In Flashback, last year: Maalira saw a rider on a very pale zebra bring a broken lance with a bloodied end into the camp. Being a peaceable sort of person she did not know what that meant, but was told by her Khan that Argrath would be marching. He asked her to accompany the young Straw Weavers who would be following the Khan of Khans. She agreed to help keep the young fools alive. When the summons came, she went.

Out with Argrath’s army, Maalira noticed that the Praxian armies were taking too much from the locals. She brought her concerns to Venna (guided by a starry-eyed High Llama warrior). Venna admitted that it happens this way and yes, the locals will have hard times down the road. The Storm Khan agreed to make compensation when possible. She did not want Chalana Arroy angry with them when they were about to go to battle.

Time passed; they took Alone and ended up encamped outside Alda Chur.

In the camp outside Alda Chur, Maalira was in her hospital tent when a broken and sleeping Nala was delivered; this might have been some time after the Heroquest. The God Talker’s wolf followed, clearly intending to look after her human. Tiwr made a bit of a nuisance of himself. He told Maalira that he could heal Nala and tried to enter the hospital tent, but managed to remove the door-frame instead, getting it stuck on himself. Maalira woke Nala by realigning her jaw, one of the many injuries on her body, and Nala tried to bite her. Awake, but in pain, Nala crawled to Tiwr for healing, which was promptly and somewhat graphically managed. Her limbs did not work like a human’s.

Nala announced that she needed her clothing and asked Tiwr to go find it. He agreed and headed off in search. Nala asked Maalira about the shaman, but all Maalira could say was that Erhehta was still dead.

Back in the Esrolian camp, Berra was napping, having spent the past two days and nights awake and active. She had told people to wake her if and when the next disaster happened¹There were tiny cute snores..

Tiwr turned up at the edge of camp, where he encountered Suuraki. He told Suuraki he needed clothes, sugar and carrots for Nala’s healing, so the High Llama rider pointed him towards the army’s very limited supplies. The noise made by Tiwr’s argument with the quartermaster drew Varanis’ attention. She came and asked what he was doing, then offered to carry the vegetables to Nala herself. ²In retrospect, I should have told him that if he wandered around with a mouthful of vegetables someone was going to think he’d make a yummy roast. Xenofos and Valseena were invited to come with Varanis to visit Nala, while Suuraki was tasked with tracking the clothing.

The spirit-infested clothes had left no tracks, but an expert like Suuraki could not be avoided for long. He spotted them, and made his way towards them. Very briefly he thought he saw a flash of red hair, and some armour, then the clothes attacked him. There was a spectacular wrestling match that ultimately ended with Suuraki wearing two sets of clothes over his own. The clothes danced across the sprawling camp, carrying the brave warrior with them. Venna’s rhino watched and even offered to help, but Suuraki decided against it. He let the clothing dance him to the healer’s tent.

At the tent, Varanis was attempting to talk to Nala, but Tiwr was filling the entrance entirely. The Vingan had brought a cloak to cover Nala until her clothing returned. There was also some discussion about the vegetables, which was never fully resolved, and it is possible that Tiwr managed to eat them, and also possible that the Chalana Arroy initiates took them away as an offering.

Nala convinced the clothing to leave Suuraki alone and was able to dress herself, while Erhehta’s clothes danced off somewhere else. When Nala asked about the shaman again, Valseena was able to tell her that the shaman was still dead. The God Talker decided that she should go check on Erhehta and his assistant. She revealed that they’d been on a Heroquest and that something had gone wrong. Something to do with Lunars. Suuraki picked up on that and suggested that Venna needed to know.

The group made for Venna’s tent, while Varanis sent word for Berra to be woken and invited, if she was amenable to it. Presumably because they had Nala and Maalira with them, there was no waiting – the Storm Khan was immediately available. Venna gave Valseena and the others greetings, with Varanis coming last. Berra arrived at a dead run, having been woken with the butt end of a spear.³The bearer of the spear did not die, but Berra decided that Varanis going to see Venna counted as a disaster, or at least an emergency.

