MentalFloss/EndOfAnAge

Preface

I am slowly in the process of cleaning up this document, and I may or may not turn it into prose form (or, hey, maybe I'll even make it into a comic if I get bored enough) at some point in the future. It was originally posted to the old White Wolf forums, updated after each session, and details what I consider to be my crowning achievement as a Storyteller. If my current gaming group finishes with the other game I'm running (non-Exalted), or wants a break from it, I just might try to run some variation of End of an Age with them, and see if perhaps we can tell a complete story this time around.

If there are any inconsistencies or anachronisms in this document, they can probably be attributed to the fact that it was written prior to the release of Dragon-Blooded (and, in fact, most of it was prior to the release of even Time Of Tumult, as I recall). As I clean it up, these errors and inconsistencies will disappear for the most part, but if they're relevant to the story, they'll be left intact just so everything remains internally consistent. It has its weak points, but overall I'm proud of it, and I hope that if you take the time to read through it, you'll enjoy it too.

• MentalFloss, Sunday, September 4th, 2005

Player Characters

We'll begin with character backgrounds. The rest of the story won't make any sense without them. In my game, there are currently three players, and I hope like hell that I won't have to work any more into it, because that would be excessively troublesome. One thing to bear in mind is that this game does not stick entirely to canon, so if you're one of those continuity-obsessives who can't stand to have their metaplot destroyed, STAY AWAY. Suffice it to say that at one point, approximately 90% of all the Dragon-Blooded in Creation are slaughtered. You've been warned.

Anyway... on to the characters.

Character #1: David of Peleps, Dawn Caste.

Yes, this is being played by the player named David... he hasn't been able to think of a decent name, but we've let him get away with "David" because it's something of a fitting name, particularly given his background (think Changeling). His background is... his mother is a minor Dynast of House Peleps, a Dragon-Blooded of the Water element. Obviously David himself never exhibited any Dragon-Blooded characteristics. His father (and here's where things get interesting) was a Fair Folk of the Wood element. Nobody knows this, but people sometimes looked askance at the fact that his father was seldom around, only enough to teach David and returning occasionally to take care of his family. At the age where most Dragon-Blooded children shows signs of their Exaltation, David was Exalted as a Solar. Nobody of importance was around to witness this, as it was during a routine martial training session, and those who were around were quickly silenced (either by bribery or assassination, as necessary) by agents of his mother, who wanted to keep her son's secret both for his safety and her own. He is picked for special training, and recruited into the Imperial Expeditionary Corps (a secret group created by House Cathak in order to check out volatile situations, and defuse them before they become violent if at all possible... always concluding things in favor of House Cathak, of course) not long after his training is complete. Of particular note with David is his connection to his Fair Folk side; he has no Fair Folk powers, but took all the Wyld-controlling/resisting Charms available, and his iconic anima is a feral-looking "wood elf". This will be important later, so take notes.

Character #2: Aroquin, scout from Lookshy, Night Caste.

Born of an unimportant family in Lookshy, Aroquin (that's pronounced AH-ro-keen, for the curious) was a natural for the scouting profession, and was located by important people in Lookshy early on as a result of this innate capability. He served in the Lookshy army for a long time, and was Exalted on a scouting mission, with nobody close enough to notice. An important member of House Cathak saw him one day, observed his excellent talents, and later approached him for membership (and a hefty salary) in the Imperial Expeditionary Corps.

Character #3: Raksha, crazy priest of the East, Zenith Caste.

He's a member of the tribes of people the Haltans are in conflict with (see Scavenger Sons), but I forget their name currently... I might come back and point it out, but not right now, since I don't have the books with me. He was a priest/mystic/dreamspeaker for those people, and he was Exalted for unknown reasons (heheh...) one day, and struck seemingly insane. The Vermilion Legion passed through their area one day when he was outside, ranting about the glory of the Unconquered Sun. "Look," said they, "a crazy drunk hermit ranting about something or other. Let's recruit him." And so the Red Piss Legion recruited Raksha, who soon proved far less crazy than they originally thought he was. He was a very capable leader, and was quickly promoted to a position of authority, leading a small contingent of drunks and lunatics. His valor and leadership caught the eye of House Cathak's little group of "secret police", and he was recruited shortly thereafter into the Imperial Expeditionary Corps.

Please note that this was prior to the establishment of the term "raksha" as a reference to Fair Folk, and hence, it was a valid (and even appropriate) name for the character.

Chapter the First: Starting on the Wrong Foot

Wherein assumptions, friends, and enemies are all made

So begins our story. The IEC (as it will be further known) is led by a gruff old soldier and expert tactician, a noble of House Cathak named Nydeich (NIE-daek). The PCs are just a small group of three within a much larger organization, and for now, they're only trusted as messenger boys. So messenge they do, and Nydeich gives them a sealed letter which supposedly warns the elders of Lords Crossing of an imminent attack by a large group of bandits from the northern mountains. What it really says is open to speculation, and the PCs voice this concern as they head out of the Imperial City, muttering amongst themselves. "Messenger boys," complains Raksha, "They think we're messenger boys!" But that purpose would be forgotten very shortly.

As the group neared the outskirts of the Imperial City, a visible fear and suspicion was seen amongst the peasants who lived there in their small huts; not suspicion directed towards the three, but about the air around them, and the surroundings in general. Why would peasants be afraid of the place they lived peacefully for all these years? Near one of the huts, a ring of people had gathered, discussing in hushed tones. They fled inside when the PCs approached, and Raksha elected himself to inspect what might be wrong... they were the IEC, after all, and it was their business to make sure that things were running right. They may not like having to live in the Empire, but it was their home, and its preservation was their concern.

The people in the hut stood in a ring around another, huddled over some object, obviously guarding it. Outside, Aroquin spotted motion... and a moment later, a flaming arrow flew through the air, landing in the roof of the hut. It began to burn down around Raksha and the peasants, so he ushered them all out the door. On their way out, the man huddling over the object revealed it to him: a silver dagger, intricately worked, and radiating power. He begged Raksha to preserve this dagger, and keep it away from those who would seek to gain it, as he was asked to do by a mysterious traveler many years ago.

Around this time, David was sprinting off in the direction the shot came from, followed by Aroquin. He caught up to its source shortly (Lightspeed Movement, or some such similar Charm... damn my temporary lack of the book), a rugged man in tattered dirt-brown robes. "Bandit clothes," thought the PCs. A second man dressed similarly stood behind the first, and fled as soon as he was spotted. The first man stood there, and David engaged in a rooftop- jumping battle with the man, as Aroquin laid covering fire with his bow. The man eventually fell, and they saw the fire burning in his eyes -- literally, which marked him a Dragon-Blooded of the element of Fire. Raksha was intent on squeezing answers out of the injured man, about where he came from and why he wanted the dagger, and he was about to get those answers when fate -- or rather, his companion -- intervened. An arrow streaked through the air, going through the man's eye with such force that it killed him instantly. The PCs gave chase after the fleeing second man, but he was too fast for them, and eventually they gave up the chase in favor of pursuit of their real mission. "Let the Dynasts and their soldiers take care of it," they said.

