NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1777859" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the Fifty-EighthIn which: The party discusses, dines, and sees a big, nasty pit.“Is it just me,” Lira whispers, “or do you feel like every elf here has been staring at us?”The party sits huddled on the benches near the firepit, speaking together in Common in low tones, hoping they will not be overheard.  Eva, Thatch, and Dennis play cards.“Figure we’d be used to that by now,” Dennis mutters.“That is not what I find most… disturbing,” Reyu says.“Me neither,” Zrod cuts in.  “It’s the rumbling that bothers me.”Everyone stares at Zrod.  “What is this rumbling of which you speak?” Anvil demands.“You guys don’t hear it?  Kind of a low grade rumbling.  Like a cave-in, somewhere far away.  I’ve been hearing it since we got here.”“Like thunder?” Thatch asks.“Like what now?” Zrod responds, puzzled.“Never mind.”“It is not the rumbling that concerns me either,” Reyu says, though she is not sure what Zrod is talking about.  “What concerns me is the… mood.  This village is… subdued.  There is no chatter.  There is no singing.  All does not seem right here.”The party mulls this over.  Finally, Anvil speaks.  “Right or wrong, it is no concern of ours.  Our mission was to deliver our invitation and be on our way. We should stay for dinner, see this pit, and then continue on.”“Um, maybe we ought to stay,” Thatch says.  “We could see these shadow creatures.  See for ourselves if there is any connection between them and the creatures from the Academy.  Maybe we could help the Miyen Kai deal with this challenge.” “What can we do when the Miyen Kai is here?” Lira says.  If it’s a challenge he can’t meet, what can we possibly do about it?”“You’re assuming he’s actually as powerful as we’ve heard,” Dennis mutters.“Hey, yeah,” Thatch says.  “Shouldn’t we stay and see what he can do?  Part of our mission is to evaluate the archmagi.”“That’s easy for you to say,” Lira retorts.  “Those shadow things weren’t hunting you.  If there are more of them around, I don’t want to be anywhere near them.”  She shudders at the memory.“I thought you Questors were supposed to seek out challenges.” “There is a fine line between challenge and suicide,” Lira snaps back.  The two stare at each other for a long, quiet moment.Finally, Benedic speaks up.  “Look, I’m not trying to make your minds up for you.  I’m just your guide.  But I ought to point out that it may be days, or weeks before any of those beasties crops up.  Winter’s nearly here already. We wait here another week, the weather ain’t gonna get any better as we get closer to the Ketkath mountains.” The party mulls that over.  Finally Reyu speaks.  “Let us see this pit tonight.  Then, perhaps, we can decide what we shall do next.”“Fine.  Whatever,” Eva says.  And, to Thatch and Dennis’s irritation, she lays down a full house.************Night falls.  Apart from some minor redistribution of wealth between Dennis, Thatch, and Eva, not much happens.  As the sky darkens, the party does begin to notice occasional flashes of light coming from the high ridge above the elven camp.  None of the elves seem to comment, and the party remains silent.After dusk, the elves gather for their evening meal.  The Miyen Kai emerges from his tent to join them.  He bids the party to sit near him, and questions them about Dar Pykos and the Mages Academy.  An elven woman tends to him during the meal.  It escapes no one’s notice that this woman is many months pregnant.  And it escapes few of the party members’ notice that the other elves give her something of a wide berth.  It seems to be equal parts deference and wariness.“Who is that woman?” Reyu quietly asks TodoTinkeni during the meal.“That is NitaMatten,” Todo responds. “Why do the others treat her so?  She is with child.  Is that not a blessing from Alirria?”“It is the heir of the Miyen Kai she bears,” is the simple response, and no amount of questioning gives a more complete answer.After the meal, the Miyen Kai rises and addresses the party.  “Please come with me.”He leads them up the short stair by which they came down into the camp, and then up a rocky path to the top of the high ridge.  As the reach the top, they see the ridge is circular.  Five elven warriors stand guard atop it, watching carefully towards the center.  As they approach, Lira suddenly realizes that she hears some kind of rumbling noise.  “Zrod,” she whispers.  “Is that the rumbling you’ve been hearing?”“Yeah.  I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to hear it.”Lira is not entirely surprised.  It’s not so much a noise as a feeling, a subtle shaking of her insides.  It’s a low vibration, deep in the rocks around them, and it is most disquieting.Finally, they reach the top of the ridge.  The Miyen Kai gestures before him.  “Behold,” he says.The middle of the ridge is some kind of depression, and it is filled with roiling, bubbling clouds of smoke.  Sudden flashes of light, like lightning deep within the smoke, periodically flare up from within the depths.  It looks like pulsating shadows come to life, angry at their long sleep.Anvil immediately begins an invocation, requesting Kettenek’s intervention to remove this pit of darkness from the Earth, should He see fit to do so.  Eva tries not to lean too far over it.Lira’s curiosity overcomes her.  She casts detect magic and looks down into the pit.Thatch rolls his eyes. “Even I can tell it’s magical.”Lira is just about to shrug and let it go when she notices something. “Except it isn’t.”  She turns to the Miyen Kai.  “It’s…it’s not magical?  How can it not be magical?” she stammers.The Miyen Kai smiles.  “Fascinating, is it not?”  Lira notices that he himself is emanating a faint aura, but, given who and what he is, she finds that hardly surprising.“Have any ventured into this pit?” Anvil asks.“Some have tried.  But those who touch the smoke are struck by lightning from within.  I do not advise the attempt.”Eva takes yet another step backwards from the pit.  “Okay,” she says.  “I think I’ve seen enough.”***********It is later that night.  Despite (or perhaps due to) the number of elven warriors around them, the party has posted their own guards.  They now discuss what, if anything, they shall do next.  All are uneasy about what they have seen here.  Things are clearly not right, though they are not sure what exactly is wrong.  Thatch still wishes to stay to learn more.  Anvil believes they have learned enough and should press on with their mission.  Seeing the pit has not increased Lira’s desire to stay and face those creatures again.In the end, it comes down to a vote.  The party’s decision? To move on.Thatch is quite disappointed, and spends the rest of the evening not-quite-sulking.  Lira is relieved to be leaving.  Still, she can’t quite make herself forget Thatch’s stinging words.  Questors are supposed to seek out challenges, and here she is, running from one.What does that say about her? If we stick around, I bet I could take those shadow thingees for you, boss.Yeah, Euro.  You’ve got my back.***********In the morning, the group informs the Miyen Kai of their decision.  He nods with acceptance.  “If it is not too much to ask, would you be willing to arrange escort out of Miyen lands?” Anvil asks.  “Our way in was difficult and we would prefer not to have to retrace the route.”The Miyen Kai is quite willing to do this.  He asks TodoTinkeni provide guards to escort the party to the first group of sentries they meet in the holy lands, and then to instruct those sentries to safely escort them from there.  “Perhaps, I shall see you all again in Dar Pykos, if my situation permits,” he says.  And he returns to his tent to meditate.The party travels back through the rocks and across the grassy plains of the Miyen holy lands.  They travel for roughly half a day before they meet a group of sentries.  The guards pass on their instructions and return to the Miyen Kai.The sentries glare darkly at the party, either outraged that strangers have set foot in the holy lands or outraged that they made it this far undetected.  But they do obey the orders passed to them from the Miyen Kai.  And they do escort the party out of Miyen lands.From there, they return to the dwarven encampment, thanking Zrod for his aid and retrieving their horses.  Bob, to Thatch’s relief, does not seem to have had any unfortunate encounters with pack lizards, and seems as happy to see Thatch as Thatch is to see him.  The party spends the night with the dwarves, drinking and singing to the extent their Con checks will allow.And, in the morning, they make their good-byes, and head off to the northwest, towards the Sovereignty of Kettenek and the Ketkath Mountains.“Three to go,” Thatch murmurs.  “I wonder what the next one will be like…”</blockquote>

Verification