Closed:The Red Gem, aka Heart of the Spirit Neima

[Fizzgig]

Since the creation of the ring, I tied my essence to it to protect Mr Shepard from any possible failure on my side in its creation. This meant, that the draining and discomfort was directed at myself rather than Mr Shepard. It also ensured that whilst my body felt an addiction to feed the gem, I was unable to do so, since it was not in my possession. As time went by, the side effects became stronger and stronger, and thus Mr Shepard decided we needed to remove the link. As destroying it would had meant certain death for myself.

With the aid of Councilor Tylel, a ritual was prepared to move the link from myself to my familiar. Since it was a private event, and a delicate operation. Councilor Tylel and I agreed that the safest place to conduct the ritual, was in the training facilities in the palace. The most well warded of all rooms, whilst ensuring that the door was kept closed.

Councilor Tylel lead the ritual, with the aid of Luckbringer Moonsilver, and Ms Venelope. Whilst Mr Shepard was assigned to keep me alive, I was unable to do much, due to the painful onslaught. At first it was merely myself who suffered, the removal painful as if my soul was being torn apart. Sadly Councilor Tylel's concentration faltered, as people entered and opened the door despite strict instructions to not do so. The rite was compromised, but with his last breath, Councilor Tylel managed to complete it. At the cost of his own life.

The link moved to my familiar, and it should naturally move over to Mr Shepard as time passes. Allowing more time, before the side effects which plagued me and almost cost me my life, and took the life of Councilor Tylel, causes Mr Shepard to suffers a similar fate. All of this, is thanks to Councilor Tylel, who I will forever be in debt to. After the completion, rather than deal with those who interrupted the delicate operation, we chose to pay Councilor Tylel his final respect before the Shrine of the Red Knight. It was painful to say goodbye to a man which had meant so much to me, but I will not forsake his sacrifice, as he gave me the greatest gift a friend could ever do. The will to live.

E.C. Blythe

[Fizzgig]

Whilst I know that Councilor Tylel gave his life freely to complete the ritual, and save me in the process. I shall never forgive the neglect and disrespected by Pierre Cambrian, whose reckless behavior disrupted the ritual and lead to Councilor Tylel having to give his life for the ritual's completion. It never needed to cost him his life, but the lack of respect of the arcane, and lack of understanding of its delicate balance, meant that it did. Whilst I should wish it had been me whose life was taken, I will not entertain such thought and disrespect Councilor Tylel's sacrifice.

Ignorance has cost us dearly, not only me, but the kingdom as a whole.
Please, let us not make the same mistake again. There must be change.

E.C. Blythe

[Gloomy_Sunday]

Councillor Ethel,

You are carrying and redistributing contraband items, a necromantic artefact that alters the functioning of the soul, tainting it, essentially to the point of altering the individuals free will.

You have also partook in rituals that have manipulated the soul, possibly by their very design, linking your soul to this gem.

A councillor held in high esteem by those of the twelve has lost his life trying to undo your soul link, in order to save your wretched soul such as it is. In many eyes this may be seen as murder, as you caused his death through your careless use of the weave.

Ethel Blythe, these are serious and numerous crimes and I will shortly be calling to a vote that you are removed from this council for these crimes.

Further I wish to request that the gem itself, the true gem and not some elaborate hoax, is placed within the care of the Precept Arcanum, that Scion Viktoria Riversnow can study its power, and that its threat to the region may be eliminated before any further lives are lost.

Councillor Elias Goldcrown

[Fizzgig]

Fascinating accusations, but they are all false with no facts to hold them up. If you claim familiar links are illegal, then you have a lot of work ahead of you as you must arrest every sorcerer and wizard in the city. A familiar link doesn't have to be a creature, it can also be an object, do you count that as necromancy too?

Councilor Tylel did not try, he undid the link upon me and thanks to his sacrifice I was able to live. His actions were nothing short of heroic, and I will forever be in his debt. As already noted, Scion Riversnow has studied the gem, and you have no authority to try and take it for yourself.

E.C. Blythe

[Gloomy_Sunday]

I do not claim familiar links are illegal. I claim that linking your soul to a gem is illegal.

