How did I get myself into this? That idiot Cygwen is willingly going along with this! I'm still not sure why I am. Here I am, escorting a MERCHANT, to increase trade with Telperest!!! I don't like these Illendi, but I'm not sure if the land can take a war with them. I'll bide my time until the land speaks its desires to me.The first day of the trip back was not a good one. I was fairly happy staying off the trail making my way through the woods (stupid city people don't know how to get along through the woods), but then we came to a large clearing. That's when it picked me up, or at least tried to. I suddenly found myself in the claws of a giant bird. I had never seen the species before, and that should have triggered warning bells in my head. The other big warning sign was the Ogre riding on it (where and how would an Ogre get a bird like this?). Instead, I was more worried about getting free. Thankfully this bird still acted like a normal bird. I waited for it try for a better grasp and managed to slip out at just the right time. I got damned lucky.
The Illendi wasn't so lucky. The bird was fairly ponderous and took a while to swing around (scorched a few feathers with the Fire)(the others got a good number of hits as well), but when it came back through it managed to grab the dumb winged guy who was standing on top of the wagon. Great place to be when a giant bird is hunting.
The bird and ogre had their prey and took off. Why I did what I did next, I still don't know. I don't even like these Illendi and they didn't know I could do something about this. But I did. I used the druid's trick to master the air and took off after the bird. I knew the spell wouldn't last long, but if I could catch the bird maybe I could do something. I left my staff behind and flew over a ridge. I was gaining quickly on the bird, but I wasn't sure if I would catch it before the magic wore off. I just reached it just as my magical wings faded. Lucky again.
If you can call being on the back of a giant, unfriendly bird with an even more unfriendly ogre, "Lucky". Things got even more unfriendly quickly as the orge started throwing things at me. The battle axe really hurt, but thankfully didn't catch me square on. Not knowing what to do, I started to rip up the bird tail to see if I coud convince it to land. I even tried to summon the Druid Fire, but summoning ain't easy on the back of moving bird with wind swirling around. We were almost at what was apparently the Ogre's tower, and I knew I was in real trouble if we made it. With a prayer to the forest, I sunk my dagger deap into the back of the bird, and the most amazing thing happened. The whole bird disappeared. Nothing there. nada. Just me, the illendi, and an even more surprised orge hurtling through the air with nothing to keep us up. Knowing I was in trouble I attempted the one thing I could do. In my fall, I somehow managed to heal myself with the Druidic Water. All I can say is I got damned lucky as I'm not all that practiced with magic while doing somersaults 40 ft above the ground. Thankfully, I hit a tree branch that gave just enough, but didn't break. Still hurt a whole lot, but at least I was alive. Barely. Well, the other finally caught up and we got out of there fast before that Ogre could come back and find us. Not a fun day.
And it didn't get any better. The party decided to camp out in a haunted camp site. What better place could there be? Right on schedule the ghost rose at sundown. I don't know what this party would do without me. While this ghost was trying to eat Cedar, the rest of em decided it would be a good time to collect all the gold on the ground. Well, the ghost didn't enjoy my staff. At least the illendi I saved helped out. He had a fire of his own. The two of us killed the ghost. I went to bed while the others wasted their time. What a day.
Our little adventures on this trip didn't end there. We ran across some wizard which the rest of the party claimed had enslaved a centaur. We overtook him (Barg almost got trampled in the process) and the others questioned him while I took a look around the wagon. Damn wagon was trapped with wizard fire. Nasty stuff which hurt me quite a bit. I decided to see what sort of magic was in the wagon and nearly got blinded. This wizard was definately involved with some serious magic. No evidence of the centaur (I'm wondering if that was just a line to get me involved) so we let this wizard go. Not a very nice man.
Telperest was on edge and so were the druids. Black roses were growing in the old grove. Vengence was in the air. No doubt Karnell was plotting. We stopped in town to gather some info. Emory was in flames, and Valen was free. I knew we should have killed him. Telperest could go up any minute as well. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing...
Ended up getting an audience with the Mayor. A druid visiting the mayor! What next?! Well, Faleahi was there as well. Promised if we delived these gifts to the illendi they would go on to their homeland, which was not Telperest. Now THAT is a noble cause. We entered an old Akuren passage and the mayor brought us to one of the old gates. We entered.
We found oursleves in an old castle. We headed in and first came to a pool of water. Apparently water for us to annoint ourselves with. The druids have similar customs. We were then challenged by little iron things shaped like dragons. One for each us. Apparently they were there to help us find our strengths. Mine said something a little queer to me. When I stated that my strength was my inner fire, it responded "It will be". Little did I know at the time.