Venna asked if Varanis had rewarded her followers yet and when the Vingan admitted that she hadn’t, Venna shamed her by tossing a ring to Valseena. Tempers began to rise, but Varanis tried to rein herself in by focusing on what she needed to do next. Things became muddled when Venna mentioned that Varanis could stand proxy for Argrath in the marriage to King Stark’s daughter. Berra interrupted to say that Varanis couldn’t marry without Prince Kallyr’s permission. Things began to escalate when Venna called Kallyr a usurper. Nala decided that this was a good time to go. Before long, both Venna and Varanis were raging at each other. Maalira gave Berra a look and Berra totally ignored it and continued to put her foot in. They managed not to come to blows, despite Varanis calling Venna a mannerless barbarian, and Venna offering to fight Varanis after Argrath no longer needed them. Varanis stormed out of the tent with Xenofos at her heels.

Berra chastised the Storm Khan for shaming Varanis and asked when the army would be given gifts, if Venna was saying Varanis should give them. Venna pointed out that they hadn’t proven themselves on the field yet, but if they did, they’d be rewarded. Berra stepped out of the tent. Maalira, having spotted who was trouble, followed her. Berra paused to not lose her temper outside.

Suuraki and Valseena were lingering, so Venna turned to them. Suuraki told her what he knew of Nala’s quest and at the mention of Lunars, Venna swore, and had Nala sent for, and Berra went back in once she heard there was Lunar trouble. Nala returned, and danced the dance of the Heroquest that had happened. Venna ordered the guard doubled, and went to tell Argrath about the problem.

Meanwhile, Varanis was not yet ready to return to camp. She made directly to the river, dropped her armour and clothing on the riverbank, and ordered Xenofos to watch for crocodiles. Then she jumped into the water and swam, trying to cool her temper. Xenofos forgot about the crocodiles, getting distracted by the local architecture. He was distracted enough that he didn’t spot the arrival of Koraki Silverhand. As Varanis clambered out of the water, the Wind Lord called out to Varanis that it might be unwise to go swimming so close to the enemy. She invited him to come back to their camp.

Berra invited Maalira to join them back at the Esrolian camp and the healer agreed. When they all got there, it was to find Varanis and Xenofos missing. They didn’t have time to worry before the cousins returned, with Koraki in tow. Meanwhile, Berra had doubled the Esrolian guard, and told people to be ready for new orders to come in. She had also politely suggested that Maalira come with them, and Maalira had politely said that she had not been West for a while.

“We could add a couple of cows to your herd…” – GM
“Is that a euphemism for Ernalda’s bounty?” – Nala

“If I’m sending some of the… young single warriors with the White Bull, I’d quite like some of them back.” – Gallaf
“You want me to go along and make sure they don’t get killed?” – Maalira
*offers money* – Gallaf
*would have done it for nothing* – Maalira
“I’m sure the Great Khan will give loot for you as he would for any warrior.” – Gallaf
“Only if we win.” – Maalira

“A true king wouldn’t starve his people.” – Varanis
“A true prince wouldn’t have botched Sacred Time, to be fair…” – Nala

“All of the Straw Weavers are young – under twenty.” – GM
“We had some slightly older people than that before. We must have been wrong.” – Berra

“Go right in. Venna’s expecting you.” – Guard
“Well that sounds ominous.” – Maalira

“The good news is, anyone who actually hits you with an axe is in a heap of trouble.” – Suuraki
*expression* – Maalira
“And so are you.” – GM
*more expression* – Maalira

“Struck dumb in the face of female authority. Sound woman.” – Nala
“That’s male authority with boobs.” – Berra

“The peasants here are stick-pickers. They forage the plants that grow around them. They called it ‘faraming’.” – Venna
“I have heard of this. It sounds inefficient. The plants can’t follow you around.” – Maalira

“…in good odour.” – GM
“Odour is important in the bison tribes.” – Nala

“They’ve chopped down trees and put them in the ground around their village…” – GM
“They could have just herded them!” – Maalira

“Snake-pipe Hollow is an army-eater.” – Berra
“Sounds like an excuse to me…” – Xenofos

“Venna really is an unusual Storm Bull.” – Varanis
“‘old’…” – Berra

“tutu…” – Xenofos
“He’s looking a bit ruff?” – Berra

“I think maybe the GM is not hanging on our every word here.” – Berra

“What happened BEFORE this?” – Maalira”
“I have Prepare Corpse. It’s one option.” – Maalira

