Tim is not here, but Chris (Pawnbroker), Nick (Mungo), Chris2 (Brakan), April (Patrisha Veka) and Doug are all here. Doug (originally Lascivious Bosst) has lost his character sheet, and has changed to R.K.
R.K. is a graduate of the College of Sorcery in Hegger who knows a variety of Air spells and has a distressing tendency to fire them off at people. The characters briefly met him back when they were last in Hegger. He has since traveled to Paiden primarily out of boredom.
Patrisha Veka meets with Patriarch Benjano Veka and Curtibat Tsiba. They give her a certificate redeemable for ten ingots of copper, certified by the Veka Family, and an empty memory locket. They instruct her to take them to the rest of the characters, and get them to go outside Paiden to investigate the actual extent of the Holy City refugee problem and the details of Prince Tonnalk's approaching army.
Patrisha takes the Veka Patriarch's offer to the characters. Pawnbroker allows as how he very much appreciates the gift, then calls in the other characters to discuss what to do. The characters agree to go, and start provisioning themselves for the journey. The Mardaka Bridge is about 300 km from Paiden, primarily through the Yodai Forest. A small group of folk can travel some 20 km/day through light forest, so the characters will take about 15 days to get there.
The characters already have plentiful equipment for traveling, and really only need to procure perishable items from the marketplace (some of it of questionable background: Mungo gives Brakan a slightly bloodstained bedroll that "once belonged to a fox-man from Sa Opedi we sold to the deyrey.") They consider a number of items (summarized below), including items they already possess from previous traveling.
|
Item |
Cost |
Mass |
|---|---|---|
| Preserved food (per person, per day) | 4 tebbit | 1 kg |
| Mallard (live food, one per turgosk per day) | 5 tebbit | 2 kg |
| Water (1.5 liters per person per day) | N/A | 1.5 kg |
| Bedroll, cooking gear, etc. (per person) | N/A | 5 kg |
| Tent (for group) | N/A | 15 kg |
| Pascullo (the characters already own one) | 70 challock | N/A |
The characters bring along seven days' worth of food, plus live food for the three turgosk for seven days, and three ten-liter barrels of water. Aside from the food for the turgosk (mallards), the bulk of the characters' provisions consists of blocks of dried grain-and-vegetable stew. Most of this stuff, including their bedrolls and cooking gear, is piled upon their single pascullo.
The characters depart the city the next morning. On the way through the Edge Gate, Patrisha Veka tells the Gatewarden that there are Holy City humans in the catacombs. He tells them that they'll organize a sweep.
Fresh from the gates, the characters take the river ferry across, paying the ferryman and his escort of humorless Bosst Family soldiers a sum total of 20 challock in fees and surcharges.
During the ferry ride, the characters notice three Living Weapons on the Paiden bank of the river. Oddly, the three are clothed in crude leather armor, and are practicing spear thrusts against straw dummies. The characters theorize that the Living Weapons are preparing for an attack, and that they have decided to adopt weapons.
Slightly before nightfall on the characters' first day in the Yodai Forest, the characters encounter three adapoi. They had become aware that someone was tracking them some hours before, but had elected to not respond. All three adapoi are armed for bear, with large war shields and spears tipped with metal heads. The leader introduces himself as Hashubish, Speaker of the Dellemoi Clan.
After a few pleasantries, the adapoi warn the characters of a large army approaching, and point out the visible glow on the horizon where the soldiers are burning their way through the forest. Hashubish also mentions that he saw a group of these foreign soldiers attack an oorthoi fishing village further downstream along the Paiden river. He claims that a leader of the soldiers briefly spoke to the elder of the village. Shortly thereafter, both began to shout at each other. The soldier went back to his men, who proceeded to set the village on fire. Hashubish does not know the fate of the villagers. Mungo is quite moved by this tale.
Pawnbroker proposes that the adapoi make a deal with the approaching soldiers, that they offer them free passage to a known location in exchange for a promise not to harm the forest. Hashubish agrees to talk to the other Speakers of the Dellemoi about this, and asks the characters to meet them at Fender's Tree next evening.
