We're still in the swamp. We escaped from a two-army-one-hag
confrontation, but now the swamp itself seems to be attacking us, and
we think it's probably the swamp hag. Stone with his lizard men
friends came and saved us. We're making our way out of the swamp, and
we don't think it's too far. It's another grey, misty, damp day.
Telryn flies north to scout for the edge of the swamp. It doesn't
take him that long, and he flies back to tell us that it's four hours
hard slog, but we can reach the edge of the swamp. We head north as
quickly as we can. Telryn flies for a few more minutes, then we hear
a splash, and he appears in the water in front of us, all muddy from
the drop.
Chuck has been looking around as we go, and says "Hey, I found a drier
path." It looks like a rat man road, with some berms to block out the
swamp. Chuck and Darmaon are initially somewhat suspicious, but we
all want to take the path. Chuck does some tracking to see if rat men
have passed recently, and he determines that it is likely that disease
rat men have passed in the last 24 hours.
As we walk along the road, we come to the top of a rise, and we're up
above the trees and fog, and we can see the sky - there are some
extremely big storm clouds coming towards us. To the north, just a
mile or two away, we can see the plains of Vesh. Between us and the
plains, though, is a pretty nasty looking section of swamp, with lots
of water, and trees with vines, some of which overhang the swamp. It
looks like an ideal place for an ambush, but the path leads down to
what seems to be the only dry area. It's only about 3:30, but it's
getting very dark due to the storm.
Goldpetal suggests that we now use the Fly spells to shuttle us across
this obvious ambush area. We need another feather from the hawk, who
seems rather annoyed by this, but complies. While we are discussing,
there is a loud boom of thunder, and it starts to rain. Paks wants to
just walk on, but everyone else wants to fly. Telryn can only cast
three fly spells, but Chuck says he can carry both Telryn and
Goldpetal, so all seven of us can go at once. Miriel suggests that
Chuck tie those of us being carried to the carriers, and have weapons
out, just in case we're attacked in the air. Paks and Miriel are not
strong enough to carry each other, so Miriel casts a Bull's Strength
on Paks, and Paks carries Miriel, tying her with the climbing rope.
Telryn tells us not to fly over the trees, but around them. Chuck
has Goldpetal on his shoulders and Telryn tied to his back.
We start to circle around the stand of trees, and suddenly we hear
"Fire!" and a bunch of crossbow bolts fly at us. Luckily, most of
them fall short, but one hits Miriel - "Ow!". We fly a little higher
so that they will all fall short. As we fly away, we can see the
Twilight Warden in the middle of the road, shaking his fist at us.
Chuck looks like he wants to fly back, but we tell him now. He has
his bow out, though, and he takes a shot at the Twilight Warden, but
it's too far and he misses. The Twilight Warden takes out his bow and
shoots at Chuck, but misses. After flying a bit more, we reach the
edge of the swamp. Paks looks around and determines that this is
where the other army came out to attack Kratys Freehold. When we
think about it, we realize we could probably fly most of the way to
Kratys Freehold. As we continue to fly, we see that the rat men are
firing at us, but not leaving the swamp, except the Twilight Warden,
who is standing at the end of the road just at the edge, watching us.
We also hear an awful shriek above the storm and we see the swamp hag,
shouting at us "I'll get you, I'll get you yet." We fly away from the
swamp, and fly most of the way to Kratys Freehold.
As soon as we hit the ground, Telryn kisses the ground. Kratys
Freehold is only about an hour away, and we walk in that direction.
It's raining out, about 7pm when we arrive, and the gates are shut.
We knock on the gate. Telryn cries out "By Madriel's light, let us
in." They ask who we are, we identify ourselves, and they welcome us
in. Paks takes Taryn aside and tells him about the rat men. She also
asks about Novalia, and hears that she never showed up. After some
talk, she also agrees to take a message to Lave to have more militia
sent down, because of the increased rat man activity.
They serve us an excellent meal, and everyone is relaxed and happy.
