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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2028503" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the Ninety-SeventhAn unexpected arrivalAs predicted, underground travel—although free of further ambushes—does not get any easier.  However, the next day, the caves begin to slope distinctly upwards, and the following morning, Groff leads the group, blinking, once again into the sun.Kiara, who has been traveling in swallow form for the past two days, flies loops above the party, thrilled to be in open air again.  Although her relief is shared by many, no one else has the energy to share in her show of exuberance.Groff bids the adventurers farewell once they leave the caves, pointing them towards the trail and estimating it will be another two to three days to the monastery.  Eva surveys their new surroundings with resigned dismay.  The mountains are rugged.  The rocks are sharp, the peaks are high, and the valleys are precipitous.  It’s as if someone had taken a more even mountain range and scrunched it together.  It is also much colder than it was underground.  Snow covers the rocky terrain, but the trail is fairly well maintained.She shoots a look over to Lira, who shrugs, as if to say, You were the one who had to come here.  With a sigh, Eva shoulders her pack, and falls into line with the others.Soon, everyone settles into the rhythm of another grinding climb.  At least now there is a trail to follow, even if it is a narrow winding track through mountain passes and across rope bridges over narrow gorges.###On their second morning in the mountains, Kiara flies upward to get a view of the trail ahead, and to check for signs of pursuit.  Yesterday there was nothing to see, but today, she spots five travelers on horseback, maybe two days behind them.“I can’t be sure it’s the Inquisitors, of course,” she tells the party as she returns to earth and resumes her bipedal form, “but who else could they be?”Who else indeed?  The party redoubles their pace, pushing themselves nearly to exhausition in hopes of expanding on the lead they have gained so far.###The next day, Kiara’s scouting reveals two rather worrying facts.  The first is that, while the Inquisitors have not gained on them, neither has the party increased their lead by an appreciable margin.  The second is a bank of storm-clouds blowing in from the East.But there is also a gap in the horizon.  Everywhere they are surrounded by mountain peaks, seemingly razor-sharp ridges that slice the line between earth and sky, but there, ahead, are two mountains with a bit of space between, and for once that space is not filled by other mountains.  It must be the Pass.The party debates their options over a hurried breakfast.  They are on their seventh day of a forced march and no one is fully rested.  If they push themselves to get as far as they can before the storm hits, then dig in for the duration, they might gain a chance to get their wind back.“On the other hand,” Reyu points out, “if we push on through the storm, then the show should obscure our tracks from the Inquisitor and her party behind us.”“And they’ll stop and wait for the storm to blow past, which would be good for us.  ‘Cause, you know, we’d get father ahead of them,” Thatch adds.Annika does not seem convinced.  “That’s assuming we can make it through the snow ourselves.  We’ve been pushing hard already.”Reyu is not worried about the blizzard.  “It should not be as bad as the ones we encountered on the way to Lord Fau Meen’s estates,” she points out.  “And, as many of us can cast endure elements, those who are most… susceptible… to the cold can be protected.”Lira, still not up to full speed after being poisoned in the derro attack, pulls her cloak tighter around her as Euro slips down her collar.  “We might as well push as hard as we can today and just get there.  Even if we slowed to a crawl it wouldn’t be easy for any of us, so we might as well get there exhausted tonight as tomorrow.  If things start looking really bad, we can always hide out in a rope trick.”Annika nods agreement, silently hoping that the sign to stop walking doesn’t turn out to be her fainting into the snow.The party presses on.About noon, the winds pick up and the first snowflakes begin to fall.  Benedic leads the group off the main path, following a route that is rougher, but more sheltered from the wind and snow.  Lira finds the effects of endure elements a bit strange.  Although she can tell that it must be cold in an academic sense, at a practical level she finds it suddenly doesn’t seem to matter.  Euro appears to have no qualms about the situation, and resumes his fair-weather perch on her shoulders, periodically dashing around her neck, trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue.Behind them, Thatch—braving the storm without magical assistance—pulls his coat tighter, and shivers.After some hours of walking through the blowing snow, Benedic and Reyu inform the rest of the party that the sun has set.  No one wastes energy asking how they can tell—Eva would have sworn it was down hours ago.Some hours after that—just as the storm is beginning to blow itself out—the freezing, exhausted party turns off the main trail leading through the pass, and climbs the last leg to the gates of the Monastery of the Sharpstone Pass.There are seven buildings on the monastery grounds, bounded by walls on three sides and a sheer rock-face at the back.  A light burns in a central dwelling, but as the party approaches, they see no one. They cluster at the gates—featureless except for two huge symbols of Kettenek—unsure what to do.“Is anyone there?” Anvil demands.  His voice echoes in the dark.At first it seems that no one has noted their arrival, and then, a small figure emerges from the lit dwelling and hurries across the snow to the gates.  As the figure draws near the adventurers can see it is a young boy, barely twelve years old.He reaches the group and bows.  “Our apologies that there is no one here to great you.”  His voice is low and has a quick, whispery quality.  “The others have already left.  Perhaps, tomorrow, you can join them—“ Eva cuts him off.  “What others?”The boy blinks at her, then tries to cover it with a bow, obviously out of his script.  “The other pilgrims,” he explains.The party exchanges glances.  Somehow, from the tenor of Komatsu’s sending they had expected to find the monastery more… panicked. “Is your Abbot here?” Anvil finally asks.The boy bows again.  “Yes, milord.”“We would like to speak with him.”The boy bows again.  “Of course, milord.  If you would follow me.”  The boy steps lightly on the new-fallen snow as he turns to lead the way back towards the low stone building from which he came.  After a few seconds silent delay, the party follows.</blockquote>

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