forums.rs

Forums

The Diary of Ana Meken

Quick find code: 49-50-232-65187737

of 18
Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Posts: 138 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
===10th of Raktuber===


We're all packed up and ready to go tomorrow early morning. Zakera is fine with Olivia coming along, not that I'm surprised; she's always nice to everyone.

We're taking plenty of waterskins for the trip, and some knives to get more from cactus’s we see along the way in case we run low. It's an old desert survival tip, apparently. Alongside that we have sleeping bags and tents, and wood for fire. Now that Aleck taught me how to hunt, we should have no problems getting across the desert.

The only thing we need to watch out for are sandstorms. According to Jesmona, they can appear at the most inconvenient of times, form in a matter of seconds...And bury you in several meters of sand. If they don't kill you directly, you'll probably die of thirst from being lost in the desert if you don't have a compass, or at least know the star patterns at night for directions to the nearest settlement.

With all that considered, the only thing I'm worried about is how my eyes are going to handle the trip...Seeing the same color for dozens of miles, with the only contrast being Zakera's red hair and vest.

Well, I should probably get to sleep early to prepare for the long trek to Nardah. I'll need as much energy as I can get.

22-Oct-2013 04:24:26 - Last edited on 24-Dec-2013 11:50:56 by Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Posts: 138 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
===14th of Raktuber===


It's been three days since we left Pollniveach. Nothing interesting has really happened since then, just your common jackals and vultures trying to eat us.

Zakera doesn't use any weapons to fight. Instead of a bow or sword, she uses magic – and she's really good at it too. I wish I could learn how to use magic...Despite the Age of Man starting with the discovery of Runecrafting, I haven't come across many mages in my lifetime. Except for Wizard Cromperty back in Ardougne...who wasn't really the most stereotypical mage...

All the while, Olivia has just been constantly complaining...Complaining about the heat, the lack of people other than us, complaining about the food and water even...

You would have thought all this time in the desert would have made Olivia more down to earth, but she still seems like the same sister I knew back in Ardougne, always first to remind people of her noble blood in our mother's family tree.

Oh well...One more long day of walking and we should be in Nardah before the end of tomorrow. If there's one thing Olivia hasn't complained about on this trip, it's that she loves the beauty of the Kharidian night sky just as much as I do.

22-Oct-2013 04:24:31 - Last edited on 30-Dec-2013 07:44:42 by Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Posts: 138 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
===15th of Raktuber===


Wow! What a crazy last day that was...We're finally in Nardah, but if it weren't for Olivia we might have all died on the way here...I take back any bad things I said about her before.

In the early morning, while me and Zakera were still sound asleep, a sandstorm started forming around us, according to Olivia. She was already awake, just watching the sun rise when it happened. The storm blew our tents away and woke us up, but I we were too tired to know what was going on. In the midst of the storm Olivia found a crevice to an underground cave, and took us and dragged us in there while the storm blew over.

Though it doesn't seem like she did that very gently...The fall must have made me go unconscious, as I slowly started coming in and out of awareness. All I remember is that I saw a blue genie talking to us, saying something about taking our souls for invading his lair, but fell back asleep after that.

When I woke up some time later, I noticed we were all missing our shoes. Olivia refused to say explain what happened when I asked.

When we climbed back out of the crevice we could see Nardah from there. We didn't have our tents anymore and most of our supplies were gone, but we made it the rest of the way here before nightfall.

I'm writing this in the inn at Nardah now, we'll go to see Zakera's parents about the museum tomorrow morning. We need some well-deserved rest, and our feet are killing us, anyway...At least the innkeepers here were nice enough to give us some leather boots to wear...Though they were as confused as me about why we didn't have any shoes in the first place.

22-Oct-2013 04:24:37 - Last edited on 30-Dec-2013 07:45:02 by Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Posts: 138 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
===16th of Raktuber===


Oh Olivia...what have you got us into now...? Well, wait. I guess I should start from the beginning.

Abigail and Kerner are as hospitable as Zakera is, I guess it runs in the family. There wasn't much to do in Nardah, so we headed to the museum outpost just in the northeast part town. When we got there and introduced ourselves, her parents were delighted to have helpful visitors and showed us around the museum. It's a temporary tourist attraction to gain funds to continue their expedition looking for artifacts that will reveal more about the Kharidian desert's past.

