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<blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 4416116" data-attributes="member: 60965"><p>Session 8, Part 3</p><p> </p><p>-Late post due post-move lack of internets-</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"It doesn't look much like the others," Grok'nar said, prodding the finely carved iron statue with his foot. "Looks like the iron or whatever on this one is naturaly brown, not rusty like the others."</p><p> </p><p>"Mmm, much finer workmanship too. Far closer to human proportions than the others," Suniel said.</p><p> </p><p>"I say we leave it," Harold said. "I don't trust anything that's related to these things."</p><p> </p><p>Kezzek growled as he stared at the statue. "Any of you heard of the 'Thousand Skylands' that that orb mentioned? Skylands?"</p><p> </p><p>There was a long silence as they looked at the statue and each other. "I'm taking it back to study it," Suniel finally said. "Maybe we can learn more about these things. Could be useful if they keep attacking us, if for no other reason."</p><p> </p><p>"Whatever," Harold said, walking towards his horse. "As long as get going again. We've wasted enough time with these things. It's going to be noon tomorrow at the earliest that we get back to Laketide as it is."</p><p> </p><p>Grok'nar shrugged. "Why the hurry? Not like they gave us a deadline for knifing Neergrog."</p><p> </p><p>Harold mounted and cast a level look at the hobgoblin. "Every day we wait is another day the Ashen Tower's influence expands, spreading its darkness and corruption, another day that the Crystal Towers stands alone against it. Every day is-"</p><p> </p><p>Grok'nar raised his hands and backed away. "All right, all right, I get it already. Sheesh."</p><p> </p><p>Suniel led his horse to the statue and stared at it as he figured out how he was going to get it all the way to Laketide. Kezzek knelt, strained, and managed to roll the thing over. "What do you suppose these shallow indentations all over it are? Hands, forehead, head, neck, chest, waist, feet..." He growled and tugged at a tusk. "Almost like something should fit in them."</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>"It is done, Neergrog is dead and The Crystal Towers has installed a new chief who favors peace with Northmand," Harold said, barely waiting for Lieutenant Laris to sit down and pull out his quill.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, Grok'nar was lounging outside the door and came in to lean against the door frame. "Huh, I didn't see any towers - crystal or otherwise - around there. I thought it was the Greywarden that installed the new chief."</p><p> </p><p>Harold ignored him, hoping he'd go away. "Anyway, the threat is vanquished and Northmand shouldn't be troubled by the hobgoblins for some time."</p><p> </p><p>Grok'nar grunted. "Long enough for the High King to hear about it and send his Iron Ring thugs to kill Shro'kar and replace him with a new crony anyway."</p><p> </p><p>"Don't you have anything better to do?" Harold said, turning to Grok'nar.</p><p> </p><p>Grok'nar gave his lopsided grin back. "Nope, not really."</p><p> </p><p>Harold sighed and turned back to Laris. The young Lieutenant paused his parchment scribbling and looked up. "How did you manage to eliminate Neergrog? Grok'nar had told us he rarely left his lair."</p><p> </p><p>"We put together a plan that got us inside-"</p><p> </p><p>"<em>I</em> put together a plan," Grok'nar said.</p><p> </p><p>"-where we disabled most of the hobgoblins with magic-"</p><p> </p><p>"Elven wizardly magic that is."</p><p> </p><p>Harold glared at Grok'nar, who was busy chewing on a fingernail. "-and I killed Neergrog."</p><p> </p><p>"That's true at least, though not until I'd already stabbed him a bit," Grok'nar said, staring at a hangnail.</p><p> </p><p>"Well, no matter how you did it, you have Northmand's thanks, all of you," Laris said, folding the parchment on his desk, dribbling some wax on it, and stamping it. "Give this to Captain Donnolan in Northmand, he will see that the Council hears of it and rewards you appropriately."</p><p> </p><p>"Reward?" Grok'nar said, glancing up from his fingernails.</p><p> </p><p>"It was nothing," Harold said. "The Crystal Towers needs no recompense for the honor of helping her allies."</p><p> </p><p>"I'll take the Crystal Towers' share if that's the case."</p><p> </p><p>Continuing to ignore the hobgoblin, Harold said, "we also were attacked by some strange iron constructs."