Fortunately, the man had been fleeing to the West, away from the Imperial City, which was their direction of travel as they headed towards Lords Crossing. The first day of travel held little of consequence, but the morning that followed would shape many events to come. David, sitting against a tree as he slept, was awakened by a noise. He opened his eyes to find a feminine face directly in front of his own, observing him with a childlike curiosity. His waking startled the face's owner, and she leapt back in a combination of fear and simple shock. He saw just a glimpse of her -- loose grey clothing, with golden symbols and a gem set in a necklace which seemed a part of her shirt; hair flecked brown and silver and black; and shining green eyes -- before she disappeared. Literally. She flickered, and she was gone. Needless to say, it fed his Fair Folk obsession, and he was driven to find this supposed Fair Folk girl who had been observing him. Of course his assumption was wrong, but hey, that's half the fun.

The group continued on their journey, and the traveling went well until they reached Juche, in the shadow of the Imperial Mountain. The residents of the town seemed suspicious, and were made even more so by the unusual rumblings coming from the Northwest. Juche was crawling with Immaculate Priests, which made it imminently important to avoid being questioned, as Immaculates on the Blessed Isle were known for their lack of faith in any "simple travelers", and the PCs couldn't divulge any information about their true mission because the IEC was supposed to be a secret.

At the inn where the PCs stayed (the... Frothing Boar? no, something else...), a fight broke out between two men -- treasure hunters, it seemed, in search of a treasure trove hidden within a mountain nearby. Not the Imperial Mountain, but another one which nobody has managed to find yet. The fight soon bubbled over to the rest of the patrons, and ended only when the PCs mopped the "puny mortals" up and tossed the troublemakers outside, after getting some clarifications about this "treasure" they were talking about. Raksha was uninterested in the treasure, but Aroquin and David were sufficiently intrigued, and snuck out in the middle of the night. Aroquin stayed behind for a while to see about an unusual man who was digging around in the refuse at the back of the inn, and regretted it wholeheartedly. David went on ahead, going South as the tugging in his mind told him to.

First, the unusual man. It was a man in tattered brown clothing like the two met at the Imperial City, with a manner similar to the others, and quite large. The man turned to face Aroquin, and was almost surprised, but it was offset by Aroquin's own surprise when the man stood up... and up... and up. Fifteen feet tall stood this monstrosity, a golem of rock and mud, and the transformed Dragon-Blood exuded energy in waves of inconceivable strength. Clearly this was not a normal Terrestrial Exalted, as his strength was far beyond the scope of any but the eldest and most powerful of those. Aroquin took a severe beating before the huge DB stopped to ask him about a silver dagger, and Aroquin seized the opportunity to send him off after one of the two men who was arguing in the bar (who had particularly annoyed the PCs), and the stone giant stalked off towards the front of the inn, leaving Aroquin just enough time to saddle a horse and RUN LIKE HELL!

Around this time, David had reached a certain mountain, guided by the invisible hand pulling inside his mind. He beheld a great entrance carved into the stone, and set foot inside. Down and onward, deeper beneath the ground he trudged, being caught by Aroquin just as he reached the end of the passageway. A huge golden mask stared down at them, a stern face with glaring, empty eyes. A voice boomed out to ask them their names, and they spoke truthfully, and were admitted.

A voice screamed from the farthest end of the passage, deeper underground. "Murderers!" it cried, and the sound of running came rapidly towards David and Aroquin. They turned to flee, and as they started back towards the entrance, they became slowly aware of a set of huge rusted chains running along the ceiling... and the fact that they were moving. They ran faster, but soon afterwards a dull crash echoed from the end of the passageway, and all the light from outside disappeared. They were trapped. Still they ran, as a huge silver wolf approached, snatching Aroquin as he leapt to evade and slamming him back to the ground. It pounced over to their far side, towards the entrance to the passageway, and shifted to the form of a woman. She was scarred from head to toe in strange patterns, and her spiked red hair was white-streaked at both temples, but she had a feral beauty to her, and... something else, something that triggered the frightened Solars' half-recalled memories of lives once lived, but they couldn't quite place what it was. The woman introduced herself as Mara, guardian of this place -- this Manse -- and accused Aroquin and David of murder once again, in no uncertain terms. She crouched in preparation to leap, wearing nothing but her scars and looking all the more fierce for it.

It was obvious they would have to stand and fight.

Combat ensued, as did all manner of strange Lunar mid-attack transformation abilities which frightened and confused our intrepid heroes, and it seemed Mara had them beat. She refused to listen to their pleas, citing their raw combat power as reason enough to believe that they were the killers she was after. David then had an ingenius idea, and let his anima banner flare fully, revealing the golden sheen of the sun as well as his iconic anima. This shook Mara out of her fury, as she realized that perhaps she had misjudged the two. But the fact remained that they were suspicious-looking, and intruders.

Conversation ensued, wherein Aroquin was apologetic and David was condescending. You can guess which one Mara liked more, but she accepted both of them as non-threatening, and explained her story. She was a guardian of this Manse, and having been around long enough to learn the methods of doing so, she was basically immortal, as was her "fellow guardian", as she put it. Obviously we're talking about her mate here, but Aroquin and David had yet to be educated on the finer points of the real history of the First Age, and they were still confused back at the "what the hell IS Mara?" point. She went on to explain that her fellow guardian died not long ago (which is to say, somewhere within the hundreds of years), and this guardian's soul had been stolen, snatched away before it could return to another individual. She had reason to believe that it was the Dragon-Blooded bandits or the Immaculate Priests, both of whom had plenty of reason to want more power, and may have been able to increase their power by using a Solar's soul.

The truth is much darker, but neither the players nor their characters have any idea about that.

Mara led David and Aroquin to the deepest part of the mountain, a chamber containing ancient relics and tiled in goldtone, with four ivory pillars set with thin orichalcum veins spiralling up their length. In the center of the room was an altar, and all the energy of the surrounding area was quite clearly being funnelled into that altar... and then suddenly disappeared at the center, where a hemisphere depression would have once held a stone. A Hearthstone, as Mara explained. It was stolen when she was away, and she believed that it was taken by the same people who took the other guardian's soul. It had been somehow defiled, and the place was beginning to fall into ruin, and would eventually crumble to dust if its Hearthstone was not reclaimed and purified. Somehow, David and Aroquin both knew instinctively that this was an affront to everything that they were, and everything they held most sacred. They agreed to help Mara and see if they could find the missing Hearthstone, and they left with Mara saying that she would watch over them in return and see if she could find out anything to help them on their mission.

The two traveled back to Juche, and rested for what was left of the night. Morning came, and Raksha rejoined them, and they set off towards Lords Crossing.

Chapter the Second: Stealing Their Fates

Wherein that which was found is lost, and that which was lost is found

The three recruits of the IEC traveled without incident until midway through the day, when all three of them suddenly felt a strange sensation coming from a small foresty glen they had just passed. The three dismounted, and went to investigate this feeling.

Upon their arrival, they saw a motion in the treetops... and suddenly began to feel very odd. The ground began to shake beneath them -- at least, beneath David and Raksha. Aroquin was unaffected (made his Willpower roll... heh), and saw his companions stumbling about as if caught in an earthquake. The two affected saw a demon crouching in one of the trees, and readied their weapons to fight it. Raksha even convinced Aroquin to fire an arrow at it, but since he couldn't see what he was aiming at (did it really exist?), he missed terribly.

For the curious, there was indeed some nasty juju going on here. The precise nature of which will be revealed eventually, but suffice it to say that someone wanted to set our Solars against their only ally.

