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With Hiryla keeping the remaining archer occupied, Nella takes a step forward as she directs her spiritual weapon to strike one final time at Skur before it fades from existence.
She then opens up a conduit of healing energy to bolster herself and Malusha long enough for them to be ale to move up and see to Phoebee.
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Masym continues to harry Melkorka, following her for every step she takes back. Again, he is able to get his spear past her defenses, opening another wound along her side. He calls for Hiryla to block her escape, but the Snowmask chieftain understands none of what he says.
Malusha, awake once more, channels yet more healing energy over himself and Nella, before getting unsteadily to his feet. Nella follows that with a channel of her own, putting the Garunda man almost back to normal. She then directs her spiritual glaive to spend its final moments of existence attacking the leader of the Shadow Lodge expedition. Skur is not prepared for an attack from behind her, and it manages to score yet another wound on the woman before its divine magic fades away.
,
The nearby agent desperately tries to defend himself from Hiryla's onslaught, but can barely hold his weapon in fingers gone numb, as he backs towards Melkorka for aid.
Melkorka for her part, frowns slightly as she too continues to back away from Masym, until the two shadow lodge agents are suddenly standing back to back. Holding the flaming axe in one hand, she makes a quick gesture, saying a prayer to Nethys, and smiles as many of her wounds close up and heal, until she doesn't look injured at all!
Hiryla continues to press his attacks on the male agent until he finally brings his battle axe around in a mighty swing that takes the man's head off at the shoulders!
-- Round 5 -----------------------
Jones, Wei Tchak (-9) <---- We are here!
kellids x 3, shadow lodge agents x 3
-- Round 6 -----------------------
Masym (-19), Malusha (-1), Phoebee (-20, unconscious, prone), Nella (-10)
Melkorka Skur, Hiryla
Group Buffs: Bless (+1 to hit), Moment of Greatness (all but Masym)
Party is up (sans Phoebee, who is down)!
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Relieved to see Malusha almost completely healed of his injuries, Nella hurries forward towards the rest of her friends. She decides to try one last bid to see if she can get Skur to drop the axe and begins casting a spell. As she finishes, she points at the deluded woman. "Drop the axe, now."
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Jones advances closer, firing off yet another arrow... but much like the others, it loses momentum before it can make contact, falling harmlessly to the ground.
Wei Tchak finally joins the fight proper, reaching Melkorka and slashing at her with his katana, drawing blood.
The kellids start to get the upper hand in their skirmish back towards the keep as yet another shadow lodge agent falls and the remaining Snowmask's start to team up on the remaining two.
Seeing herself getting surrounded, and the decapitated man laying at her feet, Melkorka snarls angrily, and takes on a defensive pose and pauses for a moment, waiting. Hiryla doesn't not wait, nor does he quite realize what she's waiting for as he raises his axe over his head and moves in to flank her with Masym and cut her down.
The priestess however, was apparently waiting for just such a maneuver, as she suddenly shouts out a quick entreaty to Nethys, casting a spell at the kellid chieftain as he steps up. Hiryla suddenly freezes in place, his weapon held harmlessly over his head unable to move, his face frozen into a combined snarl and look of surprise.
With a determined look, she then steps around him, using the paralyzed man to try to block the Pathfinders, as she takes her axe back in both hands.
-- Round 6 -----------------------
Jones, Wei Tchak (-8) <---- We are here!
kellids x 3, shadow lodge agents x 2
-- Round 7 -----------------------
Masym (-19), Malusha (-1), Phoebee (-19, unconscious, prone), Nella (-10)
Melkorka Skur (-10), Hiryla (paralyzed)
Group Buffs: Bless (+1 to hit), Moment of Greatness (all but Masym)
Party is up (sans Phoebee, who remains down)!
Jones moves up a bit more, then using all the tricks at his disposal manages to get an arrow through Melkorka's protective barrier with enough velocity to injure the woman.
