The stairs to the lower level have been rebuilt, and we cleared the rubble from the stairwell that descends to Alseta\u2019s Ring. Which is a lengthy, boring way of saying we no longer have to spend half a day crawling through six miles of caves just to reach it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Easy access to the Ring means we can spend time studying it and hopefully make sense of what we\u2019re seeing.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll be honest: I am not our group\u2019s expert when it comes to magic. I am no slouch and can certainly do some study and research, but when you <\/span>really <\/span><\/i>want to understand, oh, say, ancient elven teleportation rings, you probably want to talk to Qantrip. And after that, everyone else. And then me.<\/span><\/p>\n We started by just getting a good look at everything. The first time we were down here, we were a little preoccupied with not dying, and after that, getting past Raldar again (also without dying), then getting back to town. Now, we could take our time.<\/span><\/p>\n Of the six gates, only five were still standing. We didn\u2019t need magic to tell us that the Lotusgate would never work again. If the burned-out husk of the former way station wasn\u2019t enough to convince you, the half-melted archway would do it.<\/span><\/p>\n Dreamgate shimmered like clouds, with butterflies and stars worked into the stone. Duskgate felt warm despite being deep underground. Vengegate was not even decorated at all, or at least it seemed that way at first. Then someone pointed out it was covered with tiny carvings of wasps. I wish they hadn\u2019t; now I can\u2019t stop seeing them. Jewelgate looked like someone decided you just can\u2019t have enough crystals.<\/span><\/p>\n And then there was Huntergate. Hawks, moons, and jungle vines were carved into the arch, all sacred to Ketephys, the elven god of the hunt. This was the one that we needed to go through. The one we needed to fix.<\/span><\/p>\n It didn\u2019t take long to figure out what needed to be done here. The best way I can describe it is that the gate was out of tune. Apparently \u201cout of alignment\u201d is the more accurate term, but \u201cout of tune\u201d makes more sense to me. We can use the gate key\u2014the arrowhead the Cinderclaws brought with them\u2014to adjust it. It would just take time and patience.<\/span><\/p>\n That was the easy part. The hard part\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDo we want to inform the council?\u201d I asked.<\/span><\/p>\n The last time we discussed this, we couldn\u2019t come to a consensus. About the only thing we <\/span>did<\/span><\/i> agree on was we weren\u2019t saying anything to anyone until we secured the Ring and figured out how it worked. Well, as of that moment, both of those conditions had been met. So we called for a vote.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI vote for telling the council,\u201d I said. \u201cWe tell them the Cinderclaws came through a teleportation device that\u2019s in our citadel, and that we intend to go through it ourselves to deal with the rest of them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Not everyone agreed. Kyira wanted to add that this is our citadel, and that no one else has the right to come in here to investigate or study it. And that the council shouldn\u2019t share the knowledge of its existence with anyone else.<\/span><\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until we got to Trip, though, that the vote got <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> complicated.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA witch votes \u2018no\u2019\u2014at least not all of the council. Not <\/span>that woman<\/span><\/i> especially. The head woman, Greta, only is ok.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat woman\u201d is Amera Lang. She\u2019s the operations manager for Posandi Bros., one of the two masons we hired to repair our walls. They\u2019re owned by town councilor Quentino Posandi.<\/span><\/p>\n Trip spent several days looking into the members of the council because she has a healthy dose of paranoia. That sounds pejorative, but it\u2019s not. Yes, most of the time it’s exhausting. But then she’ll notice something the rest of us missed, and suddenly it doesn’t seem so excessive.<\/span><\/p>\n Posandi Bros. is a family business in the most extreme sense of the term. Literally <\/span>everyone<\/span><\/i> who works there is either family or married into it. And Trip <\/span>did not like them<\/span><\/i>. We didn’t hire them to rebuild the stairs for that reason. Trip didn’t want Amera, or anyone else from Posandi Bros., inside the citadel.<\/span><\/p>\n Greta Gardania used to run Lamond\u2019s Lament. When she became council president, she handed it over to Renatta. Watching her, it’s hard not to think Greta sees being council president as just another way of taking care of people.