Thomas (Benjamin)

On the Crownbear: It looks like a black bear with a white crown, exuding soul fear. It seems to be part of the old trial of the four dangers. From what I have heard, they are dealing with another part of this trial, the trial of the deer, up in the Weyrwoods. From what I have heard, this trial is connected to culture and keeping it alive. According to an old book, the bear’s trial is connected to internal struggle, but we learned it is actually Rulership. What the bear has said and shown us goes with this theme, but it has not said it directly. We first met it at the Harvest Tournament. It and a strange old man with a flower crown who I think is a primal memory of the Growing God said something about the test of the bear after a storm broke in the championship fight. Other stuff was said, but I was not there, and my compatriots either don’t care or don’t have the best memories. We have got multiple chivalry from interacting with it and a lone knight that seemed to be connected to it. From asking it the question “what is the test of the bear?” we got a vision. From what I remember, there were troops and hobbits in carts, and we seemed to be on the border between Belast and Eldar in the past. Also, a samurai in our party who has a reputation of being a strong fighter dueled the bear. He lost and was killed, but got one chivalry and became vulnerable to primal abilities. From my bardic sense, the bear thought that this was a duel of honor and respect, for Nico (the samurai) to prove his strength against a powerful foe. 🐻means the chronicle relates to the test of the bear. On the skeletons and Queen Guenivere Kingsong 🐻: On the 13th of Tenthmoon, we went to investigate some heavily armored skeletons. They couldn't talk, but through gesture and writing, we learned that they thought they were under the command of Queen Guenivere Kingsong and that Belast was about to revolt, which happened hundreds of years in the past. Next week we went to fight some similar skeletons, these in Belast gear. After fighting them for some time, we used spirit guide and said “We are Belast. We are against Oldmin. We are helping you. We are Belast….” They then got in a line and continued attacking Eldar, but not us. That was the end of the mission, and I have not heard anything about this recently, so I assume they are not here anymore. After both skeleton missions we saw the bear. Once it was just a fleeting glance, the other I explained in “On the Crownbear”. A week after that, we met with Queen Guenivere Kingsong in a forest on All-Hallows and heard seven bells. According to her, “the world remembers” (see “On the Crownbear”) and we seemed to be witnessing the fall of Oldmin firsthand. She was the only one who seemed to know she was a memory. I asked her if the four animals were connected to the Harbingers, and she said no. What I know about the creation of the Harbingers and my theories on these animals confirms that. She also asked us what the culture of Belast was, and hinted that thinking about that would help in the test of the bear. On the Lone Knight 🐻: Throughout the season we have been fighting a fort of rock gremlins who also joined with war trolls and a cave troll. We have made some progress, but would choose the more important looking missions. One of those was “Lone Knight spotted.” We went on this one and met the Lone Knight, and got the choice to swear or not to swear. Obviously, all of us chose to swear. It was an individual decision. After swearing, we learned that we swore to help the Lone Knight defeat the rock gremlins. Next week, one of the missions was helping the Lone Knight fight the gremlin fort. In the battle, whenever the Lone Knight would drop, they would disappear and reappear at the start of the encounter. Then, they would rush back in, and use the ability rallying cry. They also had medicine ball strike, either free or they had a lot of mana. When we defeated the fort, they gave us one chivalry. Also, more recently, ghostly knights have been appearing all around the Belast/Eldar border. They seem to be part of the knights of Oldmen. Less of them have been seen after winter break. On the Leyline: Belmouth found a leyline before the season and decided to build a crystallarium to work crystalline into spellstones, magelore items, and other stuff. It is also used as a research facility for the leyline. As someone with an innate connection to crystalline (and a good amount of alchemist levels) I have been helping out recently. We (the adventures) have worked with the crystallarium to map the leyline, and found that it is mostly red and very little black. It might only be this side of the leyline though, given the letter Obb sent us. The leyline and most likely its instability has made many mutated beasts. I will go through the events concerning its instability in chronological order. During the completion of the crystallarium we warded off some elementals. A necromancer was with us, who used the threat of death ray to convince one of them to leave. We thought this was evil, and used a more peaceful method for convincing them to leave. A few weeks later, red elementals were congregating at the crystallarium. They seemed to be trying to get at the crystalline inside, so we took it and ran. We got it to town just in time for an immense surge of red mana to explode the crystalline, our spellstones, and our magelore items; as well as give us and our town a significant dose of red mana rash. We also all died, and got goofy stuff if we pulled weight. A dwarf got turned into a hobbit. Just saying. The elementals seemed to be trying to take the crystalline away from the crystallarium, so we are reconsidering what their intentions are toward us. Also near this time, Silverstone Well, a mining town near the Halhars, got natural disastered. There is lots of lava. The leyline is unstable. Given the letter Obb sent us, and also a stormcaller in our party and my bardic sense, we have chosen to go see some giants who are fighting some cyclopses coming down from the Halhars. From the bardic sense, we know this is connected to the red mana surges. The cyclopses said the Halhar mountains were going to collapse. They said it was like when you throw up so much that you have nothing more to give, but the throwup was lava and when it was all gone the mountain would collapse. From bardic sense I learned that we could stop it, but I did not learn how because I worded my question badly. I retried later and got some crap about many paths. The cyclopses are now camping in Silverstone Well and have been doing well. In response to Obb: The leyline is still there, but it is unstable. A formal response may be coming (or have come) from another member of our party, but this is all the information you need to know. Please continue recording your adventures, it was very helpful (also the Three Billy Goats Gruff was just fun). Please read my chronicle on the leyline, it may be helpful for you. On Belmorn 🐻: Sometime earlier in the year, we learned that Belmorn was being very pushy diplomatically. I knew something was coming, but not until recently have we first interacted with Belmorn. They were at Oldmin’s Stand Wall, and seemed to be measuring it, claiming to offer help making the Great Ring Road again. This broke out into a brawl (I was not there), and we are expecting a response. Later, we came back and apologized, and they said we will now work together diplomatically. However, many Belmorn spies have been caught here, including one sabotaging the crystallarium. Almost every time we have interacted with Belmorn we have interacted with the Crownbear. The last time we were given the Tests was the first period of relative stability between the “children'' of Oldmin. Now we are facing a new challenge, that of Belmorn, and they have returned. I know that not just the Bear but at least the Deer has also returned, and is often paired with Belmorn encounters like us. Coincidence? I think not! But this is not just a problem for us three. If we are to stand against Belmorn it needs to be all of us. Belast, Eldar, Weyrwoods, Harmini, Lakeshore, Coradel, all of us need to work together to present a unified front. Tell your innkeepers! Tell your diplomats! If you are a diplomat, that’s awesome! Take this message to heart. Permanent cooperation is the long term goal, but this is more reason to work on this now. Stand together.