"Parity is right, if we don't disturb them maybe they won't disturb us."
Any more than they have.
Maeve just sighs in relief. "I thought so, but I wanted to be sure they weren't paying attention..."
You stand down and aside. Your drivers and Sandru make warding gestures, but the apparitions continue their march unperturbed. They reach the front wagon and pass straight through. The horses whine, but seem unharmed by the incorporeal spirits. Up close, though their forms are indistinct, you can see they are all wearing hooded cloaks, heads bowed, and hold eight-starred symbols in each hand.
"Come on, let's get this damn caravan moving."Parity barks gruffly.
"...and you know, even with a scare like that..." Maeve finally lets out the breath she was holding. "...still better than the best plan I could come up with for getting through an enemy-controlled pass with a fortification."
"Still not convinced about your enemy-controlled pass conspiracy theory, but that storm sure as hell wasn't going to let us through" Parity grudgingly admits.
Heng silently watches the spirits pass and then turns to Koya. "Tata, were those spirits on their final journey to the Desna?"
Koya watches the apparitions pass in fascinated silence. To Heng's question, she nods. "It appears to be so. The Song of the Spheres plays loudly in this place. I can guess that those who took the pilgrimage left their mark when they passed... or perhaps they died before finishing, and their spirits carry on the journey, in an eternal afterlife."
"Is...is there anything we can do for them?"
Maeve shrugs. "There may not be anything to do. They ignored us, so we can't show them any sort of different path. And that's assuming that was anything more than an echo, in which case all we're seeing is a reflection of events that happened. Plus, well, they're headed back the way we came, I really doubt we want to go that way just now. I don't like it, but. . . "
"I hate ghost."
After resting for a few hours, the caravan resumes travel through the underground passage. The tunnel remains passable, but you are slaves to its natural bends, slopes and narrows, slowing your progress at times. The ancient nomads only delved when required, and used the much of the original faults, rifts and cave systems.
During the day's travel, you encounter two more groups of apparitions. Other than unnerving your crew, they cause no harm and pass silently by. Along the way, you also encounter way markers, small cairns, and shrines dedicated to the Desna incarnation. Koya makes a point to stop for a momentary prayer at each of these.
Late in the day, the air starts to grow noticeably colder once more. The long underground road changes suddenly, becoming clearly worked. The floors and walls are smoothed and decorated with faded cave paintings of starry skies, colorful auroras, and pale shades marching along a path. Regularly spaced hewn stone pillars decorated with star carvings stand on either side of the tunnels. Atop each pillar is a butterfly statuette, facing north.
A short time later, the passage opens into a large cavern, split by a wide crevasse. A carved bridge spans the gap. At each end, stone pillars support a flat lintel, carved with star-shaped niches set with gold butterfly statues. On either side of the far lintel, a dusty portal of stone marks one face of an angular tower built into the rock, with narrow slit windows overlooking the bridge.
Skygni sniffs and emits a low growl, hackles raised. "There is a pack here," he warns.
Maeve briefly studies the pictograms, then throws up her hands. "For all I know, they're directions to a grove of fruit trees. Ulf, can you make sense of this?"
Linguistics:
Ulf ponders the symbols for a minute and shakes his head. "No idea, lass. Pretty ancient... I can't make out the meaning."
"A pack? Of what?" Parity responds to the wolf.
"A pack? Of what?" Parity responds to the wolf.
"I do not know... something musky. Their scent is strong in this place.
"Well let's be ready."
Harlan makes sure his crossbow is loaded and ready for action.
Maeve sighs. "Guessing it's too much to hope for that we're due a non-hostile face, even if it does have masses of sharp, pointy teeth."
Parity casts resist cold,keen edge, and see invisibility before joining the others.
At the bridge, Sandru slows everything down to make sure each wagon gets safely over, but it will take ten to fifteen minutes per wagon. While he and the drivers manage that task, you press into the next area.
A strange pillar, seeming almost a bare-branched tree, stands in the center of this arching cavern in the midst of a pool of still water. A faint violet radiance from beneath the pool lights the cavern, reflecting off the ceiling above like tiny stars. An arched hall of worked stone, thirty feet wide and forty high, continues to the north To the northwest, a smooth natural passage slopes upward.
Beyond the stone tree, a gilded door engraved with Desna's image stands in the southern wall. Much of the gilt on its outer surface has been scraped off, but a flickering light gleams from the edges of the door. A withered corpse lies before the door.
"Hey guys? There's a hairy man thing over there in the northwest tunnel. That's probably what Skygni smells."
Harlan will continue to look at the door so as not to alert the man.
"I bet touching that door is bad."
"That's a 'yeti' Harlan. They're really rare. They're also usually found in cold, icy, stormy places." Maeve says slowly. "I wonder what he's doing..."
