"Take heart," Nime says to Calendula as she bestows the same blessing on her as Rudrik.
With Nime's help, Calendula shakes off her confusion, and with a primal scream she chops at one of the floaters with her family sword.
Rudrik floats off the ground and slowly lists to one side, eventually winding upside-down.
"Immune to magic? Lovely."
With no usable spells, and no way to get into the fight with Rudrik and Calendula in the way, all Theo could do was heft his spear and brace to attack anything that came into reach.
"Sonic should work." Shenuska replies, through the ringing in her ears. Then she balls up her hand and punches herself in the side of the head, attempting to drive out the ringing.
Calendula's reach allows her to assault he nearest sentinel, shattering it with two strikes of her blade. The extra skill imparted by Theodric's fly spell lets Rudrik lift off the ground and pursue the other one. They trade light blows.
"No! Stop that!" Nime says, seeing Shenuska harming herself. For some reason, she attempts to interpose her spear/walking stick to protect the psychic.
Finally in a position from which he can swing around his sword with enthusiasm, Rudrik does his best to smash the flying skull. Some part of the back of his head wonders why he doesn't just start spinning around wildly in response to the force exerted by swinging the sword, but he doesn't have time to worry about the Newtonian consequences of inertialess flight.
"That's ridiculous Nime. I'm fine! I don't have measles, mumps, rubella, tuberculosis, bubonic or pneumonic plague. I'm completely fine! I have no ringworm, blood phage..."
Shenuska easily dodges Nime's attempt at help and continues to list a truly staggering list of 'diseases' which she apparently does not suffer from!
Calendula swings her arm up once more, taking clear satisfaction in destroying what she supposes are Alaznist's heads.
"I don't have any sonic spells," Theo replied before Shen started babbling. Figuring that she didn't hear his reply, he nevertheless moved forward to try and engage the heads.
Though Theodric doesn't quite hit, Calendula and Rudrik slice apart the winged skull with numerous powerful strikes. It's remains clatter to the floor.
Once the ivory sentinels are defeated, the statues go still and the room falls silent for a moment. Then Thybidos’s tormented remains issue a long, shuddering sigh of relief. He speaks in a low, rasping whisper. “Bring... me... Xiren...” Even this seems to exhaust the ancient runelord, and he slumps his chair.
Nime approaches the now still scene in front of them. "Xiren?" she questions. She moves closer and gently reaches out to touch a lifeless hand. "Where is she?"
Thybidos’s eyes, wet and horribly alive in their dry sockets, dart to Nime's gaze and impart a quick flash of overwhelming pain. The undine is momentarily stunned by the pain, but she realizes Runelord Thybidos wants only the blessing of death, but Alaznist’s curse runs even deeper than expected. Before he can be released from undeath, Thybidos must do something Alaznist believed he could never do—apologize, in person, to Xiren, the runelord he slew to take position as Runelord of Wrath. In this split-second vision, Nime realizes that Runelord Thybidos wants someone to bring Xiren’s remains to him so that he may offer just such an apology. By returning to the tomb's entry chamber and speaking Xiren's name aloud, the final door will open and grant access to her remains.
The oracle reaches up and wipes the tears from her face. "We need to go back to the main room; That's where Xiren's remains are. We need to bring them here."
She turns from the enthroned remains and begins walking back the way they came. As she walks, she elaborates on the images she was party to.
Shenuska winces in sympathy as the full extent of Thybidos' fate is revealed.
"Alaznisr is cruel beyond all imagining." She comments. "She has to be stopped one way or another. Hopefully the Sihedron Heroes are on it."
When the group returns to the chamber Shenuska says "Xiren" clearly, before repeating with the appropriate Thassalonian inflections.
The final slab sinks into the ground. This ten-foot-square room is empty save for a pile of bone fragments and dust heaped like so much dirt to be swept up by a custodian. Only a jawless skull resting atop the morbid detritus suggests that these remains were once a person. No ostentation, no artful frescos, and no decorations adorn the walls to give any sign that whoever this was in life was a person of any importance at all.
"Alaznist is cruel beyond all imagining." She comments. "She has to be stopped one way or another. Hopefully the Sihedron Heroes are on it."
"They won't be," Nime says simply. She turns to Shenuska as she shuffles along. "That's our task. Don't you remember? We're supposed to save the world. I wasn't sure original what we were supposed to save it from, but now I see that we need to save it from Alaznist's cruelty."
~~~~
Nime gives a shuddering sigh at Xiren's final resting place. She lowers herself down and touches the skull with a delicate hand.
