Post by BB on Feb 19, 2020 0:06:33 GMT
Early in the morning on the flower field, the sun only just risen, BB emerges from her tent and quickly ducks into the nearby shack. She places her trusty adventuring rucksack down by the door but today the usual heavy cloak and long sleeved shirt are gone, with just her sleeveless jacket to protect her. Inside she hunches over and walks to the metal wood burner at the back and kneels down to pull out the now familiar site of the stone snake brazier.
“Child. Are you ready to go to the Oasis of Usar? If you are, then place your handss on the brazier”
BB sighs deeply, hands clenching in her lap “Okay. Okay, let’s do this”
As soon as she reaches for the brazier the snakes of flame latch onto her hands, the three of them slither up her arms and bite deep, deep, deep. The pain is unimaginable, it takes all of BB’s willpower to not scream out. As she opens her eyes again once the pain has passed she sees the snakes are still there, detached from the brazier, and have now transformed into three snake shaped bracelets. One yellow, one red, one blue.
“What are these for?”
“They will help you. Now, pay attention as I tell you the directions to the Oasis. At the Spine mountains take the South way…..”
As the voice of High Priest Teoshi continues on in her head BB rushes to stand up and jot down every detail in her tattered journal.
--
“So where did you get the bracelets from BB?” Ghesh asks as they’re gathered round a table at the Ettin along with Baine, Pieni, and Taffeta. Baine passing a gem encrusted bowl over to Pieni for safe keeping.
“Oh, they emerged from the brazier when the High Priest gave me directions. Said they would help somehow. They do make a nice jangly sound” BB demonstrates with some quick arm shaking.
“Ah, directions to this Oasis you mentioned. But what exactly is it and why do you want to go there?” Taffeta asks from her seat.
BB stops using her arms as percussion instruments to look at Taffeta “That’s a good question, from what I know the Oasis can be used to access visions, maybe even alter them. Supposedly if Glasya figures out how to use the Oasis, through a trial of sorts, it could be bad news for us. The High Priest Teoshi who’s been talking to me through the brazier said they sent a scout group there but they never returned, so Glasya might already have the place under control.”
She pauses now, looking to all her friends at the table “But there’s also something else, if we go there I have I have to do something for the High Priest, I have to break a seal and release the One Serpent.”
This statement is followed by awkward shuffling and small sharp intakes of breath from the group, apart from Pieni who’s already heard this news.
“That seems like a bad deal there BB, you seem to be doing a lot for them” Ghesh states.
“Not completely, we’re getting directions there and they also agreed to show me how I got my magic, where it comes from. And if we get there and if it’s real bad looking then I won’t break the seal, maybe even bury the place and leave. But I understand if after what I said you don’t want to come anymore”
“That’s all a very vague plan, get there and see what it’s like, but let’s go.” Baine states simply, and gets up to leave.
--
They’re hiking alongside the Sunset Spines in a southern direction, looking for a way across like Teoshi said there would be. Taffeta leads the group, eyes darting across the trees in front of them. Though the Spines are certainly steep, the group is struggling to make as much progress as they should expect. It almost feels like they’re walking through some invisible force.
Suddenly, as BB’s arms come to her side as she tries to catch her breath, she notices the yellow snake bracelet come to life on her arm. It drops to the ground hissing and slithers forwards into the trees, where it disappears into the ground. As it does so the trees seem to thin away, revealing a clear path ahead of them.
“The pact iss made. Child. Release the One Serpent.”
“BB, was that your snake bracelet that did that?” Ghesh asks from further ahead in the group, turning to face her.
BB’s eyes snap up to Ghesh from where she’s been hyper focusing on the point of the disappearing snake. “Oh um, yeah it was. I guess that’s what was meant by helping us.”
Pieni frowns a little at BB but the group continues on along the newly revealed path.
--
Finally across the mountains, the group makes their way across a new landscape. A vast expanse of sand and rocky ground lies ahead of them as they trek west through the night, so as to avoid the midday sun. Baine’s flaming maul held aloft and lighting the way. There doesn’t seem to be much else around apart from wasps and scorpions.
The next evening they finally reach the end of the rocky expanse, hitting the Sea of Dunes with its white sand dunes rolling into the horizon. While they set up camp for the day a stargazing session occurs in order to find the next step in the directions given to them.
They’re all sat cross legged on the sand looking up, Taffeta speaks up “I don’t particularly remember a constellation called the Eyes of the Lion, but I can see the pointy arrow one over there.”
“I know that one’s called the Lady of Mystery.” BB adds, pointing at a different place in the night sky.
“That one looks like a dick.” Baine interjects.
“No, I think that one’s called the Dragon of the Dawn actually” Ghesh says as he points out the shape, Baine now carefully paying attention.
More pointing and abstract constellation shape making occurs until Pieni says “Do you think it’s that one over there? It kinda looks like a face with eyes.”
Everyone stops and tilts their heads to look. What follows is a debate on naming but eventually they all agree that the Double Daggers, also called the Eyes of the Watching Woman, seems to fit what they’re looking for.
--
“WHERE’S PIENI?” Ghesh shouts into the whipping winds, the sand starting to collect at their feet. Their makeshift shelter is already in tatters, the wind and sand strong enough to buff the paint off of Baine’s armor.
BB throws Blue, now a little lizard, into the sand. A few moments later another larger lizard, presumably Pieni, emerges with Blue on their head.
“I HAVE AN IDEA” BB shouts to the others as she puts her hand on Taffeta’s shoulder. “TAFFETA I’M GOING TO TURN US BOTH INTO BRONTOSAURUS', THAT WAY WE’LL BE TOO BIG TO BLOW AWAY AND THEN WE CAN SHIELD THE OTHERS. IS THAT OKAY WITH YOU?”
“ARE THEY THE ONES WITH THE LITTLE ARMS?”
“NO THEY’RE WAY BIGGER THAN THAT, BUT IS THAT OKAY?” Taffeta nods, and so BB pulls out a small cocoon and mutters some arcane words. A deep orange colour overcomes the cocoon and her hands as the magic takes hold and they both morph into their Brontosaurus forms. They create a protective circle around the others as they sit in the sand, and not a moment too soon, as boulders larger than the average person start to fly through the air and hit them in the side.
--
They’re stood between two massive pillars of smooth clear quartz, sticking out high above the sand dunes around them. They almost seem to flicker and twinkle as they reflect the light.
“Well. I think this is where we’re meant to be. They roughly line up with the Eyes that we were looking at the other night.” Taffeta says as she looks up, up, up at the towering quartz structures.
At this moment the red snake bracelet on BB’s wrist comes to life, but rather than drop to the ground like the first one, it rears it head towards BB’s neck with it fangs bared.
“Umm what should I do?!” BB says fearfully as the snake comes closer to her neck.
“Let it bite you? It would be counterproductive for the yuan-ti if they tried to kill you now” Ghesh says, the others nodding or shrugging along with his words.
“O..Okay”
So BB stands stock still and lets the snake bite her, its fangs sinking deep into her neck as it transforms into a necklace of sorts, the snake now biting its own tail around her neck. The blood from her fresh wound drops to the sand, which almost breathes movement into the surrounding environment. The quartz pillars seem to rise as the sand around them is whisked away by some force of the wind. And there it appears in front of them, a sphinx, looking straight at them all.
“Oh hi, are you Odosphylas?” BB asks, the snake still circling around her neck.
“Yes, I am the Guardian of the way to the Oasis. Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“Well Teoshi the High Priest sent us, gave me directions and everything to the Oasis so we could use it. Including that we had to go here and meet you. Is it okay if we go through?”
Odosphylas is looking intently at BB and the group when the red serpent necklace drops from BB’s neck and slithers in between his paws, disappearing into the ground. Seeing this he speaks up “I shall grant you access, but use your time wisely.”
They all look to each other in confusion at the sphinx’s words but as they look back to him, he’s gone, replaced with a large sand timer.
“Well, we better get going then.” Ghesh says as they stride towards the newly revealed gorge ahead of them.
--
“Damn It!! We nearly had it” Baine shouts into the ground as the purple worm burrows into the ground, never to be seen again. Ghesh and the newly summoned air elemental Whooshy also voices their annoyance at their escaped opponent beside Baine.
“Well I guess we should get moving on out of here then” Taffeta shouts, further into the gorge, but before anyone can respond two devils emerge at the gorge’s exit. One is none other than the unwelcome sight of Te’zeer, the 2nd litenuent to Glasya.
“Hello there, certainly nice to see some of you again. Though I don’t see your friend anywhere, she’s been very silent since we last met.”
He might be smiling but the annoyance in his tone is very apparent.
Everyone else in the gorge looks back at each other, Baine lifts his weapon slightly higher and Ghesh is still fuming with rage, not wanting the fight to be over and certainly not wanting to talk. Reaching a quick agreement they all turn back towards Te’zeer with weapons still raised and spells prepared.
“Ugh, you’re all so boring” And with that he disappears, leaving his associate alone to face the group. So they all descend upon the single fiend, running, jumping, slithering, and whooshing forwards through the sandy gorge.
--
BB stands at the edge of the Oasis, it’s reflective surface unnervingly still. Baine is also near it’s edge, Ghesh still inspecting the stone steps that descend into the water while Taffeta and Pieni stand back and watch. Behind them the gorge they were just in is filling with sand, their time obviously running out. BB is silently looking down at the blue snake bracelet on her arm and becoming more visibly distressed as the seconds go by.
“BB what’s going on? Is it that high priest again? What’s he saying to you this time?” Pieni asks concerned.
BB takes a moment to answer, her eyes glazed over as she faces the water, seeing something other than the scene in front of her.
“He gave me a threat. He said he’ll destroy it. Emerge through the brazier and destroy it all. The field. Home. He’ll do it if I don’t break the seal. If I don’t release the One Serpent.”
She looks back to the others now.
“He also says the only way out of here is through the Oasis when the gorge fills, I’m sorry. I understand if you don’t want to come through, I’ll go into it myself. I have no choice but to go in. But if you leave now you can get back through the gorge.”
There’s a heavy pause as everyone takes in what BB just said.
“No BB, we’re not leaving you behind.” Baine says adamantly, Pieni nodding just as adamantly as he says this.
“Are you going to do it then? Release the One Serpent?”
“I don’t know. I feel like I have no choice now”
At her statement the group falls silent, BB frowns, deep in thought.
“I’m going in. If you don’t follow, it’s okay, I understand.”
She turns and wades into the water and eventually starts to float on its surface. To the others she is seemingly in a peaceful sleep.
Taffeta looks back once more at the gorge, it’s sides now filled with sand. The way now closed to them.
--
Appearing on the other side of the pool, BB opens her eyes to a very different landscape to when she closed them. Here the pool looks like liquid silver, and from it runs a thin silver thread that connects to her back. Looking up she sees that a dark void with distant dots of colours surrounds her and the pool, which seems to be floating on some large rock in this place. On the other side of the rock, separated by a grassy field, is the ziggurat from her visions in the stone brazier.
It’s at this point that the others all emerge from the pool, each with their own silver thread connecting them to it.
BB points to the ziggurat “That’s where we need to go, let’s hurry so we can get out of here as quick as possible.”
So they move towards it, or at least try to. Moving around here involves thinking in a direction rather than the use of legs. As they all manage to get the hang of this somewhat, they’re hit with a blast of physic wind. Taffeta and Pieni become paralysed in place. Baine begins shouting and swinging at the air around him.
Ghesh and BB wince at the pain that clouds their minds for a moment, but are otherwise unaffected. Giving each other a worried look, they then float over to the open top of the ziggurat.
Inside is a yuan-ti woman, also with a silver thread attached to her. She looks to them both “Who are you? Who sent you here to the Astral Temple?”
BB responds, now quite flustered “Um, Teoshi the High Priest did, and the Princess Nesalli. Sorry, I wasn’t actually expecting someone to be here, do you have a name. Oh and the High Priest said that you could access visions here? And that we could only leave the Oasis this way”
At this point the blue serpent bracelet, the last one, detaches itself from BB’s arm and slithers over to the yuan-ti woman. She picks it up and starts to cradle the snake in her arms.
“My name is Akna. Guardian of the Astral Temple. Are you here to release the One Serpent?”
BB pauses, looking uncomfortable at Akna’s question “Is it true that we can leave the Oasis from here, that there’s a way I can see how I got my magic?”
“Yes you can leave, just tell me if that’s what you want. As for seeing the visions, there are instruments here that can achieve it. But I will only give them to you if you release the One Serpent.”
She then looks up through the hole in the ziggurat, still cradling the snake, and calmly says. “But don’t take too long. A dreadnaught is heading towards us, it’ll be here any minute now.”
Ghesh and BB both look up, and sure enough they see the dreadnaught approaching them at a rapid speed.
BB looks now to Ghesh, eyes wide “This is bad. Really bad. I don’t know what to do!”
“We can leave BB, get out of here right now.”
“Yes, but the consequences if we do. If we just leave and not release the…”
As BB trails off with her head in her hands, not daring to finish her sentence. The strained screams of Pieni and shouts of Baine can be heard from outside the ziggurat in the agonizing moments that follow.
Akna speaks out once again.
“Are you here to release the One Serpent?”
BB looks to Ghesh, to the dreadnaught approaching them, and then to Akna.
“Yes. I’m here to release the One Serpent.”
At this Akna smiles and says “Then it is done.”
And with that they are instantly transported away, just as the dreadnaught comes crashing down to snip at their silver threads.
--
Transported back to the two quartz towers in the Sea of Dunes, they attend to Baine as best as they can as his madness fades.
As his shouts finally calm BB looks to them all as they gather themselves, a new wooden chest now at her side “I did it. I released the One Serpent.”
Silence descends upon the group.
Baine is the first to speak up, looking BB dead in the eye as he does “I understand why you did it. But that wasn’t a great move. You understand that whatever happens now, you’re going to have to be first in line to deal with it? And for your sake, I really hope the Great Big One isn’t hungry for dawnlanders.”
Pieni speaks up at this point “She understood from the beginning. We gotta be the bunny now.”
BB puts her hand on Pieni’s shoulder, smiling sadly as she remembers their conversation from what felt like months ago now.
She turns to Baine, expression now serious “If the One Serpent does threaten Kantas, the dawnlands, anyone, because of what I've done today, then I'll certainly be at the front to stop it. Whatever it takes.”
“And I’ll be with you! If it was sealed once, it can be sealed again.” Pieni says as he stands next to BB. Baine and Ghesh give matching affirmative nods to Pieni’s statement. Taffeta strangely quiet and distant as she watches the proceedings.
--
Each night on their hurried travel back home BB checks the night sky, looking for any change in the stars. On the second night after the events in the desert she spots it. Between the eyes of the Double Daggers a new star has appeared, shining down upon them all.
“Child. Are you ready to go to the Oasis of Usar? If you are, then place your handss on the brazier”
BB sighs deeply, hands clenching in her lap “Okay. Okay, let’s do this”
As soon as she reaches for the brazier the snakes of flame latch onto her hands, the three of them slither up her arms and bite deep, deep, deep. The pain is unimaginable, it takes all of BB’s willpower to not scream out. As she opens her eyes again once the pain has passed she sees the snakes are still there, detached from the brazier, and have now transformed into three snake shaped bracelets. One yellow, one red, one blue.
“What are these for?”
“They will help you. Now, pay attention as I tell you the directions to the Oasis. At the Spine mountains take the South way…..”
As the voice of High Priest Teoshi continues on in her head BB rushes to stand up and jot down every detail in her tattered journal.
--
“So where did you get the bracelets from BB?” Ghesh asks as they’re gathered round a table at the Ettin along with Baine, Pieni, and Taffeta. Baine passing a gem encrusted bowl over to Pieni for safe keeping.
“Oh, they emerged from the brazier when the High Priest gave me directions. Said they would help somehow. They do make a nice jangly sound” BB demonstrates with some quick arm shaking.
“Ah, directions to this Oasis you mentioned. But what exactly is it and why do you want to go there?” Taffeta asks from her seat.
BB stops using her arms as percussion instruments to look at Taffeta “That’s a good question, from what I know the Oasis can be used to access visions, maybe even alter them. Supposedly if Glasya figures out how to use the Oasis, through a trial of sorts, it could be bad news for us. The High Priest Teoshi who’s been talking to me through the brazier said they sent a scout group there but they never returned, so Glasya might already have the place under control.”
She pauses now, looking to all her friends at the table “But there’s also something else, if we go there I have I have to do something for the High Priest, I have to break a seal and release the One Serpent.”
This statement is followed by awkward shuffling and small sharp intakes of breath from the group, apart from Pieni who’s already heard this news.
