"You all deserve to go home.  You will be remembered well."

Yeerraa looks again at the graves.

"Too bad my friends can not be revived."

"They can!  Here's a sack of gold from my own reward so you can pay for their revival at Sharn."

Mits tosses her a jingley bag.  Yeeraa is speechless.

"And from my share."

Adam hands over a sack.

"Thank you!"

Maverick didn't object to Matt, though he does look up at him, expecting to see a face that understands. If anyone will understand, it's these people; who have fought and put their lives on the line alongside Maverick.

Angel, Carla, and Maverick all offer shares of their rewards, as if this was something that was going to be done anyway.

Angel says, "With that much money, and as big as Sharn is, you should be able to get them all back to life by tomorrow. Let's all get a good night's sleep and tomorrow, we will say our goodbyes. I'll expect to see everyone see us off when the time comes."

  Matt's been developing a lot of self awareness over these encounters compared to when they started, so Matt totally understanding faces.

  He adds to the chipping in pile,  "If I were to allow bias to direct my share, use it for Akitani."

OOC: After double checking the last thread, turns out I did remember her name right, whee.

Yeeraa chuckles at Matt's suggestion.  "She will be honored.  You all are so generous.  You give hope.  The Wordbearers will live on and carve a new home for ourselves.  We will see you off."

Soon the group is once again under the restful roof of Olakki's place.  Mittens is sure to cuddle Mav, looking uneasy.  Adam mostly stares blankly.  Mits puts on a smile.

"All's well that ends well, right?"

Angel says, "I can't tell you how relieved I am that Yeraa and friends are all alive. Just when evil was proving it's better than good, our efforts actually proved to yield the best result possible."

Maverick just stays quiet and pretends to sleep so Mittens can get some rest. However, he winds up not falling asleep for some time. Still, everyone is exhausted from a full day of adventuring and such, so eventually, he sleeps.

Angel and Carla didn't seem to have any trouble going to sleep.

  End bosses, political shenanigans, and end bosses were a bit taxing, yeah.  "Close enough, I guess.  A hammer to the face doesn't seem to discriminate."

  Speaking of weapons, Matt doubts he would need to donate new ones to Maverick now that the famous sharp object is a crown accessory.  Maverick likely had plenty of sharp objects already.

The following morning the group is treated to a nice Olaakii breakfast with the Wordbearers followed by a visit from Gydd along with her heartfelt thank yous.  Then everyone is led to the university where the expert in planehopping is waiting for them.  He's a strange looking gnome with a long white beard that drags on the ground which he occasionally trips over.  After a few rituals he nails down where the heroes are from and aligns the teleportation circle to take them home.  When the portal opens, they can see their familiar home town in the distance through it.  Mits and Adam wave goodbye to Gydd and the Wordbearers who wave back and wish everyone well.

Angel waves with a melancholic smile, then heads home.

Maverick, tears in his eyes, waves and turns to hold the nearest homeward-bound ally's hand.

Carla waves with a bright smile, then turns to go home with the rest of the group.

The moment they are on the other side, Maverick asks, "...is it betrayal to lie like that to Yeraa?"

Angel answers, "You saw what happens with the relic around. Yeraa died because of it. It's best for her sake that she think it destroyed. And when you think about it, only by thinking that relic destroyed will she and her people do any REAL efforts to unite their people. The relic was a symbol of the old ways that had become only a symbol of despair.. her people needed a new symbol; A hero they could believe in."

  Matt takes ten on his Acrobatics check, and backflips through the portal.

  "The crown seems like kind of a jerk, to put it gently.  Whether that's the cause or effect of it being a political prize, I'll let more educated sorts guess.  Working things out for herself is better than the Crown compelling her to hand it over to some random person after all that effort."

"I'm not entirely convinced we shouldn't destroy it," Adam says, "But given how we were able to use it for good... reviving people who deserve it...  I guess we made the right choice, but it sure feels rotten to deceive friends.  Even if it's for their own good.  I'm going to miss them."

Mittens shrugs then take Mav's hand.  "If any of us knew a better way I'm sure they'd have mentioned it one way or another.  As for destroying the jerkface relic, that's a decision that there's no going back from once it's done.  Nothing says you can't put it off and keep it in mind as an option should it become necessary.  Really, in this world it's nothing more than a handy tool but without all the political baggage that goes with it.  Much much more powerful relics exist that makes this one seem ho-hum, so I doubt there'll be so much trouble with it now."

Angel looks at Adam. "Alright, Adam. Lead the way to your place. Until we get there, though, mind if I wear the crown for a bit? It's every girl's childhood dream to play princess."