"I'm not the one you need to hear this from, Sweetie, but I am so sorry," she says softly. She unties her bag from her spear and gently picks up the skull and places it into the bag. As many fragments as she can pick out of the dust follow.
After the last fragment, she continues to sit on the floor for a moment more offering a silent prayer to Shelyn for the betrayed Runelord. Once finished she levers herself to her feet, ties the bag to the spear and looks around at the others.
"I am so thankful that I have friends like each of you," she says as her eyes fall on each of the others. "No betrayals. No deceit. No beheadings. Just love."
She takes each of the others in a heartfelt hug, only pausing for a fraction of a moment before including Maga. "Let's finish this now," she says with a sniffle. "I wish to feel the wind again."
Nothing happens when Nime touches the skull. She is able to gather the remains without incident.
Maga Szuul shifts uncomfortably in Nime's embrace, his back tentacle awkwardly patting her on the head. "Yeah, yeah, let's do this bloody thing and get out of here."
Shenuska leads the way back to Thybidos and gestures to Nime to produce the skull.
"These are Xiren's remains. Speak your piece."
Thybidos raises his head and sighs one last time, then says, “Xiren... I am... sorry...” An instant later, his remains crumble to dust and his soul is released to face his final judgment in the Boneyard.
The passing of his wrathful soul sends a spiritual ripple of psychic energy through all of Hollow Mountain, ensuring all within it know that Thybidos is no more. There is no responding echo from within Hollow Mountain. Each of you knows instinctively at this point that no runelord dwells within Hollow Mountain, and that this means Alaznist is most certainly free and out, somewhere in the world.
Maga Szuul grunts. "That's it? We went through all of that just to kill a guy who was already dead? Seems like a waste of time to me."
Searching the throne reveals a hidden hinge along the left side of the throne that opens a small panel, revealing a hollow space within the throne itself. Inside are several valuable treasures.
Maga Szuul grunts. "That's it? We went through all of that just to kill a guy who was already dead? Seems like a waste of time to me."
Nime looks up from her contemplation of Thybidos' fate.
"The one thing that everyone is promised in this world is a fair and just judgement on how we lived our lives. Good, bad, or in between; we will all receive that gift. No bias or prejudice - just simple truth." She looks back at the dust on the throne. "This man was denied that. Not only was he denied that, he was kept in a place between life and death and made to suffer there."
She looks back at the group. "It may be that his judgement is to suffer for the evils in his life, but that decision was not Alaznist's to make. We've served the cause of justice today." She gives a curt nod of her head as if satisfied with what they've done. "Can we please leave now? I need the wind on my face."
She turns to begin the trek back up to the surface.
"And something to eat. And an orgasm."
"We still need to deal with that portal to Roderic's Hollow..." Shenuska points out, but relents when she sees the undine's drawn face. "But we can come back in another time for that. We probably leave Viralane and Kelhud alone too much longer anyway."
As the group proceeds upwards and Nime mutters, Shenuska produces a small honey-cake from one of her belt pouches and offers it to her friend.
"That should help with the first problem," She offers with a smile that could melt hearts far less loving than Nime's. "If you want help with the second..."
"I guess we learned something," says Rudrik. "I agree with Nime, being trapped as a ghost without end seems like a crummy way to go through eternity. Even if the guy was a total tool, he needed to get his time before Pharasma and his final resolution."
At the offer of the honey-cake, Nime's face lights up. "Oh, you are so thoughtful," she gushes as she stuffs her face with the sweet treat.
"'u are t'uch a 'ood th'rend," she sputters through a mouthful of honey-cake in response to Shenuska's offer. She finishes chewing and swallows it down. "I really wouldn't want to be an imposition. I'm quite capable of handling it myself. But if it wouldn't put you out ..." She wraps a long arm around the psychic's shoulder and pulls her close.
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Rudrik makes a lame comment about "sticky fingers" but doesn't quite seem to be able to sell it humorously and winds up just trailing off murmuring under his helm as he realizes that he doesn't really have the comedic timing and delivery to pull it off.
You make your way back to Kelhuud's camp, where the dual ranger has kept Viralane subdued and pacified. The diva glares at you and mumbles something behind her gag, but you wisely keep it in place for now.
After resting, Maga Szuul shows you the path he took through the Forges of Wrath to get to the gauntlet where you found him. You enter through a bunker and descend into another level of Hollow Mountain where numerous forges now lie dormant. You navigate a few traps and the reanimated coprses of Maga Szuul's former fellow Yamasoth cultists until you reach a chamber containing what looks like the bronze frame of a gate set at the head of a pool of crystal-clear water. A slight shimmer in the air is visible where the gate itself would be, and the frame is etched with lines of script. Now and then, what appear to be brief images of people or monsters flicker within the frame, only to vanish an instant later.
