In a flash the environment changed.
Where the arena once enveloped her, with its' sticky warmth and threatening looming shadows watching from the stands, there was now a snow-capped mountain scape.
Zahra stood on a peak and there were others about her. Humans and elves, a mountain giant with half a dozen gnomes riding on his shoulders, a woman in the most elaborate robes wearing a veil of thin black cloth under fine chain links (the veil seemed to be writhing?!), a massive black horse with a short backward facing horns and a hide of iridescent scales, and a few others of strange origin.
They all walked a winding stone way that was sometimes a meagre path and sometimes a staircase that followed the mountain ridge and led to a higher peak. A woman of about Zahra's age was standing on the side of the path. She seemed perhaps part-elven and wore warm-looking robes of black with dark blue embroidery. She carried a staff and was speaking to the procession of creatures but none of them were responding. Her hair was long and full-on white despite her age.
Woman, "I'm sorry but I don't understand how I got here. Can someone tell me where we are? I need to get back to my friends, you see. They were in trouble and it's very bad that I've left them. Hello?? Won't one of you talk to me???" She looked like her anxiety is increasing.
The procession passed her by as if she were invisible.
Tymythy landed on his feet though he felt a little sprained and pushed through his pain to come face-to-face with Wynowen. She turned to him with pale skin and a look that read she was hoping the whisperers would take care of him.
She looked desperate, "Get back up her, boys!" and Gorigan fought to climb but couldn't get purchase. Ondugal seemed unable to stand, though he was clearly conscious.
The sinewy woman went low moving her shoulders back and forth but out of sync with the sliding of her head. It was clear she'd been in fights as desperate. She flipped her short sword around in her right hand and cut upward as it left an ugly scrape across Tymythy's breastplate. The sparks it produced created an unintentional spark but it gave her an opening! She buried her dagger in his right armpit.
E'gama kept trying to slice pieces off the whisperer as he took steps about it in a counter-clockwise path. From a distance, Cyn rushed clockwise and continued to launch arrows. The Attic Whisperer was quickly being whittled down to nothing, though it still, for the moment, stood.
The red slabs moved again. This time tossing Ondugal and Gorigan into the air. Gorigan nearly landed on his feet and was within Dounia's striking range. Ondugal, who had been on the ground was flipped like a pancake and landed prone.
Last time she had transported out of the challenge, she had found out she almost died. Had the same thing happened? Why did everyone want to hurt her all of a sudden? She was a good person, wasn't she?
Not knowing what to do, the sorceress kept walking along with the others. They all seemed to know where they were going. Maybe she'd find answers when they got to their destination.
When she came upon the woman, Zahra looked back and forth at the others around her. Surely they were more qualified to speak with this lost soul than she. But when no one paid the woman any attention, Zahra couldn't help but step out of line to join her.
Zahra gave the woman a gentle smile, "I don't know either but maybe we can figure it out together. My name is Zahra. What can I call you? I totally understand your concern because I need to get back to my friends too as we were also in trouble." She leaned in and said quieter, "I bet no one else is talking because no one knows where we are."
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Cairee still couldn't speak, but her legs worked, and she was pretty sure Zahra had a potion on her. Trusting the elf not to stab her as she ran by, the cleric sprinted across the raised slab to Zahra's side. Her opponent was lying prone, so she had a few precious seconds to act.
Dropping to her knees, she found the potion in Zahra's pocket, scooped up her shoulders, and dribbled it into her mouth. Please Saiph! she prayed silently.
Meanwhile, Dounia barely noticed Cairee run behind her. All her attention was on her opponent, who had the bad luck to pop up in front of her again. Keeping her body low, she lashed out again with her two daggers, striking for the big artery in his legs. She was on her own last legs, and if she went down now, she wasn't getting back up again.
Her first dagger struck true and deep. A gout of blood followed her dagger as she pulled it out. It was so surprising that she flailed completely with her second dagger.
Not wanting to get chopped again, she then rolled backwards in a tight tumble, trying to position herself near Tymythy. That way neither of them could be flanked, and she could help shield Cairee, who was trying to help Zahra. If the Blackbirds are going to die, we'll die together.
