[M]Would-Be Heroes Off to Help Save the World(IC)
Processes in this world are subject to causes that are supernatural and with powerful entities involved. There was a powerful being to start with in this world, before people were here. Great items of controlling things were around then, but they are hidden now that we don't find them, yet they still affect things in our world. One is known as the Great Rod of Grim. With possessing that and carrying it generally, one is enabled to easily come to ruling over others with the least resistance. Another one is the Overicon of Removal. There were items opening portals to other realms, and ones that were over different sorts of weather, and ones over health and mortality. There is a tan lantern, with which one turns up or turns down daylight. There is a glowing jar, with which one turns the sea level higher or lower. There is a hand held crimson fan, with which one turns the wind up or down. There is a purple pot, with which one turns the heat in the world up or down. There is a lengthening pole, with which one makes stars fall from the sky. Many of them are still active, responding to changes of stress in the earth to be triggered, while they remain hidden, and hard to find. There is one large artifact that could alter the timeline into something else. It would affect everyone, and the exact way to use it would have to be known for a desired effect. Yet anything else might be changed along with that effect, which could not happen in isolation. With an altered timeline, affecting everyone, there are some who would not still be around with that powerful alteration. So it would be very dangerous to use. It was the underground Gebb who had revealed the starholders, the great orbs, and other artifacts, and hid them again finally, at the climax of the archeodragon uprising.
The ancient dragons, archeodragons, came to dominate over all the life, which they did for another long age. But when the Father of Men, Aldin, came, he worked a curse on all of them, archeodragons and other dragons, and they fell to a great plague. Many of them were dying, all over the place, so their bones are found anywhere. But a small remnant, no more than twenty, escaped to the attached island that joined the land at that time, and they went into the cave to hide from the plague. But they were not seen again. The children of Aldin then began to live in the land, working to have the edible things they wanted growing from it. They grew in number, and when those things were not enough, many went to the shore and found lobsters and crabs to catch, and they brought those for their food.
But when some of them were making trips to the shore, they saw that the island with the cave was moving apart from the shore of their land. Aldin told them, the dragon remnant that had entered the cave there were behind it moving. They were not gone for good. That meant they would return, and dominate the world as dragons had before.
In later years the Society of Rescuers of the World formed. It originated from the founders' idea that a certain few of the very powerful artifacts that had been spoken of in records should be found and used for the sake of saving the people of the world from that predicted return of the dragons to come dominate the world again. These devices and artifacts are yet very hard to find, but over generations clues were found, and would be heroes are drawing closer to finding any one of a few of them.
The Academy of Learning Heroic Use of Devices is the premier center where individuals have been preparing for finding certain powerful devices with known clues and understanding ways such might be used. Here are certain promising ones who
are well trained, with a couple of exceptional abilities. They are supplied with a list of clues, which they have studied, for an invested search for any of the artifacts, knowing though that there are many more from the institute sent out at this time, as had happened previously, on the same sort of search.
Belvanaj is a tall young man a little over twenty, slender but with wide shoulders and strong arms, with blond-brown hair growing not much past his collar, and a very short trim beard. He can run especially fast and maintain that run a couple of miles. He received his scroll of the recognition of achievement, his bag of traveling money for the research and mission, the rolled up lists that would help with more likely places and information passed on that must be clues, and remembered secret for use of devices, and a good staff to walk with showing that recognition from the Academy of Learning Heroic Use of Devices.
Elloria is a young woman, about 20 years old, of average height and slim features, with dark skin, darker eyes, and long, smooth, straight hair that is darker still, that reaches just shy of her mid back. She's lithe and dexterous, and in another life would have likely made an excellent thief; however, in this one, she is a recent graduate of the Academy of Learning Heroic Use of Devices. For years, Elloria has been molded into a resourceful creature, quick at thinking on her feet and leveraging a situation to her advantage through either her silver tongue or through intimidation. Since graduation, Elloria has been outfitting for and tasked with finding the ancient artifacts, and would be travelling with Belvanaj after the current clues that they had to work with.
Belvanaj quickly found Elloria after the small ceremony, where there were a couple dozen others. He told her, "Others here are not going to wait, I think we should make the most of our chance to locate one of the powerful artifacts, and go from here now. I will explain my plan. Come this way. He led the way out from that courtyard and toward the exit from the Academy, even as a few others were moving that way, not waiting for the end of the final address and the closing ceremony. Once they were out and away from others who would hear, Belvanaj said, "We know already that the greatest likelihood for the location of any single one of the powerful artifacts would be underground, such that they can be triggered which had caused some effects, but that there would be passages where there was access to any of those locations. My final study that I was really involved in for the thesis I would submit went into the rock that has caves and caverns formed from it, and the places in the world where there are those rock formations. I brought with me a map I have worked on, showing where those are. We should go right away to the location shown nearest to us in this place. We can plan a circuit for where to go next for searching each until we actually find one of them."