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Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
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<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 2784330" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p><strong>Farewells</strong></p><p></p><p>This update's a bit on the longish side, but it works better IMO if it's not split apart.</p><p></p><p>----------------------------</p><p></p><p> The Church of Ardara expected to garner a lot of attention during the Earthturning festival. After all, they were Ardara’s holy days. Preparations had been underway for months at the Cathedral of Eminent Order to handle all the expected visitors.</p><p></p><p> With the funeral for Archprelate Jerome being held during this particular Earthturning festival, the Church of Ardara was nearly overwhelmed. But, true to her nature, the Church did not bend or yield, but weathered the storm of dignitaries, mourners, and merrymakers with stoic calm.</p><p></p><p> The party stood with Prince Herion inside the large canopied area that had been set aside for the Tlaxan delegation for the funeral ceremony. Unable to accommodate everyone at once, even inside the massive Cathedral, the church had decided to hold it in the city’s parade grounds, hastily building the necessary structures to contain the crowds.</p><p></p><p>The prince stood quietly, surrounded by aides and advisors all adorned in traditional mourning white. The party, some distance from Herion, had the luxury of being able to converse quietly during lulls in the benedictions and eulogies. Tolly was noticeably absent, as he had joined the other clergy in the open field just in front of where Jerome was being displayed. The party looked around at the other delegations gathered there; there were envoys from Targeth, the Dwarven Confederates, the Peca Provinces, Sargia, the Red Archipelago, and smaller groups from the cities of Freeport and Miracle. There was even a trio of diplomats from Xhintai present. On a balcony overlooking the stone dais where Jerome’s body lay, the party could see the heads of the other churches sitting, watching the proceedings. Even the head of the church of Erito, the reclusive woman known only as The Serenity, was present, her white mourning robes in stark contrast to the long cloak of black raven feathers on her shoulders.</p><p></p><p>“Who’s that?” Osborn whispered to Autumn, pointing at a masked figure on the far end of the line of high priests.</p><p></p><p>“That is Master of Serpents Giova Maceré,” she replied quietly. “Head of the church of Qin-Chu.”</p><p></p><p>Osborn frowned. “What good is wearing a mask if everyone knows your name?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>“All of the Masters are named Giova Maceré,” Maddie said, leaning in to join the conversation. “It was the name of their first Master of Serpents, supposedly, though who knows if that was even his, or her, real name either. Anyone who ascends to the highest rank of Qin-Chu’s church, man or woman, takes Giova’s name as their own.”</p><p></p><p>Osborn nodded. “You know a lot about the church of Qin-Chu.”</p><p></p><p>Maddie frowned. “It’s a subject I have a mild interest in.” There was little doubt that her interest revolved more around her bastard son Marrek than around the Master of Serpents.</p><p></p><p>The sun was well below the horizon by the time the funeral ended. “Well, that’s another Earthturning gone to waste,” Lanara complained as they walked home.</p><p></p><p>“There’s still tomorrow,” Arrie said. “And my birthday’s coming up three days after that.”</p><p></p><p>“Hooray!” shouted Maddie, “another excuse for mayhem!”</p><p></p><p>“Are we expecting Tolly back tonight?” Kyle asked.</p><p></p><p>“No, he’ll be at the Cathedral the next two nights,” Autumn said.</p><p></p><p>“So, exactly like the past few weeks,” Lanara observed.</p><p></p><p>“He’s got some big projects he’s working on,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p>“So do you, and I occasionally see your face, though it’s usually attached to Autumn’s.”</p><p></p><p>Kyle smiled and only flushed a little. “Making a maul’s a little more time-consuming than writing scrolls, you know.”</p><p></p><p>“And the recent unpleasantness with the succubus must have set him behind, too,” Arrie pointed out.</p><p></p><p>“Yeah, I’m sure he’s getting a hand cramp signing autographs for the neophytes,” Lanara huffed, but then let the subject drop.</p><p></p><p>“So, when are we all leaving?” Osborn asked a short time later.</p><p></p><p>“On the tenth,” Arrie said. “That’s when Herion’s leaving, and he’s offered to take us across the channel to the mainland on his ship. From there we’re going… where, again?”</p><p></p><p> “To Stacks,” Maddie said, “it’s about two days north of the harbor town where we’ll be landing.”</p><p></p><p> Osborn sighed. “I can’t believe they actually named a library city ‘Stacks’.”</p><p></p><p> “It technically has another name,” Maddie said, “but it’s been called by that nickname for so long that even the Eritan priests who live there call it by that name.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, whatever its name, it’s the best shot we have at figuring out where Erito’s secret spot is,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “And it will kill some time until Maddie can use that headband again,” Arrie added, “so that we can ask Erito about how to fix our broken bard.”</p><p></p><p> “Wonderful,” sighed Osborn, “we get to sit in a library.”</p><p></p><p> “They’re not so bad,” Lanara said, “if you know the right books to read.”</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> The day before they were to set sail, Tolly changed everything.</p><p></p><p> The party was seated around their usual table for breakfast, talking in an animated fashion as they ate. Arrie and Maddie were discussing plans to squeeze in one more night of revelry before hitting the road again. Autumn was also trying to participate in the conversation, but kept getting interrupted by an amorous Kyle, whose behaviors prompted the hurling of muffins on more than one occasion. Lanara sat at the far end of the table, scowling into her mug of watered-down wine and wishing that the inn started serving ale before ten bells. Xu, on the other end of the table, was also quiet, though this was nothing unusual for her and so did not draw attention. Osborn simply interjected himself into whatever conversations he could, and when he couldn’t he ate bacon and petted Rupert. Tolly’s seat was empty; as expected, he’d gone to the Cathedral early that morning for services and breakfast with the priests. Thus everyone was quite surprised when he walked into the Whistling Mermaid and stood quietly behind his chair, waiting patiently.</p><p></p><p> “Good morning, Tolly!” Arrie said when she saw him. “Didn’t expect to see you!” When she saw the serious look on his face, though, she dropped what she was going to say and fell quiet. The others soon followed suit.</p><p></p><p> “I have something to tell you all,” he said. “A few days ago, the Archprelate offered me a new position within the Church. I have decided to accept it. Thus, though I have enjoyed my time with you all, I will no longer be traveling with you.”</p><p></p><p> For a while, no one moved or spoke. Then Lanara spoke. “Gee, there goes all the fun and games.” A second later, she yelped as Kyle smacked her in the shoulder with his open hand.</p><p></p><p> “Kyle,” Tolly said, looking down at the wizard, “violence?”</p><p></p><p> “It’s been known to happen,” Lanara answered for him, rubbing the sore spot on her shoulder.</p><p></p><p> “What sort of position?” Arrie asked.</p><p></p><p> “I am going to be serving as an… aide, you might say, for the Archprelate. I have already begun some of my training – it was felt that even if I declined the position, the skills would serve me well.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn looked at Tolly, her eyes locking with his. “Tolly, did you decide to accept this position because of the conversation you and I had in Miracle?”</p><p></p><p> Tolly stiffened for a moment. “Not entirely,” he admitted. “It is a position of great responsibility, and I believe I can do more good for the church here than I can traveling.”</p><p></p><p> “Damn, he sounds full of himself,” Lanara muttered to herself, but not too quietly.</p><p></p><p> “If you feel you can reach greater spiritual enlightenment upon this path, Tolly,” Xu said, “then I support your decision.”</p><p></p><p> “Thank you,” Tolly said. He looked around at the others. “If you need anything, just send word and I’ll see what I can do. But otherwise, this is where we part ways. I will miss you all.”</p><p></p><p> There were murmurs and shouts of agreement around the table. Only Lanara was silent.</p><p></p><p> “I wish to impart a few items to you before I go,” Tolly said. “I would like to give this to Madrone.”</p><p></p><p> He walked over and placed a small green feather in front of Maddie; she recognized it as a magical <em>feather token</em>, identical to the one he’d used to place an oak tree in the yard of their townhouse in Miracle. “Now you can have a second treehouse wherever you may wish,” he said to her.</p><p></p><p> Maddie stood up, threw her arms around Tolly, and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you!” she said, voice a mix of joy and sadness.</p><p></p><p> Next Tolly moved to Kyle, and handed him two pearls. “<em>Pearls of power</em>,” he explained. “I found that I never had a use for them. I assume you will not have that problem.”</p><p></p><p> “Wow, Tolly, thanks,” Kyle said, fingering the two pearls. “I feel kind of bad that I don’t have anything for you. Tell you what; next psionic item we find, I’ll smash it and send you the pieces.