After talking, the characters offer to let the adapoi share their meal of vegetable and grain stew. The adapoi agree, though with some trepidation, as they can see the three turgosk tearing mallards apart on the edge of the circle of firelight.
That night, the characters keep a watch. During his watch, Mungo coats crossbow bolts with Twisting poison.
Midway through the characters' second day in the forest, they encounter an abandoned plantation. Most of the buildings and fields have been reclaimed by the forest, but stretches of marshy field still remain. As they enter the first fields, the characters all smell the strange and horrible scent of burnt flesh. Moving over a rise, they see that the far field of the plantation is festooned with corpses, all apparently Holy City folk.
The characters edge onto the field of bodies, unsure how to proceed. Patrisha Veka breaks away from the rest to look for survivors, and is attacked by an invisible creature that Pawnbroker soon recognizes as a hunting breel. Patrisha defends herself against the creature with magic, while Pawnbroker and Mungo swing wildly with their blades, eventually striking and killing the thing. The immediate threat dispatched, all the characters form a circle around the pascullo.
Looking upon the field with new awareness, the characters quickly realize that the place is rife with hunting breels, feeding upon the bodies of the dead. Brakan prepares an Explosive Fireball, hoping to spot one of the creatures nearby, while R.K. casts Flight and heads up to do some reconnaissance.
R.K. quickly spots a large purple silk pavilion just beyond the plantation, with at least thirty men around it eating a meal. He calls out to them to call off their beasts, a call that Pawnbroker repeats in Tharrish. They are answered by a horn and the sounds of a pack of breels leaving the field.
Soon after the breels clear the area, three figures descend from the pavilion. Two carry immense shields, while the third is clearly an individual of some importance (based upon his rich dress and ornate armor). The leader calls out his name as Lecutor Suek, leader of this detachment of the forces of the Will of Mardaka. The characters return the greeting (speaking through Pawnbroker as a translator).
The Lecutor invites the group up to the pavilion for food, and to discuss why they are present on his battlefield. The characters agree, and spend some time speaking to Lecutor Suek about making deals with the adapoi. The Lecutor admits that the adapoi (which he refers to as "forest beasts") make him nervous, owing to their similarities to the vicious breath-eaters that threaten his native Mountainshadow. However, he does agree to talk with other Lecutors who have troops moving through the Yodai Forest about the possibility of a deal with the adapoi.
Some time after the characters leave Lecutor Suek and his men, Pawnbroker becomes aware that someone is following the group. He tells the other characters. Patrisha transforms into a hawk (with exceptional skill). She, Mungo and Pawnbroker hide themselves and prepare to ambush their follower. Mungo grapples the man, quickly determining that he is one of the Holy City humans, apparently a survivor of the massacre.
The characters' captive gives his name as Nop, of Someg's Plaza. He claims that he survived because he knows a trick: he hid. He asks to go with the characters, and tells them that he knows where some others of his folk are: many of Chabot's Plaza and a few of Someg's Plaza have found refuge at a large mountain-like stone about a days' travel away. The characters give him spare clothing, a staff they cut from a nearby tree, and some food. They also provide him with some simple instructions on how to not be discovered, caught and killed by Prince Tonnalk's men.
The characters arrive at Fender's Tree near nightfall. The tree is as obvious as Hashubish promised it to be: it is easily twice as tall and four times as wide as all nearby trees. It is also in the center of a High Mana area that also gives a +2 to Plant spell skills and +1 to all other spell skills.
Hashubish is there, along with seven other adapoi. One of these, Ashemosh, speaks Old Youden. They agree to parlay with Prince Tonnalk's army, and talk about how to cooperate in traveling through the forest.
