"Well, info is info, right?" Jayse mutters as he checks out the boat wreckage.
"Wait, wait - Underground???"
Jayse examines the chunk of wood with NALA_ carved into it. The type of wood, lettering, size, and even the paint is totally consistent with your initial shipwreck. This is either wreckage from an uncanny sister ship OR it is flotsam from your ship.
Ushari looks over the wreckage along with Jayse, and when he confirms the wreckage is eerily similar to the wreckage where they found each other, she nods grimly.
"Jofram, despite the fact we are underground currently, your fate is tied with ours." She offers him a wan smile, "At least, you did not find yourself adrift for several days on the open ocean, right?"
"Not that I remember - But from what I know of my past, I could have fallen from the stars."
Jofram sets about searching the area for scrub brush or dried flotsam to fuel a campfire.
Jofram collects a modest pile of the ship's wooden remains for a campfire.
Fin speaks to Straehan briefly in her liquid language before entering the water. She is gone for many minutes. When she emerges, Fin accompanies a rapid-fire commentary while gesturing at the water in one spot.
Straehan nods.
Straehan summarizes, "So, apparently, there is a wide tunnel winding down and heading West. She swam as far as she could and found no air-pockets or any signs of the outside. If we are underneath the wheat fields then that tunnel has to go 40 miles or more... So the boat wreckage being here is, hm, 'problematic'."
Straehan frowns, considering all the puzzle pieces. Having no answer to offer on the whole 'same-ship/sister-ship' conundrum, his attention turns to the shattered bow and odd tracks - which appear as a central drag furrow bracketed by odd 's' marks.
He shakes his dark head. "Damn. That looked like a really fine bow." The gnome shadows the tracks, examining them in detail.
Jofram looks at the snapped bow with a grimace,
"Yes, yes it was - pity."
His eyes are pulled to Straehan's study - with the haze and confusion of his awakening faded, Jofram examines the tracks with sharp eyes and a clear mind.
Jayse watches the water while Fin's information is translated, "Just out of curiosity, is it salt water?" Either way, he helps Jofram in gathering pieces of the boat to make a fire. Don't know if it will actually get cold in here, but I guess luck favors the prepared, right?
If/when the group begins to settle in, Jayse pulls his old reed flute out as he watches the frightened women. He begins playing a light and merry tune, something a group could dance to in better times. It's nothing special, and the flute is obviously somewhat damaged from the ride through the mud, but he perseveres none-the-less. He plays off and on throughout the evening, trying to keep everyone's spirits up, but as people drift off, his pensive mood begins to affect his playing. Once again the last few people fall asleep to a sleepy, slightly melancholy tune that seems to bounce back and build on itself in the strange under-ground water cave.
Ushari glances at the tracks, feeling a sense of unease as she contemplates the thought of what made the tracks. She looks up at the mention of the water in the cave, "If the water is not drinkable, I can use my magic to provide us with fresh water. Food however...." she shakes her head. "If there is no source of food here in this cave, then we will need to forage for food. I have a feeling whoever constructed this mausoleum did not include a well stocked larder."
When Jayse starts playing his pipes, she is struck by his attempt to bolster the spirits of the women and girls. She wishes she could help....then she remembers a scene long ago, when she once sang for...someone. Try as she might, the memory of that eluded her. Still she did know how to sing...
Soon her voice accompanies Jayse's pipe, as she sings along to the joyful melody. . She was no critic but she thought her voice sounded very good. As she drifts off to slumber, before her watch is scheduled to start, she plays a soft lullaby from Skitter to help her sleep. It complements Jayse's pipe playing perfectly (at least in her own mind).
Fortunately Fin, Jayse, Ushari, and Straehan as well as Porter were carrying about a week's worth of food to continue the chase as long as necessary... so no one will be going hungry.
One of the women approaches as you debate guard duty. "We'd like to guard too. It seems the least we can do since you saved us. We can stay awake in groups of three. We figure three sets of eyes are better than one. Maybe you can all get a full night's sleep."
