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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Salmakia" data-source="post: 8862650" data-attributes="member: 7038731">5. The Monastery of Order“We should talk to her.”“Are you sure that’s a good idea? She did try to kill us.”“I need to talk to her.”“Metis... is there something you’re not telling us?”“I used to know her. Back before, well, before she changed. She’d come with the Baron to parties at my parents’ house and I was charged with childcare.”“Are you going to be okay talking to her?”“I have to.”“Ok.”“We need to untie her.”“Ewan, you can’t be serious.”“I don’t feel comfortable leaving her tied up, especially not after she’s been locked up for so long.”“But what if she attacks us?”“She’s weak. And besides, we can take her. We already proved that.”sigh “Fine. We’ll untie her.”  The party entered the tent they’d designated as “Alaya Holding” and gave the woman some water to help revive her. Carefully, Althea removed her blindfold and untied her bonds, although they noticed that their captive kept her eyes closed of her own accord even once the blindfold was gone. “Would you like some food?” Althea asked. Alaya nodded, and Althea brought her some from Callista's stores. Alaya held it, sniffed it, then threw it violently away from her.“This is stolen food!” she exclaimed. "I will not eat of this." Althea sighed and produced some of her own rations which she handed over.“Thank you.”“We have a couple questions for you, Alaya” Metis said haltingly.“Of course. But my name is no longer Alaya. That was someone else.”“Oh? What do you wish to be called now?”“I haven’t quite decided yet.”“Well, when you decide let us know.”“I will.”“Do you... remember me? Metis?”“I remember you as if in a dream.”“Do you remember how I’d take you down to the wharf when your father came to dinner? How we’d sneak out when they broke out the cigars to escape all the putrid smoke and the political droning?”“That did happen, yes.” Althea was tired of beating around the bush. “You said your soul has been cleansed?”“Yes.”“What are your goals now that you’re no longer human?”“I serve the will of the Host. To uphold the Law.”“The Host?”“The celestial Host. The Host of Tempus. And my own patron. Ryatholaris.”“Ryatholaris?”“He is the Law.”“You always follow the Law?”“Yes.”“Then why were you fighting us? We were trying to rescue you.”“You broke into my father’s house. Your altruistic motives are of no import, regardless of whether it was me you were trying to rescue. You broke the Law. And I must uphold the Law.” Ewan muttered some words under his breath, calling on his ancestors and all the gods and spirits to try and see if Alaya was deceiving them, but the woman held up her hand and cut off his prayer.“You have no need of your gods’ advice. I cannot lie.”The party glanced around at each other. If that was indeed the case, then figuring out what was going on would be far easier than they’d originally intended. “We need to go to the Temple of Tempus,” Veu muttered. “They might be able to tell us about this Ryatholaris.”“Do you have plans to escape?” Althea asked bluntly of Alaya.The woman smiled, her eyes still closed. “I will continue to pursue my purpose as long as I am able.” Althea groaned. Once they were all outside, Althea determined that she would stay to guard Alaya while the others went off to consult with the priests of Tempus. Almost on a whim, Ewan slipped back inside the tent before they left. Alaya was still sitting demurely, eating the rations they had given her. Ewan also noted that she’d replaced the blindfold on herself. “I just wanted to say,” he began haltingly, “that is, I’m sorry that we tied you up. That was wrong.”“Apologies do not change actions” she said pointedly. Ewan flinched and hurried back out of the tent. An acolyte at the Temple of Tempus was able to better acquaint them with the structure of the Celestial Host. Veu had a basic understanding from her time and researches at The Labyrinth, but none of the others had bothered much with studying the formal hierarchies of the outer planes. “Tempus himself, or, more accurately, itself, is more of an abstract concept. So far beyond our understanding in terms of form and anything relating to identity that real communication is virtually impossible. The Host are those responsible for mediating. Each deity has a number of Mara – powerful celestials that embody an aspect of the gods’ will. In the case of Tempus, there is a Mara of Law, a Mara of War, a Mara of Etiquette, a Mara of Interpretation, and a Mara of Enforcement. That last is the Ryatholaris of whom you speak. Then, of course, there are lesser celestials - the Suuryel and the Embrethari - who are actually tasked with carrying out the will of the Mara.”