We made it through and finally got to our goal. A box with seven masks in it. We brought them back out to where the Mayor and illendi were waiting. Each of the masks had a likeness. The silk one had my likeness. With great trepidation, I put mine on with the others.
I was suddenly whipped far back in time to when my ancestors were alone in the land. And then the Illendi came. War eventually broke out between my ancestors and the illendi. I found myself (reliving past lives possibly?) as a warrior and leader of the rebels against the illendi. Always the illendi were the enemy. A great fire began to grow in me as I fought them life after life. Eventually, the cataclism came and the illendi were gone. I had peace for many a century until the illendi came again. The fire burns hot again and I find myself face to face with my eternal enemy. They shall be vanquished.
Kanton - Druid of the Forest
i just had the strangest day of my life. really, no question. it's a long story, and i'm still not very good at writing, but it might be important.we were in the illendi town, and had, i guess, been as diplomatic as anyone would have been. as a reward, we got to take this merchant, and his assistant, and g'raj, and faheley's assistant, to telperest with us. (g'raj was a guy on the illendi council, and, as my mother would have said, it had clearly been too long since his last brawl. we weren't very happy about taking him.)
we left town and were immediately attacked by this huge bird. a really huge bird. i've never seen anything like it. it was this big. [hand-drawn picture of relative sizes of bird, mountain, kanton, and some trees omitted for ascii compatibility] it carried off faheley's assistant, so we all ran after it. for some reason, i couldn't shoot an arrow to save my life, even with my longbow, but kanton started flying, jumped on the bird, and disappeared over the mountain. when we found them, the bird was gone, and kanton and thasafon were still alive, just barely, and kanton was up a tree. kanton has a story about what happened, but i don't believe it. actually, after what happened later, maybe it's not so strange.
nothing else much happened until we made camp one night at this well. the well was a shrine to this guy who had died fighting off an orc invasion. i really don't like shrines of orc battles. i know my brothers, and i know they can be nice guys, but they're usually not, and no one really likes us much. so i put a coin in the well, more for guilt than good luck (the shrine said good luck).
but kanton decided it wouldn't be bad luck if we only looted this skeleton we found and not the rest of the treasure around. kanton has no sense - if the ghosts are nice enough to tell you they're there, you should believe them. every barbarian knows that. of course we raised a ghost. i threw all of the magical junk in the well, and was attacking the ghost with a torch when cor yelled at me to consecrate the corpse. i didn't know what to do. i mean, i know some basic death rites from brother michael in fenneldale. but could calming a corpse down really work better than hitting it with a stick? i tried both, but kanton destroyed the ghost in the end. i buried the skeleton. everyone else threw the rest of the treasure in the well, and the well thanked us. these things happen.
we had almost gotten to telperest when we met that wizard, the one who captured the centaur back in fenneldale. no sign of the centaur, and, after we beat the guy up, he claimed to have been in the right. none of us believed him, but he didn't have a centaur pelt on his wagon, so we let him go. i think we made an enemy. anyway, the fight was no thanks to me. i failed to knock a wheel off a wagon, and almost got crushed by the horses. i used to fight this badly - when i was eight years old. even then, i thought maybe the gods were trying to tell me something, but i didn't know what.
telperest was not in good shape. apparently valen has made some trouble in ermory, and the whole city is on fire. so people in telperest were tense. we took a day to ask questions around. i'm not very good with most humans, so i went to the temple and talked to the monk there again. he didn't believe the end of the world was coming, and had nothing nice to say about the four-arms causing all this trouble. i asked about my trouble fighting lately. but he just said to pray, and i've tried that, and i feel more in touch with the healing gods, but i don't fight any better. i said, "i don't feel like i could kill a man with one blow any more." he said, "no one can kill a man with one blow." he just doesn't understand.
we couldn't take lorkin to the market place as it was, so we decided to go straight to the mayor. i wanted to go, but i know how much townies don't like orcs, so i agreed that it should be lucan, ceder and cor only. then faheley showed up, and acted very knowing, and said we should all go, five correllendi and five illendi. i'm surprised no one argued with him, but maybe everyone else really wanted to come along too. faheley also said something about us giving the illendi presents. he gives me the creeps.