Elias Goldcrown

[Fizzgig]

Wizards can link themselves to staffs, boots, rings.. well all manner of items. Just because you do not understand it, doesn't mean it is illegal.

E.C. Blythe

[Gloomy_Sunday]

No, because the law book says it's illegal is what makes it illegal. Linking your soul to an item alters your soul, that you chose to link a necromantic gem of unknown power to your very soul is the recklessness I speak of.

Councillor Elias Goldcrown

[Fizzgig]

Was my soul ever linked to the item? No, that would be far beyond my humble abilities.

E.C. Blythe

[V-Rage]

Stop trying to shift blame Ethel.

This was all your fault, This entire debacle was caused because once more you chose to operate in secrecy and not reveal this ritual was planned to the council at whole. Much like you have hidden much about this ring from the council to try and keep the Precepts councillor in the dark. Worst of all you commited this in the palace where the Royals reside. Had the wards failed more they may have been placed at risk. When I first came upon the ritual before it began I advised the palace was an unwise location.

Let us go over this saga from the beginning

You made a decoy ring to trick people, By your own words you tied part of yourself to the ring, Which according to the lawbook of this land may very well be a magical crime

-Magical Crimes- Animation or Control of the Undead. Summoning of planar beings from both lower and higher planes. Magical tampering with memory, mental states, or other compositions of an individual's body or their humors.

Note the council as a whole did not exempt you from this.

Only after the decoy ring was destroyed did you wish to break this link after Miel was seen feeding the ring to allow you to throw Zuguk off you.

The only reason I entered the room during the ritual was because I heard combat from within so entered to put down the threat so there was no chance of spilling out and harming others

Pierre

[Fizzgig]

You were strictly informed not to enter the room, never to open the door, and never to let anyone inside. This, you were incapable of. As such, everything was compromised.

The fact you were unable to even attempt to respect Councilor Tylel's knowledge, as well as Goldcrowns hunger to try and oust me whilst claiming the artifact, proves to me that it was a wise choice not to share all information on the Council. In fact, I had the blessing of Dame Drakebane to do so.

E.C. Blythe

[Gloomy_Sunday]

Do not dare accuse me of such base greed woman, I do not lust for the gem, I wish it placed in the guardianship of those who can safely study it. At every opportunity I have suggested Scion Riversnow to be the best candidate rather than myself.

Councillor Elias Goldcrown

[Fizzgig]

Councilor Cambrian has repeatedly accused yourself and your uncle of being would be thieves and robbers, do you claim that Councilor Cambrian have lied and these allegations are false?

E.C. Blythe

[Gloomy_Sunday]

I claim that if councilor Cambrian believes this to be true then he is mistaken, I further claim that this bizarre accusation has little bearing on the matter at hand.

Councillor Elias Goldcrown

[Fizzgig]

The accusations were based upon the belief that you were willing to murder and rob for the "Red Gem", as such the Ravens offered Councilor Cambrian to me as a bodyguard against any possible attacks. I politely declined until there was further evidence.

E.C. Blythe

[Cadiz]

The purpose of this council is ostensibly to protect the kingdom from threats.

I believe that in your actions with regards to this Red Gem you have created rather than removed a threat Blythe, and it is in poor taste to shift the blame to another in my opinion, even if it is a Raven.

I was not a witness to the happenings in the palace, but had there been any mention of this ritual then you can be sure that i would have been in attendance and doing my utmost to ensure itse success. Clearly this would not have given any guarantee of success but it would have been proper protocol for such a far reaching happening.

I would urge you to actually share information if you wish resolution, further deceit will not benefit the city. Indeed the deceit you have perpetrated so far has cost the city one of its councillors.

Dawnbrother Aland

[Swifty Willownall]

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20220102T08&p1=240&ah=2
In two days time we'll be looking to head out and conduct the ritual that will hopefully cleanse and repair the damage this gem or 'heart' has caused.

