A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014

[ellinor]

29x01

Wind whipped Twiggy’s hair across her face. She kept running, and tried to sweep the hair away with the back of her hand. Hair caught in her mouth. She kept running and tried to spit it out.

Ahead of her, Kormick had found a small group of Lord Ono’s trusted, loyal Inquisitors and was handing over their Tide prisoners. By the time Twiggy caught up, the others were unencumbered and ready to run again. She didn’t get a rest.

They ran, past gardens and courtyards, through alleys and shortcuts, turned the corner and…there it was: the Temple, looming above them.

Between them and the Temple’s grand steps and great doors lay The Plaza of Our Lord Kettenek Triumphant. On another day, a smattering of pilgrims would gather there and functionaries would occasionally eat their lunches in the shadow of the 10-foot-tall holy symbol of Kettenek that stood at its center.

Today the space between the statue and the Temple held a yelling, pushing horde. Two hundred—no more, it must be more—angry people, surging toward the Temple, beating at the Temple doors in a senseless rage.

The party stopped running. “I . . . don’t suppose there’s a back door?” said Savina.

Nyoko and Unsuku responded with withering looks. Sovereigns didn’t believe in back doors, apparently. And even if there were, it would be no more reachable than the giant front one.

“Well, we’ve got to get through them, then,” Tavi said, his voice flat.

Arden shrugged, drew her dagger, and strode into the fray, past the statue, right up the middle of the mob. Letting the blade flash dangerously in the sunlight, she nudged and pushed her way through the mass of bodies as if she had every right to be there. Kormick followed on her heels, warhammers swinging to create space. Savina dashed in, riding Kormick’s wake. Many in the crowd ducked to avoid Arden's dagger and Kormick's hammers. They cleared a path. Some stopped pounding on the doors. Then they noticed who they were making way for.

“Inquisitors! Get them!”

The crowd closed behind them and descended on Twiggy’s friends. “NO!” Twiggy yelled involuntarily and clambered up onto the pedestal of the statue. She cast at the crowd, creating in their minds the image of huge iron spikes falling from the sky. Like a wave receding from the shore, for a moment, the crowd reeled away from the door, leaving Kormick, Savina, and Arden with a foot or two of breathing room.

But one head seemed to rise above the crowd: a wiry Sovereign man with cropped hair and Sedellan robes. “Inquisitors!” he bellowed. “They arrested Sister Sweet Scent! Get them! Get them!”

True Sedellan or not, the mob surged forward again, and pushed Kormick to the ground. Twiggy could barely see Savina. Someone threw a bottle at Twiggy. She tried to duck, but it clipped her shoulder. Another bottle shattered at her feet. From one side of the courtyard, Nyoko was firing arrows into the crowd. From the other side, Tavi’s flaming sword flew above the crowd and landed on the stairs, exploding in a gout of fire. The crowd panicked and backed away. Tavi’s sword re-formed in his hand. Well done. There was briefly another little path, and Unsuku and Rose dashed through, toward the door. Then they were surrounded, halfway to the door. All Twiggy could do was dodge, as more bottles came, and kicks and blows landed on Rose, Savina, Arden… Arden was bloody, barely standing, but she pulled Kormick to his feet, and they stood back to back, fending off attackers.

Mena’s voice rang out above Twiggy’s head. “EVERYONE! LEAVE NOW!” She had climbed to the very top of the holy symbol of Kettenek, and even Twiggy—ten feet below, looking up the bronze surface of the holy symbol at her teacher—was intimidated. Mena’s armor hissed and cried, the holy symbol of Sedellus roiling in and out of view on its breastplate. The crowd turned to stare at Mena. “NOW!” Mena yelled again. For a brief moment, the crowd was still.

Some ran away. Others just stared.

The wiry man’s head appeared again above the crowd. “She’s with the Inquisitors!” he yelled. It shook the crowd back into action. The mob pulled Savina to the ground, kicking her in the gut and face. But a tiny space had opened up—just big enough for Twiggy to ignite her flaming sphere without killing anyone. She did—the sphere whooshed into being right in the middle of the square, at the base of the stairs. The crowd backed away. Some of their clothes ignited. It gave Savina a chance to crawl away from her startled attackers. Twiggy saw the now-familiar blue light of Savina's healing powers surround Arden. Just seeing it made Twiggy feel better.

Mena jumped down from the statue. The ten-foot leap was impressive, and a few crowd members unthinkingly backed away as Mena waded forward into the crowd, swinging her sword, slashing and feinting and dodging bottles.

