The group left Boldhome in the morning on Fireday, but not particularly early, as Varanis and Berra had had a meeting, and Mellia had gone shopping. They took two days to get to Wilmskirk – this was partly to do with the speed of the wagon, but mainly the army dispersing – including army wagons, White Ladies in palanquins, and so on. Camping at the side of the road was easy enough to do, and safe from bandits, given they were camped in an army. The Enlo, paid by Irillo, put on their usual happy-to-be-out-of-Yelm’s-anger songs, and were given money by people who came to see the performance.

They arrived in Wilmskirk in the late afternoon of Wildday, too late for Irillo to go to the Temple-Market, but in time for there to be good light for looking for their friends. Salid and the Trolling Stones got sent to camp outside the South Gate, with the majority of the mules and the wagon.

As agreed with Nala, they went to the Praxian inn to look for her and Venlar. The innkeeper remembered Nala, but not anyone who accompanied her. When Irillo described Venlar he did recall. Dormal paid to jog his memory, but this made the man lie, to earn more money, which Varanis and Mellia noticed. Varanis successfully intimidated him, and got the truth from him, that Venlar had been in there on Fireday evening, having a drink with Nala, but they had not left together.¹A result of this intimidation is that Varanis is now barred from the Praxian Inn, and her (non-Praxian) friends are less welcome. Nala had gone hunting. Xenofos (NPC) was left there to be sure that Nala found them.

They went to the Temple of Chalana Arroy to deliver Mellia and ask after Venlar and Yamia. Venlar had not been there, but there was a note for her! While this briefly excited her, it turned out to be from Jaldis, telling her to look – carefully if necessary – in the back of the dispensary reliquary. There, she found a painted icon of Red Robes, the lady who had set up the secret healing place in Boldhome in the Invasion, with a scrap of red cloth used for the robe itself. The icon seemed to be part of one of the back panels. Mellia stayed to heal others and rest herself, although she did have to tell the story of the Lightbringers’ Quest and show the wound she had.

The remainder of the group went to the Shrine of Humakt – the Godtalker obviously disliked Berra, but spoke to Varanis, who managed to draw his attention away from Berra and towards helping honourable Orlanthi. He told them the Cinder Fox Clan had a townhouse, and mentioned Yamia’s other hangouts. Yamia had been there for a few nights, about a dozen days before, but had left in some distress, he said.

At the Cinder Fox townhouse, Varanis explained to the door guard all about trying to find and help Venlar and Yamia. Berra got frustrated with the conversation and broke in to ask directly if Venlar could be sent for, and if he would be willing to see them. Venlar came out to be almost immediately disappointed that Mellia was not there, but Varanis assured him she was at the temple. He welcomed them to his father’s home, and gave them the best hospitality he could, with a house that was almost full. It was a big place for a Clan holding, and seemed to be two houses that had been joined together, with their courtyards joined as well. This had been done on tiled roofs, and the join had been patched with copper, so it was rather akin to the Cinder Fox greathouse, but less heather-thatchy and organic.

Venlar went at speed to the Hospital to fetch Mellia. Mellia, at the hospital, had treated many people. Some of them knew about the Lightbringers’ Quest, and some of them, perhaps alarmingly, knew who she was, and felt honoured and amazed to be treated by her personally. Then Venlar arrived and swept her off her feet, politely waiting until she had finished treating people to steal her away. He told her that his sister had been terribly affected by something, two days after Mellia had left his Tula. It had left her tremendously, terribly, caring. He had seen her cry over a dead pigeon. They returned to his father’s house.

Irillo went to the South Gate to meet up with Sid and his mules, and make sure that his things were not being stolen by warriors or eaten by trollkin. Venlar bade him farewell. Berra went to the Shrine of Humakt, to stay the night, as the house was overcrowded.

