Our characters are currently on the way back to their clans after scouting the Zola Fel, inducting new members, losing the Golden disc to heroquesting Yelmalions, dealing with Morokanth at Hoofcrack, eradicating a nest of chaos Harpies, freeing their cleansed queen and her companions, a wedding and a funeral (of the bride) and are now at the ruins of a Second Age trading post, where two of the characters are sat on the roof, keeping watch and sharing stories.
Both had recently died and had been brought back to life, here is the Condor Brave's post:
Hoskar's PrefaceI'd had a bad feeling even as we reached the serpent below the harpies' rock. We camped below that gang we thought at first were baboons but later found out to be broo - they never showed themselves and sounded like baboons so it was only when they attacked the mounts by night - I'd gone on climbing by then to reach the harpies - we found out what they were. By all accounts, that was a great time for Akala: the stoneface smashed them to bits.Ohanzee and Amara performed a water rite to get us up there. Think that's why Ohanzee's got more of a water affinity these days, and at the top was an old grove. Our coming woke the dryad, but I was more concerned checking for enemies than anything.After that, it was a climb to the lair. Up through some sort of living statue, you know. The stomach wasn't nice - it started to digest us and he chuckles Amara picked the downward exit. Literally got shat out.When we hit the lair, they were summoning some form of foulness. I didn't see that - was too busy being dead. Last thing I remember was firing off slingstones at their hideous shaman. Think I got her with a stone right in the forehead, but that's the last I recall of the battle. There was a stabbing sensation and then...well then I was having visions.The events as they unfoldedHarmony save us: what is that thing?Fighting down a gag reflex, Hoskar aims his first stone at the foul shaman, his gaze darting around for the likeliest targets to follow or for incoming attacks then back to the stone's flight to see if it causes any hurt.He is taken unawares by the sound of a bullroarer elsewhere in the fray. Its voice is grateful here: a reminder of Greeshar and of the Bull's effectiveness against chaos._The air is filled with war cries, curses and missiles: darts, javelins both magical and mundane, sling shot, and arrows by the dozen fired by Leaper, who dances between the sharp rocky outcrops shooting up into the mass of swooping Harpies.Several go down under the onslaught, but their spells and missiles hit home too...Amara's god guided javelin pierces the clouds of smoke but is intercepted by a Harpy bodyguard, the creature carried backwards by the force of the cast, deep into the dark void of the cave beyond. This causes the shaman to cackle in mirth, the laugh suddenly cut short by a magnificent blow between the eyes as Hoskar fells her with a shot in a hundred.Below, Salen and Henal were simultaneously dodging through the maze of stalagmites, passing Kobal as the Thunderbird brave knocks a Harpy out of the air to stab it to death with his magically charged blade.It's mayhem and as soon as Hoskar made the shot, he keels backwards from an equally well cast dart, his skin quickly blackening as it's vile poison spreads through his system. No one notices for everyones' attention is on the job at hand..."It comes...." utters Emesh-Ga, his deep bass voice heard by all...And from the darkness behind comes a loud chuckling gurgle...._In the visionsLying on the rocky floor Hoskar, his body racked with pain, finds that memories of his childhood have come flooding back....His father walks beside him, whilst Hoskar, perhaps ten years old, sits astride a young Rhino, deep within a travelling caravan.Ahead the beginings of rolling hills....Behind the vast open plains of Prax.From somewhere ahead comes the voice of Becx, his mother, issuing commands._She fell.Where? How?"Father? We journey again? But why are there harpies in this caravan, looking new-hurt as we walk towards the hilly gorge; that one pure, it seems? Didn't know you knew Peat too; or is that his uncle that walks with us, dog beside him?"Why will he not turn towards me, looking forever on towards the horizon so I see but one side of his face?Mother's ahead, sounding more like the god than ever; guiding us true in caravan; but to where? Pain, and the thought there is something I should remember. Do I belong here? Do I belong here yet? Do I belong anywhere?A sudden sense of homecoming but a sudden sense of loss: is this my caravan at all? To stay with it seems easy - the joy of family and the