Your party has two quests, to find a gate that could be anything and to replace a sword tip.

The first attempts at research in Bashkher's capital Papred have been frustrating. There is something being concealed in the museum but you have so little information you really want first to read all about it in the city archives. Yet access to the archives needs a pass that will take two days to get. You have done some of Papred's 'sights' but in the guesthouse where you are staying you ask what else can be done to fill in this time. You have a bit of the current afternoon and two full days to while away.

The guesthose is one of the nicest in the city. The staff are polite and helpful. The girl who greets the new arrivals waggles her head in the typical Bashkheri way.

"It seems you have visited most of our famous sites."

She opens a map and spreads it before you.

"The main attractions are clearly marked and you have been to all except the temples. There are nine of these in Papred that visitors are interested to see. Seven of these can be viewed in an organised tour. It goes every other day from just outside. The next tour is tomorrow. The city temple is five minutes from here across the square so it was not felt necessary to include it in the tour."

She hesitates. "If you want to reach the Sea Temple you need first to reach Masayrah. This is the suburb, village really, in the extreme north-east of Papred. It is on the coast. From there you will have to persuade someone to take you by boat. It may not be easy. The temple is in the middle of the mangrove delta. Even the most experienced boat men can get lost in the maze of waterways around there."

She thinks for a moment. "Apart from that you can always visit the bazaars. They generally offer street entertainment as well was goods for sale. If you are still here in three day's time the Kharsavarni dancers will be in the central theatre for a week. They are certainly worth seeing."

This, it seems is the full extent of your options.

Auriel looks at everything in awe. "All of these people live here, and don't fight all of the time?" He asks, his big eyes showing the truth of his wonder. "Everything is so," he pauses for a moment, "so beautiful!" He remembers back on his life with his mother and father - it seems an age ago, but then everything seems an age ago to him. "Can we go see the city temple?" He asks his new friends, the ones he has been entrusted to. "If the sword that is missing a tip isn't in the museum, doesn't that kind of leave only a few choices? I mean, either it's somewhere else in the city, hidden in the museum, it's been repaired, or someone stole it and the one in the museum is a fake."

Auriel looks at the lady again. "What are bazaars? Is that where strange people go? Some of the townsfolk where I used to live called me 'bazaar.' Maybe I could meet some others like me there?"

The girl smiles but says no more. Others are arriving to talk to her and she turns away pushing the map into Top's hand.

Tikita shakes her head and giggles at Auriel. Not unkindly she says, "That biz-arre, silly, not ba-zaar. Bizarre means strange and a bazaar is a marketsquare where people sell things. There are lots of neat things at bizarres - shop to buy things and street entertainers. It should be alot of fun. I think we should go there; we might find something interesting. Or find something out that's interesting."

She looks hopefully to the other members of the party.

Top acccepts the map, and studies it a moment before responding. "You have a point, if there's information to be found, I'd bet on someone there knowing... for a price at least. And if we hurry we should have time to go look at those other two temples."

"Oh, sorry." Auriel says to Tikita. "So, we go to a bazaar, to maybe find things that are bizarre. I think I can follow that. I'll get it, don't worry." He runs off ahead a few steps, then realizes that he doesn't no where he's going. "Top?" He begins. "How do we get to all of the places we're going?"

"If I'm reading this thing right," Top says, studying the poorly written labels on the map, "it isn't too far from here. I believe we take this street here...." He begins walking off down the street which looks like it should take them to the bazaar.

Sadly the map, of the kind often found designed for visitors, shows only the main streets. By the time Top has worked out that he does not know where they are they have by chance ended up at the back of the City Temple almost where they started from. They have seen no bazaar, not even a bizarre bazaar.

There is a lot of life going on in the streets. A man tells fortunes, having a trained crow choose cards from a pack. A barber is shaving a customer by the side of the road. Food stalls are myriad. Monkeys, cows, goats, horses and camels seem to be wandering the streets at will. It is in other words a typical Bashkheri city like the many they have seen before - if a little bigger. The crowds are mildly disturbing and the noise incredible. There is a constant stream of people entering and leaving the temple. Boys stand around shouting various wares for sale - embroidered slippers, gimcrack jewellery, flowers for temple offerings. One or two pester all the members of the party offering to be their guides. Top feels one trying to steal his money. He is used to it, and shrugs the would-be thief away.