Paks heals Telryn and herself. Miriel heals herself. We all get a
good night's sleep, clean and dry and warm.
Vanday dawns bright and dry. Taryn reports that the scouts say the
rat men have disappeared, though they found the road. Paks apologizes
for having attracted them. After an excellent breakfast, we prepare
to set out. We borrow horses for everyone except Stone. Miriel asks
for a couple of loaves of bread and casts Bread of Life on them, for
the road. Telryn buys whatever spell components he can from Myrs -
she has most of the common elements - she doesn't want payment, but he
gives her 10 gold pieces anyway. He desperately wants to stay and
study, but the party overrules him, telling him he can study on the
road. We head back to Lave. We make excellent time, and make it to
Lave in about 2 and half days. Telryn studies as much as he can on
the road.
We go to the Vigilant Hall of Command to report on the mission. We
reach the Hall of Command, and it seems that the guards have standing
orders to watch for us, and they lead us in right way, telling us that
the Commander will see us soon. He shows up very quickly, and the
questions flow quickly, but as he says "How's Strongbow," Chuck and
Goldpetal say "Dead." simultaneously. We explain what happened. He
is very upset about the were-rats. Telryn mentions that he has
samples of the potion, and agrees to give him one of the samples. He
asks if we found anything else, is shocked to find that the rat men
were trying to raise Chern, and hears from Darmaon that they have
Calastian steel. We hypothesize that they are getting this from House
Asuras, in the trade from the poisons.
He comments that House Asuras has been trying to sell them
mercenaries, and they obviously have many devious plans going on. He
asks Darmaon about his history and gets a spotty story, but Telryn
reassures him that we have found Darmaon very trustworthy. Chuck also
pulls out Jim's medallion, which he recovered from the Twilight
Warden. This enrages the Commander, even more when he hears of the
other medallions.
He tells us that an election for Home Commander is coming in two
weeks, and that he is going against tradition in actually running
himself, since he feels that Vesh is in great danger. Paks asks about
the election process, and Telryn and Miriel explain it to him. She
realizes that we've seen lots of people making speeches and parades,
while we've been in town. She wonders if the rat men would want to
interfere with it, but Chuck says they probably don't care. Goldpetal
says they won't understand it, and explains Elvish politics to us for
half an hour to prove his point. Ouch!
Paks asks the Commander if House Asuras is supporting him, but he says
they are against him, supporting Laszlo Juvenal, who we not has the
same last name as someone Stone had mentioned to us. Darmaon asks if
the Commander wants him to take the guy out, but the Commander says
he'd prefer he didn't.
He thanks us for our efforts in the swamp, and regrets the death of
Strongbow. Chuck asks for the medallion in memory of Jim, but is
refused. He tells us that research is ongoing on Miriel's sister,
House Asuras, and other issues that we have brougt information on, but
no conclusions have been reached yet. After this, he dismisses us,
but as we are leaving he says "By the way, at the end of the week is a
big holiday; it's the shortest day of the year, and a masquerade is
being held at the Hall of Command to celebrate, and you're all
invited." The next day, of course, is the yearly day of atonement.
Telryn remembers to express concern about the artifact that he left
with Delmaron, but the Commander says that Delmaron was a good choice,
and he can sometimes be trusted. Telryn tentatively asks about
payment for future missions and gets assurances that we'll get paid
later. We thank him again and leave.
We start to make our way to the Sleeping Dragon Inn, but our progress
is delayed by yet another political parade, with money being tossed to
the crowd and exhortations to vote for the candidate, Falcono. After
the procession passes, we reach the inn, where we are welcomed
enthusiastically by her parents, though her mother clearly thinks we
could use some spiffing up. They stable the horses, set up a big
feast, with lots of their home-brewed ale, which Stone grabs
enthusiastically. The inn is quite full due to the elections, but as
family, they make room for us in the family rooms, though we do have
to double up.
