Game Date: 17-21 Browning, 994 KC; Play Date: 11/3/2001
17 Browning: Sarah, Star, and Ruqayyah left Carnvrin, and reached Veluvar late in the day. They heard news of the ship that they had helped on the 13th; the ship had reached port by the next evening.
18 Browning: From fisherfolk she knew in town, Sarah learned the name and approximate location of a town official who had regular contact with the priests of the Oracle of the Cauldron. Going about town, they notices two groups that stood out: some centaurs (few, but hard not to notice), and humans they assumed to be members of the island tribes. The latter looked like Krithians, but wore hides and obsidian jewelry, and carried more primitive weapons and gear than the townsfolk.
From the official, they learned that petitioners went to a shrine in the island's interior. Priests would meet them there, accept their gifts, and return in a few days with answers to their questions. He showed the women a map of the route, and informed them where they could acquire a copy of their own. He could also help them find guides, but they decided to do without. The journey would take 3-4 days, and the islanders usually respected pilgrims who kept to the usual route.
Sarah made arrangements for her boat to be watched in her absence. They found the cartographer recommended to them. His collection included not only maps of the pilgrim route and the sea near Caldor Colony, but also large-scale maps of Arcadayn and most of the kingdoms within it. Ruqayyah offered to pay for a map with an illusion of what she saw in the Outlands. She had no map of it, but could describe the journey in detail, so the cartographer sent for a colleague who was both storyteller and mapmaker. Meanwhile, the artisan was curious about her home. When she pointed it out on a map, he pulled out maps of the Sandmarch. He couldn't read Malduzi, but if she could translate the map labels for him, that would earn her at least a simple map from his shop. She agreed, and received a general map of the Westmarch (lacking only the extreme.north and south points).
That evening, she met with the storyteller, and spent many hours describing the journey to him. He was pleased enough by her tale that he agreed to not only let her have a copy of the pilgrim map, but on her return to Veluvar, he would give her a copy of the map he would draft from her travelogue.
19-20 Browning: The three women followed the pilgrim route into the interior. They passed through farms and meadowlands until they reached the border of the colony. The second day took them into the foothills of the central mountains, which they skirted to the south. The occasionally saw islanders in the hills near the path; these people crossed the path but did not seem to use it themselves.
21 Browning: The travelers entered the forest at the base of the southern side of the mountains. In the afternoon, they reached a bowl-like open space between the forest and the slopes of the mountains proper. On the far side of the bowl was a large rock (about 100' tall) suggestive of a squatting giant. In front of it was a semicircle of conical stone huts, around a clear space in which a large stone appeared to serve as an altar of some kind. Outside the arc of huts were several tents. The path continued into the clearing, and ended at the stone huts. Several people moved about the bowl, some dressed in simple white robes--apparently the priests.
Two such robes figures met the party as they approached. One was an old woman with very long hair, dark gray with white streaks; the other was a young man. In an archaic dialect of Krithian, the woman welcomed them to the Shrine of the Petitioners, and asked which among them had a question for the Oracle. Because Star spoke no Krithian, and the priestess recognized none of her languages, she sent for another priest. This one was a very tall, middle-aged man with a long red beard only slightly touched with gray. He had a distinct Northlander look to him, but spoke Krithian with an islander accent. He didn't recognize Star's languages either, but then tried one she did recognize. That one turned out to be the Seelie "court language." (Star vaguely recalled an association with the Seelie, and a desire to avoid Unseelie sidhe.) The priest asked to walk and talk with Star.
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This page last revised 2/6/2002. | Copyright 2002 Timothy E. Emrick. | time@sluggy.net