Against all odds you have recovered the Book of Chains! Was it only 3 short weeks ago when Kelemis Durn asked you to do some simple library research in Hedrad? Since then you battled Ratmen and Hags and even an infernal guardian from one of Chardun's many hells. And you succeeded! You are here admist the ruins of the fabled SkyKeep, atop Mount Cragmore, in possession of the Book of Chains!It was the 3d Belsaday of Enker when the adventurers stumbled out of the ruined keep. A strong scent of burnt rancid flesh filled the air, reminding them of their hunger. Goldpetal and Stone sat by the remnants of a fire, eating the roast limbs of an owlbear. Stone handed some to Chuck and Miriel, while Goldpetal offered some to Paks and Teleryn. It looked and smelt foul.With a sense of triumph, you climb one of the nearby mounds of rubble to take in the magnificent view and the crisp morning air. There was a flurry last night while you scrambling underground, and it has left a light blanket of white beginning to melt in the morning sunlight. The peaks looming above you are covered in a deeper white. Further north, you can see it is still snowing. Winter has come to the Kelders.
You look East, and your feeling of triumph begins to fade. Lave is hundreds of miles away, and before you stretch miles and miles of trackless, howling wasteland. Big, threatening, thunderclouds hover over the Blood Basin, and you can see white-capped waves from here. You feel small and far from home.
You reverie is broken by a leonine roar! 150 feet away, a horrible monster is perched on a ruined wall. Large reptilian wings and a wicked barbed tail sprout from a lionish body, but it's the vaguely human like head that is most horrifying. Dear Gods!!: A Manticore!!
Chuck asked where the food had come from, and Stone launched into the story: An owlbear had stumbled into the camp from out of nowhere. Goldpetal heard it coming and tried to shoot it with an arrow, but it flew past the ineffective shot. Stone rushed forward, swinging wildly, and hit it once. Goldpetal dropped his bow and rushed with his scimitar, but severed a rock instead of the owlbear. The owlbear mauled Stone with its claws. Stone hit back with his fists. Goldpetal extracted his scimitar from the rock and failed to hit the owlbear, which clawed him and Stone both. Stone hit it one more time, but the owlbear didn't notice. Goldpetal finally hit the owlbear with his scimitar; infuriated, the owlbear turned on Goldpetal, tripped on the severed rock, and came crashing to the ground, scraping Goldpetal with a claw. Stone and Goldpetal took the opening to finish it off. Stone then lept into the air and stomped on the dead beast with both of his feet, and made a dinner of it.
The party nodded their way through the story, acting impressed, and were about to tell their story when they were interrupted by the loud roar of a manticore. They turned, swiftly, and saw it standing on a rock outcropping, twitching it's many spiked tail menacingly.
Goldpetal waved his hands and chanted, and fire burst from his hands, forming the shape of a scimitar. Stone stood up off of the owlbear's chest, where he had been sitting, quaffed a potion of mage armor, and threw the owlbear corpse at the Manticore. The Manticore fired a volley of spikes from its tail, hitting Paks in the back and narrowly missing Stone, Teleryn, and Miriel. Teleryn backed away from the party in the opposite direction of the Manticore, while Chester alighted on Paks' shoulder, pecked at her, and transmitted the power of Bull Strength. Paks quickly called upon the favor of the Madriel. Chuck drew his bow, fired twice in rapid succession, and nicked the manticore's wing. Miriel cast searing Light on the beast.
Goldpetal inched towards the manticore. Stone tripped over the owlbear's corpse while loading his light crossbow. The manticore threw more spikes in the air; two narrowly missed Stone,and one hit Goldpetal. Paks moved forward, hanging just outside the manticore's range. Chuck summoned a dire rat to harass the manticore, but the manticore didn't care to notice. Miriel downed a potion of mage armor.
Goldpetal moved next to Paks. The Manticore promptly jumped off the rubble and attacked Goldpetal and Paks, nearly severing one of Pax's legs and knocking her aside, and leaving a giant gash in Goldpetal's chest. Pax, attempting to recover her footing, swung at the manticore and missed. The Dire Rat jumped on the back of the manticore, doing a tiny bit of damage, while Chuck ineffectively shot an arrow at it. Miriel inched timorously forward.
Goldpetal's fire scimitar sliced into the manticore, carving off a bit of flesh. The manticore clawed Goldpetal, knocking him out; bit the dire rat, killing it; and clawed at Stone, tearing a chunk of muscle. Teleryn read "summon celestial wolf" out of the spellbook. Chuck shot the manticore with his longbow. Miriel charged at it with her magic shortspear, and skewered its tail. Angry and in pain, the manticore spun the tail wildly around, pounding Miriel with its spikes. Stone slammed the manticore with a flurry of kicks and punches, killing it.
Miriel healed Goldpetal, bringing him back to consciousness. Stone jumped up and down on the corpse and let out an angry roar. Pax healed herself, Goldpetal, and Stone. Goldpetal then healed himself some more and Stone, as well. Stone ripped a tooth out of the manticore's mouth and hung it around his neck as a souvenir. Miriel recovered her spear from the tail while Stone ripped off the manticore's legs and dragged them to the fire. Miriel observed that the party badly needed to rest as all of the spellcasters were powerless; Pax recommended moving somewhere less conspicuous first, and away from the scent of roast monster that might possibly be attracting more beasts looking for a meal.