Eventually, Raksha and David shook off the effects, and Mara dropped down from the tree -- not a demon! -- clothed this time in a robe in earthy colors, seemingly designed for a shaman of some sort. Raksha and David were obviously quite confused at this, but they were given no time to ponder, as Mara told them that she had learned of their mission and their intended destination of Lords Crossing. She told them to seek the Sage Narua, that she could help them in finding their destiny.

Destiny? At what point did they acquire a destiny? They were rightfully confused at this, but smiled and nodded when Mara said she couldn't accompany them because she had to guard her Manse, and went on their merry little way back to the road and their horses.

It was around this point that they realized something: Their horses were gone.

WHAT?!? Well, this did not make for happy travelers. Checking the ground for tracks, Aroquin confirmed that the horse thieves had come from the Northwest, and left on horseback to the West, towards Lords Crossing. David picked everyone up (by some amazing feat of strength) and activated the Lightning Speed Charm, to see if he could catch up with the horse thieves.

Catch up he did, and when he shouted after them, the horse thieves stopped and dismounted. They were dressed in the same sort of robes as the two bandits from the Imperial City, and they seemed quite confident. It soon became obvious that they were Dragon-Blooded -- why would so many Dragon-Blooded join the bandits? Perhaps some unpleasant information came to light which had caused more dissidents to leave the restrictive atmosphere of the Empire? Of course, these questions didn't occur to them until after combat had ended, which it did quite quickly, as three Dragon-Blooded are no match for three Solars of approximately equal ability. Unfortunately, it was difficult for them to extract answers from dead opponents, so they were left with questions. What they did extract, however, were the valuables which the bandits had pocketed before they were killed -- but, much to Raksha's dismay, no silver dagger. He put it in his saddlebag before he left, and it wasn't there either. If it was as important as the old man had said it was, then this was a terrible thing.

But they still had miles and miles to go before Lords Crossing, and the completion of their mission.

So the group was beginning to freak about losing the silver dagger, but why? They didn't know why. They just knew it was important. But they had a mission, and they were set on finishing it, so they decided the dagger could wait until they got to Lords Crossing, and onward they went. They arrived in Lords Crossing without incident, and went to visit the town's ruling council in order to deliver their message. Their reception at the Hall of the Council was suspicious, even cold, but their message was accepted as authentic (mostly because the Cathak seal was unbroken on the envelope), at least as far as the fact that it came from a Cathak in the Imperial City. The council read the message, and after much muttering and head-shaking, it was decided that they would ask the PCs to remain in town until the veracity of their report could be discerned. They were obviously none too happy with this, but they had little choice, and they also had a few things to take care of in town. They each went their separate ways, seeking their own objectives within the town, having decided to meet at the rooms set aside at the inn for them by the council.

Raksha went Northeast, as the tugging in his mind told him to do, voices whispering into his subconscious enticing him to follow after some unknown goal. It took a lot longer than it sounds here, but in summary: he found a group of Immaculate Priests, searching the town for something, which turned out to be his own lost silver dagger. The voices called him ever Northeast, and he stopped only because the Immaculates stopped him to question him. It turned out that they were sent by a Cathak (Nydeich, the IEC's "boss", is also a Cathak... hmm... family squabbles and internal politics?) in search of a particular dagger of some sentimental importance to their master (LIES!). Raksha misdirected them to the West, and returned to his hotel, as he found that the voices were leading him towards a huge mountain and he decided that he might need to have the others with him and to be well-rested before tackling that particular obstacle.

Aroquin went South in search of the Sage Narua, and he found her with little trouble, living in an ancient house in the poor section of town. She waited in a room lit by bright gold by candles lining the walls, illuminating the room enough to make it obvious that her cloak was edged with runes in silver and gold -- they were secret signs of the Siderial Gold Faction, but Aroquin knew none of that, having never met one before. Narua passed along a fragment of an ancient legend, telling Aroquin that she saw five others standing with him beneath the light of the sun, and five great towers fell to their power. Narua requested that Aroquin bring the others to her, and told him that three of the others were in town with him. Three? Aroquin was confused, but headed back to the inn in order to meet with his friends and resolve that question, and return the next day to present his friends to the Sage.

There will be Six. Behind them, the Golden Disk of the Sun shines, washing away all with its Light. Five Towers fall to their hand, and the World will Break in their image. Thus spoke the Golden Saga, Legend of the First Age.

David found himself in the poor section of town as well, but away from the others. He wandered for no reason other than to wander -- he was looking for someone to unleash his anger on, after the journey thus far. What he found was quite different.

Wandering past a certain house, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, that the house pulsed. Just once, but the energy was unmistakable. When he approached the house to investigate, and knocked upon the door, it seemed the house had it in for him. A hand burst through the door -- THROUGH the door -- and seized him by the face, pulling him back through the door and into darkness. Dusting the splinters from himself and reaching for his sword, he stopped to think back, and realized that the hand which grabbed him was small. Feminine. Yeah, he's a sucker, he trusts women.

The woman put a finger over David's lips, and told him to be quiet, dragging him along until they reached what appeared to be a basement, filled with a soft light. Revealed in the light, it became obvious that this was the same woman he had seen many days before, with the black/brown/silver hair. He fell for her at first sight, and almost managed to completely miss the fact that she was asking him questions... questions about her location, mostly, but other things about the world in general. She was apparently a newcomer, but her lack of experience in the world as a whole was quite puzzling, as she was seemingly an adult. She then asked about the stone in the middle of the room, and David realized that there was a stone in the middle of the room, on an altar and surrounded by ivory pillars with orichalcum traceries. A Hearthstone! David quickly explained what little he knew of Hearthstones, and took it, because it called out to him. It was a murky-sky-blue color, but it was most definitely connected to this place, not Mara's Manse. Moreover, he found that removing the Hearthstone didn't weaken the place he took it from, unlike Mara's missing Hearthstone -- that meant that the other Hearthstone must have been used for a purpose other than what it was intended for, and it was being corrupted, as healthy Hearthstones taken from their Manses resulted in no ill effects. Unfortunately, David didn't have a place for it, and so he just placed it in his pack for future use. He then left the place, taking this new girl -- who introduced herself as Renata Aiden -- with him, back to the inn where the others were waiting.

Introductions of a sort were made, but Aroquin and Raksha were more confused about Renata after the introductions than they were when they first saw her. She dressed oddly, she spoke oddly, and she was utterly clueless about the world around her. But of course, David didn't care, and skipped off merrily to his room with Renata in tow, keeping her close to protect her until he could figure out precisely what it was that she was after.

That night, a cold wind blew in through David's window.

In the morning, everyone assembled in the common room of the inn, and went off to meet with the council again. They were stopped at the doors to the Hall of the Council, and the guards reported that bandits must have attacked during the night, but refused to give details. The PCs (and Renata) entered the Hall to a gruesome sight: the head council member laying face-down on the table, blood running from a massive hole seemingly burned through his head. The council was incensed, and demanded that the bandits be brought to justice. This translated to asking the PCs for their assistance, since the soldiers in Lords Crossing seeemed painfully inadequate in comparison to the Empire's own special operatives.

They reluctantly agreed, and regretted it very shortly thereafter.

