1) Sea Season 1618 (A Questin' we
will go...)(October 25th, 1997)
Party: Hallelujah Harnsdottir (Babeester Gor warrior)(Doug St.), Durnfal
Strongspear, (Yemalio ex-Farmer now Baron of Goldenears (Gary), Greystone (Waha
herder)(Doug Sh.), Gerhardt Frei (Orlanthi warrior)(Arne), Svart Ulfsson (Humakti
warrior)(Henry), Burning Willow (Votanki hunter) (Neil)
NPCs: Tamerlan (Waha Noble), Tadpole (Votanki Elder), Blueface (Balazaring/Votanki
shaman)
The party had been in hot pursuit of two members of the Cannibal tribe who had abducted a
young woman and her baby from the Crow Eaters tribe. They had found what was left of the
baby at a campsite but had then lost the tracks. Earlier in their pursuit Hallelujah had
uttered a prayer to Babeester Gor for assistance in getting vengeance on these foul
abductors of women and children. Unbeknownst to the party Babeester Gor had intervened by
obscuring the tracks of the murderers and cannibals so she could lead them to the shaman
Blueface. She did this because the party required his assistance without which the party
would never defeat the Cannibals.
Babeester Gor led them to a clearing where Blueface had left his
body while on the Spirit Plane. His body was being guarded by Greyrunner Runefang and his
fetch. Tadpole and Burning Willow recognized Blueface immediately and explained who he
was. The party decided to wait for Blueface to return to his body and the Votanki and
Greystone explained the proper etiquette for waiting for a shaman to return to his body.
They settled down as close to Blueface as they could or as close as Greyrunner Runefang
would allow them to and waited. After a few hours Blueface returned to his body with a
lurch. His return to consciousness was quick but while still under the influence of the
Other World he looked at the party and made the following pronouncements to each of them:
Hallelujah
"Hail mother of the Dog Boy you shall find greatness through the axe."
Gerhardt
"If you seek the sword on high you shall come to it".
Durnfal
"Your fire burns at the bottom of the lake and the spirits cry."
Greystone
"A white bison looms in your future."
Svart
"A sword is calling your name but not every path is the right path."
Tadpole
"You I do not see at all."
Burning Willow
"What you most desire and fear are the same thing."
Tamerlan
"You will live long and attain a strange fame."
The party found these pronouncements somewhat cryptic for the most
part. However Gerhardt feared that the message about Tadpole meant he was illuminated.
Durnfal realized that the pronouncement about him referred to the sacred torches of Ever
Burning.
The party explained to Blueface what they doing and he explained to
them that the captors of the woman and baby were members of a degenerate tribe called
Cannibals. He told them that they were led by an evil spirit called Granny Keeneyes. He
told them that they would die if they attempted to approach the tribe because the crows
acted as Granny Keeneyes eyes and ears. Blueface told them that he could help them to
learn a special magic that would render them invisible to crows. They agreed to do this
and he told them they would have to fast for a day and a night and then he would lead them
on a heroquest.
The party sat around the campfire with Blueface and he and Durnfal
beat on some drums. Blueface also passed around some mushroom to eat and after a day and a
night had passed the party felt their ties to their bodies loosen. Blueface told them all
to grab his hands and he led them out of their bodies onto the spirit plane. With their
new senses the party saw all sorts of bizarre things they'd never seen before. They saw
Blueface's fetch which was the largest spirit they'd ever seen. Looking at each other they
saw strange things. Looking at:
Hallelujah:
...they saw a little spirit within her that seemed to be both a baby
and a puppy.
Gerhardt:
...the "winds in his soul."
Greystone:
...the spirit of a scholar trying to escape.
Tamerlan:
...a crotchety old man.
Svart:
...a dark shadow on his soul.
Tadpole:
...no one could see anything.
Durnfal:
...a fire burning within him.
And suspicions arose about Tadpole's possible illuminated condition.