Paks gathers us all together when she can, and suggests that there
might be an assassination attempt against Thorn. Chuck is suspicious
of Thorn for going against tradition. Paks asks Darmaon to work
through his contacts to see if a contract is put out. Telryn says he
needs to go study at the library as much as he can before the
masquerade. He also reminds us that we have many things to sell, but
Miriel says that can wait until after the masquerade, and that she
needs to go back to the temple to report in. Paks wants to do some
sleuthing around town to find out more about the election. As we're
discussing, a courier comes into the inn looking for us, bringing the
invitations from the Commander. Miriel's mother is very impressed.
She immediately starts planning for the gowns and formal costumes that
we'll need. Everyone else around is impressed too.
Miriel and Paks plan to go to the temple. Telryn wants to try to
track Saraya down, then go to the temple to ask for laboratory space.
He wants to try to get into the invisible spellbook. Chuck plans to
get ready for the ball, and also look for Fox. Goldpetal says he
doesn't know anything about local politics, but if Paks is so
concerned, he'll go wander among the farmers, help them out, and try
to get more information. Darmaon says that now that he has some
money, he's going to go gamble. Chuck says "And take some sitar
lessons, for Tanil's sake!" Darmaon says, somewhat offended, that
naturally he plans to find a sitar repair shop. As we're leaving, a
tall, thin, greasy individual stops Darmaon. He introduces himself as
Geoff, a fellow Shalizari, who is dying to play Gammon. Darmaon
identifies himself as Chuck. Geoff offers to play Gammon, and says the
ale here is very good, but Darmaon says he's had the ale, and he'd
prefer some wine. Geoff orders some very fine Shalizari wine. Geoff
can't stop talking about how much he loves gammon for some time, so
Darmaon asks if he'd like to play for stakes. Geoff talks about how
his family came here from Shalizar, and no one here likes to play
gammon. He says "man" a lot. Darmaon says he's been in the swamp for
a while, and asks about a pipe shop. Geoff says there's one just
around the corner, and they can go to his place to play Gammon. When
they arrive at his place, he pulls out a water pipe and some pipeweed.
They spend the afternoon playing Backgammon for stakes. Darmaon wins
10 Veshan gold pieces off of him, and picks his brains about local
politics. Geoff, however, is not much for politics, especially since
he doesn't have a vote here anyway. Darmaon asks him about the
Asuras, and Geoff says that they drove his father out of business.
Eventually, Darmaon takes his winnings and thanks Geoff, saying he has
some business to do. Geoff tells him he can drop by or find him at the
Sleeping Dragon pretty much anytime. Darmaon asks if he'll be going
to the masquerade, but Geoff is astonished even at the question, as he
is not anywhere near important enough to even be considered, much less
invited.
Goldpetal goes around to the farms; most of them are very happy to see
him, and welcome him. He gives help and blessings as needed, offering
to see sick animals and healing them. He always asks about the
election. Results are mixed; some people like Thorn - he's very
well-known in the area, and people trust him, though his going against
tradition was upsetting to all of them. Some like Bruno Falcono, who
is a wealthy landowner, and the more wealthy farmers think he might
protect their interests, though the smaller farmers don't like him as
much. He is also a knight, and most people know him as Sir Bruno.
There aren't many who think anything of Sir Juvenal, who is not local,
so they just write him off. Knowing that farmers have many conspiracy
theories, he asks about any theories that might be going
around.
Telryn leaves messages for Saraya around, but doesn't find her. He
stops at the tea house where we saw her before. The proprietress
appears, nicely dressed, but with dark spectacles on to hide her
disturbing eyes. She says that Saraya comes in all the time, but is
not there now. He leaves a message that it's fairly important that he
talk to her. She asks if he wouldn't like to stay with her for a
while, flirting with him, but he says he has urgent business, and
promises to come back in a few days when he is less busy. She offers
him pipeweed, but he says he's never tried it and is not a smoker. He
goes to a variety of market stalls and shops to pick up some new spell
kit items, plus some special supplies to try to disenchant the
invisible spellbook. He winces a bit at the prices; between having
learned so many more powerful spells and the big-city prices, he pays
much more than he used to have to at the university to replenish his
kits. He ends up at the temple.
