1629, Dark Season, Stasis Week, Windsday
Context
Jar-eel tried to come back and Urox was flattened. These are the events that followed Session Storm Bull Down.
Events
A blood trail appeared on the stage and went upstairs. Berra went up the stairs slowly, on all fours. She hesitated outside Maalira’s door, and then went into Varaena’s room. She probably passed out there, but not for long, and was deeply asleep when found, on the floor as usual.1Special on Track from Xenofos.
The hand got bandaged but not fully healed. That’s where the blood is coming from.
“Berra! Wake up!” Xenofos is not shouting, but he sounds anxious.
There is a blurred blinking, and then she opens her eyes and focuses. “Ugh.”
“You are still bleeding.” He kneels at her side “There is no healer here yet, but Lhankor Mhy should be able to help.”
“Is the spider still here?” Berra looks down at her hand. “I think stopping the leeding should… bleeding should be fine now.”
That odd eye that she had in the Other World is still on her forehead, only this time it is not blinking. It looks like a circle of dull greasepaint or a charcoal tattoo.
xenofos: Xenofos reaches for her hand and starts to call on Lhankor Mhy’s Truth to set that hand into its proper form.2Casting heal wound with 6 mp, using and specialling Truth rune.
The bleeding clears, little Truth Rune scars springing into place like elegant sutures. The hand twitches, and Berra says, “Lord Raven’s been really rude about how high I’ll be able to count now.” Nine, if her boots are on.
“He did not speculate on your swordgrip? At least it is your offhand.” Xenofos examines the damaged hand and the repairs. “I am afraid that is as far as Lhankor Mhy’s wisdom can help. Chalana Arroy could perhaps do a bit more.” He tugs his beard. “But that happened on a Quest, so rules may be different…”
“He specerlated a lot. And shouted. Did… uh… Did the crocodile lose?” Berra winces.
“I did not see how it ended, they both went under water, but I think Urox lost.” Xenofos says. “And that was bad too, I am afraid.”
The little Humakti gets up with her usual grace, rolling to her feet and then rolling out her shoulders like she is ready for a fight. She is not looking towards Xenofos. “Lord Raven ended up dropping into the street. He let Sword Roneer know about some stuff, but he’s still trying to find out what happened.”
“Urox temple was destroyed, cultists dead…” Xenofos looks at the little Humakti. “I suppose they were drawn into the same quest.”
Berra goes over towards the window, to peer out through the shutters at the morning. “If we didn’t kill Rajar, then yeah?” She might be guessing.
“I saw no bodies and was told no names. But understood them to be the cultists of New Pavis temple.” Xenofos looks over his shoulder “Kolyey is here too. She was held in custody by your temple. More for her safety I guess, being associated with us.”
Berra looks away from the window, her nose wrinkling under the scars. “Yeah, probably. Lord Roneer’s likely building up a big bill of lading for favours.”
“I wish to hear what happened to you, I wa… we were rather worried. But Varanis, Maalira and X11 should arrive soon, so maybe go through those then so one telling will suffice… ” Xenofos leaves the question hanging.
Berra shrugs. “I tried to attack the ritual. I failed.” She goes to sit on the edge of Varaena’s bed. “But yeah, we should wait on each other and then we’ll know what’s going on.” Beatpause. “Well, talk about it.”
“No-one of us was injured. Varanis flew to attack Urox and tore parts away from it. I think Maalira quelled his rage. ” Xenofos looks at the little Humakti for a while in silence and adds as an afterthough “…and X11 and I protected Maalira from some crocodiles that turned out to be newtlings. “
Berra looks down, ashamed3Xenofos passes Insight.. It takes her the length of a breath before she steadies herself. “Well done.”
Xenofos checks the corridor to see Kolyey has not vanished. Then he slides to the floor. “I hope so…” Once sitting he pulls his battered rapier and starts going through it’s edge with the whetstone. Only someone observing closely would see shaking of his hands.
There is a golden glint on the rapier now, for all the edge seemed to have been used as a hammer. Berra does not comment on it.