Chapter the Third: Anticlimactic Duel

Wherein the plot thickens, and the herd thins

Accompanied by a small group of soldiers, the PCs headed towards the mountain where the bandits were reported to have hidden themselves. Along the way, they spotted a strange movement from the trees, and Aroquin fired an arrow towards the trees -- no effect, of course. Then something strange happened: a great crack of thunder, a blinding flash of light, and a bandit fell from the tree, writhing in pain. If anyone gave more than a moment's thought to the source of this sudden blast, it was quickly dismissed as divine punishment for a simple, sinful outlaw.

The bandit was tied up and carried by one of the soldiers after being interrogated by Raksha for the location of their hideout and refusing to give any information. Loyal to the last. The group trudged on up the mountain, and as they went on, they heard a suspicious rumbling noise from within the mountain growing louder and louder. This sounded like a bad thing, but nothing could dissuade David and Aroquin from going on to finish their mission (both of them have the Virtue Flaw of Foolhardy Contempt... 'nuff said). They eventually found their way to a cave where the rumbling noise was loudest, and screams were coming from within. From inside, a young woman in a red half-cape (bearing Cathak's noble symbol? but they wouldn't learn that until later...) dashed out, begging them to help her. She told them of a huge monster within, slaughtering her "family", and well... you know how heroes are about turning down an "innocent" in trouble...

So the heroes stormed into the cave... and screamed. Waiting for them within was a demon more disturbing than any old legend could have prepared them for -- something which could be described as a huge white maggot with tentacles covering its underside which almost filled the entire cave, except that huge white maggots don't have multiple mouths full of rows of sharp teeth on prehensile tentacles, and huge white maggots don't exude a sickly aura capable of sucking the life force out of a human. Fighting this monstrosity was a large group of people dressed like the bandits they had seen before, rapidly becoming a much smaller group of people as the monster impaled and devoured them, completely disregarding the swords and arrows lodged in its fetid flesh.

Combat ensued, and the PCs triumphed over the monstrous white maggot-demon with a bit of Essence-powered help from the girl in the red half-cape, who later introduced herself as Sienne. But that wasn't the end of it, for as the maggot-demon fell dead to the floor of the cave, a crouched shape became visible in the shadows atop the monstrous corpse.

"My name is Ember Heart Bleeding Lambent Flame," she began as she leapt down from the corpse, kneeling and facing the PCs, "and you are standing in the way of my mission."

She was upon them like lightning -- a pale beauty, crimson hair flowing like blood as she lunged at them with her twisted scythe-sword which seemed a black hole of Essence, green eyes dancing with dead flames of passion and rage, tattered cape whistling a murderous keening as it whipped through the air. David and Aroquin reacted simultaneously, activating enough Charms to light up a small city with their animas, all of which were deflected by their pretentiously-named assailant. However, it seemed to drive her back, and some spark of recognition lit in her eyes for just a moment as she leapt to the fallen monster's head again, screaming rage at those who stood in her way. Somehow, something about her seemed familiar... her eyes, her voice, and that sword...

"Fools! Your indiscretions will kill us all!" And she was right. The bandits had fled long before, but there were still soldiers left, the soldiers that the PCs themselves brought along... what few of them still lived after the maggot-monster had fallen, half-dead from the pain and the loss of their life essence to the monster. They would see the Solar animas, and report back to the council about that. Ember began singing a hauntingly, painfully, disturbingly beautiful song, and the soldiers weakened and fell to the floor, the color disappearing from their faces. She descended from the monster, much more sociable now that the soldiers were dead, but still just as resolute. She was preparing to demand that she be allowed to pass and continue with her mission, when a gruff voice shouted from behind them all.

"So, you killed that 'thing', and now we have you, Imperial dogs!" Standing at the entrance to the cave were hundreds of bandits, and in front of them were two men who were obviously leaders based on the amount of stolen Imperial finery they wore. Well, Raksha was quite tired of unexpected interruptions, and stalked towards the shorter of the two leaders, seizing him by the throat and lifting him up as he spoke. He spoke calmly and quietly, but it was enough to terrify the shorter man, and he called off his followers when he realized that Aroquin had an arrow trained on his fellow leader, and David had his sword drawn and ready. Ember watched all of this, disguised in the forest-green robes of a noblewoman to keep from being seen for what she was, and laughed quietly to herself as she followed the procession leading the "bandit princes" back to Lords Crossing.

And where was Sienne in all of this? Apparently slipped away with the rest of the bandits, and Ember soon followed when she realized that they were heading for a city. She enjoyed cities, but her mission waited elsewhere. And so it was that the group of four (3 PCs plus Renata) escorted the "bandit princes" back to Lords Crossing, where the council promised that they would be jailed and watched carefully until they were willing to make reparations.

Free from their obligations, the PCs ventured out into the town again, returning with Aroquin to the Sage Narua. She told them the same legend again, but this time she had more for them -- she said that four of the six stood before her, and she placed a box upon the table. Within were six "empty" Hearthstones, which the four took and divided amongst themselves, giving the extras to Raksha and David for safekeeping. They returned to their rooms, and left for the Imperial City in the morning.

Passing through Juche on their return trip, they heard some strange rumors... firstly, about their exploits in Lords Crossing, but more interestingly, about the dead council members. Yes, members. Plural. Two, the rumors said. This disturbed them, but they had no time to worry about it, as they had already finished with their obligations in Lords Crossing, and so they headed towards the Imperial City. David spent the whole time "putting the moves on" Renata, who spent the whole time pointedly not noticing, or perhaps just not "getting it", being as she was quite clueless... or at least, that was the image she wanted to cultivate. It made her mission -- which she refused to give details about -- easier to do it that way.

Arriving in the Imperial City, they were met in Nydeich's meeting chamber -- not by Nydeich, but by an exceedingly attractive man in a cloak so dark it seemed to draw all light into it, and a smile that seemed a bit too trustworthy to be up to anything good. He introduced himself as Lanam of Cathak, Nydeich's brother, and warned the PCs about his brother's ambitions for the throne, telling them to be careful about being used. They agreed, and he smiled and left, stating that he had no interest in politics, and had a library and garden to tend to.

Lanam's departure was followed shortly by Nydeich's arrival. He congratulated and rewarded them for a job well done, and calmly explained away Raksha's worries about Immaculates in Lords Crossing searching for something by the order of House Cathak. Nydeich was puzzled as to how someone of his house could have garnered enough favors from the Immaculates that he could be ordering them around, but told them to not worry about it, as such things happened all the time, with nobles squabbling over petty things like favors and position. Nobody mentioned Lanam, but the suggestion was made that Nydiech might have ambitions for the throne, which he also denied as simple foolishness, saying that a soldier had little interest beyond the safety of his land and those who lived in it.

As such, he had another mission for our intrepid heroes, whom he grouped Renata in with, since they had apparently accepted her as a traveling companion. There were reports from the West coastline area of a strange black spire rising up from the ground, and he wanted them to go check it out before the armies were dispatched to take care of it, in case that became unnecessary. He also said that it would be wiser to take a ship, since the towns in the central part of the Blessed Isle were in turmoil over the deaths of two members of the Lords Crossing council and the mayor of Juche.

WHAT?!? The mayor of Juche too? Yes, it seemed that death followed our unfortunate adventurers wherever they went. They reluctantly agreed to the mission after recovering from that news, and went off to rest.

