At Ameiko's nod, the shamaness moves beside Kavell, to stand between Ameko and the gathered ninja clan. "Then I present to you, Ameiko Kaijitsu, last living member of the Amatatsu line, and hire to the Jade Throne." she says taking the warding box from Ameiko, preparing to present the seal.
Having stayed silent as the more outgoing people conversed with the monks Friday calmly moves over to Ameiko’s side as Kasha makes her a very big target with the heir’s permission.
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Valeria had kept close to Ameiko through all this - partly just desperate for warmth but then becoming protective as Kasha made her announcement. One hand under her cloak reaching for her spell component pouch as she glared daggers at Qochi.
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When Kasha opens the warding box, there's a brilliant flash of jade as the Amatatsu Seal makes itself known to the world. The Frozen Shadows let out a collective gasp of surprise and awe--except for Qochi, who makes a startled gasp of realization.
The Grandmaster looks upon the seal, then at Qochi. His expression is unreadable.
Qochi starts to babble in terror. "Grandmaster--we had no choice--we did as we were commanded--"
The Grandmaster's voice booms, cutting through the air as icily and as strongly as a blizzard. His rime-wreathed hand snaps out and snatches the man by the neck, moving faster than the eye can see. Qochi's eyes bulge in horror and he starts to claw at the Grandmaster's hand, but his efforts are in vain; all his flailing accomplishes is making him look utterly undignified.
The Grandmaster turns back to Ameiko. "It appears the Frozen Shadows have wronged you greatly, Heiress to the Jade Throne. Would you have us kill this one?" He asks, his tone returning to its former collected growl.
Ameiko's eyes widen in shock and she looks to the party, uncertainty writ clear as day on her face.
"A ruler has to be ready for decisions like these, no matter how hard they may be, for the good of her people. And her own conscience. It is up to you," Friday calmly says to Ameiko.
"Personally I'd kill the craven retch, but I'm not the one who decides this time," he tells Zaiobe.
Ameiko listens as Friday speaks, her expression turning a bit paler. She looks between the party and Qochi before she shakes her head. "No. Look at him--he's already beaten. He's not worth it."
The Grandmaster's eyebrow arches slightly as Ameiko makes her choice, but he doesn't linger on it for too long. He roughly tosses Qochi aside into the snow, eliciting a haggard gasp for air from the man.
"The Jade Heiress has given you a gift, Qochi. It is the last gift you will ever receive from her, or from us. You are no longer welcome among our order. Begone." He commands, pointing a rime-wreathed finger at him.
"Wh-where am I supposed to go--?" Qochi starts, struggling to his feet.
"Somewhere far away. Your fate is no longer our concern." The Grandmaster glares at him. Qochi starts to stumble away into the snow-covered forest, not looking back.
"Your compassion is a trait your enemies will not share." The Grandmaster says when he looks back at Ameiko. "But we will honour your wish."
He was beaten last time too, Friday thinks to himself and just himself.
He keeps a glare focused on Qochi until the man disappears from his view.
Kasha lets out a relieved breath as Qochi slinks off, not completely trusting that the man wouldn't come after them at some point, but glad that if he did, he wouldn't have the support of the rest of his former order.
He smirked at the ninja leaving for a moment then sighed. He shouldn't not take joy at another's misfortune. He was better than that. Still the decision had been made.
"Again, Qochi return to the city, go to the shrine and beg forgiveness serve penance. Your soul will thank you and perhaps a path to a truly righteous life will open itself to you!"
He called after the slinker hoping he would see the wisdom in the aasimar's words... He didn't think he would though. Sheathing Suishen with a consoling pat for what the blade felt was a slight in the grandmaster asking for the seal and not the sword He turned to the others.
"Her compassion is what makes her, well her. Her enemies will find that while she has compassion, those that protect her will do so regardless of it. Some will 'Because' of it."
It was clear which sort of guardian he was. At least he thought it was. If she weren't as honorable or compassionate he would probably not be here. Well maybe, he was pretty enamored with Kelda. He wouldnt be surprised if he started a family with her, assuming she wanted a family? He frowned at something else besides ninjas for once.
The Grandmaster brushes his hands off on his robe. "Perhaps."
"Regardless, if you are bound for Minkai, it is my duty to warn you of the dangers ahead." He folds his hands behind his back. "Where you are bound, you are certain to stumble into the path of the morozko storms--howling blizzards that the Erutaki claim hunger for the souls of the living."
"We know there is a dark power behind them, but we do not yet know for certain what drives them. They are known to plague the trade roads across the Crown; for that reason, you would be better served taking a different path." He starts to pace back and forth. "Off the trade roads is a small Erutaki cliff-village--Iqaliat. They are known to be a fair people, and experienced in the weathering of such storms. I placed one of my agents in that small village to keep an eye on the blizzards there, but I have not yet heard back from her."
