Editing Tomb Raiders

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{{TErow| 1 | Henrietta's Expedition | {{h|Frederick|0=}}: Four years have passed since we defeated Dargem’s pirates. Much has changed in Burton, what with all the new inventions, new allies... and new, previously unfamiliar faces.<p>Sorcerers who had once been in the service of Archibald Ironfist began to appear more and more often in the cities of the Wastelands, now a haven for the rejected of this world. I remember well how I met Wrathmont during the battles with the pirates, but the influx did not end with him.<p>Not long ago, we heard rumors that the famous warlock Agar himself had come to the wastelands, supposedly settling in the western mountains and setting up a laboratory there. I was pretty sure that Agar had turned into a lich and then been destroyed. Didn't matter. Something completely different was really important now...<p>Soon after Agar had settled in the west, disturbing reports began to arrive in Burton. At first, it was news of rockfalls and landslides in the mountains, but we didn't pay much attention to them. Landslides are not uncommon in such a geologically heterogeneous landscape. Later, however, we found out that Sandworms might be involved. These creatures had been around for a long time, occasionally bothering farmers, but they were rarely seen. Most witnesses spoke either of wide furrows in the ground seemingly dug up from below, or of mysterious holes that caused posts and fences to fall, but there were no direct confrontations. However, the creatures of which recent rumors spoke were different: not only larger, but much more aggressive—they attacked mining camps, devoured herds, and attacked trade caravans and lone travelers.<p>Everything indicated that those were no ordinary worms. Those creatures were not plain animals—no, they looked like the product of someone's keen mind.<p>At the Burton town council meeting, the task was set to find Agar at all costs and to find out if he had anything to do with the strange worm attacks. Henrietta immediately volunteered to go on the expedition. Without wasting much time packing, her scouting party left Burton. Days, then weeks, passed, and it finally became clear that something had happened to her expedition. Any attempts to follow its trail were futile: constant rockfalls and earthquakes caused the road through the western mountains to keep changing like an enchanted labyrinth.<p>Then I realized what we needed. Airships, stopping at no obstacle—that was our solution! I had been doing other, albeit very important, things for too long, but it hurt me to see my favorite project stalled without any development.</p>}}

{{TErow| 1 | Frederick meets Kastore | {{h|Frederick|0=}}: I was on my way to Volta, a free city west of Burton. The recent earthquake had destroyed the factories there, but I hoped to find companions among those involuntarily out of jobs. This town was the last place Henrietta and her party were seen. That afternoon I boarded a ship at the port of Orca's Maw: I intended to round the first mountain range by sea and reach Volta, whence my air expedition would start.<p>Imagine my surprise when, just before we set sail, a messenger caught me and announced: "Kastore, the King of Deyja, intends to pay a visit to Burton to establish and strengthen economic ties and wishes to meet with Frederick."<p>The Deyjan King? Here? Of course, news had reached me of how a certain Kastore had come to power last year in that land of necromancers and dark sorcerers, but I had never been interested in those squabbles. Coups are commonplace in Deyja. But what would he want here, and what economic ties could there possibly be when there wasn't even a single port city in Deyja? And how did he know my name? On the other hand, the world of magic is small, and the artificers’ world, even smaller. I ordered a fast brig to go out and ask the captain of the Kastore’s ship to call at Volta instead of Orca's Maw. I was running out of time, but the preparations for the expedition were to last a few more days, and I hoped that the meeting with the unexpected guest would not take too long. I didn't want to ignore the visit of the ruler of Deyja and make a new enemy in him—too many powerful wizards were already on the list... and who knows, maybe Kastore would turn out to be an interesting conversation partner?<p>I was struck by the view that opened up as we approached the port of Volta. From afar, I saw a great ship under gray sails, easily capable of carrying an entire army. How fortunate that we had dredged the port the year before so that heavy ore freighters with a large draft could unload here.<p>That was when I first saw Kastore. An elf in shining armor stood at the gangway of the giant ship with his hands behind his back. On either side of him, multi-armed serpent women stood frozen like statues, armed to their teeth. Nagas are a common sight in Bracada, where they can be found in the service of many wealthy mages, but I knew that any skilled sorcerer could summon those fearsome creatures. It was harder to get them to obey commands, though, something only the most powerful wizards could do.<p>My arrival did not seem to make much impression on the lord of Deyja. Without even turning his head, he said dryly:<p>{{h|Kastore|0=}}: “I expected to see you, but you kept me waiting... Frederick, right?”<p>{{h|Frederick|0=}}: “That is right," I answered. “What can I do for you?”<p>Kastore turned to me leisurely.<p>{{h|Kastore|0=}}: “Word of your inventions is spreading to every corner of Enroth. Deyja is no exception, of course. You know me only as the ruler of a distant land, but I would like you, Frederick, to think of me as a colleague. I am an inventor of sorts myself.”</p>}}