(This system basically divides celestials by CR. Mara = CR20+, Suuryel = CR12-20ish, Embrethari < CR12. There are some exceptions. For instance a CR8 Celestial might be elevated to Suuryel if they show particular devotion or resonance with an aspect of the deity, even if their "raw power" is more limited) “Would anyone be able to summon one of the Mara to this world?” Burny asked, thinking about the ritual they’d all seen evidence of above the Baron’s office.“Oh no. Only one of the utmost faith and devotion would be blessed with that grace, and then only if it were in service of divine nature.”“But if a Mara were summoned,” Burny persisted, “what would it be able to do?”“Here on the material plane? Its power would be virtually limitless.” The cleric paused and considered the young gnome and his companions more thoroughly. “You have no intentions of attempting such a summoning I hope?”“Oh, of course not. For me personally, I feel that magic is better when crafted with one’s own hands.”The cleric nodded. “Well, I suppose that’s for the best. Only the most holy are honored with such a grace, and I think we’d both agree that you are not counted among that number.” Returning back to their camp, they found Althea cursing over an empty tent with a hole burned in the back and no sign of Alaya. Realizing that to track and pursue a flying quarry was nigh on impossible given their skillset, they cobbled together a cure for Veu’s poisoned hand from Althea’s father (an apothecary), and proceeded on the arduous and tedious task of trying to meet with someone of importance to share the evidence they’d found of the Baron’s plot, eventually securing a meeting with Chancellor Vitellur, second only to Lord Lingston himself as far as power goes in Ekrido. After some deliberation they decided that only Burny and Metis would go, since they both had ties to high society, and that they would hand over only the letters from Xey and Fasa. They chose these cities because they were the two that posed the largest potential military threat to Ekrido in the case of a coup, and it also protected both Metis’s and Veu’s families who were otherwise incriminated in the scheme. Also this way they still had four of the letters to use as leverage on other parties if the Chancellor didn’t take their accusations seriously. However, their fears on that count at least were for naught. After carefully scrutinizing the letters for signs of forgery, Chancellor Vitellur assured them that this treachery would be handled most swiftly and decisively. He also gave them each a note for 15gp of credit as a sign of gratitude for services rendered, and politely asked them to let the government handle all further issues in the case. In other words, as they quickly realized, he bribed them to keep quiet so as to avoid a scandal. All their loose ends tied up in Ekrido and with no real way to track down Alaya, the party decided, at Veu’s behest, to make the ten-day journey to Denzonen to check up on her family. Burny had ulterior motives for accompanying her. (The Labyrinth in Denzonen had one of the other five original copies of My History of Storms, which Burny was hoping contained another piece of August Firestorm’s lost spellbook. Veu, who had recognized the book when Burny showed it to them and was fully aware of the copy that existed in her home city, was somewhat suspicious of his sudden enthusiasm, but was nonetheless grateful for the company. The rest of the party quickly decided to tag along as well) Burny had paid one of the older scribes at Laboratory X a small fee to keep him updated on anything regarding the Baron, and a day into their journey he received a Sending stating simply that the Baron had been arrested for high treason. He also continued obsessively on his researches whenever he could, and the rest of the party heard him at night muttering something about “ice” and “runes.” Along the way, frustrated by her repeated failed attempts at understanding the code book Burny had retrieved for her from the Laboratory library, Metis showed her coded letter to the gnome and asked if he could help her decipher it. He promised to give it a look, and promptly forgot about it in his single-minded dedication to his researches. Upon reaching Denzonen, Burny went straight to the rare book section, and one of the Halfling Librarians was able to lead him unerringly to My History of Storms. The Librarian loitered nearby, and Burny debated his chances of success should he simply pocket the book and walk out. However, when a prudent use of Detect Magic caused his eyes to pop with the sheer power of the wards protecting the rare books, he wisely decided to flip through the book casually for a couple minutes before replacing it on the shelf. Veu, meanwhile, sought out her parents for the first time since leaving home. Her father, Oren, was the first one she saw.