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll support just telling Greta,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One by one, we all agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n We were able to meet with Greta in private late this afternoon. I ended up as spokesperson for what was likely to be an uncomfortable conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Council asked us to deal with the Cinderclaws, and ensure they\u2019re no longer a threat. Here\u2019s what we\u2019ve learned\u2026\u201d I said.<\/span><\/p>\n I explained that they had come through a teleportation gate beneath what was now our citadel\u2014I specifically used that wording, \u201cour citadel\u201d\u2014and caused extensive damage inside the structure. That the group got split in two, with neither able to reach the other. Then, about the caves, Voz’s involvement, and us finally reaching the Ring.<\/span><\/p>\n Greta looked increasingly tense. I couldn\u2019t blame her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve rebuilt the stairs and cleared out the rubble,\u201d I said, \u201cso we now have access to the gate. We believe we know how to repair it and activate it. And to fulfill our contract, we need to go through it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd you control this teleportation gate now, not them?\u201d she asked.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have the device they used to activate the gate. It is uniquely coded. And we believe it\u2019s the only one.\u201d I took in a deep breath, then added, \u201cWe need you to keep this quiet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Greta looked relieved. Which made no sense to me. There was nothing about this that should have been relieving. \u201cI was going to talk to you about this,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m glad you came to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n What?<\/span><\/p>\n She continued. \u201cVoz said something troubling to me as she was being transferred to Elidir. \u2018You don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing, trusting those people you barely know! I bet they didn\u2019t tell you that underneath their castle is a gate that\u2019s controlled by a foreign cartel, and they\u2019re going to invade!\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n This has been what I was worried about from the start. But I figured it would be Calmont that would eventually convince someone the Ring existed. I never imagined Voz would say something just to spite us and sow division.<\/span><\/p>\n It was foolish of me not to have considered that possibility.<\/span><\/p>\n I chose my next words carefully. \u201cSo\u2026much of that is accurate. There is a gate below the castle. The Cinderclaws were planning to invade through it. I\u2026wouldn\u2019t call them a cartel…\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI just assumed she was lying\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cShe had financial backers to help set up her assassination guild and necromancy school. Those backers, they gave her that money because she promised them access to the gate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s my concern. If they\u2019re <\/span>already<\/span><\/i> in control of this thing\u2014\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut they\u2019re not. <\/span>We<\/span><\/i> are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And then I explained everything we had pieced together. The Hellknights somehow managed to build their castle on top of a millennia-old elf gate. Voz learned about a breach in the caves that led to it, and hatched this plan to sell access to it once she took control of it. Calmont found Voz\u2019s notes and hatched his own plan to get there first. And then the Cinderclaws came through the gate at just the right time to upend everything.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cVoz was backed by a group called The Scarlet Triad, who are working through a business called Tabir\u2019s Exotic Wares in Kintargo. But she never reached the gate herself. She\u2019s taking pieces of the truth, and assembling a story that sounds alarming.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, the existence of five teleportation gates, one of which was functional and the other four potentially so, was alarming enough.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo this cartel could be in control of some of them,\u201d Greta said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d I admitted. \u201cBut as far as we know, none of the other gates have opened in <\/span>millennia<\/span><\/i>. Though we can\u2019t prove that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n To our relief, Greta agreed to keep the knowledge of Alseta\u2019s Ring, and our plans to travel through Huntergate to confront the remaining Cinderclaws, to herself.