Stasolya follows the Shogun into his castle, scrabbling up the steps with her hooves. Once inside, she slows her pace, looking up and around to take in the intricate beauty of a hall built to hallow a wealth of ancient tradition. Her heart soars at the sight---so much of beauty, knowledge, and lore has been lost in the wanton destruction wrought by the chaos and the Nothing, but the Shogun has preserved it here. She sings softly, her quiet voice echoing musically in the high arched alcoves of the sculptures.
"Hide from the world the ancient tapestry, Not trinkets, scraps, or fragmented jewelry. But full woven cloth embroidered rich, Whose threads hold Hyboria in unbreakable stitch."
Later, in the hall at the table, Stasolya does her best to recline, folding her legs under her and managing to be only a little bit too tall for the table. She eats heartily and gratefully, having not been able to stomach much on the roc ride, favoring dishes high in fiber. But she lays down knife and goblet to ponder the Shogun's request.
"I have asked the same questions myself, at times," she says, finally. "It seems natural and sensible to me to hide in the great plains, where one can outrun one's enemies, and see them coming miles away on the horizon. But this is the way of my people. Some of yours surely feel safer inside thick stone walls or hidden groves where none trod. Atreyu said that Princess Zelda hides with the horse lords, and is constantly on the move with them. This is the safest place I can imagine, myself. Yet one such as I alone might have a chance of finding them, whose speed can match their horses and whose mind knows the plains and the waterholes. I believe that once we find her... all will be made clear. Atreyu seemed to indicate to me as much that the Princess Zelda holds some key to our salvation, as many of the royals do, their lives given in their nobility to uphold the fabric of Hyboria. Those of us who fight for Hyboria must join forces in our faith, for strength of arms is not the only power, and not even the strongest of powers."
Her expression grows incredibly sad as the Shogun asks about her team. "There were three others. Darkness gripped the mind of one of them, and she turned against me, and turned two of the others along with her. They left our party to travel to her homeland."The sadness seems too much for her, a moment, and she breaks out in a song whose mournful tune seems to draw the clouds over the sun again.
"Consumed by hatred, suspicion and worse Like the fly in a field of flowers finds a corpse She embodied power, a dark side of the Force. Woe that I let my companion on such a course!"
"Awed by her stature, a broken soldier keened, Couldn't live without her, like a foal unweaned. And a weak-willed man who follows the wind All the world a mirror to his own fleeing mind."
"It is an interesting concept." The Shogun says when Stasolya mentions Atreyu's theory of Princess Zelda. "Are you familiar with the tales of the Spirit of the Hero, Stasolya? It seems to me that in legend, in the past, when the Royal Family has faced a cataclysm, the Hero was there to save them. This time...seems to have gone differently."
His brow bunches up as he listens, and his eyes cast down to the floor.
"It is sad to hear such a thing." The Shogun remarks. "We do not all follow the way lain before us, though. Such was the folly of my daughter, Kaede. She is now Ronin...a concept that shames me on many levels. I understand your plight, in some way. Would you join me in the garden, where I may smoke?"
"Yes," Stasolya says softly. "I have heard those tales. Long has the Hero been the way in which Hyboria cares for its own. But there are other ways. Though we are plunged in darkness now, the deep magic of the Childlike Empress is still at work. A Hero will come again. But its form will not be what we expect. I once heard a tale, told in Fantasia, of a small boy of another world, who needed only name the Childlike Empress for Hyboria to be created anew from a single pearl in her crown."
"Of those who have been lost to us, they may yet be found, and may yet turn to the right path. We cannot know, in the end, who will be with us in the cradle of the Ivory Tower, and who without in the darkness of the Nothing. Day by day, it may change. My sisters may yet again stand by my side, if by the grace of the Childlike Empress I hold myself true to her." At the Shogun's offer to visit the garden, Stasolya smiles a little wider, gratefully, and scrambles up to her four feet. "I would be very happy to join you in the garden. Such refuges have become an ephemeral thing in these trying times." As they walk towards the garden, Stasolya sings a light-hearted tune.
"Smoke, O, and fill ye the sky, While you have pipeweed left to dry! Fill it with dragons and boats and rings, Smoke the last dregs until your heart sings!