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly smirked. “I will try to remember that fondly, Kyle. I will try.” Next he moved to Arrie, but she held up a hand before he could say anything.</p><p></p><p> “The best gift you can give to me, Tolly, is to continue to be a moral compass to guide me should I need you.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly nodded. “I shall do my best.” Next he went to Lanara, who seemed somewhat surprised he was standing in front of her at all. “I have another <em>feather token</em> for you,” he said, setting it on the table in front of her. “It creates a boat. Just in case.”</p><p></p><p> Lanara stared down at the tiny feather in front of her. “How appropriate,” she sneered. “And here I was going to buy the last round.” She looked up at him. “I’d say you’re a good man, Tolly, but you’re barely old enough to qualify.”</p><p></p><p> “That’s probably true,” Tolly said, not rising to the bait. But as he moved on down the table, Kyle scowled at her. “You’re nastier than normal today,” he said. “What’s the matter with you?”</p><p></p><p> She shrugged at him and turned to watch Tolly walk up to Osborn. “I have nothing tangible to give you, Osborn,” he said. “Little of what I find useful would interest you. But my new position does give me certain privileges. From this day on, present yourself at any church of Ardara in Affon, and you may receive a rack of bacon from them. Just be sure to give them enough time to procure it.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, gosh,” Osborn said. “I guess you’ll want this back, then.” He held out Tolly’s coin purse, smiling.</p><p></p><p> “I thought you said you weren’t a thief,” Lanara said.</p><p></p><p> “I’m not. It doesn’t mean I don’t know how. I’ve only had it for about a minute, anyway.” He tossed the purse to Tolly. “You know how us hin are, you know.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly half-smiled, half-scowled. “The Inquisition is teaching me all of your tricks,” he said.</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, unfortunately you still won’t be as good as me,” the hin replied.</p><p></p><p> “Probably not.”</p><p></p><p> Tolly next went to Xu. “I know better than to present you with material gifts,” he told her. “But I offer this; should you ever wish to return home, the church of Ardara will pay your expenses for the voyage. My gift to you is hope; hope that one day you will be free to make that voyage without fear.”</p><p></p><p> Xu bowed in gratitude. “Many thanks to you, Tolly,” she said.</p><p></p><p> Finally, Tolly came around to Autumn. He untied a large mace from his belt, and presented it to her. “Since you never did return the old mace that I loaned to you, I assume that you need a spare weapon of some kind. This one should serve you well, especially against the forces of Chaos. Hopefully you will use it from time to time, and remember that we once stood together.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn looked straight at Tolly for a long time. Then she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, kissing him quickly on the cheek as Maddie had done. Then she turned and went upstairs to her room, not running but definitely moving quickly.</p><p></p><p> Arrie began to rise to follow, but Kyle waved her down. “I’ll go see,” he said, getting up and following Autumn upstairs.</p><p></p><p> “Well, then,” Tolly said. “I will be returning to the church to oversee the preparation of my new offices. Again, it has been an honor knowing all of you. May Ardara’s grace bring you strength in adversity.” With that, he turned and walked to the door. He turned back just as he reached the arch of the door. “I almost forgot. Yesterday an elf with a bow was at the Cathedral. He bore documentation from the church of Erito, and he was looking for Madrone. I told him you can be found here.”</p><p></p><p> With that, he stepped through the door, and was gone.</p><p></p><p> Tolly looked around at the street outside, at the people going about their business. <em>So much to do, </em> he thought. <em>I am not even officially Inquisitor Primus, and already there is so much. I must hurry back to the Cathedral. There will be time for grief later.</em></p><p></p><p> He was halfway down the street when he heard his name being called. Turning, he saw Lanara standing a short distance behind him. The Ardaran and the cansin stood looking at each other for a while, neither speaking. Finally, Lanara reached into a belt pouch, and handed a flask to Tolly. Looking at it, he saw it was the flask of stonebreaker acid she had always carried.</p><p></p><p> “I figured you’d have more use for it than me,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes. “You know, if you needed to etch something, or build a wall, or whatever you do for fun.”</p><p></p><p> “Thank you,” Tolly said, closing his hand around the flask.</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, well…” </p><p></p><p> The two of them stood awkwardly in front of each other, neither sure of what to say. Finally, Tolly put the acid away. “Goodbye, Lanara.”</p><p></p><p> “Goodbye, Tolly.”</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> The rest of the day was far more subdued than anyone had anticipated. Kyle and Autumn returned downstairs after a few minutes; Kyle would later confide to Arrie that Autumn had been upset by the thought that her rejection of his suit had been a factor in his decision to leave the party. That evening they stayed at the inn, sharing stories of their time with the straight-laced Ardaran.</p><p></p><p> As they sat quietly around their table, a lone figure approached, making no move to hide his approach or his interest in the party. He was a tall elf, with long black hair and a composite bow strung across his shoulder. His armor and clothing had the look of someone who had been in the wilderness a very, very long time. Piercing green eyes looked the group over as he came to the table, finally resting on the other elf at the table.</p><p></p><p> “Well, hello there,” he said, his voice heavy with the accent of a man who has spent much of his time far away from the cities. “You a favored soul, church of Erito, name of Madrone?”</p><p></p><p> Everyone grew quiet, and several hands dropped out of sight below the table. “And who wants to know?” Maddie asked calmly.</p><p></p><p> “Name’s Razael Fletcher,” the elf said. “Been looking all over this city for you. There was this young priest who told me that you’d be at an inn, and he told me where the inn was….”</p><p></p><p> “Uppity guy in plate mail?” Lanara asked.</p><p></p><p> “That’d be him. He don’t know the city well, does he?” Razael looked around at the others, then pointed at Autumn. “You’d be… Duchess of something or other, I forget what they told me.” Then he looked over at Arrie. “And ain’t you the lass who’s married to the Crown Prince?”</p><p></p><p> When Arrie nodded, he grinned. “Good, I found the right group.” Razael promptly sat down at the table, and flagged the waitress down. “Next round’s on me,” he called out. “How y’all doing?”</p><p></p><p> “I like him,” Lanara said.</p><p></p><p> “Um, do you have some… documentation for me?” Maddie asked.</p><p></p><p> “Oh, sure, you want to see the scroll?” Razael pulled a scroll tube out of one of his many pockets, and handed it to Maddie.</p><p></p><p> “We’ve had… trouble with strangers recently, you understand,” Maddie said as she broke the seal on the tube and pushed out the parchment inside.</p><p></p><p> “We could at least drink his first round before we check his credentials,” Lanara said.</p><p></p><p> Maddie read through the scroll, frowned, and rolled it back up. “So,” she said, putting the scroll down, “why does the church feel I need a bodyguard?”</p><p></p><p> Everyone looked at Maddie, then at Razael, then back to Maddie.</p><p></p><p> “Because you’re so damn sexy now!” Lanara said at last.</p><p></p><p> Razael himself only shrugged. “I don’t know. They sent me out, because I was volunteered for it.”</p><p></p><p> “Everyone else stepped back, eh?” Maddie said.</p><p></p><p> “Something like that.”</p><p></p><p> From somewhere on Razael’s back came a noise, and a black raven’s head popped out from under the flap on the elf’s knapsack. As the bird popped up and landed on Razael’s shoulder, Kyle’s familiar Violet flapped her wings and cawed.</p><p></p><p> “You match our wizard!” Arrie said. “His name’s Kyle Goodson, by the way.”</p><p></p><p> “Nice to meet you, Kyle,” Razael said, nodding.</p><p></p><p> Arrie continued the introductions. “This is Lanara,”</p><p></p><p> Razael looked the cansin over. “You’re cute,” he said.</p><p></p><p> “You’re not so bad yourself,” came the reply.</p><p></p><p> “And that’s Osborn,” Arrie went on.</p><p></p><p> “A hin?” Razael seemed somewhat surprised. “Herion never mentioned the hin.” He turned back to Arrie. “Do you not write about him?” Shortly after he said it, Razael clamped his lips shut as though he’d said something foolish. “Oh, I’m not supposed to talk about that, am I?”</p><p></p><p> Arrie ignored the elf. “And the silent one is Xu.”</p><p></p><p> “Wow,” he said, seeing the monk for the first time, “didn’t even see her.”</p><p></p><p> “As was previously mentioned,” Xu said, “trouble with strangers.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, maybe that’s why they sent me.”</p><p></p><p> “Basically,” Arrie said, pointing back to Xu and Osborn, “it’s ‘unobtrusive and hits people’ and ‘unobtrusive and hits people’.”</p><p></p><p> “And ‘obtrusive and hits people’,” Kyle added, pointing to both Arrie and Autumn.</p><p></p><p> Maddie looked over at Osborn. “Yes, he hated it in Miracle.”</p><p></p><p> “I’ll bet,” Razael drawled. “I hated Miracle when I was there, about two hundred years ago.”</p><p></p><p> Maddie looked confused. “Miracle hasn’t been around that long.”