<\/span><\/p>\n For now.<\/span><\/p>\n We were able to retune Huntergate. Everything after that was a disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n The two charau-ka are dead. We agreed to take them home, and we tried, but they never made it.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s not our fault. I know that. We didn\u2019t promise to protect them. I know that too. But we were the means of getting them home, and that means is what got them killed. We didn\u2019t know. No one could have known. <\/span>And I can\u2019t convince myself that this matters.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Iskaryn <\/span><\/i>could have died in there.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And I should thank Magdh that she didn\u2019t, because she and Renali got out a split second before the tunnel, or tube, or <\/span>whatever in the Nine Hells <\/span><\/i>you call that place, erupted in flames.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Iskaryn just said, \u201cEnough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She\u2019s right.<\/span><\/p>\n The waystation wasn\u2019t there.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s not even a burned-out husk like Lotusgate\u2019s\u2014the one we walked through weeks ago. Huntergate\u2019s is just <\/span>gone<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n The closest description I can think of is a lava tube. And it was <\/span>hot<\/span><\/i>. And it got <\/span>hotter<\/span><\/i>. Then this vision, or image, or phantasm of a dragon made of flames appeared, and we ran\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n And not all of us made it out in time. The charau-ka never made it out <\/span>at all<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n Marcus says it looked like Dahak. He would know. He\u2019s told us about his visions.<\/span><\/p>\n We think it\u2019s a manifestation of him, or his aspect, or his power. Magdh, I don\u2019t know how to describe it. It doesn\u2019t matter.<\/span><\/p>\n Gath thinks we can\u2026destroy it? Dissipate it? Turn its magic in on itself? I don\u2019t know how any of that works, but I trust him. Qantrip and I will help him. Qantrip\u2019s laughing is\u2026unsettling\u2026but it has this way of helping you focus if it\u2019s done right. My part is to reinforce it with a calming, rhythmic chant.<\/span><\/p>\n I hope it\u2019s enough.<\/span><\/p>\n But we\u2019re warding ourselves against fire, just in case it\u2019s not.<\/span><\/p>\n We dissipated the Dahak manifestation and stepped through the portal on the far end of the tunnel.<\/span><\/p>\n Before we tried activating Huntergate, Renali told us what we should expect on the other side. She described a beautiful, open-air temple to the elven god Ketephys that now lay in ruins. \u201cI watched in horror as the Cinderclaws smashed the temple and burned its gardens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And the weather?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHot. And humid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n We exited the portal into the burned-out remains of a temple to Ketephys, dense jungle all around us. It was very hot. And very humid.<\/span><\/p>\n And we were surrounded by about two dozen dark-skinned elves, looking right at us with arrows drawn. They did not look pleased.<\/span><\/p>\n Before anyone could shoot us, I called out in Elvish, \u201cWe mean you no harm! We\u2019re here in pursuit of the Cinderclaw cult!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n One of the elves stepped forward and asked, \u201cYou seek the Cinderclaws?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d I said. \u201cThey attacked us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI see,\u201d he said, looking at each of us with an appraising eye. \u201cAnd you are\u2026?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHere to kill Cinderclaws.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n His name was Jahsi, and he was a leadership figure of some sort\u2014he used the word \u201ckeledi\u201d, which is not one I recognized\u2014in the Leopard Clan. After introductions, we had what I would call a tense conversation. Tense for us, because they still had bows and, except for Jahsi, seemed ready to use them. Jahsi was more relaxed.<\/span><\/p>\n He also spoke Taldane, which was a bit of a surprise. None of us knew precisely <\/span>where<\/span><\/i> in the Mwangi jungle we were, but I know generally where it is on a map, and it\u2019s not a part of the world where Taldane is widely spoken. Jahsi was also the only one of them wearing any gold jewelry (none of <\/span>us<\/span><\/i> were wearing any gold either). I suppose I noticed it because my family once had plenty of it.