peace of fate - but a call to leave remains."Father. Why do you walk when I ride? Does mother watch our path true? Wasn't Greeshar kind back there - don't think he meant to hurt me when he threw me over that rock and it was fun to wrestle till the snap."Maybe that's why I still hurt so._He turns; turns to look at me, but his face is a mask. What face is that? Fringed with black feathers, it is. Father? No, not father.The mask smiles, and it's the smile of a Raven. Between a song and a joke, a voice chortles.Melock? But you're not here.As I blink, the mask falls away as if into deep water, earth-solid earth-rippled like a marriage of elements, leaving behind a face that is gazing ahead.It is twilight now. Where did the light go? Where does the wind go behind the stars?"I guide one path: choose yours" calls the voice of Becx...or is it the god...far ahead._Twilight is peaceful. Shadows lengthen as Bright Treasure moves on his appointed path. Sounds of battle at the edge of hearing. Maybe they ought to matter - a memory nags like an itch but will not form - nothing matters except the stony skin of the rhino textured like the floor of a cave, the fact of the journey, and the aching."I must choose, mustn't I father?"Jondar turns at last. His other eye is closed, hiding what lies beneath its lid."I saw you in the Rocklands: you already chose how you would run. Here you do not choose. Here you are chosen."He smiles regretfully, listening."I hear it too. We're family after all. Heard something like it once myself, but only a moment. When the sound fades, you'll know one way or the other: connect with earth here and you're here. Why do you think I brought the rhino?"_A cat lopes from the plain; self-satisfied, content, and faintly amused. Passing form, passing support.She jumps well, as if practised with rhinos; landing square on the stone skin of an old companion once left behind with honour that Hoskar now recognises as the tears well up in his eyes. "Hello cat. Sorry I couldn't give you longer".He looks round and down to his father's form; happy-sad as the sound of battle dwindles."She does look like mother, doesn't she?" he asks; preparing to dismount only to feel an old-familiar strong and steadying hand on his leg, keeping him seated.Jondar nods back. "Yes: the sound fades all right my son. No harm to give it a while first. I think you'll like the herd, but forever's a long time."_Cat-warmth and strong hand upon me. Family and friend-in-faith. Noises dwindle, aching slackens. Feathers rustle in the gloaming as above a bird is soaring: brown, alone; joy and sorrow balanced. With the caravan it travels, leaders twain I have in the one journey."Came to the clarion reddened with wrathGarden guard 'gainst predark demonFaced is the foe of baleful breathingCome, my Hoskar"Is my path so sure, then? My choices all made?_In the cavernBlood drips from Hoskar's wound; not the bright and flowing red of health but viscous-black; portent of hate fulfilled and harbinger of an ending.Rasping breath hisses and the wound bubbles faintly.In the vision/crossoverOver the caravan, a bird soars still; waiting not impatiently but expectant. Planes cross a moment; words there and here together.Already, my Lord?But your work is not done.Another rasp; the eye-twitches smaller and more febrile, lips slackening to an unexpectedly peaceful smile.Wotcha. It's alright.Lids snap open suddenly, but whatever the clouded orbs beneath are seeing, it's neither Amara nor Kobal; nor indeed anything beneath these stars.Find...white lance...it's not what you think, Becx... wheezes from the Ranger's lips as the cord snaps.Unseeing eyes stare up into the cave.Hands stiffen to claws.A fly from the harpies' mess, inquisitive, buzzes its erratic way towards this new and interesting mass of flesh._A familar releasedDown below Four-Paws is padding, wary, round the camp. Stoneface struck some mighty blows there.Feels uneasy, needing comfort, leaps upon her friend Ram Rhino; circles round but cannot settle till fatigue has dropped her lids.Oh, my friend. I wonder when......Four-Paws struggles once for memory...can't recall what I was...Surrounded by a familiar and comfortable smell it knows by instinct and habit, a Manul cat goes back to sleep._In the cavernThe Queen Erish-El then follows Amara and picks up Hoskar's body as if he is a small child. Then walking over to the rear of the cave she places him beneath the statue..."Make your companion comfortable....I shall need you all to watch over him. Burn Acacia if you have it and beware of other spirits. I must travel to the other side and catch your friend before he leaves for ever." "I