Nope
damage=max = 1d4+4 = 8
Nope
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Zahra noticed no one seemed to be paying attention to her either.
Calliope. "Please, I'm Calliope. I'm a little anxious. The way people are ignoring me, I don't think I'm altogether 'here'. But you're right let's follow."
The two continued along the path together and picked up three other people, the only people that seemed to notice and interact with them. There was a very elderly halfling named Grayleg Goldvaser, who said he was in bed and his family were about him before he arrived suddenly here. There was a middle-aged scholar named Ceilig Cooper. She was in hospital after contracting filth-fever during her time tending the sick. Finally, there was a fit dark-elven man, with swords belted to his side, who called himself Thix.
All of them seemed lost.
As you all followed the trail it came to the next peak where wooden platforms allowed people to stop and rest. Once Zahra and the others found their way there they could see nestled in the snow and curled around the highest peak was a massive dragon. The dragon appeared to be sleeping and its' breathing was laboured. The snow pushed away from its' nostrils with every exhale. Its' scales looked a grey-silver.
The others Zahra traveled with stopped and were, in one way or another, transfixed.
Kneeling before the dragon with their backs to Zahra were four men of different statures but all wearing the same long black leather coats. Their weapons were laid before them. Their heads were bowed.
To the dragon's left stood three high-elven figures that Zahra might have taken for priests. Two stood behind one who read off a scroll.
To the dragon's right sat cross-legged a monk. His head was also bowed and he droned out a prayer in a low voice, "mmmmmthequietwayisthepathtommmmmlettinggoisthepathtommmmmpeaceisthepathtomm mmmunderstandingisthepathtommmmmstrengthisthepathtommmmmthequietwayis..."
Wait a minute. Was that monk the priest they found in the desert? Was that Ldanfoat???
The high-elven cleric read aloud, "The time is nearing. Our great friend Silimiel will soon be crossing over to the endless palace. He has here writ that he requests you four to be the front line in the defence of the world against the rise of the Servants of the Great Red Dragon. Do you take this sacred bequest?"
The four men, "We do Great One!" As they replied it was not to the elf but the dragon that they faced.
Cleric, "To forsake your own safety?"
The four men, "We do Great One!"
Cleric, "To think only of your duty and push away all worldly desire?"
The four men, "We do Great One!"
Cleric, "To act in all things as he would have acted, without malice, without fear, without ego?"
One man, "I will to the last of my breath!"
Second man, "I will as I abandon my old selfish life!"
Third man, "I will to this purpose alone and non other!"
Fourth man, "I, in humility and with all this body may do, will!"
The fourth man's voice sounded familiar.
Cleric, "Then go all of you. You shall be the Great One's 'Cardinal Directions'. From here you abandon your names and shall only be called North, South, East, and West. You shall guard wherever the Master is to be found. If he should act with malevolence or reveal himself you shall face him."
The Cardinal Directions, "Yes Great One!"
Silimiel raised his head and spoke in a tired voice, "Except for you, East. You shall by your name be known but your purpose hidden. You shall find the woman Samreen. She is a force for good. You will find a way into her household and, if necessary, trade your life for hers. Please child. It is with heaviest of hearts that I ask this of you."
The fourth man bowed until his forehead touched the ground, "I, in humility and with all this body may do, will!"
The whisperer was falling to pieces before E'gama but, even then, it bit out at him. The nick it left on his right forearm produced another wave of tiredness but the huge elf fought it off once again.
Tymythy grunted in pain as the lightly built woman’s dagger found a chink in his armour, coming dangerously close to putting him out of the fight. But still he lived, and the woman’s attack had left her open for a counter. ”Well struck. Can you take it as well as you give?”
The hunter took hold of Wynowen’s shoulder with his left hand, to anchor her in place before she had a chance to pull out her blade. And with his right hand, he shifted his grip on his usriev, using the base of the blade as a handhold as he thrust the heavy weapon deep into the woman’s abdomen like it was itself a dagger, seeing the point of the weapon burst through the woman’s back just under her lowest rib.
