You walk through the Silent Paths once again through the oppressive darkness. Here and there, you can catch small glimpses of color in the gloom of crystals or fungi, but the views remain much the same. The bok-walkers huddle together, cooing lightly to each other as the camel quietly complains to himself.
Wynn walks beside you with an obvious pep in her step. She seems elated, seeming much younger than you might have thought before. Her blue eye glitters as she happily looks around.
"You know, no matter how many worlds I've seen, one thing never changes. The caves are always dark, damp, and full of bugs. Even when the entire world is made of fire; the caves still manage to be dark, and damp, and full of bugs." Wynn laughs at her own musings and regards the group with an expression of mock wisdom as if this observation was so profound. Then she sniffs and looks between each of you. "Shall we play a game of questions and answers? I will travel along for a few days, though I've stayed too long already. I've got some questions for you, and I'm sure you have some for me. What do you say?"
Myr’aered furrows his brow in apparent confusion.
“That…game? I thought was how talk goes?” He then shakes his head a bit and does a scan of the cave.
“You say before about other gate that Velle’eller have. What gate?”
Wynn by via Midjourney
Wynn kicks a rock as she walks down the path and giggles lightly at Myr's confusion. She pauses for a moment to examine a strange crystal spider on the wall. She plucks it up with a look of awe and disgust then tosses the spider down the corridor where it makes a light tinkling sound.
She looks back to Myr and smiles, one blue eye glittering.
"Yes, Vell'ellar, that's what you call yourselves, right? I met one there in that prison, she saw me even through my disguise. It was strange, she seemed to have been there for as long as anyone could remember but no one would bother her. She just did her work, minded her own business. When I asked her what she had done to be there, she just insisted she deserved to be there."
"Once, when she had injured her hand and I was helping her. I asked her what she was, she told me a little about your people. She mentioned the Gloaming Well, and well, it sounds like a gate if I've ever heard of one." She shrugs, watching Myr as she speaks.
Aurelia frowns at the odd girl as she walks, resting her lance on her shoulder. She glances up at the distant stalactites above them with a sour look on her face then gives Wynn a sidelong glance.
"You know, I never quite believed all the stories... about other worlds and all that. I know most of the Ellar have their tales of coming from somewhere else, but to be honest, I always thought they were just myths. Sure, sorcerers hear voices and some can even pull beasts from... somewhere- but knowing someone can just open a gate. To another world."
Aurelia reflexively tightens her grip on her lance, glaring ahead of her as she walks.
"If all those stories are true. Do you know what happened the last time the tales say a 'gate' was opened? The turmoil. The world was shaken to its core. Monsters scoured the land. Half of the empires of the world lay in ruin, the rest barely survived. And this gate, the one we just closed, had the power to bring forth monsters from another world.
Are we certain it's closed for good? What promise can you give that another Turmoil isn't on the horizon? And why shouldn't we go destroy this 'Well' as soon as possible if it, too, can do that?"Wynn by via Midjourney
Wynn looks at Aurelia with her steady, purple gaze. The smile is still on her face but her glance is a bit hard as she speaks.
"The honest answer is there is no promise. The door is already ajar. Some things will come through. Some of them will be only travelers, like me. Others... may be more or less of a problem. I can only tell you that a being like my Father is constrained by rules that he cannot break. That's why he needs me.
"It's like this tunnel." Wynn gestures at the caverns around them.
"Once they were solid stone, then 'something' made a path. Whatever that was is long gone, but the path remains. If something with greater power wishes to come through, however, it will have to force the door farther open. Not impossible, but it requires a lot of power. Though, it might not be a bad idea... to destroy that Well, if it is, indeed, a gate."Myr’aered glares at Aurelia.
“Velle’ellar have guarded Gloaming Well since before human history. Well may be gate, Well may not be gate. But matters little. Velle’ellar keep Well hidden. Velle’ellar keep Well safe."
