Kat grins and toss her thumb back over her shoulder. ”Tied up that bloody entitled idiot a while back. She was a bit of a s~#@ to us. Well, more than a but, really. But I’m guessing you lot know all about that yourselves from the sound of it, eh?”
"Yeah, she drew steel on us. Bad idea. Hah!"
Dervak laughs, thinking of how the fight went down.
"She said something about a... um... let's hear what the Senator has to say."
Dervak catches himself. Better to not tell them what Glower said. Might inspire them to get creative.
Theophilus lands next to Dervak.
Sounds like we are going on an expedition!
He casts his normal buffs.
The White Rabbit begins some simple stretches.
It happens just as described in any case. They look each at each other and say, "Emilo is this way." The trio lead the party to a abandoned barn just over a crest. Hiding in the hay loft is a man in fine nearly ruined clothing. They introduce the party and Emilo says, "Thank you for helping."
Dervak looks at the man. "So. Why does Glower want you?"
Mara greeted the man, "Hello there. We're trying to avoid getting involved in Galt politics, but Galt politics seems to be finding us! Are you injured?"
He says exasperated and giving up any pretense, "I've always served the people of Galt diligently and faithfully. I have no idea why the Revolutionary Council wants me dead. If it wasn't for a mysterious missive from a group calling themselves the Stardust Augurs I likely would be. They have offered me shelter within the Northern Verduran Forest if I could only reach them. I'm sorry but bandits robbed me and my people 3 days ago but I give you my word I will repay you once I can get in contact with somr associates in Taldor."
Dervak tries to get a sense of the man's honesty.
He's a lot better than he used to be at this, but still not great.
"Works for me. I don't care about Galt politics - think you are better off just getting out of that country - but my instinct is to help you. Oh and we also found that Glower serves Norgorber. So I am inclined to take anybody else's word over hers.
What do you need from us? Want to come on our ship? We are passing by Taldor. I kind of hoped to drop off Glower somewhere so she'd be found by a Taldan that lost relatives to the Final Blades. But if you have a better idea, I am open to it."
Mara consulted with Skywin, "We could keep these people separated from the Gray Gardener, hopefully keeping Glower ignorant of their presence. But ultimately, it's your ship."
"If that's all on the up-and-up, I don't see why we can't help you. Norgorberites ain't the kind to be trusted anyways."
Splendid! We need a 4th for gin!
Emilo answers, "If you could give me and mine passage. I'm to look for glowing lights on the treetops near the river." When he realizes Dervak said that Glower was captured his jaw drops open, "I... think you may have unwittingly saved my life."
Skywin says, "That pus stain called Glower is secure. I don't see a reason to keep them apart. Who know they might want to spit in her eye. Hey, Emilo you want to take her with you when get to these Augers? Let them decide what her fate is."
"I think that is an excellent idea," adds Dervak.
Mara shrugged and said to Skywin, "You're the Captain."
She addressed Emilo and his entourage, "Looks like you've got yourselves a ride!"
Emilo smiles for what looks like the first time in a while, "Thank you!"
The party descends the ivory staircase perhaps for the last time returning to the forgotten caravanserai. Instead of the oppressive heat of the sun-scorched desert you are chilled as day has turned to night. Looming overhead is a too large moon which provides illumination enough to see. Sitting on the roof of the near the collapse portion is a creature that is than an elephant, scaly and bird-like. It has a vaguely horse-like head and vast, slime-encrusted wings. Strapped to its back is an empty howdah.
Gazing at the night sky, Mara called on her mother to grant her orcish courage.
Then she tried to figure out what the strange winged creature was.
She also studied the caravanserai, looking for anything different this time, other than the time of day.
Mara has no idea what the creature is. Kat and Theo know it is a shantak, an intelligent beast native to the Dreamlands. They are sentient and can serve as mounts for people willing to negotiate terms with it. They are able to travel the void between the stars safely and can confer this ability to its riders. Kat notes that this specimen is unusually large.
She also studied the caravanserai, looking for anything different this time, other than the time of day.
Dervak looks at the giant beast with some curiosity.
"Is that how the Yellow King travels?"
He checks for the Vorpal Scimitar and prepares to enter the Caravanserai.
"We're looking to trade these gifts for answers, right? Not looking for a fight?"
Kat twists her mouth in disgust at the thought of this "Yellow King." That Lowls always was a pretentious prick. "I wouldn't turn my nose up at a fight. But I s'pose if he's a good boy and talks we won't need that."
The Yellow King titters, "I can escort you to the Mad Poet’s oasis, and you can petition him for answers. Approaching the Mad Poet without the proper collection of gifts provokes his ire; worse, he might have nothing to do with you. Good gifts for the Mad Poet are scattered throughout the Dreamlands...Once you acquire sufficient gifts, return here."
"The Yellow King is a 'part' of Lowls that we met here before. Has some of Lowls' memories but isn't him. He is going to take us to the Mad Poet's oasis."
Mara agreed, "I think we're here to go and see the Mad Prophet. We're looking for information, not a fight."
As the party makes their way through the structure they find that the spectral shopkeeper and formless spawn are no more. Nothing is left of the shopkeeper and only a greasy stain remains of the spawn. A few sets of hot weather outfits litter the caravanserai and is the only clue as to what happened.
