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LORE QUESTS.
LORE QUESTS
The world of Kenos has many mysteries to explore, and not all of them are directly tied to the ongoing plot of Meridian and Zenith struggling against each other to claim the Oracles. This page is for compiling the token-purchased lore-related quests for the game.
Lore quests are multi-part questlines that focus on uncovering a greater idea of what is going on behind the scenes, peering behind the curtain and uncovering information that might make or break how a character relates to the world, factions and their own goals or dreams. To be clear, these are all separate from Side Quests, demand a higher level of participation and planning, and are posted as areas get added and/or Loremasters get ideas for quests.
( There is a section for players to submit key interests their characters would have, for Loremasters to take into account while crafting future lore quests! )
While uncovering the lore is it own reward, sometimes players may gain other rewards based on their participation in lore quests; not every lore quest you undertake has universally good outcome, but every quest will affect the swing of relationships between the cities and factions. We are considering allowing players to pool their AC tokens in the future, but currently this practice is not allowed.
OOC, you will spend the correct number of tokens in your AC reward, then comment under a side quest to “claim” it by noting all participating characters. Players will receive additional details and information once the claim is made. After the thread/log/etc. for the mission is complete, you’ll return to the comment and turn it in. Loremasters will then tell you the further rewards + outcomes. As a note, you can only have one active lore quest per character at a time. If you're expecting upcoming time constraints, please consider your purchase, as dropping from the quest may cause the party to have to redo it.
Unless noted, the lorequests are bound to a single purchaser ( and their entourage ). Once purchased, the questline is tethered to the purchaser, but participants can change as the questline develops.
UPDATE 01/30/24: If unsure whether a personal goal is something you can simply play out yourself, or if it would qualify as a Lore Quest/AC Reward, the key question we use to assess for this is: will it affect the world of Kenos or multiple other player characters as the result of my character's actions? If the answer is "yes", we would consider that something you need to use tokens for, develop over time via threads/reporting on your Notable Actions, or working together with mods to achieve! If the answer is "no", you have every right to craft your own narrative for your character.
So, without further ado, get to questing!
Lore quests are multi-part questlines that focus on uncovering a greater idea of what is going on behind the scenes, peering behind the curtain and uncovering information that might make or break how a character relates to the world, factions and their own goals or dreams. To be clear, these are all separate from Side Quests, demand a higher level of participation and planning, and are posted as areas get added and/or Loremasters get ideas for quests.
( There is a section for players to submit key interests their characters would have, for Loremasters to take into account while crafting future lore quests! )
While uncovering the lore is it own reward, sometimes players may gain other rewards based on their participation in lore quests; not every lore quest you undertake has universally good outcome, but every quest will affect the swing of relationships between the cities and factions. We are considering allowing players to pool their AC tokens in the future, but currently this practice is not allowed.
OOC, you will spend the correct number of tokens in your AC reward, then comment under a side quest to “claim” it by noting all participating characters. Players will receive additional details and information once the claim is made. After the thread/log/etc. for the mission is complete, you’ll return to the comment and turn it in. Loremasters will then tell you the further rewards + outcomes. As a note, you can only have one active lore quest per character at a time. If you're expecting upcoming time constraints, please consider your purchase, as dropping from the quest may cause the party to have to redo it.
Unless noted, the lorequests are bound to a single purchaser ( and their entourage ). Once purchased, the questline is tethered to the purchaser, but participants can change as the questline develops.
UPDATE 01/30/24: If unsure whether a personal goal is something you can simply play out yourself, or if it would qualify as a Lore Quest/AC Reward, the key question we use to assess for this is: will it affect the world of Kenos or multiple other player characters as the result of my character's actions? If the answer is "yes", we would consider that something you need to use tokens for, develop over time via threads/reporting on your Notable Actions, or working together with mods to achieve! If the answer is "no", you have every right to craft your own narrative for your character.
So, without further ado, get to questing!
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Liem, Dimitri and Karlach are lead through the Church to an ornately-detailed door; decorated in wooden carvings and details of the sun and other light-themed references, it also has no handle with which to open it. The young priestess rests a hand upon the frame, and the warm flush of Meridian's power illuminates the trim and vanishes the door before their eyes. A curling stairwell of pale stone leads down into a cavernous basement, and it is at that entrance that the priestess wishes them well and informs them that the basement is like a labyrinth, with two potential paths: one with psychological dangers and one with physical obstacles.
The group will have to select one path to travel ( which will determine the type of obstacles we provide them with ). This quest will be structured roughly like the Beyond Side Quest where the group will be given sets of obstacles to overcome, but how/why they occur will be left to player discretion so that it’s a fun, customizable opportunity. They will encounter 2 moderate obstacles, 1 difficult obstacle, and will locate the creature at the end of their labors ( among some other fun wrenches that are To Be Thrown ).
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MODERATE OBSTACLE 1
As the labyrinth descends further down, they’ll find that one section of the labyrinth is totally flooded, no matter which way they make it there. The group will have to figure out how to make it through the water, but the extent of the flooding is up to you! Whether they’re brave swimmers and try cave diving or have other magical means to allow themselves to navigate it, it’s perfectly fine to fit the flooding to the solution.
