You take the time to absolutely ensure you've checked every possible corner of this place. The trail leads, and ends here.
Whatever fate befell the captives and their captors, for now, it is out of your hands.
"I don't know..." she answers dejectedly. "We should try to make it back. They'll think we died if we don't..." "We are going to have to give those poor people news that we couldn't find him." She will limp slowly but steadily down the path, tears in her eyes once more.
"Sometimes stories end for a while, but there is often another chapter, later, that will give the characters peace, even if the resolution is death," says Lung.
He gives Piella a comforting pat on the shoulder and smiles, even though his face is worn with lines of sadness.
"Let's get back to the shrine," he says.
If she is not carried, it will take 4 times longer to return to the shrine. If she is placed once again in the pack and hustled back, she will mostly be slumped into the bottom of the pack trying to come to terms with this and what is in front of them. Needless to say, she is growing to have passionate hatred toward these evil beings. With her fists clenched, she thinks things along the lines of, "...shoot first...", "wipe them out...", and "make them pay..." with little grumbles here and there coming from inside the pack.
If I remember correctly, and checking backwards through the posts, you left late at night and trekked a few hours before finding the Spirit Realm passageway. I can confirm you haven't rested since the shrine. It is now the early hours of the morning and none of you have slept in some time. You could push on wearily back to the shrine without consequence however.
Katala breaths a sigh of relief as the shrine comes in sight. They have sad news, but incomplete. "But the news that we have is incomplete. All hope is not lost until we find them. We have to try and stay positive."
"Some things that go into the frozen places of the world are transported into a sort of sleep where they do not die," says Lung thoughtfully. "I agree, Katala, all hope is not lost."
You arrive back at the shrine in the early light of dawn. Though the encounters were far from physically taxing, the lack of rest is starting to get to you.
You find the couple still there, asleep by the dimly glowing embers in the shrine's hearth, wrapped in rough blankets.
Once set down and let free, she looks a bit rougher than normal. She is tired, has been tumbled in the pack and her hair is a hot mess from the weather. If she was ever concerned with Lung seeing her look unattractive, it would be now. As for whether she cares at the moment, she doesn't. The looming concern in her mind has only grown. Perhaps those with greater hope than her can instill it within these poor travelers.
"Can...can one of you handle this? I don't think I would be the best right now to encourage them."
The little gnome will instead go shuffle to her cow friend and give it some scratches. How she missed Gou and the others right now.
Piella will take the first watch since she will have trouble sleeping anyway.
The animal appreciates your company and happily accepts your scratches.
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Within a few moments, you fall into a deep sleep.
In your dreams, you see a school of small red fish. It circles you for a moment then fades into the blackness of a deep ocean trench. You swim to catch up with it, when the trench blinks. You see now that it is in fact a gargantuan, ophidian eye, gazing at you from the deeps. It blinks and the dream fades.
Lung nods, too tired to say anything in agreement. He stays up keeping watch as long as he can, and then surrenders to slumber as well.
Piella will move over to where Lung is and will set up to keep watch after petting the cow.
"Go ahead and get some sleep too," she mutters to him in a quiet voice. "You will need it for when they wake up. I don't even want to close my eyes right now," she shakes her head. "Did we do enough? Think..." This line of thinking will plague her for hours to come, but eventually the calming area of the shrine will give way about 8 hours into her shift and she'll feel very sleepy. At that point, she will press to have the others wake up.
Katala looks at the couple, dreading telling them the news. He nods at Taicho's advice. It could wait until they had rested. They were sleeping....
In the morning Katala faces the couple. He has had time to consider what they did, and didn't find. He tells them of the trip, the entry into the Spirit Realm and the battle with the one watcher. "The trail ended at a chasm with no way to proceed. We didn't find them, yet. But we also didn't find any evidence that the enemy was treating their prisoners poorly. There is still hope."
Lung nods along with Katala when speaking with the couple. "We truly do not know what happened, but it is as Katala has said--there is still hope."
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Lung looks at Taicho curiously. "Describe this eye. Was it--" Lung proceeds to list various descriptive details that could elucidate whether the eye was snake, turtle, lizard, crocodilian, or dragon.
"The trail ended at a chasm with no way to proceed. We didn't find them, yet. But we also didn't find any evidence that the enemy was treating their prisoners poorly. There is still hope."
