From the journal of Kenari Sanura
"Back into the briar patch we go…"
Once again we attempt to make camp in one of the clearings of the brambles as Lenata summons food & water with her magic and Melchior pulls out his pipe.
"You've been holding out on me, mister!" I joke as I sit down next to him and work on starting a small fire. After an hour we agree on shifts and take turns on getting some sleep before we look for the next token.
It's around 3rd watch that I feel her boot nudging me in the side. "Get up, Kenari! I'm hearing some weird noises out in the brambles," Lenata whispers urgently.
Thanks to that ring I found so long ago now I've never really needed that much sleep or food anymore… so it didn't take much before I was sitting up and listening to the noises on the wind.
"Strange… it's like a thumping noise…" I mutter.
"Not like that heartbeat from the pyramid I hope," says Lenata with a shudder.
"No, thank the gods… this is more like… like a rabbit thumping on a log, maybe? Hey… do you think it could be Brambleson? He did run away after that duel with Vedis, after all."
"I hope that's all it is," she whispers.
"Well whatever it is, I'm taking it as a sign that we should move on," I reply as I get up and we proceed to wake the others.
"Hey, do you hear voices?" Melchior asks as he stands at the edge of the clearing.
I walk up to Melchior and give a listen… and indeed, there is some indistinct muttering in the distance. "Why don't you guys finish picking up camp and I'll go check it out?" I offer as I strap on my claws.
"Be careful," he replies with a nod and a hand on my shoulder before re-joining the others.
I crouch low and make my way through the brambles and bushes until I hear the mumbled voices becoming more distinct. Hmm… from the tone it sounds like they are arguing over something?
I decide to take a peek, hoping that their own argument will keep them too busy to notice little old me. Peering through the bushes ahead I can make out a clearing filled with tarnished angel statues and white marble ruins almost reminiscent of the kinds I saw on Nova Roma… but the owners of the voices are something totally new.
To the side of the ruins seems to be an abandoned orchard of pear trees, and underneath one of them is a rather agitated unicorn with a pear on the tip of his horn. "Nyah-nyah, you can't have the pear!" it calls out to a frustrated little goblin who seems to be trying to take the pear for his own.
Well, that doesn't look too dangerous at the moment… I'll head back and tell the others so we can check it out together. At the very least, maybe we can get some fresh rations! Although… who knows what would happen if we ate story fruit… with our luck we'd get cursed and have to stay here six months out of the year.
I quietly make my way back to the others, who have now finished packing up camp. "Strangest thing over there," I say as I gesture with my thumb over my shoulder. "There's some unicorn playing Keep-a-Way with a goblin!"
Waitaminute…unicorn… I think there's a card for that! I reach into my sash and flip through my cards and lo and behold, there it is… a picture of a Unicorn with a pear on its horn. Well that settles it for me, anyway.
"Might as well check it out," Ef Utan declares as he adjusts the straps on his swords. "Maybe it will lead us to the next token."
"Unicorns… I thought they only appeared to virgins?" Vedis wondered aloud.
"Apparently the stories were wrong," I snort as we make our way back to the clearing to find that the unicorn and the goblin are still at it over the pear. I concentrate and play the Unicorn card in my hand before joining the others, and can just notice the subtle shimmer of energy that falls over it before disappearing.
"You can't have a pear… only the Goblins can take them," the unicorn says in a huff as Vedis tries to take one of the pears from the tree, but can't seem to grab it.
"But why?" she asks in frustration.
"Because only the Goblins can take them!" it replies simply.
"That must be the way the story is written," says Lenata.
"Pears aside…" Ef Utan begins as he gets the unicorns attention away from the grasping goblin, "what's that way past those marble columns?"
The unicorn looks towards the columns and shudders. "Nothing that way but unhappy endings…"
"Why unhappy?" Lenata asks the unicorn gently.
"Because that's where she wrote her stories… before they ate her," it replies forlornly.