So the party travelled down the mountain for an hour and settled under a grove of trees on an outcropping. They rested there for three hours, while Pax kept watch, and then began to travel again, slowly descending the mountain until dusk. They set up a camp; Goldpetal made a fire, which Miriel used to cook dinner, and the party told Stone and Goldpetal what had happened in the keep. The conversation wandered for a while, and then turned serious when Pax asked:
"We have been brought together by the Gods. What is their purpose in doing so?"
"We don't have the power to say, unless the Gods let us know" said Miriel.
"If we knew that, we'd have it made", Teleryn said at the same time.
"It's less a purpose than a plan", Miriel continued, "we have been brought together to serve the plan of the Gods as their agents."
"They walked up to us and told us what to do", said Stone.
"But what purpose do Madriel, Denev, Hedrada, and Tanil - hey, Chuck what God do you worship, anyway?" Pax asked.
"Tanil, in general." Chuck responded.
"Tanil. What purpose do they allhave in bringing us together?" Pax repeated.
"We've been directed to help the destruction of this artifact of the Titans. That's a pretty straightforward goal." Teleryn explained.
"I don't remember destruction being on the list of things to do," Chuck protested.
"No ... but we've been tasked with finding things that would destroy it. We've been fighting titanspawn or trying to foil the plans of titanspawn, which is the goal of the Gods, to put down and keep down the Titans."
"Is it the goal of the Gods to keep down the Titans, or to protect the Earth on which they live?" Goldpetal asked.
"Both. In order to protect the land, they must keep down the Titans. The Titans do not respect the land, or have the compassion that Denev does." Teleryn answered.
"But you must admit that the Earth itself is not of divine origin," Goldpetal said.
"Nor is it of Titan origin. I believe it existed before either, but you could argue that. but no, it is not of divine origin."
"Our people are taught that the Earth is of Titan origin. It was created by Denev. And the other Titans are being held because it was the only way to protect Her creation from them." Goldpetal said.
"I have been taught and have read that such may be not of this incarnation of the world, but at least the one it was based on, that existed before the Titans. Now the Titans are of this world, just as this world is of Them. That is why they cannot be destroyed completely. The reason I believe the Gods put the Titans down is because the Titans wrought havoc not just upon the land, which is why Denev is on their side, but on the people. The people worship the Gods, and that is where they draw their power," said Teleryn.
"Yet without the land there would be no people," Goldpetal argued.
"Yes ...", Teleryn began, but Pax interrupted to shephard the discussion away from the impending argument. "What is the fundamental difference between the Gods and the Titans?" she asked.
"The Titans are a lot bigger", said Chuck.
Miriel, looking thoughtful, said "I think the fundamental difference is that the Titans came into existence earlier. The Gods are their children. Just as our children build bigger cities and have more children, so the Gods are the next generation of the Titans, more advanced, more powerful, more compassionate for humans, with more connection to the creatures formed by the Titans than the Titans feel themselves."
"I'm not certain that I can concede that. The connection Denev has to the land, and to the living creatures that are of the land, is unmatched by anyone else", Goldpetal objected.
"A connection as a friend to a friend", Miriel replied.
"A connection as a user to a tool", Chuck said. "The Titans are more likely to leave us alone, the Gods take more interest."
"No, No!" Teleryn shouted. "If you know your history, the Titans took great pleasure in playing with us, in destroying things. This nature is what brought the Gods against them, because they were playing with and destroying the Gods' sources of power."
"True", said Chuck.
"So, do we have free will", Pax asked, "and is that the difference between the Gods and the Titans, that they let us have free will, and the Titans do not?"
"No, neither of them grant or deny free will", answered Teleryn.
"Free will is a byproduct of life", said Stone.
"It's not that neither one would use us to achieve their ends", continud Teleryn, "If they desired. Just as I may cast Charm Person on Stone, it might end his free will for a time."
"Does that end it?" asked Stone. "Or just change it? Your wants have changed. You are still doing what you want. It's like ... I never wanted a kitten before but now I do."
"We are free to go against the Gods" said Miriel. "I wouldn't recommend it. They are very powerful, and it's just as bad as if you offend any powerful person. Not that I want to go against Madriel, but if I did."
"Ahh, but if Hedrada and Madriel both sent to you, and asked for things which conflicted, which would you follow?" Goldpetal asks.
"Madriel, obviously."
"She's a devotee of Madriel", added Teleryn. "I pray mostly to her because she has the most compassion for the divine races."
"You mean humans?" asked Paks.
"Humans, Elves, Dwarves - races the Gods say they created, races the Gods draw power from. In my studies I have not been able to prove that they created us."
"They say they do", said Chuck, "And who are we to say otherwise?
"The Gods are always communicating with you" said Miriel.
"Not me really. You, yes, but except for the avatar of Hedrada, I've never had any discourse with them." Chuck said.
"But you've known people with whom they've communicated. You've seen signs, you've seen favor. None of the messages have been personally to you, but you have recieved them nonetheless," Madriel responded.
"Your spells are divine, aren't they?" asked Teleryn.
"No. His spells are more like mine, natural, drawing on the power of the Earth," Goldpetal responded quickly, then changed the subject "As a child, I was given to understand that the problem with the other Titans was not so much that they were deliberately destructive or interfering with the Gods, just that they didn't care. They didn't care about the Gods, or the Earth, or the people. They were just great forces, that did what their whim told them to."