</p><p></p><p> The confusion spread to Razael’s face. “Really? It hasn’t? I could’ve sworn…” He shook his head. “You lose the years.”</p><p></p><p> “No, the city was created within my lifetime, and I’m not that old.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, what are you, about two hundred? Two hundred ten?”</p><p></p><p> “I fairly recently turned one hundred and four,” she replied.</p><p></p><p> “You are?” Razael looked Maddie over again, this time with a different look in his eye. “You’re barely an adult,” he said quietly.</p><p></p><p> “I’ve had an excess of experience in my short years,” she replied.</p><p></p><p> Arrie broke in. “All right, so… you’re going to just follow Maddie, and…?”</p><p> “You know, the church just threw some money at me and said ‘Go escort our newest Favored, because Erito has commanded us to send someone’. So they sent me.”</p><p></p><p> “I’m still trying to find this money that gets thrown at people,” Osborn joked. In response, Kyle tossed a silver coin at the hin, hitting him on the forehead. “Thanks,” Osborn said sarcastically, rubbing his head as he pocketed the coin.</p><p></p><p> “Trust me, it was spent well before I got here,” Razael said. “I got to remember to keep my eye on the shell with the ball better next time.”</p><p></p><p> “No,” Osborn said, “you keep your eye on theirs.”</p><p></p><p> “Why’s that, boy?” Razael asked.</p><p></p><p> “Because if you’re not watching them, they’re trying to figure out how to steal your coin purse.”</p><p></p><p> “Good advice,” Razael agreed. “So, what’re you all up to?”</p><p></p><p> “Well, actually,” Kyle began, “we’re…”</p><p></p><p> “I think it’s time for a girl-orgy upstairs!” Arrie announced suddenly, pulling Autum to her feet. Maddie and Xu began to rise as well, but Lanara was still sitting, admiring Razael’s lean frame.</p><p></p><p> “Lanara, girl orgy upstairs!” Arrie repeated.</p><p></p><p> Razael turned to Kyle as Lanara got up. “How often does this happen?”</p><p></p><p> “Often enough to make you wonder,” Lanara said slyly as she sauntered by on her way to the stairs.</p><p></p><p> “Too often,” Kyle said as the women left. “They’re going upstairs to talk. They’re <em>always </em> going upstairs to talk.”</p><p></p><p> “You get used to it,” Osborn sighed.</p><p></p><p> Upstairs, the women gathered in their room. “Maddie,” Arrie said, “it’s not that we don’t think it’s great that Erito wants to protect you, but how do we know this Razael is legit?”</p><p></p><p> “The parchment he gave me,” she replied. “The message contained code-words and certain turns of phrases that my church uses in communications to verify them as genuine. A forger wouldn’t know them.”</p><p></p><p> “So, if he was sent by both the church of Erito and my husband, I suppose we’re bringing him along, aren’t we?”</p><p></p><p> “Pretty much, yes. It’s kind of hard to tell the church ‘thanks, but no thanks’.”</p><p></p><p> “All right,” Arrie sighed, “I just wanted to make sure. So, girl orgy over?”</p><p></p><p> “Not quite,” Lanara said, holding up a pillow.</p><p></p><p> As the women came downstairs a short while after leaving, Razael looked at Kyle curiously. “Why do they all have goose feathers on them?”</p><p></p><p> Kyle sighed. “They do it on purpose because they think they’re playing with our heads,” he said. “I haven’t got the heart to tell them the effect wears thin after the twentieth time. And the worst part is that they’ll make me use <em>mending </em> to fix it.”</p><p></p><p> “What are we doing on purpose?” Lanara asked.</p><p></p><p> “I refuse to comment.”</p><p></p><p> “But you already did, Kyle,” Arrie pointed out.</p><p></p><p> “I refuse to comment further.”</p><p></p><p> “You know, Kyle,” Razael said, “you could always just not prepare that spell.”</p><p></p><p> “Autumn has other means,” Lanara said.</p><p></p><p> “This is true,” Arrie agreed. “My sister can be very, very persuasive.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn grinned at Arrie and at Kyle, but Razael just stared back and forth between the wizard and the sentinel. “You’re sleeping with the Duchess?” he said to Kyle.</p><p></p><p> No one reacted for a moment. “Wow, and I thought I was bold,” Lanara commented.</p><p></p><p> “Autumn and I are together, yes,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “Good for you,” Razael said, grinning and winking at Kyle.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> They spent the rest of the evening getting to know Maddie’s new protector. They learned that he was a tracker, and had served as a bounty hunter most of his life as part of Tlaxan's Imperial Huntsmen. Herion had recommended him to the church for the job of guarding Maddie. It was late by the time Razael retired to his own inn, but he was back bright and early, packed and ready to go the next day. It was the day they were leaving M’Dos.</p><p></p><p> The party stood at the railing, watching the many ships berthed at the harbor coming and going. Behind them, elves were moving quickly across the deck of the Imperial galleon <em>Intrepid</em>, readying it to get underway. The voyage to the mainland would take a day, and then the ship would turn north and return to Tlaxan. Herion was below decks, in his private cabin, conversing with the captain.</p><p></p><p> “You know,” said Maddie, “the last time I left M’Dos, it was as a runaway prostitute with a head full of fear and bad memories. It’s nice that this time I can look back at the city with a smile on my face.”</p><p></p><p> “Did you ever look for your father?” Kyle asked.</p><p></p><p> Maddie shook her head. “I found that I couldn’t really see the point.”</p><p></p><p> Farther down the railing, Xu’s eyes suddenly went wide, and she bolted away, dashing across the deck and disappearing below decks. The others looked at other in confusion, and tried to figure out what had spooked her, but all they saw were rows of ships in the harbor. Autumn went downstairs to look for Xu. She found the door to her cabin slightly ajar, but upon going inside found it empty. Just as she was about to leave, she heard a slight noise above her, and looked up. Xu was there, wedged between the ceiling beams, ready to drop on anyone who came into the room.</p><p></p><p> “What’s wrong, Xu?” Autumn asked. “I’ve never seen you react like that.”</p><p></p><p> Xu swallowed, still looking quite pale. “One of the ships in the harbor bears the markings of the man who would be my husband, Lord Hungai. The sight affected me more deeply than I expected.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, then, it’s good that we’re leaving.”</p><p></p><p> “Indeed. But to know that he is so close…”</p><p></p><p> “Do you think Hungai himself is on that ship?”</p><p></p><p> She shook her head. “Difficult to say. It is unlikely, but not impossible.”</p><p></p><p> “Will you be all right?”</p><p></p><p> “Yes, thank you. But please, allow me to remain here alone for a few minutes. I will need to find my center again.”</p><p></p><p> “Of course,” Autumn said, and stepped out of the room. She went back up to the deck, where the others waited expectantly.</p><p></p><p> “Is it about… what we think it is?” Kyle asked, flicking his eyes toward Razael as he asked the question. Though the party had agreed to let him accompany them, they had decided not to necessarily reveal everything that was going on all at once. Razael, for his part, seemed to understand this and said nothing about it.</p><p></p><p> Autumn nodded to confirm their suspicions. “One of the ships in the harbor has his markings.”</p><p></p><p> “Really? Did she say which one?” Kyle looked back out across the water.</p><p></p><p> “No, she didn’t.”</p><p></p><p> “Guess that means you’ll have to <em>fireball </em> them all, right Kyle?” Lanara said with a smile.</p><p></p><p> “What exactly kind of trouble do you all get into?” Razael asked. “I’ve never seen a monk just take off like that. What exactly is it that y’all are involved in?”</p><p></p><p> “Oh, it’s more of a personal issue for Xu,” Maddie said, “one we’re choosing to avoid for now.”</p><p></p><p> The ship was setting sail less than an hour later. They reached the mainland well after dark, pulling in to a berth on the northern end of the harbor. The town where they made port had no name of its own, and was considered part of M’Dos; its sole reason for existing was to transfer people and goods coming from the rest of Medos and Affon to the island, and vice versa. There were few amenities, and the few inns were all full by the time the <em>Intrepid </em> made port. So the party ended up sleeping aboard the ship with the crew, much to Lanara’s consternation, and disembarked in the morning just before they cast off again.</p><p></p><p> “Thank Feesha,” Lanara said as soon as they reached the end of the dock and were touching dry land. “Please, no more boats for a while.”</p><p></p><p> “No, now it’s back to horses and tents,” Arrie said, leading Ghost by the reins off the dock. “Where are we headed, Maddie?”</p><p></p><p> “Stacks is north-northwest of here, two days’ ride, in the foothills of the mountains that mark the border between Medos and the Confederates,” she said. “It’s still the slow season, so we should be able to get right in.”</p><p></p><p> “I thought every day was the slow season for a library,” Osborn muttered to himself.</p><p></p><p> An uneventful two days later, they rode into Stacks. The city itself was a fairly typical walled fortress-town, with the library itself housed in the old castle in the center. Maddie told them that everything above the castle’s main floor was devoted to storing books and scrolls. Riding through town, the party saw that most of the businesses in town catered to the needs of a library; book-binders, scribes, paper-makers, calligraphers, cartographers.