Masters of the Nine Swords [IC]

[mrcarter11]

Belcor can only continue his chase. He had put himself in this position and so now he resigned himself to what would happen. He continued to move after the adept as he already had.

[BelGareth]

Abd shoots down the tunnel with almost reckless abandonment, or what appears to be so. Those with a keen eye can clearly see he is the epitome of focus and calm as he rockets through the tunnel on the superheated air beneath his feet.

Let us end this, this adept was too flighty and he wanted to finish this business. In the end, the Desert claims all. He thought to himself grimly.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Autumn

The seconds tick by agonizingly slowly, but you are definitely gaining ground on the enemy adept. He dashes away through shadow, then does it again, but he simply cannot keep far enough away. The adept's frantic movements seems to indicate that he knows this and is not happy about it in the slightest. He pauses to coast with the current momentarily, bubbles escaping from his mouth one by one, then gathers himself once more, looks straight up, and vanishes in shadow, not reappearing beneath the water.

Winter

The Master of Autumn runs implacably after the adept underwater, slowly leaving you behind as you rush across the surface. His figure continually blurs as he ducks in and out of shadow, but the blur that is Four easily gains ground--er, water. One last burst and the adept vanishes from sight below the water, but you notice a blur ahead of you as the adept appears above the water. You can make out another clearing ahead, though you can't quite tell its boundaries; it's hard enough making out the outline of the tunnel opening when the only light is Four's underwater lantern, though you think you might see the barest flickering of a torch up ahead.

Soon enough, you arrive at the opening yourself, and find that you finally have enough headroom to stand upright once more. It's about damn time; above the water's surface, the tunnel was more cramped than a novice's quarters back at the Temple, and that's saying something!

Spring and Summer

The two of you dash through the twisting tunnels, taking whichever branches appear to keep you closest to the sound of rushing water. Branch after branch after branch after branch, the chaotic arrangement is starting to get on your nerves when, finally, you come to a tunnel that opens into a clearing instead of yet another gods-damned tunnel split. You see water rushing through the center, for some reason glowing with an inner light, which is the only illumination in the room aside from Abd's pillar of flame. The light grows brighter, then you see a moving globe of light come out of the river tunnel to more clearly illuminate the area. Suddenly, in a burst of inky tendrils of shadow, the adept you are chasing appears a foot or so above the river's shore, dripping wet and gasping for breath. He drops to the ground with a thud and looks about to make a run for it...before he notices the heat and light and looks up at the two of you.


Everyone

Time seems to freeze as the adept takes instant stock of the situation, his eyes darting around frantically. Two adepts in front, one behind on the river, one behind under the river. No way to get past the ones on land, no chance of outrunning the river ones if he dives back in. No exit there, none over there, none back there, no--wait! Aha! That's a...no, false alarm, no exit there. Sigh.

The adept tosses his weapon to the floor as he drops to his knees, and the weapon clatters in harmony with his metal greaves against the stone floor as he clasps his hands behind his head. "I...surrender unconditionally. I know when I'm beaten," he says with the utmost reluctance, hanging his head in shame at being caught.

[stack]

Torog dart forward and pins the man so the others can thoroughly disarm him. At least we'll take one prisoner from all this. Could prove useful. May even be able to turn him back to us, given time. Not that we'll be trusting him anytime soon.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Five shuriken, three daggers, and a sling with two bullets find their way out of boots and belt pouches and sleeves to join the adept's sword on the ground. He doesn't try to resist at all as he is pinned and frisked by the Masters.

[BelGareth]

Abd stands on his column of flame and smiles, watching as his fellow masters disarm the adept they had all been chasing. His smile was bittersweet however, as he thought about adept al-Wazra and her dealings with the other adept that had run off.

If it had taken the four of them to catch this one, he prayed she had chosen the easier of their runnaways....

"Masters, we must find al-Wazra...if we can, the other adept is close to getting word to the temple. I have no care for this ones life, he is of the other temple and deserves neither mercy or his life."

[stack]

Torog keeps a hand on the adept's shoulder as he sets him down. "Then go, Masters. I will bring this one behind. I have hope that he may yet be useful, perhaps winning his life. Pursue the other, aid al-Wazra."

