Trahnesi said:
Lurker and reader here, coming out of lurking to say that I'm really enjoying the story hour. (I'm just upset that I'm caught up... now I have to wait for updates like everyone else.)
Hey Trahnesi, welcome aboard, glad you're enjoying the story hour. You will apparently have to keep waiting for Fajitas to answer your question, but at least the update is here.
Part the Eighty-Eighth
In which: we conduct some final business.
The party, along with Lord Agasha, his men, and Lord Fau Meen’s men spend a good week at the cave site in order to heal their wounds, make friends with Bob, and distribute magic items.
###
"Why me?" Eva asks, giving the desiccated hand Reyu holds out to her a very skeptical look.
Reyu is completely unruffled to be holding someone's hand without the rest of them in evidence. "It seems it would be most useful for one of your... trade."
Eva raises an eyebrow.
"If she doesn't want it, I do!" Kiara bounces over to see Annika and finds the discussion in progress. '
Mage hand is neat. You can use it to pick up rocks, or open doors across the room, or lift apples while the shopkeeper isn't looking or-"
Annika gives her "sister" a sharp look. "But you wouldn't. Would you?" It's not exactly a question.
Kiara stops bouncing. "Well..."
Lira saves her from having to answer. "Is it just me, or does that hand look elven?"
Reyu examines the object more closely. It's not just Lira. The druid's normally unimpeachable facade cracks just a hair.
Eva finally relents. "I'll try it." Speaking the command word Annika gives her, Eva uses the hand to lift a small rock. She's not sure which is more unnerving: that she is controlling the magical effect, or that as she concentrates, the fingers of the dead hand slowly curl until the index finger points accusingly.
Anvil walks over. "That thing is evil. Give it to me that I might destroy it."
Lira looks over in surprise. "It can't be
that evil."
Anvil checks the aura again. She's right. It's not.
"Probably, using someone's hand to create something like that is an evil act, but the thing itself is isn’t inherently evil." Annika points out.
"Is it going to affect me?" Eva asks.
Annika considers carefully. "It shouldn't."
Anvil shrugs. "Fine then." He goes to confer with Lord Agasha about the horses. As he leaves, he notices the hem of his cloak slowly rising to shoulder height, and then returning to its normal position. It begins to rise again.
Anvil turns around to see Eva looking at him appraisingly. "Stop it," he says.
She considers a moment, and then slowly lets his cloak fall to rest on his shoulders.
Anvil turns to go on his way, ignoring the sound of smothered giggles behind him.
Less easy to ignore is the horn blast that comes a few moments later.
Anvil turns and stares in shock with the rest of the party at the creature which has suddenly appeared, standing in the snow.
The animal is larger than a horse, covered in a gray, tough skin, with four stumpy little legs. It has a large broad head and on the end of its nose is a short, but very sharp-looking horn.
Kiara slowly lowers the hollowed sheep's horn from her lips. "Wow," she whispers.
“Why did you do that?” Annika hisses.
“I wanted to see what we could summon,” Kiara tries to explain.
The creature paws the frozen ground a bit and snorts in the cold air. Everyone freezes.
Eva swallows and whispers to Reyu, "What is it?"
Although Reyu has never seen one before, she can make a good guess. "I believe it is called a rhinoceros. But they are normally found in much hotter climates."
Kiara can't take her eyes off the creature. "A rhino-saurus," she whispers. "Can I ride him?"
Reyu takes a very deliberate pause. "You can try."
Annika quickly adds, "But you're not going to."
Kiara tries whistling at the creature in bird, but it doesn't seem to speak Sylvan. Before any further experiments can be tried, the creature abruptly vanishes back to wherever it came from.
Despite repeated attempts, the horn does not summon any more strange monsters to the woodland glade. Finally Lord Agasha points out that despite Sheesak's death, the woods are still potentially filled with hostile creatures and perhaps advertising their position so blatantly is not the wisest course of action.
Lira takes custody of the horn for the time being at least.
Anvil wanders over. "Do you think you could use that to summon dire badgers?" he asks.
It probably wasn't an accident that Eva was within earshot of his question.
"Not funny," she calls back over her shoulder, glaring.
Anvil goes back to his business, smiling only a little.
###
As he walks away, Lord Agasha motions Anvil aside.
“Justicar,” he begins, “I was wondering if I might inquire about your travel plans.”
“We still need to seek out the archmage of the Kuio Valley. Although,” Anvil allows, “we have little idea where exactly the Kuio Valley is.”
Lord Agasha nods. “I am not familiar with a location by that name, however, from what you have told me of it, I think I know where you might be looking for. If you and your party accompany me back to Lord Fau Meen’s lands, I can obtain a map for your use.”
“That would be most helpful. I thank you.”
Lord Agasha acknowledges the thanks graciously. “It is small compensation for the debt we owe you.” He looks away for a moment, and Anvil is about to excuse himself, when Lord Agasha speaks again. “Justicar… If you are going to travel extensively in our lands, I wonder if I might offer you some advice that you and your companions might profit by it.”
Anvil nods. “Certainly.”
“Walk with me.”
###
Finally, the day of departure has arrived, and the party comes to their final task before leaving the site of Sheesak’s former stronghold for good. Although the removal of the strange magical capstone appears to have left the altar and standing stones ordinary and inert rock, the group has decided to take no chances. The bodies of the nine Sovereign peasants have been removed from their tomb and burned to prevent any chance of them rising once again. Out of respect for their beliefs, the ashes were then buried.
(Burial of the dead is a widespread custom throughout the Halmae, as Kettenek is revered as the lord of the dead, and earth is his element.)
After that, Reyu has been making daily trips into the caves, examining their structure, and using
soften earth and stone to strategically weaken the roof of the cavern below the altar and standing stones. Thatch has assisted with liberal use of the pitcher on its “fresh geyser” setting, saturating the exposed earth of the caverns with as much water as it can hold. Eventually, Thatch simply stands at the mouth of passage leading down from the higher caves and floods the entire cavern.
On the morning of their departure, Eva does a final sweep through Sheesak’s lair to be sure they have left nothing behind worth taking. Satisfied, she exits the cave and runs down the mound, through the remnants of the hedges. She can feel the earth squelching and starting to give under her feet and wastes no time getting back to the spot in the woods where rest of the group is waiting.
The party hangs back while Lord Agasha and his men go on ahead, and so once Eva reaches them, Reyu steps forward and casts one last
soften earth and stone just at the point she calculates will bring down the entire dome. At first, it seems like nothing is going to happen. Then, the top of the mound sinks, just a little bit.
“Is that—?” Thatch starts.
Reyu holds up a hand for silence. A low rumble begins, then grows louder, then a rush of dirt and rock-choked water gushes out from the cliff face. An instant later, the mound crumbles in on itself. The hedges collapse into the rising muck. The altar and standing stones remain in place for a few moments; then they all simultaneously lurch to one side. Reyu notices that as they tilt and sink, the four stones and alter keep their relative positions to each other. She must have been right, they
were all part of one large piece of rock.
The party is eventually forced to draw back to higher ground as the flood waters surge forwards into the woods. When they subside, the party returns to survey the damage.
The entrance to Sheesak’s lair is now nearly twenty feet above ground level. The old altar and standing stones are stuck, half-buried in dirt and tipped close to fifty degrees to one side. The hedges are gone, all buried in viscous mud.
Satisfied, the group does not linger long and turns their horses to catch up with Lord Agasha and the others.