Melchior groans in frustration and steps forward. "Look, horse …. I don't give a hoot about your fruit… I just want to know if the Black Nib is that way or not."
The unicorn trots backwards a few steps and neighs. "Yes, yes…. it's there with her writing desk! Now just leave me alone!"
Suddenly the goblin makes its move and leaps up to grab the pear from the tip of the unicorns horn while it was distracted. "Aha! That's what you get for stealing it from me in the first place!" it cries before it runs off with the unicorn chasing after.
"Well, so much for that then," Vedis mutters as we continue past the orchard and through the crumbling columns. A shiver runs down my spine as the air turns chilly… but Lenata seems bothered for other reasons.
"I don't like it here," she whispers as she runs her hands up and down her arms to warm herself.
Once we move through the columns to the clearing beyond, I begin to see why. Rusty red stains upon an ancient stone dais are all that is left of whatever horrific act the unicorn spoke of. Rusty red stains of blood… and a fine wooden writing desk off in a corner, slightly hidden by the numerous columns.
My curiosity gets the better of me and I quickly move to the desk to search it for the Black Nib, while the others search around. It isn't till Lenata pulls out the token from around her neck that a tall gaunt hag-like creature steps out from behind one of the pillars and gestures at us… well Lenata… well… actually… the token around her neck if you ask me.
"Mmmmnnnn…" the shadowy figure moans as it drifts towards Lenata's amulet with an outstretched bony hand.
"Can't you speak?" Lenata asks it as she steps back nervously. "Is this what you want?" she shakes the amulet in her hand and the creature moans even louder while clutching at its emaciated chest. It then briefly clutches its throat and then covers its empty eye sockets before moaning again.
"Mmmmnnn….."
Hmmn… a hag who can't talk… I pull the cards out of my sash and flip through them till I find the card that I knew I had seen…The Mute Hag. Maybe this will help… I concentrate and throw the card down on the desk full of crumbling parchment and watch as a faint light appears around the hag and then disappears.
"Maybe if we give her the tongue back," Ef wonders as he removes his token from around his neck and holds it out in front of him. The hag then lurches forwards towards him while grabbing at her throat.
"Mmmn….MMMNnn!"
"Are we sure we want to do that?" Lenata asks worriedly. "We need those tokens to get out of here, right?"
"Look at our past record," I snort as I work my way behind the hag. "How do all of our encounters with creatures around here end up? We might as well try to get some questions answered first…"
"Let me see what I can read from her," Vedis offers as she puts a hand to her temple and closes her eyes. "Pain…loss… betrayal… and a desire for bargaining. Definitely not undead, though." She turns to the hag and calls out. "Shadow of Sonnaray… can you understand us? Nod once for yes."
The hag nods and then moans again as she clutches her throat and points towards Ef Utan.
"Well, here goes nothing," he says as he steps closer and holds out the token. He then quickly steps back as the hag snatches it and stuffs it into her mouth. After a moment she convulses and lets out a rattling sigh like that of a death rattle.
"Give me my heart and eyes, and I will give you what you seek…" it whispers hollowly. "You want to leave this place… but you don't have the skill to use the Black Nib! Restore me, and I will show you the way out."
"Yeah… I've heard that one before," I snort. "Death is an easy 'way out' in any situation, and I'm sure you'd be glad to help us along."
"Let's just kill it!" Melchior declares.
"What?" Vedis calls out in confusion. "No… why? We were just…"
The hag gestures with her arms and suddenly a wave of greenish-yellow mist shoots out from her to engulf Vedis and Melchior in a sick-smelling cloud. Sweat beads on his yellowing skin as Melchior drops to his knees. "Told you…" he moans weakly.
I take my moment to strike and try to grab what I noticed to be a feathered quill behind what used to be her ear. Where else do writers keep their pens? That hag is fast though, as she spins out of reach and avoids my grasp before drifting into a corner and disappearing from sight.
Oh crap… I don't like this!