The images flickering in the portal visual echoes left by previous users. If the images are studied, the viewer catches glimpses of fleshdregs, a hydraggon qlippoth, and the sinspawn Mozamer now and then, mixed in with that of Maga Szuul and the other cultist whose body you came across previously. This seems to the be portal Mozamer used to bring his forces to Roderic's Cove--Maga Szuul explains he used directions provided by his cult to focus the portal away from the Cove to the Gauntlet of Fury. Anybody who can read Thassilonian and spends an hour studying the runes understands that the portal can be refocused to several different pre-determined locations, but that without detailed directions, mastering the refocusing would require many months, or perhaps years, of intense study.
Examining the pool for a while reveals that the water serves as a sort of magical capacitor for the portal. Emptying it would render the gate dormant, and the quickest way to do so would be to use magical fire. Fortunatley, Theodric has such power in spades, and soon all of the water boils away. The portal begins to hum and flash dangerously, and you wisely move away before it implodes wit ha crack of thunder! You are certain now that Roderic's Cove is no longer in any danger of wrathful monsters sneaking in beneath its streets.
Your mission here at Hollow Mountain has come to an end. With Viralane and Maga Szuul in tow, you return to the beach and board Tyalee's Whim. It's a four-day journey back to Magnimar, and there's much you have to report to the Sihedron Council. As Rivenrake Island recedes in the distance, you reflect on your recent experiences, and you feel better prepared to face the dangers still to come. And with Alaznist at large in Varisia, you are certain those challenges will be difficult indeed...
"Sursha!" Nime coos as boards the ship. "What a wonderful face to see." She approaches the captain and embraces her, not caring if it's against ship protocol. "I'm so going to enjoy our trip back to the city."
~~~~
Regardless of where she sleeps, the dawn always finds the Undine seated tailor-fashion on the deck at the prow of the ship greeting the sun. Whether she's just enjoying the wind around her or communing with her goddess is hard to tell. Perhaps it's both.
Sursha returns Nime's embrace and kisses the oracle passionately. "As am I. My bunk has been quite lonely without you in it."
She smirks as Viralane is lead aboard. "Miss Barvisai, nice to see you again. You'll forgive me if your accommodations aren't quite as comfortable as they were the last time you came aboard."
She eyes Maga Szuul warily. "It seems you've made quite an unusual friend while you were ashore."
"He had a change of heart..." Shenuska says wryly. She still doesn't entirely trust the alchemist, but he has yet to betray them and that's a start. When they investigate the 'Gecko' in Magnimar - that'll be the real test.
Shenuska spends much of the voyage on her own, meditating and performing complex series of stretches. She regularly climbs into the rigging and exercises up there with the crew, but all in all seems happy to enjoy some 'her-time' before the return to the hustle and bustle of the city.
30 Rova, 4718 AR
The first three days of the journey across the Varisian Gulf are uneventful, a welcome change of pace from your harrowing ordeals beneath Hollow Mountain. As you drift off to sleep on the last night of the voyage, you share a dream...
You find yourselves standing in a pleasant green meadow. Before you stretches a vast ocean, while behind you rises an ominous forest that you instinctively feel contains great dangers. A moment later, a complicated-looking scepter appears in the air before you, apparently pointing out to sea toward a distant city on the ocean’s far horizon. You feel compelled to reach for the scepter, but as you do so, the scepter warps and twists back on itself, distorting into an infinity symbol before it suddenly snaps and flies apart into glowing fragments, causing the green meadow, forest, and ocean to distort and transform as well.
The new scene the dream settles on is of all of you standing together on the Irespan in Magnimar. As you look upon each other, you see your fellow companions twist and transform into hideous monsters that then clamber down the sides of the Irespan to enter a piling carved with reptilian figures. You feel your own body start to painfully warp into a monstrous shape, and then--
--you awaken back in your quarters on Tyalee's Whim. You are left with a strong feeling of deja vu. The imagery in the dream is strangely familiar...
The rest of the morning passes quickly, and soon you find yourselves sailing past the risen island of Xin and pulling up to the busy docks of Magnimar once more.
Shenuska opens her eyes and glares at the ceiling. "Will you stop doing that? I don't need your damn hints!"
---------------------------
The psychic seems to be in a bad mood the following morning as she marshals all the valuables found during their time under Hollow Mountain and sets out (with Rudrik or The is help?) to sell their gains.
"That's strange," Nime says quietly upon awakening. "I feel like I've seen that before." She rolls over in the bunk and gently awakens her companion with a soft kiss. "Good morning," she says with a smile. "Did you have a strange dream last night or was it just me?"