“Well, she’s responsive.” – Maalira avoids getting her fingers bitten

“I am the brains of the operation. Here is my helpless life partner…” – Tiwr
“Who is the jaws of the operation?” – Maalira

“There is a scar there.” – GM
“No, no scars with unicorn.” – Nala
“Usually, yes…” – GM

“She wasn’t so much the receiving end as the outer balloon.” – Berra

“The patients who are mostly drunk and punched someone. Drunk and got punched… Punch-drunk…” – GM
“Drunk on punch.” – Maalira

“Do you have clothes, or sugar lumps, or a carrot, because Nala desperately needs those things for her recovery.” – Tiwr

“The hairy two-leg with the big chopper…” – Tiwr of Suuraki

“The clothes are wanted on material charges…” – Maalira

“If the clothes are having an understanding really weird things might happen” – Xenofos
“Baby clothes!” – Berra

“That’s probably a Charm…” – GM
“Highly unlikely.” – Suuraki
“Fast Talk?” – GM
“No, that’s even worse.” – Suuraki

“I can hold my own in Praxian.” – Nala
“But when the Praxians try to hold yours you get upset.” – Berra
“That’s why I have a fist into face error.” – Nala
*tries to start talking* – Berra
“NO!” – GM
“BUT!!!!!!” – Berra

“I don’t normally hunt clothes. I don’t know how dangerous they are.” – Suuraki
“Into the fray…ing” – Maalira

“Don’t think I’ve got any suitable useful spirit magic…” – Suuraki
“Suitable hahahaa!” – Nala

“HELP! ROGUE CLOTHES!!” – Suuraki

“You’re dancing through the camp, as the clothes choose your direction.” – GM
“And the good news?” – Suuraki
“You’re doing it quite gracefully.” – GM
“I’m not sure that’s good news…” – Valseena
“I’ll take what I can get.” – Suuraki

“White Lady. I’ve just realised you’re not Mellia. Who are you?” – Nala
“Maalira.” – Maalira
“Well, that’s not confusing at all.” – Nala

“You could warn people, but why do that when you can WRITE IT DOWN?” – Berra

“Odd coincidence that we only have disasters when Berra is awake. Couldn’t possibly be linked” – Maalira
“I am glad you understand how this works.” – Berra

“I don’t think we’ll starve them out before winter sets in.” – Venna
*perks up* – Berra

“Nala starts tracing patterns with her toes (by the way, she’s wearing non-matching shoes) while the others are talking.” – Nala

“I HELPED AGAIN” – Berra

“She’s not getting married without permission of the Prince of Sartar.” – Berra
“The Prince of Sartar will be ordering you to do that, and I don’t care what the Queen of the Kheldon says.” – Venna
“We Do.” – Berra
“Kallyr is the King of Sartar, Argrath is the King of Prax. I came here to negotiate a marriage between two kings, and you know that. You were there!” – Varanis

“You’ll miss the fight!” – Suuraki

“Berra can I suggest you stop helping for minute or two…” – Maalira
“You CAN.” – Berra

“When you two are finished posturing, I’ll be at the shaman’s tent.” – Nala, to Varanis and Venna

“It’s convenient for you to be alive.” – Venna
“I see our feelings for each other are mutual.” – Varanis
“Yes, but unless you have become a Priestess of the Earth we cannot act on them.” – Venna

“Maalira, if you’re outside, you’ll see that Berra looks like she was in a VERY BAD MOOD and she stops outside.” – Berra
“But as soon as there’s a problem, her expression changes, and she sticks it all away and just looks like that professional you’ve seen before.” – Berra

“The Storm Khan would be grateful for your time when convenient to yourself.” – Guard
“As long as it’s now?” – Nala

“So to take Sedenya out, we need to take out the Red Moon.” – Nala
BAHAHAHHAHA – Berra
*blinks a lot* – Venna
“Well, her shaman training is definitely coming along because she’s crazy enough.” – Suuraki
“We’ll scribe that one down as a long-term goal. I admire your forward thinking.” – Venna

“He’s enchanting my iron.” – Nala
“Can we write down that euphemism?” – Suuraki

“When Berra makes a horse bolt, she’s talking the Humakti way.” – Berra

“I have an on again off again thing with Kalis…” – Varanis trails off as she realises what she’s said…
“You get on and you get off.” – Berra