DIVISION: Research

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DIVISION

RESEARCH

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The Research Division houses a diverse variety of Inquisition efforts both magical and mundane, investigating things Inquisition agents encounter in their missions and experimenting with innovative methods to assist them. This may include anything from identifying and classifying new medicinal plants to preserving ancient manuscripts to inventing new types of magical grenades, and everything in between.

LEADER: Thranduil (info!)
PROJECTS: Corypheus' History, Rifts & the Veil

 

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Shrine of Dumat (Firstfall 9:44)

[aventuriere]

SUBJECT:
PARTICIPANTS: Freddie Durfort-Lacapalette, Anders, Helena
DATE FILED: Firstfall 10 9:44
STATUS: Complete/On-going
SUMMARY: A team was sent to check on the truth of reports that Venatori were searching for an old god shrine in the Fields of Ghislain. They located the enemy at the Shrine of Dumat, but were forced to leave before figuring out what they were after.

REPORT:

Provost & Scoutmaster,

The rifter Helena, the mage Anders, and I--rather a motley party I must say--located the shrine in question and discovered a team of Venatori already ensconced. By some sixth sense, or perhaps spectral means--it can only have been these, for we were scrupulously subtle in our approach and observation--they became suspicious of our presence and quit the area, but vowed in our hearing to return in greater numbers forthwith.

Once they were safely away, we proceeded to enter the ruin, which I am confident was indeed a shrine to one of the Old Gods, most likely--given certain motifs in the mosaic and relief-work as well as the known fixations of our enemy--though not confirmedly the god Dumat. I made what investigation I could and have enclosed several hasty sketches of the clearest and most prominent features.

It was determined that the risk of tarrying long was too great, as the enemy might at any minute return in strength, so we could not make a thorough search of the structure and were unable to determine what, if indeed anything, the enemy hoped to gain by his henchmen's visit. I think it equally possible that whatever they sought crumbled to dust centuries ago, or that they found it before our arrival. Only further surveillance will confirm.

Both Helena and Anders were adamant that we must destroy the shrine to prevent the enemy from continuing their study, lest they succeed in finding there some means to bolster their own power. I objected strongly to this course for several reasons. First, we know too little of the enemy's interest in the site. It could as easily be that some artifact or scrap of knowledge exists within that might aid us and which the enemy hopes to prevent us from acquiring, in which case destruction would achieve his end and not our own. Second, though truthfully I count it at least equal to the first, the scholarly value of such a site is immense. To seek its destruction before it can even be fully searched, let alone properly studied--an undertaking of years if not generations--is a crime against all those living and their heirs to come. The knowledge and insight that might be gleaned from such a place is invaluable and yet increases in value each day as such ancient places and their contents become more and more rare. We must explore all reasonable alternative courses before we risk the destruction of so precious a source of information about our shared past.

Do not think I am not cognizant of the very real risk this conflict poses to the future of all; it is my country and the homes and lives of my friends and countrymen that even now fall beneath our enemy's shadow. But we must not allow it to strip from us any care beyond simple victory, lest we become no different from the dumb creatures of spirit and blight he commands.

In any event, lacking explosive material, their options were limited. Still, they persisted, and in the end I acquiesced to assisting in rigging several makeshift traps, carefully placed to inflict injury on any attempting to enter without unduly risking damage to the shrine itself. The mage Anders also attempted to shift some stones at the entrance, loosening them so that they might fall and block the entrance or--if we are lucky--fall on the next who attempts to enter. I judged this a fair compromise. We advise that another team be sent out as soon as may be practicable to observe the Venatori work there and, once they are dispatched, I will be happy to make a more fulsome investigation for anything of insight or use to our cause.

- F. Durfort-Lacapalette, Baroness H-B

[ a blue wax seal is affixed with the arms of her house ]


NOTES & LINKS: Log in progress.