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Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
- Thread starter Delemental
- Start date
Delemental
First Post
“Make fast that mooring!”
Autumn dashed up onto deck, straightening the shoulder plates on her armor as her husband bellowed orders. “What’s going on?”
Kyle pointed west, out over the water. “A new ship, on an intercept course,” he said. “They’re making their move.”
Autumn looked, and saw the ship approaching fast. Looking behind them, she saw that the other five ships were still there, but were also closing in.
“Bail’s Mane!” Autumn swore. “What can I do?”
“Just join the others, and we’ll get ready to meet them,” Kyle said. “We’ll try and get as many ships as we can before they get here.” Kyle cast a spell, and suddenly several unseen servants appeared and took hold of various ropes, maintaining a steady course. “Break out the weapons!” Kyle shouted, “leave the sailing to the servants!”
As the sailors scrambled about, pulling on leather armor and readying spears and bows, the Legacy gathered at the bow of the ship. Kyle and Tolly cast several spells in preparation, and then turned their attention to the approaching flotilla. The warships had formed up into two waves, and were closing fast, with three ships leading the attack and the other two following behind as a reserve. Tolly cast, and a blade barrier appeared in the air just in front of one ship. A minute later, the battered vessel lurched and began to fall behind, its tattered, bloody sails flapping in the wind. Another spell by Tolly sent an enormous gout of greenish slime at the other ship, which quickly dissolved the wooden craft down to the water line. Finally, he sent more divine magic into the water just in front of the third ship, which began to churn and swirl into a large vortex, causing the vessel to spin out of control.*
“That should give us some room to breathe,” Tolly said.
“There’s the understatement of the year,” Lanara commented.
“The year’s not even a day old,” Osborn pointed out. “We’ve got time to top it.”
Meanwhile, Kyle, Arrie, and Autumn had moved to the bow, looking at the rapidly approaching sixth ship. Arrie had taken out her double bow, and was firing arrows at the enemy crew; Autumn was doing likewise with her crossbow. The ship was close enough that they could see some of the officers of the other ships aboard this new vessel. Kyle recognized the centaur, the dracotaur, the raptoran, and one of the human officers, who was carrying a bastard sword across his back. There was a fifth figure aboard that none of them had seen until now; a human woman, with a sword strapped to her waist.
“The sixth ship is a faster vessel that the war galleys,” Kyle said, “they must have picked up their strike force last night, and circled around to cut us off.”
The rest of the crew were firing arrows at the Tauric ship, and not surprisingly the Taurics were firing back. When six elves fell dead after a brutal volley, Kyle ordered the sailors to get below. Arrie couldn’t help but notice that the arrows coming in were extremely large, nearly five feet long, and had been deadly accurate. She also noted that they were all the same style, which led her to believe that all of the enemy missile fire was coming from one person.
As the ship drew close enough, Kyle cast a defenestrating sphere and began hurling Tauric sailors off the deck, pausing only long enough to cloak himself in a greater invisibility. Unfortunately, the fact that Kyle was close enough to cast spells at the Taurics meant they were free to do likewise. Tolly was hit by a freezing ray from the raptoran that nearly encapsulated him in ice before he was able to shake himself free, and a second later the dracotaur hit him with a greater dispel magic. Most of the spells on Tolly held, but he lost both his status spell and the telepathic bond that Kyle had placed earlier, depriving him of the two means by which he would be able to keep track of the party’s well-being.
The Legacy shifted their positions to meet the incoming threat. Arrie and Osborn moved to the forecastle, taking a few last shots at the Tauric ship, while Tolly and Lanara stood in the middle near the mast, the former casting a vigorous circle while the latter sang. Autumn waited at the aft castle next to her husband.
“You know, I am invisible,” Kyle said to Autumn. “You could go help the others.”
“Not a chance,” she said. “If I leave, you’ll do something stupid like teleport yourself over to the other ship.”
“No I wouldn’t,” Kyle pouted, as he mentally adjusted his plans.
The raptoran launched herself into the air, screaming. Suddenly, the low dark clouds that had been overhead began to roil, and then formed into the shape of a large, angry creature that descended rapidly toward the Armadillo.
“That one’s all yours, Kyle,” Arrie thought over the bond, as she launched an arrow at the raptoran druid. But it was Autumn who first had to deal with the storm elemental, shaking off the effects of the creature’s electrical aura even as it slammed into her with fists that shouldn’t have hit as hard as they did, considering they were made of clouds. Gritting her teeth, Autumn focused pain into steely determination, and with a shouted oath to Bail struck back. The blow hit with the force of a thunderclap, and the elemental reeled. The rest of the party, inspired by the sentinel’s example, attacked with renewed vigor. Arrie, after taking two shots from the centaur’s bow, used her piscrown to launch herself into the air and shoved her newly formed greatspear into the raptoran’s guts. Kyle tried to petrify the flying druid, but she resisted his spell, and then cast an enchantment of her own at Lanara. The cansin felt a brief wave of irresistible hunger, and for a moment the thought of taking a bite out of Tolly’s back crossed her mind. But simple revulsion at the thought of getting that close to the Ardaran priest helped her shake off the spell’s affects quickly.
As the Tauric ship finally drew alongside, the unfamiliar female shot a blast of dark, corrupting energy at Osborn, and then leapt from one ship to the other in a single standing bound. Kyle tried to catch her in a cone of cold, but when the spell hit, a shimmering bubble appeared around her and absorbed most of the damage. Kyle took a quick peek through his staff, and confirmed his suspicion; the woman was laden with psionic auras. Everyone else noticed that the woman was not human, but had the tell-tale diamond-dust skin of a maenad. She immediately rushed to where Tolly and Lanara stood, and engaged both opponents at once, wielding a wooden sword. At the same time, the other ‘human’ on the Tauric ship also made a leap to the Armadillo, shifting in midair into the form of a snarling werewolf. The lycanthrope closed in on Osborn, but attacked with a large, wicked looking bastard sword. Osborn did his best to put some distance between himself and the werewolf so he could throw daggers, but the small confines of the ship’s deck made this difficult.
The centaur and the dracotaur remained on their own ship, the dracotaur casting spells, and the centaur peppering the party with arrows. Tolly’s plate armor was punctured by several shafts, tearing through the metal as though it was paper and even ignoring the protection of his iron body spell. Tolly pulled one free with a grunt, and noticed that the arrowheads were made of adamantium. “Wonderful,” Tolly grimaced, and returned to the task of dispatching the maenad.
Arrie was involved in a three-way aerial battle with the raptoran and the elemental at the stern of the two ships, trying to ward off both at once. She wheeled to slash at the elemental, which gave the druid an opening. But rather than attacking Arrie, the raptoran swooped down, casting a spell, and struck Tolly with a rusting grasp, causing flakes of iron flesh to fall away. Lanara, staying out of the way of the maenad with the wooden sword, slightly altered her bardic song, setting up a harmonic dissonance to try to disrupt the dracotaur’s spells. Despite this, the Tauric spellcaster was able to get a spell off, and Autumn was hit by a blast of acid from the dracotaur, which clung to her armor and sizzled as it worked its way through her flesh. The blast hit Kyle, too, but his own wards protected him from most of the damage. The dracotaur tried to cast again, but this time Tolly was ready, and countered the spell as it was forming. As Autumn took another powerful swing at the elemental, reveling in the damage she was inflicting on the creature, Kyle produced a second staff and threw a wall of fire across the deck of the other ship, blocking the line of sight of the dracotaur and centaur.
Looking around, Tolly saw that many of his companions were bleeding freely. He saw Autumn stagger a bit under a blow from the elemental, and he immediately stepped back and threw out a mass cure spell, channeling it through his armbands to amplify its effects. The spell helped immensely, but the casting gave the maenad an opening to slice her strange blade across Lanara’s stomach. To the cansin’s dismay, she discovered that the wooden sword cut just as deeply as a steel one.
The werewolf attacking Osborn lunged in, swinging his bastard sword, and then suddenly feinted and lunged in with his snarling, drooling jaws, sinking his teeth deep into Osborn’s forearm. The hin wrenched his arm free, and tried to ignore the fact that there was now copious amounts of lycanthrope spit in the open wound. In response, Osborn tumbled back and unleashed a hail of daggers. Although most of the wounds began to close up as soon as the daggers hit, there were simply too many wounds for the werewolf to bear, and with a whine the werewolf collapsed, shifting back to human form.
Arrie decided to leave the elemental to her sister, and swooped down to attack the raptoran druid again, leaving another gaping hole in the nature priestesses’ torso. But the elemental, clearly trying to protect its master, swooped in and grabbed on to the flying warrior, gripping her tightly in its maelstrom-like appendages. The elemental then flew up out of Autumn’s range, having grown wary of the sentinel’s prowess. Spitting a last oath at the elemental, Autumn went in to help Lanara ward off the maenad, who’d just resisted an unluck spell the bard had tried to cast.
Kyle looked around, sizing up the opposition to determine where he could help the most. He considered trying to banish the storm elemental to help Arrie escape its grasp, but suddenly realized that the spell would be ineffective; nature magic drew its power from Aelfenn itself, so the elemental’s ‘home plane’ was this one**. He was just aiming a polar ray at the cloud-beast when the raptoran uttered a word of balance. When the expected jolt did not come, Kyle looked around; a quick survey told him that the spell had not affected his friends much. Kyle took aim at the massive cloud-creature again, when he felt a twinge from one of his abjurations. Something had attempted to teleport nearby, and had been caught by his greater anticipate teleportation. Something large, and draconic. Kyle grinned. Now he had to decide where exactly to deposit the dracotaur.
Meanwhile, Arrie had slipped out of the arms of the elemental, using her psicrown’s freedom of movement power and then flying away. She was nearly exhausted from the constant barrage of electrical fury, and needed a moment to clear her head. Looking around, she saw the raptoran druid swooping around to the bow, where the maenad was being assaulted by four of her companions. Tolly had summoned a huge fist of energy, and was using it to try and push the maenad off the side. Autumn and Lanara had both leapt in and landed solid blows with their weapons, while Osborn’s daggers were now protruding from several places in the psion’s body. Unfortunately, with a triumphant shout, the druid was able to cast a spell, and the maenad’s wounds vanished, even though the two were separated by at least twenty feet of open sky. To add insult to injury, the maenad’s psionic defenses absorbed the damage from Lanara’s shout.
“Damn,” Arrie said, and was about to dive in to help re-wound the maenad, when the elemental swooped in and slammed into her with two massive fists, forcing her to again deal with her tempestuous foe.
Tolly was about to finish pushing the maenad over the edge of the ship, and then use his Ardara’s clenched fist to hold her under the water, but he caught a sudden movement from the corner of his eye, and looked up. The centaur had jumped through the wall of fire, singeing itself badly as it landed on the deck of the Armadillo, three arrows already notched and drawn. The bowstring sang as the arrows found their mark in Tolly’s chest. If not for the fact that he was currently made of iron, the blow probably would have knocked the wind out of him. As it was, his vision was blurring, and so he was forced to break off his attack on the maenad and heal himself.
Kyle, seeing Tolly stumble, targeted the centaur with a stun ray. The Tauric archer’s eyes glazed, and he staggered a bit as the spell took hold. “Get him now!” Kyle shouted over the telepathic bond, “While he’s out of it!”
Autumn and Arrie quickly moved to take Kyle’s advice, hacking into the stunned centaur with fresh fury. Tolly tried to grab onto the raptoran with his fist, but she easily slipped out of its enormous grip, clearly protected by magic from any attempt to bind her. Lanara, trying to take over where the cleric had left off, pulled out her new decanter of endless water and, bracing herself against the mast, turned it on the maenad. The torrential rush knocked the psion to the ground, keeping her from reaching Lanara with her wicked wooden sword, but the maenad had other tricks as well. She looked over at Osborn, who was still peppering her with daggers, and suddenly a vortex of silvery energy appeared under the hin’s feet. Osborn fell down through the hole, and a moment later emerged from a matching vortex suspended directly over Kyle’s wall of fire. A battered Osborn fell through the flames, and then splashed into the open sea.
The elemental swooped down toward the deck, and seeing a large number of his enemies gathered together, it unleashed a blast of thunder and lightning on the deck. The Armadillo rocked and lurched at the force of the blow. Both Autumn and Arrie collapsed under the onslaught, and Kyle, who was caught in the area, nearly joined them. He fired a polar ray back at the elemental, who veered away, wanting to get away from the pain but unable to find its source. Lanara was just able to avoid the worst of the blast thanks to a last-second spell.