"Without heeding the consequences of their actions, yes. I would agree with that", agreed Teleryn. "Nowadays I would call them evil. Look at a storm hag, doing what she does, she worships a Titan."
Goldpetal glared at him.
"Worships a Titan, Mormo. And her actions are evil, and therefore the Titans are evil."
"What does evil mean?" asked Goldpetal.
"I think that's too deep a discussion for tonight", answered Teleryn.
"Are all of the Titans evil, except Denev and Golthane?", asked Paks.
"What does evil mean?" asked Goldpetal, again.
"Not good for us" said Teleryn.
"But things which are not good for me may nonetheless be good," said Miriel. "Such as charging the manticore."
"Expand that out. What's good for the storm hag is bad for us," said Teleryn.
"That's not true. Evil is not a matter of intent" protested Miriel. "It is an inherent quality."
"Some things are about destruction," said Chuck.
"But you could have a vampiric armor which was sucking the life out of you but made you invulnerable," said Miriel. "It's not what it does. It's what it is. Evil."
"All meat-eating creatures survive by destroying other creatures," Goldpetal argued.
"That's not true" said Stone, "what about carrion eaters?"
"But they don't go about killing every creature in the forest just to do it," said Chuck.
"That's fun, by the way," interjected Stone.
"So, the Gods draw their power from us, the divine races", said Paks.
"So if we want to defeat them we should just kill ourselves," said Chuck.
"And the Titans are amoral forces of nature," Paks continued.
"No!", answered Stone.
"Yes!", answered Goldpetal.
"Its not like a storm that’s doing what it does just because it does", protested Stone. "It has some directions. They choose their actions. They just choose to be heartless. The titans must answer for their sins, unlike a force of nature."
"To whom?", asked Goldpetal.
"To nobody," replied Stone. "There are consequences to their actions.
"Yes, there are consequences ... but answer for your sins implies judgement," said Goldpetal.
"You must suffer the consequqnce of all your actions is what I mean by answer for your sins", replied Stone.
"Spoken like a true follower of Hedrada", Teleryn said.
"Hedrada gives laws so we may answer to each other to build a mutual beneficient society", explained Stone.
"Not to Hedrad?", asked Goldpetal.
"Not to Hedrada," Stone answered. "To your fellow beings. The law is given to us to allow us to have a stable society.
"It is possible to have a stable society without law."
"Impossible", retorted Stone.
"I come from a stable society without law," replied Goldpetal.
"I don't believe you."
At that, Paks, sensing that the discussion was fast becoming an argument, interrupted. "May we table that? On the question of free will, the gods speak to us and we decide whether to follow?"
Everyone concurred.
"They have excellent means of convincing," offered Teleryn.
"When Hedrada told me which path to follow, I knew that his words were true", replied Stone.
"If Chern came to me, and demanded something, I would resist", said Teleryn.
"And probably die for your actions," obsevred Miriel, "but I would, too."
"So in a fight between an evil god and a Titan, who do you assist?", asked Paks.
There was a consensus that the only thing to do in that case was to get out of the way.
"Unless one of the other gods asked you to," said Chuck. "We don't need to jump into every fight."
"If some Gods request my aid, then I would help", said Teleryn.
"Sometimes the gods request without asking you specifically," Miriel added. "If I see somebody hurt, I help to heal them."
"I would have to take each case sperately," Teleryn responded. "If Chern were battling to keep Mormo down, I might assist."
"A differect direction, then", Paks asked: "what if it were the servants of the Gods fighting the servants of the Titans?
"I could have an impact there.", answered Miriel.
"I'd wait until they were done and take out the winner," Teleryn boasted.
"And harry them from behind," Miriel continued. "But I wouldn't feel compelled to get into such a battle, unless good people were getting involved."
"I guess, as a member of the Vigils I cannot disrespect laws too much", Chuck surmised.
"Perhaps that's why yours such a poor Vigilant," observed Miriel.
The conversation wandered off into less interesting stuff, and eventually the party slept. Quietly, before Paks went to sleep, Goldpetal wandered over and added, in a tremulous voice laden with sorrow: "One of the other differences between the Titans and the Gods is that the Gods can be killed." He would say no more, and Paks contemplated its meaning for a long time before falling asleep.
The next day, the party made rapid progress down the mountain, with much complaining about injured knees. They descended into the foothills, where Chuck and Goldpetal found mushrooms and cooked them for dinner. The party set up camp for the night, with Pax taking the first watch. Paks had been feeling increasingly uncomfortable over the last several days; when she concentrated, it felt as if she were being followed or hunted, but she couldn't pin it down. The feeling grew stronger during the watch, and when Chuck's watch began, Paks announced: she just had to go.Chuck woke up Miriel. Paks put on her armor.
"I must go, and I must go alone". Miriel asked if she must go alone.
Paks responded "the visions say I must go alone. So let me go." Miriel acquiesced.
The forest was dark and cold but Paks was calm and driven. She wandered through the forest, seeking her hunter, for an hour or so, before her body was suddenly wracked by pain, and she heard a terrified, anguished voice, cry out:
"HURRY. SAVE ME."
