Prepare for the Worst

In the early morning of the sixth day of Highbright, the party of adventurers known as Yurasha had just finished a hearty breakfast when they began their preparations for their second attempt to clear The Tomb of The Sands of Time. One of those adventurers, Isha Arashi, was just finishing polishing her armor when she heard a knock on her door. The knock was short and quickly followed by a voice speaking up.

“Isha, are you almost done? I was wondering if you needed to go out for anything.”

The voice belonged to her fellow party member, Asyr Moonriver. Isha stood up to go to the door, her armor slightly clanking as she walked. She had finished polishing her armor and had put it on for the day, full well knowing that her tasks for the day needed her to wear it. Isha gently opened the door, carrying her pauldrons that she had not yet donned, and gestured for Asyr to enter her room. Asyr entered the room, slightly nervous, but Isha sat down on the chair in the corner of the room. Isha held out the pauldrons to Asyr, asking, “Do you happen to know how to put these on?” Asyr shook her head, so Isha simply continued with the process on her own.

“So where did you need to go, Asyr? I must go to the temple for a short time, but after that, I would be free to go with you.”

Asyr didn’t respond for a while. Isha eventually finished attaching her pauldrons, but when she looked up at Asyr, she didn’t meet Isha’s gaze. As Isha went to stand, both spoke at the same time.

“Um, Isha?” “Asyr, what’s wrong?”

Isha sat back down on the chair while Asyr stayed standing in front of the door where she hadn’t moved from. Isha said, “Asyr. If you need to talk to someone, come to the temple with me. There are people there who can listen to you.”

Asyr stayed silent for a while before saying, “Would you do that? I’m not very good at talking to strangers.”

Isha stood up once again, grabbed her mace and buckler, then, attaching the buckler to her back, put a hand on Asyr’s shoulder and said, “I’ll do that for you. I just have to talk to one of the temple priests, then I’ll be there for you. What else do you need to do?”

Asyr let out a long-held breath. Isha could see and feel her shoulders relax. Asyr said in a more calm voice, “I just need to get a few potions and see if I can find a part-time job so I can make a bit of spending money.”

“Well, I might do that, too. I only make so much money working at the temples. If we have to deal with Dorak being reckless all the time, we’ll run out of money from buying potions for him.”

Isha and Asyr laughed slightly at that thought as they began heading out into the town.

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Hal Sevenoaks was still in the tavern of The Sea’s Embrace. He had a small journal in front of him, a blank scroll, an inkwell, and a pen laid out on the table. He was in the middle of finishing a loaf of bread while reading the journal. Dorak Risei walked out from the back of the building and peeked over Hal’s shoulder to read what was in the journal.

The journal had various notes about the party’s experience in The Tomb the previous day. Hal was trying to plan out what the party should do to survive the Ice Hawk. Neither of them had survived that battle, but Hal hadn’t even survived long enough to see the hawk. Dorak tapped Hal on the shoulder, then sat down at the table.

“Did you need something, Dorak?”

“No, I was just going to see if I could do something to help. I’m not good at planning things, but I could go grab anything you need.”

“I’m fine. I’ll need to stop by the Adventurer’s Guild to send a letter later, but I’m fine.”

“What’s your plan right now?”

“What?”

“You’re looking at your notes from The Tomb, right?”

“Oh. Yeah. I want to try and get us all down to the second floor today. I believe that we can do it if we just immediately get through the door, but that would put whoever casts the last spell on the orb in danger.”

“If we’re talking about danger, I could handle it.”

“The last spell is a healing spell, so it would have to be Asyr or Isha. If we go to defend either of them, that just gives the hawk another target.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure we know where the hawk will appear this time. If we’re ready, we can handle it.”

Hal didn’t respond to that. He just looked over his notes one last time before setting down the journal and picking up the pen. He began to write in the scroll.

“What’re you doing now?”

“I’m writing a letter to my family. I need to let them know that I arrived in Glory’s Coast safely.”

“You’re an adventurer, right? You can just do your thing. You don’t need to let them know every time you sneeze.”

“I’m an adventurer, yes, but I’m also the head of a household. I have six siblings and my mother who rely on me. Then, I also have all of the housekeepers, groundskeepers, the gardeners, the farmers, and the staff who rely on me. I’d prefer to go back and check on things sometime within this month or next month, but it’s a week’s journey at least.”

