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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7068645" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 14Bredan looked up through the gap in the trees at the bluff that rose up in front of them.  It wasn’t the largest of the massive formations that the map and Glori had called the Godstones, but it was still impressive.  Bredan could see where the name had come from.  It was as if someone had constructed a series of giant stone citadels atop this region of the Dry Hills.  The mesas rose up hundreds of feet above the highest of the hills that had given them so much trouble over the last few days.The one in front of them had a distinctive feature, a cleft in one side that looked like a blow from a colossal giant’s axe.  According to Starfinder’s instructions and the map, that was where they would find the entrance to the ancient shrine.“I have to give you credit, you got us here,” Glori said to Kosk.  “Impressive, isn’t it?”The dwarf snorted.  “Any idiot can follow a map.”  But he did not look displeased at the comment.“The question now is, do we set up camp before making our approach?” Quellan said.  “We’ll need to wait for morning before attempting the ascent, in any case.”They all looked west, where the late afternoon sun was steadily dropping toward the distant horizon.“We might as well get closer,” Kosk suggested.  “Likely to be better shelter along the base of the bluff, and it cuts down on the directions an enemy can approach the camp.”“What if someone else comes looking for the shrine?” Bredan asked.“Well then, we’ll be in a better position to deal with them, no?” the dwarf said.They made their way back into the forest, which grew thicker around them.  From their vantage it had looked as though they still had a good hike ahead to get to the bluff, but the ground began to rise almost immediately.  They passed boulders the size of wagons and even a few that were the size of a farmer’s cottage, forcing them to circle around.  The shadows around them deepened as the day faded and Bredan found himself seeing threats in each of them.  He took some solace in the fact that both Glori and Quellan looked equally jumpy.  Only Kosk seemed unaffected, trudging up the rise with his usual brisk pace.  Bredan tried to ignore the twinges in his legs as the change in slope added fresh strain on already tired muscles.  He thought about unlimbering his crossbow, but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it.  He hitched up his baldric so that the buckle was in easy reach and hurried after the others.They were approaching another of the massive rocks when Kosk suddenly stopped and held his hand up in warning.  The others tensed and listened.  “What is it?” Bredan finally hissed.“Wood smoke,” Kosk said without turning.Bredan sniffed the air and smelled it, just a hint on the gentle breeze.  The trees were thick enough that he couldn’t see the source, but it had to be pretty close given how little wind there was.“All right, let’s check it out,” Kosk said.  Bredan was about to unsling his pack to get the bow when an old woman stepped out from behind the boulder.“You must be here for the shrine,” she said.They all jumped a bit, even Kosk, though the woman made no hostile moves.  She was human and looked to be about sixty.  She was dressed in a simple wool robe and appeared to be unarmed, though the oddity of her presence here kept the four adventurers on edge.  “Who are you?” Quellan asked.  “And what are you doing here?” Kosk added.“My name is Arras.  I am a scholar of ancient lore.  Perhaps not unlike whoever sent you here?”“You seem to know a lot about us,” Quellan suggested.“I only make assumptions based upon the evidence that is in front of me.”“We could be bandits,” Kosk said.“I find it doubtful that a priest of Hosrenu would be in such a company.  Or a musician, or a monk of the Open Hand.”  She gave Bredan a quick look but didn’t add a comment; maybe she thought he did look like a bandit, he thought.  He had the resist a sudden impulse to straighten his hair.“So you are interested in the Eth’barat?” Glori asked.“Of course.  I would hardly come all this way out into the middle of nowhere otherwise.”“Are you alone?” Kosk asked her.“I was,” Arras said with a smile.  “I have a camp not far from here.  It’s getting late, and I’ll be happy answer all of your questions there.”The others shared a look that clearly said they were all on the same page in terms of trust, but finally Glori shrugged and said under her breath, “Better to know more than less, I suppose.”  In a more normal voice she said to the old woman, “Lead on!”Arras’s camp was in small dell formed between two ridges of exposed stone that jutted out from the mass of the bluff.  