Breaking into a clearing, Paks saw five large spider eye goblins conducting a ceremony to invoke Sethris - a ceremony that involves a ritual sacrifice of a unicorn. The lead goblin was sawing off the unicorn's horn. Immediately, Paks was set upon by a giant wolf spider. It attacked, but missed. Paks rushed by, and the wolf spider attacked again, hitting her shield. Paks took the opening, swung, and chopped off one of the spider's legs.
Two of the goblins noticed paks, turned, and threw 4 darts each at her. All eight darts missed. One of the goblins tripped and fell prone. The goblins' dart hits his buddy instead. The shaman continued sawing at the unicorns horn. Paks felt that the clearing was protected from good. She charged the goblins and almost tripped, but caught herself at the last minute.
One of the goblins pulled out two javelins and attacked Paks. One of them hit her. The wounded goblin leapt over the prone goblin and attacked, but Paks hit him before he got the chance. She then moved closer to the shaman, who hit her. The prone goblin stood up. The wolf spider leapt over the goblins and the unicorn and clawed at Paks, but missed narrowly.
The goblin with the javelins attacked again, with no luck. The other goblin came around and flanked Paks, who was hit by a claw. "Sethris aid me", said the shaman, as she moved away and continued the ritual. Paks moved closer and attacked the shaman. The wolf spider attacked and hit her shield again. Paks swung at it and hit. One of the goblins drew four daggers and threw them; they all missed Paks, but one hit the wolf spider.
The two goblins flanking Paks attacked. Both missed, and one of them tripped and fell. The shaman moved out of the way again, and finished cutting off the unicorn's horn. Paks moved forward and attacked twice, missing both times. The goblin with the javelins moved forward and attacked, but tripped over its own javelin and got hit by Paks, whose blow killed it. The wolf spider hit Paks.
One of the goblins attacked with claws, but missed. The shaman turned and attacked Paks with claws and a wicked looking dagger with a weird spider-web symbol carved in the pommel. Paks hit the Shaman once, but missed with her second attack. The wolf spider tried to attack andmissed.
Two goblins attacked and missed. The shaman used the power of the unicorn horn to heal herself. Paks hit the shaman twice. The wolf spider attacked and hit solidly, leaving a giant gash in Paks' thigh, and attempting to poison her; she shrugged it off.
The two goblins missed again. The shaman invoked smite Good on Paks, but her blow missed. Paks swung at the Shaman twice and missed both times, as did the Wolf Spider.
The goblins continued their run of failed attacks. One of them tripped. Paks saw the opening, struck at the goblin, and killed it. The Shaman cast a spell, touching Paks and damaging her, while Paks swung at her and missed. Paks stepped back and laid on hands to heal herself; the spider stepped forward and bit her, poisoning her.
The goblin stepped forward and attacked Paks, missing her. The sham attacked, missing just like everyone else; Paks invoked the name of Madriel and swung, killing the shaman, and following the swing through to kill the spider. She swung at the goblin and hacked it in two.
The battle over, Paks bound the unicorn's wounds. She picked up the horn and attempted to lay on hands to attach it; it failed. But she realized, while she was doing it, that holding the horn allowed her to talk to the unicorn. The unicorn was devastated and begged Paks to kill it. She freed the unicorn from its bonds and healed it, but the unicorn was unable to move more than ten feet away from her. After much discussion, Paks came to understand that she could control the unicorn while she held the horn.
Paks searched the bodies of the goblins whom she had killed. She found the shaman's dagger and tried to break it, but couldn't, so she pocketed it instead. She broke the other holy symbols.
Turning her attention back to the unicorn, Pax offered to strap the horn to the unicorn with rope as soon as possible, so that he wouldn't be subject to compulsion; the unicorn explained that he is unable to touch the horn in any way, shape, or form. So Pax decided, after much thought and out of a sense of desparation, to lead the unicorn back to camp.
Pax, cut up and bleeding, straggled into the camp, looking exhausted. She carried a unicorn horn. Ten feet behind her was a depressed unicorn, head dragging on the ground, with no horn. Miriel healed Pax immediately, and began praying to Madriel.
No answer came. The unicorn moped around looking completely bewildered and shocked. "There's nothing I can do", Miriel said. "Perhaps we should wake up Goldpetal".
Goldpetal, awakened, looked around, saw the unicorn, and said "What happened!" in an outraged voice.
Paks, exhausted and despondant, responded feebly: "Sethris ... followers ... cutting off horn." She handed the horn to Goldpetal, imploring him. "Fix it?"
Goldpetal took the horn and asked the unicorn. The unicorn told him the story. Goldpetal gave Paks an intense withiring look and said: "I can't reattach the horn." Thoughtful, wistfully, tentatively, he added: "I never thought this would come up, ever. But ... the druid who trained me taught me how to break the bond between the unicorn and the unicorn."
Teleryn drew in a sharp breath. "Wow."
Goldpetal asked the unicorn if it wanted the bond broken. It said yes.
Paks asked if she could help. "No", Goldpetal responded. "For one thing, the healer in me says that you need healing and have not the energy for the ritual." Turning to the rest of the party, he asked "Will you help me?"
"I will not participate," Stone responded, angrily. "The law by which it is born is the law by which it must live."
"But it has asked me to do this."
"Can we restore it rather than try to break that bond?", Paks asked.
"I don't know of a way to do that," Goldpetal answered.