A meeting was held with the councilors and our plan is as follows. The diviner Aurora, along with 4 already chosen others will head to their selected location to conduct the ritual. The rest of us and the volunteers from Tilverton, Eveningstar, and Arabel, will march to the Hullack forest. Our job there is to cause a distraction and pull the attention of the orcan host to limit attention to the ritual as much as possible.

Due to how separated the two parties will be, it may be nigh impossible to know if the ritual is successful or not, so we'll have to last as long as possible to give the ritualist ample time. Ideally we will be able to lure the orcs to attack us and fall back to a beforehand selected defensive position, retreating only once absolutely necessary.

-Councilor William Thatcher

@Prof-Misclick

[Orin1234]

As I am not much of a warrior, I can keep track of their progress and also keep informed on how well you are holding back the orc forces. Making sure the ritual knows if they are short on time, or you to know when it is safe to disengage.

Arn Targon

[Shadowfax]

I would like to summarize what is currently known of the gem and the future steps to come concerning it, so that everyone is on the same page. Councilor Moonsilver and Aurora, if you would be so kind as to fill in anything I may have missed?

• The gem is the Heart of the Spirit Neima. A spirit of Death, Unbalance and the Unnatural. She exists to remind us of the imbalance. There cannot be balance without imbalance.

• The Spirit is said to be deep underground somewhere. However, there is currently no clue of even a region. It is why Councilor Aurora will be performing a divination. I will leave it to hear to explain the details of it if it is necessary.

• The new objective is to see the Heart return to the Spirit. It was foreseen, here I am uncertain by who, Miel?, that if it is not return, it would spell our doom.

• The Heart is an artefact of powerful negative energy, which makes sense due to the nature of the Spirit.

• It will slowly corrupt its bearer over time. This was seen by Scion Riversnow when she examined the gem. Miel's good heart is currently strong and keeping him from misusing the Heart. However, how long he will be able to hold on is unknown. The sooner the gem is returned the better.

• The ring requires blood to remain stable. Otherwise, it can have adverse effect. However, if it is overfed, there will also be ill effects. Miel has found the right balance so far. Any blood suffice.

• Bloodhound Ydira

[Swifty Willownall]

For the distraction team, we've narrowed the defensible locations down to two areas, thanks to the scouting efforts of the Ravens and others.

The first is a hidden underground cave. The area is relatively small sized, though the tunnel ways only really leave enough room for there to be one main entrance. However, this also means there's only really one main exit. The plan for this location would be to hunker down inside the cave and defend it, eventually luring orcs inside at which case, we would probably look to collapse the cave on top of the orcs with a series of explosions. An orcs caught within surely wouldn't survive, but it should be obvious just how dangerous this would also be for anyone else inside.

The second location is a somewhat abandoned fortification within the Hullack. A small keep if you will. The plan for this location would be to battle in a fighting retreat. As the orcs attack, we'll try to stall out for as much time as possible. Our first line of defense will be in the field just before the keep at a few chokepoints lined with snares to slow the orcan host down, then retreating to the keep proper afterwards. There are a few locations around the keep where the archery towers can be scaled, and a single drawbridge with a modest moat. If they do break in through the drawbridge, we'll need to do our best to hold them in the small courtyard to rain arrows upon them. Similar to the cave, the keep doesn't have too many directions to flee once we are inside. Differently from the cave, there is no big tactic we can employ to wipe out a large chunk of the force that may attack us, but it does seem to be the better defensive position of the two.

Councilors, please make your votes on which location we will defend.

-Councilor William Thatcher

[Burgesse]

A note is added

A Pool of Reflection, pure and clean.
-To see the past is to make the present ripple, as a stone cast into a pond

A ring of silver, to confine the view
-Pure silver walls while enchanted draws, to direct the gaze back

A foundation made, a focus present, the Sight to see and the Others to guide
-Follow the threads, delicate as spun glass, back through the ages to when it began.

Cast the prediction and let now fall away, using the beacon to guide Sight's way.
-A Heart now, a Spirit then, tap on that link for it knows the way.

-Aurora

an addendum is added
Can add other symbolic items, but the core is the Heart to be the beacon, the Pure silver to ring the Heart and Pool, the enchanted silver to focus the spell and the casters themselves.