The leader yelled again, rallying the mob. “We outnumber them! They’ve arrested our beloved Sister!” With renewed energy, the crowd heaved again. Twiggy could no longer see Arden and Kormick, no doubt pressed against the doors. She struggled to keep the flaming sphere alive, moved it around, trying to open a path so that Nyoko and Tavi could get through. Nyoko and Tavi were together now, and Nyoko aimed with an eerie stillness. Ssssssshick. Her arrow flew over dozens of heads and planted itself in the leader’s head. Then sssssschick another followed. The man fell out of sight. Tavi roared, and his sword seemed to shatter into dozens of shards in its familiar magic attack, before re-forming in his hnd. The crowd backed away, and Tavi and Nyoko pushed forward.

Twiggy couldn’t see any of her friends, now. There’s nothing more I can do from here, she thought, and prepared to teleport onto the crowded steps. But then, as if from nowhere, Unsuku appeared. “You’re the last one. Rose is up there. Come on.” She grabbed Twiggy’s arm and pulled her into the crowd. It hurt. Suddenly, Twiggy was surrounded by a sea of noise, and pain in her shoulder, and kicks landing on her shins, and people stepping on her feet, and Unsuku was pulling her, and then there was the wood of the giant door, and her friends up against it. Kormick and Arden had been borne down to their knees, but were still fending off attackers. Savina was curled into a ball on the ground behind them. Nyoko, back to the door, was firing into the crowd. Rose was pressed against the door behind Tavi, who was waving his flaming sword to keep the mob away.

Twiggy took a deep breath and moved the flaming sphere closer. She could feel its heat, but it pushed the crowd away, and gave Kormick and Arden a chance to stand up. Kormick stood in front of Savina. “You don’t attack the Alirrian girl on my watch,” he said, and bashed two of their attackers hard in the gut. They doubled over. Kormick, Arden, and Mena stepped forward to create some space near the door. The crowd backed off, but kept throwing bottles. One hit Tavi in the head. Shards shattered off, spraying everyone. Blood bloomed on Kormick’s arm and Savina’s face.

Something pulled on Twiggy’s leg, and she fell. For a few moments, she couldn’t get her bearings. The fighting surrounded her. She closed her eyes and concentrated on keeping the ball of flame alive. Behind her, she could hear Nyoko banging on the door. “Open up! It’s the Adepts!” No response. Then, more quietly, “It’s locked! Arden, can you open this thing?”

Twiggy opened her eyes and slid herself back toward the door. She held her orb, and unleashed its force at the crowd, pushing it away. A couple of the attackers stumbled backward into others. Arden had shifted behind her, and was beginning the exacting process of picking the door’s giant lock. “We can’t hold them off for much longer,” Tavi said, ducking to avoid a bottle, which shattered against the door behind him. Glass was everywhere beneath their feet. Where do they get all these bottles? Twiggy thought.

“Lady Chelesta,” Arden said—so formal, even now,—“it’s too heavy for my lockpicks.”

Twiggy backed up and turned her head partway, taking one eye off the crowd. “All right.” She turned completely, then, but held the flaming sphere in her head, moved it to the back of her head just out of focus, kept it alive—closed her eyes, tried to shut out the chaos behind her—and pressed her hand against the door, reaching inside the locking mechanism with her mind, mentally following the rod of the lockpick into the lock’s giant tumblers. There it is. Using mage hand, she pushed upward on the tumbler, and with a little pop, it gave way. “We’ve got it,” she said.

“The way this crowd is moving, we’re only going to have about six seconds to get through this door once it’s open,” Nyoko warned. Twiggy opened her eyes and turned to see the crowd again, bearing down. It was a mess.

“Kormick! Back here now!” yelled Mena, and he stumbled forward, covered in blood that Twiggy hoped was not his own. He was barely standing, but he ran toward them. Unsuku somersaulted under someone wielding a rock. “Now,” Unsuku said, and it seemed too early—Kormick still seemed too far away, through the hostile crowd—but Nyoko pulled open the door and dashed through.

Someone grabbed Twiggy’s foot. She fell. But the door was open just a few feet in front of her, and she squirmed her foot free, and crawled through. Savina stumbled in beside her. Tavi teleported past her, Rose in his arms. Arden slipped in behind them. Unsuku dove in over her. Was Kormick too far away? Yes, but— Mena reached down the stairs, grabbed Kormick’s jacket and threw herself upward, pulling his limp, bloody body over the threshold. They fell in a heap on the floor. Nyoko heaved the door shut. Twiggy let the fireball die outside the door.

Twiggy rolled onto her back and looked up. They were in a grand chamber of carved, polished marble, with ceilings two stories high, and balconies high above their heads. A wide stairway led along the back wall up to dark hallways above. Screams and dull thumps against the door echoed and bounced around the room. Guards stared down at them, wide-eyed.

“Welcome Honored Adepts and Inquisitors,” one said. “Kettenek be blessed that you have made it.”

 

[Jhereth Jax]

I cannot wait to find out what happens next! The characters and the writing are just great and every time i read an update I'm reminded of how human the characters are and how they seem much more like real people and less like players trying to "win" at D&D. Keep up the awesome work and thanks for sharing!

