The Ghost stops for a moment, then answers

"There is a ritual. The mating of Water with the Earth. You mean to take part and be as seeds as they flow up to fertilise the Earth?"

"It is a long time since this took place...."

"I am willing." Ohanzee answers simply "Rhino Tribe are the Earth and I am betrothed to the Water already."

OOC: kobal the fact your clan beat the Wicked Writher this year gives all of you a bonus with the ritual. Out in town so will follow up when I get home.
We will have a wedding and consummation, and then the river will rise and carry you all up to the top.

Hopefully.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:29, Tue 22 Sept 2015.

"I too am willing," says Kobal, taking a step forward, "if more than one may perform the ritual.  As a Wandering Ranger, I am sworn to the Earth.  Our band is also a friend to Water.  Only together may the Wastes turn Green."

At this both spirits combine and then split several times, communicating in a language that no one present can understand, then both flow back into their prospective tombs and all is silent...

That is until both stone plugs suddenly begin to crumble, revealing them not be made of stone at all but magically reinforced clay....

Both spirits materialise again to drift about in front of the three Rangers and their guardian.

"Preparation is needed...A Priest of the Water and a Priestess of the Earth, a blood sacrifice and a following of the rituals marked out on the temple walls for all to remember despite the creation of time....

The river must be summoned and wedded to the earth, a promise of fertility made and the land above will receive it's bounty...

A whole day this will take and there must be worshippers too, to give their love to the serpent.."

Still kneeling Ohanzee rises at last "There are others with us, they will join in the worship. A Priestess of the Earth and a Priest of the Water, that would be you two? We can study the markings on the wall and the river, the son has been summoned by us once already."

"We also have beasts for the blood sacrifice. We are to be the seeds, the Wandering Rangers, carried on the rising waters to the top of the shaft!"

Kobal bows again to the two spirits.  "Thank you, Guardians of the temple, for your generosity.  We will perform the rituals and fulfill the promise."

"Gather your people here a dawn...Bring sacrifice and votive gifts...."

Ohanzee bows to the spirits and then turns to Kobal and Sand Fox "I'm going to go get some more rest. If this ceremony is going to take all day then I'll need it!"

Then he leaves the room heading back towards the beach and Nixa.

The spirits watch as Ohanzee leaves, both drifting about the cave as Sand Fox lights a torch.

"How can we learn about the ritual" he asks.

As Ohanzee reaches the mouth of the cave he finds that Nixa is gone and the rope nowhere to be seen.

"Look to the walls of the outer shrine...All is written there. We shall guide you..."

This seems like a dismissal from the spirits, so Kobal bows again, and makes to leave.



Kobal nods in agreement and follows the Rhino brave out.



"Not a good sign," he mutters to the others.  Still, the river had been moving slowly when he crossed the first time.  He wades into the waters, testing to see if the current is too strong to negotiate.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:34, Wed 23 Sept 2015.

As Kobal begins to wade across he suddenly gets a message from his spirit

"We're under attack! A Dragonsnail!"

Looking around at Kobal Ohanzee notices that Nixa's bother is missing "Sand Fox didn't come? He did some spear rattling back there, I'd better make sure he isn't getting into trouble with the spirits!"

He trots back not noticing the irony of what he said "Sand Fox, where are you? You coming?" he calls as he nears the top of the steps.

"Yeah...Coming" and the Red Thorn Brave comes trotting down the stairs, his torch held high as he looks at the walls and ceiling of the lower cave.

With the brighter light it is now possible to see that there are countless murals, etchings and carvings all over the rock, though thanks to countless floods, both natural and magically induced those painted are faded.

Just as Ohanzee starts to turn back, Kobal hisses to him, "Attack!  Chaos!  Dragonsnail!"  He turns back again, to wade back to the main party, but now as quickly as he dares across the water.

[OOC: edited my previous post as only Ohanzee left the cave, not Sand Fox.]

Kobal finds Akala and Glama fighting a Dragonsnail at the back of the beach, the two braves hollering for help as they see their friends' light.

As they approach Sand Fox looks about worried "Where's Nixa?"

Ohanzee arrives back at the beach to find Kobal helping Akala, a dead Dragonsnail at their feet. It had been killed by Akala, with the help of Kobal's timely arrival.

Sand Fox is searching the beach with the help of Glama's light spell.

"So where've you been?" asks Akala, wiping the gore from his great sword.

Ohanzee moves to the edge of the water to help Sand Fox search for his brother asking Akala over his shoulder "Did you see Nixa, did he come back over?"

Kobal pulls out of the dead dragonsnail the javelin which he'd used as a spear, thrusting it into the head.  He inspects the tip and shaft to see if it's still usable.

"I've been looking out for Ohanzee," he says to Akala.  "Making sure he wasn't getting himself into more trouble.  Which he almost did...  But we made some interesting finds, haha."  He claps the brave on the shoulder again.

He looks at Sand Fox and Glama searching on the beach.  "Where's Nixa?  I thought he came back across the river first.  When we came back to the beach on the other side of the river, there was no Nixa and no rope.  I figured he'd come back to help with the dragonsnails.  Didn't you have the other end of the rope, Stoneface?"

Akala looking happy about ending the Dragonsnail's life, kills his smile

"No...I dropped the rope when this beast came out of the water....What do you mean gone?...Is he dead?"

The search turns up nothing and Sand Fox begins to get frantic, wading in to the water and heading back across to the other cave.

"Nixa!"

At Akala's response, Kobal turns and heads back across the water to the other bank as well.  As he wades across, he looks down the serpent, in case Nixa might have been fording the river when he hit a gorp or dragonsnail or other Chaos foulness.

"Haaro, do you sense where Nixa might be...?"

Ohanzee heads across the water trying to keep up with Sand Fox "Don't run about the sand on the other side. If the tracks are not too covered by other traffic we can work out what has happened, where he has gone."

And this is exactly what he tries to do once they reach the other side.