Wei Tchak then casts a spell then steps forward to deliver it at the point of his sword. Suddenly, massive amounts of electricity are coursing through Melkorka's body. Her entire form convulses on the end of the tengu's blade until her eyes almost boil out of their sockets. Eventually she collapses to the ground, small whiffs of smoke rising from her prone form and residual electrical discharges sparking from around her. Jedrak's Shard falls beside her, and immediately starts to melt into the icy ground. Both of them lay there for a few seconds, before the fire on the axe winks out, small bits of steam still rising to join the smoke emanating from the dead woman who so recently was wielding it.
Another of the shadow lodge agents falls to the Snowmask warriors, and the last one, seeing Melkorka die so dramatically, turns and flees. The kellids let him go, though one of them eventually lopes off after him.
A few seconds later, Hiryla manages to break out of his paralysis with a furious effort.
Jones, Wei Tchak (-2), Masym (-19), Malusha (-1), Phoebee (-12), Nella (-10)
Eventually, Phoebee will come too, the fiendish spell patching her up enough to regain consciousness.
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Masym lowers his spear just as he is about to thrust it into the kellid woman, only to see Wei Tckak's final blow take care of her for him. Nodding to the tengu he smiles, "Good job Wei Tchak!"
Turning his attention to the Shard laying at his feet, he makes no move to pick it up. "OK so now what? I don't think it is a good idea to touch it since it will possess whoever does so!"
Hiryla calls a few commands to his tribesmen, and one of them heads off after the first that pursued the fleeing Shadow Lodge agent. The other continues to tend to his injured fellow.
The chieftain then turns towards you, looking down at the now dead Melkorka and the axe melted into the ice, his face looking somewhat reverential as he eyes the weapon.
He says something in Hallit as he kneels down, intent on picking it up.
"The Shard must be returned to Ranulf's tomb. Even in death, they keep the white wyrms at bay."
Unfortunately, he can't quite get a grip on it, as the cold has already frozen the melted ice again.
Hiryla looks between Masym and the axe uncertainly before going into a long string of Hallit, pointing back towards the keep.
"Ranulf was a great friend of the Snowmask. The Shard a mighty weapon against the white wyrms below the mountain. Neither would do us harm."
You're pretty sure by 'us' he does not mean you.
"It must be returned." He adds. "This is the duty of the Snowmasks. Our promise from generations ago. Your part here is done."
He suddenly stands to his full height, and the two remaining kellids do the same, though one winces slightly from his wounds. All three of them hold their axes high over their heads in some sort of salute, before Hiryla says a few solemn words.
He then looks up at the nearby mountains above the keep waving at them and adding a few more comments.
"The Tusk can guard Ranulf's resting place far better then us."
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Despite Masym's warning, Hiryla seems confident he can return the axe to Ranulf's crypt unharmed, and motions for one of his warriors to lead you away from the area, before they bury it once more. You see him using his own axe to chip Jedrek's Shard out of where it is stuck in the ice, before bundling it up in his cloak to carry back towards the Keep.
It takes a few hours, but eventually, you hear a roaring sound from off towards the keep that gets impossibly loud before fading away. About an hour after that, Hiryla and the other three warriors rejoin you, seemingly satisfied with how things went.
Too late to continue on that day, you camp the night. The warriors spend the working on how to tell the story of what happened, talking back and forth among themselves, though only Jones can listen in as the tale develops. They seem especially excited trying to tell about Wei Tchak's finishing blow... and much like Malusha earlier, start to refer to him by a nickname, this time sounding something like falataima... that Jones can most closely translate to thunderbird, or near to it.
Come morning, you continue on, reaching the Snowmask's camp before noon. Everyone seems quite excited, and the warriors that accompanied you split off to tell their version of the story to small crowds of kellids. Hiryla ushers you off to the meeting hall again, where Teyma is waiting with the elders.
Hiryla relays events to them while you wait, the conversation going on for some time before turning back to you.
Once more, it is the old woman who speaks, while Teyma translates for you.
"Despite being foreign to these lands, you have done a great thing for the Snowmasks and proven yourselves true friends." She says, with a slight nod of her head. "Like Ranulf himself."
