Journal Entry 30.00 Hunting Attaunia

The party locates and attempts to capture Attaunia. Attaunia escapes, but loses her spear in in the process.

After another rebuffed attempt to enter the estate, Aja was the first to run out the door, followed by Graykar and Urik. Looking back to make sure they all had escaped, they saw Morvion flying through the door as if thrown. Catching himself in a rolling tumble, Morvion stood up, anger in his eyes. “This is impossible, how can a bunch of dwarves be so . . . So Stubborn.”
“Um, Morvion? Where is your spear?” Graykar asked.
Morvion looked down at his empty hand, cussed, then concentrated, summoning his spear to his hand from inside the estate. At first, nothing happened, Morvion then said several more words in elvish, before concentrating harder. With some visible strain in effort, the spear finally appeared in his hand.
“Wow, I’ve spoken elvish most of my life and I’ve never heard some of those words?” Aja commented.
Graykar laughed, “And I never knew such things could be done with a tree. I’ll never look at a knothole the same way again.”
Urik laughed, “Not sure what you said, friend Morvion, but I suddenly feel proud to call you friend.”
Morvion gave them all a wounded look of irritation at the teasing. “You are exaggerating my words.”
He then let loose with an actual elvish curse before saying, “I’ve about had it with this house, maybe we should just burn it down,” Morvion proclaimed, restating Urik’s earlier sentiment, still angered with the being beaten back by the dwarves once again. Then looking at Aja, “Going in just isn’t working, they can’t be killed. They are just manifestations we are trouncing, we have to kill the source.”
“I know. I’ve been researching the General and trying readings daily.” Using this as a transition, Aja changed the subject, “And, um, on that, the cards are telling me now is a good time to go after Attaunia, I don’t suppose any of you would agree to help me? Take a break from the house, maybe?”
“Can we kill her? Can she be killed?” Urik asked.
“Yes, definitely, though I was told to try and capture her first. I don’t think I would have received the request in that manner if we couldn’t kill her?”
“If she can die, then I am all for it,” Morvion grumbled, quickly followed by Urik saying “Second that.”
Graykar stared at both of them for a second, “Bloodthirsty much?”
“It will be her choice, I just want to know that if killing is the only option, it will take,” Morvion replied.
“Second that,” Urik said again.
“So if we go after her, where do we start?” Morvion asked.
“As of my last reading, she is in this realm. West of us.”
“West of us?” Graykar asked. “Why would she be west of us when the Quirk Woods are east of us? The only thing West of us is. .”
Before Graykar could even finish, Morvion had already hissed out the answer, “Majalacturis. She’s in league with him, isn’t she? What does the Winter Court have to do him?”
Aja shook her head, “No, no, not like that. Attaunia has gone rogue. That’s why we are going after her.”
“Well, if she is allying herself with Maja, then killing her just became my answer,” Urik stated.
They talked for several more minutes, coming up with a plan, as they walked down the streets of Chrailis. Aja was skeptical about whether Attaunia was joining forces with Majalacturis, but she had to concede it was a possibility. And if it helped convince Urik and Morvion to lend aid, then so be it.
Aja was certain that Attaunia would eventually have to return to the Quirk Woods to leave this realm. If they could intercept her before she left, all the better. If not, they would at least be close on her trail.
“How will we know when and where?” Graykar asked.
“All I can do is trust the cards,” Aja replied.
“Unreliable things if you ask me,” Morvion said with a slight sneer.
“Maybe, maybe before. However, I have a better feel for them now. From practice with Kinsi, I can tell when they are being influenced by outside powers. That’s been the problem in the past, when a Coterie is around, the cards latch onto their aura. When Winter has been intruding, the same thing. And knowing this, I have gotten better at wresting influence away from those outside sources once I detect it. I think I can accurately predict when Attaunia will be coming through.”
“Good,” Urik bluntly said. “I don’t like waiting. I’ll be at my school, get me when you are ready.”
With that, they went their separate ways. Aja returned to Dame Imokan’s country estate to further investigate, meanwhile making sure she had some messengers set up to quickly gather the other three once Attaunia decided to return to the Quirk Woods.
