before it ever reached that point. Kereath got a glimpse of something of interest and commanded the golem to stop and head towards it. When he reached it he looked upon it in awe, it was a massive tree the size of a large tower. To his horror the thing started to move as if awakening, a pair of groggy green eyes nearly his size opened and looked down upon him. He could hear the roots of the giant tree shift underfoot, then came the deep resonating voice of the tree. "You have come forth from my dreams little one. I have seen you in my dreams little one, or rather what you will become. A shadow of discord that will come to this land, I must admit I am tempted to crush you were you stand. But one can not burn a seed only because they fear what it could become, no I will let you grow little one. Even should you grow to become my doom." "I do not know what you speak of. I have only come here seeking a certain ore." "I know of what you seek little one, you seek one of the earth mothers gifts. Rock that has been infused with the life normally reserved for the growing things of this word. The Ashenwood has much such rock under its roots, but none will ever know of this least those who disregard nature and treasure their own lives over all come to plunder this gift." "Yet you have shared this secret with me?" "I will have your binding word that you will carry this secret or I will have your life and spirit imprisoned with in the Ashenwood for all time. My dreams have no say in my duty little one." "Then you have my binding word that I will never share this secret." The moment he spoke those words he felt a sharp pain in the very core of his being. As if something had been forced into him. It quickly passed but the large green eyes simply stared. Kereath guessed it was some sort of binding magic to insure his word, not that he needed it as he was not about to tell anyone where the source of his yet to be made golems power came from. "May I claim some of this living rock as you call it for my own, with your blessing?" "I will grant it to you, no need to have you moving about our roots little one." The ground shakes under Kereath and the scaladar as a tangle of roots breaks thru the earth near him and opens like a blossoming flower to expose a large chunk of light grey green ore. "That is more then enough, may I ask you to break it into smaller pieces." The great tree grants his request and the roots find places to dig into the ore, with loud cracking sounds the ore to broken into smaller chunks the size of melons. Kereath quickly takes these pieces into his bag. He looks up to the great tree and bows in thanks. "May I know your name?" "The witches call me Stormwind, remember my kindness little one. Do not lose yourself to the shadow for it has no form, no true will of its own without a host. The past can not be returned, now leave the Ashenwood for the witches have come for you with spirits in tow." Kereath gives one last wave and jumps on to the scaladar, vanishing with the golem just as the witches and telthors arrived. The lead witch looks up to the great green eyes. "Why did you allow him to leave Lord Stormwind?" "Little ones you are blind to the dreams of this land. A shadow of discord will come and he will bear it." "Then he should have been killed." "No little one he will bear the shadow but the dream will not reveal his intentions, they are masked by his will. Yes a mask indeed, he will be the bearer and as such his own mind will influence this shadow. Would you have him return with memories of anger and regret or with memories of kindness and fairness. You can not stop this shadow anymore then you could the seasons. You respect and pay homage to the spirits of this land but you forget that their are also such beings in other lands. Better not to anger the bearer of such a being. I can not see pass this dream. A shadow of discord will cross the world, purpose unknown but great change will come. I will wait for him in my dreams." With that the green eyes slowly close dispite the pleas from the witches. One turns to the leader that had spoken before. "What will we do sister?" "We will send word and meet with the true ones. They will know what to do, but I trust the wisdom of Lord Stormwind."