Vaas glances at the Vizier, ensuring that he is keeping up with the group and then returns his gaze to scanning over their path forward
“We were given no such orders Aurelia…besides if we went around destroying and oppressing everything we feared we would be no better than those that ran that accursed pit.”
Vaas scowls and side eyes Aurelia
“I will not hesitate to end a threat against the Sons or my people but our purpose isn’t to meddle in the business of mages and realm walkers.”Afrer Vaas comments
Wriothesley puts his hands behind his head and begins to whistle, picking up his pace a little.
"Well I don't think those purple-robed sorcerers are going to give us much of a choice in meddling with mages, circumstances being what they are. But I certainly don't think I can do much about the outsiders. Even if, as a physician, I am keenly aware of how much damage a foreign body can wreak on a system it was not meant to interact with..." Sawbones, at the moment, seemed to be as always, fiddling with something from his pack, as he walked.
“Mages that meddle in the business of the Lost Sons are a different matter entirely and for those that do… I’ve yet to meet one that doesn’t shy away from the bite of steel.”
Vaas looks Wynn up and down again
“Still, I will admit that our path seems to continue to intersect with events larger than the scale of our traditional contracts.”
Aurelia huffs in exasperation, clenching her jaw.
"I am not saying we should run off to the wild forest seeking to destroy every gate we see and certainly not that it is somehow our calling to do so! But are you not horrified by the ease at which nightmares came into our world?! It is something I plan on bringing to the Company Master as a fact we have witnessed. And knowing how much those purple-robed shit-licks like to meddle in things, the Old Man can make of that what he wishes. And I will follow his orders."
She glances at Wynn and the Vizier and shakes her head.
"Perhaps curiosity is our enemy here. I'll answer questions but I think I'd like to know little and less about the workings of the cosmos if it's all the same to you.""Perhaps I am inured, to a degree, against horrors beyond comprehension by the horrors that are already within my comprehension. A quaint thought, and an amusing one." He shrugged his shoulders, maintaining the nonchalant demeanor that he has the majority of the time.
"Speaking of which, we should check our gear. I've heard that being inundated with arcane dust like that can cause things to just up and get cursed because they felt like it at the time... I wonder if any parts of the living body are capable of becoming enchanted as such, I daresay I shouldn't like a cursed liver, trick you into thinking you're great at drinking and make you a lightweight, or swap around what is good for you and what is poisonous, perhaps." With that morbid thought planted, he trailed off into his usual medical-jargon mumbling once more.
Vaas hearing Bones mumbling looks down at his hand, recalling the intensity he felt when Wynn took it in hers and placed it upon the gate, he looks to the unusual woman
“Should I be concerned of any backlash or aftereffects from whatever you did?”
Nodding to Bones, Vaas will proffer his hand for him to examine
Hearing Sawbones, Myr’aered remembers the apparent wax that melted off his bow in the tunnel and pulls it out to examine it closer
Sigfried just states
"We are soldiers we do what the officers and the old man says to the best of our ability these gates matter little kinda like my opinion on saving all the innocent in this place until we are ordered to deal with it " as he strength trains with both shields while marching along
Wynn by via Midjourney
Wynn looks between everyone as they argue, a look of vague amusement on her face. She shrugs noncommittally and looks to Bones.
"Is there a Xetri under there? If not, you really should meet one, I think they'd like to speak with you. But yes, you can enchant body parts." She points at her blue eye, then winks. "I've heard of eyes, bones, teeth. Even tongues on occasion, though I've heard that go wrong more often than not."
She then turns her mismatched gaze to Vaas, appraising him as he looks at his hand.
"It's possible, on the grounds that your ancestors are the ones who made the gate. So your blood has the necessary energy to command or override it. At worst, the effects might be the purification of your bloodline, so perhaps your children will be more like what you were. Rather than what you call Ziin they would be... Ehiza Berria." She shrugs again. "Then again, possibly nothing will come of it. Hard to say until it happens."Myr’aered glances at Sigfried, then points at Wynn with his bow
“She real offspring of god and made small difference. What we do different?”
