Session Sartar Arc 09

1628, Earth Season, Movement Week, Evening of Fireday into Wildday

Dramatis Personae

Events¹Serala logging

We were in the bath and Varanis’ clothing was mended.

On Fireday, both Finarvi and Serala have worshipped their respective gods.

At the house, everyone was discussing what to do next. The bison and Maalira’s Lunars arrived at the house. Varanis warned them to behave.

Tennebris sent a wind lord lackey to the door, looking for Berra, but Berra wasn’t in. Lots of discussion then ensued about whether we thought Berra was going to start the Heroquest yet, whether Eril told her not to and she did it anyhow, whether something unexpected happened and she had to do it, and, more to the point, what we should all do next. Look for her? Try and find the next stage of the quest, which people recall was related to the Red Healer?

After a while we decide that, indeed, wandering semi-randomly around Boldhome looking for the next step of the Heroquest with Maalira in tow in the hope of stumbling into something is the way to go. Soon after, the more observant people notice that we are being followed by a couple of Orlanthi who, on Varanis’ polite enquiry agree that they are working for Lord Tennebris and are ‘making sure nothing happens’. Being a direct sort, Varanis decides that she’s going to go and ask Tennebris what he’s playing at. Of course then more discussions need to occur about whether Tennebris would be at the Palace, up all the stairs, or at the Temple.

At this point, we cheerfully split the party three ways. Varanis and the leader head for the Palace. Serala splits off, while Maalira and Finarvi are followed by one of Tennebris’ people, and Serala follows him.

Maalira and Finarvi decide to lead their tail on a merry chase, with Serala rather too obviously following the followers. And, of course, they stumble straight into a Heroquest with Finarvi landing²metaphorically face first into the Heroquest as Ariun the Merchant. Maalira is completely oblivious.³Maalira gets distracted by a Boldhome city cat. So cute! (Fumbled scan)

Ariun is doing a very important favour for someone and doesn’t want to be seen. So when he sees someone⁴soldiers? nearby, he legs it. Maalira catches up with the program as the soldiers yell ‘GETTIM!’ and looks up from the kitty in time to see Finarvi running for it.

And then Berra is there, grabbing Finarvi’s pursuers and trying to slow them down. Finarvi-Ariun is making good time. It’s all very Keystone Kops. People everywhere, a collision with a merchant carrying some sort of animal-extract oil, who soon becomes a merchant wearing said oil, there is flailing, falling, Maalira is left coated in oil and wondering a) how she will get it out of her white robes and b) whether this counts as breaking her geas.

Finarvi – off camera – knows Stuff about where the Relics are. More to be added later. Maybe.

And Berra Berates all the people who were involved.

Maalira and Berra slink off to have a drink together so Berra can fill the White Lady in. She admits she is hiding from everyone as they really really want to talk to her about Harrek the Berserk. They want to find her so much she’s starting to think that they might be enmeshed in the quest as the Lunar contingent, which doesn’t sound like good news.

Berra did not deliberately take herself into the Heroquest. She was going to report to Eril having done her Private Errand. All she did was walk past the Temple of Lhankor Mhy and that was it, she was in.

The next step is that Berra needs to try and get something out of the city (the Relics?) She thinks it’s good that Ariun got away, but she’s definitely concerned that Tennebris and his gang of merry helpers might try to stop her.

Berra has decided she’s going to try and not kill the people that Eril historically killed, hence helping Ariun get away.⁵Eril gave him a clean death because otherwise he would have been tortured.

Berra says she will hopefully be meeting Maalira in the future, with lots of (skin deep) cuts. Presumably she is talking about meeting Red Robes. That is apparently the best place to try and meet and talk through.

And then they both slink off surreptitiously, Berra by the back door, and the oil-covered White Lady making a subtle exit from the front.

Varanis, meanwhile, is tearing up the Palace stairs, pouting just a little at the fact her tail keeps up with her. There’s a whole lot of posturing about Wind Lords and running backwards, blah blah blah. Tennebris is not there, so Varanis turns around and heads back down again, just as fast and heads off for the Air Temple. But still not faster than her tail, who is apparently now not her tail, but jogs beside her.

Tennebris’s view of what is happening is that there is an unplanned Heroquest in His City. And his job is to stop that sort of idiocy happening. Thus, he and his people will indeed be trying to stop it. There is a lot of skirting around the subject, and debate as to whether it is worth talking to Eril, or whether that would be an exercise in excess sarcasm. He really just wants to talk to Berra. He is concerned that if she gets into too much trouble, Harrek the Berserk may just show up and that is not something he wants to see happen.

Varanis tries to persuade him to meet out of the city rather than charge around after Berra getting underfoot, but as Tennebris is acting under Kallyr’s instructions and Berra is her friend, she is decidedly torn.