"There is always a way in the future", Stone insisted.
"Chuck, will you help?", Goldpetal asked.
"Of course", he responded.
"Miriel?"
"Yes, but Paks is the one who found her. She must also participate."
"May I help?" asked Teleryn.
"Yes."
Goldpetal looked around at the group. "Shall we, then?"
"No", Paks responded firmly. "You have not convinced me that this will not harm the unicorn."
Goldpetal handed Paks the horn and said "Ask it."
Paks did. The unicorn's thoughts were muddled and confused; it had no idea what was going on. It wanted to die.
"I'd like to try to heal it first", said Miriel.
"We do not have the power," Goldpetal replied.
"We might be granted the power," Miriel insisted.
"Do we know anyone who can?", asked Paks.
"I have never heard of it being done," replied Goldpetal.
"But it might be worth trying," said Miriel.
"Can we do a divination to ask Madriel what to do?", Teleryn suggested.
Miriel and Goldpetal agreed that this was a good idea.
"And can you ask Denev", Teleryn inquired of Goldpetal.
"It doesn't work that way", he responded, while summoning food and water for the unicorn.
Miriel performed an augury. Is this a healing we can perform? she asked.
Woe came the response.
Is it Paks' quest to restore the unicorn?
Woe.
"Ask if we should ask about breaking the horn", Paks asked.
"I agree. If we can't fix the problem ...", Chuck started, but Goldpetal interrupted him. "Enslaving a Unicorn is wrong."
"We're out of questions, i'm afraid", Miriel said.
"Shall we try the healing?" asked Paks.
"It won't work", replied Miriel. Paks looked at her helplessly.
"We're not going to be able to heal the unicorn," said Goldpetal. "I can sever the connection so that it is no longer enslaved."
"That's not the only thing it does," Stone objected.
Teleryn was curious.. "What else does it do?", he asked.
"It turns it into a normal horse," Stone said, angrily. Turning to Goldpetal, he added "You should tell everyone else the full consequences of your actions."
Slightly chastened, Goldpetal responded "That is fair."
"Enslavement to the best of us, Paks, is better than this. Paks could hold the horn and never give it a command."
"It has to come with me," Paks protested.
"It has to stay near the horn?", asked Stone.
"Yes, within ten feet."
"Lets strap it to the unicorn, then," suggested Miriel.
"That's what I tried." said Paks. Then, trembling, "It wants to be killed."
The argument stopped for a moment, as a surprised silence shook the group, and the monstrosity of it all became clear. Then the argument began again, in earnest.
"If it wants to die, we should kill it," said Chuck.
"We should not kill it", Goldpetal insisted, "It will be perfectly happy if we free it."
"Will it ever know the happiness that it has as a unicorn?", Paks asked.
"No. But neither the sadness of a unicorn without its horn," replied Goldpetal.
The discussion continued. Stone wanted to take the unicorn elsewhere to heal it. Paks did too, but the augury suggested it will fail. But what does that matter, Stone wondered? "It will be a difficult quest, my friend, but we have had difficult quests before."
"Is there a way to sever the bond, without turning it into a horse?", Paks asked Goldpetal.
"None that I know of."
"What would happen if we just left the horn?", Chuck asked
"It would not be able to move more than ten feet, and it would die", said Paks.
"Or be enslaved by the next creature that came along," added Goldpetal.
"Would someone wearing your ring be able to teleport with the unicorn?", she asked Teleryn.
"No. It's too large to take with it."
After a few more rounds of conversation, Paks said she had to meditate. Stone went back to sleep. Goldpetal tried to minister to the unicorn, to soothe it, but it was unsuccessful; the unicorn was shocked, despondant, and nothing could calm it. Teleryn contemplated the awesome power of a unicorn horn for arcane uses.
A few hours later, Paks woke up. She felt completely defiled, possessing the unicorn. She wandered over to where Goldpetal was tending to the unicorn, and sat in silence for a while. Eventually, Goldpetal began to speak with her.
"You did the right thing. In saving the unicorn, and driving off those who were attacking it. But you should not have brought it here against its will", he said. The anger had faded from his voice, replaced by a deep sadness.
"But my choices were to leave it there to die or to bring it with me," Paks protested.
"Or to stay with it until one of us found you," he replied.
Paks, stunned, nodded sadly. This thought had not occurred to her, and she was stricken. They sat in silence again for a while, Paks watching and thinking, Goldpetal tending to the unicorn.
"Do you ever wonder what life must be like for the titans who have been imprisoned," asked Goldpetal, "who have been free and powerful to do what they would, but now must be chained and suffocated?. Imprisoning them was the right thing to do but I cannot imagine their suffering."
"So you are saying that we are inflicting that suffering here?", asked Paks.
"Anyone who carries this horn will inflict that suffering." After a moment, Goldpetal began singing to the horse in a language Paks didn't recognize. A quiet, sad song. Paks sat and listened to him sing. After a while, she stood, handed Goldpetal the horn, and said "let us try this."
They woke the rest of the party. Stone objected, again. "Why not let it die with its essence intact? Let it go to its reward as a unicorn? Why give it a lobotomy? You want to rob it of its unicornhood, rather than releasing it."
"I would rather live as a normal man than die as a mage.", Teleryn responded.
"I don't believe you," replied Stone.
"Has it been told that this is possible?", asked Teleryn.
