Training
Elder God:
I know you, Raziel. You are worthy.
Raziel:
What madness is this? What pitiful form is this that I have come
to inhabit? Death would be a release, next to this travesty.
Elder God:
You did not survive the abyss, Raziel. I have only spared
you from total dissolution.
Raziel:
I would choose oblivion over this existence!
Elder God:
The choice is not yours.
Raziel:
I am destroyed!
Elder God:
You are reborn.
The birth of one of Kain’s abominations traps the essence of life.
It is this soul that animates the corpse you ‘lived’ in. And that
Raziel, is the demise of Nosgoth. There is no balance. The
souls of the dead remain trapped. I can not spin them in the wheel
of fate. They can not complete their destinies.
Redeem yourself. Or if you prefer, avenge yourself. Settle
your dispute with Kain. Destroy Him and your brethren. Free
their souls and let the wheel of fate churn again. Use your hatred
to reave their souls... I can make it possible. Become my soul
reaver, my angel of death... |
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And thus, Raziel's quest for vengeance begins...
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Raziel learns about the Warp Gates:
Elder God:
These gates twist space, laying a path across great spans.
When Raziel tries to activate the Warp Gate:
Elder God:
You must visit other gates before this portal will be opened to you. |
| As Raziel is exiting the Warp Gate chamber
he falters from weakness, leaning on a pillar to catch himself.
Elder God:
You are weak - you must feed.
Raziel:
The old hunger has left me; I have no desire for blood. |
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Elder God:
You are changed. Your blood-thirst is replaced by a deeper need
- you have become a devourer of souls.
To sustain your strength, you must hunt the lost spirits of the Underworld,
and consume the souls of your enemies.
Raziel comes to a chasm, apparently impassable:
Elder God:
Your wings, though ruined, are not without purpose. Take hold
of them as you leap, and they will carry you across this chasm. |
| Raziel spies a small pack of Sluagh from a
safe distance; they are hunting and devouring the souls that Raziel needs
to sustain his strength. His first encounter with spectral creatures.
Raziel:
What scabrous wretches are these?
Elder God:
Sluagh, the scavengers of the Underworld. Their feral hunger
has claimed countless souls - spirits who now shall never find their rest. |
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Raziel encounters a material-plane portal
for the first time.
Elder God:
These portals are your conduit between the spectral and material realms.
With their aid, you may gather matter and will yourself to become manifest
in the physical world.
This is taxing, however - your strength must first be fully restored.
You require no conduit to return to this plane - you may abandon your
physical body at any time. |
After Raziel uses a material-plane portal for
the first time:
Elder God:
Sustain your strength to prolong your manifestation in the physical
world. If you fail to feed, or absorb too many wounds, this fragile
matter will dissolve.
The first time Raziel is thrown back to the
pit of the Underworld
Elder God:
As my agent, you are beyond death, Raziel. Your enemies cannot
destroy you.
If you grow too weak, however, you will always be drawn here, to recover.
As soon as Raziel steps into the next hallway,
he stops abruptly as he realizes there is water below him. He stands
at the edge and looks down, as the Elder God instructs him:
Elder God:
You are young yet, Raziel - you still retain many of your vampiric
weaknesses. Immersion in water, while not fatal, will dissolve your physical
body, forcing your return to the spirit world.
Be aware that in the spectral realm, water has neither heft nor lift.
It stands as thin as air.
At the other end of the hall Raziel comes upon
a door. If in spectral, the door is immovable.
Elder God:
Your efforts are futile, Raziel - such objects are but shadows in the
spirit world.
| Raziel first sees the devolved vampires of
this new Nosgoth.
Raziel:
What are these creatures?
Elder God:
Do you not recognize them? They are the children of your brother,
Dumah.
Raziel:
That’s impossible - these foul, scuttling beasts could not be kin of
our high blood. |
|
Elder God:
Do you suppose that time stood still for you, Raziel? Much has
changed since you passed from the world of men.
Raziel establishes the rules of combat:
Raziel:
I knew my opponents’ weaknesses, having suffered them myself.
Physical wounds are fleeting - a vampire’s immortal flesh begins to close
as soon as it is cleaved.
Vampires need only fear those wounds that impale, or inflame.
Water scorches like acid, and fledglings are devastated by sunlight’s touch.
I would have to modify my tactics to suit my foes.
When Raziel has dispatched his first vampire
soul:
Elder God:
Unfettered from the flesh, a creature’s soul fades swiftly into the
spectral realm. Draw it in quickly, Raziel, or you will be compelled
to follow.
After Raziel has destroyed the two vampires,
he approaches a large stone block which, by its size, appears immovable.
Elder God:
Your physical prowess surpasses what you knew in life. Even massive
obstacles can be moved effortlessly. |
