| Seer Hearadh
UP: Sonoma
In an evening filled with tales to keep bards busy for
years, the world erupted with disaster, heroism, honor, and
tragedy last night. What might have been a splendid ceremony
and a triumph for Harris,
the Finder from Magincia,
ended with his death and disappearance in the mysterious hedge
maze and leaving many questions unanswered. The man himself,
his staff
of the elements, the union ritual: were they doomed from
the start? Were the staves inherently evil? Or, as some suggest,
was it the inexperience of Harris and his friends? Perhaps
the strangely-damaged staff of the sea was to blame. And,
of course: where is Harris now? Answers call me from afar,
but first I wish to report a short history of the event, as
I know it.
Those who are not familiar with Harris may not know that many years
ago, he came into possession of a strange and powerful staff. Glowing with an internal
flame and bright red-orange in color, Harris called it the staff of the sun. Learning of
the existence of other such staves, he used all of the tricks of his trade to find three
more staves of the elements: sea, sky, and land. Each beautiful, each powerful, and, to
Harris, each an exciting new toy. As he became familiar with them, he discovered that he
was able to trick each staff into summoning its element as a reaction to exposure to the
opposite element, although it is now the belief of the Seers that the staff is intelligent
and will generally accede to the will of the bearer: Harris wished them to summon
elementals, so that they did.
About the time he recovered the fourth staff, he was
ambushed by orcs and lost the staff of the sun. This was the
beginning of a period of years where he gradually lost possession
of three of the four staves. After losing the staff of the
land during his move to Magincia, he decided to re-focus his
life on the staves and, with the help of many brave citizens,
he has spent the last few months doing exactly that. Research,
wizardry, and many battles resulted in the recovery of the
staff of the land (from the tunnels of Buccaneer’s
Den), then the staff of the sea (after months of battle
and negotiation with pirates), and, finally, the staff of
the sun (recovered despite the efforts of the lich who created
the staff of the land).
Once again in possession of all four,
it is now well-known that Harris became somewhat obsessed
with their unification. Many days he spent in Britain
and Moonglow with
sages and mages, learning how they might be united, and despite
various indications that the union would end in more evil
than good, he pressed on. Words of power were learned, exorcism
was performed on the hedge maze tower where the event was
to be held, and an audience of warriors was invited to watch
what Harris believed would be a grand and exciting event.
Harris had selected his old friends Truth, Cloud, and Fergus MacLeda as staff-bearers, as each staff would have
its own bearer at the ceremony. Fergus, however, was nowhere to be found when the time
came, so Soruth London, another citizen well-acquainted with the staves, was asked to take
his place, and accepted. The Four made their way to the top of the tower, running eagerly,
each to a corner of the tower. As the three new staff-bearers experimented with their
staves, tame elementals covered the top of the tower. Eventually, they felt confident and
continued...and so began the amazing events of the night.
As the words of power were spoken a new staff, the staff of the
elements, appeared at the center. Glowing with an eerie black light, it drew the Four
closer to it. Harris slowly reached for it, but without warning, it shattered and, in an
incredible display of evil magic, a dark elemental appeared in the circle, poisoning any
who came near and summoning a steady stream of evil elementals of all sorts on and around
the tower. An incredible battle began as the audience quickly became participants. Despite
great bravery by the assembled warriors, the enemy was too powerful, and after those
citizens present retreated, hid, or died in the face of the overwhelming onslaught, Seer
Cepheus informed the town criers of the need for more support. He gathered survivors and
newcomers in Magincia to devise a scheme to defeat the evil: we Seers had foreseen the
possibility of such an outcome and had researched the locations of pure elements, which we
believed would force the creature to return from whence it came.
And, indeed, this was the case. Seer Cepheus was able
to organize four teams to retrieve the pure elements: water
from the stream between Deceit and Honesty; fire from the
daemon temple on the Isle of Fire; air from Wind; and earth
from deepest Despise,
at the base of the Serpent’s Spine mountains. While the
four teams went to find the elements, the battle in the hedge
maze raged on. The scores of warriors responding to the call
of the town criers helped clear the way to the tower, and
soon the team leaders nearly flew up the stairs, bringing
with them the pure elements. I was able to withstand the evil’s
poison aura and place the pure elements around it, causing
it to vanish without a trace in an amazing display of the
power of those elements.
During the hours of the evil’s dominance of the hedge maze
area, many great warriors were slain, and, sadly, Harris was slain with them. His ghost
was seen wandering near the tower base, sobbing softly and blaming himself for the
disaster, when without warning, the ghost disappeared. Sadly, Harris has not been seen
since, and it is with this information that I now focus my studies on how to return him to
his former self, although not before recognition of those who were most influential in
Harris’ life.
For some time, I have been following the adventures of Harris, and I
feel that this culmination of Harris’ work since he arrived in Magincia gives me an
opportunity to recognize a group of particularly devoted and worthy sages, mages, and
warriors who worked closely with the man. To that end, I summoned the assembled
adventurers to the Parliament building in Magincia, where Seer Cepheus and myself arranged
a presentation of awards. To the staff-bearers—Truth, Cloud, and Soruth London—I
granted significant rewards of fame, although such rewards hardly begin to describe the
sacrifices they made, both yesterday (for they all died on the tower top) and over the
months since Harris moved to Magincia. Hours of waiting outside his office, days of
transporting him in search of the staves, and weeks of research on his behalf can hardly
be repaid in one moment, but I felt a symbolic recognition of their work was much-needed.
Seven others were rewarded by myself and Seer Cepheus: Kira Vonur, Jyden Caendryl, Katarn,
Birmingham, Lurker, Tanis Fireforge, and Rivan. All of these citizens were deemed worthy
of varying grants of fame, based on their long association with Harris and their devotion
to his search. Many others made significant contributions as well—too many to
name—and to all who worked with Harris, giving time, money, and frequently life to
aid his cause, I extend the deepest thanks.
Cloud, whose research was invaluable during the earliest phases of
Harris’ search for the staves (and who fought for and personally recovered two of the
missing three), is further honored in an exhibit in the Lycaeum. The display features the
broken staff of the elements as well as samples of the pure elements used to defeat the
evil, and all citizens are welcome to visit and see the artifacts.
I shall now retreat to my library to research the questions that
have arisen from yesterday’s incredible events.
• Seer Hearadh
From the Town Cryer - The Journal of Ultima Online, Friday, July 24th 1998
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