"We truly do not know what happened, but it is as Katala has said--there is still hope."
The two farmers nod grimly along with your story and try to keep a stoic face. As you finish, they simply sit there and shudder for a few minutes, tears running freely down both their faces.
It takes them a moment to regain their composure, but the two thank all of you profusely for having done what you could, as well as thanking you for saving both of them. They say they will head back down the mountain to Xin to pass on the news of the Suofang Yi attacks and to pray for their family member.
Lung looks at Taicho curiously. "Describe this eye. Was it--" Lung proceeds to list various descriptive details that could elucidate whether the eye was snake, turtle, lizard, crocodilian, or dragon.
With what Taicho can retell plus a few details about the eye, you know it's unmistakably draconic.
"Perhaps the guard, now that they know who is responsible for these attacks, can now disperse people to this are as a deterrent. This is clearly a source of the abductions."
She will look to those heading to Xin and will ask, "Please be careful on the road and don't delay. Move fast back to the city and let them know everything we found. Speak to the head of the guard. He spoke with us before we left and knows we came up here. He'll be relieved to have some news of what is causing this and where they are ducking in and out of. He could lay some traps next to spirit gates if he wishes. As for us...we need to be continuing on with our quest for the Council."
"Perhaps the guard, now that they know who is responsible for these attacks, can now disperse people to this are as a deterrent. This is clearly a source of the abductions."
She will look to those heading to Xin and will ask, "Please be careful on the road and don't delay. Move fast back to the city and let them know everything we found. Speak to the head of the guard. He spoke with us before we left and knows we came up here. He'll be relieved to have some news of what is causing this and where they are ducking in and out of. He could lay some traps next to spirit gates if he wishes. As for us...we need to be continuing on with our quest for the Council."
The two farmers bid their farewells and wish you well on your quest. They promise to speak to the head of the guard and suggest you do the same in Qiao.
At this point, you are all rested and can decide where to head to next.
Piella decides to think of the friends they've met along the way. She bears the gifts of Soeji and Zhua, the words from friends along the road. She carries the book that for so many days Bao had loved to read. Yet despite her efforts, her mind always crawls back to:
"What if one day if one of them gets kidnapped? Two dozen people...gone...no answer...no clue. No help from the Council."
Piella waves goodbye to the two farmers and then settles into the cart. With the couple going to tell the captain to set traps outside of Spirit gates to kill or capture those who come through, she is sure at least the kidnappings won't happen anymore in this region.
"Well, let us keep an eye out for Duan or the Golden Carp. We will just have to focus on finding the Woven Stone Gate and hope it leads to the Spring of the Dreaming Sun up in the Jintsao Highlands..."
She will plop down next to the driver's seat on the cart and will remain horribly depressed.
Leaving the shrine and the events of the previous night behind, the four of you continue onwards up Baijao's Trail.
Two days of uneventful ride brings you further up the mountains. If you continued straight, you'd be almost back in Piaofeng, but this time you take side roads and paths that clearly have seen little to no travelers.
Late in the afternoon on the second day, you hear the sounds of flowing water and within the hour, you come across a bubbling spring, slowly carving its way through frost-covered stone. Unfortunately, the path continues through the rocks, but the wagon clearly won't fit.
'Piella is right, they should warn the captain of the guard.' Nodding in agreement with Piella, Taicho watches the couple head towards Xin. As he begins to break camp, Taicho, a firm believer in dreams, turns to Lung, asking. "So Lung, what do you think the creature in my dream means?"
"...hmm. Dragons are usually auspicious, but not if they are angry, or possessed of a greedy or unwise nature. Some are so corrupted by greed that they destroy many lives in the quest for treasure. Such a beast would not be fixed on you, I think. Did the eye focus on you?"
He eyes the spring. "I wonder if there's an entrance to the Spirit Realm. We can hobble up the animals and go a wandering up river for a bit. Sometimes at the source of the spring, there is a portal, or so stories say," he says hopefully.
Piella crawls up to the spring and takes a sample of the water. If not bitter, she will take the opportunity to take an enjoyable drink with thanks to the Council for such a blessing. Afterward, as the others speak about it, she will look down the rocks a way and begin to follow them to see if surely they did go through a gate.