so i wore my nice cloak that i took from the dream mage, and that makes everyone else nervous. it's just loot, though, not magic, and i don't feel bad about killing dream mages, so why not wear it to look nice? but the guards showed us right in to the mayor's office, and he said he'd been expecting us, and there was no ceremony. good. the mayor was an adventurer too once, so we didn't surprise him much. he showed us this closet with a gate, and said the five of us should go into it and see what happened. we said okay - what else could we do?
we went through the gate, and wound up in a courtyard. there was a pretty clear path which led to a chamber with five iron figures in it. well, actually, we had to go through some rotted doors and drink from a magical pool and some stuff like that. but nothing unexpected.
as soon the figures moved, i knew what was up. my tribe didn't have much one-on-one combat, but the stories are a big deal, and they take it very seriously. so clearly we were each supposed to fight one of the figures, and we'd learn something. i think maybe some of the others tried to find a way to interfere with each other's battles, but i didn't pay any attention.
i felt pretty good about it. i figured this is my thing, and i'll finally get to the bottom of this fighting problem and maybe learn something about the illendi to help the group. so i walked up to the figure on the end (he moved up to greet me) and took a swing with my axe. i missed, though not by much. he missed me too. then i swung again, and missed even worse. he clawed me, but it mostly just stung.
i was good and angry by this point, and i never miss an axe blow when i'm angry. but i lost focus. the guy wasn't where i thought he was at all, and my leg was instead. i was swinging hard, and it still hurts to walk now. i asked what this was all about, and he said, "master, i am to test your strength." i stopped and focused, and swung again, and missed totally again.
i still don't know what was going on, but it was no good. i couldn't fight. i put down my axe and forced my mind to clear. i asked, "sir, if my strength will not serve me, what then?" he said, "then you will find another," and lay down idle.
my memory is a little hazy after that. i was angry. all the boys in my tribe are taught their whole lives that strength is brute force. i mean, i sometimes played mediator, both at home and here when some of the others lose their tempers. but it's hard to mediate if you can't just kick people until they listen. i thought this fighting thing, whatever it is, was only temporary, but the iron guy made me think it might be for good. so i don't remember what i yelled at the freakish magical dolls that stopped us in the corridor, and i don't remember if i hit them, but i'm pretty sure i lodged my axe in the wall. pottery wouldn't have dented it like that.
after that, i calmed down. we found this chest full of masks, which must have been what we were sent for. there was one for each of us, and one for g'raj and thasafon. the one that looked like me was made of wood and iron, and was a nice piece of work. we took the chest back. it turned out there had been another mask in there, for faheley, which was clear glass. "i guess we didn't see that the first time," someone said. and when he put it on, it just disappeared. he really gives me the creeps.
so we all put our masks on. i was actually a little excited - maybe i'd find out my strength. so i put it on, and it was some kind of magic, because there i was, back in the dawn of time in some orc tribe. then i was in another tribe, and another, all orcs, and none that i had heard of. occasionally i was a healer or elder in the tribe, but usually i was a warrior. there were a lot of battles, and it went very fast, and it took me awhile to be able to concentrate on where we were. we were really far back in time, before the cataclysm. and there started to be illendi around, and some of the tribes were friends with the illendi. and some of the tribes knew about the sentinals, and were near them, which i didn't think happened. and we fought battles with the illendi, on their side that is.
and this was weird. i had this feeling there was a spirit of orcish history that had been in all these tribes and been involved in all this. and it went through all the past ages and into right now, and right now it had something to do with me. but i don't know what yet. and i don't know any orcish history at all, but i don't think anyone else does either.
when i took the mask off, i found myself lying on the floor, and everyone said i'd been screaming the whole time. and everyone else had their turn with the masks. kanton is different somehow - he looks different. and lucan and ceder were babbling about keeps. and it's hard to tell with cor. but the illendi were the weirdest. g'raj and thasafon both changed into really monstrous things, and disappeared through the portal. g'raj just seemed angry, but thasafon was scared and resigned. poor guy.
<snip barg's reaction to stuff the mayor hasn't said yet>
and something really is different with me. i'm less strong. i was playing with the bow we pooled money to buy me before we visited the illendi, and i can't shoot arrows at full strength any more. i think i could still lift one of those big solid wood tables at the inn, but i don't think i could hold one over my head. the innkeeper didn't want to hear about how it was important when i tried. but i can still swing my axe, and that's what matters. maybe.
Clans have a saying that the biggest stalactite forms drop by drop. They mean "don't get upset if it seems like your current project is going really slowly, 'cause big changes take a long time."That's not always true: I saw a thousand years like a flurry of blows.
