Day 37 (S28)

At about 6am, the group carried Aurelius' body to the tree at the edge of town.
As they approach the tree, they see that a little fence had been built around it. One of the orphan boys was asleep at the base of the tree.
"Let's not do this near the tree," said Rina, "I don't want to wake him, and I don't want to accidentally catch the tree on fire."
They walked a few yards away from the tree, in clear view of the sunrise.
"I don't really know what funeral rites to deliver," said Kin, "I only know the funeral rites of the followers of Oara."
"I think if you do that and just... maybe write something to Therius in the book?" Alice suggested, "Doesn't he know everything that's ever been written?"
Rina handed Kin a pen and paper, and he wrote to Therius: "We are releasing this soul, Aurelius Ravenwood, from this body on behalf of Therius, the Scholar God."
Rina put the paper inside of Aurelius's Soul Book, and Kin put the holy symbol - which was an origami swan made of paper - onto the top of the book.
Rina then used Agronoch's magic to set the book aflame, and she repeated again, "Enoch... come and get him," she said quietly as she cried a single tear.
"I... I don't want his body to be used against us somehow..." Rina said to Alice and Kin.
"Do you think we should burn his body?" asked Alice, "I could moonbeam right now."
"No," said Kin, "We agreed to get him back in one piece."

Just then, a voice came from behind the tree, "Well, well... what have we here?" Roy Richmond was standing at the tree watching them.
"It's not 9am yet," said Kin, "You said we get that much time to mourn him."
"I know, I know, I just got a little nervous seeing you play with fire, and all."
"We agreed we would give him to you, and that he'd be in one piece," Alice said, "We are just burning some of his belongings as we believe he would have wanted."
"Who am I to get in the way of friends mourning friends! I just wanted to make sure the fire wouldn't spread or... if something else would happen. You never really know with fire!"
"We will be on our way to the Church of Luminus in an hour. Please leave us be until then. And be quiet, please. We don't want to wake him," Kin said as he pointed at the orphan boy asleep on the other side of the tree.
"Oh, then I won't bother you any more. I will see you at the church at 9," Roy then walked way toward the church in town.

At 8am the party wrapped Aurelius' body in a rug they had from the inn, and carried him down to the church. Kin lead in the front, and Rina behind - Alice and Neely were too short to carry him.
As they approached the church, Roy and one of the Cardinals of Luminus were standing in the front.
The bound gently laid Aurelius down and unwrapped him. A couple of people in white robes then wrapped him in white robes as well. They then carried his body into the church, Roy gave the group a wave and a nod as if to thank them.
Roy and the rest of church group walked into the church, following the body. Then the Pinky finger walked in after him, coming around the corner - she had been hiding in the shadows.
As soon as Aurelius' body was out of view, Rina walked away in the direction of the inn. Alice followed immediately after, then Neely and Kin picked up the rug.
They all walked back to the inn in silence. Rina paid the owner of the place an extra 10 gold for the trouble of missing the rug. "You really don't owe me something you didn't steal," he said.
"Please, just take it. Buy a round on me if you don't want it," she said again.

After getting back to the room, Rina requested they talk about how she could get "as close to death as possible," as Agronoch had put it.
"We could just beat you over the head a few times," said Kin.
"I'd rather you didn't," responded Rina.
"How else should we do it? Burn you to death under a moonbeam?" Alice suggested.
"That sounds even less pleasant," Rina said.
"Well, what do you suggest?" Asked Alice.
"Suffocation? That's maybe less painful..." Rina said, "I guess you could choke me. That sounds like the most fun way to go."
"Rina, I don't really know you like that," said Alice.
"Hey, you made it dirty, not me," said Rina.
"But I guess... I guess I agree," Alice said, "Plus, I could just cast Plant growth to have a vine do it."
Alice got up off of the wooden chair, and gestured for Rina to sit in it.
"Guys..." Rina said as she sat in the chair, "Please don't let me die here."
"We have healing spells and potions," Kin said, "You'll be fine."
"I won't let anything happen to you, Rina!" Neely said from the corner.
Alice then cast Plant Growth, making the wood of the chair grow thick vines and wrap around Rina's neck.
Rina gave in to the vines, letting them take her to death throws.
Alice then smacked Rina with one of the vines to get her down 2 death throws.