Papred's streets are far from peaceful.

Dion just wandered behind the company, his thoughts gloomy. The dissapearance of his sisters meant he was the only one of the family left, and while he despised the narrow ways of his world. He was the only one left of his siblings. His ears had perked up at the mention of the sea temple, and basically anything to do with water. He would prefer to be there now, beneath the cool waves of the water instead of in a dusty city. The Sea temple had seemed a good idea to him, sea temples always did. Then again he didn't visit many sea temples. He just looked around gloomily, fidgeting with the whip at his side. He noticed a guttering torch, fire and water. His existance was a paradox yet balanced, fire affinity and water being, quite ironic really. Life's little ironies, when you get down to it, we're all not what we seem. What with Riff and all.

Dion noticed a lovely woman walk by, his eyebrow rising almost ... there was no time though. "We seem my friends to be going around in circles. Should retry a direction according to the suns position, and rely less on the ruined maps of a somewhat unfortunately ruined culture." He mentioned the last bit softly so only the company could here, indicating quite clearly the corruption that had surrounded them and hounded them in their prior cities.

As they wander through the streets, Auriel takes in everything with absolute fascination. Though they have been to cities before, he is still amazed by the amount of people and colors as they walk past the brightly colored shops.

"There's something sad about all of this." He says, though still amazed at everything he sees. "It's almost as if the life it should have is somehow crushed under the weight of all of these buidings. Everyone's scurrying around trying to do things, but I think they'd be happier if they didn't have to do them." He then continues down the street, just as happy and amazed as before.

The Temple is large and tall with a cupolaed (ooc is there sch a word?) roof supported on a large number of thin ochre columns. From you vantage point in the street you can see many people inside. The edifice is large and airy and seems rather new. Your eye is caught by a tall man standing just inside the main door. He wears a striking robe of white and scarlet and a conical gold cap that trails scarlet ribbons down his back. He is looking for someone or something. Wherever he moves people move out of his way.

"Excuse me, sir." Auriel says as he comes up to the man. "You seem lost. We have a map, could we perhaps help you find what you are looking for?" He reaches out to him, trying to take his hand as he does so. More quietly, in a voice only he and the gentleman can hear, he continues. "I am used to people not wanting to be around me, too. Maybe we can be alone together."

The man takes a moment to focus on Auriel and then sees the rest of the party struggling with the map.

"Well, well - the travellers. I had intended to speak to you tomorrow. Somehow I did not think you would come here today but it serves my purpose."

He takes Auriel's hand and jumps a little as Auriel's innate energy is transferred to him.

He strides quickly to the others. "I am Bharat, minister for internal security. You will not understand the rituals here unless I explain them. Please follow me and will inform you of the cult of the city temple. It means little without knowledge."

Still holding Auriel's hand he turns back to re-enter the temple.

What an odd man, thought Dion, then so was life. The warm rays of the sun left his neck as he followed the man inside. He would miss them. He felt much better out in the sun, and preferably in the water.

The warmth of the sun seemed to course through his viens sometimes. The heat unbearable, scorching him from the inside out so that for one instant of one moment in time he felt pure as living fire. Unfortunately, such times were brief and fleeting. Dion sighed slightly and entered the cooler shade.

Then again, being here was like being in the water, a sense of security and home. Dion almost wish they had gone to the Sea Temple, how he would have loved to slip into the canal waters and feel there flow over him. Like life flowing around him, a part of it yet seperated ... alone. His thoughts turned back to his syblings.

Tikita pauses for a moment as Auriel and Bharat walk away, looking intently at the two retreating figures. Hurrying over to Top and Dion she whispers,

"Doesn't it seems strange to you that the Minister of Internal Security was expecting us? How does he even know of us? I mean, don't we look like the other visitors around here? I don't know if I like this..... but he's got Auriel so we better follow him."

OOC>I assume Top follows Tikita's advice.