And after that, when the weed runs dry, Tighten your belt and heave a great sigh. The world is changing, the world is run, We will smoke again soon, when the kingdom comes."
The Shogun leads Stasolya through the palace as they converse, and seems to go pale when she states, as though it is the most obvious fact ever, that the hero will come again. He continues to let her speak. He smiles, though barely, as they exit the building into the ornate cherry garden behind the palace. Unlike many Hylian gardens, complete with hedges, hedge mazes, and intricate topiaries, this garden is more about stone walkways, immaculately curated sands where stones are placed in intricate arrangements, cherry trees, small, and small red maples and junipers. The whole garden seems to be a study of attention to detail.
"I don't think the Hero is coming this time." The Shogun says flatly as he pulls a pipe from a pocket and lights it. "A small boy from another world? At this rate...I'd be willing to accept anything."
He takes a draw from the pipe and exhales.
"This calamity...it seems that it is worse than even when the Crystal of Truth was broken, and the Dark Crystal was born. From what the ancient texts and the sages say, anyway. King's Landing is next. We will defend to the last man...but we will fall, Stasolya. I don't know what difference you can make, or your friends, or anyone else. But, whatever it is, you better make it soon. Soon there won't be anything left to save."
"King's Landing may fall," Stasolya says, as she walks curiously about the tailored garden, her hooves clopping noisily on the stone surfaces. "All worlds must one day come to an end. But the tapestry of eternity is woven through each world nonetheless, and that will remain, when all else passes away. It is that tapestry which the Childlike Empress holds weft and warp for, and which gives all of Hyboria its beauty and its goodness. If we must wait in the darkness for the world to be born anew, wait we will... it will not be the first time."
"But you are correct in that I must hold hand to my duty, and quickly. Thank you so much for your hospitality in welcoming us here. If you like, I could leave one here with you to assist... I can search faster on my own four feet, and only one of my remaining party is small enough for me to easily carry while I do so. Nonetheless I must depart very soon, for my errand lies to the south and will not wait."
"Most people are in no hurry to find their end, regardless of inevitabilities." Shogun Ashikaga states rather flatly. "It may not be the first time...but the suffering, and the fear. The death and the destruction we now face. The past we can never fix..."
The Shogun shakes his head, his demeanor beginning to decompress, to come down from his self-imposed reflection of elevation he tried to display in every moment.
"Have you ever heard the saying, 'everyone is the child of their own works'?" He asks. He takes another draw from the pipe, exhales. "There is another, something like 'it is not the things we do in life we regret on our death bed, it is the things we do not'. I think I can safely say that, for me, it is both. Your offer is most generous, and I will accept graciously. I will ask one more favor, though. If you find my daughter, tell her I was wrong."
Shogun Ashikaga thinks on this for a moment. His mouth opens, closes, then he simply nods, satisfied with this parting message.
"Is there anything more I can do for you, Stasolya, Chosen of the AURYN?"
Stasolya nods. "I will tell her. And I will leave Cinder with you... I hope she may be of help in bolstering what you have left here, at least for a time." She turns to face the Shogun and bows, a bit strangely as she dips an equine knee as well as bending at the torso. "Thank you for your hospitality. The only favor I would yet ask is that if any come here seeking Andromeda's Answer... and if they be not on the side of Darkness... let them know where we have gone."
"Of course, honorable one. For as long as King's Landing stands, we will convey your message."
He thinks for a moment and chews the end of his pipe.
"On that note, it may be important to remember...when King's Landing does fall...and it will...of that I have no doubt...it'll open the way between the chaos and the Great Grass Sea. Whatever you are going to do, noble Centaur...you better do it in a hurry.
Before you go, there is one more thing. There is a ship in the port by the name of the Scorpion. She just docked a few days ago. The captain is a gray haired old human man by the name of Aelwyn Saewulf. I've heard that he brought AURYN Chosen across the sea from Cloveresse, on the eastern coast of Fantasia. He says he's waiting on them, hoping they'll return...but he doesn't have much hope for them. Maybe you're the hope he needs."
Stasolya nods solemnly. "Speed is crucial now. But I will have speed, with only one companion to carry."