{{TErow| 2 | Conversation with Kastore | {{h|Frederick|0=}}: Kastore surprised me. Maybe I'd expected a lavish procession that would accompany the sovereign from the port to the city... or dark spirits hovering around the king of the Necromancer land. Kastore, however, was on a very ordinary horse, riding with enviable horsemanship beside my steed, all by himself. The Nagas were gone, but I had no doubt that, should the king be in danger, they wouldimmediately appear out of thin air. Everything in Kastore’s way of moving his body, in his stance on horseback, and in his skill of noticing even the smallest details around him, told me that he was an experienced traveler with many adventures under his belt. I did most of the talking, Kastore only occasionally asking for more details about this or that aspect of our life in the wastelands, and being particularly interested in how we'd gotten here. I was careful enough to keep some of the details to myself. He wasn't the least bit interested in my tales of demons falling from the sky with the stars, but my theory about the moon, where I assumed those demons had dwelt before, seemingly amused him. When it came to our airship journey, Kastore raised an eyebrow, looked me in the eye and asked:<p>{{h|Kastore|0=}}: “Can I hope to see your marvelous aeronautical machines? If they are even half as good as you describe them, it won't soon be a problem for even the scantiest knight to get safely to any point in Antagarich, and a wealthy, modern-minded merchant will be able to spread his customer network to cover the whole world!”<p>I couldn't believe my ears, but Kastore… it was as if he read my mind and saw my dreams in the palm of his hand. It was a risky decision, but the prospect of a powerful ally who could make the glory of my inventions known to the world was too tempting. I said yes.<p>{{h|Frederick|0=}}: “Of course. In a few days I’ll have to bid you farewell; my assistant and apprentice Henrietta, of whom you already know from my story, is in trouble, and I plan to depart from Volta in search of her, precisely by airship. I have a few test flights to make with the new model before that, so I invite you to join me and see for yourself.”</p>}}

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| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{h|Frederick|0=}}: The flooded caverns appeared again, and it looked like we would have to take the boat again. Agar had warned us: he himself had tried several times to reach the other shore of this underground lake, by magic and by boat, but the lake was full of underwater rocks, and the other shore was too far away to be reached with a spell.<p>Perhaps we could see what we need to see, should we walk on water around our ship?</p>

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | A strange sensation filled your mind. For a moment you felt as if the very march of time had stopped....<p>''Note: ONLY applies to HUMAN player.''<p><center>'''Contents:''' {{Mv|Set|Set 90000}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{h|Frederick|0=}}: The caves were getting deeper, and it was getting darker. Even the magical light I'd conjured up seemed to fade only a few cubits away.<p> “There's something up ahead," I said. “Or someone.”<p>Agar uttered a few words and waved his hands, casting some kind of spell. A weird noise came from somewhere in the depths—growls, bellows… moos?<p> {{h|Agar|0=}}: “I could feel the presence of monsters. Three huge... groups of monsters, and there seems to be no one else in the dungeon but them,” he remarked. “Some of them are worms, but there are also manticores, behemoths, and other creatures... unfortunately, at this distance, it's hard to tell which ones.”</p>

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{h|Frederick|0=}}: Our expedition into the depths of the mysterious vault continued. We had to do our best so this tomb—built for whom? when?—would not become ours as well. Not only worms and the usual undead, but also all sorts of magical creatures prowled the dark corridors and dusty halls. Some of those monsters had probably infiltrated here from the nearby caves when the collapses had opened the passageways; others seemed to have always been here, guarding their ancient secrets. Though I called this place a tomb, we found no ritual burials here. I kept thinking about who and why had erected this majestic underground temple. However, my companion did not seem to care about such things. Kastore appeared a man changed—like a young alchemist, whom his master finally allowed to use his distillation pipes, reagents and incunabula after years of training, he kept rushing from one wall covered in writings unintelligible for me to another. Every now and then, he fervently flipped through a small book, making notes in it. Soon the elf apparently noticed that the ancient hieroglyphs did not arouse the same kind of enthusiasm in me.