Gorigan saw Tymythy rushing and screamed in fear! He scrambled on the ground and his first few attempts to move were just his sweaty hands slapping uselessly against the slab. He cried out gutlessly and Tymythy took advantage of his scrambling.
A flash of metal!
Gorigan's head rolled to the east.
Ondugal stood and almost yelled, "Lord of chaos, hide me in thy cowl of feathers! Guide me on secret paths!" and he folded away, invisible.
Cynecarnes' arrow shoots over the whisperer's shoulder and E'gama's curved blade hits air!
Cairee feeds Zahra the healing draft.
No sooner had Cairee fed Zahra the healing draft than the slab fell out from under her. Miraculously, the priest landed on her feet and unscathed!
Both E'gama and the whisperer fell to the arena floor. E'gama landed with a slight bruise but the whisperer collapsed in a heap. Cairee screams out, "Zahra wake up!" and was surprised her yelling produced a sound.
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Zahra's eyes widened when the dragon came into view but she didn't stop like the others. Her heart went out to the ancient wonder when she saw their laboured breathing but she was comforted that he wasn't alone.
She gasped loudly when she recognized Ldanfoat, or at least thought she recognized him.
"The time is nearing. Our great friend Silimiel will soon be crossing over to the endless palace...
Without even realizing, tears began to streak down Zahra's face. She knew that Silimiel had died but there was something about witnessing it first hand that broke her heart. She wished that she had known Silimiel because she could see the devotion he garnered from those gathered. It gave her greater confidence that the stories she had heard were not exaggerated or made up, but truth. And she was related to him! How humbling was that?
When Zahra recognized the voice of the fourth man, she needed to see his face. Fairly certain that they weren't aware of her and that she was somehow witnessing the past, she moved up to stand beside Silimiel so that she could see the faces of the Cardinal Directions. She studied each of their faces and couldn't help but gasp again, especially when Samreen's name was mentioned. That's why his voice had sounded familiar!
With the vows given, Zahra took a moment to crouch beside Silimiel and placed a hand lovingly on his neck. She knew he didn't know she was there but as he neared the end, she wanted him to know that he was loved and not just revered.
Zahra stood up suddenly and looked around. She had thought she had heard Cairee yelling at her but she couldn't see her friend. She moved over to Calliope and the others, "Part of me feels like I'm being pulled away from here. I can hear my friend and I suddenly feel a lot of pain. In case I suddenly leave, I wanted to say goodbye and good luck. I'm glad to have met you and that we weren't alone in this place. If you make it back and are ever in Zhayalammar, find me at the Lesser Bazaar."
Zahra mumbled a word that sounded like Cairee's name but without vowels. Her fingers twitched and it looked like her eyelids were trying to open but couldn't because they were so heavy.
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Zahra passed through the smattering of attendees and looked back at the four men. North, South, and West looked unfamiliar to her. But East. Kehydius?! The man she knew as Samreen's bodyguard. He looked serious. Rigid. Not the friendly man she had met first at the opera house. There was something else about his face that was strange to her, something perhaps naive.
As she came to Silimiel himself. His eyes were closed and his breathing laboured. His scales just like the one they found in King Kubara'sigi's burial place. She touched his neck and he stirred. His eye opened. With the last of his strength he raised his head and stared at her. His breathing changed to short rapid ins and outs.
His eyes searched the crowd. Calliope, Greyleg, Ceilig, and Thix had all moved to the front.
The elven cleric, "Great One, please calm yourself. You are safe and amongst friends."
Silimiel, "Thank you, Lord Sagina! You have answered my ... dying wish and granted me a vision of my descendants! Forgive me ... my distant grandchildren. For you to be here ... you must be close ... to the veil between life and afterlife ... I would ... not have you endangered but so ... wanted to see."
"Ceilig ... Has the plague colony illness finally overthrown ... your constitution? Greyleg ... Have you ... finally made it home? ... Calliope ... What ... threat have you and your friends ... been vanquishing? ... Thix ... have ... the assassins ... found you? And ... Zahra ..."
