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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 4132577" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #20– “Moor-Tomb Denouement” (part 3 of 3)Tholem, the 18th of Keent - 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)“Crusta?” Markos gently nudged her, noticing that everyone else was either still slept or had left the hut. “It has been decided that we’re going to take you to retrieve your tokens…”“Oh! Thank you, Ko-kos!” She nuzzled her face into his neck and Markos stiffened and sat up, gently brushing her arms off of him.“But there is more,” Markos continued.  “When they are retrieved we have to let the priests examine them… Because… Well, because if any of them are deemed evil they will have to be destroyed if you are to accompany us back to civilization…”“What?! No! Why?” Crusta sat up and Timotheus grumbled and rolled over.  Markos stood, taking Crusta’s hand and leading her out of the hut.  “Only bad if used bad… Me use them good for you Ko-kos!”“I would like to agree with you, but this is a compromise you are going to have to make if you want to come with us,” Markos replied.“Why you doing this, boyfriend?” Crusta’s shoulders sagged and her scabrous black lips pouted.  She was dressed in a dirty gray and brown smock that one of the elder women of the Ray-Ree had given her, her natty locks were tied back with a piece of twine.  “They might lie when they check! They hate me!”“I trust them,” Markos said, softly.“Why? Why stay with them?  You hate them. I hate them. Mister Tim would have been a good boyfriend, but I like you better!”  Crusta’s voice had a pleading element to it.  “Why not leave them? Come with me?”“Because I have to…” Markos replied. “I have a duty to them now… And I want to see you change. I want you to learn to understand what that means.  It can be hard, I know… I know if can be hard…”“If you have something hard, Crusta can help you with it,” the half-orc woman changed her tactics and sidled up to Markos, letting her hand creep down to his pants.“I cannot describe how uncomfortable it makes me when you do that,” Markos said, pushing her arm and stepping away.  “I have no interest in you in that way.  I want to be more like a brother to you…”“Brothers is how Crusta learned…” She moved to press her body against him again, but again Markos stepped away. “Wow… That makes me even more uncomfortable… Anyway, do you agree…?”Crusta was quiet for a long moment, and as each second passed her face grew darker with a flush of anger. “No!” She barked. “Tokens mine! Me fought and sneaked and fΩcked for them! Not giving them up!”  She lifted one fist wildly, but spun around and brought it down heavily against her thigh twice and then let out the beginning of a sob that she sucked back in instead.“Crusta… I’m sorry…” Markos put a hand on her shoulder, and she spun around to grab him in an embrace.  Again, he pulled away… “No Crusta… Look… Admentus said that you can stay here and practice witchcraft as long as <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Rudwilla+of+the+Toadstools" target="_blank">Rudwilla</a> is willing to take you in… I’m sure she will… She seemed like a reasonable woman and she owes us…  Do you think you’ll do that?” [sup]1[/sup]“I will have to, since you abandoning me!” Crusta stalked off and did not respond to Markos’ one half-hearted call for her to come back.At breakfast he explained to the others that Crusta would not be coming and so they didn’t need to go after her tokens or split up.  By late afternoon it was clear that the half-orc witch had already left without saying goodbye to anyone.  Eventually Laarus, Victoria and Bleys did make a trip to visit <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Cineas" target="_blank">Brother Cineas</a>, and he congratulated them on their success with a lack of enthusiasm only a <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Monks+of+Anubis" target="_blank">monk of Anubis</a> could have. [sup]2[/sup]Isilem, the 23rd of Keent - 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)Three days later <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Kermit+Buckleburr" target="_blank">Kermit Buckleburr</a> and his riding dog, Duckhunter, returned, but the halfling insisted on two days of rest before leading the party back to the Border Shires. He assured the young nobles that he had sent off the messages just as they directed[sup]3[/sup], and the only news of Thricia he had to share was some vague word of some kind of riot in <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Sluetelot" target="_blank">Sluetelot</a>.  This made the Signers uneasy, but there was nothing they could do about it.  And so, the night before they were finally to go back to Thricia, the Ray-Ree gifted them with a roasted aurochs and some kind of white pudding made from nuts. There was also plenty of the fermented goat’s milk, and Bleys eyed Timotheus warily whenever the tall Briareus took a sip or three of it in order to not be rude to their hosts.In addition, Admentus announced that they would be getting four days of food each for their journey to add to whatever was left of their own store of trail rations, along with some feed for the horses.  And finally, each of them was given a simple hemp necklace with a jackal head charm carved from aurochs bone. Bleys the Aubergine gave them the worn pick Timotheus had used to carved a way out of Dalvan’s tomb, as any forged tool was a great boon to the barbarian tribe, and Timotheus added the battle-axe he had taken from one of the skeletons in the tomb.  The gifts were appreciated.After dinner there was one more gift to be given to the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Charter+of+Schiereiland" target="_blank">Signers of the Charter of Schiereiland</a>.  