Miriel and Paks head over to the temple. Miriel starts by checking in
with her superiors. She tells them about the raising of Chern, and
the priestess tells her more about the ceremony, and how there are
pits where the essences of titans have coalesced. They've mostly seen
pits full of serpents, nexus points for Mormo worshippers. She says
this is probably what we found, as if Chern's body was actually under
there, we probably wouldn't have escaped. Miriel also tells her about
Scree, and asks if evil creatures such as him can be redeemed. The
priestess says such a thing is not unheard of, as with the orcs and
goblins, but it is not impossible, though it would be very unusual for
a rat man, whose life is so tied up in the essence of the Titans, but
it might make it crazy. Miriel asks for word of her sister, but they
haven't heard anything from her in years, and she is surprised to hear
Miriel's news of the sighting of her in Mithril.
Paks asks Helaya about the political situation, as seen from the
perspective of the temple. Helaya says that "young Thorn" is a good
man, she's known him since he was a child. Like everyone else, she is
worried that he has broken with tradition, but being sophisticated,
she realizes that the times are unusually tough, and there might be
reason to break with tradition. Madriel has not given her direction
as yet. She says that many of the members of the Order of the Morning
Sky know Captain Juvenal, and they think well of him and are
supporting him. Paks asks what she knows about him. He's young
fairly new, not well known around here, but seems to be backed by
someone very wealthy. Paks asks if he is related to Count Juvenal,
and she says he might be, and that he comes from somewhere around
Rika, which is an area where the Order of the Morning Sky is very
powerful. The Order also likes him because he is very strongly
anti-Titanspawn and is campaigning on a platform of war against the
Titanspawn.
She also knows Duke Solari, who is from an old old family, and is a
very well-known diplomat. She likes him better than Juvenal and Sir
Bruno, who the merchants seem to like. She also mentions a fifth
candidate, Captain Telissa Pelpern, who just arrived; she's a leader
of the Vigil who guard the Haggard Hills. She's a fifth-generation
Vigilant, and no one knows her because she's from so far west. She's
upset Thorn, as she is challenging him for the Vigilant vote. As we
leave, she blesses both of us, and tells us she's impressed with our
progress, and that she sees something special in both of our futures.
Miriel goes off to visit with friends, do her devotions, put various
affairs in order. Paks goes down to spar with one of the Order of the
Morning Star. They ask who she reports to. She says she's not part
of their order, and they compliment her on her fighting skill, which
they say is superior to that of the local Madirelites. She asks about
their fighting orcs, and they say that it's mostly revenants,
Morgants, that they are fighting these days, having to burn down
entire villages. She sympathizes with them over how tough it is
killing people you know. She asks how bad it is, how many towns a
month. They said it was 15 villages in the fall, as there seems to be
a bad outbreak. They spar and chat more, about rat men and orcs and
how Vesh is beset on all sides. They talk about the rumours of
Calastian agression, and how the dwarves of Burak-Torn are still under
seige, but holding them off.
She asks about the election, and gets various individual opinions,
some like one candidate, some another. She chats with them for hours
on politics, but there is no consistent opinion.
After taking care of various matters, Miriel asks for another meeting
with Helaya and asks her why she was so uninformative with Paks, when
the temple has always been very deep into politics, and would normally
know a great deal about who was backing who and what the secrets of
the politicians are. Helaya says that she didn't know they'd be
interested, and Miriel says well after all, she did study politics
intensively when she was at the temple, though she knows that she's
been out of touch for some months, and of course much could have
happened. She says that it's really her friend, though, who fears
that this election might be more crooked than Veshan elections usually
were. Helaya gives her more detail, but says that the situation is so
intricate that in fact the temple really doesn't know yet who is
actually backing each candidate, and whether any of the backers are
enemies of Vesh. She tells Miriel to keep her eyes and ears open.
Chuck resupplies himself, then heads to the Vigilant HQ, where things
are all in an uproar, due to the arrival of Telissa Pelpern from the
far west. She says she felt she was the only proper candidate, as
Thorn has broken with tradition, and young blood (she is about 40) is
needed. This has thrown the Vigilants into disarray, as they have to
respect the hero from the west, but they all know and respect Thorn,
and now they have no idea who to vote for. Chuck asks more about the
general feeling about Thorn running. It seems that the leaders back
Thorn, but the rank-and-file back Pelpern. There's also a significant
east/west division. Chuck says he'd like to meet Telissa Pelpern, but
he's told she doesn't have time for that kind of thing, she's out
campaigning and meeting the movers and shakers. He discusses the
adventure with Strongbow; everyone is appalled at a Vigilant going bad
like that. He says that he's very disturbed by all the tribes of rat
men teaming up. The others are disturbed by the rat men having
weapons of Calastian steel. Chuck asks after Fox, and hears that he's
in town campaigning for Thorn, staying at the Bronze Bow, an inn near
the city center where Vigilant officials often stay.
After a long day, we meet at the inn for dinner, though Telryn is
still studying. Darmaon is already there, snacking at the bar.
Darmaon tells us that House Asuras is being backed by Calastia to make
trouble and take over in the elections. They're backing Laszlo and
creating acts of terror in order to give credence to his warmongering
against the orcs, which will take the military away from the Calastian
border. Chuck thinks that House Asuras is behind all of the
candidates except the Vigils. We discuss everything we have found out,
though Miriel does not mention the additional information she ganed
from Helaya. We're still discussing at the end of the meal, when
Saraya shows up and greets us warmly. Darmaon seems especially
gallant towards her, and tries to monopolize her with talk about music
and "instruments." She is unimpressed. He still thinks he's charming
her, and asks for a recommendation to the local bard college, but she
just gives him a steely glare. Paks asks her about the local
political situation, but she has nothing new to tell us. She asks
after Telryn and tells us to tell him she'll be at the teahouse until
at least midnight.
Paks goes to the temple for an all-night vigil, followed by devotions
at dawn. Chuck goes out on the town with Darmaon. Goldpetal goes to
the countryside to the grove he was staying in before. The next
morning, he finds other druids for hanging out and performing rites.
Miriel goes back to the temple for evening vespers and to help put the
temple in order for the festival coming up. She passes Saraya's
message to Telryn, who reluctantly drags himself away from his studies
to the teahouse.
Miriel arranges to use the temple's influence to get stunning costumes
made for the party, as she sees that they do not realize how important
the masquerade is, and how the party would lower their own prestige,
and correspondingly Thorn's, by showing up in inferior garb. Also, it
would interfere with their free movement through the party if they
were noticeably inferior. It's going to be very expensive, so we may
need to spend a great deal of the profits on the items we found.
Living in town and repairing our gear is also very expensive, even
though we're getting free room and board, and some of us are supported
by our orders, but with only living wages, not extras.
Out on the town, Darmaon takes Chuck to a bar he's never seen, the
Black Eagle, in the seedy part of town. He's surprised, as he grew up
in town, and he'd never seen this area or bar. The place is dark and
smoky, and Chuck doesn't like the look of it, but Darmaon seems
perfectly comfortable. It's full of seedy characters. Chuck lets
Darmaon order for both of them, and he orders a pair of black ales,
which arrive in dirty glasses. The ale is very dark, and it seems
somewhat watered-down, but it is still pretty good. After about 20
minutes, Chuck notices Darmaon making some sort of sign, and two
characters show up at the table. "So, what's the hour?" Darmaon
answers "The hour is now." "How soon is now?" "Soon enough." "The
sun is?" "High. In the sky." They look sideways at Chuck and lower
their voices even more. "So, what did you learn." Darmaon tells them
that Chuck is with him and he's okay. He tells them his nickname is
"Chuck the Unlucky." They say ah, they've heard he killed seven
Vigilants, but Darmaon reassures them, and says that he seems to take
on Darmaon's bad luck, making Darmaon luckier when he is with Chuck.