Her face dawns with recognition when the Shogun mentions the ship and its captain. "Of course. Atreyu mentioned this man as well. We will pay him a visit ere we depart."
She bows again, and then makes her way from the garden to collect her companions. She impresses on Cinder the necessity of her help at King's landing, and also Stasolya's need for speed in exploring the Grass Sea. She thinks that Thea's small size will be a tolerable burden for her to carry in their search. "I hope you are amenable to riding a great distance, Thea," she says with a smile. "But I think I will need you in the quest for the Princess. We have one more visit to make before we go."
As they prepare to depart, Stasolya will head with Thea to the port of King's Landing to look for the Scorpion and its captain.
Thea nods and smiles. The girl has seemed more disconnected than ever, after the trials of the last couple of weeks, and the revelation of her own true nature. She stays quiet, but remains close to Stasolya as they are led out of the palace, back out into the great courtyard where they first arrived in King's Landing.
The city is laid out so that it is easy to find the two ports. The first port is the inner port of Sea of No Return, which reaches far up into the southern part of Hylia, past the Great Grass Sea to the east and Hagsgate to the west. The other port, the one where Stasolya and Thea eventually find the ship with the black sails that sport the tattered visage of a red scorpion upon them, faces the Summer Sea, the sea that separates Hylia from Eternia.
Stasolya pauses for a moment to look over the ocean. The King of Monsters came here free, and left again, back to the sea...But she shakes off her melancholy at the memory of the magnificent Apex, the last sign of the Order of Hyboria maintaining itself that anyone may see for a long time.
Trotting up towards the Scorpion, Stasolya looks around for the captain. Not immediately seeing anyone, she takes her bagpipes under her arm and blows a march-like tune---a tune commonly heard amongst the Ivory Infantry when it travels.
The bagpipe brings a number of heads peering out of hatchways leading into the bowels of the ship. Many young sailors, male and female, of multiple races. Then, amongst them, an older face, the cliched old, bedraggled seaman. He squints as he stares out of the hatchway at the Centaur who has walked up on deck.
Stasolya wraps up her tune with an optimistic flourish, and smiles at the bedraggled old figure. "Greetings, friend! Are you Aelwyn Saewulf? Atreyu of the Ivory Tower, and Shogun Ashikaga, asked that I look to you while I was in town." As she mentions Atreyu's name, she lets go the chanter of her bagpipe to lift up her AURYN to where the old man can see it.
"Aye, I'm da Saewulf." The old saltdog says with a nod of his head. "Atreyu, ye say? And Shegun? Aye, high names, those."
The Captain saunters forward, holding his leg as he limps along.
"Don' min' that." He says, drawing closer to the centaur. There's a smile tucked away behind a beard and a mustache that are threatening to become their own member of the crew. "We ha' a tussle wif some weir' ten'cled critters out 'long the coast. We was trackin' a Kraken. Aye, bu' then he wen' out ta sea an' we had to pick up our charges 'ere, so we lef' it to the world. Aye, but thar be som' rumers, ye understan'."
Stasolya grows very solemn at the mention of the Kraken. "A terrible beast... the very bane of civilization. The Kraken stole the Princess Andromeda... I do not know if any know where it took her." Her expression becomes wistful, pondering. "I wonder if the Leviathan who stirs the deep of the sea, the King of Monsters, could hunt it down..." She realizes how little thought she has given to what Godzilla might be doing now, after having slain the Tarrasque. Would it return to its slumber? Or might it hunt down another oceanic target? I wish there was a way I could ask it. The centaur absently fingers the chanter of her bagpipes. They were never loud enough... never once did I gain its attention. How small we all were...
Coming back to the present moment, she smiles at the captain. "I'd only like to exchange news with you, friend. What happened to your charges? And do you know aught else of the Kraken or its prey?"
"Andromena..." Saewulf says, his face slackening some beneath his beard. "Oh my, that is terr'ble news. Where it woul' 'ave took 'er? Well. Rumor is dat Queen Ba'morda ha' made a deal wit' Kygrax... But I don' un'stand this Kin' o' the Monsters business. My char'es? Dropped 'em at Zora's Domain some mon'hs ago. Twil'ght Embers, called 'emselves. I tol' them I'd mee' 'em 'ere...but they've not shown up. I'm a 'it wor'ied. As fo' da Kraken..."