The centaur and the maenad, who were also in the blast, were wounded by the elemental’s power as well, but the druid swooped low and cast another healing spell, closing up their wounds. Scowling, Tolly reached out with divine power and dispelled the freedom of movement on the raptoran, making her an easy target for his clenched fist.
Nearby, Osborn was swimming back to the ship, crossing the distance easily thanks to his own ring of freedom of movement. The climb back on to the smooth, wet iron plates of the Armadillo proved trickier, and his first attempt failed. He managed to grab on to a stray bit of netting that had come loose along the stern, and used that to begin climbing up to the deck.
At about the same time, the dracotaur reappeared, ready to unleash death on the first thing he saw.
The first thing he saw was the iron keel of the Armadillo, bearing down on him fast as he dropped into the sea just in front of the ship.
With only a second before being engulfed, the dracotaur cast a vitriolic sphere at the ship, hoping the acid from the spell would quickly eat through the hull and allow him to climb in. Unfortunately for the Tauric sorcerer, he underestimated exactly how much armor plating his enemies had been willing to place on their ship, and so the acid had only eaten halfway through when he was struck by the keel and pulled under.
The maenad managed to get another swing in on Lanara, despite the bard’s attempts to ward her off with the decanter, cutting deep into the cansin’s leg. Kyle tried channeling a greater dispel magic through the Scion’s Staff, converting the arcane energy into psionic power in order to strip the maenad’s wards, but he succeeded in only removing one power. Meanwhile, the elemental, seeing that its first victim was down, turned to Tolly, who was attempting to rebuke the creature of air. With a rush of wind that sounded like a scream, the elemental rushed toward the Ardaran, ignoring the burst of divine energy coming from him, and grabbed onto Tolly, dragging him kicking and struggling over the side of the ship and dropping him into the water with a loud splash.
Kyle moved over to where Arrie lay sprawled on the deck. Checking her pulse, he pulled out a healing potion and poured it down her throat. Groaning, she opened her eyes.
“Nap time’s over,” he said. “See if you can deal with that centaur while I get to Autumn.”
“Right,” she said, climbing to her feet and picking up Anyweapon, and then taking a split second to use her psionic power to revitalize herself. Arrie saw the centaur draw back with three arrows and fire at Lanara, who had managed to incapacitate the maenad with a lucky hideous laughter spell*** and was now gleefully hosing down the giggling psion. She leveled her spear at the centaur and charged in, the tip biting deep into his flank. The three arrows buried themselves deep into the mast.
Suddenly aware of the danger, Lanara pulled out another one of her recent acquisitions; a metal rod to which three wands were attached. All three wands discharged at the centaur at once, and he was left reeling under the barrage of spells, disoriented and weak. At the same time, Tolly suddenly reappeared out of nowhere on the other side of the archer, his maul in mid-swing. The centaur, lurching forward in confusion to try and avoid Arrie’s spear, put the momentum of his own weight straight into Tolly’s blow. Twitching, the centaur went down.
With a smile of grim satisfaction on his face, Tolly turned to the druid, still struggling to escape his clenched fist. With a thought, he plunged the fist into the water, carrying the raptoran with it. He looked down and saw her shift into the shape of a shark, and so he pulled her out again. He glared at her as he watched her thrash.
“I can keep this up for a while,” he said, “and you can change forms only so many times. Surrender now.”
The druid’s response came from the storm elemental, who swooped in and battered Tolly from behind again. Both Kyle and Arrie turned their attention to the elemental, trying to draw it off, while Lanara continued to harass the laughing maenad in case she had any other tricks. At the stern of the ship, the dracotaur managed to catch on to the loose netting and began pulling himself to the deck. About halfway up, he looked up to see Osborn looking down at him.
“I don’t think you have permission to board,” the hin said, a pair of daggers in his hands. A moment later, the dracotaur was dead, hanging limply from the netting with the hilts of two daggers protruding from his eye sockets.
At mid-ship, a ferocious battle still raged between the elemental, Arrie, and Tolly. Kyle, off to one side, focused his concentration as he prepared his next spell, taking a few extra seconds to let the energy build up. He was about to unleash it on the elemental, when he suddenly remembered something****, and at the last second he turned and unleashed a blast of sonic energy at the raptoran druid, turning her into paste.
With a sound like a bolt of lightning striking a tree, the elemental went berserk at the loss of its mistress. But without her guidance its attacks were unfocused and wild, and Arrie and Tolly were soon able to strike fatal blows that dissipated the creature like a summer storm. They lowered their weapons, and were about to turn and help Autumn when the Armadillo lurched, sending them all staggering. They heard cries of panic and alarm from below decks.
“We’ve been breached!” Kyle shouted, turning visible again.
“By what?” Lanara asked. “The other ships are leaving!” Sure enough, the two remaining Tauric war galleys were coming about and heading away from the Armadillo.
Tolly had run up to the bow of the ship, and was looking over the railing. “There’s a hole through the ship,” he shouted. “It looks like it was eaten through by acid. We’re taking on water.” He moved his clenched fist around to the bow, jamming it into the gaping hole. “I’ll do what I can from here,” he said.
“I’ll go below to see what I can do,” Kyle said. “Arrie, get the crew up on deck and start getting the horses and essential supplies up here, too. Osborn, Lanara,” he looked over at the maenad, still under Lanara’s spell, “finish that off.”
Kyle rushed down below, which was already knee deep in water. He shouted orders to the sailors he saw nearby, directing them to get the horses up on deck. He pushed his way forward to the bow, wondering what he could do to plug the hole. He’d used up a lot of power in the battle, and what he had left wasn’t up to the task.
He burst into the cargo hold at the ship’s fore, and saw the hole in the vessel, roughly seven feet wide. He also saw Tolly’s horse standing right in front of the hole, ignoring the sea water rushing through. As Kyle watched, the horse touched the wall of the ship with its muzzle, and the iron plating outside began to shift and flow together, efficiently sealing the hole.
Once the hole was sealed and the water was no longer rushing in, the horse’s ears pricked up. Its head turned, and it saw Kyle standing there, mouth agape.
“Oh, bugger,” Kyle heard the horse mutter.
* * *
Tolly was still at the bow when Kyle came up the stairs. “How bad is it?”
“It’s… fine,” he said slowly. “All fixed.”
Tolly looked down, and gingerly pulled his fist away from the ship. Sure enough, the armor plating was whole and solid again, as though it had never been touched. Impressive work, Tolly thought.
“Now we can finally tend to Autumn,” said Kyle. “She’s going to be upset that she missed the end of the…” he stopped short, and stared blankly across the deck. Arrie sat quietly near the forecastle, next to Autumn’s limp body, with her head in her lap. The warrior was stroking the sentinel’s hair, talking quietly to her. There was a glazed look in Arrie’s eyes.
“Oh, no,” Lanara said, looking over at the scene.
Kyle just stared at the two women. Tolly walked over next to him and regarded the scene.
“Suddenly I’m glad they didn’t surrender,” Tolly said. “I can bring her back tomorrow, Kyle.”
The wizard’s eyes burned. “Ready the cannon.”
“What?”
“Ready the cannon!” he shouted suddenly, his robes twirling around him as he stormed back down below. “Helmsman, bring us about on a pursuit course!”
“We’ll never catch them, Captain!” the helmsman shouted.
“We’re not catching them.”
As the sailors prepped the cannon below decks, Tolly went back up to the bow and stared out at the two fleeing ships. He looked back at Autumn’s body below, and then his hand dropped into a pocket and pulled out a small griffon figurine.
“What are you waiting for?” Osborn asked, walking up to the cleric while cleaning off his daggers.
“Waiting to see which ship Kyle destroys,” he said, “so that I can get the other one.”
* * *
By late morning, the Armadillo had turned south, leaving the flaming wreckage of the last two Tauric warships behind them. The smaller Tauric sloop, which was relatively unharmed, was recovered and now sailed behind the Armadillo, manned by a skeleton crew. They’d taken the ship as a spoil of war, and Kyle intended to hand it over to the elven crew once they reached port. They figured that the elves would have an easier time sailing home in the fast, Tauric-designed ship than they would waiting for the Armadillo.
That afternoon, Lanara was standing by the starboard railing, having just finished using her decanter to hose off the copious amounts of blood on the deck, when she spotted something odd in the water.
“Kyle!” she shouted, “Look over here!”
Kyle came and looked where the bard was pointing. A single female figure floated in the water, waving a piece of white cloth in the air. The woman shouted something at them.
“She said ‘permission to come aboard’,” Lanara told Kyle, seeing that he couldn’t hear the strange woman.
Kyle frowned. “Who is she? Why is she out here?”
“Search me.”
“All right, let her come aboard. But be ready for anything.” Kyle turned and shouted for the crew to let some wind out of the sails so the ship would slow down a little.
The woman arrived at the side of the ship fairly quickly, and once she climbed up on the deck, everyone could see why – her lower body was in the form of a large fish. She was dressed in well-made clothing from the waist up, consisting of a leather tunic made from seal fur, decorated with pearls and scale-work designs. She wore a seashell necklace, which Kyle saw had a faint magical aura. The mermaid propped herself up on her tail, and then emptied the water out of her gills with a wet splortching sound. Although Arrie was down below with Autumn, and couldn’t be persuaded to leave her sister’s body alone for even a moment, the rest of the Legacy gathered around the mermaid. Both Kyle and Tolly tried to cast divinations on the mermaid, but found her to be quite strong-willed. Since she was unarmed, they decided to let it go without comment.
“Thank you,” she said, choosing not to address the spells being cast at her.
“Welcome aboard,” Kyle said, “now who are you and what do you want?”
Lanara nearly choked at Kyle’s abruptness, but the mermaid didn’t seem offended. “My exact name and rank aren’t important,” she said, “and in fact I would prefer to keep that to myself for now. Suffice it to say that I was once a noble in the Tauric Empire.”
The Legacy looked at each other. “Okay, that’s good enough to buy you a few minutes,” Lanara commented.
“I’ve come here for several reasons,” the mermaid continued. “One of which is to send a message to your continent’s military commanders.” She shifted her weight on her tail to get more comfortable on the hard deck. “You must know that not everyone in the Tauric Empire has sanctioned this activity, and many of us are either passively or actively resisting it behind the lines. Some of us did not think that simple subjugation of a new land was an adequate solution to our problem.”
“I’m hoping that it’s proving tougher for them than they thought,” Lanara commented.
The mermaid shrugged. “I don’t know the entirety of what is discussed in the military command structure. Unfortunately, there are few of us working to oppose the Empire’s invasion.” She looked up at the top of the mast. “I came because I see that you are flying the colors of your military alliance. A ship like yours in these waters is rare, and for my own safety I dare not cross through the seas controlled by my empire to reach your own navies.”
“What would you have of us?” Tolly asked.
“I would like for you to inform your generals and strategists that there are people on the other side who are willing to work with you to end this conflict.”
“That can be done,” Tolly said. “What else do you need?”
“That is all I require,” the mermaid replied. “Now that your people know to look for us, my people can make contact. Thank you for being willing to listen.”
“You said you had several reasons to talk to us,” Kyle said. “What were the other reasons?”
“I assumed that you might have some questions for me, as a noble in the Tauric Empire, about the nature of our people and the causes of this conflict,” she said.
The Legacy looked at each other again. “Forgive us for being rude,” Lanara said, “but how can we be sure that this information is accurate?”
The mermaid raised her right arm and placed it across her chest, fist clenched over her heart. “I swear by my honor as a disciple of the Order of the Sentinel that what I tell you is the truth.”
There was a slight pause. “Boy, Autumn’s going to be upset she wasn’t alive to meet you,” Osborn said.
“I think we do have a few questions for you,” Lanara said. “What can we do to make you more comfortable?”
“It would be easier if I could be in the water,” the mermaid admitted.
Kyle began walking down the stairs. “I’m sure Autumn won’t mind us borrowing the portable hole for a while,” he said. “Besides, it needed washing out anyway.”
* * *
Autumn stood at the entrance to Bail’s realm on Orcor, watching as a line of spirits walked through the ornate golden gates. For someone on the verge of entering paradise, the sentinel looked very glum.
The hound archon that stood next to her looked concerned. “What troubles you, child?” he asked. “Soon you will return to the mortal realm to continue our Lord’s work.”
