Session 5.O-10

1629, Fire Season, Stasis Week, About Fireday to Godday

Dramatis Personae

Events

Having found out where the boxes were, the group set off early the next morning to make it to Valadon in a hurry. Salid was given command of the caravan and told to go to Nochet via the Shadow Plateau. The faster riders, and the inexpert riders who were also part of the central group, headed South at speed. Oriana had a horse bought for her, and people packed and off they went. Meanwhile, Suuraki and Valseena peeled off in the other direction towards the Smoking Ruin and then Duck Point, to deliver a message to Geoffri about the iron boxes and where one was.

The ride went smoothly as they moved into the vale leading up towards Rich Post. There was the occasional look from the caravans the group passed, but nobody was looking threatening. Eventually, the route narrowed to a Grazelander check point. Irillo was all for slowing down to wait their turn, but Berra decided that the group should queue-jump and while it led to grumbling, no one stopped them.

As we reached the barricade, Irillo contemplated riding right through without hurry, but the party was told to stop. The head guard decided that the iron box they had needed to be confiscated. Berra argued on the grounds that Oriana needed it. The guard wanted them to go all the way back to Queen’s Post with it, and an argument ensued. However, as everyone was fine with being searched, and peaceful, they were allowed to proceed with extra guards, while the checkpoint sent riders back to ensure that this particular group was allowed to go past. Berra had lots of weapons, many of them for practice, strapped on her bison. Other than that, nobody stuck out much, save the White Lady, who was by nature trustworthy.

Berra was Very Halpful to the checkpoint guards, and made it clear she was perfectly happy to have them there. This may have grated somewhat. Nayale studied her methods so she could learn and apply it later. The Grazelanders were Yelmic, but there was one Humakti in the pack. The Humakti, Berra thought, might be associated with the Queen’s Guard in some way.

Guard rotation for the evening was: Nayale, Berra, then Inpira, alongside the Grazelanders who were rather more relaxed once a late messenger arrived to say that the party was indeed allowed to keep their iron box. Oriana was suffering from discomfort, and Berra gave Irillo a night to sleep. It passed uneventfully, and they went along on their way. The Grazelanders left them, and they rode for a while, up the the pinch point of the path.

Up ahead they spotted the remains of a caravan. Kolyey saw some people running away from the caravan¹Fumbled Scan into the nearby woods and offered to chase, but Berra denied permission, and they approached carefully. As far as Berra could tell²Pass Track!, clawed footprints led north, into the hills, and not into the forest. As the bodies were cold, she assumed that Kolyey had seen something more local, or else had been mistaken.

Berra was hurrying through the ritual burial and did not get everything right, but the other two Humakti ‘helped’ her, and pointed out the errors. Meanwhile, Irillo searched the remains of the caravan. There was very little left.

As they were half a day from Rich Post, they decided to press on to make the settlement, and got there a little after dark. Berra split off Nayale to go report to the local authorities about the remains of the caravan, and Oriana volunteered to go with her. Irillo set off to talk to people who might take them downstream.

Unfortunately, neither of the Humakti spoke Tradetalk very well. Nayale and Oriana decided to start with a gate guard, but neither of them managed to speak Tradetalk. Eventually Oriana managed to get the idea across in Esrolian. A guard called for someone who was probably a Humakti, and there was some reporting in good and/or broken Esrolian, depending on who the person was. The Humakti then sent for a Sartarite as well, so that Nayale could report directly. After a little time, a squad went off in the dark to see about the bodies.

Meanwhile, Irillo went looking for a river travel option for the party. He found a raft, but it was in need of repair, and he was sent on to someone with a reputation for wildness, and negotiated to travel starting that night. The man, Engiz-Nasir, had an odd-looking raft and a strange accent. While he could manage the people and a few mounts, he could not manage everyone, and so the group split once more, leaving Maalira³OOCly absent to bring the beasts downstream. The man’s price included Irillo recommending him, which the merchant⁴…who had failed Bargain… was happy to agree to.