The Spirit Plane proved to be very confusing and disorientating.
Blueface reminded the party not to wander off or let his hand go.
From the Spirit Plane they passed through to the Hero's Plane which was much easier to
comprehend. Blueface led them by the hand again and told them not to pick anything up. The
party passed through an enormous battlefield.
After leaving the Hero Plane the party was led onto the Gods Plane.
The Gods Plane was almost overwhelming to their senses but eventually they realized they
stood in a beautiful wooded area. Blueface let go of their hands and told them that the
quest would begin and they were on their own...
(Each stage of the quest jumped precipitously into the next)
Each party member found themselves within a confined, dark space.
Each one had to try and break free. Only Hallelujah and Gerhardt managed to break free by
themselves and they found themselves in a large nest in a tree surrounded by huge eggs.
They broke the other eggs and freed their friends.
Then the party had to "fly" down from the nest. Most of
them managed to do this and all found themselves on the ground. (Gerhardt actually climbed
back up the tree and flew down again). They then felt a strong urge to find food for
themselves and spent some time looking for food.
As they searched for food they were attacked by a giant hawk. The
hawk stooped at Burning Willow and missed. Greystone cast a multimissile on a javelin and
threw it at the hawk. He made an amazing roll and the real missile criticaled while the
magical missile impaled. Both legs were destroyed and the hawk fell down dead.
The party then found themselves at a moonlit festival (a sock hop
actually). Their objective was to impress a mate using some social interaction skill. They
heard a strange tune playing (Stairway to Heaven) and felt strongly that they needed to
find a mate before the song was over (and the principal sent them all home). Everyone
managed to find a mate except Hallelujah and Durnfal who decided to pair off! (After this
stage Tamerlan and Tadpole disappeared).
After their successful mating the heroquesters found themselves
nesting and raising their hatchlings in nests on the edge of a cliff. As they reared their
young two giant cliff toads attacked! One toad attacked Svart, Durnfal and Hallelujah
while the other attacked Greystone, Burning Willow and Gerhardt. The first toad hit
Durnfal in the head with his tongue and killed him! The second hit Burning Willow in the
right leg and knocked her down. Hallelujah and Svart managed to kill their toad but the
second toad swallowed Burning Willow and fled.
The party then found themselves (all alive and whole) on the edge of
a clearing. Across the clearing from them was a pitch black man with a crow's head. He was
dressed in a funny suit of clothing (a two piece suit that appeared to be of 1950's
vintage). He wore strange headgear (a fedora) and wielded a light mace (a cane).
Hallelujah was uncertain about what the party should do attack or parlay? But the
individual (Mr. Crow) cast a befuddle at Durnfal and the battle was on. Greystone cast a
befuddle on Mr. Crow and the party raced forward. Someone or something cast a dispell
magic on Mr. Crow (his fetch) and Greystone cast a dispell magic on Durnfal. The fight
between the party lasted quite a while with Mr. Crow's fetch healing him, befuddling party
members or dispelling spells on Mr. Crow. Eventually Greystone ran out of magic points and
party members had to get out of their befuddles themselves (Gerhardt was befuddled for
quite a while). (Mr. Crow spent quite a bit of time pulling impaled javelins out of his
legs). The fetch cast a bludgeon on Mr. Crow's cane, protection and shimmers and strength
and dexterity on him and he would have wailed on the party except Svart was distracting
him by grappling him. Lou grabbed his cane and tried to wrestle it away. Mr. Crow made a
big mistake and let the cane go. Lou started running away (to try and get the spirit away
from Mr. Crow) but decided instead to use the cane on Mr. Crow. She ran back and started
beating on Mr. Crow. Eventually his fetch ran out of power and Mr. Crow was killed.
Blueface told the party to cut Mr. Crow's breastbone out. Greystone
did so and Blueface passed his hand over it and made foci for everyone. As they left the
clearing they looked back and saw Mr. Crow standing there again.