I scan the area in a panic as Ef Utan swings about blindly in the space where we saw her last, but to no avail. I quickly put my back to a column and gulp down a potion that is supposed to protect me from evil things… at least that's what the vendor on Greyhawk said, anyway. If something is going to appear out of nowhere to terrorize me, I want every chance I can have to make it difficult for them.
Good thing, too… as the hag suddenly appears again behind Ef Utan and grabs his head between her bony fingers. He screams as his features seem to melt and change, but manages to push her away with a yell of desperate effort before dropping to his knees.
Dammit… where did she go?
"Oh no… you're not doing that again!" Lenata yells as she reaches into a pouch and flings a handful of glittering dust over the area that settles around the outline of the hag just as she strikes out at Melchior.
"MY EYES!" he screams out as he scratches at his face in a panic. "Murlynd help me, I can't see!"
I would feel sympathy for the blind gunslinger if I had the time… but I find myself suddenly occupied with getting out of the way as Ef Utan mutters the activation word of his sword and sends a fireball into the middle of the fight. Your own fault for telling him how to use that thing, Kenari…
Lenata runs over to me as we take cover behind some of the columns to escape the blaze. "Are you ok?"
"Nothing singed here thank the gods," I mutter as I peek around the corner to try and pick up on the shimmering outline of the hag. "Do you think he got her?"
I turn and see the silver-haired cleric holding her hands out over my gauntlets and muttering. When she's done she looks up and smiles. "I pray to Celestian that he did… but just in case, I added a spell to your gauntlets that should help."
I nod to her in thanks as she leaves, just catching the muttered name of Melchior. Oh gods… I hope he's all right!
I strap on my newly ensorcelled gauntlets and ready myself to join the fight as Vedis spies the glittering outline and sends it backwards into one of the ruined columns with a fiery push of energy from her outstretched hands. I jump onto some of the crumbled marble and launch myself at the slouched hag hopefully before she can recover. My claws rake across what I think is it's face and chest before a searing pain rips across my stomach and sends me spinning to the ground in a growing pool of blood.
Ugh...this is not how I was hoping to try the new powers the Imaskari gave me… if I live through this I hope they don't give me crap for not telling them yet!
Vedis and Ef Utan step up with their weapons, giving me a moment to pull off my sash and press it into my stomach as I crawl to a place of relative safety behind some of the marble ruins. With one hand I claw out and pull myself up into a lean against a column as I frantically search for the silver hair of the cleric. There… behind the others… she's treating Melchior…
"Forgive me, Melchior… but I really need some help right now!" I mutter weakly as I close my eyes and focus my will on the gunslinger and all of the details around him: the color of the grass, the jagged edges of the marble, the loose bricks under his feet and the scent of lavender that always seem to come with the cleric. I focus on those details and how they would feel to me if I was there instead of him… when there is a gentle "pop" in the air and suddenly the smell of lavender isn't just in my imagination.
"By the Gods, Kenari… what did you just do?" Lenata asks in confusion as I suddenly appear next to her.
"Tell you later…" I joke weakly as I pass out.
"Where the hell am I?" Melchior yells in the distance.
"Fall, dang it!"
I am jolted back into consciousness by the frustrated scream of Vedis shaking the columns and everything around them with her sonic vibrations. "I think he's making her angry," Lenata jokes as she finishes her healing spells over me. "Be more careful next time, ok?"
I stand up gingerly and stretch to find that my stomach is now completely healed. My leathers and sash, however… they could definitely use some help. Images of the black-furred leatherworker waiting for me back on the ship come unwanted to my head. I miss him so much… but I have to remain focused!
With a snarl and a shake of my head I leap back into the fray. It takes all of our combined efforts before the hag seems to weaken… but not before it lashes out with that damn green mist again. Suddenly my fur feels too thick on my skin and I'm struggling to hold down the bile that's rising in my throat.
Ef Utan swings yet again with his flaming sword, but this time burns a deep cut from clavicle to ribs. "My HEART!" she screams as she falls and the sky grows dark with the rumblings of thunder.