Chapter the Fourth: Things Falling Apart

Wherein it is learned that the most frightening demons are not dead, but have never truly lived

Morning came... and another murder. As our group left their rooms, they saw a great gathering on the stairs of the central chamber of the palace, and lying there in the middle of it all was Myron, one of the prime candidates for the throne from House Nellens, dead from a wound burned through his head. Once again, our heroes had little time to worry about such things, and set off for their ship. Outside, they found Lanam again, being suspiciously calm... but before they left, he handed them an ornate compass, and said that it would tell them the safest route to their destination.

Maybe Lanam isn't such a bad guy after all.

Setting sail, they met Captain Naylor, also known as "the man in the absurd hat". Yes, it was an absurd had, but as he secretly confided in the PCs, he wore it simply to throw off others' perceptions, and leave them unprepared for his real ability and talent. It had apparently served him thus far, as that was the first thing the PCs noticed, too. That damn hat.

They sailed around the Southern edge of the Blessed Isle, and they sped along on their journey as Aroquin worked with Captain Naylor using Lanam's amazing compass to navigate. It seemed a force was pushing them along on their journey, and they made great time in their travel.

During the trip, Renata spent virtually all her time in her room, drawing incomprehensible diagrams and blueprints on the paper she had brought along. When David asked about them, she would always answer "You'll see when I finish", and continue as if nobody had bothered her. She was clearly driven, but to what end? Raksha found his own way to pass the days, in the form of a cabin girl named Kira, with the most fascinating green hair and eyes. He would later learn that she was from the East, and there was only one thing that could mean... she was a Haltan, the people whom his old tribe had warred with for years, somehow ending up on a ship and acquiring the unique talent of playing a damn good game of stones. So Raksha amused himself with his games and his newfound friend, no matter how suspicious she seemed at first.

The PCs were rapidly approaching the West coast when suddenly, the ship refused to turn as it was directed. A great grinding began along the side of the ship, and Aroquin began loudly berating Captain Naylor about hitting one of the many dangerous coral reefs in the area, but that was about the farthest thing from the truth. David and Renata came above deck to see what was going on, shortly followed by Raksha, and found themselves face to face with a sea dragon who told them of a mission given by the master who had summoned it, to destroy this ship and all who traveled on it.

Combat ensued, and David did some serious damage to the dragon just as it was attacking, and it fled after causing some equally serious damage to the ship. Renata ran to the edge of the deck, and pointed an unusual long staff at the fleeing dragon. A blinding flash, a crack of thunder, and the water blossomed with blood. The weapon never received a name, but for all intents and purposes, it was the first "gun" to exist in all of Creation.

So that was what happened last time. An explosion was the reason for the light and sound, and it would leave burns. And that explains the murders... or does it?

Renata denied all accusations of the murder of those council members and the Nellens dynast, stating that she knew that other tools like that existed in this world, and dodging any further questions by carefully guiding the subject towards something else. Namely, the huge black spires looming over the horizon, and the beach which they were rapidly approaching.

Our heroes departed the ship, which set off for the Imperial City again, as Captain Naylor was quite unwilling to be anywhere near that immense, black, unpleasant-looking... thing... for any longer than necessary. They headed off towards the black spires, noting that the closer they got, the less living things -- grass, trees, birds, etc -- they found. Needless to say, this disturbed them greatly.

Even more disturbing than that was what awaited them once the lowest parts of the spires came into view: a huge black castle which seemed to have torn itself up from beneath the earth, surrounded by an army gleaming white.

Armor? No... bone. And what was worse... they were noticed.

Cue a long, long chase scene. As in, days long. An army of gleaming white monsters led by at least twenty truly imposing warlords of life-in-death, lurching untiringly after our intrepid and unfortunate heroes. A number of things happened, including Renata taking David's house pendant (remember, his mother is a dynast of House Peleps) and flinging the gleaming icon into the approaching army as a distraction, which worked quite well -- they were quite troubled when it did nothing on impact, expecting it to explode at any moment, and took great pains to avoid it. The PCs also had a fight on a collapsing bridge with two demon-skeletons summoned up by a powerful sorcerer among the ranks of the dead army.

They ran, and ran, and ran... and eventually, they tired.

Collapsing underneath a grove of trees with the approaching army just behind them, they awakened in the morning to the soft light of the sun on their faces, and found themselves somewhere odd: sitting in the trees. Beneath them were a great many footprints heading past them and then returning, and they saw the dead army disappearing over the horizon towards their black-spired castle. Had something concealed them as their enemies passed? Something must have...

In Lords Crossing, they found the two "bandit princes", not locked away safely in a cell, but tied to two posts and left out in the sun to rot. They were weak with starvation, and guarded in case anyone decided to try to free them. The PCs entered the Hall of the Council, and warned the remaining council members about the possible approach of the dead army. They agreed to keep a watch with scouts, and offered the heroes rooms in the same inn they stayed at the last time.

The group found Sienne in the inn where they stayed, talking with the owner, Arik. They were discussing something quietly, and quickly fell silent when the PCs entered. Later, Arik and Sienne confided their plans for the rescue of Sienne's "brothers", the two "bandit princes" left to starve outside the Hall of the Council. The plan was executed quickly and quietly... with one complication. As Aroquin and David fled, something held Raksha back, something he forgot. He told them to go ahead to the mountain with Sienne and her brothers, to warn the bandits and tell them to flee the dead army, which they did.

Raksha took care of his business, warning Arik of the current situation, and started out of the town. He was heading for the mountain on horseback, going as fast as he could -- but suddenly, he realized that he wasn't really going anywhere, despite the horse's galloping. He looked back, and beheld a monster, the same thing he thought he saw as he was heading back to warn Arik. He dismounted to deal with it, leaving his horse standing there, pinned down by its own gravity.

It was nothing short of terror itself... a huge black form, ten feet tall at the shoulder, only vaguely humanoid, covered from head to toe in semi-organic black armor, engraved with a variety of designs based on simple lines and circles, and covered in veins filled with a blackish-red liquid, pumping with each motion of the pistons which were placed variously around the "armor". In the center of its forehead, a gleaming crystal was set, reflecting all the colors of the sunlight in sharp contrast to its coal-black appearance.

Raksha attacked, his javelin clashing ineffectually against the creature's armor. It narrowed the red pools which passed for eyes, and Raksha's own weight became almost crushing. The fight was decidedly going in favor of the huge black monster, and it smashed the severely wounded Raksha away, flinging him towards his abandoned horse.

"You are not the one I seek," it said, voice tinny and hollow, like a dying man's last rasp. Taking advantage of the break in combat, Raksha mounted his horse and ran like hell (they seem to do that a lot...), meeting up with the others and telling them of this monster. Of course, nobody had any idea what he was talking about, as none of them had seen anything like it before.

The group fled back to the Imperial City, and death followed again in their wake. Another member of the council at Lords Crossing dead, another mention of a mysterious traveler whom nobody could quite describe. Somewhere along the way, Aroquin disappeared. It was beginning to frighten them, and they reached the Imperial City in record time, their frenzied flight ending only when they reached the gates of the palace. The city was all abuzz with activity, and it seemed packed to bursting, with Dynasts wandering the streets of the Imperial City as they reacquainted themselves with a place they hadn't seen in a long time... or for some, a place they were seeing for the first time.

They were greeted in Nydeich's meeting room by both Nydeich and his brother Lanam, who had apparently been discussing something before their arrival. Nydeich said that he had an important mission for them, and would give them details the next day, after he had taken sufficient time to plan their next move. He also said that all the Dynasts had been called to the palace, in order to discuss a matter of great importance. It was obvious that he was aware of the threat of the dead army, and it was even more obvious that our heroes were about to become Imperial pawns in the war.