</p><p></p><p> “No exotic dancers here, I take it,” Arrie said. Maddie shook her head in reply.</p><p></p><p> They made arrangements to stay at a no-frills inn called the Dry Inkpot, and then Maddie led them to the library. As the favored soul had promised, they were able to access the books immediately. They paid a few extra coins to reserve a private chamber within the library.</p><p></p><p> “So, now what?” Arrie asked.</p><p></p><p> “Well, now we really need to make a copy of Maddie’s map,” Kyle said. “I’m afraid the original is a bit difficult to reference.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, why is that?” Razael asked. “I’ve heard you folks talk about this map that Maddie has, but I haven’t seen it. What’s the story there?”</p><p></p><p> In response, Maddie pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it aside, grabbing her long hair in one hand and pulling it forward. Razael stared in amazement.</p><p></p><p> “Um, Razael?” Arrie said, “The map is on this side.”</p><p></p><p> The tracker crossed the room and looked at Maddie’s back, studying the map etched there by Erito’s power. “That’s a pretty intricate map,” he said. “Where is it?”</p><p></p><p> “That’s what we’re here to find out,” Maddie replied. “But if you don’t need the map any more, can I have my shirt back? This castle is a little cold.”</p><p></p><p> “Obviously,” Kyle said. When he got a sharp look from Autumn, he threw his hands in the air. “What? She has goosebumps!”</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, at least two,” Lanara quipped.</p><p></p><p> Once Maddie was dressed again, they continued their discussion. “Well, one of us is going to have to do the work,” Autumn said. “We can’t exactly take Maddie to any old cartographer and lay her across a table.”</p><p></p><p> “Too many questions,” Osborn agreed, “and even if that wasn’t a problem, we probably shouldn’t let this map get out in public.”</p><p></p><p> “So, who here has any cartography skills?” Arrie asked. When no one spoke, she tried again. “Okay, how about just drawing?”</p><p></p><p> “If I were working in metal, stone, or wood, I’d be fine,” Kyle said. “But drawing? That’s a pretty intricate map. I wouldn’t trust myself to get it right.”</p><p></p><p> “I have some practice at calligraphy,” Xu said, “but I am no artisan. Like Kyle, I would feel insufficient to the task.”</p><p></p><p> “Can’t we just cover my back with ink and I can roll on a piece of paper?” Maddie asked.</p><p></p><p> “That sounds like a great idea,” Razael commented. But Kyle shook his head. “No. Too much distortion, too much smudging.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, Kyle, why can’t you use wood?” Razael asked. “I mean, stone and metal would take too long, but I know there are paper mills outside the city, so we could get wood. A few thin boards, and you could carve it in sections, then just put them together like a puzzle.”</p><p></p><p> “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s been a while since I did any serious work with wood.”</p><p></p><p> Autumn put her arms around Kyle’s shoulders. “I know you can do it, Kyle.”</p><p></p><p> “All right, I’ll give it a shot. Let’s go pick out the wood. But I don’t want to start until tomorrow – I have a couple of spells I can prepare that’ll help.”</p><p></p><p> “Okay, so Autumn, Kyle, and Osborn can go take care of that,” Arrie said. “The rest of us can stay here and try to get a head-start on the research – get the right books out and such.”</p><p></p><p> They split up and went about their various tasks. Back at the inn that evening, Kyle prepared the boards they had selected, planing and sanding them smooth, and making sure they were uniform in size and thickness. Then he spent an hour having Maddie lie on her stomach on her cot, while he studied the lines of her map carefully. Autumn sat in the room with him, doing her embroidery and keeping them both company while they worked.</p><p></p><p> The next morning, Kyle and Maddie went into the room alone. “This shouldn’t take long,” he told the others. “I’m using magic to speed things up. So either I get it right the first time, and we’re set, or I don’t get it right, and we’re going out to buy more wood today.”</p><p></p><p> After a few minutes of silence, there was a flash from inside the room, and a moment later Kyle walked out, smiling. “Got it.”</p><p></p><p> They took their new map to the library immediately. They were able to spread it out on the table in the room they had reserved, and because the map wasn’t made of parchment, they could set books and maps directly on top of it without fear of tearing it. Kyle and Lanara immediately sat down and began looking through the books they had already gathered. The others took turns helping out as they could, looking for more books, having obscure passages translated, or even just offering comfort and support.</p><p></p><p> Though Kyle would have preferred a slow, methodical search, they were forced to be somewhat hasty. Xu pointed out that Hungai’s men had arrived in M’Dos the day they had left, and thus were not far from her trail. So they worked as fast as they could, from sunup to sundown. By the second day, Kyle had confirmed that what he referred to as ‘Erito’s secret spot’ was nowhere on or under the continent of Affon. The next two days were less productive, as they were unable to even eliminate any areas on other continents in order to narrow their search.</p><p></p><p> On the fifth day, they had a breakthrough. Kyle suddenly realized that the formations on Maddie’s map that they had assumed were stone were actually ice. They then discovered an old journal and exploratory maps from a century and a half ago, when some dwarven explorers from the Confederates sailed to the planet’s southern pole. The explorers had discovered a series of ice caves, and one of the maps of the caves appeared to connect to an area that looked very much like what was on their wooden map. Kyle and Lanara’s shouts of excitement brought several people running.</p><p></p><p> That afternoon, they presented their findings to the rest of the group. “We copied down everything we could,” Kyle said. “Maps, descriptions of creatures, you name it.”</p><p></p><p> “What kind of creatures?” Arrie asked.</p><p></p><p> “Polar worms, remorhaz and frost giants were the worst they reported,” Lanara said. “Other than that it was what you’d expect – polar bears and seals.”</p><p></p><p> “One of the dwarves reported seeing an ice dragon,” Kyle added, “but it was during a blizzard, in near whiteout conditions, so it was probably a polar worm.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, now we know where,” Arrie said.</p><p></p><p> “Yeah, but getting there will be the trick,” Kyle said. “Not like we can just hop the closest trading vessel.”</p><p></p><p> “We’ll have to commission our own ship,” Autumn said.</p><p></p><p> “Commission? We’ll probably have to have one built and hire our own crew!” Osborn said.</p><p></p><p> “And if we go, we should go in summer, when it’s warmest,” Maddie said. “Least chance of blizzards.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, we have the money, we’d just need the ship,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “Then I say we head to Tlaxan,” Autumn said.</p><p></p><p> Everyone looked at her in surprise. “I didn’t think you were all that eager to go back so soon,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “Not really. But there are ships there, and crew to hire, and we have connections with the Imperial family that will make it easy. Besides, I should really get this whole ‘Duchess’ thing settled.”</p><p></p><p> “Tlaxan’s on the other side of the Confederates,” Arrie said. “It’ll take a while to get there.”</p><p></p><p> “Perhaps we could send word ahead to Herion to help lay the groundwork,” Autumn suggested, looking at Arrie meaningfully.</p><p></p><p> “I’ll see what I can do,” she sighed.</p><p></p><p> “Well,” Kyle said, “maybe as long as we’re going there, it’ll give us time to work on Lanara’s problem.”</p><p></p><p> Razael turned to the cansin. “What problem? You look fine to me.”</p><p></p><p> “I’ll let someone else tell you,” Lanara said.</p><p></p><p> It was Autumn who answered. “Let’s just say that Lanara used to have a beautiful singing voice, and she wants it back.”</p><p></p><p> “I had a couple of ideas,” Kyle said. “The first would be to try another <em>commune </em> with Erito, but we’ve got a while to wait before that headband of Maddie’s charges up again. But since we’re here in a holy site for Erito, maybe we could convince one of the priests to do a <em>divination </em> in order to maybe give us a direction to turn. Or, if we could get a <em>sending</em>, maybe we could contact Aran.”</p><p></p><p> “An acquaintance of ours,” Autumn said to Razael. They definitely weren’t ready to explain the issue of psionics to the tracker yet.</p><p></p><p> “I doubt Aran would respond to a <em>sending</em>, Kyle,” Arrie said. “If he’s under as much scrutiny as he claims, then contacting us that directly would make us targets.”</p><p></p><p> “Then the <em>divination</em>?” Kyle asked.</p><p></p><p> “Erito does have a number of seers and loremasters,” Arrie said, “it’s worth a shot.”</p><p></p><p> They went back to the castle, and after a few inquiries and several donations, they found a loremaster that was available to perform divinatory spells. After Arrie explained their need and made another donation to cover the costs of the spell, the priest agreed to cast the <em>divination</em>.</p><p></p><p> Sitting down, the priest invited the others to sit around him in a circle. “What question shall I pose to receive Erito’s wisdom?” he asked.</p><p></p><p> “How may we restore the bardic abilities of Lanara Rahila?” Arrie stated.</p><p></p><p> After several minutes of chanting and burning incense, the answer came.