~~~~~
Nime plans to spend some time visiting with her family before taking the plunge into finding the 'Gecko'.
Sursha smiles up at Nime. "Why dream when reality is so sweet? But no, nothing out of the ordinary."
"Oh, ok," Nime responds with a smile. "Usually I dream about people, or food, or sex. This was different - it felt different, but not like it came from Shelyn. It probably means something important." She thinks for a moment before shrugging. "I'm sure I'll understand it when I'm supposed to."
Closing her eyes, she lowers herself back to the bunk and her hands begin questing for the half-elf under the blankets.
When Shenuska has completed her (almighty) shopping trip she rejoins the group and hands out bags which are found to contain mostly gemstones and moneylenders notes.
"Our splits from that trip." She says, "A little over fifteen thousand gold pieces each. I have a suggestion though - I found a book in the library there, the instructions on building a flesh golem. I don't think that's a good idea, but it gives me an idea. There are plenty of other golem types and, if we're going to be fighting Alaznist or other Runelords then having a golem of our own might be useful. I know some booksellers and I can probably get us another manual. It won't be cheap, but could be a good investment. What do you all think?"
Back on the ship, Calendula spends her first night alone in what feels like months.
She polishes and cleans her sword, meditating on the events inside Hollow Mountain, and on Shenuska's final words there. That the five of them were to fight Alaznist.
Her sword glows and gleams as she washes it, catching her eyes. Twenty years ago, she had been sure it was her that was to close the Worldwound. Instead she betrayed her god and crawled halfway across the world, surviving against hope to eke out a cold and cancerous existence of pain and anonymity in the absolute end of nowhere.
But she could still feel the Inheritor's watchful eyes upon her. If Nime and Shenuska were right, and they were destined to defeat Alaznist and save the world, she would better be able to serve their party with her former strength and allegiance. But even if she wanted to serve Iomedae again, to give her life to her duty and to save the world, would Iomedae take her back?
Theo was rather quiet the morning after the dream. While he speculated it had something to do with the same events that had led them to Hollow Mountain, the transmutative side of it had him worried. He'd long been able to manifest claws and a paranoid part of him worried that the shapeshifting would become more extreme.
That he'd woken up a couple of days earlier with a wider jaw and razor-sharp teeth hadn't exactly helped. It hadn't happened since and he was sure it now tied into his claws, but it still unnerved him.
*******************************************************************
Shen's suggestion of creating a golem didn't sound half-bad. "I think my father knows a few people who could source the raw materials as well - he dabbled in the academic side of golem construction when I was young. Nothing ever really came of it, but he knows who to talk to. He can't do anything about the costs, but it would save you having to hunt around for them."
"I've never met a metal man," Nime says after thinking about it for a moment. "I wonder what he would think about. I mean, I know golems don't actually think - they're just physical material animated by magic, but if they did ... " She trails off as her mind wanders through the mental pathways she travels.
"Oh, I guess you'll need money for that, won't you?" she says, returning to the here and now. She hands back almost all her money. "Here. I don't really need it. There's something I'm supposed to find I think and I'll need a little for that."
"And I really should visit my mother and father."
Rudrik seems unfazed by the unusual dreams; indeed, his first query when he meets with his companions later that day is, "Hey, I had a weird dream about turning into a Sinspawn! I wonder if that's something that the Runelords do to their enemies. Seems like it wouldn't be great! What's for lunch?"
"Yes, I had that same dream," Nime answers. "I didn't much care for the latter part of it, but the meadow was rather nice. It had a distinctly prophetic flavor to it so I hope we can head off whatever horror it's intended to warn us about."
"It's linked to what Szuul told us when we first met. The cult based under the Irespan," Shenuska says, her mood souring again. She rapidly splits Nime's money more or less in half and returns the rest to the Undine. "Thanks Nime but I only need seven thousand from each of us to get the book. We'll need a lot more in materials later but I won't be sure just how much without the manual. Theo, I assume you're in agreement Then?" She asks smiling at the sorceror enthusiasm. "That's twenty one thousand. Rudrik, Calendula? Do you mind contributing? Nime and I can cover it if not..."
As they begin heading their separate ways in the city, Nime takes Calendula's arm. "Would you like to meet my parents, Calendula? Despite an understandable fixation on the sea and a predilection for condescension, they're rather nice people."
The veteran grumbles but chips in. "Alright, alright. But if'n you name it anythin stupid, I want my money back."
---
Calendula's cut and scarred brow furrows as she walks beside Nime, but as the undine thrusts her arm through hers, she is taken completely off guard. She gives the taller, bluer woman a rare and crooked smile, scars at the corners of her lips offsetting it.
