Chapter 22: The Power of Flanking the Frog
General Summary
The day of the 28th dawned and the group split to complete a few errands before the museum visit. Lenihlra left to go to Ash, who was busy making her jewelry. Ash asked for a split 60-40 split which Lenihlra negotiated to 55-45. She paid Ash 715gp total. She was also able to figure out a buyer for the jewelry in the city. Ash guided her to a store called "The Spinning Compass" in The Bridge district of Lorisen.
Before heading there, however, she stopped back at the inn and let each of her friends choose one piece of jewelry to have as a sign of good faith and friendship. They all choose one, with Lenihlra picking one out for Ihne, who had gone to check on an errand of her own. After that, they poured the pieces into the bag of holding and made their way up the tunnel leading to Purple Reigns. They found that Arik no longer ran the shop but had left for Arnsholdi. He left the shop in the hands of an elven man named Carp. Carp told them that his name was short for a much more complicated name and asked that they wipe their shoes before entering.
In the meantime, Inhe had gone to the docks to see of the Glowerm was still docked there. She met with Ainsworth and booked passage for three people: Thydona, Falaern, and herself. They would set sail the next morning for the southern coast of the Empire. After securing passage, she left for the museum to meet up with the others.
While Inhe was sealing this deal, the others (Thydona, Lenihlra, and Jacquora) had made their way to The Spinning Top with a little difficulty. There they found an elderly Tabaxi shopowner who took them into a private room to inspect the jewels. He offered them a total payout of 1165gp, which Lenihlra accepted. After making their transaction, they left for the museum to meet with Inhe.
Once they had all arrived, they began to view the museum. There were very little visitors around and they seemed to have the galleries to themselves. At first, Thydona seemed to pause every now and then to inspect objects, remarking how they reminded her of her childhood or other places she had visited. However, when they were in the area of the museum that covered The Unity Period, things changed. They entered a room called "The Hall of the Founder" which contained supposed relics of Loras Hamonet's. She scoffed at a few things she found to be fakes, but became entranced by a ring. It was of hammered sterling silver set with a deep black obsidian stone.
Thydona began to breath heavily and shake her head, "No no no...I remember now....why did he have to be that way?" The ground beneath the party began to tremble slightly and they saw water seep from the cracks in the tile floor. Thydona fell to her knees, her hands clutching the sides of her face, "No...not now...no!" With one last scream they felt themselves pushed backwards by a blow of air emenating from the tiefling.
When they opened their eyes and stood back up, they could see they were no longer in the room they were in. Their shoes were slightly damp, but the room they were in was dry. They had been in Thydona's memories before but this one felt sharper and clearer. It appeared to be a waiting room of some sort; handwoven patterned rugs line the wooden floors and cushioned benches sit before large windows with finely brocaded silk curtains. On either side of this small hall were thick wooden double doors. Looking out the windows, they saw nothing but a swirling snowstorm, obscuring their view of what lay beyond. The room was cold, with a hint of warmth coming from behind one of the double doors.
Pacing in the room before them was a younger Thydona. She was dressed plainly, with clothes pieced together from multiple cultures. Her trousers looked to be from the Sommerraine Peaks, her thick sweater-like tunic reminded them of Moldoryn-made shirts, and there were elements of more archaic Lorasian pieces throughout. She conjured forth a few dancing lights, nervously twirling them in circles before letting them fade out. A moment after their light had diminished, the doors on one side of the hall opened and an elven women came through. She had a tan apron on smeared with various colors of oil paint.
The two spotted each other and Thydona strode forward. There was a quick, friendly embrace before she ushered Thydona into the next room. Following her, they saw an ostentatious study. It was finely furnished with a large desk in the center. A roaring fireplace warmed the room with two couches and a few chairs laid out before it. Thick carpets lined the floors from window to window. There were shelves filled with thick tomes and scrolls, some of which lay on and around the desk. To one side was a large canvas with a half-finished portrait of a man. The same man they saw off to one side at a buffet table.
He was an elven man with blonde hair, pale skin marred by a few thin white scars, pouring a few cups of tea at a table to one side. He was well-built with a low voice that said, "Thydona, I am glad to see you've returned from your travels. It's been...what...nearly 100 years? Please, have a seat." Waving towards a blue cushioned settee, the two turned towards it. Thydona sat on the settee while the other woman took a seat on a matching chair. A moment later he joined the two women and sat across from Thydona, handing her a cup. She took it and sipped lightly from it. Loras took a sip and sets down his cup, then began to fidget with a hammered silver ring set with an obsidian stone around his pointer finger.
"So, you return to my city and immediately seek an audience. I feel flattered that I should be the first person you sought out." He crossed his legs and smiled warmly at Thydona. She put down the teacup on a side table and contemplated the figure before her.
"Loras...when I left you were thick as thieves with the king. Now, you rule as what? An emporeror? You've taken over Osmor and, from what I hear, you are in the midst of taking over Rahkshexo."
"Yes," he said smiling thinly, "We've been fairly successful with bringing peace about while you've been gone." He looked away from Thydona toward the fire, refusing to meet her gaze. Out of fear of her retribution or peace in his choices, the party could not tell.
