2001-01-17: Shabti Here And Gone Again?
As some of you readers may know, I have been following the strange stories connected with this Shabti person and the young girl Sarielle. I recently interviewed the girl and learned that she and some of her friends were going to attempt to open a summoning portal to bring Shabti to Sosaria. While reports have been scattered and do not agree on many levels, I have pieced together some semblance of what happened. Additional information was gained through a private conversation with the scribe Anwar.
Various peoples gathered at Sarielle and Anwar’s home at the Lycaeum in Moonglow Trammel. From there they gated to the shrine of Spirituality, which was deemed a sacred site and appropriate for the ceremony. Sarielle was to be the conduit, who would hold the ‘ingredients’ that had been gathered, while Trin from the Temple of Balance was to be the summoner.
Two sets of ingredients were handed over to Sarielle, only some of them being duplicated. The group waited a while but there was no sign of Trin, so it was decided to use two people from opposing beliefs to attempt the summoning. It was believed that doing so would make for a Balanced summoning.
Sparticus of the Temple of Balance and Kandalor of the Temple of the Black One were chosen and set up with Sarielle in a triad to attempt the opening of the portal. The words of the summoning are as follows (thanks to Anwar for such an excellent memory!).
Kandalor: By the powers of the black one and all that is dark
Sparticus: And by the power of the gold one and all that is light! Bring Shabti forth from imprisonment into our lands, freeing him from long captivity and loneliness.
Kandalor: To balance the darkness, and the light
Sparticus: Order and Chaos
Kandalor: Good and Evil
Sparticus: Bring forth the Mediator of both Bring forth Balance
Kandalor: Come forth Shabti
At this point Kandalor and Sparticus joined hands with Sarielle. A blue moongate appeared and out stepped what looked like a man. He had long dark hair, tanned skin and was wearing a kilt and sandals. In his hand he carried a staff that blazed white and had an inscription along its length that read Staff of Balance. Everyone was overjoyed, but after only a few moments Shabti began to look ill. He grasped his head, as if in pain, and asked who the summoner was. When he learned that two people had summoned him he gave out a cry and for lack of a better word, split in to two wisp-like beings. One was a warm golden yellow while the other was a deep, dark blue. Portals had sprung up where the two wisp-beings appeared and it was as if Hythloth itself was spewing forth. In the confusion, Anwar noted that Shabti’s staff had shattered, as had the little lantern that Sarielle had been carrying.
Madness seemed to devour the shrine. People were yelling and screaming - some praising Kandalor for what had happened, others wailing about their failure, each group trying to stay alive. A group of people guided Sarielle through a moongate to the Temple of Balance where the child seemed frantic with loss, blaming herself for Shabti ‘blowing up’ as she put it. Many others were swift to claim blame for the mishap as well, but from what I’ve been able to piece together it seems that no one person can hold blame for what occurred.
The split of Shabti gave birth to Ashabti and Sashabti, both wisp-like in form, yet not wisps. Ashabti seems to be the Reason part of Shabti while Sashabti seems to be the Emotion side. Ashabti has been spotted throughout Trammel gathering information while Sashabti has been spotted in Felucca calling out about being free. Neither being has been hostile, although there were rumors of Sashabti creating monsters to attack people. Further research has shown that this is unlikely, as neither being seems to have any magical potential. More information will be sent in as soon as it is discovered.
Lastly, Anwar finished a translation of another of the mysterious old books that Sarielle found with the crystal and lantern, which first introduced us to Shabti. The book, written by a servant, talks about a previous summoning attempt many years ago that ended in failure much like our current situation. Copies of the book have been distributed throughout the land and there are copies at the Lycaeum and Sarielle’s home for any that wish to read them. Sarielle holds out hope that Shabti can be brought back together, and the little girl has devoted her attentions to finding a way to do just that.
