Descent on Golden Wings
We woke after a few hours of sleep. Olvir ran through a morning exercise routine as Caelan tried on the clothes left in the wardrobe of his room and Song went to find one of the lions. Cautiously telling them we intended to attune to the manse she was relieved they seemed indifferent to the matter, and engaging them on a lighter note asked if food was something they required, or desired – since there seemed to be none in the manse. The more talkative lion she’d spent the evening before conversing with replied that while they found pleasure in sampling things from time to time, they had no need of it, which explained its lack.
She found the others and together we went to the central room of the manse, sat and began to meditate upon the Essence of the place, attuning to it. As usual, Song was the first to succeed and opening her eyes a little before the others picked up the hearthstone to offer to Caelan as he completed the attunement. He took it, stood to call upon its powers and a ball of pearlescent light shimmered into existence around him focused on the stone, with only a few dark points low down in the sphere marring the clear air. As we looked closer we saw they were birds in miniature and testing our immediate hypothesis Song took a flight around the manse while Caelan and Olvir watched as her tiny form appeared near the hearthstone, circled it, and disappeared as she landed on the manse to rejoin them. The stone showed anything airborne in a wide area – gazing at it the sphere of light even showed air elementals though we suspected they were dematerialised. The light disappeared as Caelan willed it and he tucked the stone into a pocket.
Hungry by now, it was time to leave. Caelan had soon attuned to a glider pack and despite teetering on the edge of the manse with the golden wings outstretched soon got the hang of it once he’d launched himself into the blue and lazily flew a circle as he began his descent. Bidding farewell to the lions for now, Song accompanied Caelan in case he got into difficulty while Olvir assumed bird form and took off back to the city where he headed for the stables of the Ice Wolf, and Ariorn.
Song scouted out a quiet area of scrubby woodland where she thought people were least likely to see a bird-man alight but as Caelan saw the ground approaching he realised flight was the least of his worries – landing was much more difficult. Thankfully a large pond gave him a target and he splashed down safely, staggering out of the water and shaking droplets off the wings as they folded away into the pack. Song met him on the shoreline where they tested the hearthstone a little before setting off back to the city. It seemed to centre its location on the stone, not the manse and only show targets in the air – Song became visible at the lowest point of the circular light when she flew up to the treeline, about 25ft off the ground. Caelan summoned his daiklave from Elsewhere and socketed the hearthstone in the pommel before dismissing the weapon as they got underway, meeting up with Olvir and Ariorn (who’d known just where to meet her master) about half way and making good time back to the city in time for lunch.
We’d received a missive while we’d been away with a regal seal on it and up in our rooms Caelan opened it to find a beautifully penned letter from the Prince inviting us to meet with him the following afternoon, where he ‘looked forward to coming to understand what had elevated us to such a high position in the eyes of one so important to the city’. We assumed he made reference to Kashlyk Ashak in that, but were glad to have the meeting finally arranged – though as for the details, none of us had a firm approach in mind. Caelan was still of the view that we could simply play it by ear.
We discussed what gifts we could get for the lions over lunch before Olvir went to train with Kashlyk Ashak and told him about our adventures, the lions, the manse and the meeting with the Prince. The coliseum god was surprised but intrigued to hear of the domain hitherto unheard of which lay two miles above the city and they talked in more detail as Olvir began to learn about the martial arts form known as Fire and Stone style. The Prince knew it too – indeed Kashlyk had taught him the finer points after he’d returned from his travels – and Olvir could have no better teacher.
Meanwhile Song was busy shopping and Caelan growing tired of watching her. She procured select cuts of dried meats, richly spiced breads and hard candied sweets along with books on the history of the Realm, Creation, the histories of the lands in the East and a few fiendish puzzle boxes - and finally, after Caelan had made his feelings quite clear, they returned to the Ice Wolf where she hid a small prayer (Blessed be the Celestial Lions who guard the Sky manse of the Moonspire, may their names be praised) carefully scribed on parchment inside one of the puzzles.