Jofram joins in with Jayse and Ushari, singing the words that come to him, and humming the tune when they don't. For the first time, he lets himself feel his body's weariness - the battles and his time in the water took their toll, and sleep beckons him like a siren's song. Shaking off his drowsiness, he offers to tend Straehan and Jayse's injuries. His rudimentary first aid is remarkably effective, reducing pain and mending cuts and bruises inexplicably. His work done, Jofram stands up and stretches sore muscles. Managing to stifle a yawn, he announces, "I volunteer for first watch."
Jofram walks the tracks with Straehan. While he doesn't have any idea what kind of creature made the odd prints, he divines the pattern in their movement. The creature exited the water, dropping off Jofram and his goods, proceeded halfway up the beach, turned around and retreated back into the water.
From the frown on the gnome's face, Jofram can see he knows more about the creature that made the prints. The small sorcerer stares out at the water for a time. "I believe we are safe here for the 'night' but this..." he points at the tracks, "doesn't make me happy at all."
As the heroes settle down by the fire for the evening, and Jofram begins healing his new allies, Straehan tucks his robes around his knees and broaches the subject of the tracks as if telling a tale.
"Long ago, before the Elves and even before the Shaudran, there were intelligent races. One of the smartest and oldest were the Aboleth - a strange, deep-oceanic, fish-like race. They were, or are, unbelievably arrogant. It is said they consider themselves the true masters of this plane - greater even than the gods."
"What we know about them is they come to the surface periodically to collect prisoners and food, which are sometimes the same thing. Exposure to the slime of their bodies, enables their captives to breathe water. They are also powerful wizards and can enslave the minds of their victims as well as their bodies. Once captured, their prisoners are taken down to their underwater cities to be slaves or meals."
He points a slender finger at the long furrow in the beach. "Those are the tracks of an Aboleth and there are remnants of slime as well. It seems clear that Jofram was brought here by it...
How long was he in their thrall? Who can say.
Did they erase his memories? Maybe, I don't know.
Why was he released and brought here? Unknown.
Given our similar 'arrival' in the ocean, were we prisoners of the Aboleth as well? Possibly."
Ushari stares at Straehan as if he grew a third eye on his head. "I am sorry, but even if assuming your theory is true, that does not explain WHY these aboleth would take an interest in us." She sighs, "If I was some ultra powerful being who has the powers of an archwizard, and I have taken human prisoners, I do not see any reason to release us. Assuming they were finished with us, they would have just eaten us. As for escaping..." She shakes her head, "since you say the aboleth slime is required to breath underwater, then it would be easy to prevent our escape."
She is silent for a moment, then something occurs to her. "The only way we could have escaped their clutches is if someone freed us. The only being I know of who has taken an interest in us is The Grey Lady."
Straehan smiles. "I don't have a theory - just possibilities and questions. For instance, even if we were captured by the Aboleth, I doubt they brought us all here - powerful wizards or not."
Straehan ponders the evidence, "We've been pulled from different locations, planes, and worlds. Jayse and Fin recall the ocean so they might have run across the Aboleth... but us? I don't see it. Ushari, your city is on a lake not the ocean and the spot I came from is all but landlocked. Jofram recalls a city... but I suppose that could have been on the sea. The point being, if the Aboleth were looking for slaves or food there are plenty of folks they could grab sitting on the shores of any island without having to roam hundreds of miles inland or bagging us from different planes and stars."
"The only way we could have escaped their clutches is if someone freed us. The only being I know of who has taken an interest in us is The Grey Lady."
Straehan idly handles a piece of the hull, pressing it into the sand; The carved letters leave their stamp in the malleable surface. "I'm not sure it's the only explanation but your idea seems reasonable, particularly if she brought us here in the first place."
Jayse pulls his pipe from his lips, his eyes fixated on the piece of the boat Straehan has pressed into the sand. "Is that the same piece of the ship that floated ashore with us? Whether it is or it isn't, at the very least it speaks to the intentionality of our coming together. If it is the same piece of wood, then I'd guess they're sending us a message... we're here together for some specific reason."
After a few moments of thinking on that, the pipe goes back to his lips, picking the tune back up. After only a short few notes, he stops abruptly, "Uhari, something you said earlier just came to mind. You said we're likely to run into a Crypt Thing. I have no idea what that is... or more importantly, hwo to be prepared in case it's aggressive. What do you know about it? And how do we fight it if it comes to that?"
Once again, the tune begins softly - low enough that the conversation can play over the top.
