Session S-5.2

1629, Fire Season, Harmony Week, Clayday Eve to Fireday Morn

Dramatis Personae

Events

The group were staying an inn in Wilmskirk, after time at the Ulerian baths. 

Early in the morning, Varanis woke up to the sounds of someone stealing the wagons. She climbed onto the roof, spotted the wagon being taken, shouted and leapt to the ground. Casting Leap, she gave chase and captured one of the thieves,¹Wearing nothing but a shift and carrying her sword/ but the others split in various ways. He reacted to having her sword at his throat by saying he was an artist and began to shout for help.

Some of the group heard the shout. Finarvi gave chase, having managed to mostly wriggle into his cuirass. Xenofos caught up a moment later, as did the guards. The guards persuaded Varanis to release Hengrid the painter, who was already known to them, and told her that interfering with the race was likely to cause a riot. The wagons had been stolen for a race that included decorating them. Varanis allowed it, but says he needed to compensate Kallyr with some art. They returned to the inn, where Hengrid turned on the charm.

Somehow she ended up agreeing to consider helping them and by morning, she was fully on board. This was particularly because Hengrid has described something that celebrates Kallyr by having her on a chariot, and predicted victory, but also partly because he gave Varanis a drawing of her in victory over Lunars.²Artists in Wilmskirk are good at getting clients.

Varanis recruited Finarvi to be the representative Grazelander/Luminous Stallion King in the race-parade, and Xenofos reluctantly agreed to create pamphlets and record the results. Hengrid entirely misunderstood how artistic Xenofos was, and also set him to doing some of the drawings on the pamphlets. Apparently Wilmskirk was a highly literate place, and these pamphlets were part of the draw. Someone also came up with the suggestion that Kallyr could give out ‘coins’. These would be gold-leafed sweets for children.

Flashback to Rajar.

At the start of Fire Season, he’s to be found at the Storm Bull Temple in Boldhome. Harmast is the chief priest there. Rajar is taking part in a party. He hears someone trying to find him by the entrance and enthusiastically goes to find out who it is. With an axe.

Tennebris has sent his flunky, Harrel, to ask a favour of Rajar. “He would like you to get a city drunk and happy.” Whitewall. Because Rajar is a hero in that area, they’ll supply him with money to buy people a LOT of beer to make people happy. The idea is to make people happy that Varanis is visiting, Kallyr will be king, and that Sartar is beloved. Spread the cheer/beer. He agrees.

When Rajar arrived in Wilmskirk, the city was in uproar with what looked like a festival of some sort. He tracked down which inn the group were at and joined them at the table. For a moment, it looked like Hengrid might be at risk, but he won Rajar over with a sketch depicting the Storm Bull victorious over a dragonsnail. And Rajar even agreed to help excite people in the crowd. Rajar had a strong desire to set some things on fire and Varanis and Hengrid worked to convince him not to. Hengrid meanwhile decided that the art Xenofos had been doing was not great, and he should just do calligraphy. Varanis managed to persuade Rajar not to kill anyone.

Finarvi and Hengrid had a conversation about the horses, wherein it was revealed that contrary to Hengrid’s assumption, Finarvi was not a charioteer. Contrary to Finarvi’s understanding, the horses weren’t chariot horses but plough horses. Finarvi convinced the artist to give him a sneak peek at the chariot and horses. It was a curious thing which looked fast even at rest, but would be going pretty slowly. Finarvi convinced the artists that he and Serala could best be used as epic Grazelander honour guards, and they convinced him to have a go at helping to paint the wagon.

Xenofos went to visit the Ulerian temple, which he’d visited the night before. He tried to win his way in to see the judge, but his song was insufficient for it, although Egalda, the initiate who had helped him with his beard the night before, was very happy to talk. He had second breakfast instead of talking to the judge. The judge, Tarrana, was ‘currently unavailable’ with, apparently, a ritual headache. He asked about how the race worked and got a detailed description, including the things the Ulerian judges would look for (audience appeal, good omens, etc.).

Hengrid and the crew rigged up some moulded armour so that Varanis could tear it off as the race started, revealing her naked woaded body. She looked amazing, and the art was fantastic. They were getting the majority of the cheers until the sculptor’s wagon started moving the ‘statue’ of Ernalda up into the air.

Finarvi and Serala rode alongside the Mastakos Chariot of Kallyr, looking great. Rajar intimidated the audience into cheering, which was less catastrophic than if he had tried to charm them. Xenofos won people over with gold-leafed sweets in the shape of coins. Varanis cast mist on the enGlamoured Ernaldan on the sculptors’ chariot. In the end, the group won the Mastokos vote and the popular vote, but lost the artistic vote to the mechanically amazing floating Ernalda.

Over the next couple of nights, Hengrid painted a huge mural by the North gate of Wilmskirk with an immense fresco of Rajar defeating a mass of dragonsnails.³+1 CHA while the art lasts.

After a day spent repairing the chariot and making it back into a wagon again, the group set off to Whitewall. The wagon was reassembled, painted, and polished. It looked amazing. The riding animals looked spectacular in newly-painted kit. Everyone looked wonderful!

• 1
  Wearing nothing but a shift and carrying her sword/
• 2
  Artists in Wilmskirk are good at getting clients.
• 3
  +1 CHA while the art lasts.