“Vani!” the Halfling man exclaimed. “Georaphina! Come quickly! Our Vani has come home.” Veu’s mother Georaphina rushed out, giving her daughter a crushing hug, and then taking a step back to look at her.“Oh, I knew you’d come home, Vani. Come, have you eaten? Let me get you something.”“No, mom, I’m fine.”“It’s so good you’re back. Look! Your Librarian hat is still here waiting for you.”“Mom. I’m not staying.”“What? Of course you are.”“No, we’ve had this conversation. This is your life. It’s not mine.”“But what could be more noble than the pursuit of knowledge?”“Pursuit of knowledge for what? There’s no point if you never do anything with that knowledge. That’s even more clear to me now than when I left.”“There is honor in the knowledge itself.”"Mom. Have you heard about the famine? About what's happening outside these shelves?""Oh well of course we have. We're not hermits you know.""And? Have you been doing ok? I came home to check up on you.""Well that's very sweet of you, darling. But we're doing just fine here. Times are hard, as you know, but our researches sustain us.""You can't eat books, mom.""There is no higher calling than a life devoted to study!" And the argument went round and round. Veu groaned inwardly, remembering all the reasons she’d left. She finally recused herself from her parents’ presence and went to find Kevin Doddrey, the only person from her home who could actually make her smile. “Vani,” the man exclaimed warmly. “I knew you couldn’t stay away for long.”After the kind of pleasantries and inside jokes reserved for only the closest of friends, Veu took a breath and asked him the question that had been eating at her ever since she’d seen Burny’s book and gotten a whiff of what he might be scheming.“So, Kevin, I have this friend...”“Good!” the man exclaimed. “And here I thought that would never happen.”Veu couldn’t help but crack a smile at the teasing. “No, listen. He’s a little obsessed with a book, a particular book that happens to be here in The Labyrinth. The thing is, to reveal the secrets of this book, well, you have to set it on fire.”Kevin’s eyes widened. “Well you know that’s never going to happen in The Labyrinth.”“I know. But I’m worried for him, and for what he might do if he can't pursue his research honestly. Would there be a way to set up a room somewhere in The Labyrinth where he could study it without worrying about the wards?”“The sheer magical force required to exempt a room from The Labyrinth's wards is staggering to conceive of. Not to mention that the politics involved in even getting that approved would be onerous beyond belief. Although I suppose if anyone could do it then the daughter of Oren and Georaphina would be the one. Having your parents run The Labyrinth does come with its benefits. The question is, what price would they ask of you for such a monumental favor, and would you be willing to pay it?” Veu sighed. She was starting to think that maybe having friends was more trouble than it was worth. Returning to Ekrido after their brief stay, the party quickly got up to speed on the political changes that had occurred in their four-week absence. The Baron had, indeed, been arrested on charges of high treason, and his farming monopoly split up among a number of other lesser nobles. In a show of “good faith,” Lord Lingston, the current ruling noble, had decreed that Ekrido would henceforth distribute food from its stores to the nearby cities to offset the effects of the famine. Food prices had gone up somewhat in Ekrido and there had been some grumblings of dissent among the citizens, but nothing that seemed to pose an imminent risk of revolution. Metis, who wanted to clear her head after days of politics and emotional stresses, decided to visit Hymnara, and the rest of the party accompanied her. However, arriving at the old druid’s farm they were greeted by a distressing sight. The door to the cottage stood ajar, and burned across the front of the house in large letters was the word ‘TRAITOR’ inscribed in Celestial. Rushing inside, they found Golda, Hymnara’s housekeeper, sobbing that the druid had vanished without a trace sometime during the night. Ewan and Althea immediately set to searching for tracks, and found only a single pair of barefoot humanoid prints in the ground outside. Whoever had entered during the night had either been very adept at disguising their tracks, or had entered and exited in flight. They groaned. There was one creature who they knew could fly, and who might have cause to punish those who had been instrumental in the Baron’s downfall. “We think we know who might have done this,” the party reassured Golda after brewing her a warm cup of pineapple tea. “A follower of Tempus who might have a vendetta against Hymnara.”