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| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{h|Frederick|0=}}: Kastore decided to continue the conversation we had begun about Enroth's long past:<p>{{h|Kastore|0=}}: “The masters of the Time of Wonders did not answer their subjects in their hour of need... and you and I are exploring this ancient tomb today. There seems to be no connection—but in fact, the reason for these events is the same. The Kreegans, or as they're known here, demons. Though these creatures have no affinity with those who inhabit the subterranean depths and ethereal planes, and only slightly resemble them in appearance," Kastore continued. I couldn't imagine interrupting him, though I wanted to ask and ask and ask.<p>Funny, isn’t it: I had once been an all-knowing mentor like that myself, sharing what I considered to be unrivaled knowledge, while the little wiggly girl interrupted me every now and then with her silly comments and clarifications. What a wonderful time it was in our lives… and what a doubly, triply wonderful time it is now. If I only can find Henrietta in these labyrinths—I want her to walk this path with me.<p>{{h|Frederick|0=}}: The elf seemed to understand what was going on in my head, and went silent at times, letting my mind digest the revelations.<p>“But the [[Silence]] came more than a millennium ago... Had those Kreegans already invaded Enroth?”<p>{{h|Kastore|0=}}: “They didn’t manage to that time round. But before I tell you that part of the story, let me enlighten you about space and planets. Listening to your hypotheses about the origin of demons, I noticed: you stick to the geocentric system of the world, but astrologers and stargazers have long argued about whether the Sun revolves around Enroth, or it is the opposite.”<p>{{h|Frederick|0=}}: “I, too, am a keen observer of the heavenly bodies, and I know a few thing about it..." I got indignant, realizing where this conversation was going, but I shut my trap when I saw Kastore’s face twist in the torchlight.<p>{{h|Kastore|0=}}: “The planet revolves around the sun. That’s the only truth. As is the fact that up there in the sky, every star to the last is also a sun. Many of those suns also have planets that revolve around those luminaries. I could prove it to you now, were we not underground... though the entangling charms of these places are so insidious, even I would find it difficult to tell when the next night would come. How long have we been here—days? Weeks?”<p>{{h|Frederick|0=}}: “And it feels like months," I finished his thought. Kastore frowned and wrote something down in his book.</p>

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| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{h|Kastore|0=}}: “Imagine these distant worlds as islands separated by a vast ocean of stars. And long ago, even I don't know when and where from, ships of a powerful, ancient civilization appeared in this ocean. Different sources have different names for them: Gods, Makers, Ancients... The interstellar empire expanded, swallowing worlds like a sea dominion absorbs uninhabited islands, building its settlements and fortresses on them. Enroth is just one of those islands, and this tomb is their ship... no, just a small fragment of it. The Ancients have other tools that allow them to cross the abyss of the void. In some ways they are even more efficient than ships. You've no doubt encountered portals.”<p>{{h|Frederick|0=}}: “Of course I have! The art of portal placement is one of the disciplines taught at the Bracadian Academy of Magic. These portals give Bracada a link to hard-to-reach towers and palaces beyond the clouds, nearly impossible to reach by normal means. But the farther two points are from each other, the harder it is to create a stable portal between them.”<p>{{h|Kastore|0=}}: “That's right: the principle is the same, but these gates cover unimaginable cosmic distances. The Ancients covered their island worlds with a network of portals that became part of the great connecting Web of Worlds. As long as the colonies were connected, they thrived. And then came the Kreegans. They were strong, had high technology at their disposal, and were characterized by remarkable cohesion: a hivemind akin to that of ants.<p>They were also breeding incessantly and incredibly fast. More and more resources were needed to supply their ominous colonies and hives. So the Kreegans went to war against the Ancients, even though the Ancients tried to negotiate with them first. Like pirates, the devils ravaged worlds, and once they had looted and killed their fill, they went on to do the same elsewhere. The machines the Kreegan use to go from world to world look like celestial bodies,” I remembered the insides of the meteorites I'd seen on that unfortunate day! “But of course, like any ship, they are slow compared to traveling through a portal. The Kreegans are familiar with the principle of teleportation, they can summon beings, they have access to other planes of existence… But they have not mastered the art of traveling between worlds as perfectly as the Ancients.”<p>{{h|Frederick|0=}}: Kastore was silent. I looked at him and realized that he expected to hear my conclusion. I cautiously began fishing a complete thought out of the ocean of assumptions and hypotheses:<p>“The thing that happened was that the Kreegans attacked not only the various worlds, but also the very portal system created by the Ancients... That's how contact between the planets broke down.”<p>{{h|Kastore|0=}}: “That is correct. The Kreegans infiltrated the gateway system between worlds. The Ancients were able to counter this threat, but eventually the unity of the portal network was broken. That damaged the invisible threads that held it together and carried the voice and guidance of the Ancients to countless colonies. The Web of Worlds was torn. And so began what many planets call the [[Silence]], or other similar words.”<p>{{h|Frederick|0=}}: “Orphaned, the colonies found they no longer had a higher power, and the viceroys got into bloody internecine wars," I finished.<p>My whole world turned upside down and expanded overnight to the size of the sky, maybe even further. I needed time to think about it.</p>