Graykar, in turn, left to go and talk to the dwarves again, hoping to see if they would let him in on any new information about General Rockspit.
. . .
Back in her room, Aja once again looked at the sketchings of the now repaired remains of General Rockspit’s Urn. Returning the urn and bones to the dwarves hadn’t done any good. The house was still haunted. Not certain, Aja thought that some of the bones might have been missing. If one of those bones were still in the sewers of the house, the haunts might be attached to that bone. It was a good idea, unfortunately, all attempts to divine that truth had failed.
Aja wished she had tried resurrecting the dwarf, however, the overall taboo against trying to raise someone you didn’t know for personal gain kept her from it. It’s not like the dwarf would want to be raised anyway, usually once someone has been dead more than a few weeks, they won’t come back. Aja wondered yet again as to how that worked, how does anyone know if the spell just didn’t work or if the recipient just chooses not to come back. The temples insist it was the latter, that once one was in the afterlife, they often didn’t want to come back. Aja wasn’t so sure of this.
Playing out her augury cards one more time, she saw within the next two days Attaunia would be returning to the Quirk Woods. Going to her desk, she pulled out a map of the borderlands between the Quirk Woods and Chrailis. She had paid a small fortune for the map, but for this purpose, she needed a map that accurately depicted the terrain it was supposed to. With her focus and attachment to the cards feeling strong, she took a small diamond crystal out of one of her desk drawers. Holding the crystal by the small gold chain it was attached to, her other hand on her cards, she closed her eyes and allowed the crystal to swing back and forth over the map, hoping to discern where Attaunia would be entering the Quirk Woods.
Opening her eyes, she looked down and saw the crystal vibrating over an area labeled as the North Timber Pass. She’d heard of it, though never been there. Surely two days would be enough time for everyone to arrive and set a proper greeting for the ousted Winter general.
Thinking she needed to probably send a summons immediately, she thought it wouldn’t hurt to at least wait till the next morning.
…. Early the next day, she sent the summons to the group. Urik and Graykar promptly responded, only Morvion failed to show up or send a message that he might be late or indisposed.
Volunteering, Graykar ran out to Morvion’s tower while Aja began memorizing her Sending spell.
Graykar returned after about thirty minutes, “There’s no sign of him.”
Not worried, Graykar and Urik continued to make plans while Aja continued studying. Once done, she cast her spell, sending her message We have a location on Attaunia and need to leave within the next day and a half. Where are you?
Nothing came back for several minutes. Then she got a cryptic message Detained . . . but ok, should be back . . in time . . . to leave out . . . don’t wait. The Sending messages weren’t supposed to transmit emotion, however, his return message had seemed halting in speech, as if he had struggled to send it.
Somewhat miffed, Aja reported the message to the others. “Well, That’s that, I guess. Any idea’s what he’s up to?”
Graykar answered, “We had gone on a brief excursion a while back looking for the remains of his family. He had said he had needed to spend some time praying and researching. His search for his family would be the only thing I could think of which that would keep him away.”
Aja couldn’t disagree.
. . . . . . . . . . That’s exactly what Morvion was doing, praying and researching what was needed to take another follower of Letheria out. From the limited tutorials he had received during his initiation to the following of Letheria, he found that there were several paths to eliminating competition within the priesthood, the problem was that it all required he assume the role of the person he had dispossessed. If he went and helped to kill the priestess of Letheria, he would need to take up her mantle and be the spiritual leader to those elves, guiding them to Letheria.
Right now, his servitude to Letheria was one of mutual need, or that’s at least what he told himself. He served her for the power and she had an agenda for him to follow in destroying Majalacturis. He wasn’t so simple as to know that was only the beginning of what was expected of him. He knew there would come a time when he must truly make some serious decisions, either forgoing Letheria and risking her wrath or allowing himself to descend into the cruelty of her religion. All that mattered was getting his family back, saving his shredded soul was of little concern.
