Session 19, Part 2
-Notes: No .jpg Doghead, sorry. I lost the original image, so I only have the Flash file I made. As far as the story goes, things start to accelerate fairly rapidly from here...-
The ride down the lift from the twisted pyramid was quiet, which suited Kormak fine. He hadn't expected the wizard to get so upset about his son – Suniel was the one that blasted his mind after all. He touched the quill tattoo on his arm and wrote:
Danovin Au is dead.
He waited a few minutes for a reply. Then, the almost-imperceptible vibration of the platform in motion ceased. Outside hit tent he heard the others rousing themselves and he put his book away.
***
“There has to be some way to get inside it,” Suniel repeated, walking another lap around the silver turtle shell.
“Maybe we just need to talk to it. Maybe it's lonely,” Kormak said from where he sat petting his dog and watching them.
Kezzek ignored him and walked along the outside a little further, running his hand along its metal shell, looking for a catch, a hidden lever, anything.
“Does that amulet that controls the guardian control it too?” Harold said, glancing at Suniel.
“No, I tried that already,” Suniel said, taking a step back and gazing at the shell. “There's some other mechanism. We just haven't figured it out yet.”
“What about asking it to let us in?” Kormak said.
“Danovin doesn't seem the type that would make it that easy,” Kezzek said, growling as he squinted at it again. He was about ready to give up on this thing, get on their way, maybe find more word of Annandor. The assassin's trail was getting colder and here they were puzzling over a big metal turtle.
“This was made long before Danovin, long before Suniel, long before the Ashen Tower,” Keeper said.
“Great, oh wise old one,” Kormak said, standing up and giving a melodramatic bow. “Tell us please, if you may, how might we open it.”
“The Nexus does not tell me,” Keeper said.
“Perfect,” Harold said, shaking his head and walking towards the shore. “Let's just leave this thing and get back. We've been gone for as much as a week – who knows in that blasted bubble? We're just lucky the ship is still out there and the crew didn't just abandon us to our fates.”
Suniel didn't move. The archer shook his head and walked off.
Kezzek walked over to Suniel and put a hand on his shoulder. “We've been at this for hours, if we can't open it, it will still be here when we get back.”
Suniel slowly tore his gaze away from the turtle, sighed, and nodded. “Come Keeper,” he said.
Kezzek waited until he and his mechanical entourage passed then followed. After a few steps he stopped and turned. “Coming Kormak?”
The dwarf walked to the turtle, braced his feet and raised his arms dramatically. “Turtle, I command thee. Open!”
***
“That never should have worked,” Suniel grumbled as he walked about the inside of the turtle, examining the space. There was more room than it would have seemed from the outside; two whole levels. There were no rooms and no furniture, but they had found crates of purple crystals, chests of gold and jewels, and even some of Danovin's scrolls on the upper level – all bearing the symbol of the Ashen Towers.
“Your just jealous because you didn't figure it out,” Kormak said, still standing in the turtle's head. “Turtle, I command thee. Turn left, just a touch. There's a big rock there.”
“You can just say 'left',” Kezzek said. “We've determined this.”
“When you get your own giant mechanical turtle, then you can pilot it,” Kormak said. “Leave it to the experts.”
The Greywarden snorted, grumbled something about “looking through Danovin's things again” and stormed off.
“Good turtle, yes, head into the water. Steady as ye go!”
“It sure is slow over land,” Harold said. “I can walk faster than this thing. Wait... how do we know Danovin didn't sabotage it so as soon as we take it into the water we'll all drown?”
“Oh, I'm sure Danovin was expecting us to find him, kill... defeat him, and take his turtle,” Kormak said, casting a sideways glance at Suniel.
Suneil walked away, feeling his anger and sorrow rise again. For the hundredth time, he swore to undo Thessalock's work, to undo his own work, to somehow make amends for all the evil and suffering they had caused. He walked to the back of the turtle and sat, ignoring Keeper's seemingly questioning gaze. He pulled his knees up and rested his head on them, feeling the gentle swaying motion as the turtle slid into the water.
***
“We'll stay in sight,” Kezzek yelled at Ragnen, trying to get his sea legs back as they stood on the swaying back of the turtle's shell. “We don't know the way to the port after all.”
“You can't miss it, it's the first civilization you'll find once you sail past the base of that monstrosity,” Ragnen said, pointing up at the Landspear. “And it's just Port, not the port.”