Autumn’s soul had arrived at Bail’s gates some time ago (how long she couldn’t say; from her previous experience she knew that the passage of time worked differently here). She was about to enter when the archon now standing at her side appeared and detained her, explaining that an envoy from Ardara’s realm had already been sent informing them that one of the Earth Mother’s priests had communicated an intent to return her spirit to Aelfenn. It would be easier, the archon had explained, if she were to wait outside of Bail’s realm for that to occur.
“Look at these people,” Autumn said, gesturing to the line of spirits.
“I see them,” the archon stated. “They are the souls of hose who were faithful to our Lord in life, and are now being rewarded by joining Him.”
“Exactly. Why are any of them less deserving of a second chance than I?” Autumn complained. “Or in my case, a third chance.”
“Not all are meant to share the same fate, or have the same fortune,” the archon replied. “Your role in the mortal realm is unique, as is that of your companions. Has your father not explained this to you?”
“I don’t get to see my father much,” Autumn said.
“I see.”
“It’s just…” Autumn turned and looked at the shining gates behind her. “To have died twice now, to come to the very edge of my final reward, only to be snatched away at the last moment…”
“You have a choice in the matter,” the archon said. “You may choose to reject the gift of the Ardaran priest and remain.”
“No, I couldn’t do that to him,” she muttered.
“The priest?”
“Yes. No! I mean my husband.”
“Is he a follower of Bail as well? Or is he Ardaran too?”
“No, Eritan.”
“Ah.”
From far away, they saw a figure approaching the gate, one who stood out amidst the crowds of mortal souls. Eventually, a trumpet archon appeared. The hound archon by Autumn bowed low, and then they exchanged formalities in Axiomatic.
“I come on behalf of Ardara," the trumpet archon said, switching back to Common, "whose servant, Tolly Mulholland, known in mortal realms as Tolly Nightsleaving, has performed the rite of resurrection on behalf of the sentinel Autumn Goodson, also known as Autumn Verahannen, or Autumn Coviere. Is she present?”
“She is here,” the hound archon said, gesturing to Autumn.
The trumpet archon looked at Autumn. “Do you wish to return to the mortal realm, Autumn Goodson, to resume your life there?”
“I… I guess so.”
“I am afraid that I may only accept an answer of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in this case,” the trumpet archon replied. “There must be no doubt.”
“Yes.” Autumn said after a pause.
“And do you understand that in reversing your death, the goddess Erito will demand of you a Tithe, to be extracted from your willing spirit?”
“I do.”
“Very well. Come with me.”
Autumn began to follow the trumpet archon, who was already walking away. She looked back at the hound archon. “You can tell Bail that the next time I come here, I’m staying.”
“And what do you want from me?” a voice asked.
Autumn turned the other direction and saw a male figure standing nearby. He was dressed in impossibly resplendent clothing, looking literally like someone had drawn out precious metals and gems into threads and made cloth out of it. The two archons had gone prostrate. The man gestured, and they rose slowly.
“I’m… I’m sorry?” Autumn stammered.
“You have made me an offer,” Bail said. “And now I’m waiting to hear what my end of the bargain is supposed to be. In exchange for your vow that you will refuse any future attempts to return your spirit to Aelfenn, and will remain here in my realm as my servant, what do you wish of me?”
“I… I wasn’t asking for anything.”
“Please, child. I’m a trade god. A fair exchange of goods or services is called for here. What is fair to you? For most of my followers such a vow would have little meaning, as they will only die once. But for someone like you, with the friends you have… it’s a significant offer.”
“I’m not sure,” Autumn admitted. “I can’t think…”
“If I may,” the hound archon said, “I believe the child finds it difficult to know the value her offer carries, as it is not, for lack of a better term, a type of coin she is used to trading in.”
“An excellent point,” Bail said. “Would you advise her?”
“Of course, my Lord.” The hound archon turned to Autumn. “I would suggest asking our Lord Bail to pay Erito’s Tithe on your behalf. This would be an adequate starting point for negotiation.”
“All right.” Autumn turned to Bail. “In exchange for my vow, I wish for you to pay my Tithe to Erito.”
“Done!” Bail cried. “And, just because I like you, I’ll throw in a little something extra.”
“Extra?” Autumn asked.
“It’s a surprise. You would have gotten it anyway, I’ll just speed things up a bit.” Bail looked at the trumpet archon. “You may continue with your duties. Apologize to our Lady for the delay.”
“As you wish,” the trumpet archon said, bowing.*****
Silvery light emanated from Tolly’s hands as he performed the rite of resurrection. Her body had been prepared by Arrie, washed and draped in a spare section of sailcloth, which was the best thing they could find to cover her. Arrie sat at Autumn’s feet, and Kyle at her head, watching Tolly work.
As Tolly neared the end of the ritual, the light from Tolly’s hands suddenly flashed with a golden glow. He almost stumbled over the last line, but finished the rite.
“What was that?” Arrie asked, alarmed. “What was that flash? What happened?”
“I’m not certain,” Tolly said. “There was a momentary surge of energy. Not malign, but not Ardara.”
All three fell silent as they watched Autumn. After a few agonizing seconds, her skin flushed pink, and she took a deep breath as life returned to her body.
“Welcome back, Autumn.” Tolly said, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead. He lingered for a moment, then stepped back.
“Thanks,” she said quietly. She looked up and saw Kyle over her. “Hi, honey.”
“Glad you’re back, sunshine.”
Autumn’s eyes darted down to where Arrie was sitting impatiently. “So, how bad was she?”
“Oh, she was fairly passive in her craziness this time,” Kyle said.
“I was not crazy,” Arrie said sternly, standing up.
“Of course not, Arrie. You know I’m only joking.” Kyle kissed Autumn and then stood to let Arrie take his place. As the warrior passed by, Kyle looked back at Autumn and mouthed “crazy!”
“You know, we’re going to have to talk about your penchant for ending up in fatal predicaments,” Arrie said as she sat down. “We’ll have to buy a diamond mine of our own just to keep Tolly supplied.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. I don’t think it’ll happen again.”
“Sure, you say that now,” Arrie said. “But just you wait.”
“Okay, okay,” Autumn laughed. She squirmed a little, rubbing her shoulders against the hard wooden platform she was laying on. “Damn. Seems like I can’t get away from this damn itch even by dying. I swear, I’m going to… ow!”
“What?” Arrie was standing up, hand on her weapon. Tolly and Kyle had stepped closer as well. “What’s wrong?”
“My back!” she cried, “it feels like it’s on fire! It’s… aaiiee!”
Autumn lurched forward into a sitting position, letting the sailcloth drop away. Her face was twisted in agony. The others could see two large, writhing lumps pushing out from her bare back at the shoulder blades.
“What is it?” Arrie cried, grabbing Kyle by the arm. “What are those things?”
“I don’t know!”
Arrie pulled Anyweapon out of it sheath, forming it into a long, curved knife. She was about to cut into one of the lumps when she was knocked back by the force of two huge, feathery wings bursting out of Autumn’s back. Tiny feathers floated around the room, but there was no blood, and the flesh around the base of the wings seemed to have neatly sealed up, as if the wings had always been there. Everyone, Autumn included, stared in amazement at the white feathers, tipped with gold.
Everyone stood or sat in silent amazement, Autumn too stunned to even cover herself. After a while, Tolly turned and began walking out of the cabin.
“Where are you going?” Kyle asked.
“To try and fashion some sort of forge,” Tolly replied. “Autumn’s armor will require some adjustments.”
---------------------
* And this is why you don't send ships after a high-level cleric who has had time to prepare for naval combat.
** In effect, elementals summoned or called via nature magic are native outsiders. Divinely-summoned elementals originate from the planetary domains of the four elemental deities, whereas druidic elementals are formed from the elemental energy present on Aelfenn itself.
*** Best. Spell. Ever. The save DC was 17; the maenad had a +17 Will modifier. Guess what she rolled?
**** i.e., Kyle made a Knowledge (Nature) roll and remembered that sonic energy heals storm elementals.
***** The deal with Bail was not pre-planned. Tolly had used resurrection already to bring Autumn back, level loss and everything. But Autumn's player made the off-hand comment about "telling Bail that next time I'll stay" (she's not a believer in unlimited resurrections), which then led to an impromptu role-play bargaining session (Bail is, in fact, a god of trade). What is significant is that Autumn has yet to tell any of the rest of us about this deal...
Autumn dashed up onto deck, straightening the shoulder plates on her armor as her husband bellowed orders. “What’s going on?”
Kyle pointed west, out over the water. “A new ship, on an intercept course,” he said. “They’re making their move.”
Autumn looked, and saw the ship approaching fast. Looking behind them, she saw that the other five ships were still there, but were also closing in.
“Bail’s Mane!” Autumn swore. “What can I do?”
“Just join the others, and we’ll get ready to meet them,” Kyle said. “We’ll try and get as many ships as we can before they get here.” Kyle cast a spell, and suddenly several unseen servants appeared and took hold of various ropes, maintaining a steady course. “Break out the weapons!” Kyle shouted, “leave the sailing to the servants!”
As the sailors scrambled about, pulling on leather armor and readying spears and bows, the Legacy gathered at the bow of the ship. Kyle and Tolly cast several spells in preparation, and then turned their attention to the approaching flotilla. The warships had formed up into two waves, and were closing fast, with three ships leading the attack and the other two following behind as a reserve. Tolly cast, and a blade barrier appeared in the air just in front of one ship. A minute later, the battered vessel lurched and began to fall behind, its tattered, bloody sails flapping in the wind. Another spell by Tolly sent an enormous gout of greenish slime at the other ship, which quickly dissolved the wooden craft down to the water line. Finally, he sent more divine magic into the water just in front of the third ship, which began to churn and swirl into a large vortex, causing the vessel to spin out of control.*
“That should give us some room to breathe,” Tolly said.
“There’s the understatement of the year,” Lanara commented.
“The year’s not even a day old,” Osborn pointed out. “We’ve got time to top it.”
Meanwhile, Kyle, Arrie, and Autumn had moved to the bow, looking at the rapidly approaching sixth ship. Arrie had taken out her double bow, and was firing arrows at the enemy crew; Autumn was doing likewise with her crossbow. The ship was close enough that they could see some of the officers of the other ships aboard this new vessel. Kyle recognized the centaur, the dracotaur, the raptoran, and one of the human officers, who was carrying a bastard sword across his back. There was a fifth figure aboard that none of them had seen until now; a human woman, with a sword strapped to her waist.
“The sixth ship is a faster vessel that the war galleys,” Kyle said, “they must have picked up their strike force last night, and circled around to cut us off.”
The rest of the crew were firing arrows at the Tauric ship, and not surprisingly the Taurics were firing back. When six elves fell dead after a brutal volley, Kyle ordered the sailors to get below. Arrie couldn’t help but notice that the arrows coming in were extremely large, nearly five feet long, and had been deadly accurate. She also noted that they were all the same style, which led her to believe that all of the enemy missile fire was coming from one person.
As the ship drew close enough, Kyle cast a defenestrating sphere and began hurling Tauric sailors off the deck, pausing only long enough to cloak himself in a greater invisibility. Unfortunately, the fact that Kyle was close enough to cast spells at the Taurics meant they were free to do likewise. Tolly was hit by a freezing ray from the raptoran that nearly encapsulated him in ice before he was able to shake himself free, and a second later the dracotaur hit him with a greater dispel magic. Most of the spells on Tolly held, but he lost both his status spell and the telepathic bond that Kyle had placed earlier, depriving him of the two means by which he would be able to keep track of the party’s well-being.
The Legacy shifted their positions to meet the incoming threat. Arrie and Osborn moved to the forecastle, taking a few last shots at the Tauric ship, while Tolly and Lanara stood in the middle near the mast, the former casting a vigorous circle while the latter sang. Autumn waited at the aft castle next to her husband.
“You know, I am invisible,” Kyle said to Autumn. “You could go help the others.”
“Not a chance,” she said. “If I leave, you’ll do something stupid like teleport yourself over to the other ship.”
“No I wouldn’t,” Kyle pouted, as he mentally adjusted his plans.
The raptoran launched herself into the air, screaming. Suddenly, the low dark clouds that had been overhead began to roil, and then formed into the shape of a large, angry creature that descended rapidly toward the Armadillo.