Reciting the prayers from the books he had obtained did little, even now they sounded somewhat hollow. He found no pleasure from the pointless suffering of others and the carnality of baseless lust appealed to him even less. Not having any other resource, he decided to put into motion a plan he had been holding back.
Ever since he had first been abducted into Letheria’s service, he was certain it was Lord Madamus’s wife whom he had interacted with that first night. Now was the time to seek her out and put that to the test, he needed the information she might provide. She had promised further lessons, ones he didn’t look forward too. But now was the time, he felt, to make an approach and another introduction. . . .
It was time to go, and Morvion still hadn’t made his appearance.
“He did say to go without him,” Urik argued, wanting to get the hunt started for Aja’s bounty.
Aja was forced to agree, “I hate leaving him behind but Attaunia was a general in Winter’s army, we may need his additional might.”
Graykar smiled, “It’s been a while since we’ve truly been tested.”
Looking over at the rogue, Aja argued, “The island where we were ambushed, that was less than a month ago. Some of us came close to dying there.”
“Morvion had little bearing on whether we lived or died. It was the nature of the trap as I recall,” Urik countered. “Anyway, just leave him a message as to where we are going and he can catch up.”
“Already done, Zurrelevants has a copy of the map with details of where we are entering the Quirkwoods. With Morvion believing that Attaunia might be in collusion with Maja, he may redouble his efforts.” What Aja didn’t mention to the others was that she had already sent other Sendings to Morvion, all of which had gone unanswered.
. . . . .
Reaching the edge of the pass, Urik and Graykar started looking around for both signs that Attaunia hadn’t already passed this way, but also looking for a good ambush point. Aja checked her cards one more time and was dismayed to find that they indicated that Attaunia had come through the pass during the middle of the previous night. Cussing, she told the others. “We are late, she must be running on no rest to have traveled that distance without teleporting.”
Urik rolled his eyes, “Then we head on in and follow. This was supposed to be simple.”
“Or, if she has already passed us, what does it hurt to wait a little longer on Morvion?” Graykar asked.
It was Aja’s quest, so both were looking at her for an answer. Unsure, she decided to try a Sending one more time. Are you close?
This time she got a reply, Yes, on my way. Two hours.
When he finally arrived, they asked where he had been, and he was resolutely quiet on the subject except to say, “Taking care of personal matters.” Whatever he had been doing, he was not comfortable with discussing the matter. Sensing his unease, they all let it go and began their journey into the Quirk Woods.
It wasn’t long before the evident change from the jungle around Chrailis to the trees of the Quirk Woods became noticeable to everyone. Sounds became muted, distant sounds echoing strangely throughout the otherwise silent woods. The temperature dropped drastically to where a Graykar needed to hand out extra layers of clothing for everyone except Aja. They all became tense at the increase of moving shadows out of the corner of their eye, only to be nothing once one focused on the movement.
As they walked, they started hearing footsteps following them. The party would stop to investigate the strange footfalls but could never discern their source. After another two times stopping to search, Urik disgustingly said, “It’s the sound of our steps catching up to us.”
The pass started descending into a deep gully carved through the woods, following a creek that made no sound, even when one splashed in the water. The walls to either side rose higher and higher, to where eventually that party was walking through a ravine with the forest floor at least 20’ higher than their path on either side.
During their passage, they were attacked only once by denizens of the Quirk Woods, several ice trolls started pouring out of the sides of the ravine followed by dryads. The dryads were not normal dryads, Aja explained, they were known as corrupted dryads for something terrible had happened and killed their home trees, possibly disease or dark magic, but whatever it was, the dryad’s minds were ravaged and driven insane from the ordeal.
When they finished fighting them off, Aja stated the obvious thought on everyone’s mind, “Ice trolls must mean we are nearing Winter.” When asked further about the dryads, “Winter wouldn’t do that to a dryad, even if it killed their home tree as that would just be part of the natural process.” She then added, “At least I don’t think so.”