Blueface then led the party back to the material world. The party
found themselves back in their bodies with the knowledge of the Guise of the Crow spell
and the foci. Svart however was holding an iron bastard sword.
2) Sea Season
1618 (Death to Cannibals!)(November 1997)
Party: Hallelujah Harnsdottir (Babeester Gor warrior)(Doug St.), Durnfal
Strongspear, (Yemalio ex-Farmer now Baron of Goldenears (Gary), Greystone (Waha
herder)(Doug Sh.), Gerhardt Frei (Orlanthi warrior)(Arne), Svart Ulfsson (Humakti
warrior)(Henry), Burning Willow (Votanki hunter) (Neil)
NPCs: Tamerlan (Waha Noble), Tadpole (Votanki Elder), Blueface (Balazaring/Votanki
shaman)
Now that the party had the Guise of the Crow spell they felt
confident in their ability to assault the Cannibals despite their sorry lack of equipment.
(Basically all they had were their fists and a bunch of javelins. Durnfal had a longer
pointed stick as well). Blueface said he would show them where the Cannibals were camped
and provide some magical support-especially against Granny Keen-eyes. When the party got
closer to the Cannibals "fort" it was decided that the Praxians and Burning
Willow would approach closer using stealth in order to get some better idea of what forces
would oppose them.
The three of them ran into two separate parties of Cannibals who
they managed to dispatch with minimal damage taken on their side. (Burning Willow had no
compunctions about killing the Cannibals despite her pacifistic upbringing). Tamerlan
managed to get into a sticky situation but with the help of a lucky dodge roll and
Greystone's javelin got away with his skin (mostly intact). Both parties consisted of five
Cannibals with the first party encountered being the weaker of the two. It was quickly
dispatched but the second was stronger and better armed and armoured so it posed more of a
problem but they were overcome as well. All the bodies were hidden and any useful armour
and weapons was taken back to the main party. Newly equipped the party proceeded towards
the Cannibal's camp. As they got closer they encountered a large group of Cannibals out on
patrol. The party attacked them and quickly slaughtered most of them. A few managed to get
away so the party decided to hurry towards the Cannibal's camp so they would have some
benefit of surprise.
When they got to the camp (an earthen berm) they saw a large group
of poorly armed and armoured Cannibals blocking the main entrance. It was decided that
Svart and Lou (as the mightiest fighters) would charge this group and try and force their
way in with the rest of the party acting as support. They charged forward and engaged the
group and quickly got mired in a hand to hand struggle as the Cannibals showed no concern
for their own persons. Svart and Lou ended up having to resort to using their fists and
feet to battle these Cannibals when the scrum precluded weapons. The pair did very well
just using their hands and feet to battle the Cannibals.
Meanwhile the rest of the party was attacked by a group of ten
doughtier Cannibal warriors who had circled around the outside of the berm and attacked
their flanks. This group proved to be more of a challenge than their kin inside the berm.
Fortunately some god-blessed javelin casting and judicious spell use helped the party to
prevail. Particular high points: Gerhardt using a stone dagger to disable two warriors
with criticals and impales. Burning Willow throwing a javelin with multimissile six
(courtesy of Blueface) on it a warrior and watching him disintegrate as she rolls a
critical and a special. Tadpole, Greystone and Tamerlan also managed to do well.
Finally the scrum ended as most of the grot Cannibals fled. A huge
Cannibal warrior approached promising to wreak havoc on the with his poleaxe. He swung and
knocked Lou down and was preparing to cleave her in two when Burning Willow hit him in the
arm with an impaled javelin. Sometime during all this Svart apparently changed places with
some spirit that had been imprisoned in his new iron bastardsword. He switched from two
handed to one handed use and easily killed the giant. At this point the fight was mostly
over.