“That one’s all yours, Kyle,” Arrie thought over the bond, as she launched an arrow at the raptoran druid. But it was Autumn who first had to deal with the storm elemental, shaking off the effects of the creature’s electrical aura even as it slammed into her with fists that shouldn’t have hit as hard as they did, considering they were made of clouds. Gritting her teeth, Autumn focused pain into steely determination, and with a shouted oath to Bail struck back. The blow hit with the force of a thunderclap, and the elemental reeled. The rest of the party, inspired by the sentinel’s example, attacked with renewed vigor. Arrie, after taking two shots from the centaur’s bow, used her piscrown to launch herself into the air and shoved her newly formed greatspear into the raptoran’s guts. Kyle tried to petrify the flying druid, but she resisted his spell, and then cast an enchantment of her own at Lanara. The cansin felt a brief wave of irresistible hunger, and for a moment the thought of taking a bite out of Tolly’s back crossed her mind. But simple revulsion at the thought of getting that close to the Ardaran priest helped her shake off the spell’s affects quickly.
As the Tauric ship finally drew alongside, the unfamiliar female shot a blast of dark, corrupting energy at Osborn, and then leapt from one ship to the other in a single standing bound. Kyle tried to catch her in a cone of cold, but when the spell hit, a shimmering bubble appeared around her and absorbed most of the damage. Kyle took a quick peek through his staff, and confirmed his suspicion; the woman was laden with psionic auras. Everyone else noticed that the woman was not human, but had the tell-tale diamond-dust skin of a maenad. She immediately rushed to where Tolly and Lanara stood, and engaged both opponents at once, wielding a wooden sword. At the same time, the other ‘human’ on the Tauric ship also made a leap to the Armadillo, shifting in midair into the form of a snarling werewolf. The lycanthrope closed in on Osborn, but attacked with a large, wicked looking bastard sword. Osborn did his best to put some distance between himself and the werewolf so he could throw daggers, but the small confines of the ship’s deck made this difficult.
The centaur and the dracotaur remained on their own ship, the dracotaur casting spells, and the centaur peppering the party with arrows. Tolly’s plate armor was punctured by several shafts, tearing through the metal as though it was paper and even ignoring the protection of his iron body spell. Tolly pulled one free with a grunt, and noticed that the arrowheads were made of adamantium. “Wonderful,” Tolly grimaced, and returned to the task of dispatching the maenad.
Arrie was involved in a three-way aerial battle with the raptoran and the elemental at the stern of the two ships, trying to ward off both at once. She wheeled to slash at the elemental, which gave the druid an opening. But rather than attacking Arrie, the raptoran swooped down, casting a spell, and struck Tolly with a rusting grasp, causing flakes of iron flesh to fall away. Lanara, staying out of the way of the maenad with the wooden sword, slightly altered her bardic song, setting up a harmonic dissonance to try to disrupt the dracotaur’s spells. Despite this, the Tauric spellcaster was able to get a spell off, and Autumn was hit by a blast of acid from the dracotaur, which clung to her armor and sizzled as it worked its way through her flesh. The blast hit Kyle, too, but his own wards protected him from most of the damage. The dracotaur tried to cast again, but this time Tolly was ready, and countered the spell as it was forming. As Autumn took another powerful swing at the elemental, reveling in the damage she was inflicting on the creature, Kyle produced a second staff and threw a wall of fire across the deck of the other ship, blocking the line of sight of the dracotaur and centaur.
Looking around, Tolly saw that many of his companions were bleeding freely. He saw Autumn stagger a bit under a blow from the elemental, and he immediately stepped back and threw out a mass cure spell, channeling it through his armbands to amplify its effects. The spell helped immensely, but the casting gave the maenad an opening to slice her strange blade across Lanara’s stomach. To the cansin’s dismay, she discovered that the wooden sword cut just as deeply as a steel one.
The werewolf attacking Osborn lunged in, swinging his bastard sword, and then suddenly feinted and lunged in with his snarling, drooling jaws, sinking his teeth deep into Osborn’s forearm. The hin wrenched his arm free, and tried to ignore the fact that there was now copious amounts of lycanthrope spit in the open wound. In response, Osborn tumbled back and unleashed a hail of daggers. Although most of the wounds began to close up as soon as the daggers hit, there were simply too many wounds for the werewolf to bear, and with a whine the werewolf collapsed, shifting back to human form.
Arrie decided to leave the elemental to her sister, and swooped down to attack the raptoran druid again, leaving another gaping hole in the nature priestesses’ torso. But the elemental, clearly trying to protect its master, swooped in and grabbed on to the flying warrior, gripping her tightly in its maelstrom-like appendages. The elemental then flew up out of Autumn’s range, having grown wary of the sentinel’s prowess. Spitting a last oath at the elemental, Autumn went in to help Lanara ward off the maenad, who’d just resisted an unluck spell the bard had tried to cast.
Kyle looked around, sizing up the opposition to determine where he could help the most. He considered trying to banish the storm elemental to help Arrie escape its grasp, but suddenly realized that the spell would be ineffective; nature magic drew its power from Aelfenn itself, so the elemental’s ‘home plane’ was this one**. He was just aiming a polar ray at the cloud-beast when the raptoran uttered a word of balance. When the expected jolt did not come, Kyle looked around; a quick survey told him that the spell had not affected his friends much. Kyle took aim at the massive cloud-creature again, when he felt a twinge from one of his abjurations. Something had attempted to teleport nearby, and had been caught by his greater anticipate teleportation. Something large, and draconic. Kyle grinned. Now he had to decide where exactly to deposit the dracotaur.
Meanwhile, Arrie had slipped out of the arms of the elemental, using her psicrown’s freedom of movement power and then flying away. She was nearly exhausted from the constant barrage of electrical fury, and needed a moment to clear her head. Looking around, she saw the raptoran druid swooping around to the bow, where the maenad was being assaulted by four of her companions. Tolly had summoned a huge fist of energy, and was using it to try and push the maenad off the side. Autumn and Lanara had both leapt in and landed solid blows with their weapons, while Osborn’s daggers were now protruding from several places in the psion’s body. Unfortunately, with a triumphant shout, the druid was able to cast a spell, and the maenad’s wounds vanished, even though the two were separated by at least twenty feet of open sky. To add insult to injury, the maenad’s psionic defenses absorbed the damage from Lanara’s shout.
“Damn,” Arrie said, and was about to dive in to help re-wound the maenad, when the elemental swooped in and slammed into her with two massive fists, forcing her to again deal with her tempestuous foe.
Tolly was about to finish pushing the maenad over the edge of the ship, and then use his Ardara’s clenched fist to hold her under the water, but he caught a sudden movement from the corner of his eye, and looked up. The centaur had jumped through the wall of fire, singeing itself badly as it landed on the deck of the Armadillo, three arrows already notched and drawn. The bowstring sang as the arrows found their mark in Tolly’s chest. If not for the fact that he was currently made of iron, the blow probably would have knocked the wind out of him. As it was, his vision was blurring, and so he was forced to break off his attack on the maenad and heal himself.
Kyle, seeing Tolly stumble, targeted the centaur with a stun ray. The Tauric archer’s eyes glazed, and he staggered a bit as the spell took hold. “Get him now!” Kyle shouted over the telepathic bond, “While he’s out of it!”
Autumn and Arrie quickly moved to take Kyle’s advice, hacking into the stunned centaur with fresh fury. Tolly tried to grab onto the raptoran with his fist, but she easily slipped out of its enormous grip, clearly protected by magic from any attempt to bind her. Lanara, trying to take over where the cleric had left off, pulled out her new decanter of endless water and, bracing herself against the mast, turned it on the maenad. The torrential rush knocked the psion to the ground, keeping her from reaching Lanara with her wicked wooden sword, but the maenad had other tricks as well. She looked over at Osborn, who was still peppering her with daggers, and suddenly a vortex of silvery energy appeared under the hin’s feet. Osborn fell down through the hole, and a moment later emerged from a matching vortex suspended directly over Kyle’s wall of fire. A battered Osborn fell through the flames, and then splashed into the open sea.
The elemental swooped down toward the deck, and seeing a large number of his enemies gathered together, it unleashed a blast of thunder and lightning on the deck. The Armadillo rocked and lurched at the force of the blow. Both Autumn and Arrie collapsed under the onslaught, and Kyle, who was caught in the area, nearly joined them. He fired a polar ray back at the elemental, who veered away, wanting to get away from the pain but unable to find its source. Lanara was just able to avoid the worst of the blast thanks to a last-second spell.
The centaur and the maenad, who were also in the blast, were wounded by the elemental’s power as well, but the druid swooped low and cast another healing spell, closing up their wounds. Scowling, Tolly reached out with divine power and dispelled the freedom of movement on the raptoran, making her an easy target for his clenched fist.
Nearby, Osborn was swimming back to the ship, crossing the distance easily thanks to his own ring of freedom of movement. The climb back on to the smooth, wet iron plates of the Armadillo proved trickier, and his first attempt failed. He managed to grab on to a stray bit of netting that had come loose along the stern, and used that to begin climbing up to the deck.
At about the same time, the dracotaur reappeared, ready to unleash death on the first thing he saw.
The first thing he saw was the iron keel of the Armadillo, bearing down on him fast as he dropped into the sea just in front of the ship.
With only a second before being engulfed, the dracotaur cast a vitriolic sphere at the ship, hoping the acid from the spell would quickly eat through the hull and allow him to climb in. Unfortunately for the Tauric sorcerer, he underestimated exactly how much armor plating his enemies had been willing to place on their ship, and so the acid had only eaten halfway through when he was struck by the keel and pulled under.
The maenad managed to get another swing in on Lanara, despite the bard’s attempts to ward her off with the decanter, cutting deep into the cansin’s leg. Kyle tried channeling a greater dispel magic through the Scion’s Staff, converting the arcane energy into psionic power in order to strip the maenad’s wards, but he succeeded in only removing one power. Meanwhile, the elemental, seeing that its first victim was down, turned to Tolly, who was attempting to rebuke the creature of air. With a rush of wind that sounded like a scream, the elemental rushed toward the Ardaran, ignoring the burst of divine energy coming from him, and grabbed onto Tolly, dragging him kicking and struggling over the side of the ship and dropping him into the water with a loud splash.
Kyle moved over to where Arrie lay sprawled on the deck. Checking her pulse, he pulled out a healing potion and poured it down her throat. Groaning, she opened her eyes.
“Nap time’s over,” he said. “See if you can deal with that centaur while I get to Autumn.”
“Right,” she said, climbing to her feet and picking up Anyweapon, and then taking a split second to use her psionic power to revitalize herself. Arrie saw the centaur draw back with three arrows and fire at Lanara, who had managed to incapacitate the maenad with a lucky hideous laughter spell*** and was now gleefully hosing down the giggling psion. She leveled her spear at the centaur and charged in, the tip biting deep into his flank. The three arrows buried themselves deep into the mast.
Suddenly aware of the danger, Lanara pulled out another one of her recent acquisitions; a metal rod to which three wands were attached. All three wands discharged at the centaur at once, and he was left reeling under the barrage of spells, disoriented and weak. At the same time, Tolly suddenly reappeared out of nowhere on the other side of the archer, his maul in mid-swing. The centaur, lurching forward in confusion to try and avoid Arrie’s spear, put the momentum of his own weight straight into Tolly’s blow. Twitching, the centaur went down.
With a smile of grim satisfaction on his face, Tolly turned to the druid, still struggling to escape his clenched fist. With a thought, he plunged the fist into the water, carrying the raptoran with it. He looked down and saw her shift into the shape of a shark, and so he pulled her out again. He glared at her as he watched her thrash.
“I can keep this up for a while,” he said, “and you can change forms only so many times. Surrender now.”
The druid’s response came from the storm elemental, who swooped in and battered Tolly from behind again. Both Kyle and Arrie turned their attention to the elemental, trying to draw it off, while Lanara continued to harass the laughing maenad in case she had any other tricks. At the stern of the ship, the dracotaur managed to catch on to the loose netting and began pulling himself to the deck. About halfway up, he looked up to see Osborn looking down at him.
“I don’t think you have permission to board,” the hin said, a pair of daggers in his hands. A moment later, the dracotaur was dead, hanging limply from the netting with the hilts of two daggers protruding from his eye sockets.
At mid-ship, a ferocious battle still raged between the elemental, Arrie, and Tolly. Kyle, off to one side, focused his concentration as he prepared his next spell, taking a few extra seconds to let the energy build up. He was about to unleash it on the elemental, when he suddenly remembered something****, and at the last second he turned and unleashed a blast of sonic energy at the raptoran druid, turning her into paste.
With a sound like a bolt of lightning striking a tree, the elemental went berserk at the loss of its mistress. But without her guidance its attacks were unfocused and wild, and Arrie and Tolly were soon able to strike fatal blows that dissipated the creature like a summer storm. They lowered their weapons, and were about to turn and help Autumn when the Armadillo lurched, sending them all staggering. They heard cries of panic and alarm from below decks.