The people of Nardah don't seem to mind them living there so long as they follow their laws, seeing as it gets them more business.

We all shared what we knew of the desert's history, and they were all surprised by the amount I seemingly knew, saying that most common folk know little about the sad tale of the Amascut's insanity, let alone at my age. She wasn't always evil, and used to be the benevolent goddess of purity and rebirth, before something happened that made her twisted and bent on destruction. They argue that the desert people don't realize that the real threat is more important than their petty wars, and they should join together to stop the destruction the Devourer ensues across the lands.

Olivia didn't seem very interested in our history lesson, instead she seemed more keen in learning about all the artifacts they've collected. They told tales of their daring adventures into ancient tombs filled with traps, solving riddles of the ages to get to the end to find a securely sealed artifact in the burial chamber guarded by the mummified remains of the Kharid's strongest warriors.

22-Oct-2013 04:26:43 - Last edited on 30-Dec-2013 07:45:44 by Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Posts: 138 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
To be honest, I felt like they were embellishing the tales to make them seem more impressive. But the artifacts were real, regardless of how they got them.

Though they admitted their failure of retrieving one special artifact – a golden statuette supposedly depicting the true form of the Devourer, hidden in the deep reaches of one of the Amascut's old temples. When the she went insane, she destroyed most of her temples of worship as well as her followers, but this one temple remained mostly intact. If they were to get that statuette, it could reveal a lot of the lost history about what Amascut used to be like.

Or, at least be a cool centerpiece for their collection, Olivia reminded them.

She suggested that perhaps we could go along and help them get the statuette. Abigail and Kerner laughed, but she seemed serious...Zakera helped Olivia out by mentioning what we've done in the past, mentioning the Kalphite King incident and the trip to Al-Kharid, based on what I'd told her. They caved in and decided it would be worth a shot, they knew most of the traps and pathways to use this time anyhow, so perhaps they could reach the end this time with some extra help.

So it was decided. We would head out north of Nardah to look for the entrance to it hidden beneath the sands. It would take about a half a day's walk, but we'd still bring supplies to prepare for anything that could happen.

I don't know why I wasn't very excited to just delve into an old ancient temple though...Usually I'd be the first one to accept any adventure, but this time it just felt...different. Maybe Aleck's over-cautiousness was finally getting to me, or maybe it was because I knew the only thing driving Olivia to do this was her greed, rather than the historical significance...

Ah well, only a day at the museum and now we're heading out of town to some ancient temple. I really should try to be excited...Why am I not excited?

Maybe I'll feel better about it once we actually get there...

22-Oct-2013 04:26:50 - Last edited on 30-Dec-2013 07:46:08 by Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Posts: 138 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
===17th of Raktuber===


Well, I have to admit... That was a lot more fun than I was expecting! I guess I was just feeling pessimistic for no reason. The underground temple was nearly falling apart. Apparently, it was worse than before when Zakera's family went there a few months ago...but I still had the feeling that whoever wrecked the place up, didn't intend to make it completely impassable. Most of the paths they took were all blocked up, but that didn't stop Zakera. She accidentally found some ancient secret passages to get us through, and we were able to sneak by most of the undead roaming the place, and any little opposition we met along the way was easily dealt with by the 5 of us.

Olivia managed to disarm the various traps we came across, and I was able to climb over the ruined structures to unlock important passages for everyone to go through. Zakera sensed enemies with her magic, and divined the correct ways to go through the maze of the temple. Abigail and Kerner were able to advise us on what to watch out for and how to get past certain puzzles that reset themselves since their last visit.

Together, we were able to come anything that was thrown our way.

When we got to the final chamber, we could see the golden statuette on a pedestal high up past some stairs in a special place. Obviously meant to be a place of worship. However the stairs were blocked by an impenetrable magical barrier...

22-Oct-2013 04:27:04 - Last edited on 04-Jan-2014 05:27:36 by Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Posts: 138 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
None of us could go through it. Abigail and Kerner explained that this is where they got to last time but couldn't figure out how to get passed it. It was the one puzzle that had no solution...The only thing that stood out was two stone bowls sitting on pedestals nearby the barrier. Abigail and Kerner tried everything with those bowls the last time apparently, from pouring water in it, holy water from the salve, to their own blood, even offering gifts of sorts based on what they knew about Amascut before she went insane. Nothing happened when they did any of that though.