[DrK]

The Master of Autumn slowly hauls himself out of the river pulling himself onto the bank, water streaming out of his body onto the rough floor. "Your Master is dead. The tiger's claw is ours. Swear to our Temple before yours is destroyed and swept into the annals of history as a small camp of bandits."

He looks at the others before agreeing with Torog. "Stone and adamantine will slow you down. We shall walk this one out of the caves towards his Temple."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

The enemy adept flinches at the cold, ruthless tone in the Master of Summer's voice, and his shoulders slump as he expects to be beheaded at any moment. At the mention of his own Master's death, he closes his eyes and swears under his breath. At the mention of being useful, his face twitches with inner turmoil over his loyalties, but eventually he shrugs and says, in a resigned tone, "Yes, I can show you to the true Temple. Er, sorry, no offense, I meant my Temple. Old habits, you know." He glances between the Masters of Spring and Autumn, and when it seems no one is about to kill him for the slip, he continues, "And I...I swear loyalty to the Temple of the Four Seasons, and to...whoever you people are, and...your masters, if you have any?"

[PairO'Dice Lost]

After swearing his oath, the adept's hands are bound to prevent him from initiating any maneuvers, and he leads the way deeper into the cavern. The next hours pass slowly, as the four Seasonal Masters lead their reluctant ally through the winding caves, the Master of Autumn keeping an eye on him while the other three spread out and search side paths for any sign of Adept al-Wazra or her quarry. The Master of Spring is very helpful in this with his ability to remove obstacles like stalagmites and, well, walls, while the Masters of Summer and Winter are able to pass over streams, gaps, and other annoyances to search farther afield than Torog. The enemy adept is sullenly silent through this process, not willing to volunteer any more information than is absolutely necessary.

Eventually, though, the four of you pick up signs of al-Wazra's chase. None of you are particularly skilled with tracking, but the large scorch marks and imprints of spear heads scattered through the tunnels are hard to miss. As you all well recall from your time as her instructors in your respective disciplines, al-Wazra has been one of the Temple's most promising adepts for some time, but she was never one for subtlety, and for the first year or so "collateral damage" might as well have been her middle name.

Soon enough, small spots of blood join the scorch marks; it seems al-Wazra caught up to the other adept before he could make it to safety, fortunately. Continuing on, a few minutes later you hear the step-shuffle-thud...step-shuffle-thud of someone walking in an irregular rhythm with the aid of some sort of support, and you turn a corner to see al-Wazra limp along the tunnel towards you, one hand on the wall and the other hanging onto her spear for dear life. Many small wounds are visible on her bare forearms and shins, and one large red blotch on her side and the expression of pain on her face signify a deeper wound that she is bearing with some effort. A wide strip of cloth is bound around the wound, and the cloth appears to have come from the same sort of long tunic that your captive wears complete with Unconquered Sun emblem, so it appears that al-Wazra was successful in her mission after all.

The enemy adept is being escorted in front of you, so he is the first to come face-to-face with al-Wazra. Your pupil, seeing another enemy walking towards her, grits her teeth and growls, stepping away from the wall and falling into a lunge with her spear in the hopes of taking out this new enemy before being slain. "NonoI'mwithyourmastersdon'tkillmeplease!" the disarmed and defenseless adept shouts in one breath, taking an involuntary step backwards and bumping into Four's breastplate, and al-Wazra barely arrests her strike as the rest of you round the corner. "Masters! It...is good to see...you, I...was not sure if...I would fine you in...time. The...adept has been...slain as ordered," she pants, dropping into an awkward bow while leaning once again on her spear. The adept looks quickly between her and the four of you to gauge your moods, and he slowly reaches into a belt pouch, making no sudden moves. "I, uh, have a healing potion, if that'll help," he says, holding a small vial of blue liquid out to al-Wazra while keeping as much distance as possible between him and her.