“We’ve been breached!” Kyle shouted, turning visible again.
“By what?” Lanara asked. “The other ships are leaving!” Sure enough, the two remaining Tauric war galleys were coming about and heading away from the Armadillo.
Tolly had run up to the bow of the ship, and was looking over the railing. “There’s a hole through the ship,” he shouted. “It looks like it was eaten through by acid. We’re taking on water.” He moved his clenched fist around to the bow, jamming it into the gaping hole. “I’ll do what I can from here,” he said.
“I’ll go below to see what I can do,” Kyle said. “Arrie, get the crew up on deck and start getting the horses and essential supplies up here, too. Osborn, Lanara,” he looked over at the maenad, still under Lanara’s spell, “finish that off.”
Kyle rushed down below, which was already knee deep in water. He shouted orders to the sailors he saw nearby, directing them to get the horses up on deck. He pushed his way forward to the bow, wondering what he could do to plug the hole. He’d used up a lot of power in the battle, and what he had left wasn’t up to the task.
He burst into the cargo hold at the ship’s fore, and saw the hole in the vessel, roughly seven feet wide. He also saw Tolly’s horse standing right in front of the hole, ignoring the sea water rushing through. As Kyle watched, the horse touched the wall of the ship with its muzzle, and the iron plating outside began to shift and flow together, efficiently sealing the hole.
Once the hole was sealed and the water was no longer rushing in, the horse’s ears pricked up. Its head turned, and it saw Kyle standing there, mouth agape.
“Oh, bugger,” Kyle heard the horse mutter.
* * *
Tolly was still at the bow when Kyle came up the stairs. “How bad is it?”
“It’s… fine,” he said slowly. “All fixed.”
Tolly looked down, and gingerly pulled his fist away from the ship. Sure enough, the armor plating was whole and solid again, as though it had never been touched. Impressive work, Tolly thought.
“Now we can finally tend to Autumn,” said Kyle. “She’s going to be upset that she missed the end of the…” he stopped short, and stared blankly across the deck. Arrie sat quietly near the forecastle, next to Autumn’s limp body, with her head in her lap. The warrior was stroking the sentinel’s hair, talking quietly to her. There was a glazed look in Arrie’s eyes.
“Oh, no,” Lanara said, looking over at the scene.
Kyle just stared at the two women. Tolly walked over next to him and regarded the scene.
“Suddenly I’m glad they didn’t surrender,” Tolly said. “I can bring her back tomorrow, Kyle.”
The wizard’s eyes burned. “Ready the cannon.”
“What?”
“Ready the cannon!” he shouted suddenly, his robes twirling around him as he stormed back down below. “Helmsman, bring us about on a pursuit course!”
“We’ll never catch them, Captain!” the helmsman shouted.
“We’re not catching them.”
As the sailors prepped the cannon below decks, Tolly went back up to the bow and stared out at the two fleeing ships. He looked back at Autumn’s body below, and then his hand dropped into a pocket and pulled out a small griffon figurine.
“What are you waiting for?” Osborn asked, walking up to the cleric while cleaning off his daggers.
“Waiting to see which ship Kyle destroys,” he said, “so that I can get the other one.”
* * *
By late morning, the Armadillo had turned south, leaving the flaming wreckage of the last two Tauric warships behind them. The smaller Tauric sloop, which was relatively unharmed, was recovered and now sailed behind the Armadillo, manned by a skeleton crew. They’d taken the ship as a spoil of war, and Kyle intended to hand it over to the elven crew once they reached port. They figured that the elves would have an easier time sailing home in the fast, Tauric-designed ship than they would waiting for the Armadillo.
That afternoon, Lanara was standing by the starboard railing, having just finished using her decanter to hose off the copious amounts of blood on the deck, when she spotted something odd in the water.
“Kyle!” she shouted, “Look over here!”
Kyle came and looked where the bard was pointing. A single female figure floated in the water, waving a piece of white cloth in the air. The woman shouted something at them.
“She said ‘permission to come aboard’,” Lanara told Kyle, seeing that he couldn’t hear the strange woman.
Kyle frowned. “Who is she? Why is she out here?”
“Search me.”
“All right, let her come aboard. But be ready for anything.” Kyle turned and shouted for the crew to let some wind out of the sails so the ship would slow down a little.
The woman arrived at the side of the ship fairly quickly, and once she climbed up on the deck, everyone could see why – her lower body was in the form of a large fish. She was dressed in well-made clothing from the waist up, consisting of a leather tunic made from seal fur, decorated with pearls and scale-work designs. She wore a seashell necklace, which Kyle saw had a faint magical aura. The mermaid propped herself up on her tail, and then emptied the water out of her gills with a wet splortching sound. Although Arrie was down below with Autumn, and couldn’t be persuaded to leave her sister’s body alone for even a moment, the rest of the Legacy gathered around the mermaid. Both Kyle and Tolly tried to cast divinations on the mermaid, but found her to be quite strong-willed. Since she was unarmed, they decided to let it go without comment.
“Thank you,” she said, choosing not to address the spells being cast at her.
“Welcome aboard,” Kyle said, “now who are you and what do you want?”
Lanara nearly choked at Kyle’s abruptness, but the mermaid didn’t seem offended. “My exact name and rank aren’t important,” she said, “and in fact I would prefer to keep that to myself for now. Suffice it to say that I was once a noble in the Tauric Empire.”
The Legacy looked at each other. “Okay, that’s good enough to buy you a few minutes,” Lanara commented.
“I’ve come here for several reasons,” the mermaid continued. “One of which is to send a message to your continent’s military commanders.” She shifted her weight on her tail to get more comfortable on the hard deck. “You must know that not everyone in the Tauric Empire has sanctioned this activity, and many of us are either passively or actively resisting it behind the lines. Some of us did not think that simple subjugation of a new land was an adequate solution to our problem.”
“I’m hoping that it’s proving tougher for them than they thought,” Lanara commented.
The mermaid shrugged. “I don’t know the entirety of what is discussed in the military command structure. Unfortunately, there are few of us working to oppose the Empire’s invasion.” She looked up at the top of the mast. “I came because I see that you are flying the colors of your military alliance. A ship like yours in these waters is rare, and for my own safety I dare not cross through the seas controlled by my empire to reach your own navies.”
“What would you have of us?” Tolly asked.
“I would like for you to inform your generals and strategists that there are people on the other side who are willing to work with you to end this conflict.”
“That can be done,” Tolly said. “What else do you need?”
“That is all I require,” the mermaid replied. “Now that your people know to look for us, my people can make contact. Thank you for being willing to listen.”
“You said you had several reasons to talk to us,” Kyle said. “What were the other reasons?”
“I assumed that you might have some questions for me, as a noble in the Tauric Empire, about the nature of our people and the causes of this conflict,” she said.
The Legacy looked at each other again. “Forgive us for being rude,” Lanara said, “but how can we be sure that this information is accurate?”
The mermaid raised her right arm and placed it across her chest, fist clenched over her heart. “I swear by my honor as a disciple of the Order of the Sentinel that what I tell you is the truth.”
There was a slight pause. “Boy, Autumn’s going to be upset she wasn’t alive to meet you,” Osborn said.
“I think we do have a few questions for you,” Lanara said. “What can we do to make you more comfortable?”
“It would be easier if I could be in the water,” the mermaid admitted.
Kyle began walking down the stairs. “I’m sure Autumn won’t mind us borrowing the portable hole for a while,” he said. “Besides, it needed washing out anyway.”
* * *
Autumn stood at the entrance to Bail’s realm on Orcor, watching as a line of spirits walked through the ornate golden gates. For someone on the verge of entering paradise, the sentinel looked very glum.
The hound archon that stood next to her looked concerned. “What troubles you, child?” he asked. “Soon you will return to the mortal realm to continue our Lord’s work.”
Autumn’s soul had arrived at Bail’s gates some time ago (how long she couldn’t say; from her previous experience she knew that the passage of time worked differently here). She was about to enter when the archon now standing at her side appeared and detained her, explaining that an envoy from Ardara’s realm had already been sent informing them that one of the Earth Mother’s priests had communicated an intent to return her spirit to Aelfenn. It would be easier, the archon had explained, if she were to wait outside of Bail’s realm for that to occur.
“Look at these people,” Autumn said, gesturing to the line of spirits.
“I see them,” the archon stated. “They are the souls of hose who were faithful to our Lord in life, and are now being rewarded by joining Him.”
“Exactly. Why are any of them less deserving of a second chance than I?” Autumn complained. “Or in my case, a third chance.”
“Not all are meant to share the same fate, or have the same fortune,” the archon replied. “Your role in the mortal realm is unique, as is that of your companions. Has your father not explained this to you?”
“I don’t get to see my father much,” Autumn said.
“I see.”
“It’s just…” Autumn turned and looked at the shining gates behind her. “To have died twice now, to come to the very edge of my final reward, only to be snatched away at the last moment…”
“You have a choice in the matter,” the archon said. “You may choose to reject the gift of the Ardaran priest and remain.”
“No, I couldn’t do that to him,” she muttered.
“The priest?”
“Yes. No! I mean my husband.”
“Is he a follower of Bail as well? Or is he Ardaran too?”
“No, Eritan.”
“Ah.”
From far away, they saw a figure approaching the gate, one who stood out amidst the crowds of mortal souls. Eventually, a trumpet archon appeared. The hound archon by Autumn bowed low, and then they exchanged formalities in Axiomatic.
“I come on behalf of Ardara," the trumpet archon said, switching back to Common, "whose servant, Tolly Mulholland, known in mortal realms as Tolly Nightsleaving, has performed the rite of resurrection on behalf of the sentinel Autumn Goodson, also known as Autumn Verahannen, or Autumn Coviere. Is she present?”
“She is here,” the hound archon said, gesturing to Autumn.
The trumpet archon looked at Autumn. “Do you wish to return to the mortal realm, Autumn Goodson, to resume your life there?”
“I… I guess so.”
“I am afraid that I may only accept an answer of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in this case,” the trumpet archon replied. “There must be no doubt.”
“Yes.” Autumn said after a pause.
“And do you understand that in reversing your death, the goddess Erito will demand of you a Tithe, to be extracted from your willing spirit?”
“I do.”
“Very well. Come with me.”
Autumn began to follow the trumpet archon, who was already walking away. She looked back at the hound archon. “You can tell Bail that the next time I come here, I’m staying.”
“And what do you want from me?” a voice asked.
Autumn turned the other direction and saw a male figure standing nearby. He was dressed in impossibly resplendent clothing, looking literally like someone had drawn out precious metals and gems into threads and made cloth out of it. The two archons had gone prostrate. The man gestured, and they rose slowly.
“I’m… I’m sorry?” Autumn stammered.
“You have made me an offer,” Bail said. “And now I’m waiting to hear what my end of the bargain is supposed to be. In exchange for your vow that you will refuse any future attempts to return your spirit to Aelfenn, and will remain here in my realm as my servant, what do you wish of me?”
“I… I wasn’t asking for anything.”
“Please, child. I’m a trade god. A fair exchange of goods or services is called for here. What is fair to you? For most of my followers such a vow would have little meaning, as they will only die once. But for someone like you, with the friends you have… it’s a significant offer.”
“I’m not sure,” Autumn admitted. “I can’t think…”
“If I may,” the hound archon said, “I believe the child finds it difficult to know the value her offer carries, as it is not, for lack of a better term, a type of coin she is used to trading in.”
“An excellent point,” Bail said. “Would you advise her?”
“Of course, my Lord.” The hound archon turned to Autumn. “I would suggest asking our Lord Bail to pay Erito’s Tithe on your behalf. This would be an adequate starting point for negotiation.”
“All right.” Autumn turned to Bail. “In exchange for my vow, I wish for you to pay my Tithe to Erito.”
“Done!” Bail cried. “And, just because I like you, I’ll throw in a little something extra.”
“Extra?” Autumn asked.
“It’s a surprise. You would have gotten it anyway, I’ll just speed things up a bit.” Bail looked at the trumpet archon. “You may continue with your duties. Apologize to our Lady for the delay.”
“As you wish,” the trumpet archon said, bowing.*****
* * *
Silvery light emanated from Tolly’s hands as he performed the rite of resurrection. Her body had been prepared by Arrie, washed and draped in a spare section of sailcloth, which was the best thing they could find to cover her. Arrie sat at Autumn’s feet, and Kyle at her head, watching Tolly work.
