Thralni and the orb

[Thralni]

I was actually wandering what exactly the story was of Thralni who had the orb and came to Avernum with the first expedition. My Scenario coach said that either Arancaytar or Drakefyre knows how it all went. So, could one of you tell me how it went, please?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Drakefyre]

Thralni a member of the First Expedition commissioned by Emperor Hawthorne I. Credited with exploring the darkest reaches of Valorim, Thralni leapt at the opportunity to expand his resumé in service of the Empire. Thralni is perhaps most famous for his orb of flight, commonly called the Orb of Thralni. The orb was given to him by mages at the Saxton School of Magic to aid him in his exploration of the caves. Thralni was one of the first members of the expedition to fall victim to the caves, and ironically, the orb contributed to his death. While attempting to explore the Waterfall Warrens in flight, Thralni succumbed to the ancient powers of the lich Drath, leading to his drowning in the waters and the loss of the Orb until 817 IE.

 

The orb was recovered by adventurers and given to Avernum. When the Empire invaded, it was stolen again, and again adventurers recovered it. Given into the charge of Levi of Unspecified Services, it was stolen in 833 IE by the Cult of the Sacred Item. Recovered by a group of adventurers, nobody knows what has happened to it since.

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Aran and I aren't sure whether Thralni or Karzoth was the leader of the expedition, though.

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After Exile was discovered, Hawthorne I sent down an expedition to explore the caves and report back about their suitability for settlement and expansion. The expedition was ill-prepared for what they found, however, and they were slaughtered to a man and a woman. Demons, sliths, chitraches, dragons, and more beasts overwhelmed them. Some prominent members of the First Expedition include Thralni, Scrioth, Korthax, and Karzoth. The First Expedition is also known for scattering their magical equipment throughout the caves.

[Thralni]

Thanks. Now I also know who this Thralni really is. But tell me. How did you get this information?

[nikki.]

Some of it is from the games, other bits made up.

 

Karzoth was the leader of the First Expedition = the actress in Fort Emerald in Av2 (forget her name - she teaches gymnastics) syas that she played the lead female role alongside him.

[Drakefyre]

Only a few parts are made up ... "Credited with exploring the darkest reaches of Valorim" and "The orb was given to him by mages at the Saxton School of Magic to aid him in his exploration of the caves."

[Lazarus.]

I have a quick question that just came to me when I read this post. I know in A3 the Avernites have the Orb, but how did they get it? The group you played in A1 that found it had it when they escaped to the surface right? NPC's in A3 talk all the time about how they never heard from the group again, so shouldn't the orb have been lost again. (I never played A2, maybe something obvious happened there that I just never heard)

[Thralni]

You're mixing Avernum 1 and 3 up. I Avernum 3, a group of trained adventurers went to the surface., they didn't have the orb of Thralni, but the Xian items, made by a mage in the tower of Magi called X. I think you're probably mixing this up with something in Avernum 1.

[Ash Lael]

In Exile/Avernum 3, Levy is in charge of the Orb of Thralni in Fort Emergence. Then it gets stolen by the Cult of the Sacred Item, you retrieve it, and get to keep it.

[Drakefyre]

The group that goes to the surface in Exile I either gives the Orb to Avernum or has it stolen by the Empire. Either way, the Empire ends up with the Orb by Exile II.

 

EDIT: And then the adventurers from Exile II steal it from the Empire and give it Avernum, which gives it to Levy.

[Ash Lael]

Quote:

Originally written by Drakefyre:
The group that goes to the surface in Exile I either gives the Orb to Avernum or has it stolen by the Empire.

In Exile 1, the party gives the orb to Avernum? How does that work?

[Drakefyre]

I'm using the convention that Exile is the name of the cave system and the Kingdom of Avernum is the name of the government that rules it. Also, I like the Exile series better, so I usually refer to it more

[Poit]

I'm curious if anyone can remember any instances where the game mentions the path the first expedition took. I haven't played Avernum 1 for ages but from memory a group were creamed by bassilisks, another got on the wrong side of Motrax and Thralni drowned.

 

Also there's mention of the expedition being reduced "to a man and a woman," is there anything further said on the matter?

 

Oh almost forgot, does anyone know where the names Scrioth and Korthax are mentioned specifically?

[Drakefyre]

Scrioth and Korthax had weapons of the same name.

 

They were slaughtered "to a man and a woman." Meaning that they all died (and it's interesting to note that there were women on the expedition).

 

It's mentioned that they specifically ran into trouble with Sliths, demons, and dragons as well. But since Sliths and demons used to cover almost all of Exile, and we don't know where the expedition began, it's impossible to plot out a route.

[Poit]

Thanks for that,

 

I don't know why but I took "to a man and a woman" literally. Still its fertile ground for a (or another) scenario to be made.

[nikki.]

Quote:

Originally written by Drakefyre:
...and we don't know where the expedition began, it's impossible to plot out a route.

Not that I'm saying you're wrong Drakey (you're wrong ), but didn't it start at Grahk's Peninsula? I'm sure Av1 said something to this effect (Av2's Peninsula sign was blurred). In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm sure.

Where's Kel? He'd know this.

[Poit]

That's quite right, Julio in Almaria gives you a quest to find the location. From memory the peninsula was either just above or below Lost Bahsikava near the centre of Avernums cave system. Knowing where they started can give us an idea of how the expedition split off into several directions, Thranli went south, some went north to Motrax and so on.

[Kelandon]

Grahk's Peninsula is almost directly south of Lost Bahssikava.

 

Unfortunately, the exact history of the peninsula was not in my notes, but that sounds right. Note that two different groups went to Motrax (according to his version of the story), one fleeing sliths and one asking for shelter.