He shakes his head and looks out across the Summer Sea.
"'ack to da Leviathin Soun', I 'magine. Tho...perhaps ta Queen Ba'morda instea'."
Stastolya stares wistfully out to sea, wishing for just a moment that she could get on a boat and seek out these places, find the Kraken, find the harbringer of the watery doom, and find the hope that was stolen from Argos. The unapproachable size and power of the King of Monsters still haunts her imagination. Of course the Apex could cross the distance in but a day... the Kraken would have no chance at it either. But such a creature exists because of the greater order in Hyboria... to back it up, to keep it balanced. The awe has never quite faded.
To Saewulf, she says, "I know of the Twilight Embers... there are but few of them left... but those few still fight. Darkness has fallen on Hyboria of late, and together we struggle with the utmost of speed to resist the call of the Nothing and stand for what we know to be true and right." She smiles. "Perhaps if I have the fortune to find the Princess in the Great Grass Sea, I will be able to travel to Queen Bavmorda and seek out our other lost Princess."
She looks at Thea, and then back to the captain. "We must soon be on our way... but is there aught we can do for you, before we depart, good sir?"
Aelwyn looks sad as he's told only a few of the Embers are left. He reaches up, combing his fingers backwards through his smoke-stained beard and chews on the inside of his cheek as he listens to Stasolya's words. He keeps chewing on the inside of his cheeks even as he reaches up to pinch his eyes between thumb and forefinger.
"'Aye, dow' to da Grea' Grass Sea, ye say?" He says, looking over his shoulder at the scorpion emblazoned sails furled behind him. "Mayhap we can take ye. If da Embers are scare, as ye say, wha' else we be wai'in' 'ere 'or?"
"They will be remembered in tale and song," Stasolya says with a sigh, "when greater minds than my own have a moment to sit down and compose them." Stasolya, being a centaur, doesn't sit down, and composes everything on the fly. How fleeting every verse seems now, every note of the pipe, drowned out as it always will be by that roar over the ocean waves.
"Sir, if you would be pleased to give us passage, we would be in your debt."
The Captain offers passage, and it is accepted. The Scorpion, the heavily armed, well manned ship that had originally brought the Twilight Embers from Cloveresse to Zora's Domain, sets sail and heads out into the Summer Sea, leaving the bay where King's Landing's eastern port is situated. They sail out and down, toward the coast, heading south, where Captain Saewulf explains he knows an area of twin bays where they can moor and send a rib ashore. He makes sure to explain that the Dothraki, the horse-lords of the Great Grass Sea, don't have any real villages but one; Vaes Dothrak. Not as much of a city as a centralized location where the khalasars, the various tribes, come to trade.
"No fightin' 'llowed thar ei'er." Saewulf explains, indicating that there could be a violence problem amongst the various tribes.
The evening before they turned into the twin bays, they spotted the King of the Monsters as he swam through the Summer Sea. The crew gathered along the port side and looked out to see as the great beast surfaced, its dorsal plates cutting along the surface of the water like a school of giant sharks. Godzilla turns, circling in the sea as the Scorpion passes; it seems like he's looking for something.
"Aye, don' wan' no par' o' dat." Aelwyn says as he chews the inside of his cheeks and watches. "'specially if he's on owr si'."
Later that night (though what is night when the sky is always dark?) they see the flashing of blue energy to the northeast behind them, back in the direction of where they'd seen the King of the Monsters, and hear his baleful calls, though no one knows what he's doing.
The ship banked to the west on the morning of the fourth day, turning into the twin bays and running along the southern edge of the thin peninsula that separated the two waters. When it moored up near evening and dropped the rib into the water, Captain Saewulf was there to see Stasolya and Thea off.
"Aye, jus' 'emember." He said, his beard and bushy mustache swaying as he spoke. "De 'orse lords, they don' 'llow no violence in Vaes Dothrak. Lot's o' trails here, too. When ye go in'and, find a trail, follow it west 'til ye fine de city."