Blueface, Tadpole and Hallelujah decided to search the hut in the
centre of the berm and see if the missing woman was in there. They found her cowering in
the back of the hut next to a withered, monstrous, sanity-loss inducing body which
Blueface identified as Granny Keen-eyes. As Lou asked the woman if she was all right
Blueface called out a warning. The woman breathed out a cloud of poison gas which Blueface
and Lou managed to avoid breathing in. Tadpole, unfortunately got a lung full and only the
immediate treat poison skill (a critical) by Lou saved him. Blueface told the party to let
Granny Keen-eyes go as she was beyond their abilities to harm.
The party became aware that Svart was gone from his body and they
opened tentative negotiations with whoever was in his body. With Tadpole translating (the
only language which the new owner of Svart's body spoke that they recognized was Votanki)
they discovered that the new inhabitant was named Naul Aur and he was a Carmanian hazar
(warrior) who had last lived on the physical plane in the time of Balazar!
(At this point the session was ended and we called it a night).
3) Sea Season 1618 (You should
have seen the one that got away...)(February 21st, 1998)
Party: Hallelujah Harnsdottir (Babeester Gor warrior)(Doug St.), Durnfal
Strongspear, (Yemalio
ex-Farmer now Baron of Goldenears (Gary), Greystone (Waha herder)(Doug Sh.), Gerhardt Frei
(Orlanthi warrior)(Arne), Naul Aur (Old Carmanian Sword of Humakt )(Henry)
NPCs: Tamerlan (Waha Noble), Tadpole (Votanki Elder), Blueface (Balazaring/Votanki
shaman)
Missing: Burning Willow (Votanki hunter) (Neil)
"Not one of our finer moments, we
killed a bunch of women and children and cleaned a fish."
Doug Sh.
As the party stood around deciding what to do next Naul and Svart
switched places. After switching Svart cast the iron bastardsword down. Svart then
explained to the party what had happened to him. He tells them about Naul and the fact
that the sword he bears acts as a Lead Cross. He also tells them that whoever is in the
sword cannot experience the world unless the sword is being held by someone. He tells them
that Naul is sorry about taking his body without the benefit of a proper Humakti duel and
that he will be trying to help Svart find a new body. All the Cannibals are rejected out
of hand as being unsuitable. Svart tells the party he is honour bound to return to the
sword and that he has only changed places so he could tell the party what had happened. He
had been thinking about entering an animal's body but decided this was a bad idea. (No
sabertoothed Rune Lords of Humakt). Svart told them that Naul would be on the lookout for
a human who had just been killed or was near death to put Svart's soul into. At this point
Svart and Naul change places. Naul beheaded all the corpses. He tried to get Gerhardt
(especially) and the others to collect some wood for a bonfire which he could stack the
heads on for burning but Gerhardt (and the rest) refused to fetch and carry for him.
Party decides to hunt down remaining cannibals (women and children)
and manage to catch half or so. After this they trash the fort and take away all the good
stuff. After they hunted down the women and children the party collected some wood and
burnt the heads of the dead. Then they decided to bugger off for civilized turf using the
equipment (armour and weapons) the Cannibal's camp has provided. Blueface tells Hallelujah
that he will come and help her give birth when it is her time. (One of her major concerns
is to be somewhere civilized when she is due to give birth). Blueface gives her his Eubuck
staff so she can call him. The party heads south to the Elf Sea with the vague idea of
trying to retrieve their possessions somehow (now that Lou realizes she can hold her
breath longer than normal they have some vague plan of using a detect magic to find their
possessions.