“That seems like a bad deal there BB, you seem to be doing a lot for them” Ghesh states.
“Not completely, we’re getting directions there and they also agreed to show me how I got my magic, where it comes from. And if we get there and if it’s real bad looking then I won’t break the seal, maybe even bury the place and leave. But I understand if after what I said you don’t want to come anymore”
“That’s all a very vague plan, get there and see what it’s like, but let’s go.” Baine states simply, and gets up to leave.
--
They’re hiking alongside the Sunset Spines in a southern direction, looking for a way across like Teoshi said there would be. Taffeta leads the group, eyes darting across the trees in front of them. Though the Spines are certainly steep, the group is struggling to make as much progress as they should expect. It almost feels like they’re walking through some invisible force.
Suddenly, as BB’s arms come to her side as she tries to catch her breath, she notices the yellow snake bracelet come to life on her arm. It drops to the ground hissing and slithers forwards into the trees, where it disappears into the ground. As it does so the trees seem to thin away, revealing a clear path ahead of them.
“The pact iss made. Child. Release the One Serpent.”
“BB, was that your snake bracelet that did that?” Ghesh asks from further ahead in the group, turning to face her.
BB’s eyes snap up to Ghesh from where she’s been hyper focusing on the point of the disappearing snake. “Oh um, yeah it was. I guess that’s what was meant by helping us.”
Pieni frowns a little at BB but the group continues on along the newly revealed path.
--
Finally across the mountains, the group makes their way across a new landscape. A vast expanse of sand and rocky ground lies ahead of them as they trek west through the night, so as to avoid the midday sun. Baine’s flaming maul held aloft and lighting the way. There doesn’t seem to be much else around apart from wasps and scorpions.
The next evening they finally reach the end of the rocky expanse, hitting the Sea of Dunes with its white sand dunes rolling into the horizon. While they set up camp for the day a stargazing session occurs in order to find the next step in the directions given to them.
They’re all sat cross legged on the sand looking up, Taffeta speaks up “I don’t particularly remember a constellation called the Eyes of the Lion, but I can see the pointy arrow one over there.”
“I know that one’s called the Lady of Mystery.” BB adds, pointing at a different place in the night sky.
“That one looks like a dick.” Baine interjects.
“No, I think that one’s called the Dragon of the Dawn actually” Ghesh says as he points out the shape, Baine now carefully paying attention.
More pointing and abstract constellation shape making occurs until Pieni says “Do you think it’s that one over there? It kinda looks like a face with eyes.”
Everyone stops and tilts their heads to look. What follows is a debate on naming but eventually they all agree that the Double Daggers, also called the Eyes of the Watching Woman, seems to fit what they’re looking for.
--
“WHERE’S PIENI?” Ghesh shouts into the whipping winds, the sand starting to collect at their feet. Their makeshift shelter is already in tatters, the wind and sand strong enough to buff the paint off of Baine’s armor.
BB throws Blue, now a little lizard, into the sand. A few moments later another larger lizard, presumably Pieni, emerges with Blue on their head.
“I HAVE AN IDEA” BB shouts to the others as she puts her hand on Taffeta’s shoulder. “TAFFETA I’M GOING TO TURN US BOTH INTO BRONTOSAURUS', THAT WAY WE’LL BE TOO BIG TO BLOW AWAY AND THEN WE CAN SHIELD THE OTHERS. IS THAT OKAY WITH YOU?”
“ARE THEY THE ONES WITH THE LITTLE ARMS?”
“NO THEY’RE WAY BIGGER THAN THAT, BUT IS THAT OKAY?” Taffeta nods, and so BB pulls out a small cocoon and mutters some arcane words. A deep orange colour overcomes the cocoon and her hands as the magic takes hold and they both morph into their Brontosaurus forms. They create a protective circle around the others as they sit in the sand, and not a moment too soon, as boulders larger than the average person start to fly through the air and hit them in the side.
--
They’re stood between two massive pillars of smooth clear quartz, sticking out high above the sand dunes around them. They almost seem to flicker and twinkle as they reflect the light.
“Well. I think this is where we’re meant to be. They roughly line up with the Eyes that we were looking at the other night.” Taffeta says as she looks up, up, up at the towering quartz structures.