[OmniChaos]

	Bealmus IV Kereath returned to Trobriand's domain in undermountain and after returning the scaladar as well as the teleportation item quickly went in search of, in his opinion the best metalworker Trobriand had in his employ, Ivar Steelshaper. The duergar had worked with him many times in the past, he seemed to get along well with him. He found the gray dwarf with most of his fellows in the forges working their craft. Ivar stood a little over four and a half feet, slightly taller then was the norm for his kin. He had a short wiry iron gray beard and had a body of dull gray color, unlike his surface kin duergar were leaner and had muscles even harder then common dwarves. Ivar was easy to pick out as well due to a scar coming across his chest from an assasination attempt, he had used his slightly oversized arms to tear the would be assassin in half bear handed as the story went. Kereath waited a few feet away from Ivar as he never bothered the duergar smith at work. Finally he rest his hammer and takes a dirty cloth to wipe away some sweat from his hairless head and brow. "So your back from your little ore expedition." "Yes and I have some work for you to do, if your up to it that is." "Dont play on my pride boy, save that for those louts who need their egos stroked." "The same as always I see, I need you to work adamantine and another ore you have likely never worked." "Adamantine is no problem but working on an unknown metal is something else completely as you should know. Every metal feels different and has to be worked a certain way to get the best results from it. I cant say if my work will turn up like it otherwise normally would." "It is worked the same as common iron it simply is not the same in terms of power. It is not something for you to concern yourself with as I will be the one manipulating the magics with in it and so be taking the risk. I just would like to inform you of what you will be dealing with and stress that not any of it can be wasted or lost." At that Kereath dropped his friendly manner and made it clear the importance of his words. Ivar simply shrugged it off. "I am not in the habit of being wasteful of anything. Also you know my work so you should not feel the need to remind me. What are the designs?" "I was thinking a humanoid skeleton about seven and a half feet tall, hollowed out bones as well as skull. But the bones should have small holes about a quarter inch randomly thru out its length, also the bones should be at least an inch and a half thick before they become hollow. Can you do that?" "Yes I believe I can do all that. You want this to be purely adamantine I assume as well as having the core of the golem in its skull which I will make thicker for added protection." "That is correct and would be fine." "Why the holes?" "Once you have completed the order I will tell you. Inform me as soon as you are done." "Fine, I expect you want this to be my only order?" "Yes Trobriand has given me permission to postpone all your other orders." "At least bring me a keg or two of something to make the work easier." "Whats your brew?" "Anything that you surfacers cant handle." "I think I have a little something I managed to pick up on my way out of that city I just visited." Kereath removes a large jug from his bag and hands it to Ivar that opens it and looks at the dark reddish brew inside. His noise wrinkles as he takes in its alien scent. "Its from the eastern surface lands. It is called Jhuild by the natives but most call it rashemi firewine." "It better not be that weak elven swell your kind drinks." "It is a human drink and most tend to fall over shortly after drinking with no chance of rising for a good time." "Well here's hoping." Ivar takes a long drink and lets out a breath when he is done. He smacks his lips togather a few times before speaking. "Well its not bad, its no vintage duergar brand but it will do." Ivar then gets to work loading the adamantine to be melted. Kereath leaves him to his work and makes his way back to his room, all the while thinking of ways to improve his golem and its abilities.

[OmniChaos]

	Bealmus V A few days later, Kereath was once more pacing the dark and mysterious halls of Undermountain. In his hand, he carries a thick tome, of promised power. Theories, procedures, problems and solutions, all run through his keen mind, as he waits with bated breath. He knew that Ivar's work could not be rushed and that checking on him would only cause delay and even effect his work, but it did nothing to ease his mind. He had burned the designs and notes he had made on his golem, Kereath knew better then to leave any such things lying around. It seemed Pedderee was getting bolder as Kereath came closer to his ultimate goal. Kereath had returned one day to find his wards and traps had been disturbed. Luck had favored him, this time, as he had been carrying his notes on him. After that incident he had burned his notes, the quills he used to write them, and the desk he had written them on. To be further sure, he spread their ashes across half of Waterdeep on one of his supply runs. Still it seemed the little worm was starting to get on his nerves. He pushed the thoughts aside and began going over the spells, glyphs, and rituials he would need to bring his golem to life. Trobriand had given him access to some of his own personal tomes on golemcraft to see if anything could be used from them. Kereath had been foolish enough to think Trobriand had trusted him until he found that he could not write, remember, or even speak of any of the knowledge he had gained by reading