All the normal people show up: Chris (Pawnbroker), Nick (Mungo), Tim (Laerynthe), and April (Patrisha Veka). In addition, Ray also makes an appearance, though he does not actually take part in the game. Much to the surprise of some of the players, this session is intended to be a wrapup for the Fading Word campaign: the increasingly exciting demands of my life have steadily reduced the amount of preparation time I am able to devote to the campaign. As a consequence, the Fading Word will be taking an extended (and possibly permanent) hiatus.
The session opens on the 9th day of Abbatine Year 857, the morning after the destruction of Lecutor Amon's forces outside the walls of Paiden. Most of the characters are still in the field, with the various forces they commanded during the battle.
Laerynthe and Mungo made a heroic effort during the battle to storm Lecutor Amon's pavilion, hoping to slay him and decapitate the Mardakan leadership. Having been successful in this goal, they next turn to looting the pavilion. The items they find include:
During the battle, Mungo and Laerynthe ensured that nobody else made off with this loot through the simple expedient of holding the pavilion with their personal retinue throughout the later part of the battle. After the smoke clears, they take all of the booty out of the area on one of Lecutor Amon's tables. They bring it all to the abandoned Dillir Family plantation the characters have used in the past and bury it. Mungo writes directions to get to the hoard in Maker, to make certain no one will be able to read them.
Pawnbroker wakes at dawn to the sounds of Holy City Folk from Paiden attempting to put the Mardakan wounded to death with sharpened stakes and hammers. Appalled by this butchery, Pawnbroker finds a high piece of ground for his command post and organizes stretcher teams to carry the less-wounded away for treatment. Based upon a conversation with Lecutor Suek, he determines that food will not be a huge problem for the next couple of days, and so continues to concentrate on helping the wounded and the diseased.
The only part of the Mardakan camp still standing is the stockade occupied by Lecutor Suek, his troops, the roughly 2000 prisoners (many of them wounded or sick) taken from among the Mardakan army, and the 150 members of the Paiden Militia responsible for guarding them. The rest of it has all been leveled by the deyrey neuters from Xod Hive. Per the terms of the treaty of surrender between Paiden and Lecutor Suek, his troops and his fortifications are not to be torn down until his wounded and sick can be cared for in other quarters.
By midday, messengers from Anpago Bosst have reached Mungo, Laerynthe and Pawnbroker. The message is the same in all cases: "There will be a meeting of all commanders, before the next Council meeting. You are all expected to be in the city by nightfall tonight. Make all appropriate arrangements."
Laerynthe and Mungo bring along the deyrey leader Elpin, the adapoi Warleader Eloshan, and their own personal retinue, consisting of the deyrey drone Lophoon, the former Holy City Folk Nop and the sorcerer Brakan. Elpin also brings two of his drones and ten neuters. Warleader Eloshan brings Speaker Ebenei and three warriors. The trip in towards Paiden is a somewhat dicey affair, as both Laerynthe and Mungo do their best to keep the adapoi and the deyrey apart.
Patrisha Veka is the messenger assigned to contact Pawnbroker. After reading Anpago's message, Pawnbroker writes a response agreeing to appear and sends Patrisha flying back into the city with it. He then assembles a group consisting of: Lecutor Suek and some of his subofficers, Lecutors Benten, Chen, Faz and Tamin, Taotach Cassand and Fesh, a dozen adapoi and a dozen Living Weapons. Of the Lecutors, only Lecutors Suek and Benten are treated as guests among Pawnbroker's company: the others (who all did not take part in the surrender) are treated as captives.
Anpago's meeting is held in a large tent erected in the ruins of the Dashugam Barracks compound. The characters enter to find a large contingent of Paiden's military leaders already assembled. Anpago Bosst, in his office as Commander of the Walls, is surrounded by an entourage of Guard and Militia officers, mostly from the Bosst and Dillir Families. The Qellowan Spyral Devotee Asusash and the Food-Maker Turku, dressed in a massive scaled armor jacket, are also present. The dour Gulwen Akowa, representing the Translators' Guild, stands off to one side.
Anpago starts the session with a rather congratulatory speech describing how Paiden's enemies are now its captives, thanks to the efforts of those present. Anpago speaks in Old Youden, so Mungo translates (badly, but with plenty of compliments added in) for the deyrey, Patrisha translates for the adapoi (with flawless skill), Laerynthe translates for the various Living Weapons (in his characteristically blunt style) and Pawnbroker translates for Lecutor Suek and his retinue (taking care to mute the various barbs in Anpago's speech).
