*** Session 15 - Scene 7 (of 7) ***
At the end of the path is a small settlement of ratskins. A woman approaches Deadly Snow and greets her, saying her name is Ne'chi. She tells Deadly Snow she smells horribly, which the girl says is because of her leprosy.
Ne'chi asks what brings Deadly Snow there. She says she is looking for the temple of the Azure Dragon. The woman says that is the temple here, but only those who are not truly evil may enter it. Deadly Snow says she is not, but that her bat will need to remain there.
Approaching the temple, Ne'chi and Deadly Snow are greeted by the head custodian monk, a man named Tsering. Tsering and Deadly Snow exchange formal greetings.
Tsering says he can tell there is evil inside the girl, but also honor. He says he will allow her to enter the temple, but only if she gives her word of honor not to kill anyone or steal anything inside. She does so, saying she comes seeking only knowledge.
The monk allows her up the stairs and they pass through the temple gate. He says he will show her to her room, where she can rest and bathe (he emphasizes the bathing part). Before she heads in, she has the monk clarify that his order is the Priests of Pah-Ma.
Her quarters have a nice hot springs bath and she is given fresh new robes to wear. Tsering also delivers a small meal to her, and afterwards they head into a hidden courtyard in the center of the temple. The courtyard is a small forest, filled with various trees, faerie folk, and rare herbs. They spend some time meditating in the gardens and the girl is able to replenish her inner strength.
Once they are done meditating, Tsering asks Deadly Snow what has brought her to the temple. She says several things have brought her to the temple but starts by saying she wanted to check on the fate of Kandia, the priestess of Rurga from Rodemus.
Tsering relates that Kandia died of old age some time ago. He asks the girl if she is connected to the Rodemus family. She says she is seeking the return of several heirloom items from the family that Kandia brought with her.
The monk asks her to clarify she is seeking to return the objects to their rightful heirs. She says she is, and pledges on her honor to do so (as she and her companions are the rightful heirs due to the Rodemus family being killed off and their treasure the right of anyone who found it).
Tsering takes her to the vault of treasures, a room in the back of the temple. It is guarded by a large monk named Thubten. Thubten opens the locked gate and Tsering takes out three items from the many on the shelves, saying these are the items belonging to the Rodemus family.
The first item is a set of three healing potions, the remainder of what Kandia had left after her travels. The second was a ring Kandia wore, a magical ring of spell protection. Deadly Snow quickly puts the ring on for "safe-keeping".
As she puts on the ring, Tsering brings out a final item he calls the "silver scimitar", a magical blade with runes of Rurga on it. He says it is not an actual holy weapon but is an enchanted sword with a very sharp blade. Deadly Snow puts the sword in her waistband.
With the treasures recovered, Tsering asks the girl that since she is honorable, could he ask for her help in a different matter. She agrees to be of service if she can.
Tsering smiles, saying her coming is unusual and must have been aided by the gods to deal with their problem. He notes she is serendipitously qualified to assist. Deadly Snow agrees she has many skills.
The monk tells her to follow him. He takes her to the back of the temple and opens a secret passage. As they continue down the passageway, he tells her some time ago the ratskins guarding the temple found a blind man, badly injured and dying, in the tunnels nearby and brought him to the temple.
According to Tsering's tale, the man gave his name as "Brandt". Tsering says he and the other monks healed the man and spent several years training him in their martial arts so he would be able to defend himself despite his disability.
At the end of the secret passage is a dead end with a broken wall leading into a very small chamber that appears to have been bricked in as some point. Tsering explains one of their order, Hakushin, was an immured anchorite who lived in that chamber and protected a powerful artifact his order calls the Zalawad.
Deadly Snow asks what the Zalawad does. Tsering says he isn't exactly sure – it is a dark artifact from the Age of Darkness back when the Old Ones ruled the world. The monk says the word Zalawad is from an ancient language and literally translates to "The Darkness".
Continuing the tale, Tsering says that somehow Brandt managed to find the secret passageway, broke down the wall, killed Hakushin, and stole the Zalawad. The thief then disappeared into the night, which was several months ago.
What Tsering needs is for Deadly Snow to find Brandt and retrieve the artifact to bring it back to the temple. He says the only problem is, he doesn't know exactly what the artifact is or what it looks like, for only the immured anchorite was allowed near it.
The monk says what they do know is that it was contained in a 3' x 2' wooden box with special wards on it. He also recalls a set of verse passed down through their generations to warn about the object: "Value the world's many'd splendor; And keep it safe with your endeavor; For man's heart will grow as dark as beast; If this object ye do release."
Deadly Snow asks if they know anything else about Brandt. The monk says the man rarely talked about himself or where he was from. Brandt did mention a dead wife named Lua, and Tsering suspects he may have harbored thoughts of revenge related to her death.
Tsering hopes she can find the object, for it is not safe out in the world. Deadly Snow asks what they want done about Brandt, but the monk says that is of no concern to them. The girl also asks if they can teach her their special unarmed combat skills, but he tells her it would take many years.
Before she leaves, Deadly Snow tries to get some other answers. She discusses the hooded thief who uses the symbol of the Azure Dragon. The monk agrees the appearance of the man sounds like it could be Brandt, who is probably staying hooded to hide the fact he's blind.
Tsering isn't sure why Brandt would use the symbol of their temple. He says the constellation of the Azure Dragon has to do with their temples founding hundreds of years ago, back during the age of the Kingdom of Baalgor. According to their legends and writings, their order was formed to protect the world against the coming of a black dragon, a stalker from beyond the stars who is said to come to destroy the world.
Deadly Snow asks if it is a literal dragon, but Tsering says the current scholars are split on whether the tales are meant to be literal or metaphorical. Because they have been around so long, it is difficult to keep track of which of the teachings handed down over the centuries are meant to be literal truths and which ones are metaphors for larger messages.
The young assassin asks if Sa'lid Dra'lah or the Ebony Blade factor into their tales at all. Tsering says he has never heard of them.
He also asks about the zombie plague Kandia was escaping when she came there. Tsering explains they were unable to help Kandia with a cure for that.
Tsering offers some knowledge of the plague, that it was started by a necromancer named Bragosani the Damned. Deadly Snow asks if they know anything about Bragosani's whereabouts. The monk says they know he came through a portal from another dimension several hundred years ago and used dark arts to transform himself into a Mummy Immortalus, an undead creature of great power. As to his current whereabouts, they do not know.
Deadly Snow also asks about the Great Mulroney. Tsering says he has never heard the name and asks if he should have. The girl offers Mulroney himself would say they should have but he is probably not worth their time to know about.
Tsering can offer no help with Lorna or Ma'leese either. He has heard of the Thieves of Harr-Ki and their worship of the false god, the warrior bird Harr-Ki. Tsering is clearly not fond of the thieves, saying they lavish themselves in finery, lavishing in monuments to recreation instead of helping the poor.
After finishing up her conversation with the monk, Tsering wishes her well as she meets up with Viktor and they begin heading back to Beartooth to meet back up with Mulroney and Tickles.