Note for context: because of holiday schedules and the like, it actually took us more than a month to find out the resoution of the cliffhanger at the end of the last update. Five weeks where casual conversations would periodically feature lines like: "I wonder if that worked?" or: "I hope we don't catch Professor Alexandra in the bath." I point this out because if you really want the true Halmae experience, you shouldn't read what comes next until Thanksgiving. 
Part the Sixty-Seventh
An Abrupt Return
Professor Alexandra looks out over the Mages’ Academy dining hall from her place with the rest of the remaining faculty at the head table. Meals have become a more somber affair in the last month and a half. The room seems too large, a student population devastated by the fire and accompanying attack further shrunk as parents withdrew their children, or students themselves resigned their studies.
There are a few new faces, but not many.
And then, in a giant burst of white light, there are eight more.
###
For an instant, the room is silent. Every student and faculty member has leapt to their feet. From over Benedic’s shoulder, Lira can see that several are poised to cast.
Oh no Lira thinks,
it’s enough magic missiles
to finish off everyone else, and I’ll die of irony.
She looks around. She’s still holding on to Benedic, so he must have made it. Reyu and Lord Agasha are a few feet away, each leaning on the other and dripping blood onto the stone floor. Thatch is sitting on the floor, clutching at nothing. Anvil is already in motion, crouching by Dennis and casting a
cure spell.
Lira cranes her neck to look behind her.
Did Eva’s body—? One of the students at the front table lets out a short, sharp scream.
Yes.
The sound propels Professor Alexandra into motion. “No one casts!” She points at an older student towards the front. “You. Go to the Temple of Justice. Get Tenacious the Just, and tell him to come here
now.”
The student takes off at a dead run. A few more look like they’d like to follow. Professor Alexandra notices, indicates two more upper-classmen. “You, get everyone back to the dormitory.”
The Professor turns to the adventurers. “Where are the others? What happened? Are you alright?”
The party exchanges glances. Finally, Lira says, “It…
was an emergency.”
Professor Alexandra surveys the group. “I can see.” She considers another moment. “I’m glad the item worked.”
“As are we,” Anvil replies.
“Where are Moira and Hue?” Reyu asks.
Professor Alexandra frowns. “They weren’t with you, were they?”
“No, but you said distance was not a factor for the spell.”
“Well… you did bring along two other people who weren’t attuned to the device. That’s quite a load. It’s possible the spell just didn’t have enough… oomph… to bring Moira and Hue—who were both miles away from you and each other—as well.”
Thatch has finally picked himself up from the floor. He sees Lord Agasha and Benedic.
“But… what about Bob?”
Professor Alexandra looks stricken. “Bob?”
“My horse! I was holding onto
him.”
“Well… A horse is very big…” she begins.
Benedic listens dumbly to the conversation going on around him. He was in the middle of the woods, fighting a very nasty ogre, then Lira jumped into his arms, thwacked him on the back, there was as flash, and now he’s… here.
“Lira?”
Her voice is right next to his ear. “Yes?”
“Where are we?”
“Oh. Right.” Lira shifts in his arms, leaning back a bit so he can see her face. “Welcome to Dar Pykos.”
Benedic nods.
Of course. “Thanks.”
Lira smiles, and her arms loosen from their death-grip around his neck. She’s blushing just a bit as she says, “You uh… can probably put me down now.”
**********
Tenacious arrives quickly, with several acolytes in tow. Anvil has already lifted Eva’s body and has started to carry it back to the Temple. The acolytes attempt to intercept him, “Justicar… we can— you’re
injured” but Anvil doesn’t bother to stop. Eventually they’re forced to give up, and load Dennis on the stretcher they had brought for Eva, following along behind.
“Where are you taking her?” Thatch asks.
Tenacious is sober. “We will see if there is anything we can do to help.”
“Umm… she’s dead.” The rest of the party silently echoes Thatch’s confusion.
It is not often that Tenacious is lost for words. “It is… possible… under certain circumstances… if there is work here that remains for her, if Kettenek will let her go… We might be able to guide her spirit back.”
The party stares, open-mouthed.
“You can
do that?”
###
Eventually,
everyone gets back to the Temple of Justice where they find Dennis conscious, and Eva being cared for in the Temple morgue. Once the party gets a chance to be healed and eat, they are met by representatives of the four temples.