Less than a week ago we were still in Shirondo, the Siarran settlement. Set out for Telperest with Lorcan, a four-arm merchant guy, his assistant Piet, a winged guy named Josophin or Phosophin or something, and our "buddy" from the council Goraj. Lorcan was a little nervous, but he had a wagon of nice stuff - some Copper Clan make from the look - and we all talked about the plan for Telperest: head to market, make some merchant contacts who could maybe set things up with the mayor. No lying, but no waving the arms around either.
Couple of inconveniences on trip back: Kanton got snatched by giant bird steered by ogre. We all started plugging it with projectiles and he managed to wiggle free, but it wheeled and picked up what's-his-name, Drosophlin. Kept firing away and Kanton pulled some druid hoodoo and sprouted wings and took off after it.
They all vanished over a ridge. The way Kanton tells it, he climbed onto the bird's tail, with the ogre throwing stuff at him, and started stabbing it, at which point the bird just went poof, some kind of magic thing, so he quick healed himself just enough to crash down through the trees and live. And the Anghil guy, Scotjoplin, got his wings going in time not to crash. I don't know about that - that bird seemed pretty real to me, and I smashed a couple sling bullets on it - but Kanton was just about in shock over the whole thing.
Next we're about to bed down by this good luck well thing - couple of people threw in coins, but I don't see the luck in throwing good money down a hole - when this ghost shows up. Had earlier found a body with a bunch of coins and stuff probably ripped off from well (was warning on well, bad luck to steal), so, it's that guy. It's obvious that we need to toss the loot back into the well to put the loser to rest, which I point out, but this takes awhile during which he puts the whammy on Cedar and people hold him off with torches and Kanton hits him with the thunder stick and stuff. Got annoyed enough to ask Barg to come consecrate the body or something, 'cause Barg knows temple shit like that and loot-tossing really was going like a big stalactite - dunno if that's what eventually did it, or if the torch guys took him out, or what. Tossed a rather nice opal, too. Figures. Stupid-ass undead.
After that did manage to make it back to Telperest without further distractions - miracle of miracles - except for one little small-world encounter. We hulloa wagon on road ahead, driver looks around, and it's Evil Wizard Guy from the day we all met. Who gets his horse going (enslaved centaur is nowhere around) and tries to flee. We of course all take off after him. I tried to stammer an explanation to the confused Siarrans, but, wasn't really going to hang around. First bird, then stupid ghost... finally, this wizard guy is somebody I can *hit*. Terrific chase all going after the wagon - Lucan trying to stop horses, I jumped up onto wagon and started subduing wizard, although not really in a subdual sort of way, I admit. He tried to put the whammy on me, like I'm *not* going to hit him as soon as he starts wiggling his fingers. Did manage to throw up some kind of Instant Wall thing, but eventually everybody caught up and we got him stopped.
Got him to answer some questions: he had apparently enslaved the centaur, Melqui's friend, in order to get back to his Secret Magic Club faster with some stuff for a big bad ritual. Apparently they - the Black Flame, wooo - summon up demons to see if they can control them. Like *that's* bright. Then - according to him - let centaur go.
Very awkward moment followed - didn't really seem right to just say "all right then" and send him on his way; went on a little fishing trip about dream mages and stuff, at which point he refused to answer more questions. Eventually sort of mumbled "let this be a lesson to you about enslaving innocent creatures" and let him go. Was pretty pissed - probably will be back to seek petty vengeance at least convenient time possible. Note to self: need better script for this vigilante thing. Oh, and Kanton managed to set himself on fire again. Whatever.
And then back in Telperest, events took large, bad, alarming twist... am not sure why this even surprises me any more. Apparently Ermery in flames over appearance of Valen marched in in chains - spare arms! Must be a god! End of the world! Everybody panic! Strain building in Telperest - Siarrans appear in market, things would snap. Very tense couple days feeling things out fearing riots at any minute, punctuated by heartwarming news from Siarrah that she had been approached by some of Senet's followers and had eaten them. Am so proud of that girl <sniff>. Or else terrified. One of those.
So we're sitting on this keg of worms planning to go directly to see the mayor when Feheley shows up and treats us to the I Am Wise And Profound show for awhile, gist of which is that we need to go see the mayor. And that we're in a prophecy and we're going to go in some guy's closet and give the Siarrans a gift that will help them find their way home, which, much to our joy, isn't here. Of course he can't just say that and has to go on and on, trying to convince us I guess, but, well, *I* know enough to know to go along with it when my path lines up with mystic destiny shit.