 

[ellinor]

Many thanks, Zelc and Jhereth Jax! Your comment about how the characters seem like real people reminds me of the end of the little Savage Worlds mini-campaign that JonRog1 just ran for us. It started as a wild free-for-all of violence and adventure, and ended up with...touching character development. (Well, touching character development AND an amazing final battle involving exploding dirigibles). But the point is that when it comes to character development...we can't help ourselves.

A new update coming later today!

 

[ellinor]

29x02

Savina barely heard the guard who’d greeted them. She was too busy pulling glass out of the gash in Kormick’s side. “Alirria be blessed this didn’t go deeper,” she muttered.

Savina knew that Kormick was in terrible pain, but he didn’t show it as he addressed the guard. “Young man, what is your name?”

“Untaro,” said the guard, snapping to attention.

Kormick winced as Savina pulled out another shard. She prayed, and Alirria’s energy coursed through her, staunching the bleeding where the glass had been. “Well, Untaro-san, where might we find the Synod members?” Kormick asked.

The guard answered readily. “Brother Ono Arato of the Truest and Most Holy Lord Kettenek is in his office, and Brother Funaki of Ehkt is in Chambers with the Governor and the Mother Superior.” Savina had almost forgotten that “Funaki,” not “Burnout,” was the Ehktian leader’s real name. “Brother Trickling Fountain of Alirria never arrived, and we are holding Sister Sweet Scent—the treasonous Sedellan—for you downstairs.”

He thinks we’re here to arrest her for the riot, Savina realized, but Kormick was already playing along. “Excellent work. Untaro-san, I’m going to need you to go get five of your best men, and go downstairs to confirm for me that Sister Sweet Scent is secure. Make sure she’s unharmed. We’ll be along in a moment.”

“Yes, honored Inquisitor.” Flattered, the guard spun eagerly on his heel and headed for the stairway. As he did, Savina heard a voice echo in her head, as if someone were speaking to her from the end of a long hallway. “I am unable to enter the temple due to the mob,” the voice said. “There is a balcony on the Eastern wall. Can you meet me there?” As the voice spoke, it became clearer, until Savina recognized it. Savina was heartened by the voice: It was the Honored Mother Satsuki, who led the Alirrian Underground River. She belonged at this meeting. After all, Brother Trickling Fountain was a mere figurehead, not even a real Alirrian worshipper. This secretive woman was the true leader of the Alirrians of Cauldron.

That was all they needed to make a plan. Kormick and Arden followed the guard downstairs to rescue Sister Sweet Scent. Nyoko, Mena, and Rose went to Brother Ono Arato’s office to—they hoped—rally his support. Savina, Tavi, and Twiggy headed for the eastern balcony to help the Honored Mother. Unsuku would wait for Lord Ono and the other Inquisitors. Everyone agreed to meet, as soon as possible, back at the Synod Chambers to apprehend the Mother Superior.

It wasn’t the original plan. But in the original plan, there wasn’t a riot. They had thought they would have ample time to consolidate support from the various Synod members while Lord Ono and the other Inquisitors arrested the Mother Superior for her many heresies. Now, Lord Ono and the other Inquisitors were a mile away, surrounded by bottle-wielding rabblerousers, the Synod members were scattered and under guard, and Brother Burnout was already in the company of the Mother Superior. But—as Savina observed to herself as she climbed the stairs—the group was getting better at improvising.

###

DM’s NOTE: Obviously, this was pretty much the climax of the Skill Cascade. The core challenges at this point were a series of Skill Challenges (6 before 3) to be made, one for each of the Synod members, in order to get them to the Mother Superior. The DCs were determined by the sum total of modifiers they’d accrued against each of the Synod members (18 for Sweet Scent, 23 for Ono Arato, and 21 for Mother Satsuki). The number of rounds it took to beat each skill challenge determined how long it took them to reach the Mother Superior… which determined the precise situation that they found when they reached her.

A temple page sat, dejected, on the floor outside Brother Ono Arato’s office, her back against the heavy wooden door. She was hugging her knees and staring at the tile floor.

She lifted her face as Nyoko approached. “I promise, I’ve tried. He won’t come out. Please forgive me, Honored Adept, but this is . . . most awkward. He won’t . . . he said . . . ”

“What is your name?” Nyoko asked.

“Natsume,” the girl replied, resigned.

“Natsume-san, what did Brother Ono say?”

“It is of a . . . delicate nature,” the girl said, softly.

Nyoko leaned forward so the girl could whisper in her ear. Still, the girl could barely utter it, even at a whisper. “He said . . . he said I could not come in because he was engaged in an act of . . . an intimate nature with the Lord High Regent.” The girl backed away and hugged her shoulders defensively.

