Clarissa Topic /16 ⍟
NPCName
HarganWe're not a very chatty bunch at the moment. Missing some doe-eyed lovers, you see. Clarissa and Tolman. The last I saw, they was headed out into the city.

If you feel like helping, keep your eyes peeled if you're out that way, eh? We'd rather like our young 'uns back. They pretty the place up a bit.
HarganNow you're a familiar face! A face that cost me a good deal of coin back at the arenas in Theopolis. Took you for a privileged pretty boy with a death wish. Bet all I had against you.

Turns out you're as dandy with a blade as you were with your wardrobe. Maybe now's a good chance to pay me back, Duelist.

We're missing some doe-eyed lovers, Clarissa and Tolman. Last I saw, they were headed out into the city. Do us a favour and keep your eyes peeled when you're out there, eh?
HarganA templar... in Exile? Now I've seen it all. Dominus must've run out of honest businessmen to banish and is finally getting to the real criminals.

Ah well, since you're here, your Worship, you might be able to help us out. We've lost some doe-eyed lovers. Clarissa and Tolman. Last I saw, they were headed out into the city.

May God above light your way to their salvation, brother.
Hargan"You can't catch a Shadow", that's what we honest businessmen were told when considering your services. But here you are. I call that false advertising.

Well, let's see what you can do to polish up that tarnished reputation of yours. We've lost two doe-eyed lovers, Clarissa and Tolman. Last I saw, they were headed out into the city. And I know it's not really part of your job description, but we'd like them alive, please.
HarganI was Clarissa's guardian angel back in Oriath. Put food on her table in return for a bit of light work. I try to keep her out of trouble as best I can here, but Sarn's full of secrets... and Clarissa's full of curiosity.
GrigorKeep your distance, exile. The name's Grigor, and when you've had your eyes' fill of my twisted visage, how about you turn those fine jellies of yours eastward.

A copper-headed lass and her boy-mate. They've procured themselves some strife.
GrigorCome no closer, Witch. The name's Grigor and, as you can see, I've had my fill of your kind.

So once you've finished admiring your sisterhood's handiwork, turn those icy orbs of yours eastward. A copper-headed lass and her boy-mate. They're missing, and might be in need of your more 'useful' talents.
GrigorKeep your distance, exile. The name's Grigor, and when you've had your eyes' fill of my twisted visage, how about you turn those fine jellies of yours eastward.

Yes, you've brought Clarissa home to us, and once again she pesters me with pity. There's only so much broth, so many bouquets that a man can take. For a criminal, Clarissa has a strangely soft centre.

Still, I'd rather not see that heart of hers harden. See if you can find that lost boy-mate of hers. With him around, Clarissa doesn't have as much time to bother me.
GrigorCome no closer, Witch. The name's Grigor and, as you can see, I've had my fill of your kind.

So once you've finished admiring your sisterhood's handiwork, turn those icy orbs of yours eastward.

Yes, you've brought Clarissa home to us, and once again she pesters me with pity. There's only so much broth, so many bouquets that a man can take. For a criminal, Clarissa has a strangely soft centre.

Still, I'd rather not see that heart of hers hardened. Use those dubious talents of yours for something worthwhile. Find her boy-mate, Tolman. Prove me wrong about your kind.
MaramoaI've no time for babysitting. Our youngest, Clarissa, went out into the city to forage for supplies with her fool of a boyfriend, Tolman. They're overdue.

You want to stay? Lend us a hand in the search. Find Clarissa and Tolman before the Blackguards do.
MaramoaIt is good to see you, son of the Ngakuramakoi.

There are days when I've questioned the Ancestors. Why bring me here, to Wraeclast, so far from all that I love?

Seeing you vindicates their decision. It is easy to be Karui when you are surrounded by Karui, but to walk the Karui Way through the kingdom of Kitava, that is the true test of a warrior.

And as is our fate, our calling demands our sweat and our blood, every moment of every day. Our youngest, Clarissa, went into the city to forage for supplies with her fool of a boyfriend, Tolman. They're overdue.