Trititia came to them in their hut.  She opened her palm there she held nine small black mushroom caps.“These are spirit mushrooms,” Trititia explained. “They will give you insight into…”Timotheus Smith did not wait.  He picked one up off her hand and threw it in his mouth and began to chew.  He grimaced at the bitter earthy taste.“…insight into your role in this mortal world, or a view of the world to come…” Trititia continued, smiling.  Telémahkos took one and looked at it cautiously, and Tymon, as usual mimicked his master.  Markos took one and after a sniff, began to chew it down as well. Not wanting to be rude, Laarus of Ra and Victoria of Anhur followed suit.  With a shrug, Telémahkos began to chew on his, fighting back gagging to swallow it down and following it with some water.  Dunlevey and Falco ate a mushroom each as well, but Kermit shook his head and took off with Duckhunter, saying he’d be back in the morning for the trip.  Bleys the Aubergine took a mushroom, but put it away instead of consuming it, figuring it might be a good idea for one of them to remain sober, and not being one for altered states as it was.It was less than a half hour later that Victoria Ostrander founder herself standing in one corner of the  hut looking very intently at each of her companion’s faces. She had never noticed before how much each of them looked like a different animal. Markos especially suddenly reminded her of the small tan monkeys she had sometimes seen for sale at the market, or trained to run around with a cup and beg for copper pennies.  He had a withered little old man face that seemed to suggest both age and youth, and she had to suppress a smile when she imagined him clapping two cymbals together.  She shook her head. Everything suddenly seemed kind of strange and connected.  Telémahkos’s plumage ruffled as he whispered to Tymon who was covering his face like a turtle pulling its head into its shell.“Is Victoria looking at me? I think she’s looking at me…” Markos asked Laarus nervously. The militant of Anhur walked towards the hut exit and encountered Bleys, who watched the slow change in his companions’ behavior with a chiseled smirk.  Victoria noticed his nostrils flare and how he stood proud and tall, haughty.  His face was long, almost equine… Yes! Like a horse. “My horse!” She suddenly said aloud and began to jog towards the corral at the edge of the barbarian camp.“Victoria! Wait! Perhaps riding right now is not a good idea! The watch-mage went after her, and Telémahkos looked up suddenly from where he sat with Tymon, causing his portly servant to scramble into a corner whimpering.  “That’s a good idea,” Telémahkos said, standing. He looked over at Timotheus who was holding his saber to the lantern light and counting motes that danced up and down its blade with Dunlevey. They both had wide indomitable smiles.  “Tim! Tim! It’s too suffocating in here!”“Then go outside,” Timotheus replied, not looking at him.“Good idea,” Telémahkos said again. He looked over at where Tymon alternately shaking and nodding his head to some invisible figure he was cringing from, and shrugging his shoulders went out to the see the last light of the day fade in west.  “Gods! The sky! It’s so big! It’ll swallow me up!” He grabbed onto the edge of the hut and stood in the doorway, bouncing slightly.  He noticed Bleys walking back towards the hut and he called out to him.  “Bleys! Be careful! The sky so huge you’ll fall in!”  Telémahkos ran out to the watch-mage and started trying to hurry him back to the hut with real fear.  However, as soon as Bleys refused to be hurried, the foppish aristocrat grew calm in the watch-mage’s presence and began to try to convince him to eat the remaining mushroom.“Leave me alone,” Laarus said to Markos. “I want to observe the room from up here on the ceiling.”  He was lying on his stomach on the hut floor, with his arms and leg spread.The scrawny mage’s head darted around filled with nervous energy.  Suddenly he heard a voice blathering about some arcane mathematical precepts, and he turned around quickly to see who it was.  The voice stopped.  He looked over at Timotheus.  Dunlevey was lying with his head in the big warrior’s lap, telling him the story of the first time he had to kill a human. Suddenly, the voice returned, and Markos spun around again… And then he realized that the voice was himself, and that he was just mumbling arcane factoids under his breath whenever he became distracted.  Suddenly fascinated with his own sense of hearing, he wandered outside to find out what else there was to hear in the wider world of the barbarian camp.  On wind he heard the strain of drums, and followed the sound popping up and down to the beat out of instinct, and as soon as the practiced drumming of the young barbarians [sup]4[/sup] was loud enough for him to hear clearly, he stopped and began to dance.  His body shook to the music and he grunted and shouted as the spirit of the rhythm moved him.  Soon some of the Ray-Ree were standing at distance to watch him. Markos knew he was dancing perfectly. They picked up the tempo.Having successfully convinced Bleys she was fine, Victoria patted Ironsides’ neck.  She admired the animal’s fine coat and the solid muscle beneath it.“I realized that I left my saddle and gear back at the hut,” Victoria said aloud.“That’s okay, mistress Victoria,” Ironside turned his huge equine head and looked right at the dumbstruck militant. The horse had a deep and reassuring voice.  It reminded her of her father. “You can ride bareback.  There is no way you can fall tonight…”“Ironsides… I didn’t know you could talk!” Victoria replied, still astonished.