Once Anpago has finished thanking everyone, he gets to the point: the plunder from the battlefield needs to be collected and distributed. He orders all the officers present to organize groups of men to perform collection duties, and to provide Pawag Akowa with lists of the men and officers in each unit. The characters do their best to explain the concept of "officer" to the adapoi and the deyrey, and aren't too sure that they have succeeded.
Anpago says only that the wealth will be divided up according to tradition, and then gives the stand over to Pawag Akowa, who rather haltingly explains the scheme for dividing the loot: the officers of the army will get half of the total take, and the remainder will be divided among the troops. Pawag estimates that the total value of goods will be about 700,000 challock, giving each officer a share of 1750 challock and each soldier a share of 100 challock. About 20% of each share will be in coin, with the remainder in kind (typically armor, weapons and equipment). He also estimates that about 1000 na-lizards can be recovered from the ruins of the Mardakan camps. These creatures will be divided evenly among the Eight Families, to compensate them for the losses they suffered through the siege.
On the characters' inquiry, Anpago promises that all troops owed goods or funds by the city of Paiden will be paid. In particular, he promises that the Xod Hive deyrey will get their pascullo by the end of the week.
As the meeting breaks up, Laerynthe proposes to Lecutor Suek that the characters purchase some na-lizards and have his beast-masters tend and train them. The Lecutor does not appear to object, and promises that he will relay the offer to his men. The characters (particularly Pawnbroker) speculate that food will soon be a big problem, and that they will be able to sell pascullo for a lot of money as food animals, while the na-lizards (which have less value as food, but much greater value as riding beasts) will be easy to purchase from the Families, who lack anyone with the knowledge to tend them.
Towards the end of the meeting, a Bosst Family officer speaks to Laerynthe, informing him that Anpago wishes the three captive Lecutors (Chen, Faz and Tamin) to be given over to his custody, that they might be kept in the Paiden jails. The officer also wants to take away Lecutors Suek and Benten, to place them under a sort of house arrest. Pawnbroker and Laerynthe agree to let the Bosst have the captives, but cite the city's treaty with Lecutors Suek and Benten (which Anpago Bosst signed) and successfully argue for their freedom.
After the meeting concludes, a messenger presses a sealed note into Pawnbroker's hands. The message is from Lembey Abbas, and urges Pawnbroker (and companions) to meet with him quickly, but does not say why. The characters head to the Abbas Family compound, accompanied by Lecutor Suek and the Living Weapons.
At the compound, the characters are met by Zazak, who greets all of them warmly except for Patrisha Veka, whom he addresses only as "Veka." He allows their companions to stay in the courtyard while he leads them into the house to speak with Lembey.
Lembey Abbas makes the characters an offer. He tells them that the Lesso Family, which had counted several plantations as it's primary wealth, had been almost completely destroyed in the recent conflict: most of the senior male Family members were on their plantations when both the Holy City Folk and Prince Tonnalk's army showed up, and suffered badly for it. Lembey tells Pawnbroker and Laerynthe that, as notable citizens and heroes of the war, they would not be badly-received were they to make marriage offers to the surviving senior women (now widows) of the Family. These offers should, of course, be accompanied by suitably large offers of wealth. Lembey explains that this is important to him because the Lesso Family still holds a vote on the Patriarch's Council that he wishes to incorporate into his nascent Abbas-Veka voting bloc. Both Pawnbroker and Laerynthe agree in principle with Lembey's idea, and head over to speak to the Lesso Family.
Prior to the characters' departure for the Lesso Family compound, Patrisha Veka passes on what she knows about the Lesso Family. In particular, the old Patriarch was not literate, and most of the (now-dead) menfolk were farm workers. However, several of the womenfolk are magicians and members of the Translators' Guild. In general, within the Family the menfolk did the hard manual labor while the women took responsibility for the more intellectual tasks. She points out that both Laerynthe and Pawnbroker may have problems with this: while neither of them are particularly noted as scholars, they are both far better educated than most of the erstwhile Lesso males. Pawnbroker and Laerynthe agree to take this caution under advisement.
The Lesso Family complex in Paiden is quite uncharacteristic of both typical human and youda architecture: the buildings are dark and brooding, filled with small, winding corridors and obscure little rooms. The characters are brought into one of these by several armed Lesso Family servants, where they are introduced to a distinguished array of surviving Lesso Family women:
The conversation is started off by Matriarch Agaiba Lesso, who very bluntly puts the Family's situation on the table: they need to strengthen their position in the city of they risk losing their Council vote and their position, and are willing to entertain appropriate marriage offers from the characters. However, she points out that even now, the Lesso Family retains enough influence and wealth to be able to be a bit picky over whom they accept and whom they do not. She challenges the characters to make an offer.