"Hiryla has asked, and the elders agreed, that you shall all become brothers and sisters of the Snowmask." She smiles slightly. "There is a sacred ritual involved, which we will perform over the next few days, should you choose to accept this rare honor. The choice is yours."
Teyma does her best to explain what will happen over the next few days, pleased that everyone seems eager to participate.
The ritual will begin right away, with a feast. This is also where the newest tale to the Snowmask's oral history will be unveiled, retelling the events of the day before and those days leading up to it.
You then will rest the remainder of the night in special huts set up just outside of town. From that point until the ritual is completed, you will divest yourselves of all possessions not of this land and are not to use any magic, or anything else, that might corrupt the ritual.
The following day you bodies and minds will be prepared while learning the oral history of the tribe.
The final day you then will be you communing with the land itself, for it apparently must accept you as well.
You wish!
The feast is a grand affair in the central meeting hall. You're pretty sure everyone puts in an appearance over the course of the evening, including the warrior you saved from the wolverine and that Phoebee charmed. He seems to get confused just being near the bard, and spends most of the evening avoiding her, though throwing the occasional glance her way throughout. You also meet the barbarian woman you defeated at the druid stones. She seems the only one in the clan to treat you as anything other then honored guests, seeming quite hostile in her interactions until she is given some sharp commands from the chieftain, at which point she leaves the proceedings. You do not see her the rest of the night.
You are told that all your food is from the land that the Snowmask call home, and hunted and collected by the members of the clan. This includes a slightly bitter drink made from a root harvested near the river that is obviously fermented to some degree.
At some point, Masym's dinosaur steaks are mentioned, and produced to some fanfare... apparently it is customary, though not required, for the guests to hunt some of the provided food for the ceremony, and the inclusion of meat you yourselves 'hunted' is seen as a good omen! Not to mention, though native to the land, the creatures are apparently quite rare without going deep beneath the earth or far into the Tusk Mountains... and quite tasty.
You are told to eat heartily, as you will be fasting for the next two days during the remainder of the ceremony.
Once the feast starts to wind down, the unveiling of the latest tale occurs to some excitement from the clan. Hiryla himself tells the story, and though he is no master storyteller to be sure, he puts a lot of emotion and hand gestures into the process, and one point waving around a stick from the fire, one end ablaze, for emphasis (you note some of the elders frowning at the display). And thus the latest tale in the history of the Snowmask clan is heard by all: The story of the invasion of the Shadow Warriors from the cursed land to the west intent on defiling the resting place of the great Ranulf Hammerhand... and of their defeat, and the recovery of Jedrek's Shard, by the Snowmask and their newest allies (aka you!) at the foot of Ranulf's tomb.
Everyone seems seems suitably entertained and pretty much every member of the clan approaches you over the course of the evening to pay their respects. Many coming up to Wei Tchak with curiosity, though he does not know what they say, it often contains the new 'nickname' Jones told him about earlier.
As the celebration draws to a close, you are told to leave all your possessions in your original lodgings, and given simple hide clothing to wear. The men's amounting to little more then a pair of short leggins, the woman the leggins and a sleeveless shirt. You are then taken to a new set of huts on the outskirts of town to rest for the remainder of the evening.
The clothes are in no way suitable for the weather, but at least the huts are heated!
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Wei Tchak smiles at those who come up to him, tries to get Jones to translate for him, but does repeat the name back to them with an emphatic nod and a big grin. He does not cast any spells during the proceedings given what they were told about doing so. He just grins at them and repeats 'falataima' and 'Thunderbird' to them.
When the commandment is given that they would fast for two days, he groans softly... Sighs and whispers, "I bet they don't know the average bird has to eat three times their body weight per day." Of course he great exaggerates, as he's not a hummingbird. "I'll manage. been through worse in training regimens... just don't have to like it, eh?"
He relieves himself of all outlander gear and dons the given 'leggins', at least glad he's got feathers to keep him a little warm, but they don't do much against this amount of cold... he's quite pleased the huts are heated.