"Yes," Paks responded. The party agreed that the unicorn should decide, so Paks described the ritual to it, but it could not make a decision; it was too distraught, and its free will had been taken with the horn.
"Although the augury was poor, can we try to reattach the horn first?"
"We can try that. I am not the person to try it. I think you are," Goldpetal answered.
"It's totally not going to work," said Miriel. Teleryn, whispering to Paks, commented that Miriel was turning into a schoolmarm.
"You don't think we should try?", asked Paks.
"Not with that spell. It's not really a spell thing, any spells that I know," Miriel answered.
"Shall we, then?", Goldpetal reiterated.
Stone whispered "I'm sorry they are going to rob you of your nature" in the unicorn's ear and stomped off into the forest.
The party performed the ritual. The horn was consecrated, then ground down, and burried to the ground, returned to Denev, from whose power flows the power of the unicorn, and who alone has the power to break the bond of the unicorn (as Goldpetal explained it). As it was buried, the unicorn and Pax reeled, and the bond was broken. Paks discovered that she still had a telepathic connection with the ex-unicorn, who thanked her for freeing it, and offered to come with her. Paks also noticed that her feeling of being defiled at past, so she accepted Shadow's offer.
It was dawn by the time this happened. The group discussed how to get back to Vesh, and decided that the sea was too risky, so it would go overland; it headed into Drasfar to buy horses. They arrived in the mid-afternoon; the locals were shocked. Adventurers never come back from the mountains.
Stone took the message from Hedrada and sold off his weapons. Then he and Miriel went to the general store to buy cheese. He inquired after the weather, and was told that there are no boats at this time of year; Stone replied "we are going overland." The storekeeper was astonished. "Are you crazy? That's suicide. The Kelder Steppes are just swarming with orcs!" Stone pulled out his crossbow and sold it to the clerk.
Meanwhile, Goldpetal, Chuck, and Teleryn went to the ostler. "Where are you guys going? You're not planning to go through the steppes in winter, are you?", he asked.
"Why not?" answered Chuck, nonchalant.
"There are all sorts of monsters", replied the Ostler.
"Monsters are the least of my worries," answered Chuck.
"I guess," replied the Ostler. "You came back from the Skykeep."
A beautiful dark-haired woman dressed in leathers was also there, haggling to a different merchant. "You were at the Skykeep? Tell me about it. I've been raiding ruins over on the Plains of Lede. I was thinking of exploring the Skykeep. Word is that there is lots of loot up there."
Chuck and Teleryn were overtaken by her beauty and her interest in them. She told them about her adventures. Teleryn told her about how difficult it was to get to the mountain, and what it was like wandering through the Skykeep, and described the beast with the suckers that entangled them, and the spider-eyed goblins, and the amazing lack of loot.
"Really? I was going to go up there myself to see if anything was up there. Not even any coins?", Vera asked, disappointed.
"a few coins, a cool journal entry, nothing else," Teleryn replied.
"I killed thousands of zombies," Chuck boasted. "They were really gross." Vera kept trying to press about loot. "Well, there might have been a little gold," Chuck conceded.
"What about ratmen? I hear there are a lot in the area. Have you seen any?", she asked.
"we killed most of them," he boasted.
"Tell me about it."
"we ran into a lot of ratmen that were exploring the ruins ahead of us. Most of them were cleaning out the monsters for us. That's where most of our coinage came from," said Teleryn.
"wow." She encouraged them to continue. "So Chuck, what did you do?"
Convinced that Vera had a crush on him, Chuck answered her. "killing all those monsters makes me kinda horny. There's a hayloft in the barn ..." Teleryn wandered off.
"I have a room at the inn ..." Vera replied.
Sensing trouble, Goldpetal interrupted "what's your interest in ratmen, anyway?", he asked Vera.
"I like to kill them."
"have you had much experience??
"They're everywhere."
"If they're everywhere," he reasoned, "there's nothing particularly interesting about them."
"Well," Vera answered, "I've never seen an army of them, in the mountains, at the Skykeep ruins. Chuck, want to come back to my room and have some wine?"
Teleryn objected. "We're in a hurry we should go."
"Come on, this shouldn't take long," Vera replied.
Trying to resist, Chuck said "I'm sorry, I can't, I have a duty. If you're ever in Vesh, look me up." But he went along with her anyway.
She tool him to the inn, and asked him if he found any books in the keep. He said "yes, we found one, it was inside this magical box, actually we found two, one was a regular spellbook, that's what the wizard said, the other one was all bound up and had all these chains, it took me forever to unlock that cabinet."
"Oooh. I'd love to see that book"
"I don't know who has it. I wanted to open it and they wouldn't let me."
"That's not fair! You did all that work slaying goblins and ratmen, and unlocking that Vault, but then your 'friends' won't let you have the fruits of your labors. I say you get the book and bring it over here and we can open it, see what's in it. It's your right after all."
"I dunno I don't want to take it from my friends"
"Come on, you know you want to"
"Ok, but while we're up here ..."
"Bring the book back and then we will."
While this was happening, Goldpetal and Teleryn bought the horses at list price, looked around, and Chuck was gone. Chester saw him go with Vera, and tells Teleryn; Teleryn asked Goldpetal to finish the transaction, while he went to find Chuck. He got to the inn and found Chuck coming down the stairs, with an odd smile on his face. Miriel and Pax were there, as well.