Olivia, Zakera and I weren't going to give up so easily though...

After enough searching around, we found some ancient writing on the walls, written in an old language. Abigail and Kerner confessed that they didn't see this here last time, strangely...and that also they didn't know the language it was written in.

Zakera stepped up and mentioned that she recognized the symbols somewhat – apparently she came across some stone slates with the letters a long time ago, and spent the time to translate it. Abigail and Kerner were surprised by this, as Zakera never told them about the tablets. She said she didn't because it seemed of no significance – and that the words it wrote were common kharidian phrases, and the names of the gods. Still they said it was odd of her, since she never would disregard any information as useless enough to not share.

Well, however useless those tablets really were, it was a good thing she found them. She was able to translate the walls and find out how to solve the puzzle. Here was a rough translation of what the wall said, according to Zakera:

“Beyond the walls of purity lies the fairest of all creations. The statue that symbolizes our goddess's graceful visage. Such an artifact is not meant for mortal hands to desecrate, only when two of the divines spare their blood, may they approach. Impure blood shall not pass.”

22-Oct-2013 04:27:08 - Last edited on 04-Jan-2014 05:28:06 by Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Posts: 138 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
With that in mind, everyone let out a deep breath of disappointment. We had found an artifact of the gods, and the only way to get to it was if we were gods ourselves....

But Zakera wouldn't accept that. She thought there would be no reason for the gods to create a puzzle that only they could pass, and suspected it was more of a riddle than to be taken literally. It was common for people to compare themselves to gods, and those that often shared similar aspects to a certain divine may be what the riddle meant. If two people who share very similar aspects to one of the divines, they could pass the barrier, but the magic behind the stone bowls would be the judge of that.

I don't understand how magic could compare a person to a deity, but I guess there's a lot of things magic can do that I don't understand. In any case, it was worth a shot to spare some blood in the bowls to see if any of us were “worthy”.

Abigail and Kerner already knew their blood wouldn't work, since they tried it before. Olivia said she didn't want to waste the blood and cut herself over a broken puzzle that wouldn't work. I was against it, I'm just a normal girl, nothing more...but Zakera suggested I should try it anyway...

Everyone was shocked...

When Zakera and I spilled a bit of blood from our wrists over the stone bowls... both the bowls started shining...and the blood in it formed into light. The light turned into letters that floated above the bowls – in that same ancient language, then they flew over to the barrier...Which slowly faded away.

After a few moments to catch my breath from the shock, I asked what the words had said. Zakera said that the name that appeared over my blood was “Apmeken”, and the name that appeared over hers was “Amascut”.

22-Oct-2013 04:27:13 - Last edited on 04-Jan-2014 05:29:00 by Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Ana Meken

Posts: 138 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I thought over it a bit...Apmeken was the goddess of social pleasures. In other words, friendliness, peace, and playful mischief...Am I really a pure representation of those aspects? I guess I can see some similarities...but I'm sure there are much better candidates. I'm just a normal girl, not someone chosen by the divines or anything. At least...I hope I'm not...Something about being chosen by divines is unsettling for me. I don't believe in destiny, or prophecies...

Hmm...but it would explain...No, that can't be true...

Everyone was so distracted by the fact that we were actually able to get past the divine test, that we forgot about the reason we were there – to get that statue!

Olivia seemed a bit worried that the name for Zakera was Amascut. She didn't know much about the pantheon, but she knew Amascut was a trouble maker. Everyone reassured her that this puzzle would have been made before Amascut went insane, and likely based it on the aspects of her before then.

Which, actually explains a lot, now that I think about it... We did learn more about what Amascut was like before she went insane! We have a living example!

We returned to Nardah with little trouble, before nightfall even. I guess that temple didn't take too long to get through after all. The statuette was put on display as the centerpiece for the museum outpost, and the townspeople came by to see it, even the mayor himself, who was impressed by our initiative.

Well, all in a days work for Apmeken!

…

It's going to take awhile to get used to this...All the others have been calling me that ever since we left the temple.

…

I suddenly have a craving for bananas...

Maybe I should get some sleep.

22-Oct-2013 04:27:42 - Last edited on 04-Jan-2014 05:29:20 by Ana Meken

Quick find code: 49-50-232-65187737 Back to Top