He then glances back at Wynn
“Xetri? What that?”
"I don't know what a Xetri is, they sound complicated." Sawbones stopped what he was doing and began to examine the hand, turning his head this way and that, his black-faced backup mask even more lacking in expression than his normal plague doctor's mask.
"I don't feel anything, and I don't see any physical differences. I can't see the flows of energy right now though, I have to make potions for that sadly, I haven't figured out how to simplify the effect into an extract as of yet."
He stopped for a moment, listening to the explanation, and even with a completely blank face one can practically feel the eyebrow-lift that occurs.
"Well admittedly that happens to be specifically in the wheelhouse of my current grand project, so it's good to know it's possible. Adjacent at best but it's a foot in the door toward my goal."
Vaas frowns at Wynn
“I have not heard of these Ehiza Berria…you mean this is what the Zinn were called before we came here?”
Wynn by via Midjourney
Wynn eyes her bracers and clothing with a look of disgust. As she walks, she begins stripping pieces of armor and tattered clothing off, simply discarding them where they fall. Once she is down to her small clothes, she starts digging in her black cloth again, pulling out fresh clothes. She begins dressing herself as she speaks.
"The Xetri were in a world I once called home, for a while at least. I think they were the experiment of some god of knowledge and I wouldn't be surprised if they had surpassed that god. Maybe that's why it abandoned them. In any case, they like to study things and like to ask a lot of questions. They'd be all over you." She nods at Sawbones.
She looks at Vaas.
"What they were. And, I guess, what they were called." She shrugs.
"My father wasn't keen on naming his tools. He didn't give me a name, either. But what they were is what my Father would call his ideal. What he uses to supplant the races that call any realm a home. They were manufactured. Perfect people. They were taller, skilled, intelligent, brave, but malleable."
As she walks she looks at Vaas.
"You were one of them. This place has changed you." She pauses, looking into the distance.
"That gives me hope that all of his creations might become... more."
Wynn looks at the bow that Myr is holding.
"You know, if you soak that is something arcane you will be able to get the rest of the wax off and get at what's underneath. You could also have your red-headed friend here use his sword, though it might consume it." She shrugs.
"Worth a try, maybe."
Wynn stops to buckle her new belt, grumbling to herself. Then she looks up to see Sigfried lifting his two shields. She giggles.
"Are you this world's version of the stout folk? If so, you get big on this world. Either way, that's impressive."
"But as to the innocent, sometimes there just won't be much choice. And in fairness, there weren't many innocents left there. Even the children were warped by that place, stealing and murdering, forming gangs to survive, and taking advantage of the other workers. It wasn't a place where the innocent can live for long. And if it makes you feel any better, the Matriarch and Elsbeth are capable women. I think they would have got out with as many as they could.""Seeking knowledge simply for the purpose of seeking knowledge? That sounds as exhausting as it is dangerous. I simply have one purpose and just mastering the knowledge required for my own field has cost me time, money, large amounts of danger, and according to some a portion of my sanity and propriety. Omnifarious knowledge-seeking feels... I am tired just thinking about it, they must be quite the tenacious people." Sawbones' mild horror at the very idea comes through at first, turning into bemusement, and then amusement, by the time he is done talking.
"Though, if they seek knowledge so fervently I should say that it would be a treat to visit one of their hospitals and see what kind of techniques I could steal by observation. But I think that walking the ways beyond is just a tad out of my skill set. I think I will stick, in the meantime, with the simple study of Crystallization, medicine, and the way they interact."
Wynn by via Midjourney
Wynn laughs as the charred remains of the bonfire come into view. She looks at Sawbones.
"They certainly are voracious learners. I expect they'll spread out to all worlds within a thousand years or so. Thankfully, they won't come to conquer. They'll just try to learn everything they can and turn all your libraries into embassies."
You all walk into the remains of the camp you had stayed in previously, the ruin of the bonfire still as you left it. There is no sign of Birstan or any other people having come through.