Were let right in at mayor's - word had reached him from sage guy what was up. Mayor turned out to be highly competent badass type - bam, instant respect for that guy. Siarrans introduced, extra bonus hands shaken, diplomatic contact established, check that off to-do list. He tells us more - guy who built the keep stumbled across this room with no entrances - woooo - and it's been locked up waiting for us. Paindor's Closet. Siarrans aren't going in, they're just going to wait for us to come back. And see *if* we come back, more like.
So we go in, and it's a gate, and it lights up for the Sangreal thing, and we go through.
We come out in this courtyard, blue sky, looks like walled-off part of some much bigger compound. Might be ruined valley city Cedar saw in this dream where Blitta took him into someone else's dream and he saw Goraj wearing an obsidian mask. (Possibly should mention here had had dream of going deep into earth, finding five gems, shiny one for me, one for Barg, one for Siarrans.) One rotted out door into hill in front of us - someone set this up a *long* time ago. *Who* is still good question. Weird masks carved on frame of door. ("Weird masks" probably redundant.)
So we go in - mobile dwarven trap-detector first - through tunnel to room with pool in middle, door on far wall. Figures with masks guarding door who push out as I approach. Dance a little two step, forward and back - Cedar finds low-level magic in pool, so finally stick a finger in, take a sip. Very very pure water. Door guards allow passage after that.
Down another hall to room with five dragons. They are like legendary dwarf-make from the First Mountain, made things, but living-like. As we each step in they hop off perches; step further forward and they attack.
Battle was... strange... and very familiar. Felt like a test back in the monastery, and that's what my dragon said, "Master, I am to test your strength." Am no Master, of course, but bowed properly, and it bobbed its head back. Was good fight for me, fast and furious, connected with one nearly perfect blow that had me in unity space, be your hand, all that. But, had gone in as team, and team faring mixed. Kanton back by wall throwing fire, Lucan fighting away, Cedar trying to use hoodoo on his, Barg missing every swing of his axe and once managing to take a slice out of himself.
Then Cedar is talking to his and he says something and it lays down his head. He says it kept giving him the strength line like it was telling him not to use magic and he said messing with heads was his strength. He walked past it and pulled a handle in its niche to drop part of the wall and reveal part of a door. Monks all about this lessons of self-discovery stuff: told mine my strength was necessity and it laid down; opened own part of door. Kanton made a bad pun about his inner fire and went flaming-sword on his. Barg, frustrated by all the missing, said his strength wasn't serving him and it bowed, but he went back to wall and glared as only a half-orc can. Lucan apparently not so good at self-knowledge; eventually had to batter his to death.
Turned out we couldn't get through without Barg opening his part, so eventually peer pressure worked and we were on our merry little way into the long dark hall with oddly receding trunk at the end, and two big china-doll things. Lucan had had dream with these laughing dolls: they were if anything more annoying in real life. And freakier. I didn't want to mess with them, the way they jumped around gave me the heebie-jeebies, especially when one turned into Kanton, and Kanton was going to cast fairy-fire on it and the other one showed up lit up... flicking around in time or something. Just no good. Arrow of time supposed to go like arrow, not like shuriken, sometimes this bit's in front, sometimes this one. Think it could have been pretty nasty but they decided they'd rather play another time. Can hardly wait.
And then opened the trunk and there were masks in. Mine was obvious, the silver shiny one, and grabbed it right away; turned out we all had them and two for Siarrans. Decided to take the whole trunk, seemed light, and went back through, where mayor and Siarrans had gotten bored and were gambling for Telperest-area real estate. (Kidding, I hope.)
Gave last two masks to Goraj (obsidian) and Thosophin (leather). Feheley looked a little surprised and went and looked in trunk and pulled out mask of clear glass. Freakiest damn thing and that's out of a trunk of weird masks (Cedar's and Lucan's especially weird; like them on inside, like gate-mask things on outside).
And we put them on. And Barg screamed and Kanton looked hardened and Lucan and Cedar looked tired and I just blinked, because:
I saw a thousand years. I saw us go into the caves, all across Correllendor, and we built the cities, and we met the Illendi, and built their cities, and the Sentinals. And I was Silver Clan, I was there for all of it, a thousand years of lives coming back and back and back.
And... turns out my distrust of magic is rooted in harrowing experience. Were debates over it, magic, and then finally the cataclysm, and...
Clan Silver isn't lost. They...
Well, lost is a funny word. Because they might be lost. But I was there, and I was one, and I'm me now... maybe it was just the first generation, that had dwarven souls? Because they can't... it's not...