Ushari recalls what she remembers of the strange guardians known as Crypt thing. After a few moments, she responds "Well, Jayse, they are created as guardians of tombs by powerful spellcasters, and they NEVER leave their appointed room, not even to pursue their enemies. As we have seen, it has the ability to teleport its foes to different locations simultaneously." She pauses, and then finishes up, "I think the best way to fight it is to avoid it, since it won't leave its lair. Should we need to fight it, it is typical of undead for its type. Sooo, we should be able to slay it...but I do recall, there was something else with it as well..."
Jayse looks up, "'typical of undead for its type'... what does that mean? Ya know, in terms that us unenlightened boobs can understand?"
"Ooohh, right. Well, since it is skeletal in form, bludgeoning weapons would be most effective against it."
Jayse raises his eyebrows with a 'now that's good to know' look while he continues playing softly
Jayse pulls his pipe from his lips, his eyes fixated on the piece of the boat Straehan has pressed into the sand. "Is that the same piece of the ship that floated ashore with us? Whether it is or it isn't, at the very least it speaks to the intentionality of our coming together. If it is the same piece of wood, then I'd guess they're sending us a message... we're here together for some specific reason."
The gnome's eyebrows pop up. "Well, Jayse, you aren't just another pretty face, are you?" He chuckles and holds up the spar of timber. "I've been wondering about the wood myself - from our wreck or both wrecks, if there were two. You had to have pretty sharp eyes to recognize this wood is identical or nearly identical to ours. It's a clue that could have been easily missed. So, if someone wanted us to know this meeting wasn't accidental, why not seal the deal by putting the same name on it? We've been hunting after the _DORIA not the NALA_."
Jofram grins at the back-and-forth between Jayse and the gnome. "Or perhaps the Naladoria? Or perhaps it is just coincidence - two similar ships destroyed on a popular trade route? Who knows?"
Ushari nods quietly, "That sounds as reasonable as anything I have heard so far. Still the question remains...WHO gathered us together...and WHY?"
After Jofram says 'Naladoria' and Ushari asks her questions, the flickering of the fire stops - the flames frozen in time. An overwhelming scent of lavender fills the cave. Mist and fog emerge from the rock, sand, and sea. It eddies, pools, and coalesces across the beach, flowing between the still figures. As you look around, you see the women and even Fin as if they are caught in amber - utterly unmoving. For Jayse, Ushari, and Straehan it is somewhat familiar... only the last time it happened a host of goblins were frozen.
The movements of the mist gain purpose, circling the heroes' campfire. From the spinning cloud of thickening fog steps the Grey Lady. She is far more real than you've seen her previously. No longer 16' high and mostly mist, this woman seems far more real. She is little more than 6' tall and her robe billows in a light, unfelt wind with the hem fading in and out of corporeal existence. The woman herself is light-skinned with silver hair and grey eyes. She is pretty but not overwhelming and there is a vaguely non-human cast to her features. It seems she is a mix of races but you'd be hard pressed to figure out which ones.
She steps lightly across the sand to your group, her hands clasped together in a posture that is meant to assure you she offers no threat. Her voice is as light as her tread.
"I've waited a very long time for my name to be uttered by mortal lips again. I nearly despaired of it happening... Thank you." She smiles at Jofram and points to his gauntlet. "I repay my debts. So as a small measure of my thanks, Name-Caller, you should know that a bow can be conjured from that gauntlet when you wish it so."
She extends her smile to the rest of the group, "I am no less grateful to you all... though my gift to you is perhaps less impressive. My sight is limited but I see no further guards in the nearby treasure room."
Debts paid, the Grey Lady regards the group. "Now, for questions and answers. I have but a little time here so we must speak quickly. What questions you have, I will answer - if I'm allowed."
Ushari stares at the familiar form of the Grey Lady, and instinctively drops to a knee, head bowed. ”Thank you for giving us ALL a second chance.”
She rises and looks into her unearthly grey eyes, ”You can see we all have many questions we would like answered, but I believe many of those will be answered during our journey of self-discovery.” She smiles. ”Still, I would like to know who is interred in this necropolis we are trapped in.”
The song dies immediately when everyone around them freezes, and he watches as the Grey Lady presents herself. Jayse is unnaturally still, only his eyes move when Ushari drops to a knee.