Lung, you recall that the stone gate itself should be some ways up. The legends mention that the gate was exquisitely carved and features many fish and water motifs.
Piella pushes onwards into the rocks and eventually comes across a Woven Stone Gate, covered in frost and battered by years of harsh weather. The supposedly magnificent carvings have long since faded away, with only telltale marks indicating they were once there. The spring water flows through the gate itself.
As per usual, you step through the gate and find yourself in a mist-shrouded replica of the world you just stepped out of. The cold is palpable, even more so than normal for this altitude. Your breath catches in your throat as the sharpness of the cold hits you.
The flowing spring now lies frozen and unmoving. Everything is silent.
"I am sure they will love to eat here," she states, looking at the condition of the grasses growing in the sun by the spring, despite the cold weather. With the animals eventually handled and taken care of, she will journey upward and will manage to find this gate.
When she finds it, its disrepair makes her pout. No doubt it was beautiful once. While she does possess magic to work to restore it, it would take months to do so.
"I wonder who has the capability to repair such a thing. I imagine magic could do so without disrupting the power of the gate, but it is sad that it is so worn down."
A moment later, she chants out a spell and a magical hand springs into existence. The gnome will guide it to hover over and brush off all of the snow resting on the gate in hopes of seeing some hidden mark.
If nothing is seen, she will enter into the spirit realm after giving Taicho a nod. With a whisper, she lets the group know how cold it is.
"This reminds me of winter in the mountains."
If there is a fallen, dead branch nearby, she will create a makeshift torch out of it for her size and will cast a spark spell on it just for added warmth.
Katala follows along after the group, watching to be sure that nobody stumbles over the rough ground. When the gate is found he studies the structure. It definitely was.... less than expected.
A moment later, she chants out a spell and a magical hand springs into existence. The gnome will guide it to hover over and brush off all of the snow resting on the gate in hopes of seeing some hidden mark.
No hidden mark, unfortunately.
Katala follows along after the group, watching to be sure that nobody stumbles over the rough ground. When the gate is found he studies the structure. It definitely was.... less than expected.
"Well, regarding the eye," says Lung. "perhaps if you draw it I can discern something. Dreams are tricky things."
Lung frowns. "I'm not so sure this is wonderful. The chill we felt in the caverns..."
"That's an interesting point, Lung!" she nods, thinking of their previous time in the Spirit Realm. It was similar to the location they were in. This time, there is a stark difference. What was going on? She cautiously moves forward, and not on the crackling ice of the stream.
Katala moves forward with the group. He shivers with the cold. "It was so cold as you lowered me back at the cave. I wonder if this is linked? Perhaps something in the spirit realm is causing the chill?"
"When we got up I changed out two of my spells to give a little comfort against cold. It won't protect against a damaging chill, but you won't feel freezing until the temperature gets way below freezing."
Through the mists, you catch a glimpse of a rocky outcropping jutting from the frozen spring. The mists swirl around it, blocking much of it from view but nothing seems to be moving, besides the mist.
Piella takes in a deep breath as she sees the open area ahead of her. Recalling her experience with the wolf before, she loads up her crossbow, just in case.
She looks to their feet as she moves out and forward.
Lung Detects Evil almost reflexively.
Katala shrinks to small size and readies his crossbow, then follows along with the group.
Katala protects the two of you with endure elements. Lung detects no evil as he maintains the spell.
Taicho, you advance cautiously across the frozen water towards the small island outcrop. As you get close, you notice the mist appears to be pouring out from a section of the island, but from where you are you can't quite see what it is. (Marked it with an [???] tile)
"What would be causing this fog?" she thinks to herself after suddenly the chill that was seeping into her little knees fades. Giving the Varana a kind back rub for his contribution, she steels herself and shakes off the last of the wintery-feeling air. She readies her crossbow as she allows the others to investigate.
Lung stays a good 10' behind Taicho, also moving slowly and carefully.
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Taicho bravely, slowly, and cautiously makes his way up the outcropping. Finally, he can see that the mist is pouring forth from what appears to be a vertical shaft leading straight down into the rock.
As it billows forth in undulating spirals, you manage to catch a glimpse of the shaft's interior and can spot numerous carved hand holds alongside piscene imagery.