They couldn’t see the cleft from that vantage, but based on the way that the ground rose up steeply ahead they had to be close.As if reading their minds, Arras said, “We’re close.  There’s a path that leads up into the cleft.  The entrance to the shrine is about halfway up.  Watch your step, there.”The smoke they’d smelled earlier rose from a small campfire concealed within a shallow pit.  A thin iron frame that could support a pot was erected over it.  Other common items were scattered around the camp, including a bedroll and a few extra blankets, an assortment of waterskins, pouches, and sacks, and a line of extra clothes drying between two trees.  The secret of how she’d gotten everything out here was explained by the mule that was cropping grass near the back of the dell.  The beast gave them a brief look as they came into the camp and then went back to its supper.“It looks like you’ve been here for a while,” Quellan said.“A few weeks,” Arras said.  “Unfortunately I have been having some difficulty gaining access to the shrine.”“Is there a seal?” Kosk asked as she strode around the camp in a circle, taking in every detail while not turning his back on the old woman.“No, it’s open, but there’s a creature guarding the entrance.  And the bugbears that went up there a few days ago are another potential problem.”“Wait, creature?” Bredan asked.“Bugbears?” Glori added.Quellan held up a hand.  “I think you’d better tell us what’s going on here.”“Certainly.  But first, let me get you a drink.  I think I have a little plum wine left in one of the panniers...”“That’s okay, we don’t need anything,” Quellan said.“I insist,” Arras said.  “After all, you haven’t told me anything about yourselves yet, or what you are doing here.  And if you are in fact a priest of Hosrenu, then you know about the rules of hospitality.  Not that there’s anything I could do if in fact you proved to be… unpleasant,” she said with a notable look at Kosk, “but I would feel better if we went through the formalities.”With that she strode past the dwarf and moved to the back of the camp, past where the mule was tethered to a sheltered niche where several wicker panniers had been carefully arranged under a tarp.  She briefly passed out of their view as she bent under the cover and began digging through her supplies.As soon as she was out of direct line of sight Glori turned to Quellan and Bredan and hissed, “What are we going to do?”“What do you mean?” Quellan asked.“Come on… do you really think this old woman could have survived out here alone for weeks?”Quellan looked at her in confusion.  “Well, obviously she did…” but Bredan took her arm and murmured, “What are you saying?  That she’s some kind of witch or something?”Glori said, “Look, I know most of the stories I tell are just… well, a lot of them are exaggerated.  But others… I mean, you meet a strange old woman in the middle of nowhere, no, right next to some weird magical shrine, and she’s insisting on offering us a drink…”“You’re the one who wanted to come here!” Bredan hissed.“There is no evidence she’s anything other than what she says she is,” Quellan said.“Just ask yourself, what chance is it that she’s just some old woman who happens to be an expert at survival in a place like the Dry Hills…”“Maybe she’s in league with those bugbears,” Bredan whispered.Quellan let out an exasperated sigh.  “We only know about them because she told us about them,” he reminded them.“She’s coming back,” Kosk warned in a soft voice.  He was still over by the campfire, but from the look on his face he’d listened in on their entire conversation.Arras seemed unperturbed as she returned to the main camp.  She was holding a small bottle and a handful of cups.  “I’m sorry, I don’t have enough cups for everyone, you’ll need to share.”“Really, it’s okay, we don’t need anything,” Bredan said.  “We’re fine.”“You should ask your cleric friend to explain the rules of hospitality,” the old woman said as she uncorked the bottle and poured a splash of pale liquid into one of the cups.  “Not enough of you young people value the old traditions.”“If we don’t value those traditions, why is it so important that we do this?” Glori asked.“Call me old-fashioned.”  She held the cup out to Kosk.  “Here, master dwarf, drink.  I know it’s not ale, but…”Kosk held out the cup and turned it upside down, spilling the liquid on the stones along the edge of the firepit.“Well now, that’s rude,” Arras said.  “I think…”She didn’t get a chance to finish, as he snapped out a fist and punched her hard in the face.</blockquote>

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