Statues, insects, and more danger!
Adventures with the Kirin Tor (part 2)
And now for the second and final (for now) part of the adventures in Pandaria, the end of the trip alongside the Kirin Tor and other mages, to recover the artefact known as The Heart of the High Father.
With the information of the cipher, we travelled to the Valley of Emperors, which halls were dug into the mountain during the Age of a Hundred Kings. A particularity of this place is that some graves are indeed empty, why? They see their bodies as collections of parts, to be used in new ones, they call their makers ‘fleshcrafters’. So many body parts were harvested to benefit other emperors, leaving behind just objects and writings.
The grave we went to check belongs to a spellweaver, one of Kao-Tien’s personal researchers and advisors. For the safety of our most adventurous readers, I will not give more details about this location if you keep reading you will clearly see why.
Entering was not easy as there were numerous traps, but once there we started searching. Along the way we found interesting historical and cultural pieces, coins, jade pearls, weapons. Until finally, in the coffin there was the map. It would have been so easy, just go out, get the artefact, but the lorewalker that travelled with us betrayed us. He used a shock grenade, activated a trap, and locked the door. Of course, this article would not be here if I was dead, so our readers already know the expedition survived. It was not easy, the tea had affected the mana pools of the mages, just creating some light was dangerous. But soon we had bigger problems. Quilen, the well-known guardian statues started to come alive and attack us. After a first group, Archmage Moonblaze noticed the statues reacted to movement, so we all started to compete with the statues in seeing who could move less. A good moment to reflect on life, future, if being a reporter is a safe work… But luckily Mage Dantenar Dewshade of the Kirin Tor rescued us. As it seems Archmage Moonblaze had already made plans in case something went wrong.
At this point I will admit I was really missing my home, and Stormwind with all the noise, the fights, and the drunk people, even the gunshots.
Day 5: Some honest work and more void
After the previous day, I heard a group was going to gather supplies in a local farm while others when to investigate some of the void stuff discovered the first night. I think it is obvious I went to gather supplies. Nothing like an evening herding pigs, cutting meat and picking up watermelons to forget the fear of dying trapped in a grave in the middle of Pandaria. It was a pleasant experience, herding pigs was surprisingly easy and relaxing, even if the smell was not the best. In exchange for this help we received vegetables, fruits, ribs, and other goods.
Later I asked Mister Erir Violetwind about how it went for the other group:
“Well-.. we went to examine the void area. The Director, Myself, Celesdair, Paula and Magestrix Assina. Because when we scouted it we got void whispers and there was a figure we saw. When we approached, there was a sickly looking woman waving a white flag. She wanted our aid, said they had collected some tentacles of N'zoth during the attacks on the Vale when that happened, and had been worshipping it ever since. But the tentacle thing? It had commanded them to... eat it. And those which did, got sick- horribly voidy and would die, and these tentacle things would come out of their corpses, animating them to move. It was really horrific! She was asking for help, to save those of the remaining cultists which had not yet consumed its flesh. She was ill, it was obvious she had been one of those consuming it. The void whispers were really strong. We approached a cave, and these -giant- spiders suddenly swarmed out and before we could do anything, they killed her! We managed to down the spiders of course, but then-... the parasite sprouted out of her, and bit Celesdair, Paula and the Director. The spiders also had parasites inside. I was affected by the void whispers too. I felt this-... overwhelming hunger. It was horrible. Like I was going to die if I didn’t eat. So, I ate all my lunch. I ate Celesdair's lunch. (…) I couldn't control it. We moved into the cave to find the source of the corruption, and there were more dead cultists. Though this time we opted to burn the corpses from afar rather then get close. (…) I managed to control my hunger enough to try to attack the evil head cultist in there, and some sort of really REALLY bad tentacle laying on an altar. We managed to destroy the corruptive tentacle, and the remaining cultist.” Article continues after the ad.
The group returned with some severe injuries, specially Archmage Moonblaze and Mage Paula, but thanks to the doctors at camp they recovered.
Day 6: Catching a lorewalker
With new energy, well more or less, as facing the void was not easy, we heard the lorewalker was located, but that was not the only plan. While the more skilled mages went to catch him, the rest of us went to look for a key necessary for getting the artefact.
This trip, even if it started with the surprise visit of a tiger which quickly turned away seeing such a big group, was rather pleasant. After concluding Mogu might have had some complex since we found a riddle that talked about being humble, and having to kneel to use some teleportation slab, as well as using a trap slab to cross a broken bridge (I do not recommend doing this in any situation, but it was needed), we started searching. With more Quilen around. Giant Quilen.
We did our best in moving slowly, some traps were activated but dealt with, sadly as we were to come back a Quilen decided he had seen enough movement and attacked. In a combined effort we managed to destroy the living statue and return safely.
Meanwhile, the other team, as Archmage Moonblaze explained after, started to look for clues in a Pandaren village. They found some cargo and some broken diary pages that lead to the missing lorewalker and his plans, but without giving details of his bigger plan. They waited for the target to appear and followed him to a cave.
Inside they found the lorewalker having a meeting with a mantid that had a strong Void influence. Sadly, they were discovered, their minds affected by the Void in terrible ways, but with effort they captured the betrayer pandaren and came back with the map.
Day 7: Just some rest
As a group went to another mission lead by the Sunreavers, I decided to stay at the camp, where the lorewalker was being interrogated.
This lorewalker was obsessed with this artefact and proving it was real to the rest of the order, for doing so, and in what can only be described a delirium or craziness, he decided the best way was to ally himself with the mantid only to cross them after. His plan was to send the void worshipping mantid after the artefact, only to then show the Lorewalkers the map, proving the existence of the artefact and making the order deal with the mantid. One could say it could have been easier to just ask to show the map or artefact to the lorewalker without so much betrayal and grave trapping, but of course those are the actions of a sane mind, not one ill due to the pain of not being believed and with a strong need to prove himself.
Day 8: If you see a giant insect, run
Finally, the great day, the day to retrieve the artefact. We arrived at a strange platform on the side of the mountains, a great door and two pillars on it. At first it seemed easy, using arcane magic the mages deactivated the pillars and with the key we retrieved some days ago the way was open. The welcoming was not the best, for a strange floating device fired at us, yet it quickly found its final day due to a series of spells from the mages.
The chamber we found as we moved deeper was just magnificent, the treasure (now unreachable, I must say), was bigger than what anyone could imagine. And in there was the artefact. Of course, one cannot leave such an item for anyone to grab and leave, defensive measures are always in place. In this case in the shape of a Kunchong, eight meters tall. For those unaware these creatures are a plague in Pandaria, and for a good reason, these insects are not nice at all.
Soon we found ourselves running to save our lives, we moved to the next chamber, but the creature followed. In a risky move some members tricked the creature to destroy the columns around, making the ceiling collapse.
The final chamber was closed, but at least we were safe for a couple of seconds. Not even tons of stone failing over was enough for the insect that needed all members of the expedition to help before it was killed. And with that, we returned home.
To end this article and adventure I would like to thank the Kirin Tor for letting me accompany them on this trip. It was a pleasure and an honour, not just to live this experience, but I also met some of the mages that work to keep us safe in different ways. In this case storing artefacts and all of them were very welcoming. From the Lion’s Roar we are always looking to know of these types of stories, any adventure of any company or group, to accompany them if possible and write about it, of course keeping in mind any type of confidential information related to the safety of the mission, the members, and others.