Self-discovery my a$$...
He waits for the answer, using the time to form up his own questions. When the opportunity presents itself, he doesn't waste a second, "Who and what are you? And is it you that decided to bring us together? And to what end?"
Naladoria seems briefly uncomfortable. "Up, please. You don't need to take a knee to me. I'm not a Divinity anymore, and you have a deity who might not appreciate the gesture." She gives Ushari a reassuring smile, "Your question is surprising. Weren't you just asking WHO and WHY with such urgency?"
She gives the blonde cleric a wink, "But I'll answer your question if you are too shy to ask the other one... this is the tomb of a wizard, architect, and adventurer named Trolohain. He had a long-standing rival and feared his tomb would be plundered so he hid it in the middle of nowhere and filled it with guards to thwart his rival wizard as well as more common grave-robbers."
She smiles at Jofram and points to his gauntlet. "I repay my debts. So as a small measure of my thanks, Name-Caller, you should know that a bow can be conjured from that gauntlet when you wish it so."
Jofram looks down at his gauntlet, trying to fathom such a concept - Just summon a bow by.. how, exactly?
Debts paid, the Grey Lady regards the group. "Now, for questions and answers. I have but a little time here so we must speak quickly....
Impressed, yet unswayed by the gifts of magic and knowledge, Jofram remains suspicious of this mystical being. "Who are we, and why are we here? What happened to my memories? Did you take them from us, and bring us here?"
Ushari nods in acknowledgement of Naladoria’s response. She waits for Jayse (and anyone else) to ask his question and once the Grey lady has responded, she adds: ”Well, I would not say it is a matter of shyness, more of being afraid of what the answers may be.” she sighs, ”Still, I do have questions about my…parents. I would like to know what happened to my mother…and my father.”
The Grey Lady gives the monk a broad smile of approval. "Good! You don't disappoint, Jayse. Mind if I sit?"
Without waiting on a response, Naladoria plops down on the sand, resting on her elbows. Only the lack of a serious butt-imprint makes it clear that she is only partially there.
"So let me answer your questions in a roundabout way... You know my name now. I can't repeat it. That would cut this conversation very short and draw attention I can't afford. As for what I am, I'm an exile and a forgotten deity - a minor one at best in my day but considerably less now. Did I bring you together? Yes, guilty as charged. I'm sorry that didn't work out quite the way I had planned. I didn't know that forces would deployed to thwart me or that they'd be so effective."
"As to my 'ends', the nut of it is this... I want out of exile. I want back in the game... and I want you to help me do it."
"And our memories?"
She looks apologetic. "The Aboleth or their masters have your memories."
"Thank you for giving us ALL a second chance."
"Who are we?"
The Grey Lady's brow furrows in thought, "These are complex questions. I haven't given you a second chance really - just altered your first chance. You have each done evil acts and were walking paths of infamy, slated to do far worse. I observed your futures and saw they were dark but you were not yet wholly committed to them. By interceding and bringing you here, you have an opportunity to choose different paths but that is, to be honest, incidental to my purpose. I needed iconoclastic people who might choose to help me. Law-abiding, entirely up-right people don't choose to bring exiled deities back into the world. As for 'who you are', you will have to decide that for yourself. Murderers, Saints, or Thieves - the choices are yours."
She looks apologetic. "The Aboleth or their masters have your memories."
"You have each done evil acts and were walking paths of infamy, slated to do far worse... I needed iconoclastic people who might choose to help me. Law-abiding, entirely up-right people don't choose to bring exiled deities back into the world. As for 'who you are', you will have to decide that for yourself. Murderers, Saints, or Thieves - the choices are yours."
"Then what do you know of my past, and of these crimes you speak of? And what of your crimes - for what were you exiled?"
Naladoria answers his challenge matter-of-factly, "An exiled deity is still a power to some extent. The book of your life, from your set past to what is now your uncertain future, are open to my reading. It was for your past and the cusp upon which you stand right now, that I brought you here. I could tell you the number of platinum ingots in the bag you bounced in your hand or the black deed that caused them to be there, if need be."