Teyma will eventually chime in to Wei Tchak about the nickname.
"Thunderbird is not an exact translation." She notes, grinning slightly. "But close enough I suppose. Not all of our words come across into yours with ease."
She shrugs, embarrassed. "The caravans coming down off the Icestair from Tien occasionally have your people with them. But it is still rare enough that most have never seen your kind before. The word they are using is a variation of bird, more specific to that you know of as a raven, I believe. They note the similarities and tend to generalize I'm afraid."
"It is like the name they were using for your friend over there." She nods towards Malusha. "I heard you using the term Stone Bison. Again close. Though a more accurate interpretation would be something along the lines of Mountain That Stands before the Bison. It really is hard to put all the meaning of our words into yours without taking on too grand a mouthful, isn't it?" She laughs.
The next day, you are awoken early for your spiritual and physical preparation (at least that's how Jones translates what they say is in store for). As it turns out, it amounts to getting your bodies painted from head to toe and listening to everyone talk to you in Hallit.
Each of you is taken to a separate location (at this point you realize you are not to be given any footwear!), and a small team of kellids go about painting your bodies. All of you end up with the lower facial paint you've seen on all of the Snowmask to date... which you now realize is a representation of the white beard (both frost covered and aged) once born by Ranulf himself. They seem delighted that Jones has an actual beard for them to dye! (All the kellids you've met have been clean shaven)
There is some consternation from the group working with Wei Tchak. None of their inks apparently being designed to work on feathers, not to mention he doesn't really have a lower jaw like they are used to painting. But the woman assigned the task seems to take it as a challenge, and after some consultation, comes up with some new supplies that seem to do the trick. They end up painting the underside of his lower beak, and neck feathers with the white dyes causing him to seem more like some sort of magpie than raven.
Aside from the facial painting, they also use numerous inks to paint on various symbols and patterns across most of the rest of your bodies, until each of you is a dizzying array of designs in a wide array of colors. The guys will eventually notice that some of Phoebee and Nella's markings seem to carry onto portions of their skin currently covered by their shirts.
Again, Wei Tchak seems to throw the woman working on him for a loop. Though the new paints seem to work on the feathers alright, they do not allow for much detail and there's no bare skin to use the more appropriate inks on. But she rises to the challenge once more, eventually turning her inks to his beak with some excitement at the previously unknown canvas. The patterns she eventually etches there are truly stunning to behold (and, you realize later, the ink she uses turns out to be partially florescent)
Along with the patterns and symbols, each of you also gains a rather elaborate pattern that forms a focal point for the rest.
Masym has a series of fractal patterns resembling ice crystals done in some sort of silvery white ink. The pattern starts with a large crystal on his chest over his heart, then spirals clockwise around running up to his right shoulder, the crystals getting smaller as they go, then going up the side of his neck, in front of his right ear before stopping on his temple, right at the hairline.
Phoebee's is not immediately obvious, as it is covered up by her shirt when you finally see her, but will be a series of symbols and lines running from her left lower back straight up to her left shoulder blade. She can not see the patterns herself without a mirror, but when she finally does, she will realize they are musical notation, in a very ancient style, that depict a complex percussion melody of some sort.
Malusha's is a bison head on his right shoulder blade done in some sort of light grey ink that shows up well on his dark skin. The bison's head is surrounded by a halo of fire, resembling the sun, done in much brighter oranges and yellows.
You can not see the start of Nella's design, as it begins over her heart. A flock of small birds, in various colors starts there, and streak upwards to her left shoulder, then spiral down her left arm, ending at her left wrist, just over the back of her hand.
The right side of Jones' torso is covered by a elaborate white dragon, its tail and hindquarters on his lower back and left hip as it winds around and then stretches up to his chest, with its head on his left pectoral. The dragon's fanged mouth is open and breathing out an icy blast up towards his neck and face... which coincidentally seems to compliment the white dyes in his beard, reminding you all of the story he told about the attack in Whitethrone.
