# Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor'alq: Chapter 124



## Aeolius (May 26, 2005)

Beneath the Pinnacles of Azor'alq: Book 13, Chapter 124
( originally posted at www.lobi.com/bpaa/ )

In silent solitude, Rimus swims solemnly into the remaining temple of Hagstone Chapel. Alight with the shimmering varicolored hues cast by the stained glass guardians above, the inner walls of the holy ruins offer little in the way of comfort or sanctuary. Against the northern wall, seven alcoves hold the unliving husks of Almiti priests, each preserved in a coffin of crystal. Beneath each transparent sarcophagus is a small box and plaque encrusted with ages of algae and mud.

"Daddy?" a voice not unfamiliar calls from the south "Daddy here?"

Turning slowly, Rimus beholds the life, which once grew within his own. Her skin delicate silver in hue, the young fish hag displays hair of brilliant red. Upon closer examination, Rimus notes that her locks undulate as if alive, not unlike the tendrils of an anemone.

Subconsciously, the altered human traces a finger atop his abdomen and is jolted into attention by the slender scar he finds. He wonders what portions of hag remain grafted both atop and beneath his skin, after the birth of the parthenogenetic fish hag, to allow for his continues existence beneath the surface of the sea.

"Daddy?" his daughter continues unabashed "Lazo want you."

Holding the amulet in outstretched hands, the pseudonatural hag allows the locket to open. Within it's tarnished halves, a shard of blackened mirror is revealed.

With an awkward reverence, Cilvia gently glides within the open doorway of the temple. Holding each of her four-month old offspring in a cradled arm, the tiefling mermaid approaches clumsily.

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Having observed the actions of NeeKaa, the skool acts upon instinct, to seek a secluded corner within the ruins of the city in which to explore a sensation growing inside its collective intelligence.

Emulating the swirling cast net held by the oceanid, the hivemind haggle forms itself into a compact sphere of schooling fish. Swirling as if panicked by a predator, the skool swiftly vanishes.

Emerging in the pocket dimension known as Dream Lake, the haggle finds itself in the company of the spectral hag Xaetra.

"Ah." she whispers, obviously pleased with the hivemind's performance "I wondered how long that would take. I told NeeKaa that only one who shares my blood might awaken the net. I did not speak untrue. The truth is that I know more of your past than first I revealed. You know of the bonehag Peg? She stole my unborn daughter, Xenith, before I took her life myself. Before those days, Peg orchestrated the murder of a covey of sea hags beneath Syliah's control."

Sensing the haggle's collective unrest, she swiftly continues.

"You need not worry, here. These waters are mine.

Peg, you see, was acting with a vengeful heart, for the covey she killed had maimed one in her own sisterhood. At that time, Muckmyre and Peg acted together with a third. Muckmyre's eye had been ripped from it's socket, stolen my the sea hags. Stolen, to create a talisman of great power. That talisman would become the covey's unblinking eye. That eye would, in time, reclaim a life of its own.

Muckmyre was my daughter by an unholy union with a collective of vardiggs, evil grues from the darkest depths of elemental water. In essence, you are part of her. In essence, you are part of my daughter."

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Swimming in the waters beneath the surface of Synsaal, the Barrier Between Worlds, the seawolf hunts. Spying his lone quarry, a sea turtle basking in the light of the full moon, the predator approaches. In an instant, it is done. Closing on his wounded prey, the seawolf severs a second flipper, rendering the turtle helpless. In a flurry of blood and shredded flesh, the seawolf descends, his appetite sated.

Swimming in the protected waters of Hagstone Chapel, the half-elf called Teal, devoid of raiment, violently shakes his head as if emerging from a reluctant cloud of silt. In his hands, he carries the shell of a freshly slain sea turtle.

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Finding himself swimming nervously near the massive chasm in the center of Hagstone Chapel, the sea elf Alkanon hears the gentle sounds of song emanating from within the walls of the temple of Alkali, the Wyrding Witch. Noting the temple doors rest slightly ajar, Alkanon peers within. He beholds an assemblage of sea elf, locathah, and merfolk women bowing in reverent respect to a tapestry depicting Alkali.

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Searching for the dwelling of the merchant who had offered her sweetsponge months ago, Saphier recalled the words spoken by the spectra hag about her mother, the succubus Ariss. If the succubus had been the daughter of the night hag, the half-dragon mused, then she was granddaughter to the hag, for Ariss was her mother. Why had Xaetra not enlisted her aid in the formation of the clutch, she wondered.

Her mind is quickly distracted, when she sees a party of merfolk overhead, chasing a school of cuttlefish into a net woven of seaweed.

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Seeking a moment in which to collect her thoughts, NeeKaa began to meditate, her quarterstaff of orichalcum set to her left and her homunculus guarding the waters to the right.

"I am Iasalas, the watershod," a voice murmurs within her mind "shall we focus our ki together as one?"


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