Sheltered by the city wall, but well back from the gates, the party stops to set up a camp. The Vingan’s growing hypothermia has reached a point where she must warm up before she can go further. Once he has ensured that they have enough of a camp to be safe and that Maalira has his cousin well in hand, Xenofos heads into New Pavis. Varanis insists that he take X1138 with him.
Varanis huddles by the fire, wrapped in wet clothing. She shivers violently and her lips are blue.
Maalira purses her lips, then starts rummaging in her scrip. “I’m going to make you something to drink, to warm you up,” she says, adding water and herbs to a pot and placing them over the fire.
Glancing back at Varanis4Pass on First Aid, Maalira frowns. “Your clothing is too wet and cold. Have you got anything else you can put on?”
“N-n-n-no,” she says through teeth chattering loudly enough to wake the dead at the nearby necropolis. “I didn’t th-th-think we’d b-b-b-be out that long.”
“Right.” Maalira leaves the pot and unwinds her rope belt from around her waist. “Take off the wet clothes then put the blanket around you again and we’ll tie it in place.”
With clumsy fingers, Varanis attempts to deal with the buckles on her borrowed cuirass.
Maalira pushes Varanis’ hands away, shivering at how cold they are, and undoes the buckles herself.
The armour falls at Varanis’ feet, briefly catching on her greaves, which are still strapped to her shins. She steps out of it, leaving the cuirass where it lies. Beneath the armour, she has sodden padding made of wool and linen. It was beautiful once, but has been bled on and mended many times.
“Do you need help with that too?” Maalira asks, as she steps over to check on the pot.
“I c-c-can do it.” Varanis replies, working at the ties.
It takes a couple of tries, but she manages to get the rest of her kit off, until she’s left naked except for a mostly dry blanket. She’s more a Valind sort of blue than an Orlanth one.
“Right, wrap yourself up tight and get as close to the fire as you can bear,” Maalira says, tipping the now-steaming water from her little pot into a wooden cup. “And drink this.”
Varanis follows the instructions she’s given, huddling miserably next to the little fire. “Did B-b-b-Berra lose a finger?” she asks suddenly.
“She seemed to, yes,” Maalira says, spreading the wet clothing and armour out on the other side of the fire. “Wouldn’t let me heal it, either – I think she thought it would mess up the quest.”
“She g-g-gives t-t-too much,” Varanis says staring at the flames. “Always.”
Maalira nods, then realises Varanis won’t see that. “Yes, she does.” She goes and sits down next to Varanis, staring into the flames too. “How are you feeling?”
“C-c-c-cold. Worried. D-d-d-did we stop her? Was it enough?”
“I don’t know. I hope so.” Maalira looks around for something else to help with the warming, but there’s nothing obvious.
“I still feel a b-b-bit like I want to p-p-pounce on things to k-k-kill them. B-b-but also, did you t-t-try to make it s-s-so we couldn’t fight?”
“Um… yeah, kinda. I asked Xenofos to put his sword down and said a bit about why.” Maalira clears her throat slightly. “Um, I could cuddle up to you if that would help? I’m dry and warm.”
“You’ll get c-c-cold,” Varanis argues. Her shivering is decreasing.
“No, you’ll get warm.” Maalira offers an arm.
Varanis sighs, opens up the blanket and wraps Maalira into it too. She is too worn out to argue further. This is a state being for her that no one should get used to.
Maalira tucks an arm around between the blanket and Varanis’ waist, and tries to think warm thoughts.
“Can you p-put her finger b-back now?”
“If she’ll let me, yes.”
“Please do. It looks wrong.” Varanis yawns. “Mind if I n-n-nap on your shoulder?”
“I don’t mind at all. I’ll wake you if you start cooling down again though.”
Varanis nods. She leans against Maalira, but she’s tall enough that her head rests on the top of Maalira’s instead of on her shoulder. She’s asleep within minutes.
Kolyey has had time to settle back into Geo’s, and her commander is currently in Thane Varaena’s room. The place smells of blood, and the Wyter Priest is sitting on the floor, scrubbing at a stain with a brush in her left hand. She would not of course use her sword-hand for such a thing, but she is rather above the rank to be doing it at all.
