Session S.5-W-11

1629, Fire Season, Fertility Week, Fireday

Dramatis Personae

Events

Pople who had not gone out to collect Thenaya have been staying with Silor in Wilmskirk. They were helpful to him there, as his house had been broken into and robbed, and there was a lot of damage.

The group that had gone out came back with Thenaya, surveying the damage on the way back in. The gate did not hang properly, there was still a hole in the palisade, and some wag had hung a rope across the gap at waist height. An inscription was newly carved into a gatepost: No more invasions this season please.’ Xenofos noted the terrible penmanship.

Inpira had arrived in Wilmskirk on Waterday. That evening the Queen commanded her presence. She was near Inpira’s age, bouncing a small child on her knee. She insists on only being called Green Lady, and asked for a favour. Would Inpira sleep in the Earth Temple while in town as the other Babeester Gori were sleeping underground. For the next couple of days, during the cleanup, she slept at the temple.

On Fireday Eve, scattered vision came to Inpir in her dreams. Pirates in wolf pirate armour, a woman they were threatening, the top of a tower, view of a stream and an old ruin…¹Special on POW, but the dream was only fragments anyhow. She remembered it well. She woke near dawn and seeks out Erinda, the Chief Priestess at the Temple.²Ivarsa is High Priestess but as she’s only in the position while King Vanastal is away, Erinda keeps the Temple on Firedays and Ivarsa tends to the town.

Erinda was tending the fire and looking like she doesn’t want to be up. Inpira greeted her and described the tower. The green lady sair there were many such towers dotting the landscape here. A lot of people lived in them, and they had probably been there from before Colymar crossed the Deathline. Inpira recited the bits of the dream, and Erinda sent her to Queen Ivarsa, whom she was sure would know more. The Boldhome priests were still there, looking into problems, but might be leaving at any times. Erinda told Inpira to go find her friends and remind the wind lord to be polite to priestesses.

She headed to Silor’s house and called for Varanis.

Varanis and Silor were saluting Yelm in the garden and noticed a guard hanging round trying to catch V’s attention. Silor excused himself to inspect the wall.³Fumbled Listen, but looked good by sheer luck. Varanis met Inpira, who explained she had a vision of the pirates threatening someone in a tower.

Varanis took her in for breakfast with Xenofos and Finarvi, and discussed how to find the pirates. Wilmskirk library did not, of course not have much in the way of maps, despite having a splendid pigments collection, and a book on statuary donated by Estal Donge. The view in the dream was across a major watercourse – a stream big enough to swim across, to carry boats. Finarvi asked if the woman being threatened in the dream was distinctive in any way (thinking runes might narrow it down). She was likely Kultain, tall, with curly black hair, and light skin.

The group headed to the Earth Temple, where Orlanthi guards kept them out until Erinda invited them in, via Inpira. After introductions, including Varanis being Orlanthi and asking if anything needed done, The priestess said Lady Ivarsa and her husband had maps, and Lady Varanis could ask them for help on Inpira’s behalf.

Ivarsa, in the Palace, was turned out in finery. Inpira reminded us to call her Green Lady not Queen.⁴This is part of the mythical blurring between Erinda at the Temple, and Ivarsa on days she is paying attention to the town. After hearing Inpira’s appeal for help, Ivarsa took the groun to a room where her husband Farinst was studying a carved wooden relief map of the region. Someone was still painting it and he was trying to ignore them. Varanis explained why they group was there.

Farinst pointed to a spot on the map, close to the border with the Locaem, getting paint on his finger. Some were sure that the place brought back bad memories.⁵Note to self: it is not far from the place where the Mite was. He painted it as a Death Rune on Varanis’ forehead, which was either all on purpose, or a neat save. He told her to go out and kill the people who were hurting his people.

The tower was North-West of Wilmskirk, just short of where some rivers met, but on the closer side. Nobody would need to cross the river. With Inpira eager to move, Ivarsa got food packed for a day’s worth of travel for Inpira’s band. Tennebris was also leaving today, and the Queen ensured that Inpira’s people got their food allocated first. They set off to arrive a couple of hours before noon thanks to Varanis’s familiarity with the region.

The tower was on a side of a hill, near the top. It was a tower and some other structures with thorn bushes filling in the gaps. About a dozen people around it. Xenofos casts Farsee and saw it as a decrepit ruin. The magic revealed it as looking worse than to the normal eye. Chunky great pieces of stone with weathered carvings on them were visible. The others pointed out that he was looking at the wrong building!⁶Fumbled Scan. With a bit of adjustment, he was looking at a wall. There were kind-of lookouts outside the tower, people crouching near the wall. Inside the enclosure there were probably some animals.