"Nime, I would be delighted." She leans against Nime's arm and follows her lead.
Theo smiled at her questions. "Alika and I aren't engaged. I mean; we both see it as something of a foregone conclusion at this point but... neither of us are ready to really make it that official yet."
"That being said; I may be somewhat busy. For tomorrow, at least. I promised my father and brother that, if my draconic abilities got any stronger, then I would consult with them. Both to make sure everything's fine, but also to help their understanding of how such abilities manifest. And the other morning, I woke up with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth so I'll be spending most of tomorrow in my father's lab while he and Martellus run all sorts of arcane tests on me, my blood, etcetera."
Nime seems to take great joy in Calendula's company as they walk through the marketplace. Nime's stated destination aside, she seems content to meander through the merchant stalls, her eyes moving this way and that.
As the duo walk, Nime removes her cloak and, rolling it up, stows it in her magical bag; leaving her tattered and charred shorts and the floppy blue hat as her only garments.
"This has changed so much since I lived here, but it still feels the same," she says with a smile on her face. Her eyes close for a moment as she takes a deep breath. "And it still smells the same." With an affirming squeeze of the woman's arm, Nime opens her eyes and continues her stroll. She stops at a fruit sellers stall long enough to purchase two apples. The Undine seems to pay no mind to the man as he gawks at her bare chest.
She hands one of the fruits to Calendula and takes a bite of the other one. She chews for a moment and swallows. "I don't know why it's such a big deal that I don't feel the urge to cover my breasts." She shakes her head. "Look at that man," she continues, indicating a large man hawking carved staffs. "He's got bigger breasts than I do and they're not covered. No one gives him a second glance. Isn't it enough that I cover my genitals? Which I also think is stupid, but ..." She shrugs. "Civilization is about compromise."
Nime glances down at her companion. "I'm sorry," she says. "I go on about this and I forget that it's not your favorite topic." She stops and reaches out a hand to trace one of the scarves around Calendula's head. "Ignore my babbling. You are you, Calendula. And wrapped up in scarves or naked to the world, you are beautiful." She leans in and kisses the woman's temple.
Taking a firmer grip on the woman's arm, Nime continues their journey. They eventually move past the markets and reach another set of docks that look to be in a little worse shape than where the Tyalee's Whim currently resides.
"My family has always fished for a living," she says as they approach one of the smaller piers. There are two Undine women sitting on the wood, repairing a net between them. They look up as you approach and both break out in large smiles. "Nime lūks̄āw k̄hxng c̄hạn khuṇ klạb b̂ān læ̂w!" one of them says as she rises from the pier to take Nime in her arms. "My Journey has returned me to Magnimar - for now, Mother," Nime responds with a matching smile as she pulls back to move closer to Calendula. "This is my good friend, Calendula. She is sharing my Journey. Calendula, this is my mother, Nialta."
Nialta looks Calendula up and down before taking the woman into what feels like a token embrace. "If you are a friend of Nime's then you are a friend of our family," the woman says stepping back. Her eyes flick again to the scarves Calendula wears before returning to Nime. "Your father and brother will be so pleased to see you, but they won't be back until this evening."
Nime smiles, tips her head and closes her eyes as she does when she's listening to the breeze. "They'll be back early, they've caught enough already."
Nialta frowns. "Fishing has been poor lately and they aren't normally back until sunset with only half their nets filled," she says in a voice like one speaks to a young child.
"Not today," Nime says simply. "And you'll need more baskets." She gestures towards a small stack of baskets sitting on the pier. "I'll go get more," she adds as she walks off.
Calendula leans idly against Nime's arm as they walk, not thinking of much. She lets the woman babble and guide the conversation, staying mostly in her own head. She should ask Nime's opinion, she would definitely have one-
And then they were already at her family home. "Oh, uh, hi. Nime and I, we're, uh, close, good friends. Love her, yup, I, uh, surely do. I'm Calendula, good to meet you, ma'am." She extends her gnarled and cracked hand but buckles over in hacking coughs, phlegm rising in her throat.
"Sorry," she chokes. "'M sick. Won't catch, don't ya worry."
When the talk turns to the catch, the scarred, cold woman perks up. "I do some fishin; if Nime is really sure they'll need a hand reelin in their haul, we cn go lend a hand. Orr we can help here in the kitchen?"
Rudrik dutifully hands over the money that Shenuska requests, though it does take him a while to count it all out. Then he spends a day at loose ends, wandering somewhat aimlessly about the port city, looking at homes and people-watching.
Eventually he catches up with folks later, seeming rather subdued and surprisingly having not squandered his money on anything.