the tomes unless he had one in his hand at the time and it was open before his eyes. Kereath sensed more than a powerful spell in them but rather like it was reading him as much as, he was it. He shut the tome and decided he needed some fresh air. He would visit Sabba's shop and see how he was doing. He had been sending him some of his calligraphy to make some coin on the side but he had not seen him since that night. Kereath made his way to one of Trobriands secret portals and quickly found himself knee deep in sea water. He knew that this portal was located in the docks ward but the fact that it was only active at low tide and still had so much water was just annoying. He summed it all up to the need for secrecy. He rose from the cool water, up some wet stone steps towards the dock, so anyone who looked his way would think he had walked up out of the water from under the dock. Once he dried himself off he made his way to Sabba's shop, he had not gone down these streets in a long time. Old memories stirred. It had seemed like only yesterday, he had been here, as the memories are brought back into his keen mind, as fresh as if they had only just occurred. As he walks down the cobbled street, the smells and sights of familiarity, put his mind at ease as he reaches the old, yet quirky building ahead of him. Kereath entered Sabba's shop and for a moment wondered if he had used the wrong door or taken a bad turn. The shop he was in now was nothing like the one he had visited his first night in Waterdeep. The front part of the shop looked like the true shop that was normally in the back but with even more rare and expensive items. It seemed like Sabba had been doing very well for himself the past two years, he wondered about that. Moments after he entered he heard the tall tale sound of hurried feet coming his way and their stood before him Sabba in all his glory. He now wore fine clean clothes with jewels in the trim and a vagnabonds hat that looked newly made, the only sign of his former self was his belt that still had the same old daggers and rapier. He gives Kereath a look of shock before he speaks. "Is that you boy?" "Last time I checked, what of you and your shop?" "We can speak of that later, its been long indeed, may be nothing to you elves but time means alot to us. Youth potion cost me a mountain of coins but well worth it in my book." "I did notice you have lost your cough and you seem nearly as new as your shop, so did you find a dragons hoard or something, you never leave the city from what I know." "Well I guess you had something to do with that." "How did I have anything to do with your newly found fortune?" "You artwork created quite a stir among the nobles and such, before long your calligraphy was in high demand and like any good merchant I made those nobles pay thru the nose. Not to mention those eastern merchants took interest in your work and some artist from their land have even wished to meet you. Your work brought alot of interest to my shop and that in turn brought more business my way in more then just your art." "Yet as I recall you have been buying my work for the same price this whole time. I may take my work somewhere else." Sabba suddenly loses the color in his face, he could see the gold falling thru his fingers. "Lets not get nasty shall we. You know I am your man for anything you need to get. I am sure we can come to some agreement on what you are owed and a new price for your artwork." "We sure will but I mostly came for the fresh air and to speak on supplies." Sabba ushers him to the back where his true shop had once been and now was turned into a cross between an office and a sitting room. Sabba took a seat across from Kereath and offered him something to drink. "So what have you been up to these pass years?" "Simply working as a apprentice, with luck I should be ending my apprenticeship soon." "Very good you know most mages take five times as long as you before they strike out on their own and complete their training under a master. If you are interested I have a job for you." "A job for me?" "Well I also find guards for certain merchant caravans when I am asked and they needed a wizard, I am sure you would do fine and the pay is very good as it is his biggest run of the season." "I am not interested as I am owed more then enough gold by you remember." "Its not so much the gold as it is the trip that I thought you would like." "How so?" "Well its a caravan from Waterdeep to Everlund, once you reach that city he will find new guards and pay you." "I fail to see the point." "Well wasn't your home near there not to mention the major temple to Corellon Larethian the Starmeadow. Maybe you could find out something or at least spend some time among your own people after all Everlund has more then a few elves." "Last I checked Waterdeep was not short on my kind." "Yeah but their is no elven ward and most elves from this city are not from anywhere near the high forest or know of your home. The truth is I dont know why you never went towards Everlund to begin with before coming here." "Fine I will do this guard job but I expect you to have some of what you owe me here upon my return." "And the boy changes the subject while reminding me of the great loss of gold I will soon be burdened with. Well anyways the caravan will be leaving in six hours from the Northgate." "Six hours?" "The gods favor me so it seems." "Really they only damn me as of late." Kereath took a sip of his drink with that last statement looking more then a little perturbed. Sabba on the other hand was having a good laugh at his expense.