"Weeeelll...this is a cold, icy, stormy place. He probably just lives here. Maybe he's friendly?"
Harlan will turn towards the hirsute beastie.
"Hello! We mean you almost no harm! If you don't try to eat me we'll be nice to you!"
Once it is noticed, the yeti turns away and disappears up the northwest passage.
|
His attention called to the retreating creature, Heng reflects, "Perhaps they are reclusive. This environment would certainly facilitate that." He speaks to the NW passage, "Do not worry, we will soon be gone and you may have your mountains and storms to yourself."
To the others he encourages, "Let us continue westward while we can."
Maeve nods. "Try not to make any threatening moves unless attacked. Weapons away, I think."
Malnival shakes his head and keeps going.
"That's probably what Skygni smells."
Skygni sniffs in that direction. "It was indeed. The reek is much stronger from that tunnel."
Maeve thinks about this, then nods. "Right. Skygni, are your senses sharp enough to have a good chance of detecting an ambush?"
The wolf blinks at Maeve, "Perhaps, if they wait upwind. But there's no wind down here, and the entire place stinks of them."
"Damn. That would have been helpful. Guess there's nothing we can do but be cautious then. I don't think they'll be looking for a fight with this many people, but if they feel threatened it will probably come to that."
As the wagons start to slowly filter into the stone tree chamber, you press forward into the western passage. Not far in, the floor begins a steady slop upwards to the west. Numerous small side passages branch out from the main corridor to your left and right. Inside, you can see hundreds of burial niches carved into the rock walls of these catacombs. The main passage continues straight and up for several hundred yards.
"This seems...reasonably straightforward," Maeve comments slowly. "Koya, did you want to take stock of the burial effects?"
Koya gives Maeve a wide smile, nodding. "I am curious... very curious to learn about these ancients, and how Desna was worshiped in their time." She gives a small shrug, "But perhaps its better if we leave the dead to their rest. We have more pressing business ahead. But, when this affair in Minkai is finished, I would be happy to return here with you, and explore more thoroughly."
Maeve grins. "Well, I'm certainly curious. But I guess you're right, we're almost somewhere with warm sunshine."
Parity signs the spiral of Pharasma and moves on, shuddering.
"I agree, let's not borrow trouble."
Those yeti might be bad enough. I hope they're not after my goat chili recipe!
Malnival shakes his head as he looks towards the tunnels. "Have I mentioned I hate the undead?"
The main corridor opens into a wide cavern, its ceiling soaring into darkness overhead. The floor plummets into a deep crevasse to the north, while to the south a broad switchback road climbs steeply to a distant tunnel mouth. In the center of the cavern, columns topped by butterfly statuettes surround an octagonal dias. Age-worn steps lead to the top of the dias, where a stone seat rests between the tusks of a bull mastodon skull, a Tian-style banner draped over the top like a canopy.
Sitting on the throne is a massive yeti, built like a savage man but covered in thick white fur. His eyes glitter red in the light, and his visage shows ill-concealed hatred. This one wears heavy studded armor and exudes an air of contempt and command. Two female yeti consorts sit below the throne.
As you enter the chamber, the yeti stands and speaks in Common. "Your caravan has come many miles, bypassed many dangers, to reach Minkai. Too bad you will die, so close to your goal, here before Bormurg's throne!"
"Beware," Skygni warns. "I smell many of the yeti nearby."
Maeve blinks, then slowly cocks her head and frowns. "And just what does Bormug have to say about this?" she asks, seemingly completely out of the blue. "...although, I suppose I can guess. Most spirits are limited to the place of their demise in some fashion. The more intelligent, the more likely to be limited. And possessing a powerful fighter to supplement a will unsuited to physical combat is a move we've seen before. Isn't it, Katiyana?" She turns her glance straight upward, addressing the ceiling or, perhaps, the storm beyond as if it can hear her from here. Maybe she thinks it can. She might even be right. "Another mephit? Or something stronger this time?"
Maeve blinks in obvious surprise for a moment at Heng's declaration, but then nods. "Of course. Sorry, that was stupid on my part." She looks down. "But Katiyana. . . there's one thing you didn't count on."
The yeti chieftain emits a low growl and his eyes flare with rage. "You will be undone! Die in Sithhud's name, and The Hungry Storm will feed on your souls!" Katiyana's voice becomes clearer as she gives up the pretense. The yeti then roars, the mighty sound echoing throughout the chamber. He shouts out a battle cry in Aklo, and a host of yeti spring up from the crevasse and charge to attack.
Maeve just shakes her head. "The same trick won't work twice! Heng, beat her down. Everyone else, keep them off us as best you can, and try not to hurt them too much!"