Myr’aered looks over at Wriosthley, then at his sword, then back at his bow, then back at Wriosthley.
“How you know, put sword in fire to make change?”
He then puts the bow away and looks at Wynn
“How old you?”
Wynn by via Midjourney
Wynn nudges the burnt wood with the toe of her boot as she looks around.
"Not much left here to burn. I've got some coal that might work." She turns her gaze to Myr and then shrugs.
"I don't really know, to be honest. I know I was young when I escaped, I spent maybe seven years or so with Old Nan. Then- Oh five years, with my sister in her world. Ten years on the Wayward Crusade. So. Twenty-five? Give or take. Why, how old do you think I am?"
She looks at Myr with both eyes gleaming and a smirk tugs at the corner of her lips.
"I have a question for you, while we're at it. I don't know much about this world, but I do know that your kind sticks to their secret forests and rarely leaves. So what brought you out? Why do you serve with these people who are not yours? And I don't mean the story you tell anyone who asks, the truth. Why would you come out this far from your home?"Wriothesley looks confused as if he is unsure he is the one being spoken to. He points to his face.
"I didn't, but I read about this sword, it had a hidden potential locked inside, and needed to bathe in a pure flame in order to unleash that potential. I wasn't sure if that was the correct flame, and the more I read, the more certain I am that I changed the fundamentals of what this sword is capable of. It's possible I am wrong and this is exactly what I needed. I don't think so however. I kept some of that wood so I could investigate it more over time. Perhaps it will be needed in order to draw out more power."Myr looks back to Wynn
“Sometime you seem like person of many years. Other time, not so many. Hard to tell.”
He takes a few more steps then continues.
“How came here? Made mistake, taken by humans……..made slave. Travel far and many years.”
He then gestures to the others in the group
“Company help free me. Offer safe travel. Spend time with humans who show honor.”
*He takes several more steps then continues in a softer voice.”
“I not go home because of path I chose. I am ZarirAni Vindhya. I stay away till I have offering for kRti.”
He looks back to Wriothesley
“You say read….like book?”Sigfried looks to Wynn and says
"I know not what you mean stout folk I'm of munkhgerel people we value hard work and strength. And just because the youth have been corrupted by this vile place doesn't mean they don't deserve redemption it is our duty as the shields of this world to do what we can to help those in need"
Looks over at myr then replies
"Even if all we do is make a small difference of good in this short time we have here that's what matters my wife told me that the last time I saw her." Then proceeds to put both shields on his back get into a push up position and starts moving around while keeping his back straight.
Then states
"We are the pillars of justice for the weak and innocent we are the shields when they need shielding we will give our lives so they may have one we are their spears when they need it we do our duty to make even the tiniest difference for good " then looks up at everyone and simply say
"I'm the gods gift to this planet to be its shield and it's spear to protect and help grow there creations from those who wish to do harm and wrong them we must show them the light and way of the benevolent gods" then proceeds to move around the party
Aurelia leans against a nearby chunk of masonry, resting her lance beside her. She looks at the weapon for a moment then without looking away she says,
"You ever think of taking that finely tuned moral compass to the temple, God's Gift? I'm not sure the mercenary life is aligned for you."
A look of pain crosses her face and she puts her head in her hands. Shaking her head, she looks up at the distant roof of the cavern.
"I don't disagree with you, Sig," she whispers.
"But we're not warriors of the Titan. The Sons have served slavers, and warlords, and worse in the past. You think it won't happen again? Our's is not to question why..."
Aurelia leaves the rest unsaid, glaring into the darkness. Faintly, she whispers,
"we should leave this prince to his pile of shit. I'm tired of stepping in it.""Sometimes I wonder what would happen to you if I wasn't there to put the parts that people remove in offended reaction to your staunch morality, back to the places they belong. But I suppose if you really are what you think you are, then I must have been placed here by that same God as insurance that the gift keeps on giving." He fiddled with some silken cloth and powdered crystals as he spoke, the occasional flicker of light or gentle whispering sound coming from his materials as he tried to do Titan knows what with them, a soft, disappointed sigh coming from him as he stared at his handiwork.