</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: DarkOrchid"><em>“The same way that you may restore clarity to the perfect diamond.”</em></span></p><p> “Wow, that was clear as mud that’s been walked through,” Lanara complained. “I’m glad it was your money, Arrie.”</p><p></p><p> “The answer is truth,” the loremaster said, “even if it’s meaning cannot yet be understood.”</p><p></p><p> “Thank you,” said Arrie. “We will contemplate the answer further.” But as soon as they left the room, Arrie shouted in frustration. “Gah!”</p><p></p><p> “On the surface, it would imply that there really isn’t anything wrong with Lanara at all,” Kyle said, “since a perfect diamond already has clarity.”</p><p></p><p> “Unless the diamond were covered, or dirty,” Arrie suggested.</p><p></p><p> “Ooh! I’ll give Lanara a bath!” Maddie offered.</p><p></p><p> “Thanks, but I think you’ll have to fight this guy for the privilege,” Lanara said, pointing to Razael.</p><p></p><p> “Okay, look, we’re not figuring this out today,” Kyle said. “Why don’t we sleep, and get on the road to Tlaxan tomorrow. We can mull the diamond thing over on the road. In a few days we can try another commune and see if this time we might get lucky and get answers we can use.”</p><p></p><p> “Anything beats staying in a library city,” Osborn said, as he walked off toward the Dry Inkpot.</p><p></p><p> When he was out of earshot, Arrie leaned over to Autumn. “So, when should we tell him that the road back to Tlaxan from here will take us through Laeshir again?”</p><p></p><p> Autumn shook her head. “Not for a while, Arrie. Not for quite a while.”</p><p></p><p></p><p>--------------------</p><p></p><p>So, here's the real reason that Tolly got offered the Inquisitor Primus job - it provided a good rationale for his leaving the party. His player had mentioned feeling that Tolly's mindset was becoming increasingly divorced from the rest of the party - he's definitely very much Lawful, while the rest of us lean strongly toward Chaotic. Our attitude toward him had, admittedly, become less respectful over time, so in balance it was a good decision on his part. His new character, Razael, definitely turns out to be less... restricted.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 2784330, member: 5203"] [b]Farewells[/b] This update's a bit on the longish side, but it works better IMO if it's not split apart. ---------------------------- The Church of Ardara expected to garner a lot of attention during the Earthturning festival. After all, they were Ardara’s holy days. Preparations had been underway for months at the Cathedral of Eminent Order to handle all the expected visitors. With the funeral for Archprelate Jerome being held during this particular Earthturning festival, the Church of Ardara was nearly overwhelmed. But, true to her nature, the Church did not bend or yield, but weathered the storm of dignitaries, mourners, and merrymakers with stoic calm. The party stood with Prince Herion inside the large canopied area that had been set aside for the Tlaxan delegation for the funeral ceremony. Unable to accommodate everyone at once, even inside the massive Cathedral, the church had decided to hold it in the city’s parade grounds, hastily building the necessary structures to contain the crowds. The prince stood quietly, surrounded by aides and advisors all adorned in traditional mourning white. The party, some distance from Herion, had the luxury of being able to converse quietly during lulls in the benedictions and eulogies. Tolly was noticeably absent, as he had joined the other clergy in the open field just in front of where Jerome was being displayed. The party looked around at the other delegations gathered there; there were envoys from Targeth, the Dwarven Confederates, the Peca Provinces, Sargia, the Red Archipelago, and smaller groups from the cities of Freeport and Miracle. There was even a trio of diplomats from Xhintai present. On a balcony overlooking the stone dais where Jerome’s body lay, the party could see the heads of the other churches sitting, watching the proceedings. Even the head of the church of Erito, the reclusive woman known only as The Serenity, was present, her white mourning robes in stark contrast to the long cloak of black raven feathers on her shoulders. “Who’s that?” Osborn whispered to Autumn, pointing at a masked figure on the far end of the line of high priests. “That is Master of Serpents Giova Maceré,” she replied quietly. “Head of the church of Qin-Chu.” Osborn frowned. “What good is wearing a mask if everyone knows your name?” he asked. “All of the Masters are named Giova Maceré,” Maddie said, leaning in to join the conversation. “It was the name of their first Master of Serpents, supposedly, though who knows if that was even his, or her, real name either. Anyone who ascends to the highest rank of Qin-Chu’s church, man or woman, takes Giova’s name as their own.” Osborn nodded. “You know a lot about the church of Qin-Chu.” Maddie frowned. “It’s a subject I have a mild interest in.” There was little doubt that her interest revolved more around her bastard son Marrek than around the Master of Serpents. The sun was well below the horizon by the time the funeral ended. “Well, that’s another Earthturning gone to waste,” Lanara complained as they walked home. “There’s still tomorrow,” Arrie said. “And my birthday’s coming up three days after that.” “Hooray!” shouted Maddie, “another excuse for mayhem!” “Are we expecting Tolly back tonight?” Kyle asked. “No, he’ll be at the Cathedral the next two nights,” Autumn said. “So, exactly like the past few weeks,” Lanara observed. “He’s got some big projects he’s working on,” Kyle said. “So do you, and I occasionally see your face, though it’s usually attached to Autumn’s.” Kyle smiled and only flushed a little. “Making a maul’s a little more time-consuming than writing scrolls, you know.” “And the recent unpleasantness with the succubus must have set him behind, too,” Arrie pointed out. “Yeah, I’m sure he’s getting a hand cramp signing autographs for the neophytes,” Lanara huffed, but then let the subject drop. “So, when are we all leaving?” Osborn asked a short time later. “On the tenth,” Arrie said. “That’s when Herion’s leaving, and he’s offered to take us across the channel to the mainland on his ship. From there we’re going… where, again?” “To Stacks,” Maddie said, “it’s about two days north of the harbor town where we’ll be landing.” Osborn sighed. “I can’t believe they actually named a library city ‘Stacks’.” “It technically has another name,” Maddie said, “but it’s been called by that nickname for so long that even the Eritan priests who live there call it by that name.” “Well, whatever its name, it’s the best shot we have at figuring out where Erito’s secret spot is,” Kyle said. “And it will kill some time until Maddie can use that headband again,” Arrie added, “so that we can ask Erito about how to fix our broken bard.” “Wonderful,” sighed Osborn, “we get to sit in a library.” “They’re not so bad,” Lanara said, “if you know the right books to read.” [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] The day before they were to set sail, Tolly changed everything. The party was seated around their usual table for breakfast, talking in an animated fashion as they ate. Arrie and Maddie were discussing plans to squeeze in one more night of revelry before hitting the road again. Autumn was also trying to participate in the conversation, but kept getting interrupted by an amorous Kyle, whose behaviors prompted the hurling of muffins on more than one occasion. Lanara sat at the far end of the table, scowling into her mug of watered-down wine and wishing that the inn started serving ale before ten bells. Xu, on the other end of the table, was also quiet, though this was nothing unusual for her and so did not draw attention. Osborn simply interjected himself into whatever conversations he could, and when he couldn’t he ate bacon and petted Rupert. Tolly’s seat was empty; as expected, he’d gone to the Cathedral early that morning for services and breakfast with the priests. Thus everyone was quite surprised when he walked into the Whistling Mermaid and stood quietly behind his chair, waiting patiently. “Good morning, Tolly!” Arrie said when she saw him. “Didn’t expect to see you!” When she saw the serious look on his face, though, she dropped what she was going to say and fell quiet. The others soon followed suit. “I have something to tell you all,” he said. “A few days ago, the Archprelate offered me a new position within the Church. I have decided to accept it. Thus, though I have enjoyed my time with you all, I will no longer be traveling with you.” For a while, no one moved or spoke. Then Lanara spoke. “Gee, there goes all the fun and games.” A second later, she yelped as Kyle smacked her in the shoulder with his open hand. “Kyle,” Tolly said, looking down at the wizard, “violence?” “It’s been known to happen,” Lanara answered for him, rubbing the sore spot on her shoulder. “What sort of position?” Arrie asked. “I am going to be serving as an… aide, you might say, for the Archprelate. I have already begun some of my training – it was felt that even if I declined the position, the skills would serve me well.” Autumn looked at Tolly, her eyes locking with his. “Tolly, did you decide to accept this position because of the conversation you and I had in Miracle?” Tolly stiffened for a moment. “Not entirely,” he admitted. “It is a position of great responsibility, and I believe I can do more good for the church here than I can traveling.” “Damn, he sounds full of himself,” Lanara muttered to herself, but not too quietly. “If you feel you can reach greater spiritual enlightenment upon this path, Tolly,” Xu said, “then I support your decision.” “Thank