Dear Diary…my God can beat up your god

We got directions to a monastery up on a mountain, and found it without trouble. We took it easy on the horses, and still arrived fairly early in the morning. The big door on the courtyard was open and guarded by only two monks with polarms.

Raven kinda explained his business, and they let us in, and after we handed over our horses Raven found a monk who could understand us enough to direct us to the Master of the West Wind. That brought us out, sort of behind the monastery buildings, where a cliff overlooks the sea, and tall spires of rock look out off the cliff. In peak monkishness, the Master was sitting up on one of the spires, closest to the sea.
Raven climbed a spire a polite distance behind him, and the rest of us settled down to wait.

About two and a half games of checkers later, the Master finally stood up, and he and Raven introduced themselves. When Raven said he was here to test his strength in the Combat of Monks, I think Master Edelikir was non-plussed, and didn’t really answer him.

After some more sitting, the Master climbed down and went into their practice yard – where he corrected some of the initiates, and made an address (all in Bakluni, of course). Raven and Ezekiel found the right person to get us guest quarters – and then Raven, Keom, and Ronhass did some sparring in a courtyard. I helped Aliana check the horses.

****

[sketch of cliffs and spires of stone, against the sea]

[sketch of monastery gates]

[sketch of shrine to Al-Akbar]

I hear Raven helped prepare breakfast this morning, and afterward he and the disciples went back to following Master Edelikir around. Ezekiel and Lydia found the library, but of course it was all in Bakluni.

At lunch, when Raven still seemed to be hanging around waiting, Mikael said the Master was being rude. It’s true Arch Druid Talifen gave him every benefit when it was time for him to advance in the circle of Obed-Hai…but it’s also true they both serve Obed-Hai.

When everyone else had finished up, a man from the high table came and introduced himself as Master of the South Wind Deshan, and said Raven was disconcerting Master Edelikir.

Raven explained his situation again, and Master Deshan said normally if the post was vacant, the first monk in the order to attain the skill level could just assume the title without a fight. He said if Raven’s god wanted to do it differently, it was unreasonable to expect other gods and their followers to go along.

Raven and Ezekiel said ordinarily that was true…and Ez gave a remarkably restrained explanation of their deity – the God over all gods. (Maybe Aliana has given him some tips.) He suggested that, since he is a cleric, he could spend some time praying and ask for some kind of verification message to be sent to us. He took some incense and went back to his sleeping cubicle, and Master Deshan volunteered to go with him in case a messenger showed up.

Well, apparently someone showed up, because late this afternoon we saw Master Deshan collect Raven and head to an arena-type area to meet Master Edelikir.

It was not as impressive as some other fights we’ve seen (maybe should’ve made friends with some gypsies beforehand) but it was another good reminder not to tick off any monks. Raven flew across the field at Master Edelikir – and then the master pummeled him so quickly his arms were like a blur. (Probably didn’t help to have Mikael yelling, “Faery fire! Wasps! Hit him with thorns!” from the side-lines.)

Finally, Master Deshan stopped the fight, and Ezekiel showed up saying he was done with his meditation, and did anything interesting happen. We rushed down to help Master Edelikir bind Raven’s wounds, and then The People showed up.

We really should be used to this kind of thing by now. The little bald man with bad eyes showed up after Raven’s fight with the lady Merikkan, after all. But this time, he was accompanied by giant, bright people with wings. I’m not entirely sure everything “Master Paul” said (Mikael was busy asking me if I saw the giant winged men who appeared out of nowhere), but I gather he congratulated Master Edelikir (and Raven) and said we had accomplished our role of being a calling card to the monastery of Al-Akbar here. Then he left, and Raven’s wounds and bruises were all healed.

The masters bowed low to Raven and Ezekiel (Master DeShan especially seemed impressed, and said he had a vision of Al-Akbar) and Ez thanked them for their time. So Raven can’t call himself “Master of the West Wind” yet, but he says he learned some valuable things.

Lydia teleported herself away, so we scrambled to grab Ezekiel’s armor from his room and tell the stablehands they could keep our horses before she came through the portal for us.

Back in Haven, the dwarves were eager to show us what they’ve accomplished: the ground floor is mostly carved out, with the main hall, a barracks on one side, and more individual quarters on the other side. They also built a griffin aery high on a cliff above the valley, and a griffin rider has been staying here for a couple weeks already. Ezekiel wrote a note to the Grand Duke, saying he was about to start producing holy water in bulk, in case anyone in Gorna wanted it for anything…then went with Dree to see how she’s been organizing everything while we were gone.

I went to find the centaurs and Sirion, and found them staying with Mikael’s disciples at the south end of the valley, beyond the lake. Madam Whinny says they don’t like the griffin, since it’s known to eat horses. Ragni (I think it was Ragni, or maybe Agni) said Sirion has taken them on some patrols, and they haven’t needed the healing potions I bought for them yet…so that’s good. Sirion did say, though, that he spotted some dens we will need to clear. Gotta divert any fire giants before they reach the valley… (Tressarian says he hopes “divert” means “stab.”)

Keom says he can tell the dragons missed him and Ronhass (especially Ronhass).

Hopefully now things will finally quiet down.


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  1. Pingback: Dear Diary...no rest - Kimia Wood

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