She gives him a grim smile at the mention of her crimes. "My crime, the only one deities are err to, was complacency. Becoming and being a deity is a strange existence. In the first few millenia after you are touched by divinity you struggle to prove yourself worthy, testing yourself against threats to the world, seeking more followers, and reaching equilibrium with the other gods. Once those boundaries are set, you coast along, satisfied that all is right in your world. You get complacent. And you forget that just as you rose to divinity, others rise too. After a time, new beings become divine and they challenge you. There are a finite number of worshippers after all. Sometimes whole pantheons spring up to challenge the existing order. Then the gods struggle and war. Those that lose choose oblivion or exile - to be discarded and forgotten. I am one of those."
She gives him a grim smile at the mention of her crimes. "My crime, the only one deities are err to, was complacency. Becoming and being a deity is a strange existence. In the first few millenia after you are touched by divinity you struggle to prove yourself worthy, testing yourself against threats to the world, seeking more followers, and reaching equilibrium with the other gods. Once those boundaries are set, you coast along, satisfied that all is right in your world. You get complacent. And you forget that just as you rose to divinity, others rise too. After a time, new beings become divine and they challenge you. There are a finite number of worshippers after all. Sometimes whole pantheons spring up to challenge the existing order. Then the gods struggle and war. Those that lose choose oblivion or exile - to be discarded and forgotten. I am one of those."
Ushari responds slowly, ”So, what you are saying is these forces who deposed you from the ranks of Divinity are the same forces that are opposed to us?”
Naladoria shakes her head. "I know no deity who counts the Aboleth among their worshippers... but I have been gone a very long time. Since your god has not seen fit to withhold spells from you, Ushari, I assume he doesn't care what I am trying to do. I don't know who seeks to bar my return. Even were I able to come back, I pose little threat to any in this pantheon."
Jofram[/smaller]]Impressed, yet unswayed by the gifts of magic and knowledge, Jofram remains suspicious of this mystical being.
"Naladoria - the Grey Lady"[/smaller]]
Appeased by her strait-forward answer, Jofram focuses on the Grey Lady's goal to return from exile. "So how do we go about your return? How can mortals affect the affairs of divinity?"
Jofram focuses on the Grey Lady's goal to return from exile. "So how do we go about your return? How can mortals affect the affairs of divinity?"
Naladoria looks notably relieved. "You've already spoken my name, that's a first step. The rest of the task will require you to be more experienced and well-equipped before I'll risk your lives on my behalf. So, for the time being, do as you will. When you are ready, I'll ask you to recover an artifact of mine from bygone days. It is locked in a Shaudran keep and those aren't to be trifled with."
Nala addresses a comment that had been lost in the exchange. "Ushari, your mother lives in Crux still. Your father traveled far and wide, whether running from or to something, I cannot say. Chasing fortunes, his greed drove him into Oxex. There he is trapped, amid the shifting realities of that curious place."
She looks to the unusually quiet gnome and the contemplative monk, clearly soliciting their questions.
Nala addresses a comment that had been lost in the exchange. "Ushari, your mother lives in Crux still. Your father traveled far and wide, whether running from or to something, I cannot say. Chasing fortunes, his greed drove him into Oxex. There he is trapped, amid the shifting realities of that curious place."
Ushari stares at Naladoria and is quiet for a moment. Her hand unconsciously strays to touch Skitter, her only link to him. Finally she speaks in a near whisper, ”Thank you for that information.”
Jayse sat listening to the words of this mysterious woman. The group had asked many of his questions, and when she turned to him specifically, he had only a few left.
The first was obvious, at least to his mind. "So you say we were all in the hands of the aboleths... were we their captives by happenstance and the choices we made in our lives? Or was that captivity orchestrated as well?" He thinks a few moments before continuing, "And you've somewhat answered our questions about who or what you are, but how do we know we can trust you?"
The third question is harder to find the words for. Ushari had felt a similar need, and Jofram had asked the heart of it. Who am I? A murderer? A destroyer? An assassin? But she had pretty much shown that she wouldn't give specifics... that she thought who he was mattered little now that his course had been reset. But the question bothered him still. Who was he before? Finally he can put some words to the question. It may not be the full answer, but it may be a start. "Where was I born? Specifically. And to whom?" Idly he turns his pipe in his fingers.
"So you say we were all in the hands of the aboleths... were we their captives by happenstance and the choices we made in our lives? Or was that captivity orchestrated as well?"