<\/span><\/p>\n Our anti-Cinderclaw position, combined with the story of what happened on our side of Huntergate, earned us an invitation to their village for a feast. He explained that their clan is tasked with guarding this portal.<\/span><\/p>\n Alseta\u2019s Ring dates back to before <\/span>Earthfall<\/span><\/i>. They\u2019ve been doing this for <\/span>thousands of years<\/span><\/i>. That is a remarkably long time, even by elven standards. And I doubt that they normally do it with two dozen archers. My guess is the Cinderclaws changed that when they tore through here.<\/span><\/p>\n The Leopard Clan\u2019s village was built just under the tree canopy, with branches intertwined to support the weight of buildings and platforms. Bridges made from vines spread out from it in all directions, providing a walkway through the jungle stretching as far as I could see. Some of the trees were massive, with trunks easily ten feet in diameter. The Ekujae grafted fruit trees onto the trunks, and occasionally meshed branches together and filled them with soil to create floating gardens.<\/span><\/p>\n The scale of it is spectacular.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s also the anti-Druma. It is the opposite of all I\u2019ve learned about how communities function. There are no shops or markets. From what I can see, everyone contributes to the tribe in their way, making what\u2019s needed, when it\u2019s needed. No currency, no buying or selling, no profit or loss, and none of the social trappings that come with these things. It also means no poverty and no one left impoverished. It certainly <\/span>appears<\/span><\/i> that everyone is cared for by, well, <\/span>everyone<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n As long as you feel like you are part of your community, of course. I wonder if this is where the Renalis of the world come from: people who feel trapped by obligation. But I suppose we have those problems, too.<\/span><\/p>\n We were allowed to wander the village ahead of the feast, so I set down my weapons, removed my armor, pulled out my new cittern, and went in search of the tribe\u2019s artisans and musicians.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Over the last few weeks, I’d been making good on my promise to Nish\u2014or perhaps that promise was to myself\u2014to become comfortable with string instruments. I chose the cittern to honor her. As it turns out, while the lute may have a warmer, more mellow sound, the cittern is simply more fun to play.<\/span><\/p>\n Carrying that with me here, surrounded by elves, reminded me of her. I could almost feel her walking beside me.<\/span><\/p>\n The instruments here are very different, which means the music is as well. But it\u2019s more than just the sound they produce: it\u2019s also the way they put rhythms together, weaving several independent patterns into something that somehow feels simpler than any one of them alone.<\/span><\/p>\n I, uh, spent <\/span>hours <\/span><\/i>with the tribe\u2019s musicians, trading styles, even instruments (I learned to play a kora, which I\u2019d heard of but never seen!). I was so caught up in it that I didn\u2019t even notice when it started getting dark.<\/span><\/p>\n I am not sure what the others did with their time. A few joined the hunting party for the feast (I am still wrapping my head around the notion of declaring a feast before you have food to serve). I think Tarsius spent time talking with the guards. And Gath, true to form, just seemed to pick a direction and walk.<\/span><\/p>\n Just ahead of the feast, we were summoned to meet with the Twin Leopards, the twin sisters Ose Panin and Ose Atsu, who lead the clan. They wanted to learn a little about us before the festivities began. And that\u2019s where things took a turn.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPlease tell us about your friends and families, your occupations, what you consider important, and what you are most proud of about yourselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And just like that, I wanted to be anywhere else. I could feel Iskaryn shift uncomfortably. I mean, I would be more than happy to talk about <\/span>myself<\/span><\/i>, but\u2026tell them about my family? I did not want to do that <\/span>at all<\/span><\/i>. And I didn\u2019t feel I could avoid it.<\/span><\/p>\n When my turn came, I took a deep breath and said, \u201cMy father hung himself. My mother is probably alive somewhere. If I\u2019m lucky, I\u2019ll never find her.<\/span><\/p>\nNight<\/h3>\n
Rova 10, 4719<\/h1>\n
Citadel Altaerein<\/h2>\n
Late Afternoon<\/h3>\n
Rova 11, 4719<\/h1>\n
Citadel Altaerein<\/h2>\n
Morning<\/h3>\n
Akrivel, Mwangi<\/h2>\n
Night<\/h3>\n