"Sweet Zahra ... your trial is about to begin ... you are headed to ... the grande bazaar ... don't worry. They will take you but ... it will only lead you ... to friends."
"One ... last ... selfish ... wish. Sagina. I am ready."
Elven cleric, "He is growing delusional. Everyone step back."
Ldanfoat stopped his chant, "No, Caryana'padi, this dosen't feel like a delusion. Have patience. He is at the end." He began chanting again. Others joined in.
Greyleg the halfling, "I think I'm going with him. I'm coming Great Gaffer." The others touch Greyleg's shoulders and he walked forward and faded away.
Silimiel's head droops to the ground. He let out one last long breath and was gone. Over his body the clouds dissolved save one directly overhead. It took the form of dragon and slowly sailed away from the mountains, out over the distant desert and towards the sea.
Zahra briefly joined the others and one-by-one they faded as mourners prayed on the mountain top.
Beheading people with anything but the heaviest of blades was mostly something out of heroic ballads, and rather more difficult to achieve in reality. Yet, fueled by anger and armed with the enchanted blade of an ancient monarch, Tymythy somehow managed to cut between vertebrae and through all the muscles and sinews with an ease many an executor might have envied. A furious flick of the blade scattered blood in an arc, leaving the wavy blade clean and gleaming as it straight out of a blacksmith’s workshop. The hunter turned a cold-eyed glare in the direction of his misguided kin, only to see Ondugal invoke the name of his patron spirit and again fade from sight.
Tymythy had no idea what manner of magic the man employed, but he rather doubted Ondugal was so deep in the Black-Winged Lord’s favor that the spirit would spread its wings and carry the Thylyr from the arena – their host was mighty, after all, and would likely taken some pains to prevent his gladiators from robbing him and his guests the pleasure of a proper battle. So. The man was still somewhere close, but hidden. Awaiting for an opportunity to attack, or hoping against hope that by evading the Ravens for long enough his life might be spared, even though he still remained Raya Hallwyn’s prisoner.
Next his attention was drawn to Zahra, and a wave of relief threatened to topple the young hunter as he saw Cairee and Dounia both crowding the fallen mystic and saw her lips moving. ’Thank the spirits’ he thought. Zahra was clearly as resilient as the creatures whose blood she had inherited. That only left…
… the two elven prisoners, who had just managed to dispatch the second Whisperer, it seemed – at least the creature was nowhere to be seen. Tymythy wondered how things might proceed from here. The help from the pair had been invaluable during the battle, as the two could have just as easily stood back, or even joined the human prisoners in fighting the Ravens. But… would there be any way out for the elves except kill or be killed here.
Tymythy moved back towards the ladies and stopped between Dounia and E'gama, quickly taking out a potion from his pouch, using his teeth to pull out the cork, drinking the contents and casting the empty vial aside as he moved.
”I am in your debt,” he said, giving the pair a quick bow but never allowing his gaze to fall of the two, just in case. ”I do not know what you were promised, but I would assume your gift of defeating us would have included your freedom. Yet you chose not to stand back or join these four.” Something Tymythy wanted to think he would have done, had he been in the elves’ position… yet who could say if his integrity would have held. ”But… what would you do now? I would be honored to face you in duel… but it is not my life alone that is at stake here,” he said, breaking eye contact with the elves for a moment to glance back at the ladies behind him. ”Do you see a path for both of us to survive this day?”
Dounia looked down to see Cairee tending Zahra, and felt a wave of relief. Seeing the tricky one vanish again, she moved to put her back to Tymythy. At least they wouldn't get stabbed in the spine. She kept her senses wide open as she tried to figure out where he was.
She added her voice to Tymythy's. "What if they joined the Blackbirds? Is that possible? Would you consider it? Then we don't have to fight."