I walked out into the light, and I was Delwyn. Like the Peck. The People of Living Stone turned into little flimsy toy-people.
I'm going to have to think about that one.
So, a thousand years, and I blinked, and then Goraj put on his mask and screamed. It pulled on his body like he was clay, and we had a bad moment when we remembered that oh yeah, the doll things had said we had passed the first gate by being *purified*, and maybe having *not* been purified putting on a mask was a *bad* thing, but it was a little late at that point. His arms stretched out and he grew claws and he fell over like dead then leaped up and ran into the gate. Reminded me of everything I didn't like about the long-fingered choker guys, with that added demonic element for extra horror. Am officially moving water and slimy things down the list of things I don't like.
The fact that Thosophin still put on his mask amazes me. He looked at Feheley first though, they locked gazes and I could see it was their big romantic goodbye. Thosophin's burnt him alive into a demonic winged guy (yes, *was* a big change) who disappeared.
Feheley put on the clear glass mask and it just sunk into his skin as if nothing had changed. Think this may actually have been freakiest of all three. Like whatever terrible thing the mask would change him into he had been all along.
He said something about it not being the purification, that the masks were roles they had to play. And mayor talked. Honestly, was having a hard time paying attention. Saw so much. *Know* so much. Need to meditate. Feel exactly the same as always, and like I never knew myself.
You know, I have to say, at this point, I dream of fighting bandits. Yay bandits. Simple, predictable, greedy bandits, who carry lots of stolen treasure. Or orcs. I'm good at orcs. (Note to self: do not mention orc-killing prowess out loud in front of Barg, who is, after all, a decent chap for a guy with that kind of underbite.) Orcs rarely ever drag you into an epic struggle for the future of the world, and almost never do they cause you major existential crises, or involve you in ancient, decayed magic. Yep, what I'd give for some orcs. Or bandits. Orc bandits, even.But instead I find myself sitting here, staring at my hands, looking around at my traveling companions who, like me, have just gone to the end of history and back again in minutes, the same question clanging like compline in my head: Who am I?
When the dragon statue came to test my strength, like all the rest, I started out attacking it directly. But it soon became clear that the direct assault tactic wouldn't work -- not even for Barg, the strongest among us, who laid down his axe and announced, puzzled but resigned, that his strength wasn't serving him, at which point his statue promptly laid down and let him pass.
And as the rest quickly demonstrated their strengths -- Kanton full of "inner fire" (probably a joke, given the flame sword he was holding), Cor, understanding necessity, Ceder, full of trickery -- I threw ideas at my statues and got bitten for them.
Looking back, it all makes sense -- my strength is persistence, and the statue made the point unsubtly by lying down precisely when I gave up trying to define myself and hit it again. Okay, I get it now: I'm a ranger, so I'm a tracker. But was that it? Or was the statue in fact sending me a more complicated message about my life and its path?[1]
In my few years I feel like I've already lived several lives, and in the past two months alone I've been thrust into a new one. I haven't persisted in any of them: student, Ranger, adventurer... if I keep up this pace I'll be dead by thirty[2].
And now fate, and prophecy, seems to be steering me in yet another direction.
We left Shirondo several days ago, escorting some Illendi on a double mission of establishing trading connections and maybe political connections with Telperest. Two merchants: Lorcan and his assistant (or apprentice?) Piet, both Siarrans, two politicians: Goraj (the surly Siarran from the council) and Th'sofan, an anghil student of Feheley's. Marked differences from Senet's team, of course -- Lorcan was mostly nervous, the assistants were mostly quiet, and Goraj was even mostly civil.
The plan was simple: don't pretend to be human, but don't bring immediate attention to it either. See how things go first. The last thing we needed was an uproar in the Telperest market (with a Druid present, no less), although as it turned out, our worries about Siarran/human relations were already too late.
Assorted complications during the trip to Telperest -- the ogres we saw on our way *to* Shirondo showed up again (or at least there were some ogres, again -- not sure if they were the same ogres, of course), this time with a mythologically enormous bird none of us recognized. We were just trying to get away and scare them off until the bird snatched Th'sofan -- none of us could give chase except Kanton, who grew wings (fucking Druids) and flew off.