</p><p> </p><p>"Iron constructs? In the Ragged Hills?" Laris said, eyebrows raising in surprise. "Have the Iron Tribes hired some artificers to craft them war machines now?"</p><p> </p><p>Grok'nar snorted. "Not likely."</p><p> </p><p>"So you've never run into them before?" Harold said. "We've run into them a couple times now."</p><p> </p><p>Laris shook his head. "No, very odd. Be sure to mention it to the Captain while you're there. Sounds like something he should know about."</p><p> </p><p>Harold nodded. "Is there anything else the Crystal Towers can do for you?"</p><p> </p><p>"Well," Laris said and paused. "Nothing as heroic as assaulting another hobgoblin outpost, but there are some dispatches that you could take to Northmand with you when you go. Save one of my men a trip."</p><p> </p><p>"Of course," Harold said, already trying to figure out how he could get some time <em>alone</em> with Captain Donnolan to tell of what happened without any... interruptions.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>"12 gold pieces? How do three goblins spend 12 gold in a place like this in a week?" Suniel said, incredulous.</p><p> </p><p>"More like one goblin in five days." Guntl winced. "And that's not the worst of it. There's a farmer named Terrik-"</p><p> </p><p>"I know about that, I already paid him 5 gold in restitution for two dead dogs and some stolen chickens. When I find Stabber..."</p><p> </p><p>"Good luck with that, he disappeared yesterday and haven't seen him since."</p><p> </p><p>Suniel sighed. "Well, maybe its best that he wandered off. If his behavior continues like this every time I need to tend to something... Oh well, time to deal with that later. Help me get this statue into my carriage. I want to study it more carefully in private."</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Suniel leaned back and rubbed his eyes in the candlelight, about to give up on trying to find anything in his tomes about Iron Sky and the statue they had left behind. <em>Maybe it deactivated somehow when they were carrying it. Maybe it was one of them and it malfunctioned. Maybe Harold cobbled it together out of the remains of the ones he destroyed just to vex me.</em></p><p> </p><p>He leaned to blow out the guttering candle, figuring he was done for the night, when he thought he saw something glint on a smooth, square spot on the thing's forehead. <em>That almost looked like a rune for...</em> Acting quickly on his hunch, he leaned over the statue and chanted, placing his finger on the center of the square as he finished uttering the last syllable.</p><p> </p><p>The mage-rune for <em>Life</em> flared for a moment on it, then slowly faded. Suniel waited a moment to see if his intuition had proved correct. He had just about given up when the statue's eyes began to glow.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>"I'm sorry I had to get you up in the middle of the night like this, but I... found some interesting things out regarding the statue," Suniel said, looking back and forth at the bleary-eyed and rumpled human, half-orc, and hobgoblin that stood outside his carriage. "Now, don't be alarmed, but..."</p><p> </p><p>He turned to the carriage. "Keeper, come out."</p><p> </p><p>Kezzek turned to the carriage wearily, noticing Harold's expression of annoyance and Grok'nar's of curiosity. Then the carriage door opened and the statue stepped out, eyes flaring.</p><p> </p><p>Kezzek and the other two reached for weapons that they weren't wearing, cursing and stepping back.</p><p> </p><p>Suniel stepped towards them, raising his arms palcatingly. "Wait, it's not going to attack. Hold!"</p><p> </p><p>The iron statue nodded to them, eyes glowing and flickering. "I am called Keeper," it said in a deep, faintly metallic voice, its brown iron lips moving in a poor simulacrum of the movements of speech. "The Master has asked me to repeat what I have been able to glean from my fragile connection to the Nexus."</p><p> </p><p>"The Master?" Grok'nar said.</p><p> </p><p>Keeper turned to the hobgoblin. "That is correct. The Master brought me to life."</p><p> </p><p>Harold glanced at Suniel. "And how did he do that?"</p><p> </p><p>Suniel cut Keeper off before he could answer. "That's not important. Keeper, tell them what you can remember."</p><p> </p><p>The statue nodded to him. "It is not memory, it is access to the Nexus. I am Keeper, designed to keep the Seeking Stones."</p><p> </p><p>Harold's eyes shot to Suniel. "You didn't give this thing your amulet stone did you? You did, didn't you?"</p><p> </p><p>"It's none of your concern, but I did," the wizard said, gesturing to Keeper again. "Just listen."