Only Tchak does not appear to have a special design of any sort, beyond the florescent patterns on his beak.
The application of the inks and paints take the entire day. During that time, you find yourselves in the company of many of the locals, each of whom seems to be telling you stories. Unfortunately, only Jones really understands the stories as they are told to him, as Teyma is not present for most of the day (and could not be in five places at once regardless).
Still, despite not understanding, you begin to realize that the stories, although meant to teach you, are also being used as a way to teach and train the ones telling them. Many of the storytellers are children or young adults. It is obvious, despite not understanding the words, that they are not always familiar with what they are saying, and there is an adult nearby correcting and instructing them through various sections. It turns out, each person has an assigned story to tell, and tells that same story to each of you, in turn, all of them ending on Jones as the final arbiter of their tale, the first five times practicing for the last. It would appear you are not the only ones being tested today!
You are given no food to eat, though water is provided regularly. Once evening comes, you are returned to your spartan tents to rest until the next day's activity.
The final day of the ceremony ends up being a bit of a blur.
It starts out the same, as you are woken up early, the sun just a hint on the horizon. You are taken to a new building, and ushered inside where you are greeted simultaneously by oppressive damp heat and pungent odor. It turns out to be some sort of sauna... but the steam that fills the room is infused with rather powerful scents, and you see the kellids applying various oils to the rocks before dumping water on them.
After that, things start to get a little confusing, and looking back, you suspect there were some sort of narcotic effects in play, not to mention fatigue and system shock from what came after.
For you only sit in the sauna for about an hour, before you are all herded outside into the snow. Going from the oppressive damp heat to the cold, from the strong scents of the steam to the crisp clear outside air, is like a slap to the face the first time it happens, and every time after. You are made to stand outside for almost half an hour, while one of the kellids talks at you about the local fauna, showing you the furs and hides of the creatures as he described them making sure you feel each one in turn.
Eventually, you are taken back to the sauna, thankful to warm up again, your noses assailed by a different scent this time. But again, after an hour or so, back outside you go. A different group of kellids show you some other part of the local region, making sure you interact with it with senses other then just sight. They keep you outside for even longer this time, before returning you to the welcome warmth of the sauna.
That same pattern continues throughout the day, and it proves to be exhausting.
Short stints in the saunas, each time your senses assailed by different scents and smells, then back out into the frigid outside air, where the rapid temperature differentiation sends shocks to your system. All the while, being led around the village and nearby terrain wearing nothing but the clothes provided two days before. As you go, various members of the tribe show you plants and animals and rock formations and tracks and roots and anything else they came across, making sure you feel, or smell or listen to each one. You're not sure, but you think at one point one of the men spent almost an hour pointing up at the clouds. Only Jones understands what is being said, and even he appears confused at times.
You gladly await the sun finally going down, hoping to get back to your tents and end the day. But when the sun's light finally does fade, you are led out into the snow one last time and told to wait there 'til morning. That with the rising of the new day, the ceremony would be complete.
Of course, with the setting of the sun, the temperature drops even more... and then it starts to snow.
But as the cold sets in, and the night wears on, you start to realize that you're not noticing it as much as you used to. Instead, your senses focus on the sounds of creatures off in the darkness, or the snow gentling falling from the sky, or the creaks and groans of nearby trees heavy with snow, or a million other sounds and scents and all around you.
You almost don't even notice the lightening of the sky over the Tusk Mountains to the east by the time morning arrives. Some of you are half buried in the snow that fell during the night, a few even fell asleep at some point. But come the dawn, you realize you're not even noticing the cold anymore as your senses expand to focus on other things.
Hiryla and one of the Elders is there to greet you in the morning, along with Teyma to translate.
"Welcome to the Snowmask, brothers and sisters! Our clan, and our lands accept you as one of our own!" All of them are smiling.
You are lead to the meeting hall again, and fed... before being allowed to return to your original huts and sleep!