Help me, cousin. Help me find Clarissa and Tolman before the Blackguards do.
MaramoaYou have the walk, the grace, of a woman who knows Death intimately. Men are born with that knowledge. We have to earn it. Yes, there's much that you and I might speak of but we have not the time now. Our youngest, Clarissa, went into the city to forage for supplies with her fool of a boyfriend, Tolman. They're overdue.

Will you help me, Ranger? Can you find Clarissa and Tolman before the Blackguards do?
MaramoaMaramoa Patua thanks you, exile, for returning our Clarissa to us. She is the gentle heart of this place, a spirit still capable of love in this wasteland of hatred.

Yet that gentle heart remains in jeopardy. Tolman isn't deserving of Clarissa, but she'll not smile until he's by her side.
MaramoaMaramoa Patua thanks you, son of the Ngakuramakoi, for returning our Clarissa to us. She is the gentle heart of this place, a spirit still capable of love in this wasteland of hatred.

Yet that gentle heart remains in jeopardy. Tolman isn't deserving of Clarissa, but she'll not smile until he's by her side.

There are days when I've questioned the Ancestors. Why bring me here, to Wraeclast, so far from all that I love?

Seeing you vindicates their decision. It is easy to be Karui when you are surrounded by Karui, but to walk the Karui Way through this accursed land, that is the true test of a warrior.

And as is our fate, our calling demands our sweat and our blood, every moment of every day. Help us, cousin. Help us by finding Tolman.
MaramoaMaramoa Patua thanks you for returning our Clarissa to us. She is the gentle heart of this place, a spirit still capable of love in this wasteland of hatred.

Yet that gentle heart remains in jeopardy. Tolman isn't deserving of Clarissa, but she'll not smile until he's by her side.

You have the walk, the grace, of a woman who knows Death intimately. Men are born with that knowledge. We have to earn it.

So from one woman to another, I ask for your help, Ranger. Please, find Tolman for us.
MaramoaTolman's dead then. Another victim of Piety's cruelty. Perhaps he escaped lightly. Look upon Grigor to see what life entails under Piety's influence.

I give you this, in recognition of all that you have done for us. We shall mourn Tolman's death as we shall treasure Clarissa's life.
Clarissa Text Audio /48 ⍟
Name
I don't mean to sound ungrateful but we've no time for talk. Tolman was out here with me and now... Piety has him.

They're headed for the Crematorium. I've no chance against Piety and her Blackguards, but you - you're another matter entirely.

Please, you found it in your heart to rescue me. Tolman is just as worthy of your generosity.
Tolman
You're alone. So Tolman's... You didn't go to the Crematorium?

No, of course you didn't, this isn't your fight. I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to put that on you, to ask you to risk your life for someone you don't even know.

Don't worry. I'll work something out. I always do.
Tolman
I don't mean to sound ungrateful but we've no time for talk. Tolman was out here with me and now... you found him? Where?

Oh my God... Tolman.

Wraeclast takes everything from us... My family, we always keep something from those we've lost. A silly tradition, yet we hold on to what we can, especially here. Please, if... I don't know why you would... but if you are in the Crematorium again, could you find Tolman's bracelet for me? It would mean a great deal.

No, you go on ahead. I'll meet you back at the encampment, later... we'll talk some more then. Just for now, I need to be alone.
Tolman
I don't mean to sound ungrateful but we've no time for talk. Tolman was out here with me and now... you found him? Where?

Oh my God... Tolman.

This bracelet, I made it for him when he first arrived here. Idiot said he'd never take it off. I called him a liar. He didn't, though. Not once.

I'll meet you back at the encampment, later... we'll talk some more then. Just for now, I need to be alone.
Tolman
I'll meet you back at the encampment, later... we'll talk some more then. Just for now, I need to be alone.
Tolman
I'm sorry, I can't... I need some time. We should talk, I know. But please, not now.
Tolman
Poor Tolman. I made this bracelet for him... when he first arrived here. Idiot said he'd never take it off. I called him a liar. He didn't, though. Not once.
Tolman
I need to give you something. I asked a lot of you out there in the Slums. More than I should have.

