Path of The Seekers - The Seeker - Songs - Imminent Disaster Lost Treasures - Seeking A Name - Singularity Axe

Memorial for The Blue Singularity Axe

In the beginning, the gods created the blue singularity axe... ...and it was unique among axes. On creation it binds itself to its bearer's life force such that it can never be dropped or given to another. And should its bearer die, it vanishes forever. A Gift from Martine: May you het and hew and not tire, but never forget that death is dire.

Part 1 - Following in Martine's Footsteps

This is the tale of Arianda's Blue Singularity Axe - its beginning, life and end. One bright shiny day in Solclaim PY 12 (May 2001), Avistal and I traveled to the remote town of Wai Jhou. Though it's not quite a town really, rather a single building in which the followers of a cult faith have gathered to think and believe in private on the edge of the most dangerous lands in all of Dereth. Our travels to Wai Jhou consisted mostly of a long serious of dodging and evading the various wildlife and their tendencies to cast nasty magic at any and all who might dare to travel their domain. In due time we reached the lifestone located just down river from town and, quite wisely, attached our life forces to it. We had read in the Tale by Sir Martine that his text Chapter 2 - Facilitation could be found deep in the direland swamp in the possession of some Mosswart Mire Witches that he'd sent there on some errand. We'd also heard a few rumors that suggested these Mire Witches might have an artifact of some importance. Hence it was that we found ourselves deep in the direland swamp at the lifestone south of Wai Jhou. Clearly our next order of business was to find these Mire Witches. In surprisingly short time we did indeed locate a group of some half dozen Mosswart Mire Witches who seemed rather suspicious in their clustering together and chattering about magic. As expected, they were not particularly inclined to simply give up the text and any artifacts they might have in their possession. In fact, they were quite distressed by our request and responded by hurling great magic bolts at us. Unfortunately for Avistal, they chose him as their first target and their simultaneous bolts quickly sent him back to the lifestone the hard way. Since we had gone but a few hundred feet north from the lifestone, Avistal returned to the battle in short order. We proceeded to kill all of the Mire Witches and a few other direland creatures who heard the sounds of battle and couldn't help but come running to see what was going on. When the sounds of battle finally faded, we searched the bodies for useful items. As expected one of the Moss Witches had the text of Martine's second chapter and a Tattered Virindi Cloak. At this point we decided we'd seen enough of the direland swamp and headed back to Arwic (via everyone's favorite Abandoned Mines subway portal).

Part 2 - Where Mosswarts Hide and What Mosswarts Hide

"Nonetheless," wrote Martine, "in some cases an ignorant populace is far harder to manipulate than an educated one." He went on to suggest that he had left the text for Chapter 3 - A Meeting in a chest at the bottom of the Mosswart Hideout along with a token representing the essence of his time there. Fortunately, we had previously discovered a dungeon by that name during our explorations of the Vesayen Isles off the southeast corner of Dereth. As Dereth's gods seem to consistently avoid naming two places with the same name, it seemed reasonable that this was the dungeon in question. Perhaps we were merely educated as Martine would prefer us... We did ask around before heading to the Mosswart Hideout. By all accounts the dungeon is swarming with mosswarts of various levels and anyone so foolish as to enter can be guaranteed to get ambushed by a dozen or more angry mosswarts. With this in mind, we prepared for a leap into a massive battle and a serious possibility of fatal injury. Our armor securely fastened and our weapons in hand, we jumped in. Silence. Empty, barely lit hallways headed into darkness in all directions. We tentatively glanced down each hallway. No mosswarts yelling. No sounds of life at all. Our footsteps echoed in the silence. This couldn't be good. Finally, we randomly chose a direction - right - and slowly proceeded down into the depths. More silence. More darkness. The next level down was as devoid of life as the entrance. Then the shadows came alive and attacked with very real, very sharp swords and angry purple magic. We survived - mostly - to discover that the biggest, bluest, four-legged, spindly looking creature I'd ever seen had appeared from the dark depths of a hallway hidden in shadows. It nearly killed us both. Your pardon, I didn't take a picture. I was too busy trying to stay alive. However, I've seen a few since and have identified it as a Harrower Grievver. After a lengthy rest break to recover our senses, we descended into the depths beyond the hallway that the Grievver had appeared in - on the theory that Martine's chest was most likely beyond the hardest creatures that could be found. This turned out to be a sound theory and beyond many more shadows, drudge raveners, two tuskers and a hollow minion, we located a special chest in a room shadowed with blue lights. The chest contained a virindi essence and Chapter 3 - The Meeting. We also found a copy of Martine's old journal on the floor. We quickly departed the dungeon, not wanting to wait around to see if any more creatures thought we'd make good prey.