“You just never had the ability to listen,” the horse replied. She climbed up on to him and with the slightest urging, they took off, leaping over the corral fence and off into the night.Back in the hut, as Tymon continued to whimper cringing away from Dunlevey and Timotheus who were laughing as they drunkenly wrestled, Telémahkos continued to chatter at Bleys, now eager to draw the watch-mage to somewhere private to discuss ‘the deeper interconnectedness of everything everywhere all the time!’   Bleys clucked his tongue and let his disdain grow thick on his face.  He walked away.Laarus Raymer of Ra stepped out of the hut. He looked up at the night sky and noticed that the constellation known as ‘<a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/The+Dolphin+and+the+Squid" target="_blank">the Dolphin</a>’ was stuck in the twirling tentacles of ‘<a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/The+Dolphin+and+the+Squid" target="_blank">the Squid</a>.’  The whole vault of the blue-black sky warped, and the stars stretched out into disorienting smears as the world dropped out from beneath him.  There was a seemingly interminable silence, but suddenly bolts of lightning broke it and thunder reverberated from all directions.  A flat-topped pyramid filled his vision.  Atop it was a golden pearl that pulsated.  He suddenly felt as if he were hovering near to it, but was now flying further and further away from the pyramid as it melted and twisted and changed into a fiery mountain shooting molten rock into the sky turning everything orange.   Laarus burned.  He writhed in an agony that made everything black. He lost any sense of having a body.  Laarus became a dancing mote of golden light bouncing around in front of an immense golden lion.  It swatted at the mote and suddenly the young priest’s perspective has changed again.  He was seeing the mote buzz around the roaring lion.  It stood before a silver gate. Behind the gate: darkness.Teflem, the 27th of Keent - 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)Three and a half days later, Telémahkos could close his eyes and remember clearly the visions of his mother, his true mother, holding him in her arms.  He could not recall when the hallucinations of the spirit mushroom had melted into the ordinary dreams of sleep, but what he could recall remained vivid.  He smiled even though his ass ached from three long days on the saddle.  He looked over at Victoria of Anhur who rode parallel to him and smiled again.  Between them their horses dragged the makeshift sledge that carried the heavy sardonyx statue of the angel. They brought up the end of the long staggered line of horses.The day after the visions, Kermit Buckleburr began to lead them north, often taking off on Duckhunter to return hours later with some small game, or news that a new path would have to be taken because of some sign of predators.  He trusted Falco to lead them the general way, and no one was moving fast anyway.  The days were as hot as they had ever been, and their progress was slowed by the need to water the horses often.   It was mid-morning and Kermit had just returned from looking for a shady spot to wait out the mid-day and rest the horses.  He led them north by northwest over open dry ground that was easily kicked up into a dust cloud visible for miles by the sheer number of horses.  The plant life here was stubborn flowering vines that strangled large broken rocks, or spread out along dried streambeds seeking out whatever moisture it could.  Some vines sported long narrow spines that sometimes glistened with dew, which Duckhunter would carefully lick off.Kermit referred to it as the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Land-Sea+of+Sharnth" target="_blank">Land-Sea of Sharnth</a>, and explained that they were skirting along the western edge of it as to best avoid… “LAND SHARK!”There it was, a stream of dust and earth shooting high into the sky as something came towards them from the southeast, burrowing at an unsettling rate.“As fast as you can! To the stone!” Kermit pointed to the shadow of large rounded black rocks coming out of the earth a few hundred yards ahead.  Everyone spurred their mounts, but the heavy statue they were dragging weighed down Victoria and Telémahkos.Timotheus slowed his mount and turned it to get a better view of the approaching plume.  “Pick up the pace!” He called to them as he turned back around to continue on.“On three!” Telémahkos said to Victoria as she pulled a dagger from her belt to mimic the blond Briareus’ action.  They cut the leather straps of the sledge and it fell into the dust with a echoing thud.  The horses nickered nervously.  The earth was shaking, and they could hear the approach of the creature as tiny stones were driven into the air with great speed.  Their horses were more than eager to obey the flick of the reins and the spur of the heels, and they were soon catching up with Timotheus and Markos were falling to the back of the thundering line of the eight horses before them.Victoria stole a look back.  The statue disappeared as the plume reached it, and then with a crack it was flying into the air and disappearing into the tumult of dust and rocks.  And still the monster came on…End of Session #20-------------------------------------------------------Notes:(1) The party met Rudwilla after they rescued her from Crusta’s mother Hezrah.  See Session #11(2) This was handled in a rather unproductive InterSession where no one seemed to remember what it was they wanted to accomplish by going to visit the young monk again.  The party first visited Brother Cineas in Session #12.(3) See Session #16(4) Ray-Ree warriors play drums with large mallets they use in battle and part of the coming of age process for the tribe’s young men is practicing their drumming.</blockquote>

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