[OmniChaos]

	Past Revisited Leaving Sabba's, Kereath made his way to Northgate, his mind reflecting on what Sabba had told him. He found little else had changed in this part of the city, as he purposefully strode through the busy cobbled streets of the Noble district. Rounding a corner, Northgate came into view, its dominating structure, a symbol of defiance to previous attacks from the north, in ages past. Approaching the gate, Kereath spies the caravan, going over their final preparations, the caravan master shouting orders to men and women alike. "Make sure the wagons are tied down and check that the horses lines are tight. You over there what are you doing make sure the clothes are on top of the ale you orc kin fool we don't need any leaks ruining other merchandise." A half orc near by makes a loud snort and gives the merchant a hateful look. "Sorry Jarba no offense but I ran out of dwarf jokes after that smith nearly took my head off, anyways Victor makes you look like a right genius he does." Kereath took this chance to walk up to the merchant and introduce himself. "I was sent by Sabba, my name is Kereath Nulis." "The wizard right?" "Yes" "Well you don't look like much to me." The merchant gave him a sour look as he took in his plain gray robes and single bag that he always carried with him. Kereath normally had his own set of robes along with his own gear but he had left in his apprentice robes. Lucky for him he always carried some of his gear on him, among them some other robes. "I simply wished to check in with you first, I will make preparations before we leave." "Yeah well be quick about, with the gold I am paying you think people would try to make an impression or something." The merchant keeps mumbling to himself before he catches some one else making a mistake and before long is back at shouting orders at his people. Kereath gives a slight chuckle and walks to an area offering some solitude. Taking out some items from his pack, He dons a robe of grey, decorated with silver runes running along the edges of his sleeves and the trim. The glyphs seemingly come alive in the sunlight as he feels the protective ward settle on him, as if he was wearing armour. Next he places a silver necklace, with ornate sigils decorating the outer rim of an amulet, its center piece, a pure sapphire. He checks his ring and pulls on his thick cloak that would protect him from most natural weather conditions. Amonst his other posessions are , an assortment of wands, a few potions, and an enchanted longsword, its long keen blade rippling with power, thin runes appearing for the briefest of seconds when he touches it then fades as if they never were. When he was ready he returns to the merchant to inform him. As the merchant turns to look at Kereath, the change catches him off guard and his eyes widen with new appreciation, "Ah, urm ok you will be on the fourth wagon, with the grain and sugar. One other guard and a driver will be your riding companions. Before long Kereath was on the high road, the merchant had a total of seven large wagons loaded to the top. No wonder he wanted so many guards as he had to say it made a tempting target for any would be bandit. He also had to give the merchant credit when it came to protecting his goods. Their were a pair of guards next to each driver, three walking on both sides of each wagon, and two pairs of scouts on horseback riding a good ways behind and before the caravan. Kereath also suspected that their were more surprises should anyone attack the caravan, he also took note of the guards themselves. Most were human with a few dwarves and half orcs in the mix while he was the lone elf in the group, on top of that he seemed to be the only wizard. He spied a pair of priest one on the first and fifth wagons, a few lightly armored and sharp eyed types but a little over half the guards seemed to be professional fighters. He had the pleasure of sitting next to one such fighter, he favored a large shield that he kept on his back and an axe which sat ready on his lap. He wore a short brimed brown hat over his light brown hair, he also had a short beard. Kereath did not mind him at all as he kept silent yet alert. The rest of him was covered by a cloak and matching light brown tunic and pants, which gave Kereath the thought that he could throw himself onto the road and become nearly unseen by the act. He removed one of his regular tomes and started reading to pass the time.