Part 3 - Another adventure with Gragghk, Mosswart Chief
"Chapter 4 -- Storytelling,"wrote Martine, "is found on the person of Gragghk, the new leader of my favorite Mosswart tribe, after the old leader died unexpectedly." We had met Gragghk a couple times before. I must admit, my first encounter with him was quite fatal - for me. On my second encounter with him, I brought friends and it was quite fatal - for him. So I knew what to expect when we headed into the Moss Chamber, though we weren't actually interested in Gragghk this time. Rather this time, we were off to find Martine's personal servant, the one who is said to hand out Chapter 6 - Denouement.
Martine had said to find the first 5 chapters of his text and that in doing so "the sixth should be obvious to anyone in possession of a keen and attentive mind." I don't know about keen, but we had been attentive - or rather, we'd been our normal seeking selves and managed to locate the personal servant before we had even set out to find the Moss Witches. When we found Martine's personal servant, we also found the old leader of the mosswart tribe - the one who had died unexpectedly.

For the curious, I will say this: the personal servant both is and is not in the Moss Chamber. It's not entirely necessary to fight Gragghk to reach him, though Gragghk and his mosswart tribe will certainly make a lot of noise and attempt to make sure you never find the servant. When you do find Martine's personal servant, you'll discover there really isn't one. There are five. All Virindi. Broken, beaten, tamed, leashed, and conquered virindi.

The Broken Virindi will happily give you Chapter 6 - Denouement and ask for glowing mosswart shroud in trade for a suitable reward from his master. However, I had a glowing virindi shroud and spoke instead to the Beaten Virindi, who gave me my very own bright blue, brand new singularity axe. We prayed with the Broken Virindi for favor from.. well.. He prayed for a favor from Martine. I prayed for a long and healthy life with no more hard trips to the lifestone.

Part 4 - The Life and Times of Arianda's Blue Singularity Axe
The Blue Singularity Axe is one of the Top Three most impressive looking axes in all of Dereth. (Please, never confuse it with its nearly identical and ugly cousin, the green singularity axe.) The Top Three is rounded out, in my opinion, by the Peerless Stinging Atlan Axe and the red hot flaming crystal of the Assault Axe. I eagerly tested my Blue Singularity Axe and found it superior my other axes, due mostly to the spell Blood Drinker VI. I still find it odd that a spell is actually the most powerful weapon in Dereth.
Singularity Axe in hand, I continued my exploration of Dereth. It was particularly successful against the wildlife on the Vesayen Isles and I spent several months there happily swinging my lovely blue axe. For eight long months I took my Blue Singularity Axe with me everywhere - across the width and breadth of Dereth half a dozen times. I carried it into the frozen depths of Frore, through the maze of the Floating City, into the halls of Linvak Tukal, around the shadows and fragments in the Caulnalain Vestibule, on two deadly runs through the western direlands to Ayan Baqur, through the 5 dungeons for the greater atlan stones and tool, and even thrice into the depths of the Chakron Flux dungeon in search of the fabled Virindi Amulet. Should I stop to list all the places I explored in eight months, we shall be here all day. Suffice it to say that for eight solid months I explored nearly every inch of Dereth that was even remotely viable for someone of my skills. Through it all, my Blue Singularity Axe remained safely in my possession and not once, despite several serious attempts, did I return to my lifestone the hard way. Then one bright snowy morning in late Frostfell PY 12 (January 25, 2002), I awoke at my home in the Esper Range of Northern Osteth. For the day, I decided to visit Sir Tenshin at the advocate spire north of Shoushi since I had a letter to him from Sir Rylanan in Holtburg concerning the latest of plots of Martine and the Virindi. I recalled to my current lifestone, the one in the middle of Rithwic, and proceeded through the portal to Shoushi. I've always liked Shoushi, not for its people or vendors, but rather for its walls. There is always a great thrill racing through town leaping over the walls instead of sedately walking around them. On this day, as I've often done, I raced towards town and jumped the first wall, bouncing off the top. My second jump over an inner town wall was a clean arc towards the armor shop. I raced through a small gap in the wall, headed for the outer town wall and prepared to leap. There I was executed.

Part 5 - Death of Arianda's Blue Singularity Axe

Oh, it started out simple enough. I was jumping walls in Shoushi, an action I've done a thousand times before. I was in the best of health without a single spell affecting me and in the prime of my life, capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound. I was eager to discover what Sir Tenshin might say and suspected he'd send me to discover what exactly was happening at Fort Witshire. I tried to jump out of Shoushi. In that instant that was to be my final jump past the outer wall, the gods reached in and changed the rules of the universe. My abilities and skills could not save me as they had so many times before. The cruel hand of fate declared my life ended. Instant execution. My feet never left the ground.

Next thing I knew, I was again at my lifestone in Rithwic. As the gods informed me, I left on my body a wide variety of items I was carrying. There was no mention of the Blue Singularity Axe. I returned to Shoushi to recover my items. The Blue Singularity Axe, as expected, was not with my other items and no longer did it gleam from the safety of my pack. A Gift from Martine: May you het and hew and not tire, but never forget that death is dire. Martine, I never forgot. We fought every day for eight long months to keep the gift of beauty that was the Blue Singularity Axe. On many an occasion, the daring Avistal died to save it. Our efforts were not enough. The heavy hand of fate took what no other force in Dereth could. Dedicated in memory of The Blue Singularity Axe. Long live the gods of Dereth. - Arianda Once a Singularity Axe Master