You tried, and that's all we exiles can ever hope to do.
Tolman
Sorry, I... I need some more time to... to think. We'll talk soon, I promise.
Tolman
Maramoa? I've heard that the Karui have this philosophy... {makanui}, the Way of the Warrior. I don't think you could get any more {makanui} than her.

She took it upon herself to look after me... before Tolman arrived. Saved my skin more than once. I'm fine with that. Beats being on her bad side.
Maramoa
Hargan likes to think he was my kind, old 'uncle' back in Theopolis. Granted, the work he gave me saved my parents and I from starvation.

This was after my father lost the family fortune at the card table and we had to give up the manor in the country for a flea-box in Theopolis.

But he's not half as generous as he makes out. When Hargan gives you something, you can be damned sure that he's getting his pound of flesh in return.
Hargan
No one should have to go through what Grigor has. I help him as much as he'll let me, but he's a proud one... and so he should be.

He's survived what has destroyed... too many of us.
Grigor
Those keys unlock the gates to the sewers. Tolman found them... figured that in the worst of times people will hide their wealth in the worst of places.

We were never game to test his theory, not with the Undying down there. But you're strong... stronger than any of us here. I don't think {you} need to fear the dark.
Sewer Keys
Halfway across the world and yet the tie between Vinia and I endures. That was Piety's real name back in Theopolis, before her rise to greatness.

Vinia sold her thaumaturgy in the day, her body at night. Sought after, she was. Enough so to become one of my best buyers.

But money never meant much to Vinia. No, she was striving for something better... nobler. Used to tell me that "Life needn't be this hard. It's time you all realised that."

I bet she fed Tolman the same bloody line.
Piety
The Blackguards talked about Piety's precious gems being "infected with nightmare"...

Tolman... what did she {do} to you...?
Piety's Gems
Vinia was arrested for 'Consorting with the Unholy' and condemned to the pyre. This was before the banishments.

Dominus shared a last supper with her, heard her confession. Most think Vinia earned Dominus' patronage on her back. I don't. Vinia gave Dominus her 'better life' and got a new name in return.

You can count on one thing: Piety's grand future won't include the likes of you, me, or Tolman.

Vinia
You find a high enough spot and you can see the Lunaris Temple over the river, at the western edge of the city.

Since the Blackguards arrived, the clouds above that temple have been stained with the blackest of smoke. You can see it sometimes, when the westerly blows. It stinks worse than death.
The Lunaris Temple
Gravicius dined with us once. This was before my father's gambling debts caught up with him. I dined with him again, in Theopolis prison, the night before my exile. He wasn't so polite that time...

Thank you. That's one memory I can now put to rest.
General Gravicius
On the fall of the Empire, the historians are deathly silent. After the Purity Rebellion, the Kingdom of Kaom blockaded Oriath, preventing any trade or correspondence with the mainland. It's said that Kaom planned to invade.

Only when the Karui retreated did Oriath get any news from Wraeclast, but by that time there wasn't really anyone left to tell the tale.
Cataclysm
I know, so strange that stone and metal should move and live as you and I.

Still, I read that Chitus' sculptors used to soften their materials with 'thaumetic sulphite', a by-product of gem refining. It's the only connection that I can fathom between the cataclysm and the living sculptures of Sarn.
Statues
Wherever he is, I'm sure Tolman knows what you've done. I know you didn't do it for him, or for me. It doesn't matter. Piety's reign of cruelty is over. Thank you.
Piety
Chitus thought that the Gemling was the pinnacle of human progress. "These glorious gems have brought us within spitting distance of godhood", he once said.

The High Templar at the time, Voll of Thebrus, thought they were a perversion. He wanted the Empire made pure, "cleansed of the stain of thaumaturgy". You look at Sarn and tell me which one you think was right.