"What did you tell her?", asked Teleryn, with a hint of anger in his voice.
"What we found, why we were there."
"Did you tell her about the book?"
"Which one?", Chuck answered, while clumsily attempting to steal the book from Teleryn's backpack. Teleryn detected the presence of an enchantment, rolled his eyes, and told Miriel he was going to dispel him. So he cast dispel magic over Chuck's protests, and explained "The black-haired woman he was with charmed him and found out about the book." "I'm so embarrassed! What have I done? We have to stop this woman," Chuck shouted. Paks looked around, to no avail, but Chuck explained " she's waiting for me to bring the book. Let's go 'give her the book.'"
A black-haired woman in leather armor climbed out the window. "STOP, THIEF!!", shouted Paks; she ran off. Pax called her warhorse, and chased after her, trying to keep her in sight. The woman turned and casts a spell at Pax. The woman stared at her, and Pax stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't move while the black-haired woman was staring at her. The black woman waved her hands, but Pax was unaffected by the spell. "Stay here", the woman commanded, and took off; Pax was able to move as soon as the gaze was lifted.
Vera dashed around the corner. Chuck ran around to the back of the inn, seeing Pax 80 feet away. He could not see Vera. Teleryn cast haste on himself and sent Chester up into the sky to locate Vera. Pax turned the corner where Vera went and didn't see her, so she kept going. Miriel ran outside to see what's going on, and chased after the group.
Chuck went around the corner, saw Pax running and townspeople milling about, and tried to track Vera. He couldn't tell what has become of Vera. But Chester spotted her in the crowd: she ducked behind an alley, which Pax passed, and popped into a basement window. Teleryn went down the alley. Shadow arrived, and Pax asked if he's seen anything, but he hadn't. Miriel follows Teleryn.
GP and Stone heard the commotion. Goldpetal asked the ostler to hold on to the horses for a bit, and poked his head out to see what was happening. Chuck started into the window Vera went through. She had been waiting for him, and attacked, but missed. Teleryn climbed through the window, and threw a magic missile at her. Her hair sizzled and melted, leaving an icky goo all over her face. Paks looked around, saw that the others had gone down the alley, and circled around to the front of the building. Miriel kept following, and looked in the window.
Chuck drew his sword and yelled "Hoarfrost!", activating it, spun around, and missed. Vera hypnotized Teleryn. "You, stay here", she said, then ran up the stairs. Paks waited outside the door, patrolling, shouting for Goldpetal and Stone. Miriel climbed in the window and tried to follow up the stairs. She got up the stairs, but the room was empty, nothing there. Goldpetal saw Paks and went for the door; Paks told him who they were looking for. Stone went in the door and saw Miriel looking around.
Chuck reoriented himself, observed that Teleryn was staring into space, and shook him "Snap out of it!" Then he headed up the stairs. Teleryn woke up, but had no memory of what happened. "What happened? Where is she?" Teleryn walked up stairs, scanned with Detect magic and picks up nothing other than his friends. Pax told Goldpetal to guard the door, and scanned for people coming out the windows. Goldpetal cast Warp Wood and reshaped the wall so the door wasn't there any more.
"Beautiful", Paks whistled.
Stone lept up into the rafters and stomped to make dust come down.
Chuck started actively searching, checking curtains, walls, etc. He bumped into something just next to the door. Chuck attempted to grapple with the invisible girl. He entered into the grapple; she tried to attack him, but her blade missed. Miriel cast Hold Person on Vera. Teleryn asked how long the hold will last; 5 minutes is the response. Goldpetal checked to see if the windows are open. Stone fell out of the rafters, groped for the girl's head, and punched at the invisible girl in the head, knocking her out. He continued to pummel her until he realized she's out. They tied her up, and put the manacles on her.
A crowd had assembled around the house. An outraged local complained angrily about the door to their house. Pax advised them to bring the constable. Stone pushed the manacled woman out the window. Pax explained to the constable, the constable doesn't believe any of it and ordered the party to fix the door and get out of town. Goldpetal noted that it would take him an hour. The constable told everyone else to go. Goldpetal objected: "I leave when they do."
"You have an hour", the constable reluctantly snarled, "and then Get out of town."
So the adventurers wandered to the edge of town. While Goldpetal meditated, the rest interrogated their prisoner.
"Why did you try to steal the book," asked Stone.
"I was told to."
"By whom."
"The leader of my coven."
"You're a witch."
"Sort of."
"Where is your coven based?"
"Mansk."
"Did you leave anything in the room?"
"No."
"Cover her in BBQ sauce, tie her to a tree, and get out of here," Stone said.
"Which titan do you worship?", Paks asked.
"Mother Mormo."
Teleryn wanted to execute her. Stone didn't; she hadn't broken the law.
"Yes she did; she cast spells on Chuck," Teleryn reasoned.
"She can be punished for that, but that doesn't justify killing her," argued Stone, who suggested they take her to the temple where the Exemplars are. Chuck suggested, if they were going to do that, they should tie her to a horse. So they searched her stuff. She had a magic rope and some gold.
"Why does your coven want the book?", Chuck asked.
"I dunno. They told me to make sure that if you guys came back with the book I was to get it from you."
"How do they know about it?"