So he is willing to lie to keep people away. Nyoko bowed slightly. “You have performed your duties admirably, Natsume. You may leave.”

The girl dashed away, and Nyoko knocked on the door. Brother Ono’s voice sounded gruffly in Nyoko’s head. You have no business here. This is a broom closet.

From behind her, Mena replied aloud. “Brother Ono. We most desperately need a broom.”

Go away.

Mena rubbed her hands together as if washing them, and shook her head in confusion. She was hearing something in her head, although what, Nyoko could not imagine. “But there is no fish plague,” Mena said.

And he is willing to use all of the tools at his disposal, Nyoko realized. “My Honored Lord,” Nyoko called through the door, “We have never lied to you, and we request the same courtesy. Please do not try to manipulate our thoughts.”

I hear your mother calling to you, asking you to come home, said Brother Ono’s voice in Nyoko’s head. “Mother? Home?” Nyoko asked, knowing it must be wrong, but believing it, somehow, and turning to leave. My mother, calling . . . Nyoko thought, no. My mother is dead. She felt tears, hot, just behind her eyes.

“How dare you make this woman cry,” Mena reprimanded Brother Ono through the door.

Slowly, Brother Ono opened the door. He was disheveled, unshaven. His hair hung loose and stringy against his shoulders. There were bags under his eyes.

“Don’t speak to me about what I can dare to do. You have no idea of the responsibility you have heaped on my head. By what you’ve dared to do.” He glowered.

Rose stepped forward and spoke with a steady voice. “Perhaps. But I know something about having responsibility you don’t ask for.” Brother Ono sighed. Rose continued. “You feel unqualified to take the place of the Mother Superior, which is what must happen if we expose her. You’re worried that you’ll misuse your power. But you won’t. You’ve earned your position through hard work and merit.”

Brother Ono looked at Rose, heartbroken. “Don’t you understand? I don’t know whether I’ve earned my position! I never knew I had these powers. I don’t know whether my position is the product of work and faith, or telepathic pressure I didn’t even know I was exerting.” He took a deep breath. “The responsible thing for me to do would be to resign. But then you would be forced to depend on the support of my second, Brother Oshi Arako. He is an ambitious weasel. He would help you, but for all the wrong reasons.”

“But you would help for the right reasons. To make the world better. Fairer,” urged Mena. “You are where you are. All you can do is move forward.”

“Move forward,” said Brother Ono. “But I am the rock. The rock does not move.”

Nyoko looked into his haunted eyes. “My parents were of the lowest peasant class,” she said. “I became an adept because they were killed. Now, at age 19, my word can condemn someone to death. I have doubts about this responsibility, and it is precisely that doubt that makes me able to do my job. I worry about the ones who don’t have doubts, not about the ones who do. Our doubts tell us that we are striving for the right thing. Your doubts are precisely what will make you lead well.”

Brother Ono looked back, and there were tears in his eyes, and he nodded. “Give me a moment.” His tone said the conversation was over. His body language said they should leave. Nyoko backed away, and motioned for the others to leave. Brother Ono closed the door. They stood outside it, wondering if he would reappear.

Then the door opened. Brother Ono emerged, in a freshly pressed robe, his hair tied back in a tight knot, his face still unshaven, but somehow crisp. Strong. “Well, let’s get to the Synod Chamber,” he said, and pulled the door shut behind him.

 

[ellinor]

29x03

Tavi stared over the garden courtyard along the eastern wall of the Temple. It was filled with people, trampling the shrubs and throwing debris at the temple. A tall, intricately carved obelisk stood in the center, blotchy from rioters’ wet projectiles. Across the way—50 feet away, he guessed, and a few feet lower than the Temple balcony—was another balcony, on another building, holding half a dozen people in Alirrian robes.

50 feet doesn’t seem so far on the ground, he thought. Up here, it might as well be a mile.

Fifty feet is nothing! Phoebe piped up, and flew back and forth to the other balcony several times, as if to prove it.

Not helping, Pheebs, Tavi thought in reply. The problem was that everything was just a bit too far away. His sword allowed him to switch places with someone, but its range was only about 25 feet. And even if that worked, he’d be stuck on the other side of the courtyard. His boots allowed him to fly, but not that far. He couldn’t teleport more than 25 feet, either.

“I think I’ve got it,” said Twiggy. “We just need to extend the range of that sword-switchy thing.”

“But then I’m stuck over there,” said Tavi, repeating his thought process.

“You’ll need to teleport when you’ve flown about halfway back. You worry about that. I’ll do the sword.” She knelt down and started pulling little bits of fur and feather out of a pouch, and muttering, touching the sword, calling on her vast knowledge of arcane forces to squeeze just a little more juice out of the spell. “That should work,” she said, eventually, with enough confidence that he believed her.

