Session Season 5, Wilmskirk 4

1629, Earth Season, probably Disorder Week, Waterday to Fireday

Dramatis Personae

Events

Mellia heads off to have a public meal to prove the Esrolian food is not poison. She finds Jessidan where she left him. Servants carry table, chair and bench out to the thoroughfare and they sit while the food is brought out. The familiar flavours of Esrolia bring Mellia to the point of tears. Entertainers begin playing and a crowd gathers. 

Jessidan takes advantage of the crowd to invite the richest looking person to the feast, Jessidan passes  his bowl to the newcomer, who looks abashed and mutters that he never believed the rumours. Then a man shuffles out of the crowd and asks for some food, and takes a small bowl of food, and helps to hand around more of the food. Mellia spots Yamia in the crowd looking on approvingly. People are eating and talking about how they never believed the rumours too. The entertainers move on from their songs of how Mellia fought the Red Emperor and onto praise songs of her fertility and generosity. A gift of food is then given to the White Temple, bearers carry sacks of grain and bags of other foodstuffs to the temple. The crowd cheers, loving the theatre of it.

Evening, Finarvi and Varanis are camping on a rise outside the city. Igril is complaining in fine form about everything – weak spirits, the quality of the bed he’s been given. 

Maalira and Berra are riding down the King’s Road. She notices Berra is looking suspiciously innocent, but the Humakti does not want to talk about it, which worries the White Lady.

Berra is planning to do something, and wants Maalira not to have to deny it, so she’s thinking of leaving Maalira with Silor. Then they notice a camp on a rise, with an old man, and some people who look like Varanis and Finarvi. They also see the approaching pair. Finarvi waves enthusiastically and Varanis pounce-hugs Berra. Berra gets free by licking her face and blurts that she needs to go to the Humakti temple. She doesn’t know what to do with this new information. Berra is trying to work out if Maalira staying with us is good. She says she will likely to be staying at Silor’s tonight or the temple, but she will see us in the morning. 

Berra rides into the town, but her bison decides to stay with us. Followed doesn’t follow. Varanis introduces Maalira to the Kolati shaman Igril. Maalira says this is similar to what they’ve been dealing with, only they didn’t make it go away but persuaded it to not fight. 

Igril repeats we need to invite it to a place where air has no power, and convince it to negotiate. If that does not work, we will have to fight. 

Ernalda’s Cave, a troll cave, (Troll market) temple of Yelmalio, White Lady’s place – a market or somewhere belonging to other gods. Freezeday eve is the trollmarket. Today is Waterday, unfortunately.

Igril asks how Maalira soothed the spirit they dealt with – a great horse spirit, she explained, and her friend Serala spoke to it and found out what it was, why it was there and what it was doing. It had been awakened and was making the horses extra horsey. Igril decides it is unwise to invite the air spirit to that area.

Igril agrees we should try the market. Once we know where we will invite the spirit, have a peacemaker invite Igril too. He looks between the White Lady and the Issarian. 

Finarvi goes to find the Goldentongue Keninsa who is in charge of the market. She offers jewellers cell 3 which is empty. A gift to the market of a few lunars and a guarantee that the Windlord will pay for any expenses. Varanis winces and agrees. The room is prepared and swept. We prep it with a rug and sitting mats to make it inviting. We lay out the food and things, then head off  to the air temple.

Maalira has a new silver armring with Kallyr’s Sartar symbol on. Varanis remarks on it and learns she represented Kallyr. On the way to the air temple, Maalira and Varanis are both yawning and Varanis looks like she would lie down right there. Finarvi pinches her awake and Maalira doses them both with stimulants to keep from falling asleep. At the temple, Finarvi announces the invitation, Varanis translates it into Storm Speech, and Vamastal’s voice says ‘I accept’ but it sounds exhausted. Lots of people are snoozing here, and they begin to wake up as the air seems to lighten. They head off to the market and Finarvi goes to invite Igril. Finarvi helps the scowling Igril onto Stone, who prances a little as air spirits play with his mane, but settles and they ride back.

At the market, they light lamps in the cell and the wind comes in and coalsesces into a human figure. The features are indistinct but battered to hell. He looks like he is ready to fall asleep. Maalira begins to negotiate. How to go about fixing the tiredness. It says if it had worship it would not need to take power. Finarvi arrives with Igril, and closes the door behind them. At that, the figure becomes a man. It looks like Vamastal, spirit says he hasn’t eaten in a year and had a terrible journey. Got bigger and bigger and then some bastard threw him at a storm giant. He burbles at us, sounding a lot like Vamastal. Igril sits down and starts eating. 