</p><p> </p><p>"I am a creation of Iron Sky, crafted somewhere among the seven of the Thousand Skylands that Iron Sky controls. Rumors say that thousands of years ago the Thousand Skylands and Felskein were together, but that Felskein suddenly disappeared. It is known as the Lost Continent and to the peoples of the Thousand Skylands it is little more than legend and myth." Keeper glanced at the dirt at his feet. "Except that I now stand upon it and converse with its peoples."</p><p> </p><p>"What are these Thousand Skylands and this Iron Sky?" Kezzek said, moving to the side to examine the statue from another angle.</p><p> </p><p>Keeper turned its head, odd, glowing eyes following him. "The Thousand Skylands are the Islands of the Sky, forever flying high above the Endless Sands. As for Iron Sky, all I can access from the Nexus is that it controls seven Skylands - and seeks to acquire more."</p><p> </p><p>Grok'nar tapped on Keeper's chest. "Can you feel that?"</p><p> </p><p>"Feel?" Keeper said, head cocking to the side as it regarded the hobgoblin.</p><p> </p><p>"And what is the Nexus?" Kezzek said.</p><p> </p><p>Keeper paused for a long moment. "I do not know."</p><p> </p><p>Harold stared at it. "You don't know what the Nexus is is? You just said the Nexus was how you knew what you just told us!"</p><p> </p><p>"My access to it is weak." Keeper tapped his forehead, on a smooth spot where an indentation had been earlier. "I draw in large part on the power of the Seeking Stones I contain. While Keeping only one stone and with... something out there that interferes with my access to the Nexus, there is much that I do not know, that I do not have the power to access."</p><p> </p><p>"Well, you can't have mine, that's for damn sure," Harold said. He turned to Suniel. "How do you know you can trust this thing?"</p><p> </p><p>Suniel glanced at the statue for a long moment. "I don't," he said softly. "I just have a feeling..."</p><p> </p><p>"Why is Iron Sky even after these amulets? What's so special about them?" Harold said, turning on Keeper.</p><p> </p><p>Keeper was silent for a long moment. "I do not know."</p><p> </p><p>Harold threw his arms into the air and walked back towards the inn. "Wake me up when it has something useful to tell us."</p><p> </p><p>Kezzek watched him go, then turned back. Grok'nar yawned, stretched, and patted the statue on the shoulder. "Night, statue thingy. I'm going to go enjoy my big comfortable pile of hay while I have it."</p><p> </p><p>The hobgoblin disappeared into the stables and Kezzek turned to Suniel. "As interesting as this all is, unless this Keeper... remembers more information about these Iron Sky constructs' questionable activities, I'm not sure it's even worth reporting to the Greywarden Enclave. Let me know if any more information surfaces."</p><p> </p><p>Suniel nodded. As Kezzek headed back to his room, the wizard and his strange new companion stood together in silence.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iron Sky, post: 4416116, member: 60965"] Session 8, Part 3 -Late post due post-move lack of internets- "It doesn't look much like the others," Grok'nar said, prodding the finely carved iron statue with his foot. "Looks like the iron or whatever on this one is naturaly brown, not rusty like the others." "Mmm, much finer workmanship too. Far closer to human proportions than the others," Suniel said. "I say we leave it," Harold said. "I don't trust anything that's related to these things." Kezzek growled as he stared at the statue. "Any of you heard of the 'Thousand Skylands' that that orb mentioned? Skylands?" There was a long silence as they looked at the statue and each other. "I'm taking it back to study it," Suniel finally said. "Maybe we can learn more about these things. Could be useful if they keep attacking us, if for no other reason." "Whatever," Harold said, walking towards his horse. "As long as get going again. We've wasted enough time with these things. It's going to be noon tomorrow at the earliest that we get back to Laketide as it is." Grok'nar shrugged. "Why the hurry? Not like they gave us a deadline for knifing Neergrog." Harold mounted and cast a level look at the hobgoblin. "Every day we wait is another day the Ashen Tower's influence expands, spreading its darkness and corruption, another day that the Crystal Towers stands alone against it. Every day is-" Grok'nar raised his hands and backed away. "All right, all right, I get it already. Sheesh." Suniel led his horse to the statue and stared at it as he figured out how he was going to get it all the way to Laketide. Kezzek knelt, strained, and