The inside of the temple has no ornamentation or statues, no altars or incense, very unlike other temples they have seen. It has several tiered pits, each of seven levels, crowds are milling around them and standing or sitting on the levels. There is in each a line of men dredded only in white skirts one at the bottom, one on each level and one at the top, forming a change. Periodically a number of them would start to whirl at incredible speed.

Bharat starts talking as you walk up. "This cult, like its temple, is new. I am not a believer. I am here to meet an acquaintance. He is late so I will instead talk to you. The bones of the dead are interred. These people believe that the spirit needs to be released into the air. This happens when the priests all begin whirling together. It takes a long time. Most journeys take a long time."

Suddenly his tone hardens. "Except yours, it seems. You were in Veejani five days ago. It takes a minimum of two weeks to travel here from Veejani and yet you have been here three days at least. How is this possible?"

"I do not know," Auriel begins. "I know that I go through life at a pace that always seems the same to me. Maybe it's that people go through their lives at different paces, so that what is normal to one seems abnormal to everyone else." He shies away a second. "I'm not sure about you. In a lot of ways you are comforting like my mother and father, but in others you seem like the ones who attacked us." Quickly, he changes topics back to the one the man had been talking about. "Bones interred?" He laughs. "Mommy told me not to eat the bones, so they never wound up in mine. Perhaps people here should be more careful when they eat, then they wouldn;t have to spin around like that all of the time."

"You say you're internal security..." Top says to Bharat. "Is there some problem with our friend? Perhaps there's just someone in Veejani that looks like him?"

Tikita leans over to Dion. "Veejani?" she whispers, "We were in Veejani? I don't remember that.

She looks over at Auriel and Bharat and scowls slightly. "I'm liking this guy less and less. And I don't like the way he's hanging onto Auriel. And why would he be wanting to talk to us anyway?"

Auriel attempts to pull his hand away, feeling more and more like the man is more townsperson than family. "Excuse me, sir." He says respectfully. "I would feel more comfortable with my friends. If you have any questions, I am sure they will be answered before someone does a dance for you. I am sure that we can find the tip of the iceberg - the thing that keeps us from seeing the hidden whole, and we can break through any fences that remain. After all, a fence without a gate somewhere is not a fence, but a wall."

Dion wasn't liking this at all now, temple ... air journeys, almost brought to question any element alignment they might have here. Yet it was the fact that internal security and in fact the minister himself. There was something wrong here ... Auriel ... could this be a ploy of Riff's? He had sworn to take Auriel and himself from the group, Dion looked around carefully taking in the temple and more importantly the people inside. They were in a foreign temple, with a man being too familiar in contact with Auriel - though Auriel had something to do with that. Talking about there locations and times. They were obviously being spied on and now confronted. Dion just wondered what would happen next and who was this person that the minister was meeting today. They had arrived prematurely, however there was holes in his story. He expected them tomorrow, they had journeyed here in less than half the time it normally took. There were inconsistancies. He rubbed his fingers together thinking.

"Riff?" he asked quietly back to Tikita, so only she could hear. His eyes wandering the room. There were a lot of priests if they became combatants, and the place was pretty barren, seven pits. Top must feel at home with all the stone and what not, Dion thought. He shivered slightly, he missed the sun.

Bharat releases Auriel's hand. "You do not reveal your secrets? Well, perhaps I do not blame you. However I warn you that any attempt to translocate from here will be considered gross effrontery. You would never be able to return. I am responsible for you while you are in Papred and you will make this impossible if you start vanishing and reappearing. Let me offer a bargain. I can keep track of you within the city and have no interest when you leave it. All I ask is that you tell me when you are leaving. You need not say where you are going, I just want to be sure that I don't have to watch your backs for you."

He senses that all four of those near him are perturbed by him. The fact that the temple crowds steer away from him fearfully, does not help.

"These cultists are aware that we are unhappy with certain aspects of their rituals. These are not your concern but they are afraid I may talk to them and learn more than they would like. Of course, I am not on your side. I haven't the faintest notion of what you are doing in Bashkher or why you stir up so much trouble but I am a good friend of Governor Metvet in Antinapura and he swears you are a force for good, battling evil. Now if you are willing to tell me when you leave Papred, I will answer any questions you may have on the city. There is little about it that I do not know."