The people outside looked like Sartarites, and when the group approached it was clear they were a dozen people, mostly men with a few women, and as Finarvi noted they were clearly not warriors – they did not even notice the group’s approach, and the one that spotted the group stood up, exposing his head to whoever was in the tower in surprise.

Xenofos tried to shout to him to get his head down, but his Heortling was not so smooth and it cames out sounding lewdly suggestive.⁷“I have a use for your head being lower…” or the like. Fumbled Language roll under pressure⁸ Varanis, skilled at swearing in several languages, covered her face. Inpira set the record straight.

Varanis got the chaotic, nervous peasants to report what was going on. People in the tower shot at them, allowing them to work out that there were at least two in the tower. The locals knew the layout, although they started by assuming everyone knew Terist’s tower and where the bedroom was…

Description: Entrance is a middle floor, one big room, no hearth, below that storage, above it living space, the main room looks down onto the courtyard. Living quarters has a central hearth with rooms off that. The stairs follow the main wall and open onto a narrow corridor that leads to the middle area. Then on the opposite side there is a ladder to the roof. A hatch. Used to be a watchtower.

The chap who got shot was in Wilmskirk with Terist, and could not find him there so came back to his home to see if he was alright, got shot, went for help from his neighbours. They healed him but then came to the tower and added to the chaos. Nobody was sure how many of the family were inside.

Inpira cast Shield on Finarvi who stepped out, making the Harmony sign. Something unintelligible was shouted from the tower and a hand stuck out of the 2nd floor bedroom window, 3 fingers up. They wanted to talk.

The group found out there were two hostages, and one wounded warrior. The group wanted ‘to get out alive, no mistakes, and a healer’. Varanis gave them her word that they would not be harmed leaving the tower if they left, and offered to take the wounded and feverish warrior to a healer as her prisoner, get him healed then set him free.

A man appeared at the door, dressed in brown leather like Berra, and demanded the wind lord swore on her honour. Varanis wanted to know the hostages were unharmed, and one had apparently ‘fallen down the stairs’ but was no more than bruised. They released the bruised hostage, Versal, who instantly fled, running for home.

The wolf pirates confirmed he was the one who fell down the stairs. Varanis swore to their safety, and the wolf pirates opened the door. They let Inpira in, and she went through the place while the wolf pirates stood in the courtyard around their wounded friend. Inside a woman, Trallen, was locked in a room. She was the woman in Inpira’s dream. No other hostages. The room is full of trading goods. The stairs are proper death stairs, and it was reasonable that Versal had actually fallen down them.

The wounded man had a wound going bad. Magically dealt perhaps, it was resisting healing.

The pirates wanted to know the plan for getting them away safely. Varanis pissed them off by mocking them for having no fallback plan. The one with some Tradetalk argued with Varanis for not showing them respect. “You’re just bandits with a boat!” – “Orlanth was a bandit without a boat”!

Inpira waded in, intimidating. There was a brief conference, and the four fit ones step away. Varanis took the injured one on board Finarvi’s horse.

The wolf pirates lingered among the cattle herd, but Varanis insisted on escorting them out of the courtyard (they were even more irate at the idea they are afraid of some peasants) and away.

Pallia, the injured pirate, had a long cut down shoulder and left arm. Infection was in it and it needed a White Lady. They took her to Jaldis, who would at first only speak to Inpira, as the leader of the band. When Inpira explained the situation, Varanis handed over the prisoner.

On Fireday eve Varanis got a note that the prisoner was healing well without complications and no problems are expected. She asked Xenofos’s help reading it.

Inpira went to see Ivarsa to give her report. Ivarsa said that Jaldis sent her a note – the patient spoke a little tradetalk. He was from a place called Kralorela. Ivarsa told Inpira Varanis cannot simply let him go – she must give him an hour to get lost in. Inpira relayed this to Varanis, who was already aware of it, and prepared to do so.

• 1
  Special on POW, but the dream was only fragments anyhow. She remembered it well.
• 2
  Ivarsa is High Priestess but as she’s only in the position while King Vanastal is away, Erinda keeps the Temple on Firedays and Ivarsa tends to the town.
• 3
  Fumbled Listen, but looked good by sheer luck.
• 4
  This is part of the mythical blurring between Erinda at the Temple, and Ivarsa on days she is paying attention to the town.
• 5
  Note to self: it is not far from the place where the Mite was.
• 6
  Fumbled Scan.
• 7
• 8