Nydeich left, and Lanam remained. He reiterated his warnings about his brother, and told them that he could arrange a ship for them, to take them away from the Blessed Isle before the intended meeting the next day. They eagerly agreed, and Lanam bid them a good night, with warnings that they should rest well tonight before their journey.

That night, Raksha was visited again by Kira, and they spent the night talking about what was happening. Renata spent a long time drawing her strange diagrams, and David finally gave up trying to figure them out and went to sleep. Just before he drifted off, Renata laid down on the bed, draping herself across him. "You do need to relax before your journey tomorrow," she said, a knowing smile arching her lips. David slept well that night, for the first time since the beginning of his journey.

Chapter the Fifth: Of Mice and Mechanical Men

Wherein change comes as it must to all things, and not for the better

Morning came, the early light warm on the faces of the sleepers, and David awoke to find a very naked Renata sitting on his chest. She grinned and reiterated her statement from the night before about "relaxing", and the two spent the next hour amusing themselves with each other. What brought about this sudden change in demeanor?

Around this time, I put the Deftones' White Pony CD into the CD player, and set "knife prty" (track 8) on infinite repeat. The reasons will become clear very shortly, just listen to the song while you read it.

Raksha awakened to the sound of screaming, of dying. He and Kira cautiously looked around, venturing out into the palace, where a terrifying dead silence prevailed. As Raksha entered the main chamber of the palace, he was attacked by a strange, dark-silver creature, tall and lanky, but superficially similar to the black monster he had seen in Lords Crossing. It struck well but not well enough, and fled after Raksha attempted a counterstrike. Venturing further into the central chamber, he saw blood running down the stairs, and very slowly made his way upstairs. Blood covered all the surfaces, and the smell of death filled the area.

David and Renata left their room around the same time that Raksha and Kira came back to tell them about this... but somehow, neither of them ever said anything about what they had seen, only that they should hurry and leave. Leave they did, and when they got outside, the horror awaiting them was something beyond compare:

The entire city was dead. Nothing moved, nothing breathed. The streets ran red with blood, and the bodies of the dead littered the streets like so many discarded rag dolls, suddenly deemed worthless in the eyes of whatever monster, whatever cold-blooded creature was responsible for this.

And then it dawned on them. The Dynasts. So many filled the Imperial City, and now the city was filled with death. Nobody could have escaped that.

And so it came to pass that nearly nine-tenths of the Dragon-Blooded in existence were slaughtered, all in one night which would live forever in infamy.

But were they all dead? Suddenly, our heroes spotted Lanam, wandering through the slaughter and shaking his head sadly. They stopped him, first accusing him of being responsible, then expressing their sympathy for this great tragedy when they realized he couldn't have done all this. He was outwardly calm, but something inside him was broken beyond repair. That day, some small part of Lanam of Cathak died.

He told them of monstrous dark shapes moving through the Imperial City, a small number of them wreaking destruction in the early light of the morning which no army could ever achieve during the day. He then pointed to the horizon, and the nightmare suddenly became all the more horrifying, for on the horizon was the telltale white gleam of the army which our heroes had fled from so many days before. They had come now for the holder of that pendant, for the scion of Peleps, and they would fall upon the city like a plague.

The heroes saw their boat waiting in the harbor, and begged Lanam to come with them, to flee this place... but he refused. A long glance towards the towering Imperial Palace, and he sighed, shaking his head. No, he could never leave. And so he turned from the heroes as they left for the boat, starting towards the army of the dead as it reached the edge of the city. Just before he disappeared from sight, a golden aura of Essence flared up around him, illuminating the early morning like the sun at its apex. He was just like them... and just like them, he was willing to die for the things he held sacred.

Our heroes reached the boat, and found Captain Naylor at the helm, and the boat filled with all the surviving Dynasts from the Imperial City. Much to their relief, they also found their friend Aroquin aboard, and began catching up on what had happened during his absence as the boat pulled away from the harbor. As the Imperial City became but a speck in the distance, they watched the white army fall upon the city... and a golden dragon rose up to meet them, screaming righteous fury into the ranks of the enemy, one man against thousands. A similar image rose from the center of the white army, a black dragon flecked with red, like magma and soot, and the two crashed together.

That was the last they saw of Lanam.

As the Imperial City disappeared from view, Renata stared off towards it, motionless and frozen. Something troubled her deeply, and David was determined to get to the bottom of it. To that end, he finally had to physically pick up Renata and carry her off to his room below deck, to get answers to the questions he had been asking all along.

What was her mission?

She confided in him that she was sent on a mission by a god whose name had been lost to time, long forgotten even in the legends which spoke of his accomplishments. She was seeking a power stronger than any one individual, something capable of sustaining her god and keeping him from death, for if he died, she and her kind would also fade away.

And what was she?

To that, she answered only this: "We're not so different, you and I..."

She said she had failed in her mission, that she had made a terrible mistake and the world would suffer for it. She had been condemned by her own hand, and nothing could change the course of Fate now.

But David thought otherwise. "There has to be another way." Renata was not so convinced, and fell into depression as she tried to think of "another way". Eventually, an idea occurred to her, and she grinned slightly as she looked out at the sunlight streaming in through the window.

"Yes... there is always another way." And the whole world went black for our heroes.

Chapter the Sixth: Strangers in a Not-So-Strange Land

Wherein the paths of destiny open, and the doors to the past irrevocably close

A long time later, an eternity of pain and wounds, they awakened. Just the three of them, in a small room, each placed upon a bed. A young girl, dressed modestly in clothing which marked her obviously a peasant, was tending to the three of them. She was startled by their waking, but was glad to answer their questions.

She had found them on the beach, along with another man, but he had died despite her best efforts to save him. What gear of theirs she could find, she had placed in the next room for them to have when they awakened. No, there were no girls with them, neither green-haired nor black/brown/silver-haired. And the name of this town? Actually, a city. Nexus.

Our heroes being Solar Exalted, they recovered quickly and went out to see the world around them. They remembered nothing of the event which brought them here after the blackness, just quick flashes -- screams, pain, and death. Raksha found his way into Nexus, where his worries were only compounded further: the slaughter at the Imperial City had apparently happened two months ago. Two months had passed since that fateful day, and the Empire had all but fallen apart in the time between. Somehow, he no longer cared.

David sought Renata, but found no sign of her, eventually ending at the beach where they had apparently washed up. The bloodstains had been washed away by the sea, but the beach still held a profound sense of loss in its majesty, the light of the full moon hanging low in the sky, illuminating the water beyond the beach -- and somewhere beyond that, the fallen Imperial City.

His friends arrived on the beach behind him, and David fell to his knees in the sand, screaming her name to the uncaring moon:

"RENATA!"

Dissolute, lacking a purpose, and now separated from everyone they had once known, our heroes seemed lost.

Around that time, the sun seemed to rise behind them, and a calm voice spoke, carrying authority and warmth. "Stand, my children, and be unafraid."