Bharat remains a forbidding person but you all know that no one can lie to Top. However he appears, he is telling the truth.

"Who's the 'we' you are referring to? Let's see, you're not helping us, you don't like the cultists, could you tell me who you are helping and who you do like?" Auriel stops walking and looks at the man. He knows he cannot lie, but then, why do all of these people try to lie anyway? It always just leads to trouble. At least with Top around, Auriel doesn't have to worry about all of those lies like the ones the townspeople used to tell. "Anyway," Auriel continues. "We don't need to translocate. We all speak the same language."

He lapses into a quick thought. All of this stuff with lying. I don't get it. And Top, what exactly is his power that he has that keeps people from lying? I wonder - if someone believed something that was not the truth, would he be able to say it in front of Top? If there was really only one god, and Top walked into a temple for one of the gods that didn't really exist, would the worshippers really be able to talk about their god, even though to do so would be a lie? He quickly snaps out of it and files it away as something to look into in the future.

Bharat laughs. "We are the government of Papred, child. Although nominally the capital city of Bashkher we have neither the resources or the will to involve ourselves in the affairs of others. Papred is capital only because it is where we all meet. I am interested in keeping the city free of - shall we call say - less respectable cults. You have come across them before, no doubt. The cultists in this temple have a hidden interest in certain narcotics that are banned from public sale. But that should not worry you."

He looks at Top. "You are the leader. I am sure that it is you who must decide if you can adhere to my request. It is hardly onerous. And then, if you wish, I will tell you of the sword you seek."

Dion was immediately put on guard. They hadn't said anything about searching for a sword. His hand strayed closer to a throwing knife as he began to focus his concentration onto his alignment of fire. He didn't like this one bit. Normally he'd of taken the fellow up on his offer but if their quest was such common knowledge that it preceded their arrival then it was quite interesting that this individual had trouble tracking them and desired to know when they left the city.

Dion looked over at Tikita and mouth the word sword, then arched a questioning eyebrow on the side away from the minister. Dion doubted there was any way possible for him to see his action or facial movement but was ready anyway. Dion was a little mistrustful since the matter with Riff.

Tikita nods imperceptably back to Dion and casually moves in front of him to block Bharat's view of his sword arm.

Top turns and says quietly to the rest of the party. "He's telling the truth... at least as far as he knows." He notices the signs of them anticipating a fight. He puts his hand on Dion's sword arm and guides it down and away from his weapon. He leans in close and whispers in Dion's ear, careful not to let anyone else hear. "Not yet. He's with security... it's his job to know what goes on in his city. We can't afford trouble this early and for something as uncertain as this man's knowledge."

Top returns his attention to Bharat. "You have our agreement. We will not use any unusual methods of travel to leave this city. Your back is perfectly safe from us." He laughs a bit at the last part. "Now what's the story of this sword?"

Bharat accepts Top's reply. To Dion he says: "There are three of my people marking each one of you. I wouldn't try to display your prowess in the middle of a crowded temple. As I told you, there are others who would see you dead. While you are in Papred I will do my best to ensure you remain alive. The sword you seek is in the hands of a private collector. I will arrange for you to see it on the day you come to tell me you are leaving Papred."

He is looking over your shoulder and sees something. "My contact has arrived. I must go. It is getting late. Your tour starts at dawn tomorrow it would be sensible to retire for the night. Should you elect to go to the sea temple the following day I will be unable to guard you. I look forward to talking to you again when I am less busy."

You see him walking away with another man dressed as a temple acolyte. Try as you might you cannot see anyone watching you on Bharat's behalf.

"Well, I'm glad that's over." remarked Tikita. She crosses her arms in front of her and scowls. "I don't like the fact that we are being followed around by people we can't even see. And I also don't like that we are being told to go home like good little children by some man... even if he is the Minister of Internal Security."

She pauses to think. "He is right about one thing though. It's probably wise that we do not display our abilities to publicly... you never know who's watching. "

"So what do we do now?"