MODERATE OBSTACLE 2
Eventually, they’ll find that the labyrinth changes quality from the intentionally hewn stone into more cave-like features that are occasionally dotted with bioluminescent mushrooms. Those that have been down there will recognize them as being similar to those found in Kowloon’s cavern, though of course much smaller. Certain mushrooms are interconnected, acting as a sort of natural alarm system. If one is disturbed, it alerts nearby mushrooms, causing them to release blinding spores and alerting small creatures that will feed on their vitality if triggered. The details of the creatures are free for you to decide!
DIFFICULT OBSTACLE
Roots eventually start to appear in the maze and make the path more difficult to walk easily, and eventually block the way entirely. However, the roots seem to form a face… And interacting with it enough will reveal a spirit that intentionally blocks the path. To pass, the group will need to deal with the spirit, either by appeasing it or by cutting their way through. The spirit’s qualities are free for the group to decide, but they will discover that this was a Shard-Bearer from a previous Oracle war… Though they remember nothing about their time except for the fact they lost.
THE CREATURE
A twisted, root-infested “angel”.
Found in a location where it will indeed be able to fly, it’ll be a more physical battle, and it will try and stay airborne and dive to attack as much as possible. It has some regenerative abilities, so bringing it down properly will be tough! In addition, it has the following abilities/effects on the intrepid adventurers:
When turning in the thread for this quest, please include what they decide to do with the Shard they collect.
Quest turn-in!
After choosing the physical challenges path, the team waded through a portion of the maze that was flooded up to chest-level, with Liem opting to traverse the ceiling instead to keep dry. However, when they came to the mushroom-infested portion of the caverns, sticking to the ceiling couldn't prevent Liem from brushing one of the mushrooms and releasing a cloud of blinding spores that caught all three members of the team. As life-draining bugs swarmed from the mushrooms to suck them all dry, Liem dropped into the water to stick nearer to Dimitri and Karlach. The three opted to all squish together beneath Dimitri's cloak, hunkering low in the water until the swarm calmed and their vision cleared so that they could traverse the rest of the mushroom caverns with more caution.
Past the flooding and the 'shrooms, they came to a portion of the caverns that was completely impassable due to a dense thicket of sturdy roots, twisted into the shape of a face. A polite request to get past was met with wordless, muted anger, until Liem made the (debatable tbh) decision to touch the face. A root twined up his arm and connected with his shard, allowing the spirit to channel its voice through him and reach Dimitri and Karlach more clearly. They made a bargain with the spirit, promising to return and bring it to the Tree of Life, and the spirit unblocked the way, leaving the three of them with root bracelets as a sign of their agreement.
Beyond, they discovered the root-infested angel lurking in a large cavern. Liem shot a glowing quarrel into a root protruding from the ceiling, illuminating the space, and the group rushed inside to do battle. After discovering the creature's regenerative abilities, and injuring a wing to ground it temporarily, only to be warded off by its aura, they managed to kill it after it swooped closer once again to attack. Liem used a spell to make the creature stab itself with its own weapon, and Dimitri speared it through the chest, piercing whatever remained of its heart.
After collecting the creature's shard, the group agreed they should try to heal it, like Meridian did for Manon's shard after it had been retrieved. They have opted to seek the Church's assistance with this matter. Additionally, any information about the labyrinth beneath the church and the spirit trapped there would be welcome, since they now have a promise to the spirit to fulfill, and are also wondering why there's a big RPG dungeon in the church's basement.
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Upon Dimitri and Liem's return from the labyrinth below the Church, the young priestess thanks them for their work and passes along her genuine regrets that Karlach did not make it out with them, but informs them that like the majority of Shard-bearers, she likely returned to the Tree. Regardless, Liem and Dimitri are to be rewarded for what they have gone through and returned from. She invites them deeper into the Church, and into an abrupt meeting with Hieropoios Natalia. The Hieropoios welcomes them into a brightly-lit but austere room, where she invites them to sit and recover with food and drink as they discuss the events in the labyrinth.
Through the conversation, Liem and Dimitri receive the following information ( and rewards! ): If you have any follow-up questions or need clarification, lmk! The results of this quest and Liem/Dimitri's participation will have an effect on the next Setting Update, as well.
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Liem will have been checking up on progress with the creature's shard and offering assistance to purify it, but more pressingly, he still has to figure out how to get that spirit in the tunnels back to the Tree of Life.
He'll primarily seek the Church's help for this, since they're responsible for returning the spirits of the dead to the tree every year already. However, in case they don't have satisfactory guidance, he'll also be seeking relevant information in the libraries of both Springstar and Highstorm. (Thank you, Samba Santa, for the false face.)
As a corollary, he will also be seeking any records or even rumours he can find about previous generations from the eras of earlier shard-bearers, since he would like to figure out how this person came to be trapped in that labyrinth. Liem's working theory is that clues about the past might still exist in the wilds of the Below or the Beyond somewhere, so he's interested in hints that might lead to points of interest other people just weren't able to follow up on. This is still a secondary activity, though.