Maverick says, "We could all take a turn wearing it. For fun."

Carla smiles and nods.

  Matt will pass on the crown wearing.  Angel will obviously nail the pretty princess look when the time comes.  "The ritual only takes it apart again, anyways.  Though you are right that the thing will be less of a hassle here for now."

Mittens giggles and nods.  "I've already had a turn when using it to revive Yeerraa.  I pick Mavwick to go next."

She puts the crown on his head and it resizes to fit him as magic items often do.

"I crown thee Prince Maverick the Brave."

Adam chuckles at the cute antics.  Before long the group arrives at the first obvious stop: Sunnyville.  Their home town.  The villagers look shocked to see them and kneel.

"Welcome home, your highness."

Adam blushes.  "Thanks."

Maverick smiles, enjoying having the crown for a while. And when the people greet Adam, Maverick looks up at him. "Nice to know your people recognize you when they see you. Even without any royal garb."

Angel says, "Where's the mayor? We got quite the tale to tell him..."

  Matt figures somebody filled them in on just who they sent out to deal with a spooky tree later.  He can see the king's reaction now.  Prince Adam, you are SO Grounded.

  He glances around,  "Well, at least nobody burnt down the forge while I was out."

"The former Mayor resigned," one answers, "His replacement is at the Mayor's office."

It doesn't take long for the group to find the new mayor, a surprisingly young looking man probably in his 20's.

Adam seems to recognize him.  Kinda.

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Prince Adam!"

The Mayor kneels.  "I am your humble servant Baron James von Edmondton."

"Oh wow!  I haven't seen you since forever!" he laughs.  "You sure have gotten polite in your old age!"

The young mayor blushes.

Angel asks, "So what all has changed around here?"

Maverick is riding on Lucky's back with Carla. He dismounts in order to pet Lucky.

"Well, there's an apparent lack of acid rain.  So at least something went right."

"Not long after you all left all the weather problems just suddenly stopped," the Baron explains, "Then about 2 days later Gaston and Bruno showed up with a wild tale about walking into another world.  They were in a big hurry to get to the capitol to try and get help getting you all back somehow.  Well the crown figured out that Prince Adam must have been one of the people who went missing.  Last I heard they've had experts working day and night to try and figure out what happened and how to open a gateway to where you went.  I was sent here after the last mayor resigned.  Outside that, uh...  Well things aren't going so well at the capitol.  Race riot a couple days back.  The royal family hasn't been doing so well in Adam's absence either I hear."

Mits joins in the tiger petting.  Adam looks troubled.  "Meaning they're ill?"

"I don't know.  Just a rumor.  Probably just worried for you is all."

Angel looks at Adam and says, "With the weather doing OK and Sunnyville apparently doing alright... we should make a b-line for the capitol."

She looks back at the mayor. "We just got back from an alternate dimension that we were unwittingly whisked away to. So we would like to get Adam back home as soon as we can. I don't suppose they had something set up for just in case Adam showed up *here* where he was last seen, did they?"

  No escaping unpleasant politics, it seemed.  "If we had to walk as usual, at least anything stupid enough to try and mug us on the way would practically be walked over."  Or did they switch the level zones around with the last update?

"They did.  There is a sending stone here for letting them know right away if he should show up."

He takes the stone out of the desk and hands it over.

"A carriage and some guards were set aside for bringing him back home."

Mittens leans over and talks to the sending stone.  "Testing testing 123."

"This is Adam.  I'm back.  I'll be bringing some company with me.  Two men and three ladies.  Please prepare rooms for them."

He glances at his friends.

"Or perhaps one room."

Carla beams when Adam says "three LADIES". She then glows and slides her foot bashfully.

Angel waits. If nothing more is said in a few seconds, Angel says, "Hello... can anyone hear us?"

  Matt's optimistic view is that the guards waiting so long for a no show are sleeping on the job.  "I guess rooms depends on the rest of you?  Cash and needing to worry about everything trying to kill us has been at least half of why we stuck to one room for so long."

"Uh yes mam," the voice on the other end answers, "We hear you just fine.  Good to hear you're doing well, your highness.  If you'll forgive the formality, could you please allow the mayor to verify that the voice I hear is in fact Prince Adam?"

Mittens shrugs.  "One room or many is fine with me."

"Is that you, Rodrick?  How is my family?"

"Yes, your highness.  I am Rodrick.  Your family will be happy to hear that you are well.  But your parents aren't doing so well.  Your mother was badly injured during the riot and isn't responding to any healing for some reason.  Your father is of course quite upset by your disappearance and her failing health.  Please do come as soon as you can."

"I will."

He hands the stone to the mayor who confirms that it was Adam.