That hand is missing the ring finger, from the knuckle down.
“What happened to you? Want me to scrub that?” Kolyey appears alarmed.
“I made some decisions.” Berra looks at the floor. “It’s at about the stage where only a scraper will get the rest out. I bled a bit. What happened to you?” She looks up. Overnight she seems to have come by a new tattoo, a black circle in the centre of her forehead that looks uncannily like an eye.
Kolyey raises her eyebrows at the sight of the new tattoo. “I went to the common room just in time to see Maalira and X11 go to the Hero Plane. I had no idea what quest it was, so I decided to go find you and Xenofos.”
The tattoo is too new to be looking like part of her. It should have a raised pink edge, and it should look sore. It looks like she has had it for several weeks at least5Passed First Aid..
Kolyey nods. “I saw Lord Raven and chose to follow him. I never did catch up to him. He went to the Storm Bull temple, said something about interfering with a hero quest and went over the wall.”
Berra nods. “Right. Yes. That makes sense. An’ what then?”
“I tried to get in through the front door, but the cultists didn’t let me in. I don’t clearly remember how I wound up under arrest. I gather that the Humakti putting me in a room was to keep me away from angry Storm Bulls.”
Berra thinks. “By that time, I reckon they were probably already dead. You any idea what happened in the Heroquest?”
Kolyey shakes her head. “None whatsoever.”
“Right. Cut downstairs, get me something to eat and drink without any vegetables, and I’ll tell you when you get back. While you’re there, see what looks people give you, but don’t get into any fights.”
Kolyey nods and hops down to the common room and tries to order food without vegetables.
It is common enough to be available. Bread, cheese, and a bit of shredded chicken fried with salt and spiced skullbush oil, in this case.
The common room seems calm6Kolyey fails Insight., although there is blood trailed up the stairs like someone bled there too.
Kolyey takes the food and a drink back up to Berra.
Slightly salted, sweetened bison milk. No herbs.
“Right. Siddown. I know this made me wanna.” Berra is by the table, knife already out.
Kolyey puts the food on the table. “Common room seems quiet,” she says as she sits down.
Berra pulls the plate and jug in close, and does not bother asking about what she is eating, or the price. “So, your insight here would be welcome but to be honest it’s probably not going to be particularly inside your area of unnerstanding, if you get me. Jar-eel was trying to use a secret of the Crocodile Goddess to come back to life.”
Kolyey gags at the news.
There is a slight metallic grating noise as the Dwarfs armour on a stand turns out to just be a resting dwarf and the helmet turns towards you. “Reactivation of a unit by using presequenced procedures.”
“Um, yeah.” Berra looks at X1138. “But unwanted reactivation… uh, do you even know what cheating is?”
Kolyey mutters, “Probably not.”
“Negative,” the Dwarf replies.
“Yeah, s’pretty negative. But she… she was, I guess in your words, using the wrong procedures.” There is a pause and then the Humakti adds, “On purpose.”
Kolyey looks angry and sick at the same time.
“Ah, deviation from procedure. Heresy.”
“I’m gonna accept your word for it. Yeah. Anyhow, to do that, she was going to use a secret she knew. X11, do any of your people ever come back to life?” Berra looks like she was going to say something else, then got struck by a thought.
“Some of us have been reactivated. Usually manufacturing a new unit is more efficient.”
Kolyey nods at that.
“Right. So’s you know, I’d be kinda disappointed if you died. Anyhow, Jar-eel worked out you could – she could – die in a way that was part of a cycle of rebirth. Even though she’s already dead. And crocodiles come back to life, from eggs that get buried like seeds.”
“That’s weird,” Kolyey says.
“Activating a stored unit. I see.” The Dwarf sounds thoughtful. “But this one may be troublesome.”
“Anyhow, she failed. But that means she won a fight against Storm Bull. Her plan was to be broken to bits, and maybe even be thrown back into Sartar. She could then come back to life.”