Irillo and most of the group save Berra, noticed that the long, thin raft had a lot of aluminium on it, and was riding surprisingly high in the water. Nayale stayed very close to the animals, and thus as far away as possible from the water while on a narrow boat⁵Berra passed an Insight Human, and was keeping an eye on Nayale, so noticed how she was reacting.. Once they were underway, Engiz-Nasir asked if they wanted the ‘express’ or not – the price was a bit of someone’s soul to speed up even more than they were going, and they were already going fast. After some discussion, Kolyey volunteered⁶Berra asked for volunteers as a Humakti, meaning that she would do it if nobody else spoke up, but Kolyey did. A Humakti should never ask for volunteers for something they would not do – this may be Eril’s teaching rubbing off on her..

Engiz-Nasir told people to look out for the horses, and to kill them if they started to go over the sides. Then he put Kolyey towards the front of the boat and began to chant over her. The boat speeded up and the river started to swell around them. Irillo and Nayale managed to keep their mounts calm, but Berra’s was starting to get very twitchy. Perhaps she had been watching the river too well, or perhaps she was just bad with horses⁷She had also passed Movement, and was feeling like this change was wonderful, and sad because it would not go on forever..

Kolyey passed out on arrival, as did Engiz-Nasir. However, they had made it to the Holy Country. There were crocodiles in the river, of course. They drifted into Valadon before midnight.

They got off the raft and everything went red and hazy for Berra. Hazia and dreamroot combined and nothing felt right. She looked for a street exit and mostly ignored the mirrors, though she could tell she was not in her own body. Wherever she went, it was night, hot and muggy too. There was a party going on. After stepping out into the street, she paused to look around, and worked out she was in Rhigos. She decided based on previous visions and the smell of Hazia that she was in Dormal’s body, and settled down to not get him killed by her actions. The doorman at the place he was frequenting helped see off a drunk who got too close, and Berra nodded to him and then just stared manecingly into the distance while leaning back against a wall.

Meanwhile, the others saw Berra stumble then stand differently. They quickly worked out that her body had been taken over by Dormal. He had little time, and once he knew where they were he used it to pass along a message – a list of names and of things to do and not do⁸This included one-time access to a local Eurmali temple.. Most people managed to remember it well enough, although Nayale decided that the only thing to do was to Tell The Truth⁹Fumbled INTx5. Berra came back to herself a few moments later, and they went into Valadon to find an inn. Nayale and Berra slept in the stables, where Berra performed a worship ceremony for the holy day[cootnote]Berra also checked on Nayale, whom she thought was in a bad way.[/footnote]. Everyone else got rooms, with Kolyey being carried into hers, still unconscious. In the morning when she woke up she shouted about a new tattoo she had – Water was now tattooed on her forehead.

That morning Oriana went to buy a map, Irillo went to the market to get information, and Kolyey went to the Humakti Temple to ask about the little ‘campaign medal’ that Ornkarth had given her. Berra slept in. Nayale practised sword drills. Everyone who was around (and later everyone else) got to see that Valadon had a lot of trolls.

Irillo failed to find any useful information about possible caravans, and could not find his way through the mess of minor factions and possible betrayal to talk to someone who would help him¹⁰Fumbles Intrigue?. Instead, he went to the Eurmali Temple.

Oriana found a map of the local area, which would allow her to do further divination. It was easily bought and paid for, and she went safely back to the inn without anything alarming happening.

Kolyey got to see a Sword at the Temple of Humakt, to ask about sacrificing the campaign medal to Humakt. He asked her questions about Death and she talked about its many forms. Then he asked how she was going to sacrifice the medal. She said she was going to melt it down¹¹This was exactly the opposite of what he felt she should have known, that you can kill just about anything on Humakt’s altar with a sword. Melting it down would in theory do it, but in practice, a sword should always be able to kill a thing. He may be very wrong.. He sent her away to learn more. When she got back she explained to Berra where she had been. Her commander sent her to count the bricks on the top row of the north gate and hurry back with an answer, as she had talked to a different Temple about Ornkarth’s medal, while her commander was right there.

