Welcome to the Halmae (updated 2/27/07)

[Fajitas]

Originally Posted by Piratecat

Mind you, I'm now thinking of the "Valley of Untamed Fury" as the "Valley of Untamed Furry." One man, one fur suit, and a whole lot of misplaced aggression. . .

Just promise me you won't start offering updates in exchange for pictures of *that*...

[spyscribe]

Part the Ninety-Seventh
An unexpected arrival

As predicted, underground travel—although free of further ambushes—does not get any easier. However, the next day, the caves begin to slope distinctly upwards, and the following morning, Groff leads the group, blinking, once again into the sun.

Kiara, who has been traveling in swallow form for the past two days, flies loops above the party, thrilled to be in open air again. Although her relief is shared by many, no one else has the energy to share in her show of exuberance.

Groff bids the adventurers farewell once they leave the caves, pointing them towards the trail and estimating it will be another two to three days to the monastery.

Eva surveys their new surroundings with resigned dismay. The mountains are rugged. The rocks are sharp, the peaks are high, and the valleys are precipitous. It’s as if someone had taken a more even mountain range and scrunched it together. It is also much colder than it was underground. Snow covers the rocky terrain, but the trail is fairly well maintained.

She shoots a look over to Lira, who shrugs, as if to say, You were the one who had to come here. With a sigh, Eva shoulders her pack, and falls into line with the others.

Soon, everyone settles into the rhythm of another grinding climb. At least now there is a trail to follow, even if it is a narrow winding track through mountain passes and across rope bridges over narrow gorges.

###

On their second morning in the mountains, Kiara flies upward to get a view of the trail ahead, and to check for signs of pursuit. Yesterday there was nothing to see, but today, she spots five travelers on horseback, maybe two days behind them.

“I can’t be sure it’s the Inquisitors, of course,” she tells the party as she returns to earth and resumes her bipedal form, “but who else could they be?”

Who else indeed? The party redoubles their pace, pushing themselves nearly to exhausition in hopes of expanding on the lead they have gained so far.

###

The next day, Kiara’s scouting reveals two rather worrying facts. The first is that, while the Inquisitors have not gained on them, neither has the party increased their lead by an appreciable margin. The second is a bank of storm-clouds blowing in from the East.

But there is also a gap in the horizon. Everywhere they are surrounded by mountain peaks, seemingly razor-sharp ridges that slice the line between earth and sky, but there, ahead, are two mountains with a bit of space between, and for once that space is not filled by other mountains.

It must be the Pass.

The party debates their options over a hurried breakfast. They are on their seventh day of a forced march and no one is fully rested. If they push themselves to get as far as they can before the storm hits, then dig in for the duration, they might gain a chance to get their wind back.

“On the other hand,” Reyu points out, “if we push on through the storm, then the show should obscure our tracks from the Inquisitor and her party behind us.”

“And they’ll stop and wait for the storm to blow past, which would be good for us. ‘Cause, you know, we’d get father ahead of them,” Thatch adds.

Annika does not seem convinced. “That’s assuming we can make it through the snow ourselves. We’ve been pushing hard already.”

Reyu is not worried about the blizzard. “It should not be as bad as the ones we encountered on the way to Lord Fau Meen’s estates,” she points out. “And, as many of us can cast endure elements, those who are most… susceptible… to the cold can be protected.”

Lira, still not up to full speed after being poisoned in the derro attack, pulls her cloak tighter around her as Euro slips down her collar. “We might as well push as hard as we can today and just get there. Even if we slowed to a crawl it wouldn’t be easy for any of us, so we might as well get there exhausted tonight as tomorrow. If things start looking really bad, we can always hide out in a rope trick.”

Annika nods agreement, silently hoping that the sign to stop walking doesn’t turn out to be her fainting into the snow.

The party presses on.

About noon, the winds pick up and the first snowflakes begin to fall. Benedic leads the group off the main path, following a route that is rougher, but more sheltered from the wind and snow.