Stasolya follows the Shogun into his castle, scrabbling up the steps with her hooves. Once inside, she slows her pace, looking up and around to take in the intricate beauty of a hall built to hallow a wealth of ancient tradition. Her heart soars at the sight---so much of beauty, knowledge, and lore has been lost in the wanton destruction wrought by the chaos and the Nothing, but the Shogun has preserved it here. She sings softly, her quiet voice echoing musically in the high arched alcoves of the sculptures.
"Hide from the world the ancient tapestry,
Not trinkets, scraps, or fragmented jewelry.
But full woven cloth embroidered rich,
Whose threads hold Hyboria in unbreakable stitch."
Later, in the hall at the table, Stasolya does her best to recline, folding her legs under her and managing to be only a little bit too tall for the table. She eats heartily and gratefully, having not been able to stomach much on the roc ride, favoring dishes high in fiber. But she lays down knife and goblet to ponder the Shogun's request.
"I have asked the same questions myself, at times," she says, finally. "It seems natural and sensible to me to hide in the great plains, where one can outrun one's enemies, and see them coming miles away on the horizon. But this is the way of my people. Some of yours surely feel safer inside thick stone walls or hidden groves where none trod. Atreyu said that Princess Zelda hides with the horse lords, and is constantly on the move with them. This is the safest place I can imagine, myself. Yet one such as I alone might have a chance of finding them, whose speed can match their horses and whose mind knows the plains and the waterholes. I believe that once we find her... all will be made clear. Atreyu seemed to indicate to me as much that the Princess Zelda holds some key to our salvation, as many of the royals do, their lives given in their nobility to uphold the fabric of Hyboria. Those of us who fight for Hyboria must join forces in our faith, for strength of arms is not the only power, and not even the strongest of powers."
Her expression grows incredibly sad as the Shogun asks about her team. "There were three others. Darkness gripped the mind of one of them, and she turned against me, and turned two of the others along with her. They left our party to travel to her homeland." The sadness seems too much for her, a moment, and she breaks out in a song whose mournful tune seems to draw the clouds over the sun again.
"Consumed by hatred, suspicion and worse
Like the fly in a field of flowers finds a corpse
She embodied power, a dark side of the Force.
Woe that I let my companion on such a course!"
"Awed by her stature, a broken soldier keened,
Couldn't live without her, like a foal unweaned.
And a weak-willed man who follows the wind
All the world a mirror to his own fleeing mind."
"It is an interesting concept." The Shogun says when Stasolya mentions Atreyu's theory of Princess Zelda. "Are you familiar with the tales of the Spirit of the Hero, Stasolya? It seems to me that in legend, in the past, when the Royal Family has faced a cataclysm, the Hero was there to save them. This time...seems to have gone differently."
His brow bunches up as he listens, and his eyes cast down to the floor.
"It is sad to hear such a thing." The Shogun remarks. "We do not all follow the way lain before us, though. Such was the folly of my daughter, Kaede. She is now Ronin...a concept that shames me on many levels. I understand your plight, in some way. Would you join me in the garden, where I may smoke?"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
"Yes," Stasolya says softly. "I have heard those tales. Long has the Hero been the way in which Hyboria cares for its own. But there are other ways. Though we are plunged in darkness now, the deep magic of the Childlike Empress is still at work. A Hero will come again. But its form will not be what we expect. I once heard a tale, told in Fantasia, of a small boy of another world, who needed only name the Childlike Empress for Hyboria to be created anew from a single pearl in her crown."
"Of those who have been lost to us, they may yet be found, and may yet turn to the right path. We cannot know, in the end, who will be with us in the cradle of the Ivory Tower, and who without in the darkness of the Nothing. Day by day, it may change. My sisters may yet again stand by my side, if by the grace of the Childlike Empress I hold myself true to her." At the Shogun's offer to visit the garden, Stasolya smiles a little wider, gratefully, and scrambles up to her four feet. "I would be very happy to join you in the garden. Such refuges have become an ephemeral thing in these trying times." As they walk towards the garden, Stasolya sings a light-hearted tune.
"Smoke, O, and fill ye the sky,
While you have pipeweed left to dry!
Fill it with dragons and boats and rings,
Smoke the last dregs until your heart sings!
And after that, when the weed runs dry,
Tighten your belt and heave a great sigh.
