Deciding to leave Kizza behind, Captain Piers and Terra head towards the front gate. Two guards stand at attention, their silver helmets, in the shape of dragons, glistening in the sunlight. Upon their shields and tabard is the symbol of a golden trident head on a blue field, sunbeams emanating towards the edges. The older guard looked at the Captain and said, "Halt! What business do you have in Argo?"
"Just passing through on Council business, we need a place to resupply and rest," Piers calls out.
As they approach the gates Terra allows the captain to guide her as she seems by the casual observer to be blind.
Once questioned Terra makes no motion to indicate that she can see where the guards are at. though she can sense their locations and their movements.
Please sir allow us to pass, I am hungry, we have been on the road for quite some time
Looking closely at the two of you, the guard responds, "Are you the only ones? If you're not, you'll want to bring your companions in. It's not safe on the plains at this time."
Piers looks back and whistles sharply to the others, waving them forward.
Both of the guards eyes went wide upon seeing Kizza, and put their spears in a ready position.
"You call? How Kizza serve?" He asked.
The older guard could not contain his surprise, "What foul sorcery is this?" He demanded.
"Nice sorcery." Doran strides forward, somewhat resplendent in his new robe of ash and embers. "We found a trinket that belonged to one of the Seven Heroes; it taught our friend Kizza here to talk." He grins at the guards. "She'll be no danger, we vouch for her." He turns his head back towards the ant and adds "Sorry for speaking for you, but I suspect these fellows will believe someone with the same number of appendages more."
"More importantly, official Council sorcery," Piers said, falling back into the commanding officer routine. He was a captain, if he wanted to pull rank then he could have these guards scrubbing latrines. He adjusted his cloak so that his rank was clearly visible to the guardsmen.
"The Council has no authority here. Where were they when our city was destroyed by the Void Raiders? And where was there support for the last hundred years while we fought those monstrosities off?" The younger guard replied in anger.
"Easy boy, everyone has lost something to that tower. Had to leave more than a few of my brothers to rot at the base of it," Piers said. "Can I speak to your commanding officer? I need to explain what I can."
Placing a hand on the young one's shoulder, the older guard says, "Calm down Stephon." Turning back to the Captain, he continued, "Certainly, you may see the our Commander. However that, ant, stays out here. For its own safety."
He escorts you to the garrison and the Commanders office, walking through the city, you notice that several people stare at you incredulously as you pass. Knocking on the door, you here a voice respond, "Come in." Opening the door, you see a large mahogany desk with a large chair facing away from the door. It slowly turns to reveal an older gentleman with a shaved head, a long grey beard, six red dots in two parallel lines down his forehead, and a rather horrid burn scar on the right side of his face. His white robes frayed at the end of the sleeves and covered by the guard tabard the other guards wear.
The Commander takes one look at Captain, smiles and says, "Well, well, well, Captain Makepiece, welcome to my little paradise in Carda. How is the Council, still sending trusting fools to their deaths?"
"Politics as usual, Li, they stuck me with a bunch of academics and ordered us on a fact-finding mission. So you're a commander now?" He said with a wry smile. Jung Li, the ever ambitious. Looks like he had managed to carve out what he had long coveted.
"Yes, yes I have. Your little 'fact-finding' mission wouldn't happen to include looking for....." Opening a drawer and reached inside, "This, perhaps?" And pulls out a golden amulet that resembles a hydra's head.
"I don't suppose you're just going to hand it over, eh?" Piers said, studying the amulet from a far.
"When have you ever known me to just hand you something Piers? This isn't like your promotion, you're going to need to earn it." Jung Li responded with a slightly sadistic smile.
"And what do you need done?" Piers said patiently. His expression had turned stormy though and something was on the horizon of his mind.
Li's grin widens, "I suppose you heard the plains are not safe as of late, correct?"
"I gathered as much," Piers said, setting his greatsword against Li's desk, likely so he would not be tempted to use it on Li.