Ashemosh also tells the characters about Lagan's Rock, a place about a day's travel away. There is a youda village there, with about 100 inhabitants. The local adapoi, the Epellish Clan, has tolerated them for many years. However, the youda are currently overrun by thousands of Holy City folk. Ashemosh knows that the Epellish Clan have been raiding the Holy City folk ever since their arrival, and that most of their folk are quite close to Lagan's Rock. He fears that when the armies from Mardaka arrive at Lagan's Rock, they will end up exterminating many of the Epellish Clan in addition to the Holy City folk (and, most likely, the youda villagers). Ashemosh cares little for the youda or the Holy City folk, but hates to see harm come to the Epellish Clan. He asks the characters to find a way to get the Holy City folk to leave. The characters agree, provided his people take a message back to the Veka Family in Paiden for them.
Pawnbroker writes a message on Patrisha's behalf for Ashemosh's people to take back to Benjano Veka in Paiden. The message includes mention of the fact that Locutor Suek's people (and likely many other groups of the Mardakan armies) have hunting breels, and some information about the nature of the beasts. He also talks of the upcoming negotiations between the Dellemoi Clan and Locutor Suek.
Ashemosh says that the message will take about a day to reach Paiden.
Mungo asks about the troops who attacked the oorthoi settlement. Hashubish has already said most of what he knows, but adds that the troops responsible bore orange badges with a triangle sewn onto it. Mungo remembers that Lecutor Suek's men all wore badges of purple, with three white dots.
After spending the night with the adapoi around Fender's Tree, the characters decide to head back to Lecutor Suek's men. They arrive to find the detachment preparing to move out. Of the huge pavilion that was present a day ago, only a single tent remains. The characters talk to two guards while a third goes to find Lecutor Suek, who is talking to the "forest-things". While the characters wait, Mungo talks to the guard and learns that the Triangle-on-Orange badge is the symbol of Lecutor Amon's men. The guard apparently thinks quite highly of Lecutor Amon, mentioning that he was decorated for slaying breath-eaters on the Screaming Wall.
The characters are eventually shown into the tent, where Lecutor Suek and several of his aides are speaking with Hashubish and several other adapoi. The adapoi take the characters aside for a moment of private conversation. Hashubish says that Lecutor Suek wants to give gold or weapons to the adapoi as partial payment for the safe-passage, in addition to a promise to not harm the forest. Hashubish asks the characters what sort of things he should ask for. After a bit of discussion, the characters suggest a substantial laundry list:
The characters also tell Hashubish to ensure that the agreement does not apply to only Lecutor Suek's men, but also to the other troops moving through the Yodai Forest.
Satisfied that the negotiations are going well, the characters speak with Lecutor Suek about Lecutor Amon and the behaviour of his troops at the oorthoi fishing village. Lecutor Suek repeats many of the stories about Lecutor Amon the characters heard from the guard, but assures them that he will look into their allegations. From all that he has heard, Mungo is becoming very agitated at the possibility that Lecutor Amon may have slaughtered an oorthoi village.
While the characters are speaking to Lecutor Suek, another of the great flashes from the Edge of the World thunders across the tent. The characters and the adapoi all look somewhat concerned, but quickly note that neither Suek nor any of his men appear worried. Suek explains that the noise happens when the Angels of Mardaka breach the borders of the world to bring more soldiers in. The characters are momentarily surprised, as they had believed that the troops had crossed the Mardaka Bridge, but Lecutor Suek reassures them that the Will of Mardaka does not need the Bridge to be able to reach Abbatine.
Patrisha leaves another message for Benjano Veka with Hashubish. She writes (through Pawnbroker) that destroying the Mardaka Bridge would be useless as a way to get rid of the soldiers from Mardaka. She also notes that Lecutor Suek, Lecutor Amon and four or five additional Lecutors are currently traveling to Paiden as an advance guard before Prince Tonnalk and his main force. Finally, she sends word that she has proposed that the Veka Family provide magical training to the Dellemoi Clan from any spellbooks they might get from Lecutor Suek, and asks for a 5% share of any proceeds from this deal, should it come to fruition.