"Um, excuse me Top." Auriel chimes in sheepishly. "Did we just agree to not do something that we know there is something that will do something to us but we don't know what the something is?" He looks at the blank stares. "How can we agree to not go through a gate, when we're looking for the gate, but don't know what it is? What happens if we accidentally find this gate and wind up going through it?"

Dion allowed his arm to be moved by Top and scowled at the Minister's commets. It must be the lack of sun in here, but he was feeling very cold at the moment, almost heartless. This man could take his advice and shove it. Their leaving Papred by any means would be a boon to this minister if he was interested in not having a scene. They were being watched, and Dion doubted it was anything as trivial as security. Despite Top's abilities, all they knew was what he said was the truth, not what he didn't say.

The room was too cold, Dion didn't like this. He prefered warmth, life and carefree living plus excitement. This was dark and cold, like the depths of the sea, not its warm shallows in which Dion delighted. Dion turned and exited the temple out into the sun, his body quivering with the cold he felt in his own heart. He stood there soaking up the sun's rays, his thoughts darker. He exhaled slowly and breathed in the warm air. The warm wonder of the sun, its rays comforting and familiar.

Top smiles at Auriel's question. "It's not a lie if we don't know we're going to do it. I don't lie, but a little creative interpertation of "truth" is sometimes needed in the interest of a greater good. Besides, if we do find it here... I'll get the sword and meet you outside the city, leaving by my own two feet. I can't help it if you strong willed people insist on defying my orders!"

Top notices the sun low on the horizon... much later than he thought it was. He turns back to his party. "He's right... it's getting late, there's nothing more to do here tonight. I don't know about you, but an early rest sounds pretty good to me."

He begins walking off in the direction of their inn. As he walks, troubling thoughts fill his mind. Despite his confident words a few moments ago, he isn't sure he could do what he talked about. His truthfulness had been an unquestioned part of him for so long he wasn't sure he could abandon it, even in such a small and perhaps unintentional way. But he said none of this.

Auriel looks at Top and sees the pain that he might have unintentionally caused him. "Top, I'm sorry." He says, coming over and taking his hand. "I know that the truth is the truth, and that it is immutable when you look at the big picture. Perhaps that is what your strength is, bringing people to that big picture view, where at that point they can see what is right and wrong. Then they just say from there what is in their heart."

He looks for any sign in his friend that his talking, or even his touch, has reassured him.

Dion followed absently his thoughts far from Bashkher, far from the situation or the task at hand. The setting sun was giving him his last bit of refuge. He desired the heat, the passion of life. Wine, love and fighting were the things that helped fuel this half of his nature. The roaring flames of a fire, a lantern, a candle. He felt an affinity with each one, felt its power and its fraility. Fire seemed to coarse through his viens, the fire of passion, the passion of life.

Tikita, not wanting to be left behind, follows Dion. As she is walking along, she is struck by a pang of homesickness, and a terrible wanting to see her mother. "I wonder what she and Grandmama would think of me doing this quest." she thinks sadly to herself.

Evening in Bashkher falls very rapidly. It is pitch dark as you arrive back in the lodgings. The girl at the reception desk says. "I have confirmed the bookings for the temple tour tomorrow. It departs from outside at dawn. Will you need to be woken?"

Tikita nods to the girl. "Yes, if you would wake us early, we'd appreciate it. "

The girl nods and moves away. As she goes she says: "the kitchens will be closing shortly if you intend to eat."

You have two rooms. One for the three boys and one for Tikita. They are opposite each other at the top of the stairs.

Auriel looks expectantly at the girl. "Thank you for the offer of food, I am very hungry." He goes and sits down at a table. Then he asks a question. "How long is it until dawn?"

"Far too soon. I'm headed straight to bed and I'd suggest you do so soon as well. We won't be too useful if we're all dead tired." Top follows his words exactly, and walks off towards his room.

The girl notices the exchange and returns with a smile. "Here. I can get another one from the kitchen."

She gives Auriel a small food box containing bread, an apple and two hard boiled eggs. Breakfast for the night shift.

She hurries quickly away as if afraid the gesture might not be welcomed by the management.