And while you're out there, look out for monkeys. No, not those bloody monkeys from Phrecia. These ones are painted on the walls. I think you'll find them enlightening.
The Purity Rebellion
Sarn is changing and so are we who live here.

There there, Tolman, don't you worry. I love you. I'll think of something.
Greetings
Exile... you've helped me before. You can help me again, can't you? My hope waits for me to the east, tucked away in a shrine in the Quay.

The Ankh of Eternity. Veruso, Prima Imperialus, placed it there himself at the dawn of the Empire. If the legends are correct, the Ankh has powers over life and death... when paired with the correct Azmerian ritual.

I've learned the ritual. All I need is the Ankh of Eternity and I know I can bring Tolman back... properly this time.

Will you retrieve the artefact for us? I've tried but the creatures around the shrine... simply too dangerous.

Yes, yes, Tolman, I'm getting to that.

I've already prepared a site for the ritual, out in the Quay. Please, meet us there with the Ankh so that I may yet breathe life into my dearest love.
Reviving Tolman
Exile... you've helped me before. You can help me again, can't you?

The Ankh of Eternity. If the legends are correct, the Ankh has powers over life and death... when paired with the correct Azmerian ritual.

I've learned the ritual. All I need is the Ankh of Eternity and I know I can bring Tolman back.

Will you retrieve the artefact for us?
The Ankh of Eternity
Poor Tolman... he was never really with me, was he. Just the shell of a man I loved. Wherever he is now, I hope he is at peace, and that he can forgive me for not being able to let go.

Here, take something, for at least helping me. And thank you, for... for everything.
Tolman
You told me Tolman was gone. You were wrong! I found him...

No, Tolman, I never gave up on you.

His soul remains, flickering deep down inside.

Oh, Tolman, I know you're in pain, but it'll be over soon. I promise.
Tolman
As I understand it, the Ankh of Eternity was somehow able to return the dead to the full bloom of life. There was nothing necromantic about it, rather it was a source of true resurrection.

How it came to exist, I honestly don't know. A couple of inscriptions I read treated the ankh as some sort of gift to Veruso from the Vaal. But surely the Vaal were long gone by Veruso's time... weren't they?

No matter. Despite the vagaries of the Ankh's origins, Veruso used the Ankh to return his young wife from the death bed to the wedding bed. The accounts are unanimous on that point.

As it was for Veruso's love, so shall it be for mine.
The Ankh of Eternity
By all accounts, Tarcus Veruso was a ruthless despot, a man to rival even the likes of Dominus. Yet his heart of stone contained one precious seam, his love for his wife, Chiara.

So when the poor young woman died giving birth to Veruso's son, the grieving emperor threw aside his great convictions and placed his last hope in thaumaturgy, in the Ankh of Eternity.

Perhaps it was shame that drove Tarcus to lock the ankh away, to steal such hopes from his descendents. It was he who had asked his people to turn their backs on the ancient arts, so what right had he to enjoy that which he forbade? Love gave him that right.
Emperor Veruso
My heart aches for Grigor. I know the battle in which he is engaged. It's like my own, a fight to make sense of life in a land that deems life to be worthless.

I don't know where he's gone, but I do know he's looking to find himself, his true self, as we all must do in our own time.
Grigor
Give it to me, quickly! Finally, Tolman, we can be together as before.

Alright... let's begin.

Suffering will besiege us and yet love will prevail.
Pain will imprison us and yet love will prevail.
Grief will engulf us and yet love will prevail.
Death will surely take us and love... will...

No... this isn't right. This is... oh, Tolman, please... forgive me.

Exile! Look out!
The Ankh of Eternity
How could I have been so stupid? Veruso didn't hide the ankh out of shame. He hid it out of fear, out of... oh my, what did the ankh really do to his wife? Everything I saw, that I read... lies to cover the truth of what Chiara had really become.

Alright, I'll destroy the ankh. We've come a long way since Veruso's day so I'm thinking I can manage where he so sorely failed. At least that's something I know I can do right.

I'll meet you back at the encampment soon. For now I need to... look, I'll just see you there. I promise.
Tolman

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