As Tolly neared the end of the ritual, the light from Tolly’s hands suddenly flashed with a golden glow. He almost stumbled over the last line, but finished the rite.
“What was that?” Arrie asked, alarmed. “What was that flash? What happened?”
“I’m not certain,” Tolly said. “There was a momentary surge of energy. Not malign, but not Ardara.”
All three fell silent as they watched Autumn. After a few agonizing seconds, her skin flushed pink, and she took a deep breath as life returned to her body.
“Welcome back, Autumn.” Tolly said, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead. He lingered for a moment, then stepped back.
“Thanks,” she said quietly. She looked up and saw Kyle over her. “Hi, honey.”
“Glad you’re back, sunshine.”
Autumn’s eyes darted down to where Arrie was sitting impatiently. “So, how bad was she?”
“Oh, she was fairly passive in her craziness this time,” Kyle said.
“I was not crazy,” Arrie said sternly, standing up.
“Of course not, Arrie. You know I’m only joking.” Kyle kissed Autumn and then stood to let Arrie take his place. As the warrior passed by, Kyle looked back at Autumn and mouthed “crazy!”
“You know, we’re going to have to talk about your penchant for ending up in fatal predicaments,” Arrie said as she sat down. “We’ll have to buy a diamond mine of our own just to keep Tolly supplied.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. I don’t think it’ll happen again.”
“Sure, you say that now,” Arrie said. “But just you wait.”
“Okay, okay,” Autumn laughed. She squirmed a little, rubbing her shoulders against the hard wooden platform she was laying on. “Damn. Seems like I can’t get away from this damn itch even by dying. I swear, I’m going to… ow!”
“What?” Arrie was standing up, hand on her weapon. Tolly and Kyle had stepped closer as well. “What’s wrong?”
“My back!” she cried, “it feels like it’s on fire! It’s… aaiiee!”
Autumn lurched forward into a sitting position, letting the sailcloth drop away. Her face was twisted in agony. The others could see two large, writhing lumps pushing out from her bare back at the shoulder blades.
“What is it?” Arrie cried, grabbing Kyle by the arm. “What are those things?”
“I don’t know!”
Arrie pulled Anyweapon out of it sheath, forming it into a long, curved knife. She was about to cut into one of the lumps when she was knocked back by the force of two huge, feathery wings bursting out of Autumn’s back. Tiny feathers floated around the room, but there was no blood, and the flesh around the base of the wings seemed to have neatly sealed up, as if the wings had always been there. Everyone, Autumn included, stared in amazement at the white feathers, tipped with gold.
Everyone stood or sat in silent amazement, Autumn too stunned to even cover herself. After a while, Tolly turned and began walking out of the cabin.
“Where are you going?” Kyle asked.
“To try and fashion some sort of forge,” Tolly replied. “Autumn’s armor will require some adjustments.”
---------------------
* And this is why you don't send ships after a high-level cleric who has had time to prepare for naval combat.
** In effect, elementals summoned or called via nature magic are native outsiders. Divinely-summoned elementals originate from the planetary domains of the four elemental deities, whereas druidic elementals are formed from the elemental energy present on Aelfenn itself.
*** Best. Spell. Ever. The save DC was 17; the maenad had a +17 Will modifier. Guess what she rolled?
**** i.e., Kyle made a Knowledge (Nature) roll and remembered that sonic energy heals storm elementals.
***** The deal with Bail was not pre-planned. Tolly had used resurrection already to bring Autumn back, level loss and everything. But Autumn's player made the off-hand comment about "telling Bail that next time I'll stay" (she's not a believer in unlimited resurrections), which then led to an impromptu role-play bargaining session (Bail is, in fact, a god of trade). What is significant is that Autumn has yet to tell any of the rest of us about this deal...
Delemental
First Post
Ed Gentry said:
Thanks, Ed. Good to be getting back into the swing of things after the holidays.
Sorry I haven't kept up with this SH of late, real life having interfered. Wonderful story, as usual. I have two comments: first, what was the maenad's ultimate fate? Did Lanara finishe her off? And second, Lanara doesn't seem very effective in combat. Her spells mostly seem to fizzle away uselessly, and when they succeed it seems to be because the opponents roll really low. I mean, she might actually be quite effective, but IMHO she doesn't come across that way right now.
Krafus said:
I can answer this one--Lanara's player, traditionally (and I say it that way because it happens in every single RPG I have ever seen her in) has the worst luck with opposing saving throws. If a GM is having an off night rolling, all he needs to turn things around is roll a save against one of her abilities. Another point is that she tends to use items more than her inherent spells--and they inevitably have much lower DC's. The reality of the matter is, though, we don't need her to be effective in combat. When she starts singing, and uses her instruments of the bard, everyone in hearing range starts seeing a +6 to attack and damage, and her other song abilities are excellent for what she is--support for those of us who are combat monkeys, like the sisters, and to a lesser extent, Tolly. We encourage her to not attack more often than not, just so we don't lose our precious songstress. So, while she may not be overwhelming in H2H, we love her just the same.
Delemental
First Post
Krafus said:
The maenad was, effectively, curb-stomped by Osborn and Lanara in the last round. When you're prone and unable to take any actions, there's not a lot you can do to escape the damage being done to you.
As for her effectiveness, well, Lanara's player shares a similar curse to mine; I can't roll high numbers on dice, and she can't seem to get a GM to roll anything but high numbers when making saves against her spells. As Sinewgrab already explained, however, her strength lies in her bardic music abilities. But all Lanara has to do is inspire courage for one round, and we're good for the next five after that even if she stops singing - she might as well do something in those five rounds.
And to be honest, a lot of the time she's using defensive stuff that does work, it just doesn't get highlighted in the SH because Lanara's very much a "stay in the background" type of combatant. (And since I try not to write my combats as round-by-round, character-by-character accounting ledgers, the less showy stuff often gets glossed over). For example, when the storm elemental hit us with the lightning and thunder blast, she cast a Ruin Delver's Fortune spell on herself to boost her Reflex save and gave her evasion, which saved her butt. But it's not exactly the kind of thing which calls attention to itself (which is probably how Lanara wants it) so I don't make a big deal of it.
She has been making a conscious effort to try and weed out less potent items for stuff that will work better for her - she just picked up the Rod of Many Wands from Complete Mage, and loaded it with ray spells (no saves, just a ranged attack roll). It's also worth noting that Lanara's focus isn't combat, but social interaction - she's obscene enough in that area that our GM doesn't even bother with opposed rolls half the time.
Delemental
First Post
A shorter update this time - our last session covered a lot of ground, so I had to break it up. This one's mostly dialogue vignettes.
--------------------
Lanara sat on the deck with her lute in her lap, carefully inspecting the instrument for any signs of damage and replacing worn strings. Nearby, Osborn was throwing a stick to Rupert, a smile on his face as he watched his faithful hound running back and forth across the deck. It was a clear, sunny day, and although still a bit cold, after weeks of enduring cloud-filled skies, the light was a welcome relief.
A shadow passed over Lanara. Looking up and squinting into the sun, she saw a dark shape silhouetted again the sky, slowly turning and then lifting away from the ship with a flapping of wings.
“She’s getting better,” Osborn said, following Lanara’s gaze.
“Yeah, she hasn’t hit the mast or gotten tangled in the rigging once.”
“Not bad considering she’s only had the wings for a week,” Osborn commented.
“At least she’s not wearing her armor today,” Lanara chuckled. “No offense to the girl, but watching her flapping around with all that metal makes me want to christen her the Flying Armadillo.”
“There’s a reason most birds don’t spend a lot of time in field plate,” Osborn snickered.
They both quelled their laughter when Kyle came up the stairs from below.
“Afternoon, captain,” Lanara said.
“Good afternoon.” He looked up into the sky. “She’s getting better.”
“We were just saying the same thing,” Osborn commented.
Kyle watched his wife sailing through the air. “Looks like fun. I think I’ll join her.” He uttered a spell, and a pair of gleaming metallic wings sprouted from his back.
“Nice,” Lanara said, “and no feathers to make you sneeze.”
“Well, you know how they say married couples start to look alike after a while. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
Kyle shot up into the air, quickly catching up with Autumn. Lanara and Osborn watched the two of them fly about for a while. After a few minutes, they flew together and embraced, holding each other aloft.
“If they start getting frisky up there, I’m getting a crossbow,” Lanara winced.
“If they start getting frisky, I’m using my circlet of blasting,” Osborn added.
“We’d have to go get Tolly first. He’d probably be willing to contribute a flame strike to the cause.”
“Son of a b*tch!”
Autumn slowly opened one eye, and bit back a nasty comment. It hadn’t been easy to adjust to sleeping with a pair of wings sprouting from her back, especially when she shared that bed, and thus she hadn’t slept very well lately. Given that she was supposed to be recuperating from her resurrection, any unexpected interruptions in sleep were not well received.
“Damn it all! Of all the… f*ck!”
She sighed. “Kyle, what is the matter?” she said sleepily.
She felt Kyle tense up next to her – no, he’d already been tense when she woke up; now he was almost taut as a bowstring. Through sleep-fogged eyes, she saw that Kyle had one of his light orbs sitting in his lap, glowing softly. “Do you remember when we spoke to Aran the night before our wedding?”
“Yeah, sure.” Kyle had better get to the point soon.
“Do you remember that Aran told us that one of the things that Kristyan’s psions was doing was combing Affon collecting divine relics?”
Autumn knew this, of course. Marrek, the Qin-Chu priest who was one of Kristyan’s vassals, had stolen a Bailite ceremonial dagger from her a couple of years ago. Later they’d learned that the theft was part of this plot.
“What about it?” Autumn yawned.
In response, Kyle dropped an object on the bed, almost on top of her stomach. She fumbled around and picked it up, blinking sleep out of her eyes in the dim light.
It was an open puzzle box.
This woke Autumn up. They’d found the puzzle box in the gullet of the nightcrawler they’d fought in the Dark Hills, the battle in which Kyle had died. The puzzle box showed no signs of magical auras, but had nonetheless managed to survive undamaged in the nightcrawler’s stomach. The puzzle itself had proven tremendously complex; after several unsuccessful tries, Kyle had pocketed the box, and would take it out occasionally to study it. Osborn had offered to jimmy it open, but Kyle said that he wanted to open it “the hard way” at least once first.
“You got it open!” Autumn said, sitting up and putting her arm around Kyle’s shoulder. She was about to congratulate him, when she realized he was still tense. “What? What’s wrong with the box?”
“It’s not the box,” Kyle said. “It’s what was inside.” Slowly, Kyle held aloft a small object. It looked like a small cage made of twisted and looped wires, made from a variety of metals from common iron to adamantium. There was a small, irregularly shaped object inside.
“Do you remember which relic Aran told us would be the most difficult for Kristyan to get his hands on?”
Autumn’s memories connected to the object in Kyle’s hand. “Oh, no.”
* * *
Minutes later, everyone was gathered in Kyle and Autumn’s cabin, which was now fully lit. Each of them studied the cage in Kyle’s hand; he’d refused to let go of it.
“That does look exactly like what Aran told us Shesh’s relic looked like,” Tolly confirmed.
“What made you think that something good would happen when you opened a puzzle box? When does anything good ever come from opening a puzzle box?” Arrie shouted.
“What? Sometimes they have good things!” Kyle protested.
“When?”
“We got puzzle boxes in the circus all the time,” Osborn said.
“You never got the right kind of puzzle boxes as a kid,” Lanara commented to Arrie.
Arrie continued to look at Kyle. “You’re supposed to be the smart one!”
“What was I supposed to do?” Kyle argued. “Just leave the box unopened forever?”
“Yes!”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“Well, where’s the fun in that?” Arrie said, pointing at the relic.
“There’s no fun in this!” he shouted.
“Quiet, both of you!” Autumn yelled.
Lanara was looking closely inside the cage. “What is that in there, anyway?”
“A tongue, I believe,” Tolly said.
“Ugh! Why would Shesh stick a tongue inside the cage?”
“Shesh is a god of secrets as well as misers,” Osborn said. “Thieves who join a guild usually have to swear an oath to him to keep the guild’s secrets safe.”
“What does it do?” Tolly wondered.
“As far as I know so far, nothing,” Kyle said. “It’s still not showing any magical aura, though knowing what we know now, it’s safe to assume that there’s some deity-level masking going on here.”
“Try looking at it through your staff,” Tolly suggested, “Just in case.”
