The Blood of Orlanth

A man fights with his sword, a dragon fights with fire a sorcerer fights with lies. How will you fight for the Blood of Orlanth?

 

Dark Season 907 and the second harvest in a row has failed. The Orlanthi of Heortland are calling this The Long Winter and many claim that the end of the world is nigh.

 

The EWF army has crossed the Marzeel and set up camp. Rumours about the siege of the Clanking City are flying thick and fast. Many say that the King Androfin the Defiant has sent warbands to join the EWF in the siege which is why the EWF army has still made no overtly hostile moves. It might also explain why the Orlanthi clans of the Solthi River feel that they have been abandoned as Androfin moves his forces south.

 

The player characters have found themselves guests of the Howling Wolf Clan; one of the two clans holding territory along the Solthi River. The chieftain, Orlgard, has offered them guest rights in return for hunting, information and defence duties. There is, however, tension. Orlgard's sister - Vinya - has been arguing that the clan must accept reality and make peace with the dragon so she and Aslander - a recently-initiated but rather quiet about it Dragon-Slayer - don't see eye to eye. Her son, Theorl, however stands to inherit the role of chieftain now that all of Orlgard's 7 sons have died, so she is not a good person to cross.

 

Then, one dark and stormy night the clan is feasting on a rare treat - three deer - when the door blows open and Deorlaf staggers in. His cottage is under attack and on fire...

Calendar

Mali's Maulers arrive: a mercenary detachment with Cadamil at their head.  Dagunda's body is hung from a gibbet.

Sneak across the river at night, infiltrate the temple and rescue the hostages with mercenaries as a back up. After a few small skirmishes they succeed.

EWF leave Deepwell. Cormalin decides that Cadamil is suspicious. 

Hara discovers that Dagunda was betrayed by Adana.

Cadamil interested in whether the caves can be used as a strong point.

In Deepwell,. Jotisan recovers Sylph. 

Larad aids with defences. 

Keldo teaches axe play to a few unfortunates.

Cormalin keeps an eye on Cadamil.

Travelling north with Hara, Cadamil & the Maulers.

gns of EWF influence diminishing.

Storm Season	Freezeday	Waterday	Clayday	Windsday	Fireday	Wildday	Godday
Disorder Week	Leave Deepwell, arrive Noryar	Defend Billhook Brotherhood against Seran the Laugher. Then leave Noryar, Griffith left behind.	Arrive at Solthmouth, meeting with Aeldred, meet Cadamil retrive bowl from Zugat, get caught up in a rebellion	Interrogate Jezat. Aslander joins the rebellion. Rest heal up	Meet with Maralis. Agree to try and arrange treaty between Aeldred and the Wolves. Set out for Sky End Stead with Maralis's long-time friend, Hilda.	travelling north	travelling north.
Harmony Week	Pass near enough to Sunvale to hear talk of a siege there.			Arrive Sky End Stead. Return bowl, discover that news of its theft has leaked due to Mandrik telling aunt Vinya.	Cormalin and Keldo begin the initiation rites of Orlanth Martyred.
Death Week	Keldo and Cormalin reborn.	Clan Moot. Orlgard re-acclaimed as clan chiftain. No consensus about joining rebellion though.	Party travel to Granny Hickory's cave. She's no longer there. Hilda is able to cast Reconstruction and sees her confronted by God Learners.	Humakt High Holy Day Larad holds service in Sky End Stead	Travel to Urling's Ford. Hrulf's shame was a message.	Travel south	Arrive Thunder Bridge. Larad concerned about defences.
Fertility Week	Travel South to scout out area around Sunvale.	Bring down a Wyvern and rider, keep the head. Manage to get into Sunvale, hear that the situation is getting desperate	Travel north.	Return to Thunder Bridge. Meet with messanger from Maralis who has a proposition from the God Learners.	Meet with Rsadi at the Ebenriss Hawk Exultant in the mountains. The God Learners offer weapons for future trading rights. Reveals that Granny Hickory is under house arrest.	Consult with Donal about weapons. messanger arrives from Thandor begging for help. Donal agrees to send Daven, 12 men and the party.	Travel South
Stasis Week	Arrive Sunvale. Aslander says the defences won't withstand a Thunderer Charge	Attack on Sunvale beaten off. Aslander missing, possibly dead, after duel with Ferule the Stonebreaker.	Today. Consultation with Thandor, healing after combat and meeting with Jotisan The Raven who brought news from Griffith of an EWF ritual in Noryar and also rumours of prisoners in Deepwell. Leave for Deepwell.	High Holy Day of local Uroxi. (Yes, I got it wrong...) Travelling south to Deepwell with Jotisan.	Travel across river to Deepwell caves and camp during the day. Liberate prisoners at dusk and kill Vastyr.
Movement Week
Illusion Week
Truth Week

Part I: Sky End Stead

Dark Season

Fireday Illusