Diaries The Saga Of Berra — Fragment 40
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Facing the Darkness within her in Boldhome
Berra knew cold as her Rune froze upon her
Gave out a warning as down she fell nerveless
Woke to the healing of Vingan Vareena
Pacing the road with her road-shoes beneath her
Berra walked down towards Wilmskirk before her
Guarding the road for Irillo to follow
Keeping the sword-road to keep him from danger
Deep in the woods was his enemy Rastip
Slayer of children and striver with kinfolk
Hated in Sartar and hating Irillo
Saw his old foe and the hate1c.f. the Hate of the Dark Troll here. This stretch of road tested Berra several times. grew within him
Eyes of the scout to the woodlands and scrubland
Berra cried out as his bandits came closer
Calling the warning to save stout Irillo
Seeing the movement of men who were creeping
Leaping and bounding with magic upon them
Men of the forest charged forth for Irillo
In closed the warriors riding with Berra
Seeking to stand between merchant and Rastip
On her swift feet Berra charged for the bandits
Tiwr too and Nala and Rajar on Rhynkhos
Swift on his mule rode the merchant for safety
Finding that men jumped to keep him escaping
Three on the road stood and mocked swift Irillo
One bled by Berra as drink for her broadsword
One chased the mule with the battle-rage on him
Murderer Rastip who sought bloody vengeance
Seeing her friends hied to save the stout merchant
Berra attacked all the foes who could stop them
Charged into battle to find all three met her
Fought with the fury of Humakt at Moonrise
Soon the line broke as the foes fled the slaughter
Finding the tree-line and finding death in it
Chased down by Rajar and Nala and Berra
Lightning of Vinga brought down by Varanis
Bringing a prisoner back to the roadway
Berra was still in the trance of the sword-lord
Guarded the group while Irillo put questions
Promising life if the bandit gave answers
What Really Happened
Berra saw Irillo shimmer over in blackish silver, and the Darkness Rune on the back of her neck froze, rendering her unconscious. She was healed by Tiwr, and the group agreed to go to Wilmskirk as soon as possible to find out more about Eril and try to follow him.
On the road, they had the bad luck (or good luck, from some points of view) of being spotted by Rastip Stormborn, exile of Greyrock Rise, with a hate on for Irillo. He attacked with little preparation, but a set of men used to fighting alongside him, all shielded and with the use of the Leap spell if they needed to get away. Nala and Tiwr managed to do a lot of damage to Rastip, while Berra brought down a bandit and then charged a line of three, alone. She was in the middle of a Sword Trance, and managed to hold her own for a round until help arrived, forcing her enemies to flee. She helped give chase, and with Varanis using Leap and Lightning, managed to pin one down2wound one until he fell over on the ground.
Berra and Varanis made him walk back a prisoner, with Berra still in her Sword Trance – she went off to look for enemies. Meanwhile Irillo offered the prisoner his life in exchange for the truth of where their camp was, and who else was around. The other bandits, already dead, were left dangling from trees after their spirits had been sent away3Note for future GMs: Prepare Corpse failed on Rastip. The party moved on to Wilmskirk, where the Praxians went in and the rest stayed the night outside the walls.
In the morning, Berra took Xenofos to the Temple of Humakt to ask about looking at their records, and after questioning on the purity of her motives, they let Xenofos look at their writings from some years ago, finding that Eril was named as being of the Cinder Fox Clan of the Sambari tribe. Xenofos struggled rather with the vocabulary, but he could read it, meaning that Berra could translate. They went to the library, where Xenofos found out more. Eril was a common name, but there was only one Eril Cinder-Fox who was noble, and he was the second son of the chief of Tamain Cracks-Rock, head of the CInder Fox Clan. He was also, notably, a lay member of the Cult of Lhankor Mhy, and had written the go-to reference to the rights, responsibilities, and limits of power of thrall-holders and their thralls.
Berra settled down to guard Irillo and keep him from harm while he waited for market day, as the next stage in his plan was apparently to buy or hire Praxian thralls. She took one trip to the Humakti Shrine on her own, to worship and give them the sword of Rastip Kin-killer to destroy and hang up in public.
Session Quotes
“Berra looks at Irillo, says, ‘What the f-‘, and falls over.” – GM
“Rajar stands up, grips his axe in his left hand and cautiously sips his beer while peering at Irillo and Berra.” – Rajar
“And there’s a vampire…” – Varanis
“D’Val said he couldn’t find evidence of a vampire.” – Berra
“Berra’s happened to that guy there…” – Berra
“Will let Berra string them up” – Nala
“Berra will do that, although she’ll ask Rajar to do the lifting.” – GM
- 1c.f. the Hate of the Dark Troll here. This stretch of road tested Berra several times.
- 2wound one until he fell over
- 3Note for future GMs: Prepare Corpse failed on Rastip