We are negotiating how to connect the spirit back to Vamastal. V put the tiredness to one side, and it grew. It starts eating, and also eats the stimulant. Igril has enough and says “Oh shut up, you’re a spirit, we can give you worship or destroy you.” The spirit looks game, but Igril scolds it for threatening to break hospitality. Varanis offers the spirit a prayer on the spot and some magic with it. A lot of the bruises and look of exhaustion disappears, and the spirit looks mollified. Igril calls her a showoff, and begins to talk with the spirit properly. Occasionally they punch each other mentally. They finally agree the spirit will be worshipped and it will defend the city against enemies of the air by making them tired. But it needs a new name as it will no longer go by Vamastal. 

Varanis suggests Enlil, so it has a name now. It no longer looks like Vamastal. It has hair and a beard now. Igril points to the door and Finarvi opens it again. The spirit becomes air and flows out. 

Later in the evening, people start waking up. Mellia notices. Venlar has heard some interesting songs about how he is a troll, and Berra’s horse has turned up, but there is no Berra. There’s no Finarvi either, so they can’t ask the horse where Berra is. So they go to find Silor, who knows rather more. He tells them their friends are at the market, and Berra is probably doing something stupid. They head down to the market, and there is a party going on in one of the cells, and trolls are handing food in. They seem surprised when a white lady asks them to pass the mushrooms. Inside the room she sees Varanis looking very alert and owl-eyed, and a Maalira too! Varanis hears from Mellia that Berra might be doing something dangerous, so we all troop off, including the trolls, to find Berra. 

Temple of Humakt. The door is opened by a 3 year old Tamakt, who welcomes us in as the embodiment of Humakt. Yamia is meditating, Berra is polishing her sword Windtooth. Raven is on the altar, with some iron greaves. Varanis bows and asks Tamakt’s permission to disturb the Wyter priest. Yamia welcomes us, and tells us to close the door. Berra tells us that she can’t go back to Silor’s if she tells us what she’s planning as she will have started, then. So we agree she can tell us in the morning, and we’ll all go back to Silor’s to sleep once she has finished cleaning her sword. It’s always in a high state of polish so she is making it extra special for some purpose. 

Late in the morning, once we’ve scraped Varanis off the walls, Berra bids farewell to Silor and asks him to look after her things. Jengharl agrees, as it’s his house. Then she stands outside looking like she is going to do something dumb. Her friends join her.

She says Gunda the Guiltless didn’t get burned. She needs a pyre. The town will find out, and it would be good if they are not angry. She is going to defend her temple during the burning. Finarvi suggests it doesn’t need to be in the town, but it needs to be near where she died so within half a mile. People are going to notice,  but the White Ladies will do what they can. 

The preparation takes a few days. There is a spirit around the largest chunk of Gunda’s corpse. Mellia summons a Spirit of Healing to fight the disease spirit, which is ripped up by the disease spirit which then attacks Mellia. Maalira sees it sideswipe Mellia and summons a Spirit of Healing to help. It hugs the disease spirit and holds it there until it isn’t a disease spirit any more. 

We spend the next night in the city too. A lot of Wilmskirk are in favour of this burial. The feeling is what Kallyr did was tasteless. People are sneaking out with death gifts. Jengharl is livid about it, but he’s in the minority. Next day, as Berra is building the pyre, people come by to be helpful, and a pile of gifts grows. Varanis persuades a mural painter to make a depiction of Berra that is not recognisably Berra.  The mural painter goes a bit beyond the brief, and Berra looks very Heroic.

The burning goes ahead. Yamia knew where most of the parts were so there is most of the body. Then the people gather respectfully as it gets dark, and an art fight breaks out, at which point Berra suggests we make this proper funeral games. So the next day the whole city turns out to engage in funeral games. The mural makers win the games.

Varanis realises the sword Berra sent Gunda off with was Windtooth.

After that, Berra is not allowed back into the Cinderfox house while Jengharl is in charge of it. Finarvi gets her horse and gear for her.

Serala is heading West to see Giland, and Finarvi will head off to join her. Berra goes gooey over Serala spawn. Berra is heading to Prax and Maalira and Varanis will accompany her. Mellia will stay in Wilmskirk as she is too pregnant to travel far. Finarvi agrees to take Fish to Apple Lane – retire him from being a Wind Lord’s mount.

Berra has a talk with Varanis. Gunda’s death means Harrek is likely to come visiting, and if Varanis is in Prax it will defend her king’s heir (make sure Harrek does not go through Varanis to kill Kallyr – Berra reasons there is nothing either of them can do to stop that, except die). Varanis doesn’t like that, and will need to pray on it.