"Peace?" She shook her head and clasped her hands tightly together before her, "Have you even been in the lands you've conquered? Have you seen the devestation you brought? The fields were devestated, burned, looted. The villages left barren. A city I visited at the beginning of my journey, one that was prosperous and filled with laughter and joy, is empty now. Burned to the ground."
Loras' face throughout her speech had become stonier, and he, too, set his cup down. "A necessary cost to war. There is a price to be paid for prosperity." He uncrossed his legs and hung his head down, staring at his open hands before him.
"A price to be paid?" She asked, cocking her head to try and meet his gaze, "Loras, this isn't peace. This is hubris. This is your own ego and frankly, cowardice, getting the best of you."
He stood up suddenly. The temperature in the room seemed to change as he rebuked, "Cowardice? At least I stayed with my people. At least I care enough to worry about them. I didn't disappear into the wilds for a century. I worked my way through the ranks and made a life for myself. I helped Ulrin through her training when I was earning barely a copper per week. I didn't leave us."
He moves=d to the desk now and pulled out a piece of blue cloth from a drawer. "I just commissioned this this month. A new flag for the empire." He threw it to Thydona who caught it and unfolded it. Before her was a small banner with three golden stars on a field of deep blue.
"One for each of us. we grew up together in the gutters of Cliffside. We struggled to climb out of that hellhole. And then you left us. But I never forgot. I am doing what I am doing to end the wars that put is there in the first place. That orphaned Ulrin and myself. I am doing this for us."
Thydona stood then to meet him, "No, Loras. That may have been true at one point but you are letting it go to far. I hear you have been moving troops northward. Towards lands that have never raised a hand towards others. You are doing this for fame and glory now." She moved towards the windows, looking out into the snowstorm.
"The truth is, you were not my first stop in the city. I have gathered those that oppose this war and we are leaving tonight. I have a home for them in the south. We will not raise arms to you. We will not harm you. We will remain peaceful and neutral in the devestation you bring. But if someone calls on us to help, I will raise my banners in their name and bring aide. I will not hesitate."
Without looking at her once friend, she started towards the door. As she did so, Loras spoke.
"If you walk out that door. If you truly leave. Then consider what friendship we once had done. If you raise a hand against me, I will cut it off."
"Understood." She reached the door and pausds. Looking back, she seemed to look at Loras, but her eyes truly rested on Ulrin, who had stayed in her seat throughout this meeting. Loras' back waas to her and she gave the slightest shake of her head before looking down at her hands which lay open in her lap. Thydona took a deep breath, and walked out.
As the door closes the light faded and they felt that suction again, pulling them backwards. They came to in the chamber they were in before. The water within this space was glowing with an unearthly light. In front of them they saw that Thydona has broken the glass of the display and is holding the ring in her open palm, blood dripping into the water below her.
"I gave this to him. A present for his acceptance to the Royal Guards. Even then, there was greed in his heart as he told me that he would not wear it until a crown sat upon his head. I thought he was joking, but I was wrong." Her hand closed around the ring and she continued, "When I heard he was crowned I was abroad. But I sent a package to him with a rare item I had picked up in my journies from a long-forgotten fortress from a kingdom lost to the ages. A curved dagger with a green sheen. He plunged that same dagger into my heart nearly a century later. This museum doesn't deserve to have this ring. No one does."
As those last words faded, a peculiar look came across her face. The color from her eyes seemed to fade. From her mouth came a new voice. It felt...old. It felt like the rain...the sensation of water lapping at their feet...it felt like snow and ice and summer showers...a storm, violent and unpredictable...the first dew of spring.
"My loyal servent was safe. I kept her in the stone to heal. To rest. You have returned her to the world before she was ready. I was preparing her, renewing her. I do not know if I can trust you. To be sure, you must face one of my water guardians before I can entrust her to you once more."
Rising from the water in the center of the unearthly glow is a creature. Thydona moved to the side, one hand still clutching the ring. The creature fully emerged from the water and they saw standing before them a small creature with four tentacle-like limbs. These joined in a mantle that bore an eerily humanoid face.
The battle that ensued was difficult with some moments seeming futile. For such a small creature, it was deadlier than some of the large creatures they had found themselves entangled with in their previous adventures. However, they were finally able to strike they killing blow after finding that flanking the frog-like creature was a good strategy and it sank back into the water, which seemed too low for it to disappear into normally. They also found out that the creature was a water elemental called a quatoid.
The voice came over Thydona again and said, "You have done well. You have bested my servent. Now one of you...or all of you...must watch over her as she recovers herself." After that, the light seemed to return to Thydona, who seemed confused. After the party explained what had happened, they left the museum and the damage that had been caused by the fight.
As Thydona and Falaern caught each other up on the day's events, the three all went to get tattoos of the symbol of Ilythyra on their bodies at a shop called "Pigment Passion" in Xhosidva. That night, Inhe confessed to the group that she was planning on leaving them the next day with Thydona and Falaern.
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