you,” Tolly said. He looked around at the others. “If you need anything, just send word and I’ll see what I can do. But otherwise, this is where we part ways. I will miss you all.” There were murmurs and shouts of agreement around the table. Only Lanara was silent. “I wish to impart a few items to you before I go,” Tolly said. “I would like to give this to Madrone.” He walked over and placed a small green feather in front of Maddie; she recognized it as a magical [I]feather token[/I], identical to the one he’d used to place an oak tree in the yard of their townhouse in Miracle. “Now you can have a second treehouse wherever you may wish,” he said to her. Maddie stood up, threw her arms around Tolly, and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you!” she said, voice a mix of joy and sadness. Next Tolly moved to Kyle, and handed him two pearls. “[I]Pearls of power[/I],” he explained. “I found that I never had a use for them. I assume you will not have that problem.” “Wow, Tolly, thanks,” Kyle said, fingering the two pearls. “I feel kind of bad that I don’t have anything for you. Tell you what; next psionic item we find, I’ll smash it and send you the pieces.” Tolly smirked. “I will try to remember that fondly, Kyle. I will try.” Next he moved to Arrie, but she held up a hand before he could say anything. “The best gift you can give to me, Tolly, is to continue to be a moral compass to guide me should I need you.” Tolly nodded. “I shall do my best.” Next he went to Lanara, who seemed somewhat surprised he was standing in front of her at all. “I have another [I]feather token[/I] for you,” he said, setting it on the table in front of her. “It creates a boat. Just in case.” Lanara stared down at the tiny feather in front of her. “How appropriate,” she sneered. “And here I was going to buy the last round.” She looked up at him. “I’d say you’re a good man, Tolly, but you’re barely old enough to qualify.” “That’s probably true,” Tolly said, not rising to the bait. But as he moved on down the table, Kyle scowled at her. “You’re nastier than normal today,” he said. “What’s the matter with you?” She shrugged at him and turned to watch Tolly walk up to Osborn. “I have nothing tangible to give you, Osborn,” he said. “Little of what I find useful would interest you. But my new position does give me certain privileges. From this day on, present yourself at any church of Ardara in Affon, and you may receive a rack of bacon from them. Just be sure to give them enough time to procure it.” “Well, gosh,” Osborn said. “I guess you’ll want this back, then.” He held out Tolly’s coin purse, smiling. “I thought you said you weren’t a thief,” Lanara said. “I’m not. It doesn’t mean I don’t know how. I’ve only had it for about a minute, anyway.” He tossed the purse to Tolly. “You know how us hin are, you know.” Tolly half-smiled, half-scowled. “The Inquisition is teaching me all of your tricks,” he said. “Yeah, unfortunately you still won’t be as good as me,” the hin replied. “Probably not.” Tolly next went to Xu. “I know better than to present you with material gifts,” he told her. “But I offer this; should you ever wish to return home, the church of Ardara will pay your expenses for the voyage. My gift to you is hope; hope that one day you will be free to make that voyage without fear.” Xu bowed in gratitude. “Many thanks to you, Tolly,” she said. Finally, Tolly came around to Autumn. He untied a large mace from his belt, and presented it to her. “Since you never did return the old mace that I loaned to you, I assume that you need a spare weapon of some kind. This one should serve you well, especially against the forces of Chaos. Hopefully you will use it from time to time, and remember that we once stood together.” Autumn looked straight at Tolly for a long time. Then she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, kissing him quickly on the cheek as Maddie had done. Then she turned and went upstairs to her room, not running but definitely moving quickly. Arrie began to rise to follow, but Kyle waved her down. “I’ll go see,” he said, getting up and following Autumn upstairs. “Well, then,” Tolly said. “I will be returning to the church to oversee the preparation of my new offices. Again, it has been an honor knowing all of you. May Ardara’s grace bring you strength in adversity.” With that, he turned and walked to the door. He turned back just as he reached the arch of the door. “I almost forgot. Yesterday an elf with a bow was at the Cathedral. He bore documentation from the church of Erito, and he was looking for Madrone. I told him you can be found here.” With that, he stepped through the door, and was gone. Tolly looked around at the street outside, at the people going about their business. [I]So much to do, [/I] he thought. [I]I am not even officially Inquisitor Primus, and already there is so much. I must hurry back to the Cathedral. There will be time for grief later.[/I] He was halfway down the street when he heard his name being called. Turning, he saw Lanara standing a short distance behind him. The Ardaran and the cansin stood looking at each other for a while, neither speaking. Finally, Lanara reached into a belt pouch, and handed a flask to Tolly. Looking at it, he saw it was the flask of stonebreaker acid she had always carried. “I figured you’d have more use for it than me,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes. “You know, if you needed to etch something, or build a wall, or whatever you do for fun.” “Thank you,” Tolly said, closing his hand around the flask. “Yeah, well…” The two of them stood awkwardly in front of each other, neither sure of what to say. Finally, Tolly put the acid away. “Goodbye, Lanara.” “Goodbye, Tolly.” [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] The rest of the day was far more subdued than anyone had anticipated. Kyle and Autumn returned downstairs after a few minutes; Kyle would later confide to Arrie that Autumn had been upset by the thought that her rejection of his suit had been a factor in his decision to leave the party. That evening they stayed at the inn, sharing stories of their time with the straight-laced Ardaran. As they sat quietly around their table, a lone figure approached, making no move to hide his approach or his interest in the party. He was a tall elf, with long black hair and a composite bow strung across his shoulder. His armor and clothing had the look of someone who had been in the wilderness a very, very long time. Piercing green eyes looked the group over as he came to the table, finally resting on the other elf at the table. “Well, hello there,” he said, his voice heavy with the accent of a man who has spent much of his time far away from the cities. “You a favored soul, church of Erito, name of Madrone?” Everyone grew quiet, and several hands dropped out of sight below the table. “And who wants to know?” Maddie asked calmly. “Name’s Razael Fletcher,” the elf said. “Been looking all over this city for you. There was this young priest who told me that you’d be at an inn, and he told me where the inn was….” “Uppity guy in plate mail?” Lanara asked. “That’d be him. He don’t know the city well, does he?” Razael looked around at the others, then pointed at Autumn. “You’d be… Duchess of something or other, I forget what they told me.” Then he looked over at Arrie. “And ain’t you the lass who’s married to the Crown Prince?” When Arrie nodded, he grinned. “Good, I found the right group.” Razael promptly sat down at the table, and flagged the waitress down. “Next round’s on me,” he called out. “How y’all doing?” “I like him,” Lanara said. “Um, do you have some… documentation for me?” Maddie asked. “Oh, sure, you want to see the scroll?” Razael pulled a scroll tube out of one of his many pockets, and handed it to Maddie. “We’ve had… trouble with strangers recently, you understand,” Maddie said as she broke the seal on the tube and pushed out the parchment inside. “We could at least drink his first round before we check his credentials,” Lanara said. Maddie read through the scroll, frowned, and rolled it back up. “So,” she said, putting the scroll down, “why does the church feel I need a bodyguard?” Everyone looked at Maddie, then at Razael, then back to Maddie. “Because you’re so damn sexy now!” Lanara said at last. Razael himself only shrugged. “I don’t know. They sent me out, because I was volunteered for it.” “Everyone else stepped back, eh?” Maddie said. “Something like that.” From somewhere on Razael’s back came a noise, and a black raven’s head popped out from under the flap on the elf’s knapsack. As the bird popped up and landed on Razael’s shoulder, Kyle’s familiar Violet flapped her wings and cawed. “You match our wizard!” Arrie said. “His name’s Kyle Goodson, by the way.” “Nice to meet you, Kyle,” Razael said, nodding. Arrie continued the introductions. “This is Lanara,” Razael looked the cansin over. “You’re cute,” he said. “You’re not so bad yourself,” came the reply. “And that’s Osborn,” Arrie went on. “A hin?” Razael seemed somewhat surprised. “Herion never mentioned the hin.” He turned back to Arrie. “Do you not write about him?” Shortly after he said it, Razael clamped his lips shut as though he’d said something foolish. “Oh, I’m not supposed to talk about that, am I?” Arrie ignored the elf. “And the silent one is Xu.” “Wow,” he said, seeing the monk for the first time, “didn’t even see her.” “As was previously mentioned,” Xu said, “trouble with strangers.” “Well, maybe that’s why they sent me.” “Basically,” Arrie said, pointing back to Xu and Osborn, “it’s ‘unobtrusive and hits people’ and ‘unobtrusive and hits people’.” “And ‘obtrusive and hits people’,” Kyle added, pointing to both Arrie and Autumn. Maddie looked over at Osborn. “Yes, he hated it in Miracle.” “I’ll bet,” Razael drawled. “I hated Miracle when I was