During the battle, they had discovered that the rules of magic were changed in the ravine. Their magic worked, it just took more effort to garner the effects they were expecting. It was Morvion who discovered that merely drawing out the incantations to about three times slower tempo also had a similar effect making the magic work correctly. To this, Aja speculated, “While in the ravine, we must be sped up, physical processes are sped up, but magic isn’t and trying to match our spells to our current speed is where the effort is going. As Morvion said, merely slowing down causes the magic to work correctly again.”
After the battle and another half-hour walk down the ravine, Aja started to have a greater feel for the direction Attaunia had likely gone. Not fully explaining it, for she could simply feel the General’s presence, Aja started pointing to side passages, “We need to go that way,” or “This is the correct direction.”
Filing singly down a narrow section of the ravine, they saw in the distance that the ravine ended with a cave containing a stairwell going down into the ground.
Graykar moved forward, cautiously examining the passage which descended into darkness. He looked back and they nodded for him to proceed. As he disappeared into the blackness of the cave, the others began to follow.
The temperature dropped as the cave leveled out. Following the cave, it began ascending again, the floor turning from dirt to ice. In the distance, a light started emanating from what was likely the egress to the cave.
Continuing, they exited the cave into the back of a large canyon wall. A single bright moon illuminated the ice field before them. Out in the middle of the field was a raised hill of ice with a large fortified castle of dark yellow stone sitting on it. Surrounding the castle they could see at least fifty ice elementals moving around. In the center of the ice elementals was a smaller individual with purple hair. Turning around, even at this distance, she spied the party as they saw her.
“She’s a halfling, I think,” Graykar said.
“Hmm, wasn’t expecting that,” Aja said. “But that is our quarry, I’m certain. Let’s approach and get this over with.”
As they approached, Aja raised her voice and yelled with her greatest authority, “General Attaunia, the Winter Queen has decreed that you are to be taken into our custody to be transferred to her courts and presence. Preferably, you are to be left unharmed, or at least alive, but that choice is really up to you. We are not leaving without you.”
She responded, her voice carrying and echoing off the ice walls, “I appreciate the concern, Lady Bloodchill. But be warned, Aja, while thrice killed might be a good and ominous moniker for you, killed four times is just rather tedious.”
The party started to spread out a little more, continuing to approach, when Attaunia laughed. “I’ve been expecting you, yet I regret to inform you that when our Queen cut off some of my resources, I had to outsource. The recent god to your world, one Majalacturis, offered me the power I needed, and in return, I promised to lead you to his valley. Again, my apologies, I bear you no ill will.”
Somewhat concerned, the party hesitated only a second, but that time was enough for them not to be completely surprised when three Children of Majalacturis dropped their invisibility shrouds and attacked the party. Though they had never actually engaged in combat with one of the fifty-foot monstrosities, they had seen one of the dead insectoid creatures before. Some of the surprise of the attack was lost. Similar in appearance to a giant white mantis, with two dark violet eyes and the front arms looking more like large metallic cleavers, the Children of Majalacturis appeared designed for violent bloodshed.
During the combat, Urik locked the three children of Majalacturis down by standing at their center, absorbing their attacks, while the rest of the party dealt with the creatures one by one by circling them as they focused on Urik. As one Child died, it dissolved into a dark blood red mist, the vapors exploding out to surround Urik, and in the process stealing some of his vitality. After the mists had spread out several yards, it then began to coalesce back into the Child once again. The others did the same thing when they were brought down. Only slightly dismayed, the party methodically killed each of the Children a second time, this time the death appearing more permanent. To be certain, Urik called down a Flame Strike on their corpses to make sure they stayed dead.
As the last died, Attaunia sighed. Even at this distance, the ice plains carried her voice. “I was expecting more from my new ally. Anyway, leave me be, or possibly help me finish my task, and I will gladly come with you?”
Wary of this, Aja asked, “And what might your task be?”
Attaunia turned and waved at the castle on the hill. “Why that. A delegate from the lands of fire, Lord Sabotan. He’s a fire giant I have holed up in that castle. He cast insult on our queen and upon myself over a century ago and he has yet to make amends for his disparaging remarks.”
“So if we help you here, you will come willingly?” Graykar yelled out.