The world is changing, the world is run,
We will smoke again soon, when the kingdom comes."
The Shogun leads Stasolya through the palace as they converse, and seems to go pale when she states, as though it is the most obvious fact ever, that the hero will come again. He continues to let her speak. He smiles, though barely, as they exit the building into the ornate cherry garden behind the palace. Unlike many Hylian gardens, complete with hedges, hedge mazes, and intricate topiaries, this garden is more about stone walkways, immaculately curated sands where stones are placed in intricate arrangements, cherry trees, small, and small red maples and junipers. The whole garden seems to be a study of attention to detail.
"I don't think the Hero is coming this time." The Shogun says flatly as he pulls a pipe from a pocket and lights it. "A small boy from another world? At this rate...I'd be willing to accept anything."
He takes a draw from the pipe and exhales.
"This calamity...it seems that it is worse than even when the Crystal of Truth was broken, and the Dark Crystal was born. From what the ancient texts and the sages say, anyway. King's Landing is next. We will defend to the last man...but we will fall, Stasolya. I don't know what difference you can make, or your friends, or anyone else. But, whatever it is, you better make it soon. Soon there won't be anything left to save."
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
"King's Landing may fall," Stasolya says, as she walks curiously about the tailored garden, her hooves clopping noisily on the stone surfaces. "All worlds must one day come to an end. But the tapestry of eternity is woven through each world nonetheless, and that will remain, when all else passes away. It is that tapestry which the Childlike Empress holds weft and warp for, and which gives all of Hyboria its beauty and its goodness. If we must wait in the darkness for the world to be born anew, wait we will... it will not be the first time."
"But you are correct in that I must hold hand to my duty, and quickly. Thank you so much for your hospitality in welcoming us here. If you like, I could leave one here with you to assist... I can search faster on my own four feet, and only one of my remaining party is small enough for me to easily carry while I do so. Nonetheless I must depart very soon, for my errand lies to the south and will not wait."
"Most people are in no hurry to find their end, regardless of inevitabilities." Shogun Ashikaga states rather flatly. "It may not be the first time...but the suffering, and the fear. The death and the destruction we now face. The past we can never fix..."
The Shogun shakes his head, his demeanor beginning to decompress, to come down from his self-imposed reflection of elevation he tried to display in every moment.
"Have you ever heard the saying, 'everyone is the child of their own works'?" He asks. He takes another draw from the pipe, exhales. "There is another, something like 'it is not the things we do in life we regret on our death bed, it is the things we do not'. I think I can safely say that, for me, it is both. Your offer is most generous, and I will accept graciously. I will ask one more favor, though. If you find my daughter, tell her I was wrong."
Shogun Ashikaga thinks on this for a moment. His mouth opens, closes, then he simply nods, satisfied with this parting message.
"Is there anything more I can do for you, Stasolya, Chosen of the AURYN?"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Stasolya nods. "I will tell her. And I will leave Cinder with you... I hope she may be of help in bolstering what you have left here, at least for a time." She turns to face the Shogun and bows, a bit strangely as she dips an equine knee as well as bending at the torso. "Thank you for your hospitality. The only favor I would yet ask is that if any come here seeking Andromeda's Answer... and if they be not on the side of Darkness... let them know where we have gone."
The Shogun smiles and nods.
"Of course, honorable one. For as long as King's Landing stands, we will convey your message."
He thinks for a moment and chews the end of his pipe.
"On that note, it may be important to remember...when King's Landing does fall...and it will...of that I have no doubt...it'll open the way between the chaos and the Great Grass Sea. Whatever you are going to do, noble Centaur...you better do it in a hurry.
Before you go, there is one more thing. There is a ship in the port by the name of the Scorpion. She just docked a few days ago. The captain is a gray haired old human man by the name of Aelwyn Saewulf. I've heard that he brought AURYN Chosen across the sea from Cloveresse, on the eastern coast of Fantasia. He says he's waiting on them, hoping they'll return...but he doesn't have much hope for them. Maybe you're the hope he needs."
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Stasolya nods solemnly. "Speed is crucial now. But I will have speed, with only one companion to carry."