Without warning random bolts of lightning streak through the air into rubble, causing us all to run for cover until the last death throes of the Shadow of Sonneray subside in the now pouring rain.
I almost feel sorry for the hag that was once such a benign and powerful bard… but there just wasn't anything left than the hatred and revenge that kept what was left of her going. I just hope her soul can finally find peace.
The last remnants of the hags death throes eventually fade, except for the blasted rain that's soaking me to the bone and making my fur feel like a wet blanket. Combine that with the ill effects I'm still suffering from that fraking mist, and I feel like I want to crawl into a ball and die just to stop the coughing and pounding in my head.
Thankfully Ef Utan seems to be on top of things, as he quickly and efficiently guts the remains of the hag to get the amulet that represented her tongue back and pulls the Black Nib out of her scraggly hair.
"Hang on, Kenari… we'll get you feeling better in a moment," Lenata kindly whispers as she bends over me with her glowing hands. After a few moments it feels like the illness seeps out of me into the ground, and suddenly I am feeling much better. I sit up to thank her and end up grabbing my temples in pain. Oww… still have the remnants of a headache, though.
Lenata smiles in sympathy and pulls a small flask from her belt. "Here, drink this hangover remedy we picked up back on Sigil… it should take care of that headache."
"May your god bless you, Lenata… you're a life saver more than a dozen times over!" I mutter gratefully as I take the flask and down it in one gulp. Yes…. thank Bast and Celestian, I think that will do it.
Lenata moves over to help Melchior as I regain my feet and go to see what Ef Utan has found while searching the corpse. I peek over his shoulder and can't help but notice that he's found another one of those silver scroll cases like the one we found in the Wax Works.
"Ooo… can I see? Bet I can open it! Hey, did you get that pen, too? I found some parchment on the desk… can I see if I can write something magical? Pretty please?"
Ef Utan rolls his eyes as he's used to my game by now… but thankfully he hands the items over anyway. I tuck the Black Nib behind my ear and focus on finding the notes enscribed on the scroll case so that I may sing it open like the other.
After a few moments I find it and the scroll tube pops open to reveal not a scroll of summoning or planar creation, but a song. Well damn.
"What is it?" Vedis asks eagerly.
"Looks like one of those bard epics about Lord Mayor Zagyg of Grehawk," I say with undisguised disappointment as I bend over the scroll to keep it out of the rain. "There's a few interesting bits about a 'god trap' of some kind, but other than that it doesn't seem that special to me."
"Well dang it," Vedis mutters.
"It's not every day you can find a scroll to create your own Demiplane," Ef Utan admonishes. "Now come on, I'm getting sick and tired of getting rained on."
Now that Lenata has managed to remove the spell taking away Melchior's sight, we're thankfully able to gather everyone together and head back through the columns to where we last saw the Unicorn. Neither it or the goblin are here anymore… so I'm guessing that they were scared off by the thunder and lightning and sounds of battle.
The rain, thank Bast, has decided to stay in the clearing with the columns, so Vedis and Melchior take the time to start a much needed fire so that we may camp and dry ourselves out. As she's picking up branches she notices a half-eaten pear lying in the ground and picks it up.
"Well that's odd…" she mutters.
"What is?" Lenata asks curiously.
"You remember those pears the unicorn and goblin were fighting over?" Lenata nods. "Well this one says 'Fear Not' on it in tiny lettering. Do you suppose it was magical?"
"Entirely possible," Lenata replies as she lays out her bedroll by the fire. "The clerics of our temple have been known to make restoratives in the forms of food… it helps them go down quicker."
The night passes uneventfully for the most part… until my turn at watch, of course. I'm sitting atop one of the ruins and cleaning my gun when suddenly I hear the noises of stomping feet and breaking plants as something comes towards us out of the brambles.
I quickly slip a bullet into the chamber and cock the trigger as Brambelson comes charging out of the brambles and screaming in a blind panic. With a step of his large hind legs he's leaping over our campsite and into the darkness.