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{h|Frederick|0=}}:We were stepping cautiously through the large room. Kastore read the sign at the entrance; it read: "Hall of Illusions." It was oddly quiet here—we'd seen genies, efreeti, and other monsters in other halls, but this one was surprisingly empty. I was peeking around nervously.<p>In the blink of an eye, everything changed. A strange rumbling sound came from the depths of the tomb, and a moment later, the Efreeti and Kreegans appeared before me: dozens and dozens of huge red-skinned creatures! One of them looked familiar... Of course! It was the same Efreet we had to fight before fleeing from Eeofol. But how...? Ah, right! These are the illusions I was warned about. These phantoms are more than a play of light and shadow. Their scythes and whips can harm us just as much as the real thing.</p>

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| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | The dwelling in the far corner of the cave looked abandoned at first glance, but you quickly realized it was not: once inside, you found yourself in a hut full of bookshelves and potion vials. The alchemist, clearly the place’s owner, was leaning over a crystal ball, looking at something.<p> “Finally!", he said. “I've been watching you for some time, and I knew you would come. You're looking for Agar’s lab, aren't you? I know where it is, and I know the man well. As for the lab, it used to be relatively easy to get to, but it all changed when he started experimenting with those... worms. Now many of the roads have been destroyed by landslides, and the place can only be reached by air. Please take a look at this," the alchemist points to his crystal ball. “I have something to show you.”</p>

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| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{H|Mormolykos|Necromancer|image=Thant}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{H|Trophon|Necromancer|image=Sandro}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{H|Fulghea|Elementalist|image=Ciele (HotA)}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{H|Henrietta|Mercenary}}<br>''Note: Hero identity is Sam, whilst Henrietta is disabled on this map<br>{{---}}{{---}}{{---}}(this is likely to make carryover work properly).''</br>

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{H|Dargem (Illusion)|image=Dargem|Navigator}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{H|Telchion|Elementalist|image=Kalt (HotA)}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{H|Boyd (Illusion)|image=Boyd|Death Knight}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{H|Keio|Ranger|image=Melodia}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | {{H|Frederick (Illusion)|image=Frederick|Alchemist}}

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| style="text-align:center;" | 11, 152, 0

| style="text-align:center;" | 31, 159, 0

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| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px; white-space: nowrap;" | {{Cn|Hobgoblin|name=Hobgoblins}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px; white-space: nowrap;" | {{Cn|Efreet Sultan|name=Efreet Sultans}}

| style="padding-left:7px; padding-right:5px;" | As soon as I approached the portal, over a dozen fiery whirlwinds—Efreeti—appeared out of nowhere. I ordered my men to prepare their weapons.

{{SorQrow|gate=1|loc=73, 177, 0|quest=Return with:<br>1 {{Cn|Halfling (Factory)|name=Halfling}}</br>|prop=You see an airship yard up ahead.|prog=You see an airship yard up ahead.|comp=Do you wish to proceed?}}

{{SorQrow|gate=1|loc=45, 67, 1|quest=Be:<br>{{Hn|Agar|Artificer}}</br>|prop=The guards here say they have orders to only let Agar pass.|prog=The guards here will only let Agar pass.|comp=At last, it is Agar. Do you wish to pass?}}