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Over the course of the three day ceremony Nella does her best to take in everything that the Snowmasks share with her, despite having no real grasp on the language. She mainly focuses on often-repeated words and phrases that she can infer the meaning of by context and makes a mental note to ask Jones to teach her the language more thoroughly when they have the time to practice.
The artisan in her enjoys the night of tales and storytelling but she's actually moved almost to tears by the intricacy of the tattoos that are inked on her skin on the second day. "Is...is there a way to make sure these are permanent?" she whispers to Teyma at one point. "They're beautiful...a blessing from Shelyn herself. And I'd like to carry them with me always, so I never forget what happened here."[/smaller]
During the third and final day, Nella feels oddly light through much of the proceedings and at one point idly wonders if it's possible to simply float away like a leaf on the wind with no magic involved. When nightfall comes and they're left to their vigil in the snow, she spends her time alternating between watching the night sky and dancing in the falling snow to the rhythm of the land's heartbeat. However by the time that dawn comes, her memories of the previous day and night are already growing somewhat hazy. She smiles happily as their new brothers and sisters come out to greet them and enjoys spending breakfast in their company before finally being allowed to sleep.
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Tchak tries his best to understand what he's being taught, but the fuzziness in his head, makes their foreign words even harder to follow, so he lets his full sensory array take over, smelling the furs and plants, feeling them, smelling the bark of each tree and trying to understand how it's different from each of the others. He opens his beak at one point to ask Jones to translate, but then suddenly realizes that's probably a bad idea and snaps it shut again, saying nothing. Tchak simply does his best to absorb everything he can and record it to his fuzzy memory.
On the last day, after the night in the snow, (during which, despite his fascination with the whole process, he falls asleep rather early) he rises up, shaking off his blanket of snow and ice. He realizes with surprise and shock that he's not that cold. The mantle of snow flies off him in all directions as he shakes like a wet dog, pelting his fellow inductees and he mutters a quiet apology as he brushes the last snow off his feathers. He's unaware of the small pile of snow that still remains on top of his head, making him look like a white-frosted black cupcake.
He grins at the three Snowmasks who come out to greet them when he is called a brother and bobs his head up and down eagerly, dislodging the last of the snow from his head. He rolls his eyes up in surprise as if trying to see up there, then shrugs.
Food though is something he can definitely relish right now... He's famished, and eats, though not nearly as much as he thought he would after the fast. After a modest portion, he shakes his head to indicate he's done, his shrunken stomach unwilling to accept more.
He will ask Teyma during the meal, "I'd like to make these marks permanent, like the Varisians do with their tattoos... can we make that happen, please? It would be an honor to bear these marks always as a sign of my brotherhood with the Snowmasks."
If asked about the markings, Teyma will smile, happy that some would like to keep them.
"The smaller symbols serve as focus points for the ritual." She explains. "Those ones will fade away after a few days, and a washing or two. The larger designs, however, can easily be made permanent, if you desire. The inks were designed for just that, its just a matter of applying some additional reagents. Though those are quite rare, we should have enough around. Another hour or two in a chair and it can be so."
Teyma stops to converse with an older woman nearby, who Wei Tchak will recognize as the lady who did his markings. She then turns to him with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Merga says she couldn't use the normal inks on you. Apparently they wouldn't work." She studies the lines on the tengu's beak. "She said she used some experimental ones she typically uses only on rocks and wood carvings."
She shrugs apologetically. "She's not sure they will come off at all, to be honest, even if you wanted them to. So perhaps it is good you like them."
Behind her, the old woman shrugs slightly and smiles. She then says some words in Hallit, causing Teyma to frown slightly.
She then turns back to Wei Tchak, a concerned look on her face. "Apparently, the other lines, there... that seem to glow." She tosses another quick glare back at Merga who merely shrugs. "She used a compound that's usually banned. Quite dangerous if ingested or after long exposure."
"She thinks those ones will fade in a week or two though, at which point you should be fine."
She shrugs again, unsure.
"Try not to lick them until they do." She adds. "Just to be sure."