“Absolutely. I’ve had him pinned down here for almost six months, he can’t last much more than another month?” She said.
Concerned and worried about the location of this castle, Aja asked, “How is it that he is here, in Winter, a being of fire.”
“He is a dignitary and this is his abode while he stays in Winter?” Attaunia explained.
Urik was more concerned with a different matter, “What allegiances have you made with Majalacturis? For that alone, I am inclined to take your head and turn that over to Aja’s Queen?”
Morvion nodded, “Agreed.”
Not deterred by her party’s objections, Aja asked again, this time louder, “How is it this Lord Sabotan is allowed in Winter?” Thinking quickly, Aja quickly came to an obvious conclusion, “He’s here at the permission of the Queen, isn’t he? The insult was against you, not Winter, or if it was, Winter has forgiven it. You have not, have you Attaunia?”
Attaunia bowed in Aja’s direction, “I had heard you were a smart one. Yes, the Queen has chosen to accept Lord Sabotan’s feeble apology, I have not.”
“And for that, you would disobey our Queen?” Aja inquired.
“Absolutely. It is my right to seek proper resolution to an insult. Listen, I’ve served Winter for centuries and I know Winter will forgive my disobedience in time, though it may take a few decades. But the next time Winter has need my services, I’ll be forgiven with minor recompense. However, for now, yes, I am not fully endowed with the power of Winter. For that, Majalacturis has offered to compensate for my needs until I return to Winter’s grace.”
Seeing that Attaunia was surrounded by what he figured to be at least fifty ice elementals, Morvion was done with the conversation and decided to attack swiftly before Attaunia could set any defense. Casting Dimension Door, Morvion watched as the entryway sprang into existence before him, the otherside appearing next to Attaunia. As it appeared, he began to step through when he saw coming through the portal the tip of Attaunia’s whip, the bands of twisted leather lancing out toward him with no movement visible from her. The whip was attacking on its own, seeking to wrap around his body. He twisted and dodged just enough to avoid the whip before stepping through to make his attack. His attack landed, not on her, but on an ice elemental as she vanished and magically switched places with another of the elementals.
Graykar wasn’t far behind in the same thought, rushing forward, currently invisible, he initiated an attack against her at her new location. He made his attack, but she was deft enough to avoid his attacks, dodging with a speed he had only previously seen Morvion move. His invisibility was not deceiving her eyes making it obvious she knew his exact location.
Once Aja realized that Attaunia could transpose herself with any of ice elementals, she began casting chain bolts of lightning to eliminate them in mass.
The battle carried on a few rounds. After most of the ice elementals were down, neither Attaunia, Morvion, nor Graykar getting the upper hand. Then Graykar was able to disarm her, causing her to drop her spear. As soon as that happened she vanished, and a small elemental appearing where she was at.
Graykar activated the True Seeing of his mask and ran around the plain, searching the entire plain for her but could not see where she had gone. Circling back around, Graykar picked up the clear crystalline spear Attaunia had dropped and inserted it into his satchel to keep her from retrieving it.
“Without her ice elementals, she must have fled,” Urik reasoned.
“But to where?” Morvion asked, looking around ready for a surprise attack.
“She must have had an ice elemental holed up somewhere, one that she could change places with in case of emergency,” Aja answered. “I think I can manage a couple of locator spells, given time.”
“As can I,” Morvion said referring to some of his spear’s abilities.
The party ended up spending the next day looking for her. They were never able to find her, however, they did find her dwelling place several yards below the ice’s surface. Once they had located it, it then required some crafty spellcasting on the party’s part to reach by creating a tunnel. The room had no egresses, it was merely a room within the ice about thirty feet on a side and ten feet tall. Inside the room they found a bed, dresser, chest, and several dwarven air stones used to keep the air fresh, but nothing else of value. Attaunia had escaped.
Deciding they had lost Attaunia for now, the party returned to Chrailis.
Along the way, Graykar managed a few moments alone with Morvion, enough time to ask, “What did you find out about the elven priestess, will you be able to kill her?”
