The Maker shakes her head and crosses three of her arms over her chest.
"No, no, no, I am still kolyarut inevitable, and will continue as such. But I am more than just my body and my mind. Through my intimate association with the engram I have begun a transformation that has affected me in ways that I could not have foreseen at the start. These things have become precious to me, and I do not see why I must give them up to fulfill your goals, no matter how altruistic they are."
She then explicitly turns to Shamak.
"I have memories of this Tapestry you speak about, if it is the demiplane which the Ruby Phoenix constructed. It's creation was a great marvel, but perhaps it was always meant to collapse. Perhaps this is what SHOULD happen. I also know that Hao Jin was disciplined because of her actions in creating the Tapestry. Perhaps it is better that it is no more."
The Maker considers what you have said and finally nods in agreement.
"I think I understand now. The engram has provided me with an opportunity for growth, but I must now strive to live without it to see what I am truly capable of."
The inevitable reaches back with two of her hands to the base of her neck and carefully open a compartment using a spiral tool she kept in a pocket of her leather apron. Once open, she pulls out the engram, which has a pyramid shape and is made of some kind of scintillating metal, and places it on a stone bench in front of her.
The kolyarut's manner changes immediately. It stands up straight and looks around at everyone assembled around her. Its movements no longer have the casual fluidity they had before, and it turns around and walks off the grounds of the Hearth Grown House without saying another word.
Picking up the engram, Shamak's vision momentarily grows blurry as he is transported to another place and time.
In the vision, he sees Hao Jin, hair a deep red and appearing younger than when you met her in person as she quietly watches a young man working at a loom.
As the man’s hands flicker over the threads and slowly weave a tapestry into being, a smile creases Hao Jin’s face and her own fingers begin to mimic the young man’s movements while trailing glimmering lines of eldritch energy.
Hao Jin watches carefully, her fingers moving in measured cadences. As the light dims, Hao Jin leaves, but she returns again, and again.
Shamak experiences months of Hao Jin’s careful study of the tapestry weaver, and feels the mental weight of innumerable calculations as Hao Jin plans her own magnificent tapestry.
Hundreds of petitioners are still milling about the Hearth-Grown House after the lillend's performance, most of them discussing the show in hushed in awed tones, or else singing snippets of their favorite tunes.
Having acquired the second engram, the group heads back toward the Travel Portal.
You eventually make your way through the crowd and following Eleven-Sun-Truth's directions, reach the neighborhood on the edge of the Serene Cirle, the domain of Irori. The architecture here is rather simple yet elegant, with long flowing lines, oval windows, and hundreds of plots of flowering trees and plants giving off a calming scent.
You arrive before the home of Acolyte Yakomo.
You are about to knock when you hear a noise coming from inside.
You can hear someone inside Yakomo's house trying to call out for help, but their voice is very muffled.
Shamak finds that the door is locked or barred and puts his foot into the door and can break it!
You see a small chamber within that holds a single tied and gagged petitioner dressed in loose robes similar to those worn by the other inhabitants of the area.
The petitioner smiles as you free him from his bounds.
He stands up and briefly collects himself while smoothing out his clothes.
"Thank you very much for the rescue. My name is Acolyte Yakomo and you must be agents of the Pathfinder Society, yes? Someone is looking for you."
He looks at you with a calm demeanor.
"I was visited about two hours ago by an elven woman of your world. A sad thing that seemed quite ... troubled would be the best word. The elven woman seemed to be carrying the weight of far more hardships than even an elf's long life could justify. While I am not pleased that I appear to have been drawn into a conflict between you and this woman...”
Yakomo pauses for just a moment.
“Perhaps all is happening as it should. I find that is often the case in this city. Regardless, the woman seemed to know you would arrive. She bade me tell you that you should seek me out in the Serene Circle. Given what I saw of her magic, I expect she was being quite literal and waits there in my guise even now.”"
|
"Well, that's hardly fair. Though, they are giving us the opportunity to get what we seek back, so I'm not sure what this meeting is going to entail. I'm terribly sorry that you were dragged into this, Yakomo. However, do you remember anything else? Perhaps a spell she used that could be identified?" Drske asked.