Broken, dissolute, and lost, our heroes were suddenly confronted with a voice like a god, and a radiance like the sun itself at their backs. They turned, and beheld a handsome man in golden robes, glowing with a near-blinding light of the same color, smiling with all the warmth of their patron in the sky. It was not the Unconquered Sun himself, the Zenith would later explain to everyone else, but a messenger thereof, just a mere fraction of the god's true power... but in the end, not terribly unlike the heroes themselves. He spoke with confidence and a certain air of familiarity, telling the heroes of the wisdom of their decisions and the righteousness of their actions, and passing along two pieces of vital knowledge. The first seemed strange to the heroes; it was a message about "pillars", saying that not everything they stood for was wicked, but that they must fall to learn their own purpose. The only "pillars" anyone remembered came from the Sage Narua's prophecy, and so they decided to keep that in mind, though they still had no idea why. The second thing was more immediately relevant, for the messenger told them that they would find what they had lost soon, and the vehicle of its return was close at hand.

As the messenger's light faded and he disappeared from view, our heroes were left with more questions than answers, but they were at least a bit closer to their new goals now. Aroquin and Raksha returned to the house where they awakened, glad to find that their rooms were still available, while David wandered off in search of a green place, somewhere his father might be able to hear him. And hear he did.

No voices answered him, but the wind heard David's call, and rushed through the trees like a storm. Turning to head back to the others, something shining on the ground caught his attention, and he stooped down to pick up an unusual silver and gold pendant. The base of it was the crest of House Peleps, his mother's noble mark, but surrounding it was a design which was never present in any other Peleps crest: the traceries placed around the sigil of the Scarlet Empress. Was it a trick? Some cruel joke played by a mischevious spirit? Or inspiration desperately needed in this darkest hour? Only time would tell.

Taking the pendant and wearing it under his shirt to replace the one he lost on the Blessed Isle, David returned to the house where he awakened, being directed to a room of his own by the girl who had taken care of them, who would later introduce herself as Rina, an orphan who established an infirmary to take care of all the sickness and pain she saw during her life on the streets of the poor parts of Nexus, but her services were often ignored by those who needed it most.

Opening the door to his room and stepping inside quickly, David almost screamed when he saw someone sitting on his bed, apparently just waiting for him to arrive. It was a man whose age seemed impossible to define, sharp but youthful features outlined by forest-green hair, dressed in colorful robes of red, orange, and green, accented by leaves and feathers gathered from all over.

"Father," said David a moment later.

They spoke, exchanging brief accounts of life since last the two had met. David's mother was quite safe, and waiting in her island sanctuary in the southwest for the turmoil of the Empire to quiet down a bit. Somewhere along the way, the older man managed to drop a hint in between bits of conversation, regarding a certain artifact rumored to be hidden beneath Nexus, a ship which was supposedly able to take to the sky like a seaworthy vessel to water. Disappearing shortly after that, he left a problem to be solved, but also a piece of the solution.

When our heroes gathered in the morning, they found something strange. The crystals given to them by the Sage Narua seemed to pull towards each other, but they also pulled towards the north. After puzzling over it for a long time, they realized that one crystal had been given to Renata, and so decided it was necessary to go north to find her. But it was unlikely that she would be in the city, and so seeking the flying ship (which David explained to them, but conveniently left out the source of his information, for obvious reasons) would be most advisable. Our heroes spent the next day chasing rumors and red herrings, but eventually found their way to a long-forgotten tunnel, broken stairs neglected by time leading downward into a passage lit only by an eerie silver light somewhere down its length. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed in, and the entirety of the tunnel was littered with signs warning against going any further, speaking of some nebulous danger which awaited those foolish enough to attempt approaching whatever the end of the tunnel contained. But that wasn't the part that worried our heroes. Footprints in the dust marked a recent passage by... who? They were small, but completely flat on the bottom. But that wasn't it, either. What worried our heroes were the howling noises, becoming ever louder as they continued.

Finally reaching the seeming end of the passage, our heroes stepped out into a large chamber, where the howling noises reached their peak. In the center of the chamber was an immense dome, swirling gold and silver in erratic patterns, radiating Essence so thick and powerful it was almost a palpable force pushing back any who might approach. But approach is precisely what our heroes did, and they were met with unexpected retaliation as the dome itself animated, lashing out with viscous blades and jagged tooth-filled mouths extruded momentarily from its surface and retracted, rippling the dome with motion. Fighting a valiant but losing battle against the animate dome, our heroes fell back a safe distance away. Well, all but David. Lunging towards the dome itself, ignoring the attacking protrusions, David brought to bear his massive blade, and cleft a gaping hole through its surface, using the momentary opening to pull himself through.

Inside, the full force of the howling wail assailed his ears, and he finally found its source: pinned to a huge jade dragon statue was a woman, held in place by spikes through her wrists and ankles, with the blade of a massive halberd piercing her chest and the dragon statue. She hung there immobile, an endless cry of pain escaping motionless pale lips, blood dried to her strange armor almost matching the dull vermilion of her hair.

Around this time, Aroquin had a better idea. Digging around in his pouch, he produced one of the "empty" Hearthstones given to them by the Sage Narua, and held it up to the dome. It parted in a small area around the crystal, as if trying to avoid its touch, and the attacks ceased. It seemed the Sage was telling the truth about their usefulness. Joining his friend at the dome, Raksha took out both of the crystals he held, and placed them near the dome, causing the disruption to open wide enough for both of them to enter. The dome sealed behind them, but the silvery light it gave off was more than enough to see by, and they too saw the source of the pained scream.

After some small debate about the wisdom of acting without considering what might happen, our heroes decide it would be best to remove the woman from her torment, and proceeded to remove the spikes and, with great effort, the halberd. The screaming stopped suddenly and the woman fell limply to the ground, accompanied by the dissolution of the imprisoning dome around them. David knelt down in front of the woman, and (of all the foolish questions...) asked if she was okay. The response was delayed a moment by violent coughing as the woman twitched in pain, then reached up a surprisingly strong hand and yanked David down to floor-level, looking up at him with a pair of the most unusual violet eyes and muttering something which, while spoken in a language which none of them could understand, sounded none too pleasant. It was quite obvious that the woman needed medical attention, and quickly. Raksha tended to her wounds to the best of his immediate ability, then assisted the others in creating a makeshift stretcher, leading them quickly back the way they came.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Waiting for them at the decaying stairs to the surface stood a woman in fine white robes, black hair pulled back and away from a perfect china-doll face, smiling calmly. She thanked them for overcoming the trap for her, and congratulated them on their recent acquisition, looking to the strange woman on the stretcher with a smirk. It took a bit of convincing, but she eventually stepped aside, allowing our heroes to pass, and they quickly made their way back to the house where they had stayed the previous night.

Chapter the Seventh: Rest and Restitution

Wherein our heroes forget their past tragedy, and remember their present mission

Time passed, and the strange woman recovered. Raksha spent a great deal of time trying to understand what she was saying, but to no avail. Frustrated by his failures, he ventured into town, seeking the largest store of books he could find, and acquired the first of many books he would find on the language which she seemed to be speaking, albeit at a greatly inflated price, as well as a vital piece of information: Caralli of Cynis had taken control of the Guild. Before he left the store, the merchant mentioned that Caralli might have more books like that, and an agreement was reached for the man to guide Raksha and friends to Caralli's estate in the east.