Dormal, Varanis, and Mellia visited Yamia who was stranger than normal. Her illness appeared to be of heart and mind, rather than body. She was afraid and deeply concerned by any perceived harm or difficulty experienced by others, to the point that when people asked her a question she would echo it back to them. When asked if she had eaten, she asked if the others were hungry, for example. After Boldhome was mentioned, she latched onto mention of her uncle Eril not being happy. All three Saiciae tried in different ways to diffuse her worry for the Emeritus High Sword, resulting in her hugging Dormal once he convinced her that Eril was happy in his work, and well-suited to it.

After a polite and uncomfortable visit, the group left Yamia in peace and discussed options for helping transport her safely, including Mellia making her sleep the whole way to Nochet. Dormal pointed out that ANY distress in other people caused her to be immensely distressed herself, and she had to make sure absolutely all was well – while the mention of Eril had upset her, she had also previously been upset by the death of a pigeon. Mellia’s guess from the timing was that it had happened because when Berra killed the Demon of Darkness. Dormal reckoned that bits of the Demon had escaped and were affecting Yamia most of all.

Jengharl arrived and took over from his younger brother Venlar in the later evening, which meant that there were a dozen more warriors (and slightly more horses) in the house, and even the courtyard was full. There had been more warriors, but most of those missing had been wounded rather than killed. Jengharl’s right arm was maimed, but while Mellia offered to look at it, he said healing magic had already been applied, and it was getting better. His arrival meant that Mellia and Venlar no longer had a room, and therefore a bed, to themselves.

Berra returned, covered in blood from a head wound that went down to the skull, and without her helmet, although she had rescued the black feather. She had been attacked by a Colymar hothead. He had attacked first, and then she had killed him. She seemed a mixture of annoyed and smugly proud. Mellia healed her, and Dormal warned her against upsetting Yamia in any way at all, saying that Yamia would go off the deep end if she did. Berra cleaned off the blood, and mentioned she had left her helmet in the street so that nobody could say later she had put a gouge in it herself.

The group went to Jengharl to say they were going to the Temple of Orlanth. He would not hear of them travelling without a guard from his house, as they were his guests. Varanis, Dormal, Mellia, Berra, and a lot of impressive looking warriors went to visit Storm Voice Falnin. Three Colymar were there, making accusations. Berra happily pointed out they had been cheering on the man she killed – but the cheering had not lasted long. She had, she said, refused to fight until she was called a coward, despite being provoked, and despite Varanis being insulted. She had invited the Colymar Tribesman to fight her in a duel, and he had attacked her straight away.

Berra explained what she knew of the law to Varanis, to speak for her. When it was Varanis’ turn to talk, Falnin listened. Someone in the crowd had Berra’s helmet. The court – Falnin and a couple of law-reciters – quickly decided in Berra’s favour, awarding her the cost of damages and some extra for her wound, but without ruling she had to pay even a reduced weregild. The three Colymar were very displeased. The Sambari and the Locaem supported Berra’s side of the argument. The Colymar present did not, of course, although they were not united. The Humakti Godspeaker seemed to maintain an open mind in spite of his opinion of Berra. After it was all over, Varanis asked for runners to be sent to Irillo and Rajar/Xenofos/Nala, but Falnin said that was not for him to do, as it was her problem. Jengharl, however, sent people with messages.

They returned to the CinderFox House and began making plans. Venlar and Mellia had a discussion about how to safely move Yamia. Dormal and Varanis plotted a potentially deceptive way out of town, involving sending some decoys and an obvious party with Jengharl to the Cinder Fox Tula. They went to present this to Jengharl. Mellia would travel with Venlar, Yamia, and some guards destined for Silor. Dormal, Varanis, and Berra would head out (with or without other guards?) to meet up with Irillo, Sid, and his band, the Trolling Stones, south of the south gate. Rajar, Nala, and Xenofos would leave the Praxian inn to meet Irillo et al as well. Berra and Venlar both disagreed with the notion of hiding, but Jengharl agreed, and finally sent his younger brother from the room. Berra was Very Upset at the notion of that sort of concealment, saying it would put others in danger. Jenghal reminded her they were his guests, and she apologised.