We found Kanton and Th'sofan in the trees a little while later, no bird around. Kanton, when he recovered from his shock, said the bird had been Summoned, so when he "killed" it (by climbing onto it and then stabbing it -- nice work), it just vanished back to its home plane, I think (not quite sure about this summoning business, really). I think Kanton's pretty lucky to be alive -- he managed to heal himself during freefall, which is one of the more impressive things I've heard of. It's a little unsettling to be traveling with people who are starting to pull off feats of derring-do that get terrible ballads written about them. At least we don't have a bard with us.
We all, I think, put aside the unsettling thought that there was a band of ogres around with a mage powerful enough to summon something that big, since we had other, more pressing stuff to worry about.
Second distraction was pretty classic adventurer hubris -- old well in the middle of nowhere, bad luck to anyone who steals from it, old skeleton with things-probably-stolen-from-well around it. In typical "let's just not worry about it" fashion, we just went to bed, and I wasn't even that surprised when the ghost showed up.
That I am this blase about dealing with the undead is not actually a good thing, but I guess it is representative of the past weeks.
All of us had more or less the same response we had the last time we fought the undead, which is to not have any idea what to do about it and just start hitting it with whatever we've got until it goes away. Or rather Cor and Ceder and Barg hit it while the rest of us hurried up and dumped all the treasure back in the well. Cor got the bright idea of asking Barg to come consecrate the body, but I think in the end it went away because we hit it enough. Unfortunately, Ceder got slimed, twice. He announced that he felt "so funky," but we got him back up to speed as quickly as we could.
Third distraction was stupid mage responsible for this whole nonsense -- the evil centaur-kidnapper[3]. Cor stammered an explanation to the Illendi, and we all took off after him. One of these days we're going to have to come up with a better battle tactic than "Get him!"
Anyway, surprise, surprise, we had no idea what we were doing. Some people were up on the wagon with the guy, some were hanging on the back, I was running alongside trying to get the horse to whoa (unsuccessfully, I might add -- first test of Ranger magic negative. Stupid Ranger magic).
The point is, once we had the wagon stopped, he turns out to just be your average boring Satanist -- he and his band of pseudo-rogue[4] mages hang around on weekends, summon demons, get drunk, congratulate each other on how dark and evil they are, maybe go shopping for new black robes and eyeliner together.
Hm. I may be starting to pick up some of Cor's amiable misanthropy. But really, he's a member of the "Black Flame." Come on. Also, he claims to have let the centaur go. He's clearly evil, but also clearly not worth our time at the moment. In any case, we let him go, awkwardly, since we're not really in the executioner business, and he wasn't doing anythng wrong that we could see, at the moment.
Meanwhile, Kanton caught fire. There was a time, not too long ago, when that news would have caused my voice to modulate even a little.
Back in Telperest, the actual bad news hit: Ermery in flames, assorted millennial groups rioting because of Valen brought in in chains. I'm not really sure how simplistic your religion has to be to freak out about two extra arms to the point of burning down a city -- centaurs show up all the time, not worshipped as gods, six limbs. Insects, six limbs. Heck, crabs have ten limbs. No known religion claiming crabs, lobsters, prawns to be greatest gods of all.
Irritability aside, the strain on Telperest is pretty palpable. Clearly unveiling extra limbs of Siarrans in the market would not have been our brightest idea. We spent a couple of days just getting a sense of the situation -- talked to the Sage, for instance -- and I felt a little better when we got a letter from Siarrah saying that she was using a new name, and had eaten some of the stragglers from Senet's group. I wrote another status memo for the home office and couriered it off to Earm -- hopefully the folks stationed in the Basin have heard the news and are keeping a sharp eye out.
Feheley finally showed up, and intoned that we needed to go see the mayor, which actually works out nicely, given that we were planning to go see the mayor anyway. Accorded to Feheley, we're prophesied, which is never good news as far as I'm concerned, but in any case it got us into the mayor's keep, and then just as quickly into a sacred closet, through a gate, and into some courtyard somewhere -- Ceder thinks maybe he saw it in Goraj's dream. Once again, it was not that long ago that a comment like that would garnered the old "twirling finger next to ear" move, whereas now it's greeted with earnest, interested nods. Sigh.
On the plus side, the Illendi were introduced to the mayor, who pointedly did not jump out of the window while screaming about the end of the world. So that's good.
We passed through a purification room -- lots of masked figures around, meaning unclear. And into the dragon room, which I believed I discussed already, and would prefer not to revisit.
We passed out of the dragon room (Barg was reluctant, but clearly it was press on or return to Telperest totally empty-handed, letting down prophesy and so forth) and into a long dark hallway where the two (one?) china dolls[5] from my dream did more or less the same thing they had done in the dream: giggle, make cryptic comments, and teleport around the room. Finally they left, which is all to the better except that they mentioned that they'd be back to "play" later, and none of us really have any way of dealing with them, if we decided they ought to be dealt with.