managed to roll the thing over. "What do you suppose these shallow indentations all over it are? Hands, forehead, head, neck, chest, waist, feet..." He growled and tugged at a tusk. "Almost like something should fit in them." *** "It is done, Neergrog is dead and The Crystal Towers has installed a new chief who favors peace with Northmand," Harold said, barely waiting for Lieutenant Laris to sit down and pull out his quill. Unfortunately, Grok'nar was lounging outside the door and came in to lean against the door frame. "Huh, I didn't see any towers - crystal or otherwise - around there. I thought it was the Greywarden that installed the new chief." Harold ignored him, hoping he'd go away. "Anyway, the threat is vanquished and Northmand shouldn't be troubled by the hobgoblins for some time." Grok'nar grunted. "Long enough for the High King to hear about it and send his Iron Ring thugs to kill Shro'kar and replace him with a new crony anyway." "Don't you have anything better to do?" Harold said, turning to Grok'nar. Grok'nar gave his lopsided grin back. "Nope, not really." Harold sighed and turned back to Laris. The young Lieutenant paused his parchment scribbling and looked up. "How did you manage to eliminate Neergrog? Grok'nar had told us he rarely left his lair." "We put together a plan that got us inside-" "[I]I[/I] put together a plan," Grok'nar said. "-where we disabled most of the hobgoblins with magic-" "Elven wizardly magic that is." Harold glared at Grok'nar, who was busy chewing on a fingernail. "-and I killed Neergrog." "That's true at least, though not until I'd already stabbed him a bit," Grok'nar said, staring at a hangnail. "Well, no matter how you did it, you have Northmand's thanks, all of you," Laris said, folding the parchment on his desk, dribbling some wax on it, and stamping it. "Give this to Captain Donnolan in Northmand, he will see that the Council hears of it and rewards you appropriately." "Reward?" Grok'nar said, glancing up from his fingernails. "It was nothing," Harold said. "The Crystal Towers needs no recompense for the honor of helping her allies." "I'll take the Crystal Towers' share if that's the case." Continuing to ignore the hobgoblin, Harold said, "we also were attacked by some strange iron constructs." "Iron constructs? In the Ragged Hills?" Laris said, eyebrows raising in surprise. "Have the Iron Tribes hired some artificers to craft them war machines now?" Grok'nar snorted. "Not likely." "So you've never run into them before?" Harold said. "We've run into them a couple times now." Laris shook his head. "No, very odd. Be sure to mention it to the Captain while you're there. Sounds like something he should know about." Harold nodded. "Is there anything else the Crystal Towers can do for you?" "Well," Laris said and paused. "Nothing as heroic as assaulting another hobgoblin outpost, but there are some dispatches that you could take to Northmand with you when you go. Save one of my men a trip." "Of course," Harold said, already trying to figure out how he could get some time [I]alone[/I] with Captain Donnolan to tell of what happened without any... interruptions. *** "12 gold pieces? How do three goblins spend 12 gold in a place like this in a week?" Suniel said, incredulous. "More like one goblin in five days." Guntl winced. "And that's not the worst of it. There's a farmer named Terrik-" "I know about that, I already paid him 5 gold in restitution for two dead dogs and some stolen chickens. When I find Stabber..." "Good luck with that, he disappeared yesterday and haven't seen him since." Suniel sighed. "Well, maybe its best that he wandered off. If his behavior continues like this every time I need to tend to something... Oh well, time to deal with that later. Help me get this statue into my carriage. I want to study it more carefully in private." *** Suniel leaned back and rubbed his eyes in the candlelight, about to give up on trying to find anything in his tomes about Iron Sky and the statue they had left behind. [I]Maybe it deactivated somehow when they were carrying it. Maybe it was one of them and it malfunctioned. Maybe Harold cobbled it together out of the remains of the ones he destroyed just to vex me.[/I] He leaned to blow out the guttering candle, figuring he was done for the night, when he thought he saw something glint on a smooth, square spot on the thing's forehead. [I]That almost looked like a rune for...