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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ellinor" data-source="post: 5951957" data-attributes="member: 14561">29x02Savina 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 <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/story-hour/251423-rose-wind-saga-halmae-updated-june-14-2012-a-44.html#post5810316" target="_blank">Satsuki</a>, 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.</blockquote>

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