”I am in your debt,” ... ”I do not know what you were promised, but I would assume your gift of defeating us would have included your freedom. Yet you chose not to stand back or join these four.” ... ”But… what would you do now? I would be honored to face you in duel… but it is not my life alone that is at stake here,” ... ”Do you see a path for both of us to survive this day?”
E'gama was looking in every direction for a slab to move or Ondugal to pop out of nowhere. He yelled up from the arena floor, "'Our gift would include our freedom?' That's all it included! A chance to go home. Protect the people we left in that war zone."
"What if they joined the Blackbirds? Is that possible? Would you consider it? Then we don't have to fight."
Cynesarnes armed her bow and aimed it in Zahra's direction, "Join you?!" She moved towards the sorceress and closed one eye. "And risk our nethers in more of these challenges? We could fight you now, win, and go home. Waitaminute ... I don't think he's moved yet." She released.
The arrow shot a few feet away from Zahra and kept going.
Cyn, "Orc-britches! Anyway, I was really thinking of you four surrendering to US."
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Kehydius! When this was all over, she definitely needed to find him and Samreen again.
The sorceress almost collapsed from surprise when Silimiel stirred at her touch. He could see her! And he said grandchildren, not grandchild. She had more family!
Her brow furrowed a bit when Silimiel mentioned the Grande Bazaar. Was he referring to what had already happened or something that was to come?
As the great Silimiel breathed his last, tears freely flowed down Zahra's face. She mourned for the great dragon she knew him to be and for not being able to spend more time with him. She gave his neck a hug and kissed him above his eye. "Farewell, Silimiel. May you find open skies and cool winds. May you rest in peace knowing the world is better because you were in it."
Zahra stared at the cloud that formed upon Silimiel's passing. She cocked her head as she studied it. It looked familiar somehow. Then the pieces began falling into place and her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. She had seen this cloud before on the day she had been taken. And of course, Silimiel had been correct, she would never had met her friends if she hadn't been kidnapped. "Thank you," she whispered before tearing herself away from her ancestor's side.
With Greyleg disappearing before she could say goodbye, Zahra ran over to the others. "I've always wanted siblings. Where do you guys live? I would love to find you someday. Remember, I'm in Zhayalammar."
Zahra's face was wet from tears as she began to stir. Although she quickly realized that not all of them were sad tears. She desperately wanted to share what had happened with her friends but was painfully aware of the danger they were in. It would have to wait. She finally opened her eyes and when Cairee's face came into focus she whispered, "Did we win? Did you get your voice back?"
Dounia couldn't hear any traces of Ondugal.
Then, all of the yellow slabs fell!
The clicking that signalled that the floor was about to move barely registered in Zahra's mind after struggling to come back from her mountain top moment.
Cairee gasped in relief as Zahra woke up. She immediately called upon Saiph to heal her, as the potion wasn't enough.
Still keeping her back to Tymythy, Dounia said, "We don't want to fight you! You're good people. We're good people! Let's not let Hellym change that about us. We should work together. Surely working with the 4 of us for a few more challenges is better than fighting us now, and one or both of you probably dying. And we'll split the winnings with you. Imagine how much support you could bring to your people with 1/3 of that diamond! It's huge!"
Zahra had only just awaken and fell as her slab crashed to the ground. Her vision was in danger of blacking out again as Cairee knelt over her, a pendant in one hand, Zahra's stomach against the other.
All of the blue slabs fell with a crash! The sound was ringing in everyone's ears. A slab had fallen practically every twelve heartbeats and it was like being in a slow motion rock slide.
But it meant only the red slabs stood off the arena floor.
Cyn, "Orc-britches! Anyway, I was really thinking of you four surrendering to US."
Tymythy was about to join his voice in trying to convince the elves to follow Dounia’s revolutionary idea when the arena shifted yet again, delivering a new set of bruises and reopening most of the wounds the potion he had drunk had barely finished knitting shut. ”Ancestors forfend,” the hunter grunted as he once again got back to his feet. ”If we don’t finish this one way or the other, the floor will be declared the sole survivor.”