When they reached the camp of the Crow Eaters they found it mostly
deserted. An old man tells them that the rest of the tribe is at the sea side looking at
something amazing. The wind shifts then so it's blowing from the Elf Sea and they all
smell something horrible and vaguely reminiscent of Corflu. Proceeding to the coast they
find the tribe (who are not happy to see all these murderers in their presence) and their
dogs gathered around an enormous, dead fish on the beach. They are happy to see Blueface
and make a big fuss about him. The party gets closer to the fish (Naul shows his true
colours by elbowing people aside) and notices that there are a series of water spouts (in
the water) and giant puddles (on the land) around the fish. One of the spouts sprouts a
beautiful naiad who starts speaking to the party in Balazaring. Blueface translates and
the party learns that the fish is dead because of something it swallowed off of the sea
floor-something that burns. (Casting a detect magic causes the fish to light up). Some of
the party shows the naiad the runes on their palms and she is mollified a bit. They offer
to take their stuff out of the fish. The naiad isn't impressed as this doesn't replace
their fish. Lou asks what they can do for the naiad and she is taken aback as she cannot
think of anything they could do for her. Lou offers to trade her the things they took from
Mister Crow for the fish and she agrees. All the elementals and naiads depart. Lou cuts
the fish open (getting covered in guts and blood and losing her stomach contents in the
process-so who'd notice). They fish around inside and find some of their equipment, mostly
metal stuff and crystals, though Strongspear had survived as well. Hilts and leather
straps were all gone so the party fashioned travois to carry the stuff they'd recovered
(plus a lot of metal lumps they didn't recognize, though they left half the lead and
copper behind).
Tadpole is invited along but he refuses claiming he's had enough of
their so called civilization. Burning Willow says she'll come. Naul approaches the Crow
Eaters and asks whether any of the young men are interested in adventure. They all reject
him and he turns his back on them proclaiming them all cowards. Naul is a bit taken aback
by the news that Carmania is part of the Lunar Empire and that there are three citadels,
not two. The sight of the Red Goddess in the sky is new for him too.
After resting for a week they follow the instructions given by
Tadpole and head for Dykene. Before they leave Naul spends some time trying to find
something metal of the right size and shape so he can brand a death rune on his face. He
gives up after a while and resorts to using wood ash and charcoal instead. They voyage
half way there with no dangerous encounters. They do encounter a party of aldryami scouts
who allow them to travel through their woods and provide an escort (though only Durnfal
and Greystone ever see them). They party gives them some of the copper they'd found as
tribute. Once back onto the plains they come across a Great Troll mummy (not undead)
standing propped up on the edge of the woods. Against the protests of the others Naul
chops the troll's legs off and topples it.
4) Sea Season 1618 (Excuse me,
but can you point out the quickest route to Prax?)(April 25, 1998)
Party: Hallelujah Harnsdottir (Babeester Gor warrior)(Doug St.), Durnfal
Strongspear, (Yemalio ex-Farmer now Baron of Goldenears (Gary), Greystone (Waha
herder)(Doug Sh.), Gerhardt Frei (Orlanthi warrior)(Arne), Naul Aur (Old Carmanian Sword
of Humakt )(Henry), Burning Willow (Votanki hunter)(Neil)
NPCs: Tamerlan (Waha Noble)
A few days after desecrating the troll corpse the party spots a
group of five riders on horseback. The other party spots them pretty much simultaneously.
They approach making no hostile overtures. The leader addresses them in the time honored
Orlanthi greeting.
"Hail, Stranger! Who comes this way? Do you come in friendship,
or as a foe?"
Gerhardt answers him properly and the party learns this the party is
a group of Orlanthis from Trilus led by Torath Manover, Wind Lord of Orlanth. His party
also includes a Storm Voice. The two parties have lunch together and trade news.
Hallelujah Harnsdottir ask where the nearest healer or individual experienced with child
delivery is and Torath suggest Dushi Sone the Chalana Arroy at Trilus. The party enquires
about the possibilities of purchasing mounts or arms and armour and the Orlanthis tell
them it's pretty unlikely they'll get anything made of metal and that the citadel kings
control the supply of mounts in the region. After a pleasant lunch the two parties go
their separate ways. The Orlanthis told the party they were heading into the Elder Wilds
in search of the legendary Windsword of Orlanth.