“Tempus?” Golda inquired. “No, that can’t be right. Hymnara always got on quite well with the followers of Tempus. Why, one of her closest friends, Giiaena, is a notable paladin of Tempus.” The party exchanged looks, and decided to seek out a meeting with Giiaena. It was hard to live in Ekrido and not know the name Giiaena. Giiaena of the Silver Horn. Giiaena, Blaze of Justice. She was the champion of the city who had met and defeated countless threats to its security in the generations that the elf had resided within its walls. The group was unsurprised, therefore, when they were unable to obtain an immediate audience. Mentioning Hymnara's disappearance, however, moved things along quite considerably. “We think it is a misguided servant of Tempus who has kidnapped her as retribution for bringing down the Baron.”“Sounds like something the Monastery of Order might be involved in,” the paladin sighed.“The Monastery of Order?”“A group of brash youngsters who claim to serve Tempus, but who come dangerously close to preaching anarchy in the name of order. Seek them out and see if they have had any part in this. I will meditate and see if I can discern Hymnara’s location. We arrived in this city together, you know. And we have, after all, shared many dreams.” However, as the party turned to go she stopped them briefly. “My apprentice, Pleiades Orion, fell in with the Monastery two weeks ago. He is a good boy at heart, but I fear dangerous voices have corrupted his view. Please, if you find him, be gentle. I believe he is not beyond redemption.” Itching to find out anything they could regarding the missing druid, the party traveled quickly to the Monastery of Order on the other side of the city. It was a three-tiered, open-air structure with graceful columns, a grassy patio, and a small storage building near the back. The entire edifice was surrounded by an 8-foot tall wall, but the gate was unlocked and swung open freely. Veu and Althea, immediately suspicious, looked around for anyone who might be hiding, and were quick to spot Alaya and the two Aasimar accompanying her. All three were perched up on the roof seemingly lying in wait. Alaya, they saw, was still wearing the blindfold that they’d placed around her eyes over a month ago. The Aasimar to her right was an intimidating sight – seven feet tall with rippling muscles and wielding the most enormous hammer any of them had seen. The Aasimar crouching to her left they recognized from Giiaena’s description of her apprentice Pleiades Orion – a wiry young man with a nervous expression. “Alaya!” the ranger exclaimed.The woman stood, seemingly untroubled by the fact that they’d been spotted. “That is no longer my name,” she hissed. “I am now The Scale, arbiter of Law.” And, indeed, in her hand she held a large metal scale which she began twirling rapidly. Like the proper archer they are, Althea dashed over to the cover of a nearby colonnade, pulled out their bow, and shot at The Scale. They knew with a calm sense of certainty that their shot was deadly accurate (crit + Hunter’s Mark), but were dismayed to see Orion reach out a hand, causing a glowing blue shield to form around the three of them and slowing the arrow in its path such that it seemed only to graze its target. Veu, finding herself lacking in ranged options and with the enemy still on the roof, hid in a colonnade opposite Althea. Alaya laughed. “The Scale, The Hammer, and The Shield. Together, we are the enforcers of The Law. Do you really think The Law needs eyes to find you, little forger?” And with that she swooped down off the roof, swinging her metal scale with terrifying speed  and flying straight toward the hidden Halfling. Veu nimbly dodged the whirling plates of the weapon, but suddenly realized that she’d miscalculated as the chain wrapped around her throat. A searing pain shot through her body as the metal scale pulsed with radiant power. “This is the punishment for theft and forgery,” whispered The Scale in her ear. The Hammer, seeing a grappled target, leapt down from the roof, charged toward Veu, and dealt a single, devastating, blow with his weapon. The party heard the sounds of bones crunching as Veu gasped and crumpled to the ground in a heap.</blockquote>

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