”From what we have seen, there is only one way for the challenges to emerge from the challenges – victorious or not at all!” Tymythy shouted to be heard, as his view of Cynesarnes was blocked by spirits knew how many thick stone slabs. ”But Dounia’s plan has merit! The rules of the games were intentionally left vague! For Raya Hallwyn’s pleasure to interpret! And this, unexpected enough to possibly be allowed, even lauded! So, how about it? Equal share of the loot, and no compulsion to enter any more challenges unless you wish to! After all, nowhere was it said the whole group had to participate in each game!”
Tymythy couldn't see the elven woman. She was somewhere on the other side of the raised column. E'gama yelled out to Cynesarnes, "Cyn?!" One syllable, but it was enough to say 'common, let's end this. Make the deal.' The other Black Birds could see her face softening.
She yelled out to the ceiling, "We join The Black Birds!" She breathed out all of the stress of her answer.
Zahra struggled to sit up, still groggy from almost dying. She threw her arms around Cairee's neck. "Thank you!", she croaked.
Ondugal appeared next to Cyn and took a step back. He grabbed his iron feather with both hands and started praying. Everyone could hear a sound like the grinding of steel-on-steel as dark bolts of nil energy began to crackle. This felt like what Cairee could do to heal those around her, but somehow rotten and crooked.
<edit>
E'gama move as fast as he could on his magical brass foot and slashed with his curved blade but only just gets within reach.
Cyn didn't move. She raised her bow in a blur of movement and fired.
The invisible man became visible, just below the pillar Dounia was standing on. She was poised and ready, and she pulled the dagger from her belt and threw it in one smooth motion. The dagger whipped down at her enemy, and stuck deep in his shoulder. "Stay away from our new teammates!"
Simultaneously, and before Ondugal could draw down whatever wrath he was pleading for, Cyn's arrow stuck him under the right shoulder blade and Dounia's dagger buried itself blade deep just above his heart.
He fell to his knees and then upon his face.
A voice boomed from overhead.
Several minutes passed.
A sound began to ring throughout the arena CHINKACHINKACHINKACHINKA and all of the raised red slabs began to slowly lower. Dounia joined the others. The double doors to the north opened and you could all see a path to a single portcullis that was slowly raising. The main arena looked to be just past it.
Cyn and E'dama butted foreheads and looked to you all.
Cyn, "What the hells do we do now?"
A few seconds went by and no new slab moved. The great machine was done.
Zahra slowly got to her feet. Surprisingly, she felt physically stronger than she thought she should. She had no doubt that that was due to Cairee's care.
"We either run for the door and go for a good time or we try to accomplish the secret quests for points. Personally, considering our resources are taxed, I vote for getting a good finishing time."
Dounia barely dared to move as the booming voice deliberated over their decision. Seconds dragged on to minutes, and she began to get fidgety. She didn't dare descend from her slab, but she shifted from foot to foot, and kept an eye on what was happening below her. Which wasn't much.
When they were given permission to accept the new members, she breathed a big sigh of relief. Her pillar descended at a reasonable pace, though she wouldn't have minded using the spider climb potion again to run down the side.
She threw her arms around Zahra and Cairee. "I'm so glad you're okay! That was scary!"
Moving to the elves, she grinned at them. "Welcome to the Blackbirds! I'm Dounia. I know you already met Tymythy. This is Zahra and Cairee. I'm so glad we don't have to fight you!"
To Zahra, she said, "Just give me one minute to try and find the next piece of the key. Let's look in the cells, there's not really anywhere else to look. Oh, or on the bodies of the prisoners." To the elves, she said, "We're looking for a silvery tube thing, it's part of a key we'll need later. I can maybe get the door open without it, but it's worth points if we find it."
She began to run to one of the doors, then stopped at the "body" of one of the attic whisperers. Was the key part one of the bits that made them up? She took a deep breath and began to pull them apart.
Cairee shuddered at Dounia's actions and said, "I'll check the door where the elementals were."
She jogs over to the cell and begins to look for the key.
Dounia found nothing on either the Attic Whisperer bundles nor the elemental's cell.