"My powers are limited but strongest on the ocean. I sent all of you to a ship, then I rested. The Aboleth intercepted you almost immediately. They sank your vessel and dragged all the passengers down. It seems that you five were separated from the rest and hidden by powerful magics I could not penetrate. Those seem more than coincidental... so, yes, I think it was orchestrated."
"Where was I born? Specifically. And to whom?"
She closes her eyes briefly, "You are the child of Herune and Moon Akechi, fisher-folk of the village of Artoum, on the shores of Bolline. Your village is no more than a dozen miles from the temple where you were trained. Your mother still lives in Artoum. Your father died a few years ago." Everything she says rings as familiar in Jayse's ears like it was on the tip of his tongue already. He has no doubt she has spoken the truth. Every name she drops conjures familiar images for him - of swimming off the shores of his village, getting into trouble with Tengu kids, and fleeting images of his sun-baked mother and weathered looking father.
He thinks a few moments before continuing, "...how do we know we can trust you?"
She thinks awhile on this, running her toes through the sand. She can offer only one conclusion. "I could perhaps argue that by admitting I brought you here for selfish reasons, not to give you all a 'second chance', that I'm displaying honesty you can trust even if my motivations weren't altruistic... but that could be a ploy on my part. Or I could suggest that you could evaluate the quality of my character based on the fact that I have given you great power and tools while demanding nothing in return. But again, that could be a ploy or a way to make you feel indebted.
In the end, I have no way to prove you can trust me. You will have to let your instincts guide you on this. You will either trust me or not and help me or not. The choice is yours. Free will is a b!tch."
The gnome is unusually quiet, clearly thinking. He asks an innocuous question. "So you brought the five of us together... why then is Fin frozen and not in this conversation? Also, why was Jofram held longer than the rest of us?"
She gives the small sorcerer sitting nearby a rueful smile. "As I said, free will is a b!tch. Findelgwing's eyes have always strayed to her home-world. She has decided to return there as soon as she may. Her choice made, I saw no point in asking for her help.
"As for Jofram, I have no idea why he was held longer or released here... seemingly in your path."
Silence sits around the unwavering campfire. Naladoria cocks her head after a moment as if hearing a distant sound. "I must go. I've stayed too long already... but it has been nice to sit on a beach and talk." She looks at Jayse but speaks to the group, "I hope you'll choose to help me. I'll try to assist you as I may... but empowering you has cost me much. Even this conversation is taxing. Look to your dreams, I may appear there. Goodbye for now."
The Grey Lady vanishes along with the roiling fog. The campfire begins crackling once again and the quiet conversations of the women resume as if they never stopped.
As the lady disappears, and the world returns to normal, Jayse is just about to put his pipe back to his lips when a though strikes him. He leans forward, his tone pitched at a whisper, "You know… now might be a good time to consult Isolde if we still have her box. I just don't know how much to trust the gray lady, regardless of how much she has seemingly done for us. She may know something of her story that could be useful."
She closes her eyes briefly, "You are the child of Herune and Moon Akechi, fisher-folk of the village of Artoum, on the shores of Bolline. Your village is no more than a dozen miles from the temple where you were trained. Your mother still lives in Artoum. Your father died a few years ago."
Ushari bows her head, whispering "I...I am sorry Jayse."
She gives the small sorcerer sitting nearby a rueful smile. "As I said, free will is a b!tch. Findelgwing's eyes have always strayed to her home-world. She has decided to return there as soon as she may. Her choice made, I saw no point in asking for her help.
As Ushari watches the Grey Lady disappear, and once normal time has resumed her gaze is involuntarily drawn to Fin who has apparently abandoned any chance to find a new family to replace the one which was stolen from her. Still, the lure of your homeland can be a strong one...
When Jayse mentions the box to communicate with their friend Isolde, she nods decisively at Jayse. "I think that is a very good idea. If we find out more of the Grey Lady, then we may learn more of those who oppose her...and us now.
She unpacks the precious box from her pack, and motions to Jayse to move to a more private location. She hands the box to him saying "Would you like to start, Jayse?"
Jofram eyes the strange box curiously, unsure of what to expect next. "You folk are full of surprises. Who is this Isolde?"