He held the sword hilt with both hands and thrust its point downward at the stone of the balcony. As it hit, BAMF, he felt the pull of its teleport power, and WHUMP, he felt the inhalation of rematerializing. It had worked. He was across the courtyard. The Honored Mother was on the other side, with Savina and Twiggy. They motioned for him to return. He muttered pleasantries at the Alirrians around him, activated the boots, and aimed himself in an arc over the courtyard. At the top of the arc, he felt himself start to fall, and Now! Now! said Phoebe, and he stared at the one empty spot on the balcony, and BAMF, he activated the teleport.

It worked. Savina put her hand on his shoulder. “You are alright?” she asked. Tavi nodded “yes.”

The Honored Mother looked from Tavi to Twiggy to Savina. “I regret to tell you,” she said, with the slightest of smiles, “that Brother ‘Trickling Fountain’ met with an unfortunate accident earlier this morning. He tripped and fell. Into the very middle of the lake.” She looked back toward the center of town and grinned, and then swept her robes to the side and led the way downstairs toward the Synod Chamber. “Let us hope someone took the time to teach the titular head of the Alirrian church in Cauldron how to swim…”

###

“Sister Sweet Scent is in there?” Kormick asked Untaro. The young guard stood with five other fresh-faced young guards before a heavy door carved with a large symbol of Kettenek. “And she hasn’t been harmed?”

Untaro nodded as he opened the door.

“Well done, all of you,” said Kormick, and clapped Untaro on the back. “We need you upstairs now. All of you. Go up there; Adept Unsuku will tell you what to do.”

In an impressive show of obedience, the guards followed Untaro down the hallway. Arden hoped Unsuku would have enough sense to keep them out of harm's way with time-consuming, meaningless errands.

For Arden and Kormick there were more pressing matters. Inside the small, open room were dozens of baskets of scrolls—on shelves, on the floor—and two guards. Behind the guards, manacled and sitting on the floor amidst the baskets, was an unhappy—but, to Arden’s relief, unhurt—Sister Sweet Scent. Arden hardly expected the Temple to have official holding cells, but seeing Sister Sweet Scent imprisoned in a basement storeroom—it underscored the illegitimacy of her incarceration.

Kormick addressed the guards. “Release her manacles. We are here to take her into custody.” Jan “I never lie” Kormick, Arden thought wryly, wondering if the Justicar's mentor Brother Scribe had intended to teach his pupil that it was perfectly all right to mislead as long as you didn't technically lie.

“I have orders to hold her here,” said one of the guards.

“We don’t have time for this,” Arden snapped. “The Governor and the Mother Superior are waiting.” She was no slouch at technically not lying, herself.

“We answer only to the Mother Superior herself,” said one guard. “Not to heathens,” spat the other, putting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Arden heard the last of the five young guards’ footsteps disappear up the stairs, and did the math in her head. Two remaining guards, possibly Tidesmen. Kormick and herself.

One innocent woman in chains on the floor.

She took a step to the left of the guards. Kormick took a step to the right of the guards.

“We won't ask again,” said Kormick. One of the guards began to draw his sword. “Simply release the prisoner to us, and—“

The guard’s sword was barely out of its sheath by the time Arden and Kormick had each lunged forward, flanking the guards between them. Arden stabbed one in the gut and Kormick bashed him on the head with his warhammer. Arden slit the other’s throat while Kormick broke his spine.

Both guards were dead before they could even cry out.

Kormick picked up the bloody keys from below the heaped guards and unlocked the manacles. “You two stay here,” he said, patting the dead guards with a sticky hand. “And you,” he said to Sister Sweet Scent, “If you will join us in the Synod Chamber, we can put an end to this corruption once and for all.”

 

[ellinor]

30x01

Twiggy felt a gust of air as Unsuku pulled her head in and pushed the giant door closed, dulling, but barely quieting, the shouts of the crowd outside. She, Tavi, and Savina had brought Mother Satsuki back in the giant marble entryway of the Temple to retrieve Unsuku and—they had hoped—meet up with Lord Ono and the Inquisitors.

The silent grandeur of the rotunda contrasted with the roars, thumps, and scrapes of the riot surrounding them. People were dying out there, Twiggy knew. And she wondered whether arresting the Mother Superior would even be enough to stop it.

“There’s no sign of the Inquisitors.” Unsuku reported. “They must be tied up handling the riot. We’ll have to do this ourselves.”

Kormick and Arden returned, with a weak-looking Sister Sweet Scent following close behind. “So all we have to do is go in there,” Kormick said, pointing down the marble hallway toward the Synod Chamber, “arrest the Mother Superior of the City, and we’re done.”

“You make it sound easy,” Nyoko said, as she, Mena, and Rose returned with Brother Ono Arato.

“Would you prefer I make it sound difficult?” Kormick shrugged. “Off we go.”