need a beat, slow and steady like a healthy heart. A libation of liquid must be poured to the four corners of our world and then each of you must prepare yourselves as you see fit."The Golden Queen then squats once more, resting her wings over the corpse, hiding him from view and once covered she begins to chant in the ancient languages of both Sky and Earth._"Yes Your Majesty." Ohanzee says and finds something to thump with. He then takes a moment listening to the thumping of his own heart in his ears. He picks this up verbally first "Bump, bump, bump, bump." and he starts hitting a stalagmite with the wooden stake he's found.It resonates through the cavern Thump, thump, thump, thump._Kobal passes on the report from his manul cat acting as forward observer. To his familiar, he replies, Let us know if you sense any other spirits approach apart from that of Hoskar.If he had any of the small gifts he received from the Shallow Waters clan, he would lay them at the corners of the square, but they together with most of his gear are packed away on Black Hoof.Instead, he looks for a stone to scratch out a large fertility/life rune with the boundaries of the square, then takes up position at one of the corners of the square, thumping the edge of his shield into the ground in time with the others.You swore an oath,this land to heal.Return to us Hoskar,don't break the deal.Your task awaits:bring back the Green.Return to us Condor,answer the Queen.To call your soul,the price is paid.Return to us Feather:more chance to trade._Ohanzee nods to Leaper and then expertly adjusts the beat of his own drumming to intersperse the beats of the pygmy's forming a combined sound akin to the double hard soft beat of a human heart.Thump bump thump bump hump bump hump bumpHe starts up a chat, on without words but with vocalised sounds that bring to mind the joys of life._The Harpy queen's body sags slightly as if something has departed and then moments later rises once more as if something has arrived.Muscles form and her head slowly changes to that of a beautiful Eagle.Her fetch, come to watch over her as she searches for Hoskar's spirit._In the visionThe sounds have all faded. Only the caravan remains; Peat and his faithful dog afoot close by.Jondar smiles again, and releases his grip. "I suppose that's all then, my son. Dismount if you like: there's much I would hear from you.""Wotcha" the relaxing Hoskar grins. "It's alright".A white flash from above; like a lance that splits the world for us. Something that goes everywhere. If Amara had such a thing, it could slay any predator, I'll be bound. "Becx! Find the white lance! It's not what you think!" he calls ahead.Hoskar sets his new self to dismount when...The sheltering sky rent, a fledged beauty comes; circling above lord Condor in a strange fight; not touching or tearing but seeking an opening to dart beneath the great soaring spirit of the air. Once, pinions touch and a single white feather tumbles slowly, lazily from the new arrival.The beating of a heart; from where?From the back of the wind, a swoop.From the dark behind, a rustle of feathers.In the last rays of Bright Treasure, lambent plumage.Above, riderless brown still protecting his servant from the newcomer.A voice on the wind: "for the heartbeat of our chosen ones and for the song, my word is let her pass".A dark croak cackles: "By all means, for the fartbeat".Golden tones cut commandingly through; seeing: "Just look at what she is - use your eyes if you have any".Riderless brown pauses, and looks up."Erish-el. How unexpected."Work and warring for you till the world's ending, it seems my lad: shield and serve, the green renewing."King Condor slips sideways, to guide the dismounted Peat and his dog."Catch the feather" instructs the newcomer....Erish-El, was it?Hoskar looks to his father for guidance, but he just shrugs. Looks yearningly towards King Condor, seeking to follow; but the will of beauty is too great. Involuntarily, his hand takes the falling feather as it tumbles down. His other hand clenches convulsively on the scruff of the Four-Paw cat-spirit nestled warmly by his side, throwing it firmly into the rent from which beauty issued.Hoskar slips sideways; the stone skin of the rhino becoming the simple stone of a cave.In the caveA Ranger awakens; two feathers bound into his hair where before there was only one.Hands relax from claws.The cloud behind the eyes clears as the morning of life returns.A fly, disgruntled that the buffet has closed early, meanders off to find some dung.And Hoskar Two-Feather murmurs "so beautiful: so very beautiful" as he relaxes to a light and peaceful sleep.