The strange woman recovered, but that wasn't the only thing she had done during that time, and spent much of the time she was awake reading -- or trying to read -- any books she could get her hands on. With a brush and ink, she began making indecipherable markings in the margin of pages, and eventually started to clumsily imitate some of the words from the books, as well as the things our heroes said when she followed them around in their daily business. She was becoming well-known for her reactions to David's sudden emotional outbursts about his lost Renata, which consisted of pointing a finger at him and intoning, in a heavily accented and unwieldy tone, "Stupid." She eventually found a way to introduce herself, and from then on she was known as "Siroma", though none of them knew what it meant.

The day of the expedition to Caralli's estate arrived, and Siroma reluctantly stayed behind, explaining to the best of her ability that this world was strange, and different from the one she knew. So our heroes set out to Caralli's estate, half a day's walk to the east of Nexus, and somehow managed to tolerate their bookstore-owner-turned-guide and his constant attempts to convince them to buy something when they returned to Nexus.

Caralli's estate was a great, sprawling thing, constructed in record time after her retreat from the Blessed Isle but structurally perfect, decorated in an overabundance of flowers and filled with sweet-smelling perfumes. It was almost possible to smell the building before it became visible, and the sickly sweet odor only intensified once they entered. Inside, our heroes were greeted by a tableau of flesh and decadence, as servants of both genders wandered the halls of the palatial estate dressed in white robes which seemed little more than half-transparent gauze, bringing food and drinks and smoking herbs to those gathered here, lounging about on huge pillows and partaking of all variety of profane entertainment.

The guards, large silent men who went around shirtless to emphasize their mass and musculature in order to prevent any potential misconduct, frowned as our heroes passed by, but a whispered comment from their guide mollified the huge men and they led the entourage to a set of huge double-doors with a set of beautifully crafted bells above, which rang out in song when one of them pulled the rope next to the door. The doors opened not long after, and another set of guards led our heroes and their guide through a long, winding passage strewn with all manner of beautiful and fragrant flowers, ending at a large room which would have seemed like a throne room if not for the pillows covering the floor, and the people covering those pillows in varying stages of undress. At the far end of the room stood a raised section, where a piece of furniture vaguely resembling a cross between a throne and one of the pillows which littered the floor held a woman of unparalleled beauty, dressed in rich white robes decorated with a gold to match the hair which cascaded in immaculate waves around her face, deep blue eyes fixed immediately on those who would seek audience with her. Purple smoke floated up from censers set at the edges of the raised section, and as the heroes passed by them, they found that the smoke served to dispel the scent of the rest of the place, leaving the area containing Caralli's "throne" free of the sickly sweet odor.

As Raksha approached, he saw a woman standing behind Caralli, dressed similarly in fine white robes and tending to Caralli's hair -- with green hair. Just like... "Kira?" he asked, shocked to find his erstwhile shipmate from long ago in such a place, but glad to find her alive at all. However, it was not Kira, simply another of the Haltan who had found her way into Caralli's employ.

"My newest acquisition, and my favorite," purred Caralli as she arched back, running her fingers through the girl's long green hair, "But I do recall hearing something about a girl like this, employed on a trade ship from the south, which left the Nexus port not long ago. Perhaps you seek that one? They are none too common here, after all... much as I would like to acquire her as well, it seems she is worth more to you than to me."

Alive. That much was a relief. And apparently employed on a ship again... even after the disaster, Kira still refused to stay away from ships. Caralli spent a few minutes making small talk before sending the green-haired girl to retrieve a stack of books, which she sold for a price far more reasonable than the price which the bookstore owner would surely have demanded. Met with surprise at that, Caralli explained that she had no interest in filling her own coffers any more than necessary to rebuild what she lost in the massacre at the Imperial City, and that the businesses she ran existed solely to protect the people from her customers. "Give them their pleasures cheaply," she explained, "and they will not seek them at the expense of others." Perhaps she would reform the Guild yet.

Returning to their temporary home and Siroma afterwards, they agreed to set out tomorrow in search of the ship which David had mentioned before, and Raksha spent much of the night studying to learn Old Realm, and Siroma spent the night studying the same in reverse.

The next day found the group with Siroma at the lead, taking them back to the place of her imprisonment. Sitting atop the jade dragon statue (which was, amazingly enough, still mostly intact, though looters had apparently made off with a few of its claws) was the china-doll noble from before, and she greeted them with cheerful tidings and general well-wishing, then stood aside to watch this unusual group as Siroma directed them to lift the dragon statue. Underneath was a bizarre pedestal topped by dully flashing lights and switches, which Siroma proceeded to manipulate accompanied by a low rumbling from all around. Between Siroma's limited knowledge of Raksha's language, and Raksha's limited knowledge of hers, the two of them explained to the others that there was nothing to fear... and that was when the city seemed to lift into the sky.

At least, some part of the city. The ceiling above crumbled away, revealing a clear protective dome around the area where they stood, and outside they saw the city around them rise upward along with them. Later inspection revealed that two vaguely crescent-shaped sections of city on either side had lifted with them, including the bookstore whose owner served as their guide to Caralli's estate the day before. The people were gathered into the central dome, and a course was set for the north, where the crystals were all tugging towards. David gave one of the crystals to Siroma for safekeeping, reasoning that if they ever became lost from the ship, the tug of the crystals towards each other would bring them back, so long as Siroma remained near the ship. Somewhere, a Storyteller grinned a wicked grin.

Chapter the Last: A Premature End

Wherein a Storyteller cackles madly, then sighs sadly

The heroes' flying ship eventually reached a point where the crystals no longer pulled north, deep within the blinding snowstorms of the northernmost part of Creation. Siroma set the ship down, and our heroes departed, bundled up in warm clothing sold to them by the bookstore owner (who had been setting himself up quite nicely with the Guild before he was abducted by a flying saucer... er... ship), trudging northward up a mountain where a vague shadowy shape could be seen further up towards the slope.

The shape turned out to be a huge castle, gleaming silver and blue and encrusted with crystals in myriad hues. David, ever straightforward, decided he was going to go up and knock on the door of this mysterious palace. Before his hand reached the doors, however, they swung inward and open, and a voice echoed through the vast open spaces of the castle, beckoning them upstairs. A second set of doors awaited them there, and they opened like the first, revealing a large room with a desk in the center, a wizened old man with a piercing gaze sitting at the opposite side of the desk, seemingly waiting for them. A huge crystal window on the far wall showed the view behind the castle, somehow eliminating the blinding effect of the snowstorm to reveal a small domed building of black, silver, and gold.

The man introduced himself as Resplendent Crystal, an admittedly self-important name, but it was well-deserved. He had foreseen their arrival, as he had foreseen the arrival of the one who came before, who waited for them in the building they saw out the window. The crystals Narua gave them pulled towards that building, and David was out the door long before any of the others, rushing to it in eager expectation of who he would find. The others stayed just long enough to hear the old man finish explaining what else he saw, and they were told that old friends awaited them in the distant south, though they didn't know it yet.

David found precisely who he expected, his lost Renata, stepping out of the central chamber of the odd building in a robe, stopping a moment to look back to the strange swirling pool in the center of the room before noticing David or the others. Reunions were had, rejoicing occurred, but somehow Renata seemed different. Nothing that anyone could say with certainty, but somehow... different. When asked about the strange pool, she explained quite simply, "It's a bath." For whatever reason, they bought it, and returned to Siroma and the ship, heading south.

Comments / Discussion

This is, unfortunately, where the story ends. One of these days, I'd like to retell it, with a reliable group of people with whom I might actually be able to reach the story's conclusion -- or at least, to get further than I did last time. -- MentalFloss