Irillo found his way to a dive that was possibly a Eurmali Temple or a front for some operation. There was a man at a table keeping court, and he bought wine and had some sent over. He was certain that what he had, which was very good, was from a vintage shipment that had mysteriously gone missing. He was acknowledged, and after saying the right things, found that Dormal was ‘calling in a marker,’ although not the size of the favour involved. He explained what he needed, although the brief changed a little during the conversation; the minumum he wanted was a filter on the caravans, with a financial bonus if more than one was spotted. However, he also agreed to show one of the boxes to an expert, and that if any of those boxes were stopped, there would be no problems. He warned them about the madness they might cause.

Back at the inn, Oriana had brought her map back, and after discussion with those present, decided to search for the nearest of the boxes, as that would be the one most likely to be the problem they needed to solve. She performed the spell flawlessly, and was even able to hang onto it and keep it active¹²Critical casting!, thus keeping her pendulum swinging in the direction of the box. It was, she worked out by mapping and triangulation, somewhere north of Valadon. She kept concentrating lightly, and the people at the inn made sure she had food and peace.

With Irillo back at the inn, Berra put together her team for guarding him and the iron box, but it turned out that they only went to the market in a nicer part of town. They were directed to an upstairs room at a high-class inn and bar. Berra went through doors first. When they reached the room, Berra and Kolyey went in as guards, leaving Nayale behind them. Once Irillo was safely in, Nayale stood exactly in the doorway.

The woman they were meeting cast some kind of spell, and Nayale found herself pushed outwards and forgetting what was in the room. She only remembered that she was supposed to be guarding, so she did. Meanwhile most of those inside simply failed to notice they had forgotten the outside. Berra did pay attention to the fact that she had forgotten, and then remembered, and that while inside she could not see out.

The woman measured and magically probed the box for some time, and then returned it to Irillo, waiting until it was back in its bag before cutting off the spell. Nayale suddenly remembered what she was guarding, and Berra spotted the world re-establishing itself outside the windows. There was a discussion, and some form of agreement was struck. It seemed as if they were now in a race with the locals.

The group went back to find that Oriana was ready to leave, with her pendulum ready. Berra ordered the Humakti to look after the sorceror instead of Irillo. They rode and walked northward, until they saw a caravan that Irillo identified as Lunar, some way out of the city. Irillo and Berra put protective magic on themselves and stepped forwards, while Oriana tried to call up her own, but could not summon it.

Meanwhile, in a catch-up session…

Maalira had been delayed at or around Rich Post, and waited for a raft to take her downstream. She spotted people going out on horseback in large number, in the direction they had been, towards where the dead caravan had been spotted. When she asked at Rich Post, they told her that they were not sure what had killed the people.

On the way, she warned the raft-folk against crocodiles. They were a little more wary, and then after seeing someone who had actually been attacked by a croc getting healed by the White Lady, they were a lot more wary. Crocodiles should NOT have been in that part of the river, but apparently they were.

One ‘log’ that Maalira noticed had a short tail, like one of the newtlings that had made the sacrifice to buy items for the new goddess.

Maalira got put down a little to the North of Valadon, and walked towards the city.

• 1
  Fumbled Scan
• 2
  Pass Track!
• 3
  OOCly absent
• 4
  …who had failed Bargain…
• 5
  Berra passed an Insight Human, and was keeping an eye on Nayale, so noticed how she was reacting.
• 6
  Berra asked for volunteers as a Humakti, meaning that she would do it if nobody else spoke up, but Kolyey did. A Humakti should never ask for volunteers for something they would not do – this may be Eril’s teaching rubbing off on her.
• 7
  She had also passed Movement, and was feeling like this change was wonderful, and sad because it would not go on forever.
• 8
  This included one-time access to a local Eurmali temple.
• 9
  Fumbled INTx5
• 10
  Fumbles Intrigue?
• 11
  This was exactly the opposite of what he felt she should have known, that you can kill just about anything on Humakt’s altar with a sword. Melting it down would in theory do it, but in practice, a sword should always be able to kill a thing. He may be very wrong.
• 12
  Critical casting!