Dorak sat stunned while Hal continued writing the letter. Then, a plan flashed through his mind. “Where is your house? We could find a request at the Adventurer’s Guild that takes us in that direction.”

“It’s over in Hawk’s Peak. We’d have to go through Izek’s Pass to get there, so I’m not going to bother.”

“Why not?”

“The taxes for entry are just too much to be worth it. I could go over the gulf, but a ship’s passage costs more than the taxes.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what. I know someone in Izek’s Pass, so I could get us through there for cheap. Let’s find a job that takes us to Hawk’s Peak.”

Hal thought for a moment before he finished up his letter. “Thank you, Dorak. I’ll suggest this plan after we make some more progress in The Tomb. I’m going to go to the Adventurer’s Guild to send this letter now.”

“I’ll go with you. I’m gonna find us a job now. It’s always good to make a bit of pocket money.”

With that, Hal and Dorak went off toward the Adventurer’s Guild.

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The town of Glory’s Coast could be divided into five main sections: the commerce district in the center, the harbor in the north, the residential district in the east, the governmental district in the west, and the agricultural district in the south. The harbor and the commerce districts, however, were the two largest areas of the town. The harbor had many inns and taverns for the sailors who were passing through with their cargo, in addition to the many warehouses that held that cargo.

The commerce district featured many inns and taverns, as well, but they were more oriented towards adventurers who were attempting to clear The Tomb of The Sands of Time. In addition to those, the commerce district featured many shops that sold anything that an adventurer could need. From potions to armor, weapons to magic items, even rations and supplies. Anything an adventurer could possibly need could be found in the commerce district. The entire district surrounded a small walled-off area that had a well-known mausoleum within.

However, from the northern side of that district where The Sea’s Embrace could be found, Isha and Asyr were making their way toward the western governmental district. Within that district, some homes could be found, but most of the district was made up of three buildings: the town hall, the Adventurer’s Guild, and a small Erdeniin temple.

Isha had spent much of her time within the church at two different major temples, but this temple was much less important to the church. The Holy Erdeniin Church had seven major temples, but had small temples in almost every town across Erdenes. While the smaller temples couldn’t truly compare to the seven major temples, they served their purpose: providing a place to hold services and give charity to the people.

One of the major temples would typically feature a rectory for the high priest of that temple, along with an abbey for the lower ranked priests of that temple. Within the temple itself, you could find the sanctuary where the high priest held a weekly service on the final day of each week. On the left and right sides of the sanctuary were two large rooms where the church provided charity. These rooms had kitchens, bathing areas, a place to wash clothing, and a place to sleep. Finally, in the back of the church, behind the altar of the sanctuary, was a room used by priests to hear the needs and worries of the people. In these major temples, there were often five or more priests providing counselling at a time on every day that the service wasn’t happening. On the day of the service, every priest at the temple would provide counselling, which would often fill the entire council room.

This temple on the very western edge of the town, next to the wooden wall that surrounded the town, did not have many of the things that could be expected at a major temple. This temple did not have a rectory, nor did it have an abbey. While it did have a sanctuary, this temple did not have any of the more impressive stained glass windows or fine wooden pews that the major temples had. This temple did have a council room, but it could likely only accommodate two or three priests and the people they were listening to. The one thing that did surprise Isha was the size of the charity rooms. Most small temples only had one charity room, but this temple had two and they were both well-stocked and well-maintained. There were a number of adventurers that Isha and Asyr could see exiting the temple as the sun was finishing rising above the horizon.

Adventurers, as a whole, were never really the religious types. The church often sent out priests who would travel the lands, often becoming adventurers themselves, but most adventurers saw these priests as nagging or judgemental. Those priests also had many stories about the many acts of debauchery and depravity that adventurers would commit. Isha was close with a traveling priest named Gavin Swiftstone who had told her a story about the group of adventurers that he traveled with shortly after Isha had told him about how she planned to become a traveling priest. While the story did make her nervous about the type of people she might run into, it didn’t sway her decision.

The adventurers that she could see leaving this temple seemed to fit that same category as the ones that Gavin Swiftstone had told her about. They only seemed to be using the charity rooms as a place to sleep and eat for free. However, she did see that a few of the adventurers carried small holy symbols with them. She saw small crystal staves, red flame-like gems, and small shields with a diamond emblazoned upon it. She was slightly disappointed to not find any cornucopias among the various holy symbols, but she knew that Salkhi wasn’t a goddess that most adventurers would find appealing. Sanaa, The Crystal Staff, was the goddess of magic and knowledge. Khail, The Burning Flame, was the god of the forge and fire. Gerelt, The Diamond Shield, was the god of the day and light. Salkhi, however, was more popular with farmers and sailors, being the goddess of nature and storms.