Jengharl offered to meet with the Tribal Council, to discuss the behaviour of the Colymar in town, although he was only his father’s representative, and it was Silor who had full access there. He offered his room to Mellia for a few hours, suggesting she find a way to help his brother Venlar relax.

Neither Dormal nor Berra could spot anyone watching the house. Dormal opted to sleep on the roof, sleeping with one eye open, so to speak. Berra was in the (small) watch-tower for much of the night, and turned in for a few hours by Varanis. Varanis who had to share a room with Mellia and Venlar, made sure to sleep as far away as the walls would permit and tried really hard to pretend she was alone. Mellia and Venlar started on opposite sides of the room, but kept on checking on each other, so eventually they were put together with Venlar’s sword in between them because they were both shy and wanted to point out they were not sleeping together with other people present. They whispered sweet-nothings to each other in the darkness.

Outside the South Gate, the Enlo made more money than Irillo had in the week, with another fine performance on drums and voice. They had still not worked out why people were giving money to Irillo after sitting and listening for a while.

“We are doing a lousy job of recording quotes.” – Varanis
“You are.” – GM

“Tall guy, long nose, scar, unaccountable smile.” – Irillo
“Why unaccountable?” – Innkeeper
“Because he’s not the High Sword of Humakt.” – Irillo

“Do feel free to write down that Irillo was insulting my High Sword.” – Berra/GM
“I’m prepared to bet on my charm.” – Irillo

“Can we NOT go to Whitewall?”- Mellia
“Sure… we could go through Prax.”- Berra
“Or the Troll Woods”- Irillo
“FINE. I’ll face Jaldis.”- Mellia

“Darn. I wish Dormal were here.” – Mellia
“I had the weirdest feeling just then.” – Dormal

“Remember the quest. If you found it, it’s yours.” – Dormal
“Dormal, you are a bad influence!” – Varanis

“Yamia is seemingly a genus of spider.” – Irillo
“A spider that knows how to kill you?” – GM

“The trollkin band are named after their favourite food.” – Dormal
“Don’t…” – Mellia
“The Beetles.” – Dormal

“The band has got back together with Sid.” – Varanis
“We’re getting the band back together!” – GM

“I heard that as “an expectant Mellia”…” – Varanis
“They are trying!” – GM

“Obviously, I am bringing you here willingly. But if you ever do want to be stolen from your loom, I can arrange for one to be conveniently placed here.” – Venlar
“Ooooohhhh.” – Mellia

“Venlar is immediately cornered by people who want him to make decisions.” – GM

“So, Dormal. Are you stealing anything?” – GM

“We’re not allowed violence against White Ladies, so how do you kick them under the table.” Dormal

“Do not startle the deranged Humakti. It’s a rule to live by.” Dormal
“It’s something you’ve had a lot of practice with.” – Berra

*stricken look* – Yamia, having bad news about her uncle from Varanis
“Dormal, your keen understanding of human nature… you have found someone you can kick under the table.” – GM

“I’m tempted to go tell her about someone else being distressed… We don’t know that she’s like that over everyone.” – Varanis
“Pigeons!” – Dormal

“If anyone tries to cause trouble, hide behind someone bigger than you. That’s just about everyone.” – Varanis
“Berra looks at the tall, stick-thin Dormal, the delicately-built Mellia and then Varanis, and squares herself up.” – GM
“You have put on a bit of weight.” – Berra

“A Lightbringer, a beautiful, famous healer, an infamous Humakti, and a weasel…” – GM
*beatpause*
“Varanis, are you going to take her calling you a weasel?” – Dormal

“Madam, my room is going to be free for a few hours…” – Jengharl
“I can’t type and plug my ears at the same time.” – Varanis