"Of course, to get there, you will need to cross the Taraska River and navigate the marshlands beyond. To that end, I wish to offer you a boon."
He turns to the ninja at his side. "Kiiva. Go with them and aid them in crossing the river."
Kiiva--a slight figure wrapped up in so many layers that her body shape is all but hidden--nods once. "As you wish, Grandmaster." She replies, beginning to walk towards the caravan.
"Welcome Kiiva, we appreciate your guidance in our journey." Kasha says to their new ally. "And thank you Grandmaster."
The Grandmaster bows once before turning back to the forest, leaving the caravan behind as the snows start to fall anew.
----------------------
Over the next several days, the caravan makes its way through the snow-choked narrow paths of the forest, led onward by the stoic and silent Kiiva to the banks of the Taraska River. There's some discussion as to how to best cross it, but Kiiva puts it to a swift end--by walking to the river's shore and freezing the water with a burst of frost.
With Kiiva freezing the river's flow, it's a simple matter for the caravan to cross to the other side. Kiiva doesn't accompany the caravan the rest of the way--she remains behind, disappearing back into the woods.
----------------------
The rest of the trek to Iqaliat is plagued by high winds that drive snow against the caravan, lasting from the marshes on the opposite bank of the Taraska to long after they've left them behind and returned to the Path of Aganhei.
Ulf turns the caravan northward after a day's further travel along the path, indicating that Iqaliat lies ahead. As the caravan turns, the blizzards start to let up.
----------------------
After weeks of slogging through chest-high snowdrifts and driving winds, the impassably-high cliffs of the Alasek Ridge loom before the caravan. The weather has let up by this point, revealing hundreds of waterfalls to the east and west of the caravan's travel route--a doubtlessly beautiful sight, were one not on a mission of grave importance.
Sitting within the shadows of the overhanging cliff is a small town of stone and clay bricks, with many of the buildings built into the cliffside. Several plumes of smoke can be seen coming from the cliff town, but little activity. As the caravan approaches the town's gatehouse, a ragged voice calls out to them.
"Hold! What business have you here?"
He paused and took a few steps forward the paladin of Shelyn shaking his head slightly at a pretty silly question. A large caravan of wagons wasnt any cover for bandits or ne'er do wells that he had ever heard of.
"Hail and well met friends, We are a road weary caravan traveling across the spine obviously, We have some goods and coin for trade, we wont be here too long."
He called out to the man offering his best smile even from the distance.
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Reveling in the wondrous natural beauty around them, Kasha eagerly drinks in the terrain, the sights of the numerous waterfalls, and the town build so harmoniously with the natural features. She had a liking for their ways already.
She quietly watches the exchange, studying the gatehouse.
They're also the only sounds you hear from within the village's walls...
The gate guard scrutinizes Kavell. "What sort of goods have you to trade? We're in dire need of food, equipment--whatever you can spare."
"Got plenty to trade, sir." Sandru adds. "If you could let us into your village, you can see for yourself."
The gate guard listens before nodding once. "Our gates are not wide enough for your wagons, but you can send someone to speak with our Hearthmistress."
"Thats not a bad idea, we will set up outside your walls and the folk inside can come check out what we have."
The gate guard nods, his expression turning quite relieved.
"You've arrived at a very perilous time, trader-folk."
"Are their troubles? While I cannot speak for the whole caravan, if there are troubles and I am able to provide aid and succor I will."
He offered feeling a little bit more secure about the situation. He glanced back to the others for a moment. He pulled out his holy medallion and held it up for the guard to see.
"I am a paladin and cleric of Shelyn. If you have sick I can try to heal them, if its problems that require a more.... aggresive approach i delt with those kinds as well."
He couldnt help but frown slightly at the last part.
"I can come in as well, to speak with your Hearthmistress. We may be able to offer more than trade goods." Kasha says stepping forward.
"Same," Valeria said, stepping forward, just as a small feathered head poked out of her backpack.
"Please tell me this Hearthmistress is somewhere that can be even vaguely described as 'warm'!"
Valeria just rolled her eyes at her familiar (conveniently forgetting how much she'd been whinging about the cold over the last few weeks). "Ignore him, he's not used to the cold."
"Oh and you are, are you, little miss cold-induced-stuttering?"
The gate guard nods waves. "Her hearth will chase the cold away, for certain."
As the party prepares to enter the village, Ameiko gives them a nod. "We'll be waiting here in case we need to leave."
