Game Date: 4-30 Browning, 994 KC; Play Date: 10/3/2001
4-8 Browning: Darra, Al-Zaki and Naima left Berigissel. Naima left them at the desert's edge, to go alone to her people within the Sandmarch. Darra and Al-Zaki continued south, to the Haunted Rift. After a few days, they reached the Rift near dark, so rested well outside it until daybreak. Along the way, Darra asked Al-Zaki to teach her the draconic language. He was indifferent about this, until she pointed out that it would give her something to do rather than fret about her current mission.
9 Browning: They entered the Rift, and went to Yantos's cave. He appeared a short while later.
Darra told Yantos that she wished to help him. She explained that her god had considered Yantos in need of His justice, and Darra's quest to help him worthy. She had learned the basics of exorcism from her friends in Berigissel, but had never tried this before. She anticipated it taking quite some time, and a number of attempts.
10 Browning: Darra made her first attempt the next day, after a night's rest and lengthy prayers and meditation. As she began, the visual clues that Yantos was a ghost came much clearer to her, but she mastered the fear of the dead that this triggered. She recited what she knew of his history, and prayed aloud for Kuldor to grant justice and release Yantos's soul from bondage. The ritual was not successful, but she gained a useful insight: She would need petition the gods that Yantos once served to accept his spirit back to their service.
During the ritual, Darra gained an indistinct sense of the trauma and turmoil in Yantos's soul. Afterwards, he seems downcast and withdrawn. Al-Zaki, who had observed, seemed curious (and confused?), but respectful of both friends' weary silence. Once Darra had rested and gathered her thoughts, she spoke with the dragon. She was upset, not because the exorcism failed, but because it caused Yantos pain--and he doesn't deserve that. Al-Zaki commented that Yantos's ghostly condition made him sensitive to others' emotions, which is one reason he hadn't revealed his true nature before. After some time, Yantos came to speak with her. He wished her to continue her efforts; the experience was unpleasant, but held new promise for release. (The journey he needed to take wasn't necessarily pleasant, just necessary.)
Over the next few days, Darra questioned Yantos at length about his gods, Ranae funeral rites, and the details of his death. He gladly discussed the gods, but the episode with the necromancer who killed him was short but painful, and difficult to describe. He was uncertain just how much time had elapsed since then--probably decades. (The new reminder that Yantos was dead ended that conversation abruptly.)
She learned that the Ranae typically bury common tribesmen, so that their remains could return to the forest. Chief's bodies were burnt on a pyre, and the ashes spread around the forest. This both denied the body to scavengers, and honored the role of fire in the health of the woodlands. If the usual method for a given person wasn't feasible for some reason, the other custom was used.
12 Browning (New Moon): Al-Zaki took Darra to the wastelands above the canyon for the day and night of the new moon, because Yantos's cave was death-aspected during that time.
16 Browning: Darra's second attempt failed.
22 Browning: Darra's fears got the best of her before she even began this time, so she waited a day to try again.
23 Browning: Darra's third attempt ended in a longer struggle than any previous rituals. However, at the end of it, Yantos appeared surprised, and enraptured. He began to glow from within, his robe tunred a rich green, and he started to look younger and more alive. He then faded from view, thanking her as he vanished. Success! Darra blacked out for several minutes after this. After waking, she offered a prayer of thanks to Kuldor.
Darra inquired whether the cave's death-aspect would persist now that Yantos was gone. The dragon replied that it had preceded the ghost, so a change was unlikely. The shadow-spider creatures of the Rift should continue to avoid it. However, Darra refused to stay in the Rift any longer than necessary; the night after this would be the full moon, and her obligatory change.
Darra searched Yantos's chamber in the cave. She found nothing here but rocks and a skull. It was human, missing its jaw, and quite old and dry. She found no other bones, so took the skull with her. She and Al-Zaki emerged from the Rift about dusk, and built a fire to reduce the skull to ash.
24 Browning (Full Moon): In the morning, Darra crumbled the shards of bone left in the fire, and spread the ashes.
She then discussed future plans with Al-Zaki. He saw no place for himself with Darra's friends and their current business. However, he would take her to Quikara, where she could get a boat downriver. He planned to return home (to the mountains west of Quikara). He had been away for quite soem time, and had many new things to ponder in solitude. He was unsure how long he would need for that. Darra would be able to leave messages for him by the usual means.
The continued north a ways, then rested before Darra's change that night. Al-Zaki promised to follow her, in case she wandered far.
25-27 Browning: When Darra returned to her sense sin the morning, she had a vague memory of walking and talking with a man who looked like Yantos, but was younger and wearing a bright green robe. She could remember nothing of their conversation, and guessed it must have been a dream.
That night, after Darra had rested a great long time, Al-Zaki flew them north, most of the way to Farvale. The next night, the landed near Quikara. Before dawn, Al-Zaki changed to human form. They entered Quikara and made arrangements for Darra to book passage on a swift boat going downstream to Berigissel. Al-Zaki wrote letters for Darra to give to Laylah and Ruqayyah.
28 Browning: Al-Zaki saw Darra off in the morning. She gave him a big hug and kiss, and thanks for all she could think of. He thanked her for halping Yantos, and for "provoking much thought."
30 Browning: The boat reached Berigissel late in the day. Darra learned that she had missed the local Harvest Fair (21st-27th). She went to the Celestian temple, where she learned that the clerics with the Asanos had left just days ago (the 28th). She got a copy of their itinerary from the remaining clerics: They would enact a ritual in each ducal capital (having done Berigissel first), then in the Imperial capital. More immediately, they would travel overland to Harwen then to Mundec, where they would catch a ship on the 4th. (Darra believed she could catch them if traveling on her own, in horse form.)
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This page last revised 2/6/2002. | Copyright 2002 Timothy E. Emrick. | time@sluggy.net