Tennebris suggests that Varanis should perhaps stay at home tonight. Friendly advice, one understands. All in all, the whole discussion is pretty much a rock meeting a hard place.

Serala becomes Sanra-Eel again, at the head of a patrol. The street is peaceful, but Sanra feels like something is off and Serala begins to push back briefly, before hugging the moon. Sanra does not spy Berra and returns to being Serala, close to the field hospital.

Finarvi returns to himself, Ariun is gone again, but he comes back with some knowledge. OoooOOOOooohhhh! He continues on to the field hospital as that was where everyone was meant to be going… with Maalira. The one person we needed at the field hospital, who doesn’t know where it is, is on her own. She, very sensibly, heads home where she fails to meet up with Varanis, as Varanis got home then sneaked out the back door to lose her tail.

Varanis’s sneaking has paid off, losing everyone. Oh, except for her earlier tail who is still hanging around waiting for her. He does at least tell Varanis that Maalira has arrived home. Farrel, for so is his name, invites himself in for a drink, an offer which Varanis extends to the Vingan that she saw hanging around watching the house in turn, but apparently she has orders.

But see! Varanis and Maalira are at least back in the same place again. The oil is not yet out of the White Lady’s robes, so she changes into some other ones. Varanis isn’t quite impressed that she needs to be sneaking and climbing in the dark with a woman wearing white. As they sneak out though, it is Maalira who manages to spot the Vingan lurking on the roof, rather than Varanis’s eagle eyes. Good job she came along, really.

They sneak towards the Temple of Chalana Arroy, although Maalira is unconvinced that this is an ecumenically sound idea,and then…. They’re back in a Heroquest. Varanis is a rebel, Maalira is not in the Heroquest, she doesn’t see the robed figures that have attracted Questing-Varanis’ attention. Varebel has the blindingly insightful idea that she should get the White Lady that is with her to the camp of Red Robes because healers are like birds, right, they should all be in the same place? Near enough, innit – they head that way. All by themselves. Honest. The Vingan can’t possibly have had time to tell Farrel they were sneaking out…

Guess what? As they draw near, Varebel is back. Maalira is watching lots of shadow cats (and smaller domestic animals) sitting in marked out rectangles. Varebel sees the wounded that need healing, as well as understanding that they are cats. This leads to some confusion as Varebel asks the White Lady to heal the wounded and Maalira wonders how she’s meant to heal cats without any relevant skills in feline anatomy. One of the cats makes a spirited attempt to lick her hair clean, or else to eat it.

Serala decides to embrace the quest⁶and the Red Moon as the quest begins to roll in on her. Sanra-eel is back, baby. She’s found the field hospital and then she spies a wounded warrior coming. She decides to let the warrior go where they want to (into the building through the window), so we (the Lunars) can listen in, see what’s going on, meanwhile surrounding the building so no-one can leave; not forgetting the roof, the upper windows, etc.

Berril is covered in blood where her tattoos were. She doesn’t believe she was followed, but as some bandages came off, there may be a trail behind her. Maalira is on firmer ground here, with an actual non-feline to deal with, so she deals with salving and bandaging properly, even though there are some objections to face or hands being covered. The warrior asks if he can make a donation to speed this up, and to have magic used. Maalira begins to do that.

Varebel checks out of the window, and spies Serala and her band of Lunars.⁷well, Yelmalians and Orlanthi, some pretty confused Varanis blows a kiss, Sanra Eel gets angry and kicks in the door. Meanwhile Berril goes out of the window, followed by Finarvi. Sanra Eel goes straight through Varanis, but too slowly, Berra is gone. Finarvi leads off the pursuers with style. And then everyone snaps out of it and regroups…

And we head home for the night. Once we get home and somewhere properly private, Finarvi says he should share the info as to where the Humakti artifacts are. Which he does – they are in the blacksmith’s bothy at the Humakti Temple. Varanis shares her discussion with Tennebris and Maalira shares her information from talking with Berra.

In the morning, a letter arrives for Varanis:

“Dear friends,

I believe I am equal to the task of moving the relics out of Boldhome, but should you wish to help, by now I am sure you know where they are and where I will be. I can meet you outside the city, or within, as you wish; only set a pale cloth on your roof if you wish to do this yourself, and a dark one if you wish me to take on that minor risk with or without you. I believe this must be your decision.

(Berra’s sign)”

The letter is in Eril’s handwriting, but he definitely did not write it – there are smudges of ink here and there like the scribe did not know how fast ink dried, or how to hold the parchment.

• 1
  Serala logging
• 2
  metaphorically
• 3
  Maalira gets distracted by a Boldhome city cat. So cute! (Fumbled scan)
• 4
  soldiers?
• 5
  Eril gave him a clean death because otherwise he would have been tortured.
• 6
  and the Red Moon
• 7
  well, Yelmalians and Orlanthi, some pretty confused