At this moment the red snake bracelet on BB’s wrist comes to life, but rather than drop to the ground like the first one, it rears it head towards BB’s neck with it fangs bared.
“Umm what should I do?!” BB says fearfully as the snake comes closer to her neck.
“Let it bite you? It would be counterproductive for the yuan-ti if they tried to kill you now” Ghesh says, the others nodding or shrugging along with his words.
“O..Okay”
So BB stands stock still and lets the snake bite her, its fangs sinking deep into her neck as it transforms into a necklace of sorts, the snake now biting its own tail around her neck. The blood from her fresh wound drops to the sand, which almost breathes movement into the surrounding environment. The quartz pillars seem to rise as the sand around them is whisked away by some force of the wind. And there it appears in front of them, a sphinx, looking straight at them all.
“Oh hi, are you Odosphylas?” BB asks, the snake still circling around her neck.
“Yes, I am the Guardian of the way to the Oasis. Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“Well Teoshi the High Priest sent us, gave me directions and everything to the Oasis so we could use it. Including that we had to go here and meet you. Is it okay if we go through?”
Odosphylas is looking intently at BB and the group when the red serpent necklace drops from BB’s neck and slithers in between his paws, disappearing into the ground. Seeing this he speaks up “I shall grant you access, but use your time wisely.”
They all look to each other in confusion at the sphinx’s words but as they look back to him, he’s gone, replaced with a large sand timer.
“Well, we better get going then.” Ghesh says as they stride towards the newly revealed gorge ahead of them.
--
“Damn It!! We nearly had it” Baine shouts into the ground as the purple worm burrows into the ground, never to be seen again. Ghesh and the newly summoned air elemental Whooshy also voices their annoyance at their escaped opponent beside Baine.
“Well I guess we should get moving on out of here then” Taffeta shouts, further into the gorge, but before anyone can respond two devils emerge at the gorge’s exit. One is none other than the unwelcome sight of Te’zeer, the 2nd litenuent to Glasya.
“Hello there, certainly nice to see some of you again. Though I don’t see your friend anywhere, she’s been very silent since we last met.”
He might be smiling but the annoyance in his tone is very apparent.
Everyone else in the gorge looks back at each other, Baine lifts his weapon slightly higher and Ghesh is still fuming with rage, not wanting the fight to be over and certainly not wanting to talk. Reaching a quick agreement they all turn back towards Te’zeer with weapons still raised and spells prepared.
“Ugh, you’re all so boring” And with that he disappears, leaving his associate alone to face the group. So they all descend upon the single fiend, running, jumping, slithering, and whooshing forwards through the sandy gorge.
--
BB stands at the edge of the Oasis, it’s reflective surface unnervingly still. Baine is also near it’s edge, Ghesh still inspecting the stone steps that descend into the water while Taffeta and Pieni stand back and watch. Behind them the gorge they were just in is filling with sand, their time obviously running out. BB is silently looking down at the blue snake bracelet on her arm and becoming more visibly distressed as the seconds go by.
“BB what’s going on? Is it that high priest again? What’s he saying to you this time?” Pieni asks concerned.
BB takes a moment to answer, her eyes glazed over as she faces the water, seeing something other than the scene in front of her.
“He gave me a threat. He said he’ll destroy it. Emerge through the brazier and destroy it all. The field. Home. He’ll do it if I don’t break the seal. If I don’t release the One Serpent.”
She looks back to the others now.
“He also says the only way out of here is through the Oasis when the gorge fills, I’m sorry. I understand if you don’t want to come through, I’ll go into it myself. I have no choice but to go in. But if you leave now you can get back through the gorge.”
There’s a heavy pause as everyone takes in what BB just said.
“No BB, we’re not leaving you behind.” Baine says adamantly, Pieni nodding just as adamantly as he says this.
“Are you going to do it then? Release the One Serpent?”
“I don’t know. I feel like I have no choice now”
At her statement the group falls silent, BB frowns, deep in thought.
“I’m going in. If you don’t follow, it’s okay, I understand.”
She turns and wades into the water and eventually starts to float on its surface. To the others she is seemingly in a peaceful sleep.
Taffeta looks back once more at the gorge, it’s sides now filled with sand. The way now closed to them.
