The group heads back into the Al’Zarib Wastes, battles some foes, and finds the tomb of King Arashir at last!
Arashir’s Address
“You are the Light Unchosen… not the faithful, but the willing. Not the blessed, but the bold. In your hands lies the future Solis dared not write Himself.”
“I am Arashir, last of the Sun Kings, sworn to Mortivara to remain when all light had fallen. My charge was to wait for those who would understand—not those who would kneel.”
Arashir’s Comments
| Kragg, Thalia, Koios | “Mmmm. You three walked the war before you were born. You have seen the past because it awaits you again. The Ashspire will rise once more, and you will stand where time meets its reflection.” |
| Kragg | “A blade that drinks the wicked will soon thirst for its master. When the northern storm returns, you must choose… Be the shield, or the hand that strikes.” |
| Thalia | “Shadow-born daughter of crowns, your hidden hand will weigh a nation’s dawn and eclipse. One stroke shall seal Rhomarion’s fate.” |
| Koios | “Trickster bearer of light, the shards will one day sing for you alone. In that song lies not deceit, but redemption… If you dare believe.” |
| Grayson | “You dream of shadow’s mercy. Mortivara whispers not to claim, but to cleanse. When death weeps, you must listen.” |
| Xander & Tatiana | “Two souls bound by chance, yet not by mistake. The laughter of the Trickster hides the key… The song she wrote will wake the sleeping sea.” |
| Socrates | “The mind of the lion watches from the heights of gold. When the tide comes for his city, his silence will damn or deliver them.” |
The Trials
Arashir smiles and turns slowly, his spectral hand tracing circles through the air. With each motion, a door reveals itself… radiant, immense, and terrible to behold.
“These are the paths that test the heart, not the hand,” he says, voice both warm and commanding. “Each is a reflection of the truth within you… and not all truths bring comfort. Each will ask something different… Do well, and you may yet see the dawn.”
The chamber hums as golden light floods the room. Dust rises from the floor like glowing embers, swirling into four massive doors of shining metal and ancient stone.
The first stands to the east, its surface hammered bronze etched with the sigil of a roaring lion. The word COURAGE burns across its arch in steady flame. The air before it thrums with heat and the faint echo of distant battle-cries.
The second door gleams like polished marble veined with silver. Balanced scales shimmer faintly at its center, one pan carved from sunlight, the other from shadow. This is the door of JUSTICE, and when you look upon it, your reflection wavers as though the door itself weighs your worth.
The third door is carved from translucent crystal, its edges lost in swirling mist. Shapes move faintly beyond… reaching hands, uncertain steps. A single word glows above it in quiet white light: FAITH. Its presence feels still, like the moment before a breath.
The last door, to the north, is a slab of black ice shot through with veins of blue fire. Frost creeps outward from its frame, and from deep within you hear a hollow wind whisper a single word: RESOLVE. Its light is cold but unyielding, promising not warmth, but endurance.
The doors shimmer faintly, light rippling across their surfaces like waves of liquid gold. You can feel something behind each… waiting, perhaps even watching.
AREA MAP:
Here’s a small map of the area where the party is currently operating:
Socrates
For a group of elite people such as Xander and myself, of course we found the tomb and soon the shard.
Unexpectedly, the tomb was haunted. The undead refused to give us the shard unless we go through 4 doors. How hard can that be.
The first one we went through was Courage. In this room I saw myself standing over my sister as if I’ve killed her. It is a stupid trick. I would never hurt my sister so this would have nothing to do with courage.
The second one was named Justice. Our party’s decision was mostly expected, but it did end in a tie and we ended up having to fight the ghost.
This has been an interesting experience, I look forward to seeing Faith and Resolve.
Kragg
When we entered the tomb we find a ghost King….Arashir. He is not like the remains we have found outside. He appears to know us somehow. Perhaps he is from the Great Spirits. He say we faced the past before we were born…the great battle at the well with the devils and undead?
He tells us we must face 4 trials to gain the Shard of Solis. We enter courage first. I see myself…but it is a false me. I will not fall to a false vision..and I strike it down.
We enter justice next. A general had to make a choice…one with no good outcome. He made his decision and now we are required to judge him. We make our choices and are split down the middle with no outcome. We have to defeat the judge..and we do. I am still troubled by this outcome..I do not see justice here. Justice must be tempered with mercy when such a thing is warranted.
Koios
Journal Entry No. 07:
So our Journey went well. Blazing heat, potential of wandering the desert until we perish, sandstorms and an ambush. All and all the normal travel for us.
We did locate the tomb. When we entered anapparition greeted us. Courage, Justice, Faith and Resolve await us. I originally thought I would face the Justice I had long eluded. I guess that will come up another time.
In the room of Justice, our past doings did not arise instead We faced something even worse a decision. We managed to go right down the middle and faced the Aspect of Mercy and Justice combine.
We overcame the fight and are taking a moment to rest before we continue onto the other rooms.
Gotta say the other shards were much easier to procure.
Xander/Tatiana
Xander
Arashir’s trials are wearisome. Childish hoops to jump through to prove ourselves to shade who should immediately recognize our superiority. As though we have not already proved ourselves in these virtues that he exalts. His inability to accept our measured response to his test of justice demonstrates his lack of symbolic knowledge and higher order thinking. It is a shame that he delays our quest to reunite the shards merely so that he can feel validated in his uncultured and immature philosophical stances. This new prophetic necessity of bemusing the trickster makes me wary of yet another instance of having to lower myself to appease a buffoon.
Tatiana
I’m going to write a song that’ll make waves?! *starts singing*
Grayson Jay
I’m curious as to the room of Faith. My faith is no longer unwavering. I feel… uncertainty as to Mortivara’s messages. The dead must stay dead, and yet, time and again they do not, and it seems a to be blatantly in Her presence.
I believe in you my Mistress of Final Rest. Please guide me to Your will.
Take away this doubt in my chest
Being my soul strength, make my mind still.
On to the next room.
Justin
FOR REFERENCE… THIS MIGHT PROVE USEFUL TONIGHT…!
https://savagethursday.com/2025/09/8-22-25-game-5-blessed-emissaries/
Thalia
Though I was initially suspicious of the intentions of the villager( who is that nice?) I guess in the end I liked being treated so nicely by them. I ALMOST left all my unnecessary items back there for our desert trek but then thought better of it.
The desert is a cruel place. The weather killed us into a false sense of security, but the creatures, natural and unnatural, terrible. Give me a comfortable tavern, with cute serving wenches, any day over an undead infested sand hellscape. Money I can start a scorpion venom poison trade with that animal loving Tati. I be she wouldn’t even know what I was up to.
I fear some of the group have a death wish. Why don’t they run away from undead? Are they afraid to run? Why didn’t they see the danger in letting off a Kirgis servant? I thought I had a flexible sense of loyalty to one’s betters but holy shit! They’ll let anything slide.