Then Rina’s soul was ripped from her body and transported straight downward. Through the earth, into a very grey and rocky plane. She saw a shepherd, who seemed to recognize her as they made eye contact - she was in the Niktalia Eternal plane.
But she was quickly moved farther downward until she appeared inside a bedroom. She was not able to move, but she could see the room was large with high ceilings and gems throughout the crystal blue walls. Everything was opulent and over the top, just the floor was worth more than an entire city.
She then sees Agronoch on the edge of his bed, impatiently and anxiously waiting.
He sees her, then gets up quickly “What took you so long??”
She looked at him, confused, it had only been a few hours.
He then came closer and gathered himself as if he was about to do something unpleasant. Rina then saw a magic circle that she was in the middle of. Enoch took a deep breath and stepped in - his skin immediately starting to get small burns and wounds that stung him.
“We don't have much time, but we can talk here. This is as close as we can get for now. They are watching me all the time, I can't ever say anything. But it WORKED, Rina, it worked! Caspian is here, he didn't need to complete the mission to still get here! And… Aurelius is here, too.”
“You have Aurelius??” Rina exclaimed.
“He is here! Now we know about where we go after we die” Enoch answered.
“You mean you didn't know??” Rina exclaimed again.
“I am figuring it out… but you need to talk to the missing Finger... he knows more than anyone. And the bear! The bear on the island. But you have to go now. We will talk again soon.”

Then Rina was pulled back into her body, the vines disappeared, and she completely passed out. For once, an elf actually slept. Everyone got a long rest. 
They all rested until 6pm, then decided to finish shopping in town. Rina got Water Breathing as a ritual spell, 2 Minor healing potions and 2 greater healing potions, as well as some honey for Mayoay’s bees. Kin and Alice got everything they needed for spell components also. Alice also got a potion of true polymorph. 
"It's getting late and I want to get home..." Rina said.
"We definitely need to get some real rest," Alice said.
"And the 2 weeks of diplomatic immunity is almost up," mentioned Neely.
They got to their tree to find the orphan boys hanging around it. Kin had purchased and sharpened a dozen broomsticks to give to the kids as pretend swords.
One of the young boys had a piece of paper and a pen that Rina and Kin had accidentally left there earlier in the day, so Rina gave him some ink and and papers with writing on them so he could possibly learn to read and write.
All of them worship the Bound. Rina finally introduced everyone to the kids by name.
Alice gave the kids a little more money, then they all opened the tree with treestride to get home to Castle Frey.

They got back to Castle Frey to find men working on their house.
"Please stay out of house for now," one of the workers said, "it will be safe after sunset."
"If we can't go into the house because they're busy with construction, let's go to the ShapeSmithing shop to deliver a payment to Drake for the vault and shields," Rina suggested.
Before they got too far, Kin used a sending to Francis so they could get a meeting with King Sullivan Frey as soon as possible.
His response: "Meeting tomorrow? The Bound is back! Yes, I think we can meet for breakfast at 10. Hey, babe! The Bound is in town! Bound, Town..."
"Tomorrow at 10, as usual," Kin said.
They got to the ShapeSmithing school to find Drake teaching once again. It seemed to be a history class this time.
"You see, one of the first great ShapeSmiths date back to before the great war..."

The party waited until Drake was finished with his class, and he came to greet them, "I'm sure you're here for this," he said as he pulled a shield off of the wall and showed it to them. It had the little origami symbol of Therius - blue on an iron background.
"Um... No, unfortunately not..." Kin said.
"Why not? It's for Aurelius, it's what he ordered."
"He's... gone," Rina said quietly.
"What do you mean 'gone'?"
"He died while fighting the fish," said Alice.
"We... couldn't bring him back," said Kin.
Drake then just handed hung up the shield on the top shelf of the shop, "You know, one of my students made this as their final project," he said, "They got an A."
Rina was quiet.
"I am saddened to hear of his death," Drake continued, "I know king Sullivan will be saddened, as well."
"I didn't feel sad..." said Alice.
Drake raised an eyebrow.
"I felt... a little sad," said Rina, "But he was also a peeping tom, and I'm happy to not have to be paranoid anymore."
The Drake nodded understandably.
"We were hoping you could trade the remainder of his things for the Jarl mask," said Kin.
"Rina thought it was cursed, but turns out we need it," said Alice.
"I've just had enough of curses in my life," said Rina, "But turns out we need it for something else."
"Of course," said Drake, "You can have whatever you need. I also finished the vault in your home already."
Rina smiled, "Wow... you're good."
"Yes... Very good," Drake said as he stared directly into her eyes.
The two of them continued to look at one another until Kin spoke up, "Ahem... We really do need to go."
Alice and Kin began to walk out, Rina lingered a moment before waving goodbye to Drake. He smiled back as she left.

They all reconvened at their house. Daria had killed some large bird-like creature from the nearby Taste Tree Forest, and had it in their new stone oven.
"Has been cooking all night," she said to them as she took it out of the oven - grabbing it with bare hands.
"I just want the liver!" said Rina.
"It all looks amazing," Kin said.
"They really have fixed up the house well," Alice remarked, looking up at the ceiling where there used to be a hole that birds flew into.
"Aurelius is the one who asked they work on that first..." said Rina.
Everyone sat silently thinking about the man they'd lost, then it was time to go to sleep.

Day 11 of the 2 weeks of diplomatic immunity

Next: Day 38 (S28)