Darmaon talks with them a bit, then surreptitiously hands them the
steel brick he's been carrying around. They ask him if he's found out
how they're getting the materials, and if there's a way they can make
a profit with the information. They talk about how much money is
flowing around the town right now. They say they're backing Falcono,
as he's good for business. They don't want Thorn, he's too honest,
and he can't control the Asuras. Chuck asks about Pelpern. They say
she's some sort of hero, and he should go hang out with her, to get
rid of her. Chuck laughs in a pained sort of way. Darmaon orders
another round. They talk more about the political situation, and who
the Asuras are backing. They seem to be backing more than one
candidate. Darmaon says that doesn't make sense, but the others say
that as long as someone who is pro-business gets in, it will be good
for them. Darmaon says he needs to finance a project. They ask what
sort of project, and he says he's not sure, but he wants to find out
more about Laszlo. They tell him Laszlo's family is in town; the
whole Juvenal clan is here. He asks where, and they say at one of the
most expensive inns in town, the Crown and Scepter. He asks if they
have any information, and they say of course not, looking at Chuck,
but he assures them that Chuck is okay. They say okay, the word on
the street is that Kelemis Dern wasn't killed by the Asuras, but by
the disciples of Mormo. Chuck asks if they are sure, and they say
that he was there, and should know better than they would.
Darmaon asks them about the orc leadership, but they of course are
city dwellers and don't know anything about matters on the frontiers.
He says the Asuras are promoting the war, and trading with the disease
clans. They say that of course, war is good for business, but they
don't see how disease would help. He says it's the power the trade
gives them. They ask how much gold he'll be needing, and he says a
couple thousand. They offer a few hundred instead. They tell him to
come back the next night and they'll pay him for the last job, plus an
advance on the new job. They all finish their drinks and Darmaon and
Chuck leave.
Darmaon wants to go spy out the inn where the Juvenals are staying.
Chuck says maybe they should get Paks, but she might not be
sufficiently subtle around evil, though she would be very interested
to know about them being in town.
Telyrn goes to the Indescipherable Scroll, where he finds Saraya just
finishing up a set. She's clearly very good, but the style leaves him
somewhat cold, as it is in the new avant-garde Veshan style. After
the show, he goes to see her, and she greets him and thanks him for
coming to the show. He tells he he's been invited to the ball and
invites her to go with him. She's astonished, flattered, and
impressed, and agrees enthusiastically. Telryn sits there awkwardly
for a bit, then says he has to get back to study.
In the morning, Goldpetal finds a songbird and sents it to Veratree,
his home town, with a message outlining the political and military
situation in Vesh. Chuck is awoken early; Geoff has arrived with a
message for him. Chuck doesn't know him, and Geoff looks at him and
says "You look different." Geoff is beaten up, with a black eye.
Geoff ask for the Shalizari guy, and Chuck says he'll get him, then
goes up and kicks Darmaon, telling him some scruffy guy is looking for
him. He tells Darmaon to use a better name next time. Darmaon goes
down, trying to look tired. Chuck follows to watch. Geoff apologies
for waking him. Darmaon asks what happened. He says in the middle of
the night someone broke into his apartment, beat him up, and stole his
rug. It was 3 guys dressed all in black, one of them had some sort of pet
weasel. They were talking about how "nothing mattered since the Titans were
dead," but that his debt to the Scaled was due. Geoff didn't know what they
were talking about, or who the Scaled are. Darmaon said he'd look into it,
but right now he needed to get back to bed.
Paks stays up all night. As dawn breaks, she has a series of
visions, which last all day. In each vision, she sees a female knight
in some sort of dangerous situation. She realizes that each is seeing the
ranks of Swan Knight Candidates.
Then the vision shifts to show the events of Paks' recent adventures.
As Madriel's champion, Paks is now held to a higher standard and actions
like these are no longer acceptable.
Paks wakens from her trance at sunset, exhausted. The last rays of the sun
land on her shield which she now see has a new device of a sun and a swan.
The phase "luce-luminosa" rings through her head.