-----------------------
The interior of Iqaliat is desolate and quiet. A harsh wind whips through the town square, carrying with it a dusting of freshly-fallen snow that stings the eyes. The gate guard takes the party of four to a small house directly to the north of the gatehouse.
He raps on the door twice, calling inside in a strange language.
After a moment, he nods and opens the door for the party.
-----------------------
The Hearthmistress' home is a one-room affair with a blazing fire pit in the centre. A pile of furs sits in one corner of the hut, while a couple of racks stand against the far wall, containing recently-skinned small game.
The hearthmistress, a small woman with beige skin and wrapped in several layers of white furs, bids you to take a seat next to the fire. "Be welcome, traders. I am Sonavut, Hearthmistress of our little village. You've come at a... difficult time."
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Xel was practically out of Valeria's backpack before she'd crossed the threshold. "Oh thank whatever gods happen to looking in our direction right now; heat!" the bird remarked as he landed next to the fire and warmed himself. "Blessed warmth, glorious thermal energy!"
"I, um, apologise for my familiar. I must've messed something up when I first forged the bond," Valeria explained, while resisting the urge to do a more dignified version of the exact same thing and ignoring the dirty look her remark had drawn from the avian. "What do you mean by a 'difficult time'? Has something happened?"
Seemingly unbothered by the cold, Kasha also moves into the Hearthmistress' home, taking a seat near the fire as well. "Is there something we might be able to assist you with?"
" We would love to help with your difficulties if we are able Hearthmistress."
He offered inclining his head as a show of respect for her authority.
"What hasn't happened?" Sonavut sighs. "It appears that just about everything that could go wrong for us has, as of late..."
"If you seek to follow the main road to the east, you will find yourselves blocked. The morozko storms have consumed the road--they are impassable." The hearthmistress shivers. "They have come out of their season--and in greater strength than ever before."
"But they aren't the worst problem we face... not long after the morozkos swept onto the eastern roads, a white-scaled dragon began attacking Iqaliat. The beast's might is fierce and terrible--enough to ensure that several hunters who sought its death found only their own." The aged woman stares into the fire. "We know not why it has targeted us so."
She then scoffs. "Of course, Tunuak has a different idea for the dragon's wrath... that we haven't appeased the spirits of wind and winter enough. He's even gone so far as to accuse ME of leading us astray!"
"And considering how he's Iqaliat's shaman, too many of us are inclined to listen to him..."
"Well, I doubt a dragon is going to be directed by spirits. Not unless the spirits are manipulating or paying it somehow." Valeria said while trying to remember what she knew of white dragons.
In addition, they are immune to cold, and their scales are said to resist magic as readily as they resist weapons--but in exchange, their bodies are hypersensitive to fire and elevated temperatures.
"Try telling Tunuak that." Sonavut snorts.
Kasha frowns, considering her own knowledge of the nature spirits, and the likelihood of there being any truth to the shaman's words, and considering the unusual weather as well.
Considering your cargo and who you're escorting, you might have a familiar idea as to who is responsible...
"As one with a great deal of experience dealing with spirits myself, I can safely say that the involvement of the spirits here is unlikely, and at the absolute furthest, directed by something else. A more focused and deliberate enemy."
She looks over to her companions. "Sounds as if this is the work of the Five Storms"
"Dragons are dangerous foes, no matter the type or the reason why they show up. I could not in good conscious leave you here to face it... but tell me more of your shamen troubles, tell me of this Tunuak?"
He asked resting his hand on the hilt of Suishen. He wondered if the blade had tasted the blood of a dragon before.
If the Hearthmistress is troubled by the mention of the Five Storms, she doesn't show it.
Sonavut's expression turns pensive and a bit regretful at the mention of Tunuak. "Tunuak... he used to be such a sweet boy. Clear-headed, clear-sighted, devoted to his family and to Iqaliat... he was the perfect successor to Atatsak. Others claimed it was an ill omen for a shaman to ascend before his hair turned white, but when Atatsak passed, there was no one else better suited to take up her mantle."
"His connections to the spirits have kept our village safe and healthy--whenever one of the children hurt themselves out on the ice, he'd be the first to tend to them. Others looked to him for guidance on where to hunt and who they should marry. Even in the lean times, he stood strong for us."
"A scant few months ago, he ventured into the ice to commune with the spirits..." A pained look flashes across Sonavut's eyes. "...and when he returned, he was a changed man. He raved in tongues about how doom was coming to Iqaliat--how the blizzards and the creeping ice would consume us all unless we appeased the spirits."
"'Twas not long after that the dragon struck. And the storms cut off the road eastward. Now, we know not what to do--Tunuak refuses to tell us what must be done to right our wrongs against the spirits."