After quite a bit of discussion the party decides to travel to
Dykene anyway as it is closer and their food supply is running out. They travel a few more
days and arrive at the citadel after passing through the Dog Hills. The citadel impresses
no one but Burning Willow who has never seen the like before. As they approach the citadel
every dog in sight begins howling a welcome. (For the duration of her stay Hallelujah
always has at least a dozen dogs hanging around her). The group sees an enormous red boar
in an enclosure guarded by some citadel warriors. The guards wear cuirboilli armour and
boar's tusk helmets. As they approach the citadel's gate they see a group of warriors
become more alert. Their leader, one Boldoni Boldface approaches the party and welcomes
them to the citadel in King Skilfil's name. He tells the party that they have been
expected and the king would like to meet them the following day. They are to be put up in
the local inn, the Stabbing Cat lodge at the King's expense. Boldoni shows them to the inn
where the innkeep, welcomes them and provides rooms and a bath for those so inclined. He
tells the party a little about the citadel and provides a hearty meal to the party (lots
of really good pork products). Hallelujah is pleased to learn he's a fellow Esrolian since
it's been so long since she'd spoken her native tongue to anyone. Naul Aur asks whether
there is a shrine to Humakt in the citadel but the innkeep is unable to tell him. Burning
Willow tours the inn and is impressed by the basement and the second floor. Gerhardt spots
an enormous hawk from his bedroom window with a human rider on it's back which answers the
party's question as to how they were spotted. (Their previous guess had been that a
mounted patrol had seen them). An uneventful night passes.
After a hearty breakfast the next morning (best bacon and ham the
party has ever eaten!) Boldoni Boldface shows up to guide the party to the palace. He
points out the sights on the way and shows them into the throne room. After a brief wait
Skilfil Heartpiercer appears and welcomes the party to the citadel. The party introduces
themselves and Naul Aur claims to have known Balazar personally. The king doesn't believe
this at first and almost starts a fight by questioning Naul's sanity. Gerhardt explains
the situation and the king appears to accept the explanation. Skilfil makes polite
conversation and eventually asks the group whether they would be interested in joining his
guard to make up for the numerical imbalance he has compared to Yalaring Monsterslayer. He
offers arms and armour and the use of a mount for the duration of their membership in his
guard. Having heard that the leather hide of the offspring of the divine boar outside the
citadel makes superior armour at least Hallelujah is a bit interested in his offer but
they ask to be given time to think about it. Skilfil graciously agrees to give them until
the next day after which they will have to pay their own inn bills. Boldoni shows the
party the temple to Yemalio. On the way to the temple they meet Starnia Stormrender, Light
Son of Yemalio and daughter of Skilfil and her guard. She makes polite conversation and
later watches Naul Aur sparring with some of the guard and trouncing them utterly. At the
temple they meet Sylvanthi Brighteyes, priest of Yemalio and rune lord of Balazar. He
shows them the temple and also seems to have trouble accepting Naul's claims to having
known Balazar. Naul tells the Yemalians that their depiction of Balazar is all wrong. (For
some reason they don't seem awed by his claim. They are awed by his prowess though).
Durnfal tells Starnia that he has something she must see. She goes to his room with him
and they get the lead chest containing the everburning torches of Yemalio and bring them
back to the temple. There Durnfal shows them to Boldoni and the temple elite.
Meanwhile Halleujah has found someone who lets her test his leather
armour. She discovers that the claims are true! Gerhardt finds a local who sells him some
material for fixing his sword...