As Isha and Asyr entered the temple, they stopped shortly in the sanctuary where Asyr sat down in a pew while Isha went off elsewhere to find the head priest of this temple. Asyr didn’t know much about the Erdeniin Church, but had heard some things from her father, the archangel Itheros of the Emerald Heart. She had heard that there were ten gods, seven good ones and three evil ones. The angels were the forces of those seven good gods, while the demons were the forces of the three evil ones. Her father had said that the devils were basically like a wall between angels and demons. The devils tempted people into doing wicked deeds to claim their wicked souls. Then, devils managed all the wicked souls so that demons couldn’t create an army. Also, the devils prevented angels from building an army of good souls by taking any angels who broke the rules and turning them into a devil.

The altar in front of Asyr seemed to be rather simple, much like the rest of the temple, but it did have seven well-crafted symbols on it. There was a crystal staff, a set of golden scales, a cornucopia, a flame-like ruby, a heart-shaped emerald, a diamond shield, and a silver ball with a carving of an eye. The heart-shaped emerald truly stood out to Asyr. She understood that her father was the commander of the Emerald Heart’s armies, so the symbol on her forehead must be the Emerald Heart’s symbol. She stood up and approached the altar, but she stopped herself just short of reaching the symbol.

“You can touch the symbol if it calls out to you.”

The voice that called out was an old dwarven man’s. His voice was deep and gentle, but almost weary in a way. As he slowly walked up to join Asyr, she reflexively backed away. He continued, unaffected by her apprehension. He stepped up onto the stair before the altar and said a quick, silent prayer before turning to Asyr and saying, “I can see the symbol on your head. If you feel a connection to Lady Amidra, please touch her symbol so that she may be connected to you, as well.”

Asyr went to touch the symbol, but again stopped herself short as she saw her arms and the black blood pulsing through her veins. Instead, she simply asked, “Is Isha done speaking with the head priest, yet?”

“Ah, Lady Arashi. We finished speaking just a moment ago. She should be in the council room now. You can go on ahead.”

The head priest watched as Asyr quickly headed off to the back room where Isha was waiting. Before she left, he called out to say, “Lady Amidra will always be here for you if you wish to connect with her.” After that, Asyr vanished into the council room.

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Elsewhere in the governmental district, Hal and Dorak were in a crowded building. On the edge between the commerce district and the governmental district, there was a building that overshadowed the other major buildings near it. The Adventurer’s Guild was an organization that spanned across all four of the continents, but none more so than The Hidden Lands. The Hidden Lands were known as the place that made heroes, so the Adventurer’s Guild had a strong presence there. In Glory’s Coast, the Adventurer’s Guild’s main branch could be found. The main branch of the guild was based out of a four-story building that contained anything an adventurer didn’t know they needed.

On the first floor, receptionists helped to both register new adventurers and facilitate requests for returning adventurers. On the second floor, advisors meet with clients to help create the requests and meet with adventurers in need of help. On the third floor, managers negotiate with clients or adventurers who were unhappy with some part of the request process. Also on that floor, each guild branch had a branch head that hired employees and kept the branch running smoothly.

In the main branch in Glory’s Coast, the fourth floor held the administrative offices for the entire guild. The administrators kept the entire operation running and managed every branch across all four continents. There were other administrative offices in other branches, specifically one branch per continent, but the branch in Glory’s Coast was the main branch and the building was the first thing that made that fact obvious. The building was clearly very well-designed and well-maintained, but the more impressive parts of it were the staff who ran and managed the chaos within.

On the first floor, even in the early morning, just past when most shops were finally opening for the day, the Adventurer’s Guild was already in its full swing. The floor was filled with adventurers trying to find requests, claim the jobs, and get ready to make their money, but thanks to the guild staff, everything seemed to be controlled. The request boards were large enough to be seen from the entire floor, the requests were neatly organized, and the adventurers never piled in front of each other to steal jobs from one another. At a smaller branch, the request boards could become a hive of chaos and anger, but this branch was run perfectly.