“The city is called Port? Isn't that a bit... simple?” Kezzek said.
“Heh, you've never been to the Freeholds I see,” Ragnen said. “It has a new name every year or to as one Freehold or another takes it. They rename it every time they take it, so most folks just gave up on it all and just call it Port.”
“You really went to the top of that?” Guntl said, squinting up. “What was it like up there?”
“Cold,” Harold said.
“Dangerous,” Kezzek added.
“Dragon-y,” Kormak finished.
“What does that mean?”
“It's a long story, we'll tell you later,” Suniel said, standing in the turtle's open mouth with Keeper.
There was a long cry of “Maaaaaaster!” and a small form dove off the ship and began excitedly thrashing it's way towards the turtle.
“Great, just what we need,” Kormak grumbled. “A brain-damaged goblin following Suniel around the inside of the turtle humming “the Master Song”, drooling, and spreading his goblin-stink.”
“You're just jealous that you don't have one,” Kezzek said.
The dwarf snorted.
“There was fighting out in the lake,” Guntl said, pointing north. “During the big storm we had a couple days back. Looked like more of those Locath fighting squid.”
“Like in the tapestry?” Suniel said.
“Yeah, except less gnomes, present company excluded,” Guntl said, gesturing at the primarily dwarven and gnomish crew that still stood along the rail, staring at the massive silver turtle in wonder.
“There's a True Stone in that direction,” Keeper said softly.
“A what?” Suniel and Kezzek said simultaneously, staring at the construct.
“The Orbs that the gold dragon charge you with finding. They are True Stones. One of them is north, within the lake.”
“How do you know?” Suniel said.
“And why should we care?” Kormak added.
“I know because I possess the Seeking Stone of Water,” Keeper tapped his forehead. “If I possess a Seeking Stone, it is my purpose not only to Keep it, but also to use it to guide the way to the True Stones. It possesses the True Stone of Water.”
“What do they do, aside from go in Henges, whatever those are?” Kormak said.
“They are artifacts of great power,” Keeper said.
“And what happens if we put them in said Henges, like the dragon asked?” Kezzek said.
“The Nexus is silent.”
“Wait a minute,” Harold said, walking closer to the turtle's head where Suniel and Keeper still stood. “The Seeking Stone of Water? Is that mine or Suniel's?”
“It is one of the ones that Suniel placed inside of me.”
“When?”
“This morning, when we left the Sky Rail to the top of the Seed of-”
“This morning?” Harold said. He turned on Suniel and pointed an accusing finger. “Where did you get another Seeking Stone? Why should it be yours?”
“It was in the mechanism of the Lift,” Suniel said calmly. “It was what powered it and allowed us to ascend and descend. When we got to the bottom, I removed it and placed it in Keeper.”
“Without even asking?”
“Peace Harold,” Kezzek said, placing a hand on the archer's shoulder. “We have more important things to worry about.”
Harold shrugged Kezzek's hand off of his shoulder and stormed over to where the turtle had drifted next to the side of the ship. The crew dropped netting over the side and Harold climbed it and disappeared into the ship without another word.
“Well, should we go see if we can find it?” Kormak said. “Sounds interesting.”
Kezzek glanced at Kormak suspiciously, but the ugly dwarf shot back a look of wide-eyed innocence that Kezzek didn't buy for a second.
“No, we need to stop by Port first, get supplies,” Kezzek said. “Besides, it may be that the True Stone was exactly what the fight Guntl saw was about. Maybe Undredakul and Nakral, whatever they are, are having a war over the Stone.”
“Well, perhaps we could talk to Undredakul and find out,” Suniel said. “We have his symbol on the side of the ship and this turtle could be useful if we have to go into the depths to find him.”
“Yes, that could work. But we can discuss all this when we are underway,” Kezzek said. “It sounds like we have a few days' worth of sailing ahead of us.”
“Agreed,” Suniel said.
Kormak ran to the turtles head, posed dramatically, and pointed to the west. “Turtle, ho!”
***
At sunset four days later, the city of Port appeared on the horizon; a sprawling mass of ramshackle wooden buildings built right up to the edge of the broken hills that ringed the Landspear and that ran right down to the shore.
Ships burned in its harbor, smoke drifted from the town, and part of the fortress that sat upon its highest hill burned, setting the smoke that hung over the town aglow.