Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2381162" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the One-Hundred Thirty-ThirdIn which: Bountiful burns, and we regain a missing member of our party.The winter in Bountiful has been dry.  The party has stacked wood at strategic points and worked out their strategy.  Eva, Anvil, Benedic, Thatch, and Kiara hold torches.Petros, Annika, Reyu and Lira stand ready to cast.Petros begins to chant, weaving his arms in the complex gestures of one of the most powerful spells Annika has ever observed.  As he finishes, a single lightning bolt leaps from his hands to the temple.The bolt hits, and then fragments, branching out to light the surrounding buildings.The party blinks collectively.  Well, that would help defend the academy from its enemies.Torches, a single lightning bolt from Annika, Reyu’s burning sphere, and Lira’s burning hands soon have the town ablaze.  The group retreats to Petros’ tower.Petros watches the smoking city with a certain amount of satisfaction.  “I sill owe you a debt.  Can I transport you to the next stop on your journey?”“We are in need of an additional invitation for an additional wizard.  We would be much obliged if you would transport us back to Dar Pykos, so that we might consult with our superiors,” says Anvil.“That can certainly be done,” Petros replies.  “It seems the fire is not in danger of spreading unduly.  We can depart at once—““Wait!”  Thatch cries out.  All eyes turn to the young fighter.  “What about Bob?”Cue flashback:The party originally left Bob in <a href="https://www.enworld.org/index.php?posts/2022220/" target="_blank">care of the dwarves of the Ironroot mines</a>, planning to return there for him after the completion of their mission at the monastery at the Sharpstone Pass.  When they decided to travel to Chi’i’s valley <a href="https://www.enworld.org/index.php?posts/2104179/" target="_blank">overland through the Ketkath</a> instead, Anvil used the headband of sending to ask Olek Stoneshaper to send Bob to the coastal city of Cauldron, where the party planned to depart the Sovereignty.  Of course, after meeting with Chi’i the party did not leave the area as planned, but instead traveled deeper into the Sovereignty in search of Petros.  All in all, Thatch and Bob have been separated for more than a month, and although Thatch has felt the absence keenly, other members of the party have apparently been preoccupied with other things.End flashback.Lira looks at Petros, a bit sheepish.  “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could we make a brief stop first?”###Inside the tower, Petros descends to the basement control room, while most of the rest of the party clusters around the second-story windows to watch what happens.  Eva is especially determined not to blink.Then, one moment she is looking out at the smoke rising over Bountiful, and the next there is a massive white flash… and then the window looks out into a stand of pines, boughs still heavy with late snow.  She turns to Lira who had cast detect magic just before their departure.“What did it look like to you?”Lira is as eloquent as always:  “Sort of like a teleport… but really big.”The party thanks Petros again for making the stop and reassures him that they do not think their business in the city should take very long. Petros waves off their concerns.  “I will not be able to move the tower again until tomorrow in any event.  And I certainly owe you the trip.”Thatch, for one, is eager to be on the way.  “Are we ready to go now?” he asks as the others fasten their coats and make sure holy symbols are safely hidden from view.“Almost,” Anvil replies.  He stops Lira before she reaches the door and places his hand on her forehead.  “Kettenek,” he intones, “shield your brother’s servant from the eyes of those who would know her soul, and do her ill because of it.”Lira feels a small pulse of magic followed by the feeling that a second invisible skin has settled over her own.  It is not exactly unpleasant, but vaguely odd.The party walks quickly and uneventfully to Cauldron.  The city, they find, has been built inside the crater of a dormant volcano.  It was something they could have guessed at, given the city’s full Sovereign name, “The City of the Cauldron of Our Lord’s Sleeping Fury,” but the reality is something to behold.The gates of the city are positioned just on the crater ridge, and from them all roads lead down into the bowl-shaped depression in which the rest of the city is built.  The party notices that the ground beneath their feet is distinctly warm from the geothermal energy that heats the entire city.The party easily locates the dwarven quarter, where they find Bob safely being cared for at a smithy.  Bob seems very pleased to see Thatch again, who is overjoyed at the long-awaited reunion.  The dwarves are friendly and helpful, and Lira once again endears herself by chilling the keg they have set up for workday ale breaks.In fact, the only odd hiccup in the excursion comes as they are leaving Cauldron and heading back to Petros’ tower. Eva is walking along, trying to think Sovereignty-appropriate thoughts when a woman passing in the other direction hails her.Eva stops.  “Excuse me?”The woman turns.  “I’m sorry?”“Did you say something?”The woman quickly shakes her head.  “No.  I’m sure I didn’t,” and then hurries on her way.Lira falls in beside Eva.  “What happened?”“I… I just thought she said something to me as she passed.”  Eva rubs the center of her forehead absently, then realizes it feels warm under her fingers.  Her eyes widen.  “Alirria said I would know her children in Cauldron, because her mark was on me, and then she kissed me, right here.”  The realization strikes her then that woman didn’t say anything.  She just heard it, in her head as she passed.Lira follows Eva’s line of thinking.  “She must have been one of Master Genichi’s people.”The woman is not yet out of sight, and before she disappears around the bend, Lira manages to discretely cast detect magic.  The woman radiates a faint abjuration aura, but nothing else.  Lira shrugs.  With Anvil’s spell in place she also radiates a faint aura of abjuration.  They decide to let the woman continue on her way.  Once outside the city, Anvil uses the headband to contact Master Genichi and ask if the group can be of any service while they are in the area.The reply comes back, All is well with us.  You have done more than enough for us already.  Our thanks and blessings are with you.The party returns to Petros’ tower sometime after dinner.  They cook for themselves outside—and invite Petros to join them—and then return to the tower to sleep.Well, everyone except for Thatch, who—fearful his horse will think he has been abandoned again—stays with Bob under the stars.</blockquote>

Verification