Morvion remained quiet, thinking how best to respond, or if he even should, before finally saying, “Yes, I got an answer. I have two choices. Neither a good choice.” He said no more and Graykar was wise enough to know that was all he was going to get.
Morvion spent the next hour brooding over the choices he had been given. He could either kill the priestess, but then he must take her position and lead the elves out in the wilderness as their new spiritual leader in service of Letheria. While he was not totally against that, he knew he had other tasks he must complete and such service would interfere. On the plus side, having a small army of priests might be useful at some point. Additionally, he could lead them back to Canton and reestablish his home village once Majalacturis was defeated, but he wasn’t about to subject the remnants of his village to Letheria’s worship either, not if he could help it.
The other option was to kill the priestess and lead those elves back to Sherayne’s embrace, where she would slowly infiltrate them into Chrailis’s culture as followers of Letheria. He knew that was the preferred choice, at least the preferred one for Lady Sherayne as she was explaining it. But that one came with one additional cost. Once he helped kill the priestess, he would grant Letheria complete use of his body for one day and he would have no say in the matter. And whatever she did while in his body, he must not try to undo.
After returning from their dig, back at her temporary residence at what used to be Dame Imokan’s country estate, Aja locked herself up in the library for several hours. After Gigi’s insistence that it was getting late and that Aja needed sleep based on her slurred words, Aja finally conceded. Walking to her bedroom, an open book still in hand, she passed a large hallway mirror and then did a double-take. In the mirror staring at her she saw the glaring look of Ravenous Core. His red beard was neatly trimmed and he was wearing a blue hussar military jacket with several gold buttons and bars down the front, tight white pants, and knee-high black boots. He was standing at attention, with his hands behind his back
As soon as he saw he has her attention, he started speaking.
“Well done. The queen is happy with the result, though at the Court, many feel you are failed in your first test. You were to retrieve Attaunia. You failed, but you secured the peace by liberating Ambassador Firstilk Saboton from the siege she was conducting against his domicile. The Queen has proclaimed the hunt is still in session so technically no failure has is possible. In reward for your progress, our Queen has once again empowered the staff to its full potential. You will find it capable of much more than when you faced it in Attaunia’s hands. Poor Attaunia relied too much on the staff’s power and the Queen’s denial of that power almost caused her defeat.”
Aja smiled, warily of course. “That means I can keep and use the staff?”
“For now, yes. However, you still need to capture Attaunia. And know this, as we observed your last battle, you might wish to show some more caution. If you kill her, Attaunia will likely refuse any resurrection. So please be more careful.”
Aja mulled over this a second, “We have a lot of other pressing issues, I may not be able to request the free time of my party on another personal mission. Can I defeat Attaunia alone?”
Ravenous Core contemplated her question or at least appeared to. Then, “We have an idea, a trap if you will. Attaunia will come for her staff. She is not the type to allow an insult or defeat to go unanswered. Allow your rogue to use the staff some. In your hands, the staff has full power and Attaunia will wait till she clearly has the upper hand. If the rogue is using it, it may prompt her to attack earlier than is wise for her.”
Unsure how to respond, Aja reached up and scratched the back of Gigi’s head, attempting to calm him down, and in doing so she was easing her own worry. Gigi’s nervousness was evident by his slight quaking. “I will consider the advice,” she said.
Ravenous core bows. “Well, for now, make sure you don’t waste too much time. For now, it is the Queens most fervent desire with regards to your service. That may change tomorrow, but for now, the Queen wants Attaunia. Fortunately, Winter is determined, but winter is also long-lasting and slow. Truth is you have months to complete this before the Queen might consider insubordination. My advice, Lady Bloodchill, is until you complete your master’s task, make the pretense of being about Winter’s business.”
With that, the mirror shattered into thousands of pieces, frozen glass and ice spraying out into the hall. Aja raised her arm to cover her face and Gigi’s body. Expecting sharp shards, only the light feel of blown snow caressed her skin. Looking back up, she sees the mirror unscathed and no glass in the hall.
Patting Gigi’s head again, Aja mutters, “Definitely time for bed.”