--
Appearing on the other side of the pool, BB opens her eyes to a very different landscape to when she closed them. Here the pool looks like liquid silver, and from it runs a thin silver thread that connects to her back. Looking up she sees that a dark void with distant dots of colours surrounds her and the pool, which seems to be floating on some large rock in this place. On the other side of the rock, separated by a grassy field, is the ziggurat from her visions in the stone brazier.
It’s at this point that the others all emerge from the pool, each with their own silver thread connecting them to it.
BB points to the ziggurat “That’s where we need to go, let’s hurry so we can get out of here as quick as possible.”
So they move towards it, or at least try to. Moving around here involves thinking in a direction rather than the use of legs. As they all manage to get the hang of this somewhat, they’re hit with a blast of physic wind. Taffeta and Pieni become paralysed in place. Baine begins shouting and swinging at the air around him.
Ghesh and BB wince at the pain that clouds their minds for a moment, but are otherwise unaffected. Giving each other a worried look, they then float over to the open top of the ziggurat.
Inside is a yuan-ti woman, also with a silver thread attached to her. She looks to them both “Who are you? Who sent you here to the Astral Temple?”
BB responds, now quite flustered “Um, Teoshi the High Priest did, and the Princess Nesalli. Sorry, I wasn’t actually expecting someone to be here, do you have a name. Oh and the High Priest said that you could access visions here? And that we could only leave the Oasis this way”
At this point the blue serpent bracelet, the last one, detaches itself from BB’s arm and slithers over to the yuan-ti woman. She picks it up and starts to cradle the snake in her arms.
“My name is Akna. Guardian of the Astral Temple. Are you here to release the One Serpent?”
BB pauses, looking uncomfortable at Akna’s question “Is it true that we can leave the Oasis from here, that there’s a way I can see how I got my magic?”
“Yes you can leave, just tell me if that’s what you want. As for seeing the visions, there are instruments here that can achieve it. But I will only give them to you if you release the One Serpent.”
She then looks up through the hole in the ziggurat, still cradling the snake, and calmly says. “But don’t take too long. A dreadnaught is heading towards us, it’ll be here any minute now.”
Ghesh and BB both look up, and sure enough they see the dreadnaught approaching them at a rapid speed.
BB looks now to Ghesh, eyes wide “This is bad. Really bad. I don’t know what to do!”
“We can leave BB, get out of here right now.”
“Yes, but the consequences if we do. If we just leave and not release the…”
As BB trails off with her head in her hands, not daring to finish her sentence. The strained screams of Pieni and shouts of Baine can be heard from outside the ziggurat in the agonizing moments that follow.
Akna speaks out once again.
“Are you here to release the One Serpent?”
BB looks to Ghesh, to the dreadnaught approaching them, and then to Akna.
“Yes. I’m here to release the One Serpent.”
At this Akna smiles and says “Then it is done.”
And with that they are instantly transported away, just as the dreadnaught comes crashing down to snip at their silver threads.
--
Transported back to the two quartz towers in the Sea of Dunes, they attend to Baine as best as they can as his madness fades.
As his shouts finally calm BB looks to them all as they gather themselves, a new wooden chest now at her side “I did it. I released the One Serpent.”
Silence descends upon the group.
Baine is the first to speak up, looking BB dead in the eye as he does “I understand why you did it. But that wasn’t a great move. You understand that whatever happens now, you’re going to have to be first in line to deal with it? And for your sake, I really hope the Great Big One isn’t hungry for dawnlanders.”
Pieni speaks up at this point “She understood from the beginning. We gotta be the bunny now.”
BB puts her hand on Pieni’s shoulder, smiling sadly as she remembers their conversation from what felt like months ago now.
She turns to Baine, expression now serious “If the One Serpent does threaten Kantas, the dawnlands, anyone, because of what I've done today, then I'll certainly be at the front to stop it. Whatever it takes.”
“And I’ll be with you! If it was sealed once, it can be sealed again.” Pieni says as he stands next to BB. Baine and Ghesh give matching affirmative nods to Pieni’s statement. Taffeta strangely quiet and distant as she watches the proceedings.
--
Each night on their hurried travel back home BB checks the night sky, looking for any change in the stars. On the second night after the events in the desert she spots it. Between the eyes of the Double Daggers a new star has appeared, shining down upon them all.