Zahra returned the group hug. If Tymythy had been in arms reach, the sorceress would have dragged him into it as well.
She nodded at their new members and gave a smile, "Welcome! It's never a dull moment being a Blackbird."
She then began searching the prisoners' bodies. "Searching it is. If we all pitch in then it'll go faster." Zahra began with the bodies around her before moving to their cells. After all, the prisoners had had the most to lose should they fail to vanquish them so she would have put the key part with them.
The bodies of the people from cell IV only had the armour they wore and the weapons they once held. When Zahra searched their cells she found the remainder of the weapon pile in the main space, evidence of an attempt to pry the bars of the first cell on the left, and the basic living amenities (a bedroll on a pile of straw, a chamber pot, and a was basin).
There was no sign of the key segment.
She threw her arms around Zahra and Cairee. "I'm so glad you're okay! That was scary!"
Moving to the elves, she grinned at them. "Welcome to the Blackbirds! I'm Dounia. I know you already met Tymythy. This is Zahra and Cairee. I'm so glad we don't have to fight you!"
E'gama laughed and his laughter was soft deep and uninhibited, "We could have come up against anyone. Something seems to want us to have met. Imagine, saved by a group with a true priest of Saiph. A human following the way of an elven exemplar." He bends so that his eyes are level with Dounia's. "I'm glad to."
Cyn, "This is E'gama, scourge of the Bear Shirts of Khabazala. What he lacks in magical talent he makes up for in technique. I'm Cynesarnes but, if we're going to be a team, you can call me Cyn."
E'gama, "Mediocre archer but getting better all the time." He grinned.
Cyn, "So, a silvery tube?"
E'gama hopped after Zahra and helper her turn over Cell IV. When they got to the small cell he and Cyn had been in be muttered, "Hmm, you can go home again."
-
Cynesarnes looked Tymythy up and down and then scanned the arena as her eyes squinted into derisive slits, "This is your show, Crow-boy, where to?"
Cynesarnes looked Tymythy up and down and then scanned the arena as her eyes squinted into derisive slits, "This is your show, Crow-boy, where to?"
”I am leader in name only,” Tymythy said, not bothering to hide his sigh of relief when Dounia’s unorthodox idea was embraced and approved by the judges – he could just imagine piles of coins toppling this way and that as few could have foreseen a conclusion like this to the challenge. ”The time for fighting has passed, and while I am young I am not so foolish as to assume I know the matters of mysteries better than our lady friends.”
”There should be a small silvery tube-shaped item hidden somewhere in the arena – a piece of some bigger puzzle that might become clearer after we assemble a few more pieces of it,” he said, walking over to his fallen kinsman and dropping to one knee next to Ondugal’s body. ”Our first was hidden almost in plain sight, merely inside a statue’s open mouth, but the second was tucked inside a magical dimension accessible via an invested mirror. So there’s no telling where the things might be. We should make an effort to find it, now that the damn floor has stopped trying to get us all killed, but there is no point in trying to turn every stone – if we do not understand the trick, we might be here all day. And the faster we get out, the closer to the main prize we get. And I well understand why you would want to prioritize that... as well as the comprehensive post-challenge healing services offered, courtesy of our host,” he went on, glancing at E'gama and his painful-looking limp.
Tymythy spend a few moments in silent contemplation, then reached out to pick up the fellow clansman’s iron feather token. Ondugal might have shown Tymythy an aspect of their mutual god the young hunter had never realized existed, but he was not arrogant enough to imagine his mere mortal understanding could encompass the whole scope of one of the ancient spirits his tribe venerated.
The iron feather would serve as a pointed reminder of the fact that a portrait of a person, no matter how great an artist had shaped it, was could ever display only a tiny piece of its model. Clearly there were parts to the Black-Winged Lord that Tymythy had never known of.
”So. Let’s see if the cell that held those two horrors holds any clues for us to find,” he said to Cynesarnes, nodding towards the cell that had housed the two Whisperers.