“Oh no. What does that mean for fighting Lunar Chaos?”
“It… I dunno. But right now, it means she’s not coming back. But according to Lord Raven, she ate the – well, something did, anyhow. The Temple of Storm Bull. So there aren’t any here right now.”
“I am sure more will come from Prax. We might not want to be here when they arrive.”
“We gotta send for them, probably. But yeah, they ain’t gonna be pleased.”
“We could be seriously outnumbered, Commander.”
“By the Block? Yeah. But it might not have to be us who goes. Dunno yet. When I said ‘we’ there, I meant the whole lot of us in this mess, which includes the city.”
“We can hope that someone else will go. By the way, there is a trail of blood up the stairs.”
“Yeah, they can clear that up. I woke up on the stage. In the common room.” Berra is eating with the speed and professionalism of an infantry soldier. “That’s outside the room so they can deal with it without disturbing us, so I’m leaving it to them. Anyhow, I’m figuring that we’re about to be hauled in for questions and a serious shouting.”
Kolyey sighs. “They will probably want to talk to Maalira. Does anyone know where she is?”
“Negative.”
“Xenofos said she’s looking after Varanis. Coming back slowly, ‘cos Varanis got wet.” Berra narrows her eyes at X11. “Mind you, I thought the dwarf was with ’em before.”
Kolyey points out, “They went to the Hero Plane together.”
“They ended up in the river. But I guess if he dunno exactly he… wait, that’s wrong. Negative …. wouldn’t that mean nobody knows? But someone might. Like Varanis. Or Maalira.” Berra, human to the core, is experiencing a potential logical error.
Kolyey shrugs.
It takes Berra a few moments to get her head together. “Well, we’re waiting on them. But Lord Raven told me that the justice system of New Pavis was pretty Orlanthi last he knew. Prince Dorasar founded it. So we’ll know about what we… hey, do you think that princely ghost would tell them Varanis is of good character?”
Kolyey smiles. “I think so.”
“We prob’ly got an hour or two. We should go out an’ ask, soon as Varanis is back.” Berra pours herself some milk. It has been boiled with the spices in, and is still warm. “Oh, that smells good.”
Kolyey nods and rests a little bit.
Berra waits for Kolyey to be done resting before having a turn, of course.
The sun is labouring into the sky, sending up a light mist from the hard frost, but doing little more. The streets are full of people complaining about the weather, but Geo’s is full of people talking about breakfast, late breakfast, what they are drinking, and the party last night. Upstairs in Varanis’ room there is a suit of armour that is probably Version X1138, and a Berra, asleep with her head cradled in her arms, on the table where there is still food. At least one other person must have eaten, and that could have been Kolyey or Xenofos, for there is another plate in evidence. The little Humakti does not stir as Maalira comes in.
“Berra?” Maalira calls softly, approaching carefully.
A quick double-blink, and Berra sits up. “Help ya?”
“Good morning,” Maalira smiles. “Sun’s up.”
She gets a nod. “Yeah. I got back a bit ago. You had something to eat?”
Maalira shakes her head. “I just got back. Varanis needed walls to finish warming up.”
Berra glances around, and sees no Varanis, but does not question the matter. Presumably there will be a Vingan by the fire downstairs. “So, uh… what happened?”
Maalira opens her mouth, shuts it, opens it again. “During which bit?”
There is a moment of consideration, and then Berra says, “That is a very rare… fair… question, but I mean after I dived into the river. There’s been a lot of shouting since then, some of it at me.”
“Um. Well. Varanis went cat and chased a storm. I, um, might have told Xenofos to put down his sword and that might not have been good.”
Berra pours herself some milk from a jug by her. “I heard the Storm Bull Temple got eaten.”
“Yeah.” Maalira looks sickly.
“Oh. Right. Yeah.” Berra gets up, sighs deeply. “C’mere.”
Maalira goes closer.
Hug time. “You did well,” Berra says.
She is in her padding. It smells of grease and sweat, for all it is regularly washed.