The characters take their leave from Lecutor Suek and the Dellemoi Clan, and head back towards Lagan's Rock. They stop to spend one night along the way, and arrive in sight of the Rock midmorning the day after. Along the way, they tell Nop a lot of threatening rumors about Tonnalk's army, to try and use him to encourage the Holy City folk around Lagan's Rock to leave.
Some distance from Lagan's Rock, R.K. and Patrisha are sent out to scout the area, R.K. with his Flight magic and Patrisha with her transformational spells. They see that the youda fields in the cleft of the three stones comprising Lagan's Rock have been completely overrun by Holy City folk. The youda village itself is barricaded and fortified, and a single sentry armed with a crossbow sits upon the cliff above it, looking down upon the teeming Holy City folk with a concerned expression.
On the way back to the group, R.K. flies low over the forest to investigate some movement. Adapoi concealed in the trees hurl several javelins at him. One javelin flies true, stunning R.K. He falls almost ten meters, and is killed by the impact with a tree branch.
The other characters wait almost an hour for R.K.'s return, but eventually conclude that some ill fate must have befallen him, as they know that he can only remain aloft for a few minutes.
Pawnbroker and Nop head towards the Holy City folk, but encounter two Plant Golems on the way. After one of the golems rasps, "die, cursed living things" at them, they run back to the rest of the group. Brakan is ready for them with an Explosive Fireball, which he uses to great effect against one of the creatures. A brief melee ensues, in which the other characters dispatch the two creatures.
With the two golems out of the way, the characters reach the Holy City humans and are quickly brought to a depression scooped from the middle of one of the (now trampled) fields, where Chabot is plying his skills as a Food-Maker. Chabot talks to the characters about his concerns for his people. He also introduces them to Nas, the leader of his Living Weapons. After a fairly lengthy discussion, Chabot agrees that taking his people (numbering almost 2500) to the city of Kashaad is the best of an array of bad choices. The characters express some doubt that Chabot will be able to get his Folk to comply, to which he responds that he possesses secret knowledge: the knowledge to make the Folk take action. He demonstrates by ordering one of the Folk standing nearby to stack stones, an order that is promptly obeyed. The characters are duly impressed.
Nas spends most of the discussion silent, but does speak up to mention one of the new horrors of the world of Abbatine, one that has claimed the lives of many of his people (though the "forest spirits", clearly the Epellish Clan, are clearly his greatest hatred). He has several other Living Weapons bring up a desiccated body, which he claims was found only the day before. Many of Chabot's Plaza have died in this manner, but only since they arrived at Lagan's Rock. He echoes the characters' belief that Chabot's Plaza should leave the area.
After their discussion is over, the characters ask Chabot to take them to the youda village. Chabot delegates the task to Nas, who brings them to just outside of arrow range.
The character speak to Ebbek Gimmler, the gnarled headman of the village. Gimmler is quite grateful that the characters might be able to get the Holy City folk to leave the area, but allows as how his people have never had much wealth, and will have even less now that their fields have all been trampled by Chabot's Plaza.
However, Gimmler is able to tell them about the cause of the desiccated bodies. Some eight years ago, a villager named Bettog found the Heart of Pwir, which he describes as a strange reddish stone bound in spiked silver bands. Bettog had always been a strange sort, and became even stranger after he swallowed the Heart. The Heart turned him into a creature Gimmler calls the Shadow Face, who had preyed upon the Epellish Clan and the youda villagers until the Holy City folk appeared. Gimmler suspects that Bettog is currently enjoying the incredible bounty of victims that has fallen into his lap.
The characters finally bid Gimmler goodbye. Before they leave, an aging youda takes Brakan aside and pushes an ancient crossbow (ST 10) and 12 bolts into his hands, saying, "I'm too old to be able to use this anymore, and you're carrying a lot less hardware than your friends. Take this and do some damage with it." Brakan thanks him.
The session ends in the evening of the 242nd day of Abbatine Year 856, in the High Hot Season. The characters are just leaving the youda village at Lagan's Rock. Each character (Pawnbroker, Mungo, Brakan, and Patrisha Veka) gains four experience points. ÿ