/---Joja, Elodin, and Garo---/

The Blessing makes its way upriver in short order. Soon, the three of you (and your companions) find yourselves approaching the Redstone abbey and Viper Lake just beyond it. You see a small gathering a shrews milling about the entrance to the highest tower. Keenwhistle, Fellori, and Norn look to you expectantly ("Where to from here?")

Gordra, you sense the portal in the direction of the cave just on the other side of the lake. That... something... that familiar, hate-filled something is within the cave.

What do you all do?

/---Baobur and Tevii---/

Baobur, deep in the darkness you see a softly glowing light. A tall blue figure beckons you. He is bound in orange and purple ribbons of light, but he reaches out to you.

Baobur moves to greet the figure but the feeling that his arms are bound interrupts his action. Looking down he imagines this pain is the feeling of being crushed in the claws of a ghost crab, but his arms aren't bound at all.  He struggles to move toward the figure, but his legs ache. He manages to lift an arm, stiffly waving. He can hardly breathe against a weight pressing in on his chest.

Baobur, you realize with a start that you have reached the creature and the silver flame. You also realize that it is enormous. Easily twenty to thirty mice tall, the giant bends down and gently lifts you to its face. You feel no fear; you instinctively know that this being is a friend. "Ah, Amaruve- lost yourself again, have you?" Though it is still bound, the creature bites sharply upon the thumb of its other hand and allows a single drop of its shining white blood to fall upon your head. 

And with that, you are Amaruve again- your mind has been restored. "You always find the hardest path, don't you dear one? You hold the smallest possible portion of blame for what happened at the Institute, and yet you consistently make your life forfeit as though you must atone for some great sin."

With that, the word sin begins to echo around the empty space. Vasht sighs and looks out into the darkness. "He is watching us, of course. He is content to bind the larger part of my power for the time being, but will make himself known to you before this is done. I have but moments- what do you need to know?"

Vasht looks at you expectantly...

Cordelia tilts her head at the shrew with a soft smile, "Actually, we got separated from the rest of our, uh, accompaniment. Swept away by a river, you see..."

"We must continue on, there's a cave past the temple.  I hope our companions are heading their too, it's our best bet to be reunited."  Gordra will turn to Keenwhistle, Fellori, and Norn, "There is more going on here then our lost comrades, it's difficult to explain, but things will get dangerous from here. Thank for bringing us here, but it might be best for you to return home"

Amaruve looks on Vasht with a reassuring sense of calm. He had so many questions, yet he felt that he already knew the answers, and the things he didn't know he didn't want to. "We'll defeat him." He intended to ask the question, but it didn't come out that way.

Perspicacious will follow Gordra's lead. "Yes, thank you for all your help. It's been invaluable." She starts gathering up her supplies and preparing to disembark as soon as they reach the other side of the lake.

/---Joja, Elodin, and Garo---/

Norn laughs. "Aye, we have been invaluable,eh? Doan you be forgettin', I dinae slog you three through treacherous fog and upriver to this backwater outta the kindness o' me heart. Me n' mine were promised hard coin for safe passage, Guard Mouse. I'll be escortin' yeh till this business is done."

Keenwhistle smiles, "Don't listen to the old sea-dog, Joja. He was in the guard himself, you know." Her expression turns serious, "He is right, though. You're not going alone, Elodin. We're going to find your friends- isn't that right, Fellori?"

Fellori, though, is already scrambling off the ship and heading toward the abbey, feet weaving and stumbling as he adjusts to the shore once again. "Well, that's my ears knotted," says the rabbit. "Might have a good idea, though. What say we ask those shrews if they've seen anything funny? I didn't think there was anything left at this abbey..."

Quote from BDaddLy >>

Amaruve looks on Vasht with a reassuring sense of calm. He had so many questions, yet he felt that he already knew the answers, and the things he didn't know he didn't want to. "We'll defeat him." He intended to ask the question, but it didn't come out that way.

 Vasht smiles sadly. More and more orange and purple ropes of light snake themselves about its chest, its arms, its face. Your vision narrows to a tunnel, and Vasht seems to stretch up and away from you as though it has entered the event horizon of a black hole. "No..." It says, its voice echoing, doubling, buzzing in your mind, "No you won't..."

And then you're alone again in the dark.

Quote from LaRue >>

Cordelia tilts her head at the shrew with a soft smile, "Actually, we got separated from the rest of our, uh, accompaniment. Swept away by a river, you see..."

Ollis nods, not taking his eyes away from Baobur. "There is something... strange. I can't quite put my paw on it, but it's almost like..." he adjusts his spectacles and holds a small yellow crystal over Baobur's head. The shard of quartz begins to emit a pale glow and the Abbey Mouse's eyes narrow, "Almost as though there are two..." He looks at you sharply. "You, you said your name is Tevii? Who was your mother, and what is your clan? Who trained you and what is the name of this forest?"

(This is a gentleman who needs some coercing, Cordelia! What do you do?)

"Sir, I took a mighty tumble into a river, I lost track of my friends, and quite honestly I hardly know my own name right now," Cordelia frowns and lets her eyes drop to Baobur, "I just want to make sure Baobur makes it, please! You can ask me anything you'd like, just give me a chance to catch my breath and see that he is okay!"

Garo looked around blearily. "And you'll get it. I cut through that ghost tentacle like it was nothing, didn't I?"

Quote from LaRue >>

"Sir, I took a mighty tumble into a river, I lost track of my friends, and quite honestly I hardly know my own name right now," Cordelia frowns and lets her eyes drop to Baobur, "I just want to make sure Baobur makes it, please! You can ask me anything you'd like, just give me a chance to catch my breath and see that he is okay!"

That sounds like a move!
Coerce: If you want to influence an NPC, say what you want them to do and roll +Mind.
• On a 10+, they’ll do it for the reason you gave them. If you asked too much, they’ll tell you the minimum it would take for them to do it (or if there’s no way they’d do it).
• On a 7-9, they’ll do it, but only if you do something for them to show that you mean it. If you asked too much, they’ll tell you what, if anything, it would take for them to do it.

Gordra carefully disembarks from the boat and heads over to the shrews. (do I recognize them?)  "Hello there."  He calls out, "Have you seen two mice, about my height come by here?"

Gordra, the shrews look up at you warily as your party approaches. You have taken the lead, with (I assume) Garo and Joja just now beginning to clamber ashore. Keenwhistle, seeing that you are facing four rather tough-looking shrews on your own, leaps from the boat and begins jogging in your direction. One of the shrews opens his mouth to respond to you, but just then you feel a cold, musty horror creeping at the base of your neck. The cemetery off to the corner of the abbey is swirling with mist, and a shadowy, malevolent something is watching you from within. The shrew is looking at you expectantly, clearly having finished speaking- all four of them appear unaware of that thing in the mist. 

Perspicacious, your coin has begun to glow golden (only to your eyes, of course). Several thin threads of light are weaving themselves lightly around the shrews on the boat, but there are four strong, thick bands extending outward in to the sapient creatures around you. One connects to Keenwhistle, one to Norn, and two extend through the wall of the tower, apparently to a pair of individuals inside...

"Umm, my apologies.  I didn't catch that, the wind must have been too loud.  Could you repeat that?"  

Gordra will be glancing back and forth from the shrews to the cemetery to the side. Trying to pay attention to them, but very distracted by the odd feeling he's getting.

Perspicacious scurries up next to Gordra, noticing his furtive glances. She also notices the gold tendrils stretching out from the coin, which sits warm in her pocket. "Not now..." she whispers under her breath. She focuses on staying connected to Joja. She's grown fond of the scout's form and abilities, and is choosing not to leap to another body, which at times can feel like a further violation of the local residents. Instead, she tries to refocus the energy on perceiving the winds around her.

Name of the Wind: 9

Quote from AsbestosPenguin >>

Name of the Wind: 7

1 Hold: Be somewhere I'm needed, just in time.

(We'll play this out a little creatively...)

Tevii, you aren't getting anywhere with Ollis. Baobur may be stable for now, but the Abbey Mouse has sudden reason to distrust you and Baobur, and he's not showing any sign of relenting. That is quickly becoming a moot point, however, as...

Elodin, as you speak again to the shrews, you and Tevii both experience an intense bout of the heard-yet-unheard buzzing that indicates that the portal is fully open. Tevii, your device begins to beep wildly, eliciting a wide-eyed expression of shock and confusion from Ollis. Though small and unassuming, Ollis is the Keeper of the Tomes at the redstone abbey of Viper Lake- a member of the mouse guard with iron in his dry little bones. A knife appears in his hand and he says, "Answer me, tenderpaw, or I will slit your companion's throat and yours next. I returned to this abbey after a week away to find my brothers and sisters dead- slaughtered by spirits and led by a demon who wore the skin of our abbot. There are two souls in this body- tell me why I should not kill him! Speak!"

Joja, the wind tells you that the time to act is now. You need to get to the portal. To succeed, you need whatever or whomever lies beyond this door to the abbey. You feel the wind strengthen, just for a moment, pushing you toward the tower...