"I wonder what's got him in such a fright?" I mutter as I uncock my gun and holster it. I jump down and wake the others, as it's almost daylight anyway.
"What was all that noise about?" Melchior mutters as he grabs for his hat to block the light of the wooden sun ratcheting into place in the sky.
"Something has the rabbit scared out of his mind," I inform them. "It might be a good idea to pack up camp while I check it out."
"I think she's just trying to get out of packing her bedroll," Vedis mutters.
You know… never thought about that. I'll have to remember that for next time!
I carefully make my way through the brambles until I notice something red in the distance. What is that… a piece of fabric, maybe? I make my way closer and scan the clearing. It doesn't look like there's anyone left here, whatever it was that scared Brambelson. I crawl over to the fabric and see that it is indeed a piece of scarlet and black fabric, torn and hanging from one of the brambles. I gingerly separate it from the thorns and pocket it in my sash, along with an interesting beaded mask laying on the ground. It's got beads and feathers on it like it's from a festival… but it doesn't appear to be magical. Ah well… perhaps I can use it in one of my performances!
Not seeing any remnants of danger, I make my way back to the others and inform them of what I found. Soon after we return and Melchior scans the edges of the clearing in hopes of finding some kind of tracks belonging to whomever left that fabric.
"Dang it… there's tracks all right, but they're all like several weeks old!" he exclaims in frustration as he hits his thigh with his hat. "Do you suppose time goes differently in the brambles than in other places?"
"Hey guys, there's something I need to tell you," Vedis says with chagrin. Ef Utan turns to look at her with a raised eyebrow and gestures for her to get on with it. "Well…you see… when that hag died, I had a vision of sorts."
"Of sorts? Do tell," I chuckle.
"I heard the hag mutter in my mind something about the 'Red Skinned One' and how she was the only one powerful enough to rewrite the story. That, and I saw an image of her… she has dark red skin, glowing eyes, and these curved horns by her temples."
"Sounds like a Tiefling bard to me," Ef Utan mutters. "Well, she's obviously not here , so lets follow those tracks and see if they lead us anywhere interesting."
Melchior takes the lead this time, as I'm still trying to pick up on all the things he mumbles about when he tracks, from what it means when moss is one side or the other to which direction a twig is broken in. We make our way through the brambles for a bit, until he raises his hand up to halt us and bends down to peer at the grass.
"What did you find? Something interesting?" I ask as I look over his shoulder.
"Sssh…" he admonishes as he holds up a finger to his lips. "There's what looks like a diamond over there in the grass," he points ahead of him and I can just see a sparkle through the foliage, "but I think it's moving."
Sure enough it seems to have heard us, as it's now moving at an odd gait out of the grass towards us.
"What is that," Lenata mutters as she peers at it. "Are those legs made out of ectoplasm?"
"It's a Psicrystal!" Vedis explains in joy as she kneels down and beckons to it. "Come here, little guy… where's your master?" The psicrystal then skitters through the grass towards Vedis' and jumps into her outstretched hand.
Vedis closes her eyes and concentrates for a moment. Perhaps she's speaking to it with her mind? Hard to tell with psions.
"It says its name is Jane, and it wants to find its master," she replies as the psicrystal crawls out of her hand and up into her hair to look like a piece of jewelry.
"Hmmn… if it is sentient, perhaps I could try something. I promise I won't hurt you, Jane," Lenata reassures the psicrystal before closing her eyes and muttering a prayer to her god. "From what you told us of your vision, Vedis, I think Jane's master is the same Tiefling bard that we need to find. I could see a clear image of her in its mind, and it fits your description exactly."
"Well that just made things a bit easier," says Ef Utan. He then turns around and continues the trek through the brambles… but I swear I could hear him mutter something about 'blasted pets.'
The sound of thunder in the distance puts speed in our step as we make our way through the brambles yet again, hoping it will lead us to our next location… and the next token.