Once the adventurers found a request they liked, they would return to the reception desk with the request’s number to find out the full information. Dorak was currently at that stage. He was looking at requests while Hal went to put in a request to send his letter to Hawk’s Peak. Dorak had found a job that caught his eye: Job 231. The request board had a short description of the job: ‘Cargo to Aerie’s Landing by first night of Brightdusk’. Now, with that number in mind, he was waiting for an available receptionist.

Once one of the five receptionists opened up, Dorak strode up and said, “I’m looking for Job 231.”

“Right away, sir.”

The receptionist was a middle-aged satyr woman with curly brown hair and olive skin. Though Dorak thought she was fairly attractive, he knew better than to try and flirt with any of the guild staff. He had made that mistake once in Dao Shu, shortly after he ran away from the monastery. Despite the fact that the guild staff don’t carry weapons, all of them were former adventurers. The guild made a deliberate choice to have only more classically attractive people as receptionists. They also made a deliberate choice to hire mainly smaller or lankier races as maintenance staff. Finally, they made a deliberate choice to hire brawnier and more gruff people as advisors. Each of those choices was meant to lure out the inner desires of unwanted customers. A bad customer, whether they were a client or an adventurer, would try to flirt with the receptionists, berate and abuse the maintenance staff, and try to take advantage of advisors. With attractive receptionists, weak-looking maintenance, and dumb-looking advisors, these inner desires would come to the forefront.

That’s when the hidden security would come out. Back when Dorak was in Dao Shu, he tried flirting with a beautiful birdfolk woman, but didn’t immediately back down when he was turned down. Two massive minotaur security guards appeared behind him and went to throw him out. Dorak had tried fighting back, but was put to sleep by a spell from the birdfolk receptionist. He had been banned from the guild for five years, but that was many years ago by now.

“Here it is. The job comes from a merchant by the name of Yulen Ashdrop. He needs to be picked up in the harbor district before the 24th of Highbright and must arrive in Aerie’s Landing before the first night of Brightdusk. From here to Aerie’s Landing is normally a three-day journey by cart or a six-day journey by cart, then by ship. The job would pay in full at completion for a total of 25 standard gold. Do you want to take this job?”

Dorak knew that the common travel path from Glory’s Coast to Aerie’s Landing was going southeast to Triangle’s Coast, then south to Fog’s Spear, then over the gulf to Aerie’s Landing. He also knew that the quicker, but more expensive path was south to Izek’s Pass, then south to Hero’s Halls, and finally southeast to Aerie’s Landing. Lastly, he also knew that he had a way to get through Izek’s Pass without paying the taxes, so he could take the quicker path without the exorbitant costs it was normally accompanied by.

However, he knew that he couldn’t take the job without his party knowing, so he simply asked, “Do you have any copies of that so I can bring it to my party?” The receptionist nodded with a polite smile, then disappeared into a back room for a moment. At that same time, Hal descended the stairs with a glint in his eyes and scanned the room for Dorak. When he found him at the reception desk, he made his way over with a determined expression.

“Dorak. I learned something just now that could help us get past the first floor today.”

As the receptionist came back with a small paper, she handed it to Dorak as he and Hal made their way to exit the guild hall. The two began to walk and talk back to The Sea’s Embrace for their party meeting at lunch.

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The council room was a simple one. It had two comfortable chairs and a small table between them. A larger temple would have five or more of these setups in a much larger room, but this would be more than enough for Isha and Asyr. Isha first asked, “Do you want the door to the room locked?” Asyr shook her head as she sat down in one of the chairs. “Then, would you like a screen between us?” Asyr seemed confused at that, so Isha explained, “Some people prefer to not be looked at while the priests provide counselling.” Asyr simply said, “That’s okay, I’m not worried.”

As Isha sat down in front of Asyr, she sat down her mace and buckler behind her chair and said, “Normally I wouldn’t be in my armor when I do this, but I imagine this wouldn’t bother you, correct?”

Asyr chuckled slightly as she said, “You’re fine, Isha. As long as I know it’s someone I trust, I’m fine.”

“That’s good. If you want to just get into things, you can say what’s on your mind, or we could just talk until you feel comfortable.”

Asyr looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t, so Isha started the conversation. “I just noticed that you have a necklace on under your clothes. Would you show me?”

Asyr pulled the necklace out from beneath her crimson clothes. It was a simple metal chain with a small red gem. Asyr described, “It’s a necklace that allows me to talk to Ulyx. As long as I wear this, we can hear each other from anywhere.”