Her face dawns with recognition when the Shogun mentions the ship and its captain. "Of course. Atreyu mentioned this man as well. We will pay him a visit ere we depart."
She bows again, and then makes her way from the garden to collect her companions. She impresses on Cinder the necessity of her help at King's landing, and also Stasolya's need for speed in exploring the Grass Sea. She thinks that Thea's small size will be a tolerable burden for her to carry in their search. "I hope you are amenable to riding a great distance, Thea," she says with a smile. "But I think I will need you in the quest for the Princess. We have one more visit to make before we go."
As they prepare to depart, Stasolya will head with Thea to the port of King's Landing to look for the Scorpion and its captain.
Thea nods and smiles. The girl has seemed more disconnected than ever, after the trials of the last couple of weeks, and the revelation of her own true nature. She stays quiet, but remains close to Stasolya as they are led out of the palace, back out into the great courtyard where they first arrived in King's Landing.
The city is laid out so that it is easy to find the two ports. The first port is the inner port of Sea of No Return, which reaches far up into the southern part of Hylia, past the Great Grass Sea to the east and Hagsgate to the west. The other port, the one where Stasolya and Thea eventually find the ship with the black sails that sport the tattered visage of a red scorpion upon them, faces the Summer Sea, the sea that separates Hylia from Eternia.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Stasolya pauses for a moment to look over the ocean. The King of Monsters came here free, and left again, back to the sea... But she shakes off her melancholy at the memory of the magnificent Apex, the last sign of the Order of Hyboria maintaining itself that anyone may see for a long time.
Trotting up towards the Scorpion, Stasolya looks around for the captain. Not immediately seeing anyone, she takes her bagpipes under her arm and blows a march-like tune---a tune commonly heard amongst the Ivory Infantry when it travels.
The bagpipe brings a number of heads peering out of hatchways leading into the bowels of the ship. Many young sailors, male and female, of multiple races. Then, amongst them, an older face, the cliched old, bedraggled seaman. He squints as he stares out of the hatchway at the Centaur who has walked up on deck.
"Aye, w'ut can I do fer ye?"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Stasolya wraps up her tune with an optimistic flourish, and smiles at the bedraggled old figure. "Greetings, friend! Are you Aelwyn Saewulf? Atreyu of the Ivory Tower, and Shogun Ashikaga, asked that I look to you while I was in town." As she mentions Atreyu's name, she lets go the chanter of her bagpipe to lift up her AURYN to where the old man can see it.
"Aye, I'm da Saewulf." The old saltdog says with a nod of his head. "Atreyu, ye say? And Shegun? Aye, high names, those."
The Captain saunters forward, holding his leg as he limps along.
"Don' min' that." He says, drawing closer to the centaur. There's a smile tucked away behind a beard and a mustache that are threatening to become their own member of the crew. "We ha' a tussle wif some weir' ten'cled critters out 'long the coast. We was trackin' a Kraken. Aye, bu' then he wen' out ta sea an' we had to pick up our charges 'ere, so we lef' it to the world. Aye, but thar be som' rumers, ye understan'."
He nods, stopping in front of Stasolya.
"What is it I can do for ye'?"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Stasolya grows very solemn at the mention of the Kraken. "A terrible beast... the very bane of civilization. The Kraken stole the Princess Andromeda... I do not know if any know where it took her." Her expression becomes wistful, pondering. "I wonder if the Leviathan who stirs the deep of the sea, the King of Monsters, could hunt it down..." She realizes how little thought she has given to what Godzilla might be doing now, after having slain the Tarrasque. Would it return to its slumber? Or might it hunt down another oceanic target? I wish there was a way I could ask it. The centaur absently fingers the chanter of her bagpipes. They were never loud enough... never once did I gain its attention. How small we all were...
Coming back to the present moment, she smiles at the captain. "I'd only like to exchange news with you, friend. What happened to your charges? And do you know aught else of the Kraken or its prey?"
"Andromena..." Saewulf says, his face slackening some beneath his beard. "Oh my, that is terr'ble news. Where it woul' 'ave took 'er? Well. Rumor is dat Queen Ba'morda ha' made a deal wit' Kygrax... But I don' un'stand this Kin' o' the Monsters business. My char'es? Dropped 'em at Zora's Domain some mon'hs ago. Twil'ght Embers, called 'emselves. I tol' them I'd mee' 'em 'ere...but they've not shown up. I'm a 'it wor'ied. As fo' da Kraken..."