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She thanks Liem for checking in with the suffering creature, and is pleased to be able to tell him that she has been able to provide solace to it. The Church was the best place for it to reside, to receive the care it needed without Zenith's poisonous energy being necessary — however, they still have a ways to go to aid it and bring it to the side of Meridian. Naturally, it was a Shard that was forced into an extreme state of Discord and she suspects that it was not a Shard-bearer, but one of the lesser Shards connected to the presence of a Zenite. She invites him to take it with him, and continue purifying it now that it is not in dire straights.
Maybe soon, they'll even know who it is!( Notably, this is just a piece for Liem. Not part of the next step of the Lore Quest; however it does relate to it, so we just put it here for you, November! )
The LORE QUEST, is below:
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Therein, he finds information about the history of the Mnemosyno Gathering — the practice was born generations ago, from a sect of Shard-bearers and native Kenosians that lived within Springstar. They would administer rites to return the souls of the deceased to the Tree’s embrace, and as the prominence of this sect dwindled over time — due to the death of Shard-bearers and the passage of time through the generations of the native Kenosians, the Church of Helios took over these duties, evolving the rites and centralizing them among its faith. The most recent of duties was performed independent of the Church, but had been marked as "effective" in returning the souls of the departed to the Tree.
During that mid-month meeting, Natalia moves onto the matter of the spirit in the labyrinth below. Admittedly, it is not time for the annual Gathering — and she is concerned that somehow, this spirit was "missed" by the last one. Either no one was there to mourn it properly, or, more likely: it was entrapped in the labyrinth by another power.
For them to be able aid it, Natalia has concluded that the Church needs a little 'extra' power, found in the form of prominence outside of Springstar-proper. She asks that Liem, in his experience as a Priest of Abadar and Inquisitor, gather a few faithful together and perform the following task(s):
Liem + his party will be able to do the first task among themselves, but will need to reach out to Zenith-aligned characters for the second. However many people are in his party are however many Shards he needs to give to them. Christy has already volunteered Sebastian, for #reasons! Any other Zenites participating is at their discretion, because...
Natalia will make known to Liem, alone, that these Shards are actually poisoned with Oblivion, and will affect Yima's gift Shard similar
to the way found in these death responses — but more extreme. Some could get frosty, some might crack and some might even explode. Because he is a high tier Meridian, the expectations upon him are higher but so is the trust and faith that she has in him.
She points out one Shard in particular, and asks that Liem ensure that one reach the hands of Sebastian Michaelis. Admitting to him that the Oblivion Shards will likely severely damage the lesser Shards granted to the Zenites — however, that is the risk that they took in accepting them. Whether Yima mentioned that to them or not is the lie she must explain to her loyalists.
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After receiving his mission, Liem reached out to Fane and Akua to recruit them for his errand. The three of them met at Akua's residence to strategize for their deliveries, with Akua having volunteered to deliver Kiritsubo's shard, Fane delivering Rin's, and Liem delivering Sebastian's.
Akua made her delivery after tracking Kiritsubo down to a dive bar, hooking up with her, and leaving the shard among Kiritsubo's clothes. Fane left Rin's shard in her shop while visiting in disguise to purchase skincare products. And, wishing to leave nothing to chance, Liem snuck into Sebastian's house to leave his shard within, hiding it in his study and escaping before his pet xenomorph could finish hunting him down.
The last delivery was the spell focus gem, which Liem slipped into Highstorm to deliver during the confusion in the wake of the attack on the Manor. He chose Greenwood Yards as his target, finding a hidden space nearby to use mislead so he could hide the gem while invisible. (Essentially the same strategy he employed to steal sap from Highstorm's Tree. This didn't seem especially interesting to thread out again, which is why I chose to thread the lead-up instead.)
As an aside, Liem has also been taking care of the root creature's shard since Natalia gave it to him. I wanted to know if there's anything in particular you guys want to see with regard to purifying it and progressing things there?
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Her normal, resplendent robes have been replaced with a modest habit and gown, her fingers bare and hair neatly tied in a braided bun, exposing the tapered length of her elven ears. Rather than bequeath him with a reward, she asks him what he would like in return for his service — he may ask a question of her, or seek the resources of the Church of Helios, for example. Before he decides, she has a few things to inform him of. Once she finishes divulging these pieces of information, she folds her hands in her lap and allows him room to determine what he'd like of her ( which will be screened from here on out )!
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In terms of other Meri Liem would suggest to close out the church's plan, Liem considers a few people good candidates. D would be his first suggestion, given the other dhampir's dedication to Meridian and affinity with nighttime activities. He also knows from working with him previously that he is both powerful and resourceful.
I will go ahead and pick Matt for root creature lore. 🧐
In terms of a reward, Liem is interested in information, but specifically he wants information that will allow him to keep applying himself in a useful way once the church's plan with Highstorm is all set up. He would like to know what achieving victory will entail, assuming Meridian manages to get the Oracles it needs: what else will need to happen, if anything, for them to successfully revive their worlds? And secondly, he wants Natalia to tell him her own impressions of what obstacles might stand in the way of that success, so they can discuss how he might work to ensure that their victory isn't undermined by any unaddressed problems.