Lira finds the effects of endure elements a bit strange. Although she can tell that it must be cold in an academic sense, at a practical level she finds it suddenly doesn’t seem to matter. Euro appears to have no qualms about the situation, and resumes his fair-weather perch on her shoulders, periodically dashing around her neck, trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue.

Behind them, Thatch—braving the storm without magical assistance—pulls his coat tighter, and shivers.

After some hours of walking through the blowing snow, Benedic and Reyu inform the rest of the party that the sun has set. No one wastes energy asking how they can tell—Eva would have sworn it was down hours ago.

Some hours after that—just as the storm is beginning to blow itself out—the freezing, exhausted party turns off the main trail leading through the pass, and climbs the last leg to the gates of the Monastery of the Sharpstone Pass.

There are seven buildings on the monastery grounds, bounded by walls on three sides and a sheer rock-face at the back. A light burns in a central dwelling, but as the party approaches, they see no one.

They cluster at the gates—featureless except for two huge symbols of Kettenek—unsure what to do.

“Is anyone there?” Anvil demands. His voice echoes in the dark.

At first it seems that no one has noted their arrival, and then, a small figure emerges from the lit dwelling and hurries across the snow to the gates. As the figure draws near the adventurers can see it is a young boy, barely twelve years old.

He reaches the group and bows. “Our apologies that there is no one here to great you.” His voice is low and has a quick, whispery quality. “The others have already left. Perhaps, tomorrow, you can join them—“

Eva cuts him off. “What others?”

The boy blinks at her, then tries to cover it with a bow, obviously out of his script. “The other pilgrims,” he explains.

The party exchanges glances. Somehow, from the tenor of Komatsu’s sending they had expected to find the monastery more… panicked.

“Is your Abbot here?” Anvil finally asks.

The boy bows again. “Yes, milord.”

“We would like to speak with him.”

The boy bows again. “Of course, milord. If you would follow me.”

The boy steps lightly on the new-fallen snow as he turns to lead the way back towards the low stone building from which he came. After a few seconds silent delay, the party follows.

[doghead]

Ack. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight for wondering what happened next.

Once again thanks for bringing us this great story spyscribe.

thotd.

[spyscribe]

Originally Posted by doghead

Ack. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight for wondering what happened next.

Well that's one to take to the bank. Thanks doghead.

Update hopefully by the end of the day.

[spyscribe]

Part the Ninty-Eighth:
In which: the squeaky weasel gets the grease.

Master Genichi is by no measure a young man. Thin and a bit frail looking, the years have left him with only a fringe of wispy white hair around the edges of his skull. Although he compensates for that lack by cultivating a long mustache, whose ends blend into the body of his long, thin beard.

He greets the party courteously, but with a touch of confusion when he learns they are not pilgrims come to travel to the Vale of the Holy Spring in honor of Kettenek’s Ascendance in a few days time.

“I am certainly curious to hear of the purpose of your journey, then,” he says with a bow. He turns to a girl—slightly older than the boy who met the group—sitting on her heels behind him. “Satsuki, fetch refreshments for our guests.”

The girl does not move. “Let Hatsumi do it,” she says, gaze flicking to the boy and then quickly returning to glare at the party.

“Satsuki… go.”

Grudgingly, she does.

While she is gone, the party attempts to explain their errand. First, they tell Master Genichi that Inquisitors are on their way.

Master Genichi’s eye give the barest flicker, but all he does is expresses the hope that they will arrive in time to make the pilgrimage.

“Is Komatsu one of your followers?” Lira tries.

A pause. “He is.”

“Have you wondered why he isn’t back yet?” Eva mutters.

“I have sent him on an errand. I had not yet expected his return.”

Lira decides that the indirect route is getting them nowhere. “Master Genichi, we have it on good authority he’s been taken by the Inquisitors!”

The Abbot’s bland gaze becomes gently puzzled. “What cause would they have to detain a member of the faithful? If what you say is so, I am sure he will be released soon.”

After having spent half an hour thoroughly failing to convey to Master Genichi the urgency of their mission, the party finally allows Hatsumi to escort them to a long, low bunkhouse where they can spend the night.