"We have an understanding then." Li said as he replaced the amulet back in his desk. "Now then, you and your companions must be tired after such a long journey. I'll have rooms arranged for you at the inn. Tomorrow, you'll head north and deal with the issue. If you return, I'll give you the amulet and you calls us even. Deal?"
"What issue Li?" Piers said quietly, fixing his single eye on his former rival. "You know me, Li. I look before I leap."
"Oh nothing you can't handle, just a cultist enclave protected by a few creatures normally seen in Void Tower Raiding groups." Jung Li responded.
"...hmm?"
The rest having gone in, Doran sits in the dust twiddling his thumbs next to Kizza, slightly between her and the wary guards. After a long trip of walking and talking, the chance to rest makes him oddly restless. After rubbing his forehead, picking his nails, blowing his nose and standing on his head a few times, his hands idly search through his new robe, stop, and carefully pull out a few carelessly folded and creased sheets of ancient parchment. Making to throw them away, Doran pauses, then opens and reads them.
"...huh."
A labyrinthine mess of lettering in the Ancient Script and in Draconic appears, punctuated with arcane symbols and careful diagrams and tiny drawings written with a careful and steady handy.
"...I know this. Huh."
Carefully tracing a few of the symbols with his fingers and gaze, Doran rapidly cycles through the pages again and again, brow furrowed. After a full ten minutes of study, he reaches into his backpack and pulls out a tiny and still sealed bottle of ink. He looks around between Kizza and the guards, and proffers a grin."[/b]
"Got a pen?"
Terra remaind outside with Doran. keeping quiet feeling the dirt between her toes. enjoying the feel of the earth.
at Doran's request for a pen Terra speaks up, not realizing he probably wasn't addressing her.
Sorry, I don't read, or write. she says somberly, a bit embarrassed by this fact.
"Fine," Piers said, "I'll talk to the others." Claiming his sword he stalked back out to where the others idled.
"I've got some good news and some bad news gang," he said.
His experiments at sprouting claws from his wrists and drawing at the dust and dragging inked fingertips along his blank piece of parchment having failed, Doran has returned to pouring over the pieces of paper by the time the Captain returns. He looks up occasionally, and nods to the Captain when he arrives and speaks, but otherwise gives no response.
"These things are never easy are they? Let's hear it then."
"Good news is that I found the amulet. Bad news is that it is held by an old friend of mine and I use the term 'friend' very loosely. He wants us to clear out a nest of cultists in the area. Apparently, they're using Void Beasts as watchdogs," Piers sighed and rubbed his temples.
"This sounds bad to me, Commander Jung Li is not exactly the most forgiving sort and never forgave me for saving his life and taking command of the Hodags. It isn't that I don't trust him but he is the sort to slice the nose to spite the face. He ain't a fan of the Council and ain't a fan of me. So let's keep our ears open while in town to be safe."
"If you don't like it, I don't like it either" - Tiriael pipes in - "Do you think we could go about this in any other way?" - she asks - "Perhaps borrowing the amulet for the greater good - not something I am terribly fond of, but..."
"I thought about it," Piers said looking up, "but to hear these people tell it, the Council has left them to the wolves out here. We aren't gonna earn any points with Li but the people hear need a sign that the Council ain't just a bunch of bureaucrats to afraid to do what needs to be done. If we do this and make this area safer, it could do wonders for the Council's rep in these parts. Don't get me wrong, I'll fight the fight that needs fighting but just 'cause Li might be setting us up to fail doesn't mean he could care less about the people here."
He leaned against the wall and looked to the others, "I'm gonna leave the decision to you guys this time."
"I'm not keen on the 'borrowing' idea." Nebari says with a hint of disgust in his voice. "That just doesn't sit well with me. Let's find these cultists, who knows we might even learn something about the tower."
Doran pops his head up, serious. "Two things, cap'n. Is your friend the type of guy to lie to us? You're no mage, he could have shown you any old amulet, and he could just give us nothin' after we're done. Lastly- any idea what cult these guys belong to? Either way, I need to stop at town first, I need a pen, and some..." Doran's face lights up and he turns to Tirael. "Hey, can I leaf through that big chest o'books you took?"