When the party arrives at the office below where they first encountered The Yellow King they see a tall and too thin fanged man. He is immaculately dressed with a sharply peaked collar and a tall top hat. He studies a ledger and holds up a finger if you enter to forestall any interruption.
Mara stopped in front of the man's desk and waited for a moment, seeing if the man was going to pay attention to her.
While she waited, she studied him to try to fugure out what kind of creature he might be.
Dervak waits... hoping one of the others can tell him what this creature is.
If he wants us to help with the accounting in his ledger, that is not a job for me.
A pregnant pause passes as the party studies the strange man. Out of the corner of your eyes you see a flash of something terrible. Mara feel a spider nonchalantly crawl across her arm. Dervak sees a glint of steel that inexplicably reminds him of a war razor. Kat notices a patch on the flooe that at first glance looks like a pool of blood, she fears the worst for Marianne. Theo hear some one gently rapping, rapping at the chamber door.
Kat knows it is a bogeyman an evil fey that feeds on the fear of mortals. She knows little else of its capabilities.
The boogeyman addresses the party calmly, "You don't happen to be accountants or mathematicians?"
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Dervak thinks back to the last time he was here.
The office contains a low table and several dozen ledgers. The ledgers are brittle to the touch and crumble if not handled lightly, but each contains hundreds of pages of cramped handwriting. This writing is utterly indecipherable.
Dervak is fairly certain that the person who wrote the ledgers was illiterate and merely mimicking written text.
The Yellow King seizes on the ledger, "Quite the mystery wrapped in a conundrum those. I've been pouring over them trying to break their code for a year at least."
Maybe I shouldn't tell this guy that the ledger is nonsense...
Dervak calmly says "No, not my job."
Mara replied to the creepy thin man, "No, I'm afraid not. We do know someone who I think has been working on deciphering that ledger. I'll see if I can find him for you."
She started moving towards the stairs.
He replies with a cluck of his tongue, "Don't bother. Weiralai took the dream splinter to the moon-beast's prison." The amnesiacs in the room feel like they should know the name Weiralai but it doesn't come to them.
Upon viewing such a beautiful monstrous hat; the tailor drools a bit.
The White Rabbit--shakily-- hands him up a handkerchief.
Despite the thing's unsettling presence, Dervak manages to steel his nerves and talk to it.
"We need to find the dream splinter. Where can we find this prison?"
Theophilus bows low; grandly sweeping his large top hat out wide.
Theophilus Carter, at your service. Anyone smart enough to dress so fabulously has to have my sincerest compliments!
The bogeyman muses while going back to examining the text, "I have no reason to incur Weiralai's wrath so I will decline to answer. Do you have experience with an elliptic-curve ciphertext? Or perhaps Rijndael block ciphers?"
I spy with my little eye; something red.
If X is pie; where is that Prison?
Theo and Mister Wanderlust, as you've now come to know him, go over the gibberish in the ledger. After a few minutes of talking over various methods of attack for decryption Theo asks nonchalantly where the prison is. Without even thinking on it Mister Wanderlust adds with a dismissive wave of his spindly fingers, "Oh that's on the moon. You'd have to fly pretty far to get there."
Mara joined the conversation with Theo and Mr. Wanderlust, discussing various theories. She asked, "Is the Moonbeast prison in a Moonbeast town? I'd like to read up on that sometime."
Oh, why not?
Dervak takes a look over the ledger. He affects his best 'scholarly' voice.
"Have you tried holding a mirror to the page? Halfway down each line of letters? Or if you don't have a mirror, just cover the bottom half of the line and double the top half in your mind. Like so. See? So an "R" becomes a "B" for instance, if we were writing in Taldan. Try that for a while.
Can that Shantak outside take us to the moon?"
Mister Wanderlust runs through some calculations on a scrap paper of offers, "No city. But it is by a lovely little lake." He takes Dervak's suggestion playing with the text, "Fantastic idea you might be onto something. Yes, yes a shantak can take you to the moon." He continues to play with the text.
"A shantak can take us to the moon," Mara repeated. "What a good idea!"
She backed away, leaving the thin gentleman to his codework.
She follows after Mara.
”Works for me. S’pose makes sense, in a kinda dream way.”
Dervak follows along.
Eight-foot-tall walls enclose this rooftop. It looks like it once served as a private balcony. Crouching upon this balcony is a truly massive shantak wearing a howdah like a backpack. The blue-scaled beast speaks in a high-pitched voice that sounds like glass grinding against stone, ”Oh hai! I saw you pop in by the entrance and hoped you would come up here. I was starting to get lonely.”
Mara moved to a spot where she had a clear view of the night sky, and could also talk to the beast. The stars reflected in her eyes, twinkling as she spoke, "I'm terribly sorry! We were supposed to meet a friend, but is seems that he's not here. My name is Mara.
"We would like to go to the moon; would you be able to take us? We're willing to pay a fair price."
Theophilus actually seems to be enjoying the conversation with the refined gentleman. He does look a bit sad, as the White Rabbit tugs him away and back to the group.
The Mad Hatter seems to absolutely beam once confronted with the shantak!
The Shantak trundles around allowing easy access to the howdah and continues to grate on your ears, "Hop on! Weiralai told me to stay here. But it's soooo boring." The shantax starts rumbling, after a few seconds you realize its humming. Then it "sings" "Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars, ler me know what Spring is like..."