Seeing Tymythy head towards the spooks' cell, Dounia limps down to where the naga had been kept. Tymythy's talk of healing made her realize how badly she was hurt, and suddenly every cut and bruise ached anew. Holding her stomach, she began to search the snake-lady's nest.
Hmm, you can go home again.
Zahra gave E'gama a grateful smile, "Thanks for keeping my friends safe. I'm glad they recognized that having you as teammates is a much better choice than having to fight you."
Not finding anything in the cells or anything more written on the walls, Zahra turned her attention to her companion. "So where is home for you? Tymythy spoke with you both a bit more but he didn't share much."
She contemplated kicking over the chamber pots but decided against it. In the other challenges the pieces had been hidden but not like that. "You know, there are a lot of spectators in the stands. You may find allies to win to your cause should you make it known. Did I hear correctly when I was coming to? Your home is experiencing war?"
Dounia could see the corpse of the naga. It was moments, perhaps two minutes ago that they had fought.
The cell had a kind of nest and some of the brick had been pulled from a section of wall. It wasn't an attempt to escape. She needed something to scrape the wall with. The strange figures and arches on the wall were indecipherable but it was clear it all had something to do with the two moons.
The nest was empty. The space made by the pulled stone was clear.
Nothing.
-
"Thanks for keeping my friends safe. I'm glad they recognized that having you as teammates is a much better choice than having to fight you."
E'gama, "Mmm"
"So where is home for you? Tymythy spoke with you both a bit more but he didn't share much ... You know, there are a lot of spectators in the stands. You may find allies to win to your cause should you make it known. Did I hear correctly when I was coming to? Your home is experiencing war?"
E'gama followed Zahra back to her friends, "We're on the boarder between alAimtidad and the country to the north, Ulaanereg. We migrate between the forest in northern Khabazala and the mountains. Our people and the farmers of the north have been fighting with the orc and night-men of Ulaanereg for a generation, as your people figure it."
"People here don't want to see it. They don't want to know we're fighting for our lives. But maybe you're right. Maybe we can make a few more friends here."
-
Tymythy and Cyn looked at the cell of the whisperers. It was a trash heap of broken chairs, wagon wheels, smashed cups and plates, children's toys and clothes. Cyn walked in and started throwing things out of the cell and into the arena.
Part of the pile avalanched inward and onto the elven woman and she started cursing but Tymythy swore he could hear something else. In the shift a small box made for cigars clanked. He found it, opened it, and saw a small collection. Small porcelain figurines, dried flowers, a few acorns, a label saying 'Black Frost Root-Beer', and a familiar silver tube.
”Well, this was surprisingly easy, all things considered,” Tymythy said as he picked up tube and discarded the rest of the demented spirits’ possessions.
”We found it! Let’s hurry to the gate!” he shouted, gesturing at the portal with the usriev, looking where E'gama had gone, in case the elven warrior could use a shoulder to lean on, considering his leg injury.
The Black Birds ran to the northern doorway to a short hall that came to a portcullis. Tymythy with his breastplate and E’gama with his strange prosthetic foot were the last ones there.
One more big lift!
Zahra hustled to the doorway but made sure not to leave E'gama completely. That would be rude after all. "It can never be easy," she murmured as she caught sight of the obstacle that they had to lift.
They were all hurt and tired but she wanted to do what she could to help. Standing beside E'gama, she lifted with all her might when cued to.
"For Silimiel!", Zahra cried as she heaved.
Cairee moved from E'gama to Tymythy to Zhara, calling on Saiph's blessing to help them move the final portcullis.
"You can do it!" Dounia cheered, glad that she didn't have to do the lifting. She was pretty sure her spleen would pop out or something if she tried. "Lift with your knees!"
"At least the arena is silent," Tymythy muttered, then joined the line in wrestling with the gate.
Seeing no one was taking up the empty spot, Cyn rushed in.
The Black Birds could see the main arena before them. Everyone was quiet. People sat in the stands with fists tight, stood up in groups and stared, some held on to their companions anxiously.
But all were quiet and hanging on to what was happening waiting to see not if but when the Black Birds would manage the portcullis, bathed in wounds and tiredness!