 

Also, some of them went to the Crypt of Drath. Demonslayer was broken either in the crypt or near there, judging by the note inside. After that, they tried to go west (according to the note), but they ended up going east and being attacked by sliths (according to Solberg and where you find the other pieces). After that they went further east and were killed by nepharim.

 

Various other historical facts can be gleaned from my notes on my website.

[The Real Dragon King]

Now if someone could write an scenario about the First Expedition.......

 

Me?? Nope...too dumb too make one that complex!

 

James

[Poit]

Thanks Kelandon, I completly forgot about the notes on your website. By the way it mentions the date of the first visitaton as fifty years prior to the events of Avernum 1 putting it at around the year 767, although there are mentions of frescos and cave paintings on the walls of the Crypt of Drath possibly pushing the first date of human settlement back sometime.

 

Apart from Demonslayer, the Orb, Smite, Scrioth and Korthax were there any other significant items left behind by the explorers?

[Drakefyre]

Early frescos and cave paintings are mentioned throughout the Exile/Avernum series and completely predate the First Expedition and are hints at either another human civilization or humanoid races like Sliths, Nephilim, or Vahnatai.

[Aran]

Quote:

Originally written by Drakefyre:
They were slaughtered "to a man and a woman." Meaning that they all died (and it's interesting to note that there were women on the expedition).

Who reported back then? For some reason, I took "to a man and a woman" to mean that one man and one woman, ie. two explorers survived; everyone else was killed.

The details of the expedition (what Thralni did, what killed Karzoth and destroyed his blade, etc.) are pretty well-known for a mission that left no survivors.

Edit: The encyclopedia entry on Thralni probably needs an update. I can't be bothered right now, however, so if anyone else wants to do it feel free.

[Poit]

Quote:

Who reported back then? For some reason, I took "to a man and a woman" to mean that one man and one woman, ie. two explorers survived; everyone else was killed

That was my initial reaction, either way its seems like an unusual choice of wording.

I'd be happy to write a quick update on Thranli when I get the time, if anyone can think of anything else important that should be included just post here.

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by Arancaytar:
Who reported back then? For some reason, I took "to a man and a woman" to mean that one man and one woman, ie. two explorers survived; everyone else was killed.

Lots of people think this, and I've no idea why. "Slaughtered to a man" is a perfectly good English idiom for "completely slaughtered". Jeff tried to be gender-inclusive and, apparently, obscured his meaning in the process.

[Thralni]

Quote:

Originally written by The Real Dragon King:
Now if someone could write an scenario about the First Expedition.......

Me?? Nope...too dumb too make one that complex!

James

I would love too, but I didn't play the hole of Avernum 1, just the demo part, so I don't know the details, and can't search for them in the game. That's a pity.

[Aran]

Quote:

Originally written by Strychnine:

Quote:

Originally written by Arancaytar:
Who reported back then? For some reason, I took "to a man and a woman" to mean that one man and one woman, ie. two explorers survived; everyone else was killed.

Lots of people think this, and I've no idea why. "Slaughtered to a man" is a perfectly good English idiom for "completely slaughtered". Jeff tried to be gender-inclusive and, apparently, obscured his meaning in the process.

Still, there *is* a lot of information about this exploration mission. Where did they get it from if nobody lived to tell the tale?

[Kelandon]

Quote:

Originally written by Drakefyre:
Early frescos and cave paintings are mentioned throughout the Exile/Avernum series and completely predate the First Expedition and are hints at either another human civilization or humanoid races like Sliths, Nephilim, or Vahnatai.

Particularly the ancient crypt near Motrax, which has frescos (or something — I forget what exactly) that appear human to the heroes of A1 and seem to predate the First Expedition. I'm not sure about vahnatai, but I'd think the A1 heroes could tell the difference between men and lizard-men or cat-men.

As for where the info came from, Motrax is only too happy to tell his part of the story when you ask him. I don't doubt that others were around who knew other parts as well.

[Master Xan]

They also left notes, clues as to what happened. It is fairly obvious for other parts as well, like when you find the hilt of a legendary demon-killing sword sent down with the first expedition, you'd probably guess that it was broken and the pieces scattered.

 

You're also forgetting the magical abilities of the group. Several powerful mages would have gone with them, and surely they could send messages to the surface. Otherwise, magical scrying could have been used to track the explorers. Due to the extreme depth of the caves, I'd think it more unlikely that the mages sent word up rather then the Empire mages having to try and find the location of the travelers through scrying, but its still possible.

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by Master Xan:
You're also forgetting the magical abilities of the group. Several powerful mages would have gone with them, and surely they could send messages to the surface. Otherwise, magical scrying could have been used to track the explorers. Due to the extreme depth of the caves, I'd think it more unlikely that the mages sent word up rather then the Empire mages having to try and find the location of the travelers through scrying, but its still possible.

The brooches were communication devices. I don't think it's ever made clear whether they were used for communicating with each other, with the surface, or both, but given that they're capable of teleporting someone to the surface, they're probably capable of communicating with it too.

[Poit]

Quote:

The brooches were communication devices. I don't think it's ever made clear whether they were used for communicating with each other, with the surface, or both, but given that they're capable of teleporting someone to the surface, they're probably capable of communicating with it too

I'd forgoten all about them, I really should replay it again sometime. Anyway I'm not sure there was much communication with the surface. I always envisaged the expedition as a Heart of Darkness style nightmare with a bunch of what presumably were the Empires finest warriors and mages trapped in a living hell, cut off, isolated, with equpiment failing that sort of thing.

I took the purpose of the expedition to reflect not just the whole man vs nature thing but also the contrast in the war between Avernum and the Empire later, with ingenuity trumping brute strength.

Still the cave frescoes of earlier humans are pretty interesting.