"Of course Doran" - Tiriael smiles, then turns to the Captain and Nebari - "I guess if no one has anything against it then, it is settled. I am not also very keen on "borrowing" anything, unless if I thought it would save us a lot of time. But the Captain has a point there also - we have an opportunity to perhaps do something for the people of this settlement, and that is something I can relate to"
"He ain't much for lying to a man's face but we should still see what we can recon before charging into the breach," despite Li bringing up some unpleasant memories, this kind of troubleshooting is what Piers and the Hodags had been good at.
You gather your belongings and head to the local inn. Once your rooms are settled and manage to secure a location for Kizza in the stable, you each head out to gather more intel on the cultists.
Piers heads to Commander Li the next day for their marching orders. His uniform is stowed this time and he wears his traveling gear and carries his freshly oiled and sharpened greatsword in his off-hand.
Feeling particularly well rested, you follow the Captain to Commander Li's office. Once you're all inside, he proceeds to tell you more of the task he has set. "Well now, this is quite a group you've been put in charge of, isn't my friend?" Looking at Terra and Doran, Li asks, "A little young, aren't they?" Not waiting for a response, he continues, "You'll travel about a day and a half north of here. There you will find a small fortress where the cultist's are operating from. I want you to clear them out. Do you understand?"
"This ain't my first song and dance, Li," Piers said, "We got an idea of their numbers or what sort of beasties they're packing?"
He looked over at the others. WIthout Alaeron, he would be the only career soldier here and this fight would be entirely different from the one back in the forest. These were not some cracked relics or common monsters, the cultists were as fanatical as they were vicious. Piers would not wish their depredations on any of his party.
Wincing to himself, he looked away. They seemed to trust him but most of the people that had put their trust in him had ended up rotting at the base of the blasted tower.
Looking straight into Piers' eye, Li responded, "Based on my scouts have reported, there appears to be approximately forty cultists. As far as beasts are concerned, there appear to be a fair amount of Akata. There have also been unconfirmed reports of a Charda as well."
Doran pays Li no attention- about as much attention as he's paid any of you over the last twenty-four hours. Entering the city, he raced to the scribes' market and loaded up on inkpens, paper, parchment and drawing chalk. Sitting cross-legged on the corner of the inn he claimed as his own, he spreads out his found parchment, Tiriael's open chest-chasm next to him. He spends the entire night muttering, reading, drawing, writing, steadily filling pages and books and pages of books. By the morning, and by the meeting with Li, he has his finished product- a thick tome of parchment, stained with an increasingly weary and unreadable handwriting not aided by signs, symbols, diagrams and smiley-faces to cheer him. The three pieces of paper he found in his new robe are carefully attached to the back of the book, and as Li speaks he leafs through it all, tracing his night's work with a careful fingertip, occasionally muttering and pulling out an inkpen to correct a letter or word.
After a very long moment which began when he first found the pieces of paper, he closes his book with a *THUD* and stows it away, meeting Li's gaze.
"Cultists of what?"
1- Burning Flash, Friendship, Fog Bank, Wrack
2- Frost Fingers, Suppress
3- Fire Blast
Looking at the young whipper snapper, Li smiled and replied, "Why, the Void Tower of course."
"You willing to devote any resources to this? I'd like a skirmishing line to catch any cultists that try to slip away in the chaos, maybe some archery support to give us cover or a distraction on the approach." Piers did not like the odds. Eight to one was not what he would call a good bet and it was asking Terra and Doran to do an awful lot of killing, something he did not like on principle.
"I may be able to spare a couple of guardsman, but I have fairly limited resources here, in case you hadn't noticed." Li replied. Pulling out a scrap of parchment from his desk and scribbling a note on it, he handed it to Piers. "Give this to the Desk Sergeant on your way out, and he'll send a couple of men with you."