###

Once alone, Eva finds herself the reluctant center of attention. She shrugs. “I don’t know. There must be something going on here, but I guess I can’t blame him for not trusting us.”

Kiara is practically vibrating with the need to say something. “I can shift into swallow form, then I can go back and listen. Maybe he’ll say something when we’re not there. Come on… Please?” She looks around desperately at the others. “You never let me do anything.”

Reyu looks up from where she sits, leaning against Paws’ back. It’s actually not a terrible plan. No one else has any objections, and Euro quickly offers to go too. Since the residents of the monastery have already seen Euro, Annika casts invisibility on the weasel and soon a swallow and a faint set of tracks are leaving the lodge. Over their empathic link, Lira reminds Euro to use his tail to brush out his footprints.

###

Master Genichi sits in his chair, staring at the fire. There is a faint scratching sound near the eaves, and he looks up at it for a moment before continuing his contemplation of the flames.

He pays no notice to the silent, invisible weasel listening under the door.

From her hiding place, Kiara watches as Satsuki enters with a cup of tea, which she gives to Master Genichi before settling once again on the floor. Only then does she speak, apparently continuing a previous discussion.

“They’re obviously lying.”

Genichi responds not so much to her as to the fire. “It seems that it must be a trick of the Inquisitors. But if they truly have Komatsu, then they have no need of tricks, and if they do not, how do they know all that they know?”

Satsuki stares sourly. “They come now, when everyone else is on the pilgrimage to the Spring. Just at the moment when we are most vulnerable. It is an Inquisitor trick, Grandfather. You must send them away.”

The old man smiles, with just a hint of indulgence. “You are young… I will think on this matter.”

The girl rises. “You should go to bed.”

He waves her off. “I will be fine.”

Eventually, the girl leaves. Kiara waits, but after a half-hour passes marked only by the slow breathing of the old man and the beating of her own heart, she gives up. Quietly, she backs out of her hidey-hole and— after signaling Euro—flies back to the others.

###

In the bunkhouse, two things happen nearly simultaneously.

The first, is that Kiara swoops into the room in a burst of feathers that quickly spins, stretches, and… somethings… until the little bird has been replaced by a little girl.

The second, is that Lira suddenly sits bolt upright squealing. “Eeeee! Cold weasel feet!”

(Oops! Sorry ‘bout that, Boss)

Benedic watches with amusement at what he can only assume is an invisible familiar climbing up to settle on top of Lira’s head.

Kirara is already telling her news as quickly as she can get the words out of her mouth. “… So we need to go talk to him right now, and tell him about the relics, and how we contacted Komatsu, and everything, so he can protect them.”

“Polish!” That interjects. Kiara stares at him like he’s nuts. So does most of the rest of the party. “Komatsu could have been about to say, ‘the relics must be safely polished.’ I’m still hoping,” he concludes, a bit petulant as he goes back to polishing his armor.

“It is true,” Anvil allows, “we do not know what Komatsu wished to tell the Abbot to do.”

“Well whatever he has to do,” Kiara retorts, “he does have the relics and the inquisitors are coming and we have to let him know that we know, so he can do it.”

“If we tell him right now, it will only let him know that you were spying on him,” Annika points out.

Lira finishes getting Euro’s run-down of the exchange. “It sounds like he’d like to believe us. Maybe we should give him the night to think it over. Talk to him in the morning and see if anything has changed.”

“We’ll still have more than a full day before the Inquisitors arrive.” Reyu points out.

Kiara is most of the way to a full-blown fit. “But what if what he has to do to the relics takes two days to do? Then it will be too late!”

There is no response.

Kiara looks around the room. When she arrived, most of the party had been preparing for bed. None of them seem to be changing that strategy anytime soon. “You never listen to me!” she finally shouts, turning on her heel and heading for the door.

Annika goes after Kiara in an attempt to forestall any drastic action and mollify her sister, while the rest of the party tucks in, and for the first time in nearly a week, takes a full-night’s rest.