there, about two hundred years ago.” Maddie looked confused. “Miracle hasn’t been around that long.” The confusion spread to Razael’s face. “Really? It hasn’t? I could’ve sworn…” He shook his head. “You lose the years.” “No, the city was created within my lifetime, and I’m not that old.” “Well, what are you, about two hundred? Two hundred ten?” “I fairly recently turned one hundred and four,” she replied. “You are?” Razael looked Maddie over again, this time with a different look in his eye. “You’re barely an adult,” he said quietly. “I’ve had an excess of experience in my short years,” she replied. Arrie broke in. “All right, so… you’re going to just follow Maddie, and…?” “You know, the church just threw some money at me and said ‘Go escort our newest Favored, because Erito has commanded us to send someone’. So they sent me.” “I’m still trying to find this money that gets thrown at people,” Osborn joked. In response, Kyle tossed a silver coin at the hin, hitting him on the forehead. “Thanks,” Osborn said sarcastically, rubbing his head as he pocketed the coin. “Trust me, it was spent well before I got here,” Razael said. “I got to remember to keep my eye on the shell with the ball better next time.” “No,” Osborn said, “you keep your eye on theirs.” “Why’s that, boy?” Razael asked. “Because if you’re not watching them, they’re trying to figure out how to steal your coin purse.” “Good advice,” Razael agreed. “So, what’re you all up to?” “Well, actually,” Kyle began, “we’re…” “I think it’s time for a girl-orgy upstairs!” Arrie announced suddenly, pulling Autum to her feet. Maddie and Xu began to rise as well, but Lanara was still sitting, admiring Razael’s lean frame. “Lanara, girl orgy upstairs!” Arrie repeated. Razael turned to Kyle as Lanara got up. “How often does this happen?” “Often enough to make you wonder,” Lanara said slyly as she sauntered by on her way to the stairs. “Too often,” Kyle said as the women left. “They’re going upstairs to talk. They’re [I]always [/I] going upstairs to talk.” “You get used to it,” Osborn sighed. Upstairs, the women gathered in their room. “Maddie,” Arrie said, “it’s not that we don’t think it’s great that Erito wants to protect you, but how do we know this Razael is legit?” “The parchment he gave me,” she replied. “The message contained code-words and certain turns of phrases that my church uses in communications to verify them as genuine. A forger wouldn’t know them.” “So, if he was sent by both the church of Erito and my husband, I suppose we’re bringing him along, aren’t we?” “Pretty much, yes. It’s kind of hard to tell the church ‘thanks, but no thanks’.” “All right,” Arrie sighed, “I just wanted to make sure. So, girl orgy over?” “Not quite,” Lanara said, holding up a pillow. As the women came downstairs a short while after leaving, Razael looked at Kyle curiously. “Why do they all have goose feathers on them?” Kyle sighed. “They do it on purpose because they think they’re playing with our heads,” he said. “I haven’t got the heart to tell them the effect wears thin after the twentieth time. And the worst part is that they’ll make me use [I]mending [/I] to fix it.” “What are we doing on purpose?” Lanara asked. “I refuse to comment.” “But you already did, Kyle,” Arrie pointed out. “I refuse to comment further.” “You know, Kyle,” Razael said, “you could always just not prepare that spell.” “Autumn has other means,” Lanara said. “This is true,” Arrie agreed. “My sister can be very, very persuasive.” Autumn grinned at Arrie and at Kyle, but Razael just stared back and forth between the wizard and the sentinel. “You’re sleeping with the Duchess?” he said to Kyle. No one reacted for a moment. “Wow, and I thought I was bold,” Lanara commented. “Autumn and I are together, yes,” Kyle said. “Good for you,” Razael said, grinning and winking at Kyle. [CENTER]* * *[/CENTER] They spent the rest of the evening getting to know Maddie’s new protector. They learned that he was a tracker, and had served as a bounty hunter most of his life as part of Tlaxan's Imperial Huntsmen. Herion had recommended him to the church for the job of guarding Maddie. It was late by the time Razael retired to his own inn, but he was back bright and early, packed and ready to go the next day. It was the day they were leaving M’Dos. The party stood at the railing, watching the many ships berthed at the harbor coming and going. Behind them, elves were moving quickly across the deck of the Imperial galleon [I]Intrepid[/I], readying it to get underway. The voyage to the mainland would take a day, and then the ship would turn north and return to Tlaxan. Herion was below decks, in his private cabin, conversing with the captain. “You know,” said Maddie, “the last time I left M’Dos, it was as a runaway prostitute with a head full of fear and bad memories. It’s nice that this time I can look back at the city with a smile on my face.” “Did you ever look for your father?” Kyle asked. Maddie shook her head. “I found that I couldn’t really see the point.” Farther down the railing, Xu’s eyes suddenly went wide, and she bolted away, dashing across the deck and disappearing below decks. The others looked at other in confusion, and tried to figure out what had spooked her, but all they saw were rows of ships in the harbor. Autumn went downstairs to look for Xu. She found the door to her cabin slightly ajar, but upon going inside found it empty. Just as she was about to leave, she heard a slight noise above her, and looked up. Xu was there, wedged between the ceiling beams, ready to drop on anyone who came into the room. “What’s wrong, Xu?” Autumn asked. “I’ve never seen you react like that.” Xu swallowed, still looking quite pale. “One of the ships in the harbor bears the markings of the man who would be my husband, Lord Hungai. The sight affected me more deeply than I expected.” “Well, then, it’s good that we’re leaving.” “Indeed. But to know that he is so close…” “Do you think Hungai himself is on that ship?” She shook her head. “Difficult to say. It is unlikely, but not impossible.” “Will you be all right?” “Yes, thank you. But please, allow me to remain here alone for a few minutes. I will need to find my center again.” “Of course,” Autumn said, and stepped out of the room. She went back up to the deck, where the others waited expectantly. “Is it about… what we think it is?” Kyle asked, flicking his eyes toward Razael as he asked the question. Though the party had agreed to let him accompany them, they had decided not to necessarily reveal everything that was going on all at once. Razael, for his part, seemed to understand this and said nothing about it. Autumn nodded to confirm their suspicions. “One of the ships in the harbor has his markings.” “Really? Did she say which one?” Kyle looked back out across the water. “No, she didn’t.” “Guess that means you’ll have to [I]fireball [/I] them all, right Kyle?” Lanara said with a smile. “What exactly kind of trouble do you all get into?” Razael asked. “I’ve never seen a monk just take off like that. What exactly is it that y’all are involved in?” “Oh, it’s more of a personal issue for Xu,” Maddie said, “one we’re choosing to avoid for now.” The ship was setting sail less than an hour later. They reached the mainland well after dark, pulling in to a berth on the northern end of the harbor. The town where they made port had no name of its own, and was considered part of M’Dos; its sole reason for existing was to transfer people and goods coming from the rest of Medos and Affon to the island, and vice versa. There were few amenities, and the few inns were all full by the time the [I]Intrepid [/I] made port. So the party ended up sleeping aboard the ship with the crew, much to Lanara’s consternation, and disembarked in the morning just before they cast off again. “Thank Feesha,” Lanara said as soon as they reached the end of the dock and were touching dry land. “Please, no more boats for a while.” “No, now it’s back to horses and tents,” Arrie said, leading Ghost by the reins off the dock. “Where are we headed, Maddie?” “Stacks is north-northwest of here, two days’ ride, in the foothills of the mountains that mark the border between Medos and the Confederates,” she said. “It’s still the slow season, so we should be able to get right in.” “I thought every day was the slow season for a library,” Osborn muttered to himself. An uneventful two days later, they rode into Stacks. The city itself was a fairly typical walled fortress-town, with the library itself housed in the old castle in the center. Maddie told them that everything above the castle’s main floor was devoted to storing books and scrolls. Riding through town, the party saw that most of the businesses in town catered to the needs of a library; book-binders, scribes, paper-makers, calligraphers, cartographers. “No exotic dancers here, I take it,” Arrie said. Maddie shook her head in reply. They made arrangements to stay at a no-frills inn called the Dry Inkpot, and then Maddie led them to the library. As the favored soul had promised, they were able to access the books immediately. They paid a few extra coins to reserve a private chamber within the library. “So, now what?” Arrie asked. “Well, now we really need to make a copy of Maddie’s map,” Kyle said. “I’m afraid the original is a bit difficult to reference.” “Well, why is that?” Razael asked. “I’ve heard you folks talk about this map that Maddie has, but I haven’t seen it. What’s the story there?” In response, Maddie pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it aside, grabbing her long hair in one hand and pulling it forward. Razael stared in amazement. “Um, Razael?” Arrie said, “The map is on this side.” The tracker crossed the room and looked at Maddie’s back, studying the map etched there by Erito’s power. “That’s a pretty intricate map,” he said. “Where is