Lanara handed Kyle the Scion’s Staff, and he looked through the crystal orb at the cage. “No psionics either,” he said.
“It does make sense,” Arrie said, a little less agitated now, “that a characteristic of a magical artifact for a god of hoarding and greed would be that it doesn’t look like a magical artifact.”
Lanara nodded. “Yeah, I guess if you’ve got a bunch of power-hungry people out there who can make stuff wiggle with their brains looking for Shesh’s relic, they’d be looking for something magical.”
“You know,” Arrie said after a pause, “I think it’s safe to assume that they know.” No one had to ask who ‘they’ were.
“I say we stick it in the portable hole, and not tell anyone else about it until we figure out what to do,” Autumn suggested.
“Let’s put it back in the box first,” Arrie added.
“Just one problem with that,” Osborn said. He held up the puzzle box, which had closed itself up at some point during their conversation. He tugged at the lid to demonstrate that it was locked. Kyle took the box with his free hand, but quickly realized the puzzle box had reconfigured itself, and wouldn’t open in the same way as before.
“I’ve already did it once,” Kyle said. “Go for it, Osborn.”
Osborn pulled out some tools and started poking at the box, but after a few moments frowned and set it down. “It’s pretty complex, and it seems to be actively resisting me somehow. I spot a place where I could open something up, and then I blink and that spot just… moves. I can work at it a little longer if you want.”
“Perhaps if we worked together on opening it,” Tolly suggested.
“Notice how all the women are wisely leaving the dangerous stuff alone?” Lanara observed.
Kyle pointed at Arrie. “She’s the one who wanted to put the cage back in the box.”
“Let’s put the relic into the portable hole,” Tolly said. “We have to complete this mission before we can address it anyway. I have one idea of a place we could put the relic – we could take it to Erito’s Library.”
“Would Erito allow that?” Kyle asked. “Shesh may be subordinate to Erito, but I don’t know if she’d approve of his relic being stored at one of her holy sites, or vice versa.”
“I’m not an Eritan priest,” Tolly said, “it was only a suggestion.”
“And I’m not sure we want Kristyan to go looking for the relic there,” Arrie said. “That much knowledge and power in once place…”
“I think we’re stuck with it,” Osborn sighed.
“Well, it’s not that bad,” Arrie said. “I mean, when it’s closed, the hole is pretty dark, so it’s hard to scry. Besides, it’s a… what’s the word… not really here.”
“Extradimensional?” Kyle offered.
“That’s the word.”
“It’s true that psionics aren’t terribly good at transdimensional manipulations,” Kyle said. “And since it’s a mobile space, it’ll be hard to find.”
“So, we put it in the hole, like I said before,” Autumn said. “Then they’d have to pry it out of my dead hands.”
“But let’s not talk about that,” Arrie said.
“But if that was the case, we’d probably all be dead,” Autumn pointed out.
“Still, let’s not talk about it!”
With nothing left to discuss, the relic was wrapped up and placed inside the portable hole, tucked away out of sight. Osborn held on to the puzzle box, hoping to get it open at some point so they could place the cage back inside, figuring that the complexity of the puzzle box would be a final line of defense if Kristyan got his hands on the relic.
The next morning, at breakfast, it was obvious that none of them had slept well, though Kyle looked particularly exhausted. Tolly, who had been silent for most of the meal, finally addressed the wizard.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you. How exactly did you repair the hole in the ship?”
“What? Oh, that…” Kyle said, suddenly flushing. “It was, um, a fabricate spell that I kind of tweaked, you know. I’ve been keeping one on hand for just that kind of situation, see? Yeah, I was surprised it worked as well as it did. So…”
Everyone just stared at Kyle. “You’re so full of it I can smell it,” Lanara said.
“We really need to give you lessons,” Arrie added.
“What? I didn’t do anything!”
“Right,” Lanara said, “you didn’t. What really happened?”
“Kyle?” Tolly said, “Do you really want to start the precedent of lying to us?”
“Then you should stop asking me questions!”
Tolly laughed, briefly. “Try again.”
“Rather not, thanks.”
“Maybe we should go down in the hold and look around,” Lanara suggested.
“You know, how about we leave Kyle alone,” Arrie said, coming to the poor wizard’s aid, “and we assume that he’s obfuscating the truth for a reason, and we trust that he’ll tell us if it’s important.”
“She knows ‘obfuscating’, but not ‘extradimensional’?” Osborn whispered to Autumn. The sentinel nudged him with her foot.
“All right,” Lanara sighed, “I suppose if it was dangerous he’d tell us.”
Tolly was less resigned. “We’ll talk later.”
Their meal over, everyone got up and went about their day, except for Kyle and Autumn.
“Thanks for not joining in the inquisition,” Kyle said.
“Well, there may have to be a second inquiry in private later,” she said.
“Of course,” he sighed. “But just so you know, it really isn’t dangerous. It’s more of a… surprise.”
“I’m sure.”
“If I hadn’t promised not to tell, I swear I’d let you in on it. I hate keeping secrets from you, because I know you’d never keep secrets from me.”
Kyle stood up and kissed Autumn before heading up on deck. He didn’t notice Autumn wiping away a tear from her eye.*
Down in the hold, Osborn walked up to Tolly’s horse. “Hey, did you fix the ship?”
The horse nodded.
“Thought so. Thanks!” Osborn held aloft a slab of meat. “Bacon?”
The horse nodded again, and swallowed the slab in two bites.
* * *
“Ariadne, what is that substance?”
Tolly pointed down at the deck at Arrie’s feet, where a trail of glistening slime pooled at her feet.
“It’s ectoplasm,” she explained. “I’ve been manifesting a new power, which produces the stuff as sort of a side-effect. I’m still working out the kinks, but it’ll vanish on its own.”
“I hope so. I would hate to enter battle only to slide off the deck and into the ocean.”
“Yeah, but look at this!” Arrie held out her arm, which was suddenly enveloped in a layer of ectoplasm. She then took a dagger, and jabbed the tip at her arm. Tolly could see that the slime was providing some resistance against the weapon.
“It helps take the edge off,” she explained. “Isn’t it cool?”
Tolly studied her for a moment. “I will go ahead and agree with you that it is ‘cool’, and then turn around and walk away. I’m still not entirely comfortable with this.”
Tolly didn’t see Arrie roll her eyes as he walked away.
* * *
Almost eight weeks after their departure, the Armadillo arrived at the mouth of the Kruga River, which led into the Haran Desert along its northern border. The river was navigable, so they sailed the ship upstream. Talia, the Tlaxan Imperial Advisor, told them that their orcish contact would be arriving soon. Indeed, an hour later the Armadillo was approached by a lone orc in a rowboat, who asked permission to board. When he climbed on deck, they could see he was garbed as a minor warchief.
“I am Ruok, sub-chieftain to High Warchief Keth,” the orc said. “We have been expecting someone to arrive. Do you have credentials proving you are the ones we are here to meet?”
Osborn stepped forward and handed Ruok a scroll tube containing their papers from the Emperor. He also pulled out his clan token for Clan Hulg, showing that he was considered part of the tribe.
Ruok looked approvingly at the clan token, and then gave the papers a cursory glance. “You are the ones we are expecting,” he said. “But we will not meet here. You will turn your ship and sail south along the coast. I will tell you when to stop.”
Kyle looked over at the Talia, who nodded to indicate that this was according to plan. “All right,” he said, “let’s put the zombies in reverse.”
Much later that day, the Armadillo found itself sailing south once again, staying close to the coastline. Ruok remained aboard the ship, and spent much of his time conferring privately with Talia. Their proximity to the shore gave Tolly and Lanara the chance to walk on dry land again, an opportunity they took with relish.
Around midnight, Ruok told Kyle to drop anchor. “We will wait here.”
“Until?” Kyle asked.
“Sunrise.”
“So, what exactly are we waiting for?” Lanara asked. “And what’s been happening with Keth? The last time we were here, he was just ‘Warchief’, not ‘High Warchief’.”
Ruok grinned. “You will see. Great changes have come to the desert.”
Arrie turned to Talia. “I assume it’s more than just a coincidence that we got here just before the Time of Burning.” Talia smiled.
“It was considered an auspicious beginning.”
Hours later, as the earliest signs of dawn began to color the sky, the lookout began ringing the alarm bell. “Ships to the south, Captain! Oh, my goddess! There are dozens!”
“How far out?”
“About a quarter mile!”
“What?” Even in the dark, that many ships should have been spotted much farther off.
“They just came out of nowhere, captain!”
Kyle swore. “Haul out the cannon and stand ready!” he barked to the first mate. But the mate was standing at the port railing, pointing out toward land. “Look at that!”
They all turned, and saw the desert was moving toward them.
“I think we need another cannon,” Lanara said.
Arrie, squinting at the crawling dunes, sighed. “No, I think we need to get into the portable hole and get Keth’s hat out for him.”
---------------
* This was the character's reaction. The player's reaction to my comment about 'I know you'd never lie to me' was more along the lines of calling me a rat bastard. Just to clarify, I'm referring to Autumn's secret about her deal with Bail to not be raised from the dead again.
--------------------
Lanara sat on the deck with her lute in her lap, carefully inspecting the instrument for any signs of damage and replacing worn strings. Nearby, Osborn was throwing a stick to Rupert, a smile on his face as he watched his faithful hound running back and forth across the deck. It was a clear, sunny day, and although still a bit cold, after weeks of enduring cloud-filled skies, the light was a welcome relief.
A shadow passed over Lanara. Looking up and squinting into the sun, she saw a dark shape silhouetted again the sky, slowly turning and then lifting away from the ship with a flapping of wings.
“She’s getting better,” Osborn said, following Lanara’s gaze.
“Yeah, she hasn’t hit the mast or gotten tangled in the rigging once.”
“Not bad considering she’s only had the wings for a week,” Osborn commented.
“At least she’s not wearing her armor today,” Lanara chuckled. “No offense to the girl, but watching her flapping around with all that metal makes me want to christen her the Flying Armadillo.”
“There’s a reason most birds don’t spend a lot of time in field plate,” Osborn snickered.
They both quelled their laughter when Kyle came up the stairs from below.
“Afternoon, captain,” Lanara said.
“Good afternoon.” He looked up into the sky. “She’s getting better.”
“We were just saying the same thing,” Osborn commented.
Kyle watched his wife sailing through the air. “Looks like fun. I think I’ll join her.” He uttered a spell, and a pair of gleaming metallic wings sprouted from his back.
“Nice,” Lanara said, “and no feathers to make you sneeze.”
“Well, you know how they say married couples start to look alike after a while. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
Kyle shot up into the air, quickly catching up with Autumn. Lanara and Osborn watched the two of them fly about for a while. After a few minutes, they flew together and embraced, holding each other aloft.
“If they start getting frisky up there, I’m getting a crossbow,” Lanara winced.
“If they start getting frisky, I’m using my circlet of blasting,” Osborn added.
“We’d have to go get Tolly first. He’d probably be willing to contribute a flame strike to the cause.”
* * *
“Son of a b*tch!”
Autumn slowly opened one eye, and bit back a nasty comment. It hadn’t been easy to adjust to sleeping with a pair of wings sprouting from her back, especially when she shared that bed, and thus she hadn’t slept very well lately. Given that she was supposed to be recuperating from her resurrection, any unexpected interruptions in sleep were not well received.
“Damn it all! Of all the… f*ck!”
She sighed. “Kyle, what is the matter?” she said sleepily.
She felt Kyle tense up next to her – no, he’d already been tense when she woke up; now he was almost taut as a bowstring. Through sleep-fogged eyes, she saw that Kyle had one of his light orbs sitting in his lap, glowing softly. “Do you remember when we spoke to Aran the night before our wedding?”
“Yeah, sure.” Kyle had better get to the point soon.
“Do you remember that Aran told us that one of the things that Kristyan’s psions was doing was combing Affon collecting divine relics?”
Autumn knew this, of course. Marrek, the Qin-Chu priest who was one of Kristyan’s vassals, had stolen a Bailite ceremonial dagger from her a couple of years ago. Later they’d learned that the theft was part of this plot.
“What about it?” Autumn yawned.
In response, Kyle dropped an object on the bed, almost on top of her stomach. She fumbled around and picked it up, blinking sleep out of her eyes in the dim light.
It was an open puzzle box.