They had nearly reached the door of the Synod Chamber when two figures approached from the other direction. Before Twiggy could even see who they were, Savina had stepped in front of Sister Sweet Scent. “What is she doing here?” Savina’s voice was harsher than Twiggy had ever heard it.

Then she saw why. Chief Questioner Mawu stepped into the light from one of the wall-torches. Prime Inquisitor Yudai was right behind her.

“Honored Heathens!” Yudai’s voice was almost jolly. “We’re here to speak with the Governor, Lady Aga Emi. Lord Ono-san informed us that she is meeting with the Mother Superior. There’s a risk the Governor may declare martial law to quell the riot. Lord Ono-san has delegated us to warn you that this would be a grave error. The riot is a fraud, perpetrated by the Mother Superior and the Tide.”

Mawu remained silent, staring at Sister Sweet Scent, her face inscrutable.

Sister Sweet Scent strained at Savina and Arden, both of whom looked just about ready to let her go. “Let me at her,” Sister Sweet Scent muttered.

“Ah! Paperwork! I remember you!” exclaimed Mawu, her eyes opening in recognition. It didn’t help matters.

“If we can keep this coalition intact for the next 25 feet,” Kormick interjected, “it seems our agendas are alike.”

Sister Sweet Scent narrowed her eyes, but nodded.

Kormick pushed open the doors and strode in. There it was: the Mother Superior’s Main Audience Chamber. A small room, with intricately carved marble walls and a low conference table in the middle. But there was no one in the room. Past the conference table, a set of lush jacquard curtains had been pulled back, revealing an enormous sanctuary lined with enormous marble columns. Row upon row of satin cushions lined the floors, flanking a wide center aisle and facing a large, raised dais surrounded by a railing. On the far wall, looming over the dais, was the largest symbol of Kettenek Twiggy had ever seen. More than a dozen Temple guards lined the aisle. Yet more guarded the dais. The Mother Superior and Governor were at the far end, near the symbol of Kettenek. Brother Burnout was on the dais steps, listening intently from the railing at its edge.

The Mother Superior wore a long, black robe. Her gray hair was pulled back in a rigid bun. Her voice echoed against the marble columns as she spoke to the Governor. “It is of the utmost importance to put down an uprising such as this.”

Bad news, Twiggy thought. The Governor is listening. Brother Burnout is listening, too. They might think they’re restoring order, but they’d be playing right into the Tide’s hands.

“My Lady Governor,” Yudai announced, as he walked through the curtains into the sanctuary, “I bring an urgent message from the Inquisition.”

Twiggy and the others followed him into the sanctuary and down the center aisle toward the dais. Guards flanked them as they processed down the aisle. Twiggy could hear the echo of her footsteps. She watched the guards out of the corner of her eyes and tried—as if it were possible—to make her shoulders more narrow.

“You see, most honored excellency, this is what I’m talking about,” said the Mother Superior, pointing at Sister Sweet Scent. “The Inquisition would rather free the wrongdoers behind the riots than keep our streets safe.”

The Governor remained silent.

They had reached the front of the sanctuary now. The guards stood still behind them. Kormick stepped up beside Yudai. “A thousand pardons, Honored Governor-san and Brother Funaki-san,” he said, with a tiny bow, “but we really must speak with you.”

He’s getting better at Sovereign honorifics, Twiggy thought. It’s a good thing the Governor doesn’t know what we did to her son.

“Begging your pardon,” Nyoko said, from just behind Kormick, “They may be heathens, but you will find them to be just and of right mind.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Twiggy saw Brother Burnout. He looked very confused. Mena stepped toward him, crossing in front of a row of cushions.

Yudai spoke with a louder voice than before. “The Inquisition has obtained irrefutable evidence of the Mother Superior’s involvement with the Restless Tide of the One True Path. Mother Superior Kawazu Noriko, we are here to arrest you.”

An audible gasp spread through the room as the guards looked at each other. Some looked shocked. Others looked concerned. Others looked angry. But they stayed still. One word from the Mother Superior, and they’ll move, Twiggy knew. Acorn burrowed deep into her pocket. She could feel the mouse’s fear.

Brother Burnout’s jaw dropped and his eyes got wide. He looked around himself with near-panic. Mena looked him in the eye with a look Twiggy had seen many times before. “Brother Funaki-san,” she said, “We stand here with the other members of the Synod to enact the will of the Lord High Regent. We have the full weight of the united Circle behind us. We need the force of a united Synod. We have a united Synod, but for you. Now is the time to step forward.”

You’ve trained for this, Twiggy appended to the sentence, but she knew it wasn’t true. Brother Burnout was completely unprepared for this.

“Heathens . . . the long way around the circle . . . unheard of . . .” Brother Burnout said, shaking his head. “And you say you have proof?”