"Just... don't overdo it. I can't fix death. Not yet, at least."
As Sigfried is training looks to Aurelia and says
"The old man knows my stance on things that time on the bridge wasn't the first time I stood in front of the whole band to defend the innocent I feel that it is my duty from the gods themselves to bring justice, peace, and prosperity to the world where we can all live a full and happy life and know there is someone will ensure that lifestyle for everyone I will gladly give my life for that"
Then proceeds to look at bones and laugh while saying
"You very well may be sent by the same gods for the amount of good you do for others not expecting anything any return that is a absolute amazing quality about you, my friend"
Sigfried sighs and simply says
"it's very unfortunate that the sons have been unjust and cruel to the weak and innocent people of our world but I'll still stand up to the old man and do what I can to spare all I can" Then with a determined glare and a smile he simply states
"that's why I must gain the strength of the heroes of old so I can stand against anyone and any army no matter if it's a magical person or army I will be the shield and spear of justice and protect all the innocent people of our world"Wriothesley looks to Myr
"Yeeesss? Read in a book. There are 4 volumes, I read the previous 3 back at the capital. Found this volume on the way here."
“When camp set, I see book?” Myr asks Wriothesley.
"Sure we can look at it. There is a bow listed in this volume."
Wriothesley looks at the bow Myr is carrying for any obvious indicators
As the last member made it to the top, they found themselves face to face with a gemhide lizard. It seemed less than interested in the company as it wallowed in the cool water of the oasis. They witnessed the massive gemhide that had been reported, sunbathing, its enormous crystal formations glittering in the light. Not wanting to disturb the beasts if they didn't have to, the Lost Sons quickly made their way back into the desert.
The chest full of items and time sand was left at the temple, so the Sons went that way to recover it. As they arrived, they found evidence of a battle and could hear the sounds of combat. When they made it to the gate bridge, the Sons witnessed two Aure'ellar defending themselves from a group of palace guards. These guards, however, sported purple scarves and had a purple-robed sorceress with them. The party rushed in to save the Aure.
Wriothesley launched a fireball towards the enemy, taking out a large chunk of their forces in one go. Aurelia mounted Ambrosia and charged in at the battle mage while the others made their way up the bridge. Their sorceress attempted to cast a spell with a scroll but it backfired and gave the Sons haste and embued them with lightning.
Myr fired a perfectly aimed arrow and struck the sorceress down as Wriothelsley sprinted up the bridge and placed himself near the Aure warriors. Unfortunately, he took a massive hit from the battle mage and went down. With their combined efforts and Sawbones stabilizing Wriothesley, the Sons managed to defeat the mutinous guards.
After some healing from Sawbones, Wriothesley went into the temple with the Aure'ellar warriors who revealed themselves to be ambassadors from Shiruba. They said they had fled Mahd Alhadra after those loyal to the Crowned Prince's brothers cracked down on people leaving the city. Inside the temple was a horrific scene of slaughter, many Ziin refugees lay dead, killed by the guards. Wriothesley recovered the chest, listening to the twins tell their story. He convinced them to come back with the party, insisting the safest place for them would be with the Lost Sons.
Meanwhile, Vaas interrogated the battle mage. He informed them Crowned Prince Malik had done the unthinkable. Decrees had been issued to free all slaves, seized the banks, and made Ziin naturalized citizens. He admitted he and his group were loyal to the Dream Singers and Prince Zubayr. After learning how they had hunted the Aure ambassadors and killed the Ziin, Vaas shoved a handful of sand in the guard's mouth. The sand started to age the guard as he quickly withered and died.
Aurelia went back across the bridge to retrieve the mounts to discover that Ismail and the other squad of Lost Sons had caught up with them. Ismail greeted her with a worried look, saying there was bad news.
Now the Lost Sons must make it back to the city, knowing there is a storm of malcontent brewing.
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