Laerynthe's offer is quite generous: he offers his share of the loot from the battle, plus 3000 challock in coin, to marry Cousin Leega Lesso. The Matriarch and Cousin Leega accept.
Pawnbroker makes a more varied offer: he offers the Family his fertility dagger, his third of the tax income from the new Paiden-Hegger trade route, and his share of the loot from the battle to marry Senior Aunt Vetiba Lesso. She also accepts his offer. After a certain amount of discussion, Pawnbroker is anointed as the new Lesso Patriarch, with his new wife gaining the rank of Matriarch. The former Matriarch, Agaiba Lesso, becomes Senior Aunt. Pawnbroker allays many of the senior womenfolk's fears by pointing out that while he is a skilled warrior and great general, he is not experienced in running plantations or Family politics, and will need the expertise of both the new Matriarch and the two Senior Aunts to help the Lesso Family prosper.
The meeting of the Patriarchs' Council after the characters join into the Lesso Family brings huge changes to Paiden's government. The representatives present at the High Table in the Patriarchs' Hall show the damage that the Mardaka War has inflicted upon Paiden. The Patriarchs of the Cassand, Dillir, Veka, Abbas and Lesso Families are present at the table (with Pawnbroker as the Lesso Patriarch). The Bosst Patriarch was killed when the Dashugam Barracks was fired last year, and was (obviously) not present, so the Bosst Family sends a stand-in. Neither the Faiai nor the Akowa Families send a representative. In the case of the Akowa Family, this is because the new Patriarch and all other ranking members of the Family are working to minister to wounded soldiers in the converted Translators' Guild hall. It is not clear why there is no Faiai representative, though the Patriarch is suspected to be infirm.
Seveal major issues are brought before the Council. First, Lembey Abbas proposes that Lecutor Suek's men should be allowed to stay around Paiden if they want. The Dillir Patriarch counters with the suggestion that they all be driven off the Edge of the World, into the Maelstrom. Lembey Abbas' newly formed voting block is quite effective in it's first act, as he, Mibas Veka and Pawnbroker all vote with the Bosst Family representative to accept Lembey's plan. Altogether, votes generally follow Lembey Abbas' desires:
By the end of the Council meeting, it is clear that the Bosst Family will be the power in Paiden going into the future, but that Lembey Abbas, Mibas Veka and Pawnbroker have managed to forge an effective minority coalition.
The next year in Paiden is a time of great change and rebuilding, during which the characters work to consolidate their own fortunes and those of their friends. As predicted, the strength of the Bosst Family grows, as does the influence of Anpago Bosst.
Within days of his ascension to the position of Patriarch of the Lesso Family, Pawnbroker makes a concerted effort to bring various of his allies and friends into his fold. In particular, he offers employment to any of Lecutor Suek's beast-masters who wish it. To provide them with something to do, Laerynthe works out lease agreements with Lembey Abbas and several of the other Families to care for their na-lizards. The new associates of the Lesso Family include:
Lecutor Suek takes on the role of country gentry, using what remains of his wealth to acquire a deserted plantation near several of the Lesso Family plantations.
The characters also make a trip back up to Xod Hive to deliver 250 pascullo to Greineh, in accordance with their bargain with him. Because Anpago agreed to provide them with 400 pascullo to obtain deyrey help, they clear 150 pascullo. Mungo gets 50 of them, which he donates to the oorthoi. The remaining 100 go to the Lesso Family.
Pawnbroker also learns that he cannot afford to antagonize the other Families too much, as the Lesso Family has debts of over 30,000 challock to the Abbas and Cassand Families.
Patrisha Veka does not join up with the Lesso Family. Instead, she arranges a commission as Emissary to Xod Hive and takes up residence with the deyrey. She uses her time to develop trade between the hive and Paiden, and to learn esoteric deyrey magics.
Immediately after the conclusion of the Mardaka War, Mungo uses a large portion of his wealth to purchase surplus weaponry, both from the loot taken from the Mardakan army and from decommissioned Paiden militia. He takes all this off to the oorthoi fishing villages downriver, where he dedicates himself to training them to defend themselves. The other oorthoi are initially a bit taken aback by Mungo's ideas, but eventually are won over both by his incredible reputation (which only grows with every retelling of his martial deeds) and the goods they are able to get from Paiden. He hopes, after some years, to become the leader of all the oorthoi in Paiden.
Each of the characters gains four experience points as they walk off into the sunset.