###

The next morning, while Reyu, Paws and Benedic leave the monastery to attempt to obscure their tracks from the previous night not wiped out by the snow, the rest of the party meets Master Genichi for breakfast. Contrary to any optimism they might have had the night before, it seems that the light of a new day has done little to decrease the Abbot’s wariness towards the party.

Satsuki hardly bothers to conceal from the newcomers her earnest wish that they be gone as soon as possible.

As they eat, Eva explains to Master Genichi how the party met Komatsu in Dar Karo, his mention of his monastery, and the means of her communication with him since their encounter with the Inquisitors on their way to the Lake of Exalted Heights. Master Genichi listens politely, then says, “I do not know what business the Inquisitors may have here, but I am sure we have done nothing to invite their wrath.”

“With all due respect,” Eva points out, “we already have. Whatever you’re doing, the inquisitor already suspects that we’re involved with it, and has as much as promised to kill us if she finds out we’ve been here. We want to help you.”

“Well,” Master Genichi replies dryly, “I thank you for troubling yourselves on our behalf.”

Eva sighs, and looks over at Anvil, who removes Professor Alexandra’s headband of sending and offers it to the Abbot.

“We’re not spies. You can use this to contact Komatsu yourself and ask him.”

Master Genichi makes no move to take the headband from Anvil’s outstretched hand. A silence falls over the group as they realize, almost as one, that “put this magic thing on your head and think of Komatsu” is probably not a terribly attractive proposal from his perspective.

Running low on other tactics, Lira tries blatantly stating the obvious. “Look, we’re not from the Sovereignty. We don’t care about these relics, whatever they are. We don’t want them, we don’t care that you have them.”

“Then why don’t you just go?” Satsuki mutters.

Eva tries again. “Look when I spoke with Komatsu, he mentioned the goddess—” Master Genichi, Satsuki, and Hatsumi all make a ritual warding sign against heresy. Eva trails off, puts her hands in the air. “Look, you can worship dwarves for all I care, but don’t die because you wouldn’t believe us.”

“You can cast a zone of truth on me,” Thatch offers. “Or Anvil can, and I’ll answer anything you want to know. That kind of magic always works on me.”

“Alas,” says Master Genichi, “Those are not within my abilities, and I am afraid there is no means you can offer which will persuade me you are telling the truth.”

The party visibly deflates, but Master Genichi continues. “I, however, do have a means by which you might prove your sincerity.”

“Well, what is it?” Kiara demands.

“One of you must undergo a test. If you are truthful, you have nothing to fear. If you are lying, it means your death.”

[Capellan]

Originally Posted by spyscribe

“Polish!” Thatch interjects.“You can cast a zone of truth on me,”

Thatch offers. “Or Anvil can, and I’ll answer anything you want to know. That kind of magic always works on me.”

I've mentioned Thatch is my favourite character, right?

Very happy to be online again and reading this SH.

[doghead]

Originally Posted by spyscribe

That kind of magic always works on me.

So good it had to be quoted twice.

[Blacklamb]

Your silly cliff hangers have me SOOOO hooked!


I'm loving it(but NOT in the McDonalds way).
Blacklamb

[spyscribe]

Hey Blacklamb, welcome aboard, and enjoy the cliff.

Part the Ninety-Ninth
In which: Eva takes a ...leap?... of faith.

Kiara, naturally, is first to volunteer.

Annika is the first to quash that plan.

(Annika: “How would you feel if I wanted to do it?”
Kiara, pouting: “You wouldn’t!”
Annika: “Exactly!”)

Eva bites her lip. She’s died once before, and she’s not really eager to repeat the experience, but she feels in a certain way that this is “her” mission. And Master Genichi seems sincere.

She takes a deep breath, steps forward, and says, “If it’s the only way… I’ll do it.”

Master Genichi bows in acknowledgement. Satsuki looks at him, incredulous.

###

Master Genichi takes an hour to prepare for the test. The party takes an hour to keep Eva from going into a full-on panic. Well, most of the party does. Anvil asks her if she has a will written.

When the hour is up, Hatsumi appears and leads the group up to the tower at the rear of the abbey built against the cliff-face.

The party members remove their shoes and are led by Hatsumi into a large room, surrounded by columns on all sides. At the rear of the room stand Master Genichi and Satsuki. On the wall behind them hangs a huge symbol of Kettenek.

In the center of the room stands a waist-high tank of water.

Anvil, who has been surreptitiously working his way through the various detection spells, scans the room and—as Satsuki comes forward to take Eva by the arm—leans down to whisper in Eva’s ear.

“It’s all good.”

Eva looks only vaguely reassured.

In only a few steps, Eva is standing before the pool, Satsuki standing just a little too close on her right side. Eva steals a look at Master Genichi, but his face reveals no more than it ever has. She is about to glance left, back to her friends when her attention is abruptly recalled by Satsuki’s hand closing around her wrist.

Eva’s heart starts to pound as Satsuki twists her right arm up behind her back, not far enough to hurt, but securely pinned. Satsuki’s other hand comes down on the back of her neck, and before Eva can fully get her mind around what is about to happen… her head is forced under the water.

Master Genichi looks on, impassive.

At the instant Eva’s head goes under, Lira takes a breath, and holds it.

Reyu keeps her eyes glued on the scene, watching Eva for signs of distress. Given her circumstances, the woman seems remarkably calm.

A minute passes.

Eva’s left arm makes a vague shrugging motion, then returns to rest by her side. Aside from the rustle of her clothing, the room is silent.

Two minutes pass.

Thatch shifts uncomfortably.

Anvil takes turns staring at Master Genichi, Satsuki, and Eva. None of them return his gaze.

It’s been nearly three minutes.

The party members all jump as Eva’s left arm suddenly waves frantically in the air. They turn to each other, not sure what to do.

Lira, lungs burning, lets out her breath.

“If you need help, stomp!” Reyu calls out, hoping that Eva can hear her.

Eva’s body tenses, back arching as though she is trying to stand up. Satsuki responds by wrenching Eva’s arm up her back and forcing her head deeper under the water.

In an instant, someone might have run forward to pull her out.

In an instant, Eva’s body goes limp.

Five seconds pass… then ten…

Kiara starts to cry.

Suddnely, Master Genichi steps forward, grabs Eva by the back of her shirt and with a mighty pull, hauls her out of the water. She falls back, lying full-out on the floor, soaking and inert. Master Genichi kneels beside her, lifts one fist, and with all his strength strikes her in the middle of the chest.

A gout of water erupts from Eva’s mouth… and she begins to cough, rolling to one side as she clears her lungs.

The party comes running. Anvil casts cure light wounds. Lira yells for a towel, quickly produced by Hatsumi. Eva seems quite shaken, but as the burning subsides in her throat, she starts breathing more easily and is soon sitting up.

Master Genichi allows them a few moments, and then approaches the party.

He bows. “Please, accept my apologies for doubting you,” he says. “The Goddess’s blessing is upon you, as it is upon your endeavor. She has decreed that you are the ones to take the relics to her daughters in Cauldron.”

It is hard to tell who is more surprised by the pronouncement: the party, or Satsuki.

Finally, Thatch breaks the crushing silence. “Umm…. Goddess?”

[thatdarncat]

Cool

[dpdx]

Originally Posted by The Story We All Love

He bows. “Please, accept my apologies for doubting you,” he says. “The Goddess’s blessing is upon you, as it is upon your endeavor. She has decreed that you are the ones to take the relics to her daughters in Cauldron.”

Alirria? Or someone outside the Halmaean pantheon?

[Pyske]

Alirria never struck me as a goddess who'd approve of killing people to prove their loyalty. On the other hand:

"Sedellus is a creeping, hiding figure, crouched and lurking, the Mistress of Autumn, the Wind of Change, the Whisper of Death. Things wither at her touch."

[spyscribe]

Happy Birthday Fajitas! May this year be a happy one for you, and be followed by many more.

And to all of our readers over the last two years, Happy Anniversary! Thank you for all of the wonderful comments, questions, and quibbles. Your feedback and this thread truly adds another dimension to the game.

And now...

[spyscribe]

Part the One-Hundredth
In which: The Goddess Speaks.

It isn’t Master Genichi who answers Thatch’s question. It’s Eva. “Alirria. She spoke to me.”

Eva blinks the clear the last drops of water from her eyes, and in the instant they close, the memories come flooding back. It felt like she was floating on her back. Enveloped by a warm sensation…

###

Above her, a light shimmers, as if seen through the surface of water. She isn’t sure what happened. There was a burning in her lungs, the horrid sensation of breathing in water, and then… everything went black. All she feels now is a horrible sense of disappointment. She was just trying to help. Just trying to help, and now…

Suddenly, a voice speaks, warm and kind. It reminds her of another voice that spoke to her once somewhere, so far away it feels like a dream.

“What brings you here, child?” the voice asks.

“I’m not sure,” she responds. “I was just trying to help, but they didn’t believe me.”

“What tale did you tell that they did not believe?” the voice asks.

Eva relates as best she can what has brought her to the monastery.

“Do not fear. They will believe you now, for you speak truly. The question is whether you will accept the task that will be laid before you.”

“What task?”

“My servant will ask you to take the sacred relics that he guards from his keeping to the City of the Cauldron of the Lord’s Fury. I have other children there who will see to their safekeeping.”

“Where is this city?”

“It is on your way. You will come there in the course of the quest to which you are already committed.”

“How will I know your children?”

“You will know them. And they will know you, for you bear my touch upon you.” A warm feeling spreads upon Eva’s forehead. And as it does so, she suddenly feels cold behind her, as if icy fingers from the darkness were gripping her.

“Back off, bitch. This one is mine,” says a new voice, a harsh whisper. Eva shudders. She has heard that voice before.

“For now,” the first voice says, “but it is within her to be the river that flows in two channels at once.”

“No,” hisses the second. “She will be the wind, which blows only in one direction.”

“But the wind is fickle,” the first replies, and Eva feels as if its eyes are upon her, “and may change its course at any time. However, for the moment, do not the goals of her sistren and my children here align?”

The second voice does not reply. Eva feels the icy fingers pull back from her body, and all is warm again.

The first voice continues. “Do you swear then to fulfill the task my servant will set before you?”

“I will try my best,” Eva responds.

“That is all anyone can ask,” the voice says. “You and your companions should know this task is but a birthing pain for your greatest trial, which is still far off. For it has not yet begun to begin.”

With that, the light grows brighter and brighter…

…and she was back in the shrine at the monastery, water heaving out of her lungs.

###

As Eva dries off, Master Genichi explains the monk’s secret to the party. “—since long before the days of the Sovereignty, the Vale of the Holy Spring has been a holy site for the goddess Alirria. When the Sovereigns came, long ago, the residents of the Abbey outwardly conformed to the state orthodoxy that the site was now holy to Kettenek, but, in secret, they maintained their true faith, passing down traditions from generation to generation.” He looks over at Hatsumi and Satsuki. “As we have to this day.

“When they broke Komatsu, the Inquisitors must have discovered our secret, and thank the goddess you have come to our aid. She believes that your mission is important, and you must take her relics away from here, to her followers in The City of Cauldron of the Lord’s Sleeping Fury.”

“But what about you?” Kiara asks.

“I will send the children ahead to warn the other monks not to return here after the pilgrimage. They will be able to make their escape through the mountains.”

“What about you?” Reyu is gentle, but insistent.

Master Genichi smiles and shakes his head. “I am an old man, I would only slow you down.”

Satsuki runs to her grandfather. “No!” The old man draws her into his arms, gently shushing her.

Lira is confused. “Surely with the relics safe and the others warned, you have no reason to stay?”

The old man’s gaze never wavers. “I am an old man. I will be here, to meet the Inquisitors.”

[Piratecat]

Happy birthday, Fajitas!!!