“That’s amazing. I imagine that you and Ulyx are very close.”

“He was the first friend I ever made. I lived in a small house on the coast just outside Whitewood. My family would go to the town for festivals, but I never really made any friends because the town was a ways away.”

“I understand. I lived in a fishing village called Sakaumi on the Tosho Islands. I was one of only four children who lived there. I preferred to stay inside with my mother, so I never got close to any of the other children.”

“Ulyx and I became friends after my dad rescued him and me from the Archmage’s tower.”

“And you said that the archmage was named Aether Illibraut, if I’m not mistaken? I think I’ve heard of him before. It was said that he was recognized as an archmage because he discovered how to permanently transform a humanoid body with a ritual. But you said earlier that he did some horrible things to you. Do you mind telling me about that?”

Asyr took a shaky breath before nodding and saying, “I was kidnapped by the Archmage when I was fifteen and held for 478 days in his tower while he experimented on me. He replaced my human blood with demon blood. My dad rescued me, but he escaped. He was recognized as an archmage by the Mage Guild on day 23 of me being held there.”

Isha could see that Asyr was starting to get more and more anxious as she talked about it, so she decided to move the conversation away before she broke down. “I’m not very familiar with the Mage Guild. How does one become an archmage?”

Asyr took a steadier breath and explained, “Archmages have access to money for their studies from the guild, but to get there, they need to prove themselves. An archmage needs to do two things: make a breakthrough discovery and become the strongest mage alive in the world. Because of that, there’s only ever one archmage at a time. The Archmage is the thirteenth archmage recognized by the guild, but only the first one of the modern era. There’s one other archmage alive… Actually, I don’t know if he’s actually alive or not, but he’s here in this town.”

Isha looked stunned and asked, “Who is it?”

“No one knows his name, but he was the first archmage of the Age of Magical Innovation, the previous era. He found a way to turn back time. He now lives at the bottom of The Tomb.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“No, why?”

“The previous era ended over one hundred years ago, so the beginning of that era must have been over a thousand years ago.”

“Don’t you remember? He found a way to turn back time. Now, as long as no one enters his tomb, he exists outside of our normal time. That’s also why people who enter his tomb get sent back after the hour they spend in there. He’s constantly turning back time in his tomb.”

The wheels in Isha’s mind were turning, trying to make sense of this, but a different thought bubbled to the forefront of her mind. “Wait, so the mask that visited our dreams was that archmage?”

Asyr paused before simply nodding her head. Something about that question had brought back the nervousness that had held her when she started the conversation.

“Asyr, if there’s something that that mask said to you that’s making you scared, I’m here for you. I’ll be your shield to protect you, your spell to heal you, and your weapon to destroy those who want to hurt you.”

Asyr was slightly tearing up at Isha’s words, but said, “The mask said that I could freely go through The Tomb if I went alone. If I went where the mask is at the bottom of The Tomb, I could figure out how to kill Colavito and the Archmage, but I don’t trust him.”

Asyr could feel the fear coming back to her. She could feel the memory of the cold from Yurasha’s failed attempt to clear The Tomb. She could still see Hal vanish into the beak of the Ice Hawk. Then, she could only feel one thing: a gentle hand on the side of her face.

“Asyr, we would never let you do this alone. Hal wouldn’t, Dorak, for everything he is, still wouldn’t, and most of all, I wouldn’t. We are here with you. If that means we need to get all the way to the bottom of that Tomb by force, we’ll do it. As long as we’re here with you, you will have us by your side.”

Asyr couldn’t stop the tears from flowing as she cried out, “I’m just so scared. I don’t want to be hurt by another archmage again.”

Isha held Asyr’s face in both hands, kneeling before her chair, silently. She let Asyr cry for a moment while she studied her face. Then, Isha steeled herself to say, “You’ve been hurt before. You may even get hurt again. But while I’m here with you, I will heal you. There is nothing that could ever happen that I wouldn’t find a way to heal you. On my life and my Lady, I make this vow to you.”

On that day, in the few hours before Yurasha made their second attempt to clear The Tomb of The Sands of Time, the Speaker of Storms made a solemn vow that she would hold for the rest of her life. Even as the two walked back towards The Sea’s Embrace, their actions that day would become a lodestar in each other’s destinies. However, in only a few hours, they would do something that had never been done before.