things couldn't have gotten more scary in my mission to get rid of these ancient artifact baskets!as you know whiro the maori god of darkness will stop at nothing to get his hands on these flax baskets because they contain ALL the mystic knowledge of the maori people.
well the thinkable happened while i was in picton. not only did whiro track me down... again, i guess (he's done that 1, 2, uh 3 times before to be fair)... and is currently on my heels chasing me around town!
i don't have an escape plan people of the web wide world. i'm hoping i can outrun him to the ferry terminal... why he'd stop chasing me there i don't know...
the bigger problem (if that were possible!) is that ms. rhonwyn in her instructions was very specific. take the baskets to EVERY place on the list she provided. there are two museums in town on that list... i haven't hit them. i couldn't hit them till tomorrow... even without an evil maori god on my heels!
like i said people of the innerweb i didn't have an escape plan, and thinking on this problem was eating up a lot of my mental power (can you blame me with a brain as small as mine really?!?)... and again... whiro was right on my heels!!!
had it not been for my gracile [That is a science term for light and sleek] young tyrannosaur body and its ornithimimid like build whiro'd have caught me by now...
the ferry terminal was close now. it was only just a little further. maybe if i made it i'd be alright.
from behind me almost as though whiro could sense my hope. "you really think you can escape me kauwheke te kura [Translation: Ancestor of the Moa]?" his voice didn't gasp or fluctuate despite the effort he was putting in to keep up with me. i on the other hand was shattered (kiwi for exhausted or tired). i'd sprinted from one end of town to the other at full speed. my lungs were just about ready to give up.
even if i made it to the terminal i was certainly toast, and my mission a failure. i didn't even want to know what whiro could or would do with the knowledge contained within the kete o te wananga. i was certain it would not be a better world. not that i was likely to be around to see it...
my legs and even more so lungs were giving out on me. there was no way i could keep going. i made my final desperate push to the ferry terminal. i made it just inside the threshold of the door where i collapsed. right in front of a maori wood carving (i note this because in my exhaustion i freaked out for a moment thinking it was a second maori deity after me!).
behind me the all too familiar snarly growl of whiro could be heard as he detected my weakness, and sensed his moment to strike...
just as whiro approached the door i was overcome with dizziness... the sort i've come to expect when something magic is going on around me. [Mystic Gradient Radiation being its scientific name]... i thought it was due to my close proximity to whiro and his magical essence... boy was i wrong.
suddenly the lobby lite up with furious mystical activity... which i'll note got me some really weird or nasty looks from the humans there. they couldn't see what i was, but i assure you people of the web wide, had you seen it you'd have made some noise too!
this magic was pouring forth from the maori statue just above me, and it was pretty serious stuff. not like the presence of an atua like whiro or the magical essence [Mystic Gradient Epicentre. The equivalent of a magical nuclear reactor or sun] of the baskets themselves. this wasn't a manifestation of magic like an entity or framework. this was a machine made of it designed to do some serious alterations of the world as it went... it was a spell!!!
this spell sure didn't like something about whiro. whether it was due to his being an atua, magic critter, or god of darkness the magic zoned in on him with force!i didn't stick around to find out what it was going to do to him... in hindsight i probably should have. how often to you get to see an action movie scene play out in front of you? (of course in real life their not fun like the movies!!!)... all i can say is whiro was not enjoying whatever was happening to him. though i was certain it wasn't going to kill him (can you kill a god?) that alone stop him for ever.
i did quickly catch the name on the plaque of the sign as i sped walked towards the counter to buy my ticket. the name said ao-kehu. i'd have to look it up later. after the sales lady finished looking at me funny for my earlier outburst she gave me a ticket for the next ferry. which left in 10 minutes... would whiro be warded off long enough?
[Ao-kehu was famous and revered Maori warrior of ancient mythology. In Maori lore Ao-kehu was renowned for being a slayer of Taniwha.
Taniwha were Maori monsters. They took many forms varying from the mundane such as giant whales, sharks, or lizards to outlandish and fantastic extremes of indescribable beasts. Though some Taniwha were benevolent guardians of a certain tribe or region most were malevolent or if not they were still a threat to outsiders of their realm. In such case Taniwha were a dreaded force for mortals to contend with, and most perished if they came up against one. Though there are tales of mortal warriors killing Taniwha, Ao-kehu is among the few to have killed many and survived these confrontations.
The most famous of these stories is Ao-kehu's slaying of Tuae-poroporo a very furious Taniwha of the Whanganui River. To slay the giant chimera {that is to say made of the parts of many animals} creature Ao-kehu devised a plan that used intellegence rather than strength to defeat Tuae-poroporo. He hollowed a log, and sealed himself inside it while baiting the outside. Unable to resist the lure of the bait Tuae-poroporo swallowed the log. Protected until he was in the stomach, Ao-kehu emerged from the log in Tuae-poroporo's belly and hacked his way out of the beast killing it.
Many modern Tohunga {Maori word meaning many things, but in this case refers to mystic priest} like to use statues of Ao-ketu as a focal point for spells and blessings designed to ward off evil spirits. This would seem the likely explanation for Traumador's experience at the Picton Ferry Terminal.]
i boarded the boat as soon as they'd let us. at least that way if whiro got inside the terminal he won't find me so quickly...as i got on deck and looked back on picton a new dread filled me...
there on the harbour front was the edwin fox museum. a place i was supposed to have taken the baskets...what if that was THE place that the baskets would have jived with the mana of?
what i did now was in vein. it wasn't like i could come back easily to try again. more to the point whiro was still after me. even if the boat got out of here without him it won't take him long to figure out a way to follow me. i was sure of it.
that alone the other possible mystic creatures that could be waiting for me on the north island!
doubt and worry ate away in my head even as the loud fog horn sounded to indicate we were leaving.i started to feeling slightly dizzy. something mystic was getting closer.
leaning over the railing i let out a slight gasp at what i saw on the dock. whiro!
i knew he wasn't going to be stopped so easily...
though to both my surprise and his the boat started to move... i was underway... but would whiro be along for the ride?
though as the ferry's engines worked up to full power, and got us moving very fast for a ship this side it seemed to take forever! in the meantime whiro struggled to find a way aboard... the one saving grace was not only was the boat moving steadily, but it had no easy accesses from dock level.
contrary to what i expected the ferry pulled out of port leaving whiro behind... well okay i expected the boat to leave port, but i was expecting whiro to have gotten aboard knowing my luck... whiro just stood there clearly off put by this development. yet he was also eerily calm. i could just tell i hadn't seen the last of him...
the view of picton was lovely as he hit the open water of the harbour.
yet the museum's that lay in town, that i hadn't visited, caused me to not enjoy this and the other views as much as i should have. guilt, doubt, and worry were all i could think of...
we quickly left the harbour and picton behind. we were hitting the beautiful queen charlotte sound.
i'll let the pictures speak for themselves as i missed this going through them. i was picturing the quest's disasterious ending due to this turn of events...
a cool salmon farm operation (even if their bad for the environment i think they look neat at the very least).
here we reached the literal end of the south island. i left behind all i'd known and experienced of new zealand this past year, and set forth to a new frontier...
after the pretty islands and cliffs of the sound's natural breaker.
now we set forth into the cook strait over which lay the north island. site of the second half of the museum quest...
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