5) Sea Season - Beginning of
Fire Season 1618 (Give me my torches back damn it!)(May 30, 1998)
Party: Hallelujah Harnsdottir (Babeester Gor warrior)(Doug St.), Durnfal
Strongspear, (Yemalio ex-Farmer now Baron of Goldenears (Gary), Greystone (Waha
herder)(Doug Sh.), Naul Aur (Old Carmanian Sword of Humakt )(Henry)
Present in Body if Not Spirit: Burning Willow (Votanki hunter)(Neil), Gerhardt Frei
(Orlanthi warrior)(Arne)
NPCs: Tamerlan (Waha Noble)
Naul Aur had been trouncing Dykenean guardsmen, Gerhardt was trying
to fix his sword, Hallelujah was looking for someone to let her test how strong their
armour was, Durnfal was showing off the torches of Ever-burning, Greystone and Tamerlan
were just hanging around, and Burning Willow was being bedazzled by the bright lights and
the big city. Everyone was invited to attend a big party that evening at the palace. While
they waited for evening Gerhardt told the party that he had found a Lunar prospector named
Eagle Eye G’jorni who could probably fix all their weapons and armour for a price.
The party had decided to leave the next day but decided to stick around and see how much
Eagle Eye would charge them.
When evening came they followed a guardsman to the palace for the
banquet. All the notables of Dykene were there-all the priests and rune lords from the
Yemalio temple, as well as the heads of the Hearth Mother, Votank, Foundchild and Rigtaina
cults. The banquet was a fun enough event. Everyone was seated on a two person couch for
dining. Most party members ended up seated with another party member (except Durnfal who
was seated with an Yemalian acolyte who impressed him as a complete prudish, stick-in-the
mud, waste of time). Everyone had the chance to make small talk with the locals (except
Naul Aur who was making a bad reputation for himself in Dykene as being a little too
preoccupied with death). Half way into the evening the charcacters noticed that King
Skilfil and Burning Willow were both missing.
Hallelujah tried to engage Praxenia the king’s currently
favoured concubine in conversation (to help Burning Willow) but she seemed a bit too
distracted by Skilfil’s absence to want to make small talk. After a while she left to
go look for Skilfil. Naul Aur decided to follow her and caught up with her as she stood
outside an alcove listening to the noises of lovemaking. After a while King Skilfil stuck
his head out of the alcove and spotted Praxenia and Naul Aur. He spotted the pair and
Praxenia engaged Naul in a long kiss that turned passionate. Skilfil pulled his head back
into the alcove and Praxenia pushed Naul into another alcove and the pair engaged in
“hand to hand combat”. Eventually all parties concerned returned to the banquet
looking a little disheveled. Praxenia and King Skilfil exchanged venomous glances (which
Naul Aur and Burning Willow got to experience as well). Everyone returned to the inn (some
the worse for wear than others, Burning Willow and Tamerlan for example. The former
because of her lack of experience with alcohol and the latter because of a willingness to
overindulge).
The next day Hallelujah finalized arrangements to purchase some
supplies from Ostakkar Three-Scar and when Eagle Eye showed up later that day the party
arranged to have all their weapons and armour repaired as well. He told them this would
take him about a week to complete and charged them an encumberance of tin a day for the
work. That day Durnfal went to the outer (public) temple to offer his suit of ringmail he
no longer needed to the cult. While he was there he noticed that the torches of
Everburning were gone. The acolyte he had been seated with at the banquet told him that
the torches had been moved to the inner temple for safekeeping and that he should talk to
the king about donating the armour. Durnfal was irritated about the torches being moved
but went to speak with the king anyway. As he made his way into the palace one of the
king’s concubines Chana Greeneyes accosted him and asked whether he would like to
“spend some time with her”. He told her he was too busy right then and there but
maybe later. She offered to send a slave to fetch him that evening and he agreed. He got
in to see the king who seemed to be in a very good mood. The king asked about Burning
Willow and asked Durnfal to bring a present (of a gold necklace) to her. The king was
happy to accept the suit of ringmail and offered to trade two suits of soft leather and
one suit of cuirboilli for it. (The suit of soft leather and cuirboilli were for Burning
Willow of course!) Durnfal returned to the inn and gace the necklace to Burning Willow.