This left the trunk of masks.
Lining up mask with person turned out to be easier than expected -- only one mask would obviously fit each of us. There were two extras (for Illendi, we guessed), so we took the whole trunk back with us.
We gave the last two masks to Goraj (who got the obsidian mask he'd dreamt about, according to Ceder by way of Blitta) and Th'sofan (who got a leather mask). Feheley then reached inside and pulled out a glass mask that either we hadn't noticed or that had only recently arrived in the trunk. Ceder and I had matching masks -- disturbingly, both porcelain, like the creepy dolls.
So we put them on.
I saw a hundred lifetimes in the blink of an eye -- the elves of Correllendor, settling, interacting with Illendi, wars, peaces, happening fully around me in brief flashes, but somehow in normal time as well. And as the present rushed up like an overflowing well, a keep overlooking Telperest. A nice-looking keep, I thought. A base of operations, if we could have it.
Took the mask off, exhausted, and when I looked at Ceder, it was immediately obvious that we'd seen something similar. Probably he'd seen Delwen, but the same sort of business, I think. Cor looked stunned, Kanton looked hardened. Barg's reaction most dramatic -- he screamed, out of pain, anger, I don't know -- and fell to the ground.
Actually, Feheley's reaction was arguably most dramatic, since his glass mask just kind of sunk into his face and left him totally unchanged, which given the circumstances was a little scary.
On the other hand, Goraj and Th'sofan both changed in monstrous demons and flew into the gate[6]. Feheley said the masks were roles they had to play, so I guess I should be glad that my mask didn't actually make me into a small porcelain giggly annoyance.
That set me thinking, actually, and all of a sudden it hit me -- *guardians*. The porcelain dolls were guardians -- was that the significance of the porcelain? Was that the significance of the keep in the vision? Or am I just inventing interpretations because Ceder and I were talking about establishing a headquarters only a few days ago?
Either way: is this yet another role I must play? Guardian? I've only been an adventurer for a short time, and here I find myself about to change my focus yet again. Who am I, anyway?
Must think. Must talk to Ceder.
Lucan
[1]Cor: "No, you dork."
[2]Or next week, given aforementioned ancient, decaying magic, and sundry large flying demon things now in the picture.
[3]...from Scene 24.
[4]That'd be rogue in the sense of "separated from the herd", rather than "thief-like character."
[5]Author's Note: I am making a basic assumption about the state of technology in Pharallon based on actual human history, which may not be appropriate. See next email for details, because I'm just that dorky.
It's been a month now since the events came to pass below the castle, when we passed our so-called test of strength, donned our masks, and moved into a new beginning with everything that's happening between Corelendor and the Illendi. Perhaps I've waited to long to write this all down. Maybe it's been good for reflection. I don't know. All I know is that I've changed, and the party has split up. Now Lucan and I have taken residence in an old and somewhat haunted manor.The confrontation with the stone dragons was both an empowering and humbling experience. I can't help but feel ashamed upon looking at my reflection, at what my strength indeed may be. My strength is my weakness, so it seems. Everything about me is show, trickery, and false muscle. When you get around the smoke and mirrors, there is nothing to stop you from running my ass through. Perhaps this is being too hard on myselfÖ but maybe not. The dragon has given me pause. I feel empty now.
However, there is the mask. I placed it over my face and saw my past, along with half a dozen futures. Each future involved The Delwen Kingdowns. There was our elimination by humanity, there was our triumph over our captors, there was a scene with things continuing as they are, etc etc. How bloody helpful. I also felt a change come over me as well that is still sticking hard. I feel aged, tingly somehow as well. Don't know what it means really. Lucan and I stepped through a door to a keep also, in the last image the mask gave to me. As fate would have it, this place -- this manor -- was the portended image. Ah yes. I nearly forgot, and how could I. I saw a glimpse of how my people were born. We are related to Dwarves. What an intriguing notion.
So now I have stopped my running around. For the moment I am busy researching what is happening with the Siarrans and the other Illendi. Our world is about to change and we've stumbled upon the heart of the action. I'm not moving until I know more about everything. Also, I'm not moving until I figure out who I am and what I am about. Do I even care about what happens to my people anymore? The more I have seen the world outside The Kingdowns, the more I realize how small a cog they are in the scheme of everything.