Caelan suggested they offer a prayer to Ethris and despite it meaning a return trip to the market to procure a prayer token, they soon found themselves in her largest temple where Song made the offering and uttered a quiet prayer to the city god, masking her descriptions of the Exalted nature of herself and Caelan should anyone overhear. She felt quietly confident Ethris would have heard her message and they returned to the Ice Wolf to find Olvir just returned from training.
After a bath to wash away the dust of the coliseum we shared a meal. Afra joined us mid way through and we had another bowl brought over for her; she’d been looking into the Ethris’s priests and discovered they were (in her words) ‘full of it’ and extolled her as great and powerful while being pretty light on actual details. It was evident that whatever her feelings for Moonspire’s god, her priests hadn’t impressed.
Afra asked us about the god of our circus and it made us think. We were unaware of a god of Selene’s Flurry... certainly they’d never made their presence felt and we’d never made offerings. Oh, prayers were said to gods of travelling performers and the local towns but as the circus had grown over the years we’d never found our own deity. Selene’s lack of desire to lead or involve herself with worship certainly hadn’t inspired anyone else to do so – and we circus folk were busy enough without seeking out gods. But our Exaltations had given us new perspective and travelling as representatives of the circus we’d seen the impact it made on the communities we visited and Afra’s question made us wonder. Perhaps Selene’s Flurry did have a god with strength enough to know. It gave us pause to think.
She had some news about the tournament too, when Olvir asked, there were gladiators coming to town and it was shaping up to be a good sized event. People of various styles of martial arts would be seeking to make a name for themselves and with the circus due to arrive in town soon as well it promised something of a carnival atmosphere. We sent Afra off to make sure none of the local thieves and their ilk were looking to exploit the circus for their own ends – it was a job which Iron Panther would likely be doing as well, to protect his investment, but we’d appreciate the reassurance ourselves nonetheless.
Afra’d not been gone long before a stranger approached - though Song saw through her disguise and greeted Ethris as she sat at our table. The tavern was quiet enough and we felt we could speak without being overheard so introduced Olvir (she’d already met Song and Caelan) and we asked after her and told her of our interest in the Spire. She made it clear she didn’t want conflict (and we mostly shared her view) but she told us the tower was still of interest though outside her domain and her hands on the matter were tied: she was forbidden from getting involved in such things. She would, of course, be junior in the Terrestrial hierarchy to the Censor of the East and thus if the Censor deemed the tower to be hers, Ethris would be unwise to argue – but she said, if the tower could be restored she’d be in our debt.
Restoring the tower was perhaps a vision for the future. For now, we were more interested in getting inside it and Ethris asked if we were successful if we’d be able to reclaim something of hers that lay within. This now-familiar story saw us raise curious eyebrows and she went on to detail a yasal crysal within a box that had been hers but now lay within a collection of another – the Censor, we presumed, who also had something of a bent for collecting yasal crystals. The one Ethris laid claim to was unique and would be evident when we found it (apparently). But it was a moot point for now – we had a meeting with the Prince tomorrow and then the inevitable Censor issue to deal with first.
We bade Ethris farewell and retired upstairs where Olvir and Song picked up the gifts for the lions, shifted to animal forms and took to the sky. No sooner were they airborne than Caelan drew the curtains and his daiklave and commanded the hearthstone set within the sword to show him the skies and he watched his friends as they climbed their air currents to the manse.
They landed with a little more familiarity this time on the edge of the manse where the lions were pleased to receive gifts and they spent a little time with them talking and being soundly beaten at Gateway. Olvir had a thought and asked if perhaps they’d enjoy playing with someone of a more tactical bent – like Kashlyk Ashak – and said he’d bring him up for a game sometime soon. Song hoped he had an easier way of travelling than by strix – she doubted Kashlyk would be so willing as Caelan to be clasped in Olvir’s claws. He also asked if they knew the locations of the other manses but they didn’t – we’d have to track them down ourselves.
Meanwhile Caelan had gone for a walk in the evening air and come across a would-be thug with a knife. Caelan, Exalted of the most powerful god in Creation, was less scared of the knife wielder than the thug was expecting and after a brief scuffle the man fled into the night, bleeding from a wound in his arm and minus his knife. Caelan thought it better to keep it than leave it lying on the street, and headed back to the tavern to await the return of the others.