it?” “That’s what we’re here to find out,” Maddie replied. “But if you don’t need the map any more, can I have my shirt back? This castle is a little cold.” “Obviously,” Kyle said. When he got a sharp look from Autumn, he threw his hands in the air. “What? She has goosebumps!” “Yeah, at least two,” Lanara quipped. Once Maddie was dressed again, they continued their discussion. “Well, one of us is going to have to do the work,” Autumn said. “We can’t exactly take Maddie to any old cartographer and lay her across a table.” “Too many questions,” Osborn agreed, “and even if that wasn’t a problem, we probably shouldn’t let this map get out in public.” “So, who here has any cartography skills?” Arrie asked. When no one spoke, she tried again. “Okay, how about just drawing?” “If I were working in metal, stone, or wood, I’d be fine,” Kyle said. “But drawing? That’s a pretty intricate map. I wouldn’t trust myself to get it right.” “I have some practice at calligraphy,” Xu said, “but I am no artisan. Like Kyle, I would feel insufficient to the task.” “Can’t we just cover my back with ink and I can roll on a piece of paper?” Maddie asked. “That sounds like a great idea,” Razael commented. But Kyle shook his head. “No. Too much distortion, too much smudging.” “Well, Kyle, why can’t you use wood?” Razael asked. “I mean, stone and metal would take too long, but I know there are paper mills outside the city, so we could get wood. A few thin boards, and you could carve it in sections, then just put them together like a puzzle.” “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s been a while since I did any serious work with wood.” Autumn put her arms around Kyle’s shoulders. “I know you can do it, Kyle.” “All right, I’ll give it a shot. Let’s go pick out the wood. But I don’t want to start until tomorrow – I have a couple of spells I can prepare that’ll help.” “Okay, so Autumn, Kyle, and Osborn can go take care of that,” Arrie said. “The rest of us can stay here and try to get a head-start on the research – get the right books out and such.” They split up and went about their various tasks. Back at the inn that evening, Kyle prepared the boards they had selected, planing and sanding them smooth, and making sure they were uniform in size and thickness. Then he spent an hour having Maddie lie on her stomach on her cot, while he studied the lines of her map carefully. Autumn sat in the room with him, doing her embroidery and keeping them both company while they worked. The next morning, Kyle and Maddie went into the room alone. “This shouldn’t take long,” he told the others. “I’m using magic to speed things up. So either I get it right the first time, and we’re set, or I don’t get it right, and we’re going out to buy more wood today.” After a few minutes of silence, there was a flash from inside the room, and a moment later Kyle walked out, smiling. “Got it.” They took their new map to the library immediately. They were able to spread it out on the table in the room they had reserved, and because the map wasn’t made of parchment, they could set books and maps directly on top of it without fear of tearing it. Kyle and Lanara immediately sat down and began looking through the books they had already gathered. The others took turns helping out as they could, looking for more books, having obscure passages translated, or even just offering comfort and support. Though Kyle would have preferred a slow, methodical search, they were forced to be somewhat hasty. Xu pointed out that Hungai’s men had arrived in M’Dos the day they had left, and thus were not far from her trail. So they worked as fast as they could, from sunup to sundown. By the second day, Kyle had confirmed that what he referred to as ‘Erito’s secret spot’ was nowhere on or under the continent of Affon. The next two days were less productive, as they were unable to even eliminate any areas on other continents in order to narrow their search. On the fifth day, they had a breakthrough. Kyle suddenly realized that the formations on Maddie’s map that they had assumed were stone were actually ice. They then discovered an old journal and exploratory maps from a century and a half ago, when some dwarven explorers from the Confederates sailed to the planet’s southern pole. The explorers had discovered a series of ice caves, and one of the maps of the caves appeared to connect to an area that looked very much like what was on their wooden map. Kyle and Lanara’s shouts of excitement brought several people running. That afternoon, they presented their findings to the rest of the group. “We copied down everything we could,” Kyle said. “Maps, descriptions of creatures, you name it.” “What kind of creatures?” Arrie asked. “Polar worms, remorhaz and frost giants were the worst they reported,” Lanara said. “Other than that it was what you’d expect – polar bears and seals.” “One of the dwarves reported seeing an ice dragon,” Kyle added, “but it was during a blizzard, in near whiteout conditions, so it was probably a polar worm.” “Well, now we know where,” Arrie said. “Yeah, but getting there will be the trick,” Kyle said. “Not like we can just hop the closest trading vessel.” “We’ll have to commission our own ship,” Autumn said. “Commission? We’ll probably have to have one built and hire our own crew!” Osborn said. “And if we go, we should go in summer, when it’s warmest,” Maddie said. “Least chance of blizzards.” “Well, we have the money, we’d just need the ship,” Kyle said. “Then I say we head to Tlaxan,” Autumn said. Everyone looked at her in surprise. “I didn’t think you were all that eager to go back so soon,” Kyle said. “Not really. But there are ships there, and crew to hire, and we have connections with the Imperial family that will make it easy. Besides, I should really get this whole ‘Duchess’ thing settled.” “Tlaxan’s on the other side of the Confederates,” Arrie said. “It’ll take a while to get there.” “Perhaps we could send word ahead to Herion to help lay the groundwork,” Autumn suggested, looking at Arrie meaningfully. “I’ll see what I can do,” she sighed. “Well,” Kyle said, “maybe as long as we’re going there, it’ll give us time to work on Lanara’s problem.” Razael turned to the cansin. “What problem? You look fine to me.” “I’ll let someone else tell you,” Lanara said. It was Autumn who answered. “Let’s just say that Lanara used to have a beautiful singing voice, and she wants it back.” “I had a couple of ideas,” Kyle said. “The first would be to try another [I]commune [/I] with Erito, but we’ve got a while to wait before that headband of Maddie’s charges up again. But since we’re here in a holy site for Erito, maybe we could convince one of the priests to do a [I]divination [/I] in order to maybe give us a direction to turn. Or, if we could get a [I]sending[/I], maybe we could contact Aran.” “An acquaintance of ours,” Autumn said to Razael. They definitely weren’t ready to explain the issue of psionics to the tracker yet. “I doubt Aran would respond to a [I]sending[/I], Kyle,” Arrie said. “If he’s under as much scrutiny as he claims, then contacting us that directly would make us targets.” “Then the [I]divination[/I]?” Kyle asked. “Erito does have a number of seers and loremasters,” Arrie said, “it’s worth a shot.” They went back to the castle, and after a few inquiries and several donations, they found a loremaster that was available to perform divinatory spells. After Arrie explained their need and made another donation to cover the costs of the spell, the priest agreed to cast the [I]divination[/I]. Sitting down, the priest invited the others to sit around him in a circle. “What question shall I pose to receive Erito’s wisdom?” he asked. “How may we restore the bardic abilities of Lanara Rahila?” Arrie stated. After several minutes of chanting and burning incense, the answer came. [COLOR=DarkOrchid][I]“The same way that you may restore clarity to the perfect diamond.”[/I][/COLOR] “Wow, that was clear as mud that’s been walked through,” Lanara complained. “I’m glad it was your money, Arrie.” “The answer is truth,” the loremaster said, “even if it’s meaning cannot yet be understood.” “Thank you,” said Arrie. “We will contemplate the answer further.” But as soon as they left the room, Arrie shouted in frustration. “Gah!” “On the surface, it would imply that there really isn’t anything wrong with Lanara at all,” Kyle said, “since a perfect diamond already has clarity.” “Unless the diamond were covered, or dirty,” Arrie suggested. “Ooh! I’ll give Lanara a bath!” Maddie offered. “Thanks, but I think you’ll have to fight this guy for the privilege,” Lanara said, pointing to Razael. “Okay, look, we’re not figuring this out today,” Kyle said. “Why don’t we sleep, and get on the road to Tlaxan tomorrow. We can mull the diamond thing over on the road. In a few days we can try another commune and see if this time we might get lucky and get answers we can use.” “Anything beats staying in a library city,” Osborn said, as he walked off toward the Dry Inkpot. When he was out of earshot, Arrie leaned over to Autumn. “So, when should we tell him that the road back to Tlaxan from here will take us through Laeshir again?” Autumn shook her head. “Not for a while, Arrie. Not for quite a while.” -------------------- So, here's the real reason that Tolly got offered the Inquisitor Primus job - it provided a good rationale for his leaving the party. His player had mentioned feeling that Tolly's mindset was becoming increasingly divorced from the rest of the party - he's definitely very much Lawful, while the rest of us lean strongly toward Chaotic. Our attitude toward him had, admittedly, become less respectful over time, so in balance it was a good decision on his part. His new character, Razael, definitely turns out to be less... restricted. 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