Unsuku and Nyoko nodded and bowed in unison. Twiggy knew this was her cue. She waved her hand and the list of charges followed it: their wall of evidence from the Inquisition, reproduced in glowing red. Three-dimensional images of the wrongdoers and their links to the Mother Superior connected by shimmering lines. The Hillside District conspiracy and Kawazu's confession implicating the the Mother Superior. The wrongful arrest of Sister Sweet Scent. Goro. The information Arden had gotten from her Tide contact. All of it.

“It is Witnessed,” said Nyoko.

“It is Witnessed,” said Unsuku. Twiggy stepped back.

Brother Burnout furrowed his brows and his eyes flitted about the room. “Brother Ono Arato. Sister Sweet Scent. . . . Unprecedented. Where is Brother Trickling Fountain?”

Mother Satsuki stepped toward him and squared her shoulders. “Brother Trickling Fountain no longer speaks for Alirrians. I am Mother Satsuki. I now have that honor.”

Beside Twiggy, Rose rubbed her arms as if she was cold. Twiggy—falling for a moment into the comfortingly familiar role of lady-in-waiting—queried with hand signals whether Rose wanted something to put around her shoulders. She didn’t. “It’s the sound of the crowd.” Rose whispered. “Like they want blood.”

Brother Funaki sighed heavily.

Mena’s eyes bored into him like spears. Her voice hardened. “Brother Funaki. You know what is right. Will you face this challenge?”

He looked at Mena, and the Mother Superior, and Nyoko, and Mena again.

“As the last member of the Synod,” Brother Burnout said to the Mother Superior, “I insist you submit to arrest.”

The Mother Superior scanned the room as if surveying a great vista. “I’m afraid I must decline your invitation.”

A few of the guards fled.

The rest drew their weapons.

 

[Falkus]

Reaching this point must have been incredibly satisfying; given how much time was spent on building up to it and work put in by the characters to make sure everything was prepared! I just hope I can pull off something equally awesome in one of my campaigns.

 

[ellinor]

Speaking as a player: yes, it was tremendously satisfying! I remember doing a little "end of the skill cascade" dance in the car on the way to gaming. In the interest of full disclosure, however, I should be clear that I do a little "on the way to gaming" dance in the car on the way to gaming for pretty much every session.

But to return to your question: it was great to see how our earlier work in the skill cascade contributed to the likelihood of success in these last two sessions. And of course, despite our herculean diplomatic and political machinations, we shouldn't have expected (and didn't expect!) to avoid a fight at the end! Which was also satisfying, in a totally different way...

On an unrelated note, a few of us Halmae-types will be at Comic-Con in San Diego over the next few days. If anyone else will be there, feel free to PM me and maybe we can meet up!

 

[ellinor]

30x02

Nyoko hadn’t expected the Mother Superior to submit easily. But the Mother Superior was still acting like she was in charge. And now they were surrounded by a dozen guards with katanas.

Prime Inquisitor Yudai began to grow magically, as Nyoko had seen him do before, until he was gigantic, nearly filling the space between two of the columns. “Unsettling, isn’t it,” he said, in a booming voice, “for the Mother Superior of Kettenek to find both law and justice against her.”

Nyoko agreed, but that wasn’t what unsettled her most. From months of research, she knew what this woman was capable of; some of the rumors were—literally—petrifying. She’ll kill us without a second thought. With that thought echoing in her mind, the Honored Adept Nyoko drew her bow and loosed an arrow at one of the most revered religious figures in her country. It hit its mark. Right in the Mother Superior’s chest.

The mother superior pulled out the arrow as if it barely stung. “You dare to challenge me on my holy ground?”

She raised her hands as if directing an orchestra, and suddenly dozens of spikes, three feet tall, shot up from the ground in the middle of the room, piercing pillows, sending feathers flying, making it hard to maneuver. “AUGH!” yelled Unsuku, as one stabbed upward into her arm. Tavi was hit, too. Nyoko looked down. One had torn the leg of her pants. A trickle of blood ran from her thigh. Across the room, more spikes shot up. One went straight through Yudai’s enormous foot. They trapped Kormick where he stood.

Something else was happening, too: Rose was clutching her ears, as if to keep out a loud noise. But all Nyoko could hear was the clash of katanas, as the guards heaved forward, attacking Savina and Mawu in the back of the group and Kormick in the front. One of the guards who had been standing on the dais dashed at Kormick, sliced across his front twice with incredible force, and dashed away, slicing Yudai’s ankle and Arden’s shoulder in the process. Arden stabbed as he went by, barely catching his arm. The other two guards from the dais moved with similar speed—faster than Nyoko’s eyes could follow. Nyoko had never seen anyone move that fast before, not even an Adept. And Kormick clearly hadn’t either. He was in bad shape. But there was nothing Nyoko could do to help him. She ducked behind a pillar and kept shooting arrows at the Mother Superior.