"I dunno. I know there was a party of ratmen witches who were going to go get it before you guys and I was supposed to watch you while you were in Drasfar."
"What good are you then?"
"I almost got the book. You fell for it."
"What were you supposed to do with the book once you captured it?", Paks asked.
"Bring it back to Mansk."
"Where specifically?" Paks pressed hard on this point and eventually managed to extract explicit directions.
"What does the rope do?", Teleryn asked.
"It's my climbing rope."
"Is there a command word?", he continued.
"escalaro"
"We are a feint. We don't even have the book. You've wasted your life", Paks said, ending the interrogation.
Goldpetal went and fixed the door. Teleryn thanked him, and filled him in on the covnersation, while Paks gave the house owner 5 gold in damages. The hosue owner glowered at her and stifled a slur.
Goldpetal turned to Vera and asked "Is there anyone else coming after us?"
"Mormo's ears and eyes are without number," she replied. "Our cells are not allowed to know about each other."
Goldpetal turned into a panther while everyone else argued about how to transport Vera. An hour outside of town it turned dark, but the group continued for several hours, led by the panther and the half-orc. Camp was set up in a small gully, where Chuck fed the prisoner, and we set a watch. Vera was tied to a tree, with the manacles on, facing away from the camp; Paks insisted she be gagged.
The night passed without incident. Goldpetal got up early to do rituals, and stayed behind to perform more secret Denday rituals, but caught up around noon. The morning had been uneventful, but in the early afternoon, Chester noticed 25 humans on horseback, riding towards the group. Teleryn immediately cast Mage armor on himself. Chuck threw a sack over the prisoner to make her look like a bag rather than a prisoner. Paks cast protection from evil on herself. The horsemen charged up the hill, lances drawn, and circled at roughly 3 feet. One of them lowers his lance.
"I'm Six Manes," the leader announced. "What are you doing on our steppes?"
"Returning to Seven Hammer Falls," Stone explained.
"I'm not talking to the ... halfbreed." Six Manes turned to Paks, appraised her, and was visibly impressed at her horse. "What are you doing here?"
"Returning to a monastery of Hedrada."
"You're going to the monastery at Seven Falls?"
"Yes we are. May we request passage?"
He thought about it for a moment, appraising the party and its chances. "OK," he said reluctantly. "there are a lot of orcs around, though."
"Would it trouble you if there were fewer orcs around later?", Paks asked.
"No, we're here because the Bloody Hand tribe is on the warpath, they're in a frenzy."
"They're not so bad. With lots of ketchup", Stone interrupted. Six Manes ignored him.
"Do you require assistance, or do you have the situation under control?", Pasked asked, offering help.
"We have the situation in hand. We're not sure about you guys, though. We're not responsible for your deaths."
"You don't need to take responsibility for the deaths of the orcs either."
"Your party's very strange. A half-orc, a panther."
"Yes we're very strange."
"We're on a mission from the Gods."
"I believe we do the work of the good Gods."
Six Manes stared at them in silence for a while. "May the gods be with you then, " he said, and then rode off.
"Good hunting", Paks said as they left.
Teleryn turned to Stone. "Are they always this uptight?"
"Yes," he replied.
Early afternoon turned to late afternoon, and it began to rain as the group crossed the Steppes. There was nothing to be seen, not a tree, nor a creature larger than small game. Goldpetal caught and ate a jackrabbit. Eventually, Chuck found a good camping spot. Teleryn suggested that we go without a fire, and everyone agreed; fire would be too visible out on the open plain. The night was uneventful, as was the next day. Boring and dull. Bleak. Cold. Gloomy. Chuck looked for orc tracks, but there was nothing; it was a trackless wasteland.
About dusk, off in the distance, on a couple hills over, Chuck spotted an orc. Then 3, then 20, then 50, and then over 100 orcs crested the hill! They shouted in orcish and started running towards the party. They had a banner with a Bloody Hand. A large clap of thunder broke in the sky overhead, and the clouds opened up and poured rain. The group ran. The orcs chased. After five minutes or so, the shouting changed, and the orcs looked around nervously. Something was after them.
The gully filled with water. The adventurers scrambled up the hill in front of them, which was (luckily) somehwat higher than the others. A flash flood washed through the gully. Orcs floated by in the water. As everyone stood, watching the spectacle, Stone fell through a hole in the hill. Chuck, thinking quickly, jumped off his horse and tried to catch Stone's rope as he fell; he landed in the rocks and scraped his face. Blood splattered everywhere and kept oozing for the next hour.
Stone landed on smooth granite in a large hallway filled with inky black shadows that he couldn't see through. He had the feeling that something is moving just out of his periphiral vision, but when he looked, nothing was there. There was a large skeleton on the floor. Everyone above talked about climbing into the hallway, but Chuck said that he didn't know how rope climbing worked. (Goldpetal glared at him, thinking to himself What kind of ranger are you, anyway?).
"I'm OK", Stone shouted up.
"How does the ceiling look?", Chuck asked.
"Looks good. Everything is carved out of quartz crystal."
"Should we come down?"
"I don't know what i've found yet." Stone looked in a crevasse. Chuck began to make a harness for lowering horses. The hall continued past the crevasse; it looked like it was shifter by an earthquake. Stone pushed a rock over the edge; it hit bottom after a minute. Stone considered disturbing the skeleton but thought better of it.