<<<25 Feb 2057, 16:02Eye of the Eagle
(NAN II)
>>>
Back in Seattle again. After all the potential
threats we've experienced in the course of this run,
its conclusion was somewhat anticlimactic. Not that I'm
complaining.
After a short battle with a couple of overlooked
terrorists who were trying to escape in their small boat
(and use their cannon on the ferry, which we couldn't,
needless to say, allow to happen), we attempted to
determine what to do with our highly dangerous cargo.
Joe considered trying to defuse the explosives surrounding
the canisters, but came to the conclusion that he wasn't
sufficiently confident in his skills to take the risk
unless it became necessary. I admire his restraint.
Fortunately, a course of action revealed itself to us
in the form of one Michael Falling Star, who astrally
projected to the deck of the ferry. He assured us that
if we could get the ferry into Kitamat Harbour, he and
his associates, who were preparing a massive ritual, could
deal with the toxin. We were a bit suspicious, but since
we had no other real choice, we decided to trust him.
Summoning the great spirit Teel (the largest air spirit I
have ever seen), we explained our course of action to it
and asked for its assistance. With the aid of another
spirit it called, Teel was able to significantly increase
our speed, permitting us to reach the harbour in time.
We vacated the ship in our small boat and got some distance
away before the explosion occurred, hoping that Falling
Star was true to his word (and reporting his abilities
accurately).
I was able to watch the ritual from the astral
plane, and it was impressive. It's been a long time since
I've seen a ritual of such size and power, and never
of the shamanic tradition. I watched with great interest
as they did something to the toxin to render it inert--
the red, malevolent substance transformed into millions
of tiny bats and dissipated. On the material plane, I'm
told, this translated to black powder falling harmlessly
to the ground.
After that, we got out of the NAN lands fairly
quickly--I think that all of us, even Joe, were ready
to get home. We stopped briefly to visit Michael
Falling Star in his home; he was grateful to us for
our help, but obviously very tired. We thanked him for
the ritual (Joe, especially, seemed quite concerned about
treating him with the proper respect) and took our leave.
Back in Seattle, we finished up business by meeting
with Farseer once more. She, too, was grateful for our
assistance, and completed our payment by giving each of
us another bag filled with gold coins.
The next day, or rather the next evening, something
rather interesting occurred. I was making my preparations
to return to England as usual for our break when there
was a knock at my door. On opening it (I was not expecting
any visitors that evening) I saw ShadoWraith standing
there, looking a bit troubled. He asked if I had time to
talk, and I noticed that he had brought a bottle of fine
Scotch with him. From past experience, this told me that
he wanted to talk at length, and probably about something
that was disturbing him. Curious, I invited him in.
We spent the next couple of hours discussing some
fairly odd things. 'Wraith had recently become inexplicably
concerned about Thayla--he was concerned about her safety,
after we left her there on the bridge, and wondered if anyone
was guarding her. As we talked further, the subjects grew
further and further afield of the original topic: 'Wraith
began talking about elves, and Harlequin, and eventually
(I'm not sure he even realized it--he was a bit into the bottle
at that point) brought up the subject of Desire.
Hearing that, I became convinced that Desire was
the real source of his interest; Thayla and Harlequin and
the Horrors seemed of less importance, though I think it
would be nearly impossible to get him to admit it. He
asked me about the metaplanes and my knowledge of them;
I think he wants to go back to Thayla's metaplane, if it's
possible to do so. I offered to give him some reading matter
on the subject, which he accepted, but I kept getting the
sense that he was trying to make sense of something that
I'm not sure anyone can make sense of. I told him
that I would help in any way I can, but that I don't have the
knowledge or the ability to take others to the metaplanes--
and furthermore, that I doubt that I could even find that
particular metaplane on my own. Now, I think, he's determined
to find someone who can--which is probably Harlequin, since
he's the only one we know who can do it. Not that we can
find him, of course. We have no idea where he is. Perhaps
if we could arrange it so we could have a meeting with our
current patron (the dragon in Dragon Security) we might
be able to arrange something. I doubt that we'll get this
chance, though.
I look forward to pursuing this matter further as time
goes on.