Yakomo nods at Drake's question.
"Yes, she said she needed an engram I was studying for something else, and who was I to deny it to her. I hoped it would relieve her burden, but now I'm not so sure."
He then turns to you, a look of puzzlement on his face.
"But what is it that you wanted here?"
The petitioner bows apologetically to Shamak.
"All I can tell you is that she spoke words in a magical language I did not understand after which her appearance and clothing changed to match my own. So look out for me."
Yakomo looks at all of you.
"Since you are not native to Axis, I must give you a final bit of advice. The elf in my form is most likely in the Serene Circle, and anyone traveling there comes under the influence of Irori's Grace. Irori himself bestows his peace upon all who step foot within the Circle. Violent action is strictly forbidden within the Circle, but most who feel Irori's Grace become incapable of harming others or themselves. It is an experience quite unlike any other and is used by those of us following in the Master's footsteps in order to clear our minds of the fears and distractions of our mortal lives."
Yakomo nods at Drake.
"Thank you for helping me. And please do not forget. Unprovoked violence in any form can penetrate the Circle, but it is also highly taboo and immediately stopped by the axial monitors, as those within the Circle can't adequately respond."
Yakomo wishes you luck as you leave. Travel to the Serene Circle is accomplished in a manner of minutes.
The Serene Circle is an open-air plaza where Irori’s followers meditate, learn, and discuss the intricacies of the multiverse with one another. Miles across, it is covered in light-colored sand and dotted with tranquil fountains, reflecting pools, and carefully managed gardens.
Countless remade petitioners dressed in loose, white robes stroll about engaging in quiet contemplation or are in conversation with others of their kind. Others sit and meditate quietly in the shade of blossoming fruit trees.
The entire area is suffused with a deep sense of tranquility and peace.
Once you have all gotten used to the effects of the Serene Circle, you begin the search for the masked elf.
The Serene Circle is quite large easily containing several thousand individuals, but after quite a bit of asking around, you are directed toward "Yakomo".
You enter a small, sheltered area covered in flowering trees with bright blue and white blossoms and a lone figure who seems be meditating next to a fountain shaped like an open lotus blossom about ¾ of a mile from the edge of the Circle.
As you speak to "Yakomo", he stands up and turns around, maintaining his illusory appearance.
"Very good, we can dispense with the formalities then. I am here because I want a trade. I will give you the engram, but in exchange one of you gets me into Skyreach at the Grand Lodge. It's that simple."
322 seems to be upset about something that does not have anything to do with your current situation.
The elf in her disguise raises an eyebrow.
"It seems that we do not have an accord, yet! I must insist on being safely conveyed into Skyreach before handing over the memory engram. I wish to do a bit of snooping there, nothing more. I do not intend to harm anyone. One of you will come with me to Absalom, and be returned to Axis once my mission has been performed. After returning here, I will hand over the engram. Are you amenable to this offer?" the illusion of the monk says.
|
Chrone stands with their white orbs afixed on the illusion of the monk. Without warning they flare brighter. If you look into them you become enraptured. You feel as if you are experiencing the infinitum of time. It is at first a great white expanse. You then focus and are reminded of what white is. It is not the absence of color, but the presence of all color. You begin seeing all of time resove from the whiteness. Pictures and happenings-
Chrone's harmonic voice snaps you back to reveal that it has been mere seconds, "Your thread has traveled through many a place, just as your dreams about stars and of space. You roamed and roamed past rock and fir, until you met the Teacher. It was then within you more grew of shadows, on top of the spark, a link to the painting both evil and dark. It strained against the borders until a whelp again you became. It forced everything out, even your name. This was the plan from the one in the mask, for you were sent on a pivotal task. That task was the domino that finally lead us here. The tapestry is torn, as if by a spear. It is not about the soul you stole, that of the Zey, of which you used of a service to pay. It is the tear that brings us to Axis for what we must do. With hidden face, you ask us you to trust you 322?"
The disguised 322 turns to Chrone with a puzzled look on her face but also with a sign of respect.
"What happened to Aram was ... unfortunate but necessary. Trust is a relative subject." she says more to herself than to you.
She turns to Chrone again.