Dion hung around for a few minutes, then retired upstairs. The room seemed so cold; he shivered. He sat in a chair and stared at the dimly lit candle on the neighboring table's top. He ignored the nearby form of Top, as he ran his fingers lightly over the flame. The fire blackened his skin lightly with that deftness of heat and cold that leaves but a thin layer of soot and nought else. The smokey waves that rose from the single flame, all alone upon its candle, rose like a soft music. It lulled Dion to sleep, his frame slouched in the chair and his cheek pressed to the wooden table top; the candle still held in one hand.

"Thank you." Auriel says. Noting her discomfort, he quickly goes up to his room with his box, guarding it as if it held a great treasure.

In the boys' room all three are quickly asleep. Nothing disturbs their rest. Tikita falls asleep quickly but her reast is troubled with strange visions that make no sense. Bones feature prominently. Some of the dreams are so real they could be happening.

At one point she opens her eyes. There is a huge figure in the room. It is tall and thin and dressed in a purple cloak that flutters in a chill breeze of its own. No part of the figure is visible but vivid red eyes are buring at her through a veil.

"Help us, Oootikita, help us!"

The voice is dark and terrifying.

Tikita, terrified of the apparition, let's out a startled yelp, crawls back to the edge of the bed with the sheets pulled up to her chin.

"Wha...wha..who are you? How do you know me?" she stutters frightenedly.

The voice is deep but perhaps that of a woman. She gives a name but not one you knows. 'Brassie' it sounds like, rhyming with a dog's name 'lassie' and then what sounds like 'cur wrapper'.

"Our people will die. Swords and bones. Swords and bones. Find the ninth sword. Ask the bones. Deep in the temples. Deep. Deep."

The apparition begins to fade. If you are lucky you may have a chance to ask one more question.

The boys hear nothing.

"Wait... The Temple?.... which one?.... who are your people? .....wait.... don't go.... I want to help." Tikita cried forlornly.

The figure solidifies. "To help - yes!"

An arm lunges and grabs at Tikita. She feels a strange tingling in her arm. (Your animal affinity skill is boosted hugely).

"Once I knew. Now they do not believe... The sword? I cannot tell you. Seek out the written words of men. Eight for nine. Eight for nine."

The creature, whatever it is, seems to Tikita as neither good nor evil. Neutral, not human, separate.

"Temples? Yes! I remember that. There are four of them. None is here. But there is a site here. They call it a temple because they do not know. Yes. Go there. Go there at once. At once. Help us."

The apparition vanishes. Tikita immediately falls into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The following morning everything is confused. The early call disorients her and she is not given a chance to talk about what she saw or heard.

The four of you are split into pairs, Top and Dion, Auriel and Tikita. You ride in wheeled vehicles with strange bucket like seats at the front. The guide, Nandi, regales you with huge amounts of information but hurtles you around each site as if afraid to stay still.

By the time you finish, late in the evening you are exhausted.

The temples were, in their way, fascinating - each very different bu for he purposes of your as yet unfocussed quest only three things emerged. The Sun Temple has an archive freely accessible and said to rival those of the city of Papred. The seven buildings are very clearly temples. And none of them is old.

If the apparations words can be believed there is only one place that it could have been sending them. The 'so-called' Sea Temple.

There is still one day left before you get your passes to the city archives. You can visit the Sun Temple again, confront Bharat about the sword or make the excusion to the Sea Temple.

As the four of you sit down to the evening meal, you have to decide.

(OOC> One vote each please, Top to decide in the event of a tie.)

Auriel looks at the others quizzically. "I wonder why they call it the See Temple? That name applies to all of the temples that we saw today. This city is full of them, I mean, everywhere you go you see a temple." He continues on with a completely straight face, seeming to be completely serious about his question. "Well, we've already seen the other temples, so I say we see the Sea Temple, if it can be seen."


OOC - BTW - Emry is in the process of moving, she will try to get back on as she can over the next few days, but will not be able to be on regularly.

Top looks over at Auriel with a smile. "Not see, sea, the ocean. You've seen oceans, right?" He returns his attention to the others, looking at them expecantly. He already knows his own vote, but he doesn't want to influence the opinions of his party quite yet. Leadership has its place, he reminds himself, but sometimes it is best to sit back and watch....