She yanks it out of his hand, uncorks it, holds it up to her nose, sniff suspiciously, determines it not to be a trick, and gulps it down. None of her visible wounds disappear, but the grimace of pain fades from her face and she stands a bit straighter. "Thank you," she growls grudgingly, in the manner of a paladin thanking a demon for a favor. Turning back to you four, she bows to each individually and motions back the way she came. "The enemy and I were well-matched, almost...too evenly, and it was a very near thing. One misstep either way and...it might have been he who triumphed," she reports, still breathing heavily. "I tried to hide the body as...best I could, but I was not able to conceal...the signs of our battle as well as I'd have liked. But I believe I...did find the way to the enemy Temple."

The adept and al-Wazra work together to scrub the scorch marks and blood off the tunnel walls and fill in the holes made by weapon blows as best they can while they both lead you through the tunnels. The adept stays ahead of Four, pointedly not looking in al-Wazra's direction for fear of provoking her, while your pupil walks in the back with the others of you. Even al-Wazra gets turned around quite a few times, and without the enemy adept you'd be completely lost--and even with his guidance, you doubt you could keep track of the many twists and turns. "Everyone has to memorize the route to the Temple before training begins as our first test," the adept admits proudly, in a rare moment of offering information voluntarily, "and I was one of the fastest; it only took me two weeks to get it down." Half an hour passes, then you notice the tunnel smoothing out and sloping upwards to a small ledge. The sunlight, even dim as it is here, is a welcome relief from the oppressing darkness of the cavern complex with only Abd's fire and a small lantern to provide illumination.

You creep up to the ledge and look over it. Below you, a large cluster of buildings lies at the bottom of a small clearing. It resembles your own Temple, for this is the Temple of the Unconquered Sun, and both successor temples tried to imitate the original Temple of the Nine Swords in architecture and layout as much as possible. You are far too high up to make out any details, but you can definitely tell that there are some buildings for quarters and some for instructions, and several small figures appear to be practicing out in the open. Looking up, you can see why the Temple was situated here: the top of the cavern is open to the sky, and the setting sun can clearly be seen through the opening, even as deep as you are. In fact, you guess that this is the caldera of an extinct volcano, for the opening is too large and too smooth to have been hollowed out for this Temple in a reasonable amount of time; the enemy Temple went to ground too soon after the Shadow Tiger War for them to have created this from scratch without discovery.

"So there you go. The stronghold of your hated enemy," the adept says bitterly. "You're welcome. Not exactly the main entrance, but I didn't promise to show you that; I'm a coward and a traitor, but I'm not stupid. I bet you want to kill me now, huh? Despite my oath? I mean, I could yell out and warn them or something, right? Or at least I could if they could hear me from here. It didn't sound like you have any intent to be merciful, even though I can still be useful to you--Hells, you" he says, pointing to Belcor "are the only one who didn't threaten me or the Unconquered Sun Temple with your first words." He pulls himself up, willing to face death bravely, if that is your decision now that he has served his purpose, but you can see in his eyes that he's really really hoping you were serious with your offer for him to join your Temple.

[stack]

Torog holds up a black-steeled hand to hold the others from any action. "You have kept your word, we shall keep ours. It is time to go home and report our findings, to return the recovered blade." And visit the healing hall.

[DrK]

The warforged looks down upon the Temple of the enemy. His reddish eyes twinkling in the metallice sockets as he can feel the presence of 7 and 3 of 9. 2 of the Prime's who betrayed the Temple.

"We should stay a while and observe their numbers. If they are not too great we could end this threat before it even begins. At the very least we wait for a patrol to leave so that we may eliinate them and in doing so gain more knowledge about this foul place."

He looks to the prisoner. "Keep silent and you may yet live. Insult the True Temple and you will die without pause."

[mrcarter11]

Uncertainty with what to do regarding the enemy temple's adept had long plagued Belcor. Killing the youth simply for what side he found himself on after the true temple, the original was destroyed seemed not only overly harsh but simply cruel. And neither of those were words, Belcor wanted used to describe his actions.