There is Tenacious, of course. From the Temple of Ehkt is Lira’s Questor friend and sponsor, Devon. The Sedellan representative is a Harbinger whom the party first met when they were visiting every sect in the city in an attempt to warn them of the imminent attack on the Mages’ Academy. The Temple of Alirria has sent a priestess of the Tenders. Also present are Professor Alexandra, Lord Agasha, and the King’s Chamberlain, Sir Collingswood.
Quickly, the party gets everyone up to speed on their adventures since making contact with the Miyen Kai. They finally reach the reason for their hasty retreat.
“We were just overwhelmed.” Reyu admits. The bear, even though it couldn’t help it, the badgers, the ogre—“
“Bit—” Benedic begins, then looks over at Lira sitting beside him. “Nasty bit of a she-ogre,” he concludes.
“—it was just too much.” Reyu pauses. “It also seems likely she is a druid.” The others nod agreement.
Thatch, although mostly thinking about Bob, wrinkles his brow at Benedic’s interjection. He’s generally very clear on the difference between men and women. He also trusts Benedic to know what he’s talking about, but he
never would have thought… But still,
she killed Bob.
Dennis looks over at his young friend. Although he would like nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep for a week, he gets the sneaking suspicion he’s going to spend the evening raising a glass to Thatch’s fallen steed.
Lord Agasha clears his throat. “May I ask what you plan to do now?”
“How so?” Anvil asks.
“Now that she has been discovered, it is obvious that this creature is a menace to my lands and my people. She is also responsible for the death of one of your own. I would not prevent you from taking part in her extermination, and,” he adds, “I would… appreciate your expertise.”
The party members look at each other, then to their superiors.
Tenacious clears his throat. “Obviously, the mission King Orin charged you with is your primary responsibility. However, you must return to the Ketkath to seek out the archmage who dwells there in any event. If you are confident of your abilities, this is certainly a Just endeavor, and I do not think any of us would object to you undertaking it.”
Professor Alexandra looks a little concerned, but no one raises any objections.
“What else would we do?” Thatch asks. “Besides, she killed Bob.”
Lira pats him on the shoulder. “The only thing is, Winter is about to set in. It might make more sense to look for the wizard in Ebis now, and then go into the Ketkath in Spring.”
Lord Agasha nods, conceding the point. “It will take me a little time to return home and make the necessary preparations. And I will also have to share what we have learned with my
esteemed neighbor.”
“It seems you need not make your decision immediately,” Professor Alexandra reassures the party. “And I am sure everyone here has much to do this evening.” She nods to Lord Agasha. “As for your travel, if you will accompany me, I believe someone can send you home tonight.”
He accepts the gesture graciously; then, he turns to the party. “Let me know your intentions as soon as you can, I the sooner this is dealt with, the better.”
###
Professor Alexandra was not wrong about the preparations to be made. Anvil especially is anxious to join his brethren. Tonight is Kettenek Rising, the official beginning of winter and—for Anvil and his brothers—the second-holiest day of the year.
While Reyu goes with some of the local elves to celebrate the change of seasons outside the city proper, and Lira returns with Devon to the Temple of Ehkt, most of the party stays at the Temple of Justice for their services.
That night, the chapel is filled with the faithful. The entire hall is lit dozens of
light spells, leaving a dim glow, but producing no heat. The doors and windows of the chapel are all left open, and the chill winter air permeates everything. Thatch shivers.
“Do not fight the cold,” Anvil tells him. “Welcome it, as you welcome Justice, and you shall draw strength from it.”
Whatever Thatch might think of that, he keeps to himself; it seems impious to speak it aloud here and now.
At precisely midnight, all across the city, bells begin to toll.
Bastion the Just, head of the Temple of Justice in Dar Pykos, steps to the altar, and begins to lead the traditional prayers. To Thatch, the words are new. To Anvil, they are as familiar as his own name. They are words of strength. Words of resolve. Words that speak of the promise of the season to come, a time to lay new foundations upon which all future endeavors may rest. A time of order. A time for the keeping of vows. And, above all, a time for Justice to be done.
Anvil closes his eyes as the reverence for his Lord sweeps over him.
Whatever trials Kettenek holds in store for me this season, he thinks,
bring them on.
(DM’s note: For anyone wanting to listen along at home, the Hymn to Kettenk is “Non nobis, domine” from the soundtrack to Kenneth Branaugh’s Henry V.
)