[/I] Acting quickly on his hunch, he leaned over the statue and chanted, placing his finger on the center of the square as he finished uttering the last syllable. The mage-rune for [I]Life[/I] flared for a moment on it, then slowly faded. Suniel waited a moment to see if his intuition had proved correct. He had just about given up when the statue's eyes began to glow. *** "I'm sorry I had to get you up in the middle of the night like this, but I... found some interesting things out regarding the statue," Suniel said, looking back and forth at the bleary-eyed and rumpled human, half-orc, and hobgoblin that stood outside his carriage. "Now, don't be alarmed, but..." He turned to the carriage. "Keeper, come out." Kezzek turned to the carriage wearily, noticing Harold's expression of annoyance and Grok'nar's of curiosity. Then the carriage door opened and the statue stepped out, eyes flaring. Kezzek and the other two reached for weapons that they weren't wearing, cursing and stepping back. Suniel stepped towards them, raising his arms palcatingly. "Wait, it's not going to attack. Hold!" The iron statue nodded to them, eyes glowing and flickering. "I am called Keeper," it said in a deep, faintly metallic voice, its brown iron lips moving in a poor simulacrum of the movements of speech. "The Master has asked me to repeat what I have been able to glean from my fragile connection to the Nexus." "The Master?" Grok'nar said. Keeper turned to the hobgoblin. "That is correct. The Master brought me to life." Harold glanced at Suniel. "And how did he do that?" Suniel cut Keeper off before he could answer. "That's not important. Keeper, tell them what you can remember." The statue nodded to him. "It is not memory, it is access to the Nexus. I am Keeper, designed to keep the Seeking Stones." Harold's eyes shot to Suniel. "You didn't give this thing your amulet stone did you? You did, didn't you?" "It's none of your concern, but I did," the wizard said, gesturing to Keeper again. "Just listen." "I am a creation of Iron Sky, crafted somewhere among the seven of the Thousand Skylands that Iron Sky controls. Rumors say that thousands of years ago the Thousand Skylands and Felskein were together, but that Felskein suddenly disappeared. It is known as the Lost Continent and to the peoples of the Thousand Skylands it is little more than legend and myth." Keeper glanced at the dirt at his feet. "Except that I now stand upon it and converse with its peoples." "What are these Thousand Skylands and this Iron Sky?" Kezzek said, moving to the side to examine the statue from another angle. Keeper turned its head, odd, glowing eyes following him. "The Thousand Skylands are the Islands of the Sky, forever flying high above the Endless Sands. As for Iron Sky, all I can access from the Nexus is that it controls seven Skylands - and seeks to acquire more." Grok'nar tapped on Keeper's chest. "Can you feel that?" "Feel?" Keeper said, head cocking to the side as it regarded the hobgoblin. "And what is the Nexus?" Kezzek said. Keeper paused for a long moment. "I do not know." Harold stared at it. "You don't know what the Nexus is is? You just said the Nexus was how you knew what you just told us!" "My access to it is weak." Keeper tapped his forehead, on a smooth spot where an indentation had been earlier. "I draw in large part on the power of the Seeking Stones I contain. While Keeping only one stone and with... something out there that interferes with my access to the Nexus, there is much that I do not know, that I do not have the power to access." "Well, you can't have mine, that's for damn sure," Harold said. He turned to Suniel. "How do you know you can trust this thing?" Suniel glanced at the statue for a long moment. "I don't," he said softly. "I just have a feeling..." "Why is Iron Sky even after these amulets? What's so special about them?" Harold said, turning on Keeper. Keeper was silent for a long moment. "I do not know." Harold threw his arms into the air and walked back towards the inn. "Wake me up when it has something useful to tell us." Kezzek watched him go, then turned back. Grok'nar yawned, stretched, and patted the statue on the shoulder. "Night, statue thingy. I'm going to go enjoy my big comfortable pile of hay while I have it." The hobgoblin disappeared into the stables and Kezzek turned to Suniel. "As interesting as this all is, unless this Keeper... remembers more information about these Iron Sky constructs' questionable activities, I'm not sure it's even worth reporting to the Greywarden Enclave. Let me know if any more information surfaces." Suniel nodded. As Kezzek headed back to his room, the wizard and his strange new companion stood together in silence. [/QUOTE]
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