The door opens again and Varanis enters, grumbling. “You left me… oh. Sorry.” She glances between the two and then starts to back out of her own room.
Maalira leans in to the hug with a little bit of a sob, then looks up at Varanis. “No, it’s ok.”
“S’alright. You did fine.” Berra is not the hair-stroking sort, but at least she is saying the right sort of thing.
“But if I got all those people killed…” Maalira can barely say the word.
“You didn’t do it. Someone else made that choice,” Berra says fiercely. It sounds like she was ready to say something of the sort.
Varanis shudders, going even paler than she currently. “I… I think I did some of that killing, Maalira. Not you.” She winces, then adds, “And Jar-eel did a lot more. But she didn’t get to come back. We kept her from her plan. That’s what matters, right?” It sounds like a plea for agreement.
Maalira sniffs. “That does matter.”
Berra nods, against Maalira’s shoulder. “We stopped her. What she wanted was worse than what happened.”
“She is the worst,” Maalira snarls.
Varanis decides she’s staying in the room after all and steps fully in, letting the door close behind her. “I need something clean to wear. We all do.” Then she pauses, staring at Berra’s hand. “Berra?”
“Yeah?” Berra keeps hold of Maalira, but moves her head a little to hear better.
“Your hand?”
“Yeah. Lord Raven’s been pretty sarcastic about it…” Berra closes her left hand into a fist. It almost hides the damage. The end of her ring finger is missing, and in fact most of the rest of it as well.
“But what happened to it? You had all of your fingers last I saw you.”
There is a slow-motion wince. Berra breathes in carefully. “I… called in a… marker?” She seems unsure about the word, rather than her actions.
Varanis stalks closer, frowning at the little Humakti, who is definitely not hiding behind Maalira, as she is not the sort to hide. It’s just convenient that the healer is between them, still wrapped in a hug. “You’re being awfully cagey instead of just spitting out direct answers, Berra.”
“Uh, yeah. I don’t think… I mean, if I tell you then you’d probably have questions and we should probably be talking about the … oh, yeah. The Pavis Temple wants to talk to us. Probably in about an hour.” She does finally let Maalira go. Yes, there is blood on her padding.
“That’s a lot of blood.”7Says Varanis, the person who has made a habit of losing limbs.
Maalira looks Berra over again. “I haven’t looked after you very well.”
Berra tries a change of subject. “Listen, h… they’re going to want to know about why they suffered and what Jar-eel means to them. We should have something to say about that.”
Varanis stops stalking Berra and turns to her saddle bag instead. She starts digging through looking for something clean enough and noble enough for facing accusations at a foreign temple.
“It’s apparently pretty much like it’d be in Sartar. Um, but that’s only what I heard. There’s gonna have to be differences and I don’t know what they are.” Berra gives Maalira a glance, and then her attention turns back to Varanis.
That was one heck of a glance. Lots of not talking about her emotion, and lots of emotions, all at once.
The Vingan is busy stripping off her filthy clothes. “I’d kill for a hot bath…” She winces at her own words.
“I dun’even know who’s going to be there. We were thinking of going to the graveyard, me an’ Kolyey, to ask your ghost-cousin if he’d stand as a character witness.”
“He might,” Varanis says through her tunic, as she wriggles in an attempt to get free.
“Wouldn’t it be better to bathe first?” Maalira asks. “We must look disreputable.”
“Yeah…” Berra shakes off a brief lethargy. “Want me to go call for hot water? And Maalira can clean stuff magically too.” She may just have volunteered the White Lady.
“Mrphm!” Varanis says.
“Did that sound like a yes?” Berra checks.
“‘m stuck. Yes. Hot water.”
“This migh’ be one for you to help with…” Berra sidles for the door, giving Maalira a wink on the way.
- 1Special on Track from Xenofos.
- 2Casting heal wound with 6 mp, using and specialling Truth rune.
- 3Xenofos passes Insight.
- 4Pass on First Aid
- 5Passed First Aid.
- 6Kolyey fails Insight.
- 7Says Varanis, the person who has made a habit of losing limbs.