Savina began to run for Kormick, but beside her, Mawu groaned. Blood bloomed from Mawu’s gut and stained her robes. She coughed in pain. Savina stopped running, took a deep breath, grasped both of Mawu’s shoulders, and prayed aloud: “May Alirria open your heart.” The blue light of healing coursed through her hands. Mawu reached down to feel her gut, as the healing took effect, and looked Savina in the eyes. Then she looked past Savina at the three guards rushing them. “I have something for you,” she said, calmly drawing something sharp and shiny out of the bag at her waist. The guards turned and fled.

At the corner of the dais, Mena and Brother Funaki were back to back, fending off guards. “Everybody move!” Mena yelled instructions from her higher vantage point. “Arden! Look out!” she yelled, too late. Arden got another swipe from one of the fast-moving guards. “And Justicar,” Mena yelled to Kormick, who was on his knees, bleeding and trapped by the spikes, “pull it together. I need you to not die.”

Kormick wrested himself from the spikes and stood up. “Aye aye,” he said, and held up his warhammers just in time to release his electrical attack on three approaching guards.

Twiggy and Tavi were in the middle of the room, unleashing fire. Tavi threw his sword into a knot of muscular guards, and it burst into flame before re-forming in his hand. Twiggy cast something, and they all fell over. One landed on a spike. Brother Ono picked up another in a wrestling hold and pinned him on a spike. Mother Satsuki touched a third and green-black necrotic energy spread from the spot where she touched him. He fell where he stood. The Synod members know this is their fight, too, Nyoko realized.

“THEY WON’T STOP THEY WANT TO KILL US THEY WANT TO KILL ME!” Rose yelled, grasping her ears and doubling over in pain. Something was clearly very, very wrong with Rose, but Nyoko couldn’t tell what—only that Rose was panicked, in pain, and too far away to help. Twiggy—who was closer—ran to Rose’s side and shielded her. A curtain of flame burst from Twiggy’s orb, immolating a couple of guards.

And then Nyoko felt something too, something in her head, something sharp, not a noise, exactly, but . . .

Nyoko blinked, hard, and then looked around. Yudai had somehow gotten on to the dais, and he hit the Mother Superior, hard. Savina prayed, and a blinding shaft of light hit the Mother Superior. The Mother Superior shrieked as the light blinded her. Now she can’t see to defend herself, Nyoko thought, aiming her bow. Finally maybe an advantage…

…but everyone else was getting pummeled. Tavi and Twiggy were stuck on spikes. The fast guards almost seemed to be bouncing around the room, leaving wounds on everyone. Mena had been hit so many times her armor was gurgling, its whispering mouths choked with blood. Arden, who had joined Nyoko behind the pillar, hit the Mother Superior with a flying dagger, and again it seemed barely to hurt her at all. Nyoko realized: every time the Mother Superior was hit, the guards were somehow absorbing it.

Kormick saw it too. He yelled “They’re—” but before he could say anything else, he had been turned to stone.

The Mother Superior could channel the might of Kettenek to turn people to stone. Nyoko had heard the rumor, but she hadn’t believed it. Now she knew it was true.

“A Justicar, turned to stone by a criminal. I don’t understand Kettenek,” Arden muttered.

A group of guards was closing in on their pillar. Nyoko tried to slow them down with arrows. Another group was closing in on Mena and Savina up near the dais. One of them, a tall one, jammed his katana down into Mena’s chest. Tavi ran at him, and stabbed his flaming sword into his back, and he fell, but it was too late. Mena dropped to the ground. Savina knelt beside her.

Rose clutched her head and screamed again, and Twiggy fell to her knees, and Nyoko felt it again, too, that thing in her head. She heard the roaring of the angry crowd outside. She heard a whisper, saying something . . . she blinked hard again, and the whisper went away, but the rioting crowd stayed loud, as if she was in the middle of the fray . . . Nyoko tried to concentrate on the very real fighting around her. She saw Mena regain consciousness and stumble to her feet. Then one of the guards charged at Rose. He sliced her arm with his katana, and there was nothing she could do. Blood covered the side of her robe. She was obviously in pain . . .

On the dais, Brother Funaki created some sort of explosive swirl of color and light, and one of the bigger guards collapsed. Sister Sweet Scent said a few words and a gust of wind whipped across the Mother Superior’s eyes, which were still blank and blind from Savina’s assault. But the Mother Superior snarled and clenched her fist, and more spikes grew in the floor. It left barely a foot of moving space in the whole sanctuary. The whole room was hazardous.

“BE QUIET!” screamed Mena, and grasped her head, and then—like Kormick on the other side of the room—she turned to stone.

Kill, came the whisper in Nyoko’s head, and this time she could hear what it was saying. Make the sacrifice of death . . . Kill Roseanna di Raprezzi . . .

 

[coyote6]

Yikes! That's a nasty fight. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

So, is the game still going on in July 2012?