Kasha listens intently, a deeply concerned expression on her face. "It sounds like whatever is agitating the spirits, is also in league with the dragon. Has Tunuak given a reason for his refusal to tell you what the spirits want?"
Sonavut shakes her head. "No... whenever I ask, the wildness in his eyes takes over, and he rants at me in the tongues the spirits commanded him to speak in."
Considering the Hearthmistress' words, the shamaness considers the possible causes of the odd behavior.
"Possession maybe?"
He mused aloud with a frown, like Kasha his mind wandered through his collected knowledge of what may be the problem.
"Would it be possible for us to speak with him?" Kasha asks.
Sonavut is about to reply to Kasha's question when a harsh, aged voice cuts through the icy air.
"SONAVUT! YOU HAVE OVERSTEPPED YOUR BOUNDS YET AGAIN!"
The hearthmistress' eyes narrow. "...that would be Tunuak. It sounds like he's outside--and just as angry as ever."
Without a word he turned his eyes narrowing.
"Good, he's here, we don't have to look for him."
The man's aura is glowing red.
Kasha stands, heading toward the door. "Shall we go and have a talk with him?" she says with a notable heat in her voice and a flicker of flames dancing in her eyes.
"Well you all have fun, I'll stay here and enjoy the heat," Xel remarked from his spot by the fire.
"If he gets too annoying, Hearthmistress, feel free to throw him outside. He's more durable than he looks." With that, Valeria went out to meet their latest obstacle.
The party emerges from the relative warmth of the Hearthmistress' home to find a small crowd of people gathered, their expressions a mix of fear and suspicion. At the head of the crowd is a bald old man dressed in a dark blue parka and white-furred cloak with elaborate tribal designs stitched into it. He leans on a staff of gnarled, black wood that's covered in a thin layer of hoarfrost. He glares at the party, the tribal markings on his face and forehead creasing to accentuate his expression.
"Outsiders." The old man practically spits the word into the howling winds around the party. "Know that you have crossed into a domain where you are unwelcome." His aged, icy blue eyes narrow. "I have beseeched the spirits of wind and frost for a way to placate them, to repent for the sins we have wrought against them, and instead they send even more problems to Iqaliat."
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"I would think that it is your Hearthmistress' d3ecision who is and isn't unwelcome." Kasha says as he locks eyes with the man. In the midst of the cold, waves of heat seem to ripple off of the shamaness. "I've found the spirits to be more helpful when you listen, rather than try to command."
The old shaman scoffs. "You are truly far from your home to make such outlandish and foolish claims. Any spirit that can be so easily manipulated deserves only to be taken advantage of--and spirits of more temperate lands are far too spineless to be anything else."
"At least the spirits of THIS land are not afraid to make their displeasure known to those who cross them." He sneers at Kasha. "And your very presence here is very displeasing to them, indeed."
He frowned and glanced towards Kasha. Spirits were her department. It did however seem like this fellow was looking to butt heads and he wasnt sure he could fault her if she decided to butt back.
"We have not been a problem to Iqaliat. Nor do we intend to be...so cease your goading. We are travelers and traders crossing over the spine. We stopped for a brief rest and to provide possible trade. Something that should be welcome to the folk that make Iqaliat home. I can't do much to make the spirits behave ...But I can help with almost any other beligerant."
He paused and made sure his medallion of Shelyn was predominant and displayed.
"I am a Shelynite I see the beauty in your lands that the spirits dwell in. Let us focus on how to enjoy that and not all this angry talk. Please."
He finished simply trying to calm things down.
Tunuak doesn't seem convinced of Kavell's good intentions--his sneer is evidence enough of that--but his words have more of an effect on the assembled crowd. A ripple of murmurs goes through the assembled citizens, causing the old shaman to turn to them.
"Let him speak!" Someone in the crowd calls out. "He cannot make things worse!"
Tunuak's expression turns incredulous, but before he can reply someone else interrupts him.
"What if the spirits sent them to us?"
The interrupter emerges from the crowd--a tall, imposing man with dark, grey-streaked braided hair. His furs are of a fine make and the tribal tattoos on his face are faded with age.
"Chief Nalvanaq--" Tunuak starts, but the chief holds his hand up.
"We have done everything you have asked of us to appease the spirits, Tunuak. Whether they have been satisfied or not is no longer up to us--"
He looks at the assembled party. "--it is up to them."
"It would be our honor to meet the spirits to determine what ill has befallen your community if we can help, Chief Nalvanaq." Kasha says with a bow towards the commanding older tribesman, the fire spirit bonded to her withdrawing a bit, taking the edge out of her tone.