"You know that I have hidden agendas. Your proclamation was testament to that. But you surely know that I need to find myself! You would be gone for no more than 20 minutes as long as you don't interfere and as long as I do not encounter any other difficulties along the way."
She then looks at all of you. "Is that quick enough for you?"
322 looks at Chrone who was critical.
"So are we doing this or not? Engram for access? Questions of philosophy and soothsaying can wait."
322 nods her head.
"I can draw on the energies of the Dreaming Dark then."
She then gives the half-orc a strange look before placing a light hand holding a tuning fork on his shoulder and intoning words of magic while making the requisite gestures for the somatic component.
Shamak experiences a strong sense of vertigo and is momentarily disoriented as the Serene Circle of Irori disappears around him and is replaced by a back alley in a large city on Golarion.
"A moment," 322 intones as her form shifts again to that of an eagle. She flutters for a moment then sits on his shoulder.
"All right, let's go. Try to act natural. We are only a street or two from the entrance to the Grand Lodge."
The pair quickly make their way from the back alley to the main street that leads to the entrance of the Grand Lodge. Getting past the guard at the door seems no problem as he recognizes Shamak and gives him a short nod as they pass.
It is evening in Absalom, and the Grand Lodge is abuzz with Pathfinders moving about. The entrance to Skyreach is unguarded and Shamak quickly makes his way inside.
"Down the hallway to the left," she whispers to Shamak, her words greatly hampered by the eagle's beak and tongue, yet somehow perfectly understandable.
Once they arrive at the requested destination, 322 looks around to make sure no one is watching and hops off the his shoulder, transforming into a human man.
"I'll be right back," she states. "Wait here," then disappears down another hallway and around a corner and out of sight.
Less than 5 minutes later, an un-familiar-looking woman returns holding a sealed, wooden box a bit under a half-meter in all dimensions. She is stuffing it into what looks to be a handy haversack, which she then swings over her shoulder.
"All done," she states matter-of-factly, then transforms back into a bird and lands on Shamak's shoulder.
The bird nods and gestures for Shamak to leave the way they came.
And with that she intones the words of power and Shamak feels once again the intense rush of vertigo as the street suddenly drops away beneath them and is replaced by the off-white sand of the Serene Circle of Irori.
The other Pathfinders are standing about 50 yards away, and while the other people gathered nearby note the sudden appearance of the Shamak and the bird, none seem to give it much thought.
The bird transforms back to the monk and pulls a bag out of a satchel, a small bag that seems to contain an object about the size of a human child's fist. She throws it to Chrone.
"Here, as we bargained, Pathfinder." 322 intones, but she speaks not in her cool, disaffected tone, but with some dredged-up emotion that is hard to pin down.
Chrone touches the engram and receives the expected vision from Hao Jin's past.
This time the vision is of her as a child of perhaps ten, her hair glossy black without a hint of the sorcerer’s signature ruby locks. Hao Jin dances and sings as she explores the wonders of a magnificent museum.
She climbs about the displays, enacting mock battles with taxidermied drakes or old suits of armor. As the young Hao Jin climbs atop a suit of ancient Minkaian armor, her foot slips and she grabs at a hanging lantern to steady herself. Suddenly everything is pain and fire, chaos, and then... silence and empty darkness.
The silence and empty darkness end suddenly with a burst of pain and a strange pulsating that wracks her entire body.
The scene shifts again and Chrone sees a young Hao Jin, her hair now a brilliant shade of red, her small face crumbling into tears as she learns that not only is the glorious museum gone, burned to ash, but her family has spent almost their entire fortune returning the young girl to life.
Chrone is left with a strong, lingering sense of Hao Jin’s regret, as well as her resolve to master the strange new magic burning inside her along with her emotions, so that she is never the source of such a tragedy again.
322 uses the chance and she disappears with a single spoken word of magic power.
322 has cast word of recall.
—
Suddenly, something else appears and you are interrupted by a very excited-looking Eleven-Sun-Truth.
“I felt it! Having acquired the third and final memory engram, your group surely was heading to to the Travel Portal that will take you back to the Empty Court!!“
The inevitable is practically vibrating with pent up energy, especially as she feels that you have recovered the engrams.