He shakes his head and looks out across the Summer Sea.
"'ack to da Leviathin Soun', I 'magine. Tho...perhaps ta Queen Ba'morda instea'."
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Stastolya stares wistfully out to sea, wishing for just a moment that she could get on a boat and seek out these places, find the Kraken, find the harbringer of the watery doom, and find the hope that was stolen from Argos. The unapproachable size and power of the King of Monsters still haunts her imagination. Of course the Apex could cross the distance in but a day... the Kraken would have no chance at it either. But such a creature exists because of the greater order in Hyboria... to back it up, to keep it balanced. The awe has never quite faded.
To Saewulf, she says, "I know of the Twilight Embers... there are but few of them left... but those few still fight. Darkness has fallen on Hyboria of late, and together we struggle with the utmost of speed to resist the call of the Nothing and stand for what we know to be true and right." She smiles. "Perhaps if I have the fortune to find the Princess in the Great Grass Sea, I will be able to travel to Queen Bavmorda and seek out our other lost Princess."
She looks at Thea, and then back to the captain. "We must soon be on our way... but is there aught we can do for you, before we depart, good sir?"
Aelwyn looks sad as he's told only a few of the Embers are left. He reaches up, combing his fingers backwards through his smoke-stained beard and chews on the inside of his cheek as he listens to Stasolya's words. He keeps chewing on the inside of his cheeks even as he reaches up to pinch his eyes between thumb and forefinger.
"'Aye, dow' to da Grea' Grass Sea, ye say?" He says, looking over his shoulder at the scorpion emblazoned sails furled behind him. "Mayhap we can take ye. If da Embers are scare, as ye say, wha' else we be wai'in' 'ere 'or?"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
"They will be remembered in tale and song," Stasolya says with a sigh, "when greater minds than my own have a moment to sit down and compose them." Stasolya, being a centaur, doesn't sit down, and composes everything on the fly. How fleeting every verse seems now, every note of the pipe, drowned out as it always will be by that roar over the ocean waves.
"Sir, if you would be pleased to give us passage, we would be in your debt."
The Captain offers passage, and it is accepted. The Scorpion, the heavily armed, well manned ship that had originally brought the Twilight Embers from Cloveresse to Zora's Domain, sets sail and heads out into the Summer Sea, leaving the bay where King's Landing's eastern port is situated. They sail out and down, toward the coast, heading south, where Captain Saewulf explains he knows an area of twin bays where they can moor and send a rib ashore. He makes sure to explain that the Dothraki, the horse-lords of the Great Grass Sea, don't have any real villages but one; Vaes Dothrak. Not as much of a city as a centralized location where the khalasars, the various tribes, come to trade.
"No fightin' 'llowed thar ei'er." Saewulf explains, indicating that there could be a violence problem amongst the various tribes.
The evening before they turned into the twin bays, they spotted the King of the Monsters as he swam through the Summer Sea. The crew gathered along the port side and looked out to see as the great beast surfaced, its dorsal plates cutting along the surface of the water like a school of giant sharks. Godzilla turns, circling in the sea as the Scorpion passes; it seems like he's looking for something.
"Aye, don' wan' no par' o' dat." Aelwyn says as he chews the inside of his cheeks and watches. "'specially if he's on owr si'."
Later that night (though what is night when the sky is always dark?) they see the flashing of blue energy to the northeast behind them, back in the direction of where they'd seen the King of the Monsters, and hear his baleful calls, though no one knows what he's doing.
The ship banked to the west on the morning of the fourth day, turning into the twin bays and running along the southern edge of the thin peninsula that separated the two waters. When it moored up near evening and dropped the rib into the water, Captain Saewulf was there to see Stasolya and Thea off.
"Aye, jus' 'emember." He said, his beard and bushy mustache swaying as he spoke. "De 'orse lords, they don' 'llow no violence in Vaes Dothrak. Lot's o' trails here, too. When ye go in'and, find a trail, follow it west 'til ye fine de city."
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York