She didn’t have the faintest idea of what it was for so Durnfal had to show her. That
evening Burning Willow, Durnfal and Hallelujah were all away from the inn. Burning Willow
and Durnfal’s absences were for obvious reasons but no one learned where Hallelujah
had gone. She returned the next morning and spent the rest of the week studying with the
head priestess of the Hearth Mother cult. Greystone spent a fair bit of time with the head
of the Votank cult whch he found to be a lot like Daka Fal. He and Tamerlan also spent
some time helping out with the slaughtering of pigs. Gerhardt just hung out and relaxed
and Naul Aur spent a lot of time at the guard’s training ground. He tried to persuade
them to let him train them in the “modern” art of warfare. They were quite
reluctant to learn anything from him and after a few days they shunned him completely.
They couldn’t embrace his philosophy of total warfare and killing for killing’s
sake (as they saw it) and he rejected their approach to warfare as being amateurish and
weak. His reputation in Dykene got steadily worse and people started avoiding him. Towards
the end of the week small children had started throwing dung at him. Every night of that
week Burning Willow and Durnfal disappeared at ngith only to reappear in the morning. Once
the armour and weapons were finished the party paid Eagle Eye G’jorni off and the
following morning went to the palace to tell Skilfil they had decided not to join his
guard. He was disappointed but thought it might be just as well that Naul Aur left since
he was thought so poorly of. He wished them all godspeed and the group left to get the
torches.
The party went to the inner temple and asked to speak to the rune
lord Sylvanthi Brighteyes. The runelord was summoned and Durnfal and Naul Aur went into
the temple. (The guards at the door didn’t try and stop Naul Aur but they did keep
the rest of the party out). Durnfal demanded the torches back but Sylvanthi didn’t
want to hand them over. He told them that he had divined from the god that the torches
should be in a temple to Yemalio. (He assumed this meant his temple, of course!) When he
continuously refused to turn the torches over Naul Aur attacked him. Sylvanthi backed off
and retreated before the pair. They followed up and he managed to keep alive long enough
to duck out into an open courtyard. There Starnia Stormrender threw a javelin with
Multimissile 3 at Naul. Two of the missiles hit Naul damaging his legs. The following
round Starnia called the power of Yelm down on Naul and this killed him. Meanwhile
Hallelujah and Tamerlan had attacked the two guards at the temple entrance when they
realized the fight had started and quickly knocked them down. The party had followed up
and Gerhardt reached Durnfal and Naul just as the latter was struck down. (Naul was unable
to D.I. because he was in an enemy temple). He ran forward and tried to heal Naul. Durnfal
followed Sylvanthi up and was hit by two Sunspears in subsequent rounds (which didn't kill
him because of his heavy armour). Sylvanthi and Durnfal traded blows. (Durnfal was so
angry that he unleashed the special power he had gained inside the eel and managed to
fanaticize himself). Gerhardt healed Naul up but Svart was the person who regained
consciousness! Durnfal got his spear stuck in Sylvanthi's shield and then Svart engaged
Sylvanthi and knocked him down. Then Sylvanthi's giant hawk familiar attacked and knocked
Svart unconscious again. The hawk's leg was wounded and it took off the following round.
Gerhardt hit it and stuck his sword in its wing. Burning Willow tried to hit the hawk with
a javelin but missed. Meanwhile Hallelujah and Tamerlan had charged Starnia. Tamerlan
swung and was parryed while Hallelujah cut her arm so severely that it was unusable.
Stania then stepped back into the interior of the shrine. Tamerlan followed up and was
knocked down by a warding. Hallelujah was wounded by the warding but was still standing.
(Starnia used her D.I. to repair the damage). Neither was keen on the fight and at this
point King Skilfil and some guardsmen showed up and stopped the fight. After an exchange
of recriminations during which Svart was healed again it was decided that ownership/final
disposition of the torches would be decided by Tagalog Woodheart, High Priest of Yemalio
in Balazar. The party and Sylvanthi would travel to Elkoi to petition Tagalog for a ruling
as to what would become of the torches...
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