"Master of Autumn, this young one has kept his word, and as such we shall keep ours. He shall pass unharmed back to our temple, where our Masters, will decide if he may gain instruction in our ways. As for assaulting the temple, I fear it would end bleakly. Considering the high members of the original temple split apart into the two temples that now fight each other, it would be wise for us to assume that they would have Grandmasters on par with Grandmasters al-Surt, Sapier, and Sovornost. None of which I would personally wish to face in combat. The man we fought before tracking this adept was simply a Master of their temple, a man who should be of equal footing as ourselves, and yet I sadly remember him nearly killing the four of us at once. A battle against their entire temple and the four of us would be reckless and suicidal. However, my time spent with Grandmaster Sovernost and Sapier has raised a question with Me that our friend here can answer.

Belcor who so far had spoken purely to Four, now turns to the captured adept.
"How many Grandmasters and Master does your temple contain? I am to assume that the man we fought back there, was the Master of Noon, yes? How many more are there? And what do you know of Grandmaster Mesker. We know he is of your temple but what do you know of his skill or that of your temple's other Grandmasters?"

While he knew it was many questions, he assumed the adept would have time to answer them all. And Belcor would study what was said. With the group of Masters present, it should be easy for them to discern if the adept attempted to lie.

[BelGareth]

Abd stands to the side and listens to his wise companions. He nods as they speak and strokes his beard.

"These are wise words, wise indeed. It is not wrong to assume they would have Masters at a level as our own. The very same Master we just dispatched was a match for all four of us, it would be wise, and prudent to assume others were commanding the temple below us." he pauses and thinks for a moment "It is the patient predator that waits and watches, in the end the prey will come. I think if we waited and watched it would help our cause, but to engage them would be folly. But on the other end we have accomplished our mission: to prevent the information of our assault for Supernal clarity. We should head back and move onto the next step of the plan."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

The Master of Autumn's wish is soon granted. The controlled chaos of the practice session below gives way after a few minutes, the clusters of adepts parting to let a small party of perhaps a dozen warriors pass by and leave the Temple. They enter one of the many small tunnels branching off from the main basin and disappear; the tunnel is facing away from your own Temple (at least you think so, you're still a bit turned around), but given the labyrinthine nature of these caverns, who knows what their final destination is?

Your captive, seemingly eager to be as helpful as possible to persuade the more bloodthirsty among you to let him live, quickly volunteers an answer to Belcor's question. "We have three Grandmasters, just like the original Temple and, I assume, your Temple. We have seven Masters: Dawn, Tierce, Noon, Vespers, Dusk, Night, and Vigils. Our Masters don't just focus on a single discipline; we don't limit ourselves like that." A note of arrogance creeps into his voice as he expounds on the virtue of the Unconquered Sun way, sounding as if he's reciting a long-memorized creed. "Where you focus only on one discipline, our adepts and Masters focus on either three disciplines or two disciplines and a form of magic, since we believe that we should seek self-improvement in any way possible and that combining blade forms with magic can unlock even greater understanding."

"Not like your Temple. I don't see why you have only four Masters, named after the seasons, focusing on only one discipline each. I mean, the symmetry of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and...Winter...would be...." He trails off, looking from Torog, to Abd, to Four, to Belcor with widening eyes. That note of arrogance? Gone. "Oh. Oh. That...oh. Oh sh*t." The adept cringes and shrinks in on himself at the gaffe; he obviously isn't the sharpest sword in the armory. When he continues speaking, he does so in a rapid monotone, using short choppy sentences and not looking any of you in the eye.

"The Master of Noon was unusual. He focused on only Tiger Claw and leaned more on magic. Two magics. He trained to take on many enemies at once. The other Masters are more varied. You would probably have more luck against them, four on one. Well, maybe. Don't know much about them. I was apprenticed to Noon, I haven't really seen what the others can do. I can guess, though. Each Master trains their students in similar styles to their own."

Since no one has killed him yet for impertinence--though Adept al-Wazra looks like she dearly wants to--he relaxes slightly. "As for the Grandmasters...only the Masters are allowed to speak with them, so I don't know anything beyond their titles and what I've heard. Our Grandmasters are the Grandmaster of Blades, the Grandmaster of Strife, and the Grandmaster of the Void. Grandmaster Mesker is Blades and, well, he's scary. I haven't been allowed to watch him fight anyone, but he oversees the advancement ceremonies for adepts to become Masters, and by his rules either you're worthy to advance to Master or you die. One time, seven adepts were testing for Master at once. They all went into the arena, and Mesker walked out thirty seconds later...alone." The adept actually shivers at that. "Good luck facing him."

[stack]

"Blending styles may be a road to quick power. We choose to perfect one style, to know the full beauty of a single form in its entirety. To master each form is the essence of our art. Blending them diminishes each, only learning a few techniques. But come, whatever goal they have set out for, it would not do to be found here. If they head toward our temple, we must beat them. If elsewhere, we are not in enough strength to stop them. Perhaps they have a lead on another sword? If so, we may be able to strike them on their return, if we move quickly."

[DrK]

The hulking warforged looks at the helpful adept a grim expression on the black metal features. "Where are the patrols. How often are they?"

He looks at the others- "They will have more pressing and a recent news from within and can fill us in on what our friend here has missed."

[BelGareth]

Abd cringes as his fellow masters look to take advantage of the situation.

"While I agree we should take advantage of any situation, I think we should return to the Grandmasters, they tasked us with a mission and it is complete. Any evidence that patrol finds of the scuffle will be minor and here say, if that is what they are looking for."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

The captive adept opens his mouth as if to argue with Torog regarding purity and effectiveness of martial styles...but then closes it, looking disgruntled. Even this less-than-perceptive adept has been threatened with death enough times to finally learn the wisdom of silence. Tonelessly, he answers Four, "Patrols are usually sent out every three hours or so if the Masters are expecting trouble, every six hours or so otherwise. Since the Master of Noon didn't return by the appointed time, they're probably doing them every three hours now." He looks around at you all and shrugs. "Look, I have to agree with...um, I never got your name actually," he says, motioning at Abd. "The Desert Wind master, I mean. I have to agree with him. You're all wounded, the patrol would just be made of initiates or adepts who wouldn't be very useful to you, and I'm not about to help you fight the Unconquered Sun Temple. Maybe later, if you convince me your Masters have the right philosophy and approach, but not now."

He pauses, then admits ruefully, "Also, if any of them saw me with you, they'd assume I sold them out--which I did--and would try to kill me first--and they have every right to--or at least have the Grandmasters send some assassins after me. And I didn't surrender to you people just to die to them, so I'd really rather you didn't try to fight them right about now. Unless you want to leave me somewhere under guard and go fight them yourselves. Heh. Like that would ever happen."

Adept al-Wazra glares at the enemy adept, but not as fiercely as she had before. "Much as it pains me to admit it, Masters, I am forced to agree with the captive. We are in no position to fight, the Master of Spring and I least of all, and we have little to gain here. The Grandmasters' orders were clear: find the Unconquered Sun party and stop it from returning to their Temple. We have done so." The words are spoken grudgingly: as hotheaded as she is, al-Wazra never likes to go against the wishes of her Masters, even implicitly. She bows her head in submission, then steps back to let you all make a final decision among yourselves.

[stack]

"Let us return and let their patrols search in vain."

[BelGareth]

"Agreed" Says Abd, simply.

He stood with one foot up on a rock, leaning on his raised knee. He looked every part the desert prince, but you could tell he was troubled, the need for vengeance from his fellow Masters was worrisome, but he could not confront them about it here.

He must get them home, to their own masters and in the privacy of their temple.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

The captive adept lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and gladly leads the four of you back through the twisting, winding tunnels to the encampment where you first encountered the Unconquered Sun force. Along the way, your group stops a few times to cover signs of your passage, and once you reach the encampment you take all of the remaining Unconquered Sun gear both to cover your tracks and in the hopes that some of it might prove useful. Despite the stops, though, with the captive adept to guide you back to the clearing and al-Wazra to guide you back out of the mountains, you make excellent time.

It has been roughly three and a half days since you first set out on your journey, and having spent three of those days underground with very little light all among you except Four squint and shade your eyes against the piercing light of the noon-day sun when you emerge from the darkness; the warforged's eyes, of course, automagically adjust to admit a comfortable amount of light. The captive adept starts complaining about having a headache within a few minutes of your emergence, which is understandable (if very irritating) given that he has gone a week or more without seeing the sun. His whining subsides eventually, and the rest of the half-day walk back to the Temple is completed in relative silence.

You come across a sentry when you are within ten minutes of the Temple's outer wall, and she immediately races off to inform the Grandmasters of your successful return. Thanks to that sentry, every single inhabitant of the Temple is turned out to welcome you home when you reach the gates. Grandmaster Sovornost calls for order over the cheers of adulation and tells the assembly that you are all tired and hungry, but that there will be a feast in your honor tonight once you have been debriefed and are recovered from the ordeal. You are ushered inside past the ranks of well-wishers to a small room where the temple laborers have hastily brought out good food and drink for you--they know how tiresome field rations can be after a few days--and while your parched throats are satisfied Grandmaster Sapier says some blessings over all of you to cleanse and heal your wounds.

Well, not all of you. When he comes to the captive adept, he pauses for a closer inspection. In the chaos of the celebration, no one really noticed that the adept wears the slightly-different uniform of the Unconquered Sun; they most likely assumed he was one of the original members of al-Wazra's contingent, rescued from captivity. "Well, well, well...what have we here?" the Grandmaster of Unity asks in his grandfatherly baritone. His manner is warm and friendly, his grasp on the adept's shoulder is light and gentle, and his smile appears genuine, setting the captive adept at ease...yet the illumian sigils hovering around his brow have darkened from their customary golden-orange to a light crimson and have started to rotate faster, signifying suspicion and slight anger.

Your Temple's Grandmasters wear the same sort of uniforms as the rest of the adepts, everyone's rank being given only by variations in the Temple emblem on said uniforms; as far as the captive adept is concerned, this man is just some random Temple healer, which is probably why he's allowed an enemy Grandmaster's hands so close to his throat. Grandmaster Sapier turns to the rest of you as Grandmasters Tsikul and Sovornost file into the room, so the captive adept doesn't see the coldness in his eyes. "I see you've picked up a new friend. I, for one, would love to hear all about your journey. I think a good, long, detailed story is in order."

[stack]

Torog smiles broadly and removes his helm to feel the warm sunlight on the mountainside. Finally, room to move. His steps take a certain lightness despite his bulk.

He maintains a humble mien during the effusive greetings, too aware of the wounds he took subduing the enemy master. He gives his full report when bidden, leaving room for the other masters to report on the details he did not himself witness, sparing no praise for Adept al-Wazra's efforts.

[DrK]

The Master of Autumn pays no heed to the sun, the foor or the wine content to merely resume his place within the courtyard of the Temple available to train any that desire knowledge of the way of Iron.

As the grandmasters inquire of the details of the story he takes a step back. His impassive metallic face showing no real expression as he allows his more verbose companions to speak for him and recount the tale.

His only passing comment... "The enemy master was skilled. We feel humbled and would seek vengeance against their temple to demonstrate that our way is the purer way. The right way."

[BelGareth]

Abd moves with the other masters keeping mostly to himself, he was still a little injured and was looking forward to the rest, albeit what little of it he could get.

Moving into the more private area with the grandmasters he dropped the veil from his face and breathed in the cool clean air.

Waiting for Torog to finish, he speaks and only adds things the Master left out or he was not a part of.

He then nods in assent when the Master of Autumn comments on the opposing grand masters capability.

[mrcarter11]

Belcor felt he would have little to add, as he didn't wish to include his dissenting opinion of how certain others had acted on the mission. However he needed to talk about his and the Master of Summer's chase through the caves.
Explaining in as much detail as possible, Belcor recounting the paths and how himself and Abd had split up to corner the fleeing adept. As well as how the chase had continued for past what it should have.

"Grandmasters, if I may, I would like to suggest that we don't take to battle with this other temple so quickly. I feel that an attack on them, would be a very unwise idea. They just lost a master of their temple and as such will be on high guard, meaning any more attacks will have a lower chance of success. Grandmasters, as I'm sure you know, to have a war with this other temple would be the cause of many deaths among adepts and students, which is something I feel we should avoid. Since we now know where they are, perhaps a message should be sent. Allowing the temples to maybe coexist. If would stop so much bloodshed if the temples would stop their war.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

The three Grandmasters listen silently to the reports and clarifications. The captive adept, when he realizes exactly who are surrounding him, closes his eyes and holds as still as possible, presumably following the "if you can't see them, they can't see you" approach to stealth, or possibly just expecting to be beheaded at any moment.

When the debriefing is done, the Grandmasters confer silently among themselves, their long, close friendships allowing them to know each others' opinions quite well and their telepathic bond helping out with the more complex concepts. Soon enough, the three nod decisively as one and the Grandmaster of Unity steps forward.

"Master of Autumn, as much as we wish to see our adepts avenged and your honor restored, we agree with the Master of Winter that a war with the pretender Temple would be costly in lives and material. Our own Temple is quite exposed should we lure them to our home territory, and the pretender Temple would enjoy a similar advantage in an ambush against them; to fight somewhere in the middle would allow the enemy adepts to use their superior knowledge of the cave systems to the east against us, and it would be unlikely for us to be able to draw them out to where we can use our knowledge of the mountaintops against them. Any option would lead to a slow, drawn-out war, and though we disagree with the pretenders' methods and views, either side losing too much knowledge and too many masters would be an insult to the True Temple's memory and a blow to the world's knowledge.

"However, a peace agreement is similarly untenable. In the years since the fall of the True Temple, there have been temporary cessations of hostilities, but one or the other Temple--and yes, we have been the cause of some of those renewed conflicts, to our shame and regret--always starts the fighting anew. The last time we sued for a permanent peace and a restoration of the True Temple...well, one of their Grandmasters led an assault against the peace delegation, and both sides have been soured on the prospect since then." The Grandmasters bow their heads momentarily in remembrance of the slaughtered party and anger at the pretender Grandmasters.

"The Grandmasters of both temples are far too set in their ways for peace; we three have lost far too many students at the hands of the other Grandmasters to coexist without taking their positions, and perhaps their lives, from them, and we are sure they feel the same about us. No, one or the other Temple must prove victorious, or at least the leaders of one Temple must be removed. Unless...."

The Grandmaster of Enlightenment steps forward and takes up the thread of conversation. "The original temples from which the True Master, Reshar, learned the Nine Disciplines still exist. They are small, and without the deeper understanding and talent of the True Temple's masters they are likely weaker than either of the Successor Temples, but if they could be persuaded to join us, perhaps we could conquer the Unconquered Sun and reforge the True Temple. At the very least, bringing together adepts of our disciplines to carry on our traditions and increase our numbers would be a worthy goal, particularly since we would be vulnerable to the same sort of tactics if the Unconquered Sun had the same idea.

"This, then, is your next mission: to serve as envoys to the lesser temples and collect allies to our cause. You will, of course, have the choice of when and how to carry this out, and even the choice of delaying this mission in favor of other matters, but keep that goal ever in your sight."

[stack]

Torog nods, bowing as he speaks. "Which of the old temples lay closest to the traitors? If they embark on a similar plan, that would be the first place. Best to learn if we are in a race before we are behind."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

After a moment of contemplation, the Grandmaster of Lore replies, "The closest temple would be either the Talon Enclave in the Ironwood Forest to the south, or the Oasis of the Winds in the Great Golden Desert to the north. Which one is closer would depend on where exactly the exits to the Unconquered Sun's tunnels lie." Grandmaster Tsikul gives the captive adept a pointed look, and after a moment of awkward silence he opens his eyes and squeaks, "I don't know, I've never been to either of those. Only the higher-level adepts are allowed to leave the Sunspires without a Master's company, and I was never sent on a mission out there."

[DrK]

The Master of Autmn looks to his fellow seasons. "The grind of the desert and expanse would be nice." He looks at Abd, the Master of Summer, "With the power of the Desert Wind alongside us how could we fail to convince them that they should join their strength with us."

Looking back to the grandmasters the warforged couldn't to grind out words "Maybe the adept we capture would know the best way throgh the tunnels?"