This woke Autumn up. They’d found the puzzle box in the gullet of the nightcrawler they’d fought in the Dark Hills, the battle in which Kyle had died. The puzzle box showed no signs of magical auras, but had nonetheless managed to survive undamaged in the nightcrawler’s stomach. The puzzle itself had proven tremendously complex; after several unsuccessful tries, Kyle had pocketed the box, and would take it out occasionally to study it. Osborn had offered to jimmy it open, but Kyle said that he wanted to open it “the hard way” at least once first.
“You got it open!” Autumn said, sitting up and putting her arm around Kyle’s shoulder. She was about to congratulate him, when she realized he was still tense. “What? What’s wrong with the box?”
“It’s not the box,” Kyle said. “It’s what was inside.” Slowly, Kyle held aloft a small object. It looked like a small cage made of twisted and looped wires, made from a variety of metals from common iron to adamantium. There was a small, irregularly shaped object inside.
“Do you remember which relic Aran told us would be the most difficult for Kristyan to get his hands on?”
Autumn’s memories connected to the object in Kyle’s hand. “Oh, no.”
* * *
Minutes later, everyone was gathered in Kyle and Autumn’s cabin, which was now fully lit. Each of them studied the cage in Kyle’s hand; he’d refused to let go of it.
“That does look exactly like what Aran told us Shesh’s relic looked like,” Tolly confirmed.
“What made you think that something good would happen when you opened a puzzle box? When does anything good ever come from opening a puzzle box?” Arrie shouted.
“What? Sometimes they have good things!” Kyle protested.
“When?”
“We got puzzle boxes in the circus all the time,” Osborn said.
“You never got the right kind of puzzle boxes as a kid,” Lanara commented to Arrie.
Arrie continued to look at Kyle. “You’re supposed to be the smart one!”
“What was I supposed to do?” Kyle argued. “Just leave the box unopened forever?”
“Yes!”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“Well, where’s the fun in that?” Arrie said, pointing at the relic.
“There’s no fun in this!” he shouted.
“Quiet, both of you!” Autumn yelled.
Lanara was looking closely inside the cage. “What is that in there, anyway?”
“A tongue, I believe,” Tolly said.
“Ugh! Why would Shesh stick a tongue inside the cage?”
“Shesh is a god of secrets as well as misers,” Osborn said. “Thieves who join a guild usually have to swear an oath to him to keep the guild’s secrets safe.”
“What does it do?” Tolly wondered.
“As far as I know so far, nothing,” Kyle said. “It’s still not showing any magical aura, though knowing what we know now, it’s safe to assume that there’s some deity-level masking going on here.”
“Try looking at it through your staff,” Tolly suggested, “Just in case.”
Lanara handed Kyle the Scion’s Staff, and he looked through the crystal orb at the cage. “No psionics either,” he said.
“It does make sense,” Arrie said, a little less agitated now, “that a characteristic of a magical artifact for a god of hoarding and greed would be that it doesn’t look like a magical artifact.”
Lanara nodded. “Yeah, I guess if you’ve got a bunch of power-hungry people out there who can make stuff wiggle with their brains looking for Shesh’s relic, they’d be looking for something magical.”
“You know,” Arrie said after a pause, “I think it’s safe to assume that they know.” No one had to ask who ‘they’ were.
“I say we stick it in the portable hole, and not tell anyone else about it until we figure out what to do,” Autumn suggested.
“Let’s put it back in the box first,” Arrie added.
“Just one problem with that,” Osborn said. He held up the puzzle box, which had closed itself up at some point during their conversation. He tugged at the lid to demonstrate that it was locked. Kyle took the box with his free hand, but quickly realized the puzzle box had reconfigured itself, and wouldn’t open in the same way as before.
“I’ve already did it once,” Kyle said. “Go for it, Osborn.”
Osborn pulled out some tools and started poking at the box, but after a few moments frowned and set it down. “It’s pretty complex, and it seems to be actively resisting me somehow. I spot a place where I could open something up, and then I blink and that spot just… moves. I can work at it a little longer if you want.”
“Perhaps if we worked together on opening it,” Tolly suggested.
“Notice how all the women are wisely leaving the dangerous stuff alone?” Lanara observed.
Kyle pointed at Arrie. “She’s the one who wanted to put the cage back in the box.”
“Let’s put the relic into the portable hole,” Tolly said. “We have to complete this mission before we can address it anyway. I have one idea of a place we could put the relic – we could take it to Erito’s Library.”
“Would Erito allow that?” Kyle asked. “Shesh may be subordinate to Erito, but I don’t know if she’d approve of his relic being stored at one of her holy sites, or vice versa.”
“I’m not an Eritan priest,” Tolly said, “it was only a suggestion.”
“And I’m not sure we want Kristyan to go looking for the relic there,” Arrie said. “That much knowledge and power in once place…”
“I think we’re stuck with it,” Osborn sighed.
“Well, it’s not that bad,” Arrie said. “I mean, when it’s closed, the hole is pretty dark, so it’s hard to scry. Besides, it’s a… what’s the word… not really here.”
“Extradimensional?” Kyle offered.
“That’s the word.”
“It’s true that psionics aren’t terribly good at transdimensional manipulations,” Kyle said. “And since it’s a mobile space, it’ll be hard to find.”
“So, we put it in the hole, like I said before,” Autumn said. “Then they’d have to pry it out of my dead hands.”
“But let’s not talk about that,” Arrie said.
“But if that was the case, we’d probably all be dead,” Autumn pointed out.
“Still, let’s not talk about it!”
With nothing left to discuss, the relic was wrapped up and placed inside the portable hole, tucked away out of sight. Osborn held on to the puzzle box, hoping to get it open at some point so they could place the cage back inside, figuring that the complexity of the puzzle box would be a final line of defense if Kristyan got his hands on the relic.
The next morning, at breakfast, it was obvious that none of them had slept well, though Kyle looked particularly exhausted. Tolly, who had been silent for most of the meal, finally addressed the wizard.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you. How exactly did you repair the hole in the ship?”
“What? Oh, that…” Kyle said, suddenly flushing. “It was, um, a fabricate spell that I kind of tweaked, you know. I’ve been keeping one on hand for just that kind of situation, see? Yeah, I was surprised it worked as well as it did. So…”
Everyone just stared at Kyle. “You’re so full of it I can smell it,” Lanara said.
“We really need to give you lessons,” Arrie added.
“What? I didn’t do anything!”
“Right,” Lanara said, “you didn’t. What really happened?”
“Kyle?” Tolly said, “Do you really want to start the precedent of lying to us?”
“Then you should stop asking me questions!”
Tolly laughed, briefly. “Try again.”
“Rather not, thanks.”
“Maybe we should go down in the hold and look around,” Lanara suggested.
“You know, how about we leave Kyle alone,” Arrie said, coming to the poor wizard’s aid, “and we assume that he’s obfuscating the truth for a reason, and we trust that he’ll tell us if it’s important.”
“She knows ‘obfuscating’, but not ‘extradimensional’?” Osborn whispered to Autumn. The sentinel nudged him with her foot.
“All right,” Lanara sighed, “I suppose if it was dangerous he’d tell us.”
Tolly was less resigned. “We’ll talk later.”
Their meal over, everyone got up and went about their day, except for Kyle and Autumn.
“Thanks for not joining in the inquisition,” Kyle said.
“Well, there may have to be a second inquiry in private later,” she said.
“Of course,” he sighed. “But just so you know, it really isn’t dangerous. It’s more of a… surprise.”
“I’m sure.”
“If I hadn’t promised not to tell, I swear I’d let you in on it. I hate keeping secrets from you, because I know you’d never keep secrets from me.”
Kyle stood up and kissed Autumn before heading up on deck. He didn’t notice Autumn wiping away a tear from her eye.*
* * *
Down in the hold, Osborn walked up to Tolly’s horse. “Hey, did you fix the ship?”
The horse nodded.
“Thought so. Thanks!” Osborn held aloft a slab of meat. “Bacon?”
The horse nodded again, and swallowed the slab in two bites.
* * *
“Ariadne, what is that substance?”
Tolly pointed down at the deck at Arrie’s feet, where a trail of glistening slime pooled at her feet.
“It’s ectoplasm,” she explained. “I’ve been manifesting a new power, which produces the stuff as sort of a side-effect. I’m still working out the kinks, but it’ll vanish on its own.”
“I hope so. I would hate to enter battle only to slide off the deck and into the ocean.”
“Yeah, but look at this!” Arrie held out her arm, which was suddenly enveloped in a layer of ectoplasm. She then took a dagger, and jabbed the tip at her arm. Tolly could see that the slime was providing some resistance against the weapon.
“It helps take the edge off,” she explained. “Isn’t it cool?”
Tolly studied her for a moment. “I will go ahead and agree with you that it is ‘cool’, and then turn around and walk away. I’m still not entirely comfortable with this.”
Tolly didn’t see Arrie roll her eyes as he walked away.
* * *
Almost eight weeks after their departure, the Armadillo arrived at the mouth of the Kruga River, which led into the Haran Desert along its northern border. The river was navigable, so they sailed the ship upstream. Talia, the Tlaxan Imperial Advisor, told them that their orcish contact would be arriving soon. Indeed, an hour later the Armadillo was approached by a lone orc in a rowboat, who asked permission to board. When he climbed on deck, they could see he was garbed as a minor warchief.
“I am Ruok, sub-chieftain to High Warchief Keth,” the orc said. “We have been expecting someone to arrive. Do you have credentials proving you are the ones we are here to meet?”
Osborn stepped forward and handed Ruok a scroll tube containing their papers from the Emperor. He also pulled out his clan token for Clan Hulg, showing that he was considered part of the tribe.
Ruok looked approvingly at the clan token, and then gave the papers a cursory glance. “You are the ones we are expecting,” he said. “But we will not meet here. You will turn your ship and sail south along the coast. I will tell you when to stop.”
Kyle looked over at the Talia, who nodded to indicate that this was according to plan. “All right,” he said, “let’s put the zombies in reverse.”
Much later that day, the Armadillo found itself sailing south once again, staying close to the coastline. Ruok remained aboard the ship, and spent much of his time conferring privately with Talia. Their proximity to the shore gave Tolly and Lanara the chance to walk on dry land again, an opportunity they took with relish.
Around midnight, Ruok told Kyle to drop anchor. “We will wait here.”
“Until?” Kyle asked.
“Sunrise.”
“So, what exactly are we waiting for?” Lanara asked. “And what’s been happening with Keth? The last time we were here, he was just ‘Warchief’, not ‘High Warchief’.”
Ruok grinned. “You will see. Great changes have come to the desert.”
Arrie turned to Talia. “I assume it’s more than just a coincidence that we got here just before the Time of Burning.” Talia smiled.
“It was considered an auspicious beginning.”
Hours later, as the earliest signs of dawn began to color the sky, the lookout began ringing the alarm bell. “Ships to the south, Captain! Oh, my goddess! There are dozens!”
“How far out?”
“About a quarter mile!”
“What?” Even in the dark, that many ships should have been spotted much farther off.
“They just came out of nowhere, captain!”
Kyle swore. “Haul out the cannon and stand ready!” he barked to the first mate. But the mate was standing at the port railing, pointing out toward land. “Look at that!”
They all turned, and saw the desert was moving toward them.
“I think we need another cannon,” Lanara said.
Arrie, squinting at the crawling dunes, sighed. “No, I think we need to get into the portable hole and get Keth’s hat out for him.”
---------------
* This was the character's reaction. The player's reaction to my comment about 'I know you'd never lie to me' was more along the lines of calling me a rat bastard. Just to clarify, I'm referring to Autumn's secret about her deal with Bail to not be raised from the dead again.
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Argh, a cliffhanger. Well, I look forward to the next episode. Looks like a major confrontation is brewing up. Here's hoping the party is ready for a big fight.
Oh, and those wings of Autumn's must be proving a challenge for her and Kyle when the lights go out... Although with some imagination, I'm sure they could be turned into opportunities in that area.
On a more serious note, is Autumn planning on modifying the kind of armor she wears or her fighting style because of the wings? Full armor would be really heavy, and if one is into realism, those wings provide a big easy target for opponents if one uses a slashing style (I'd switch to a thrusting weapon such as a rapier).
Oh, and those wings of Autumn's must be proving a challenge for her and Kyle when the lights go out... Although with some imagination, I'm sure they could be turned into opportunities in that area.
On a more serious note, is Autumn planning on modifying the kind of armor she wears or her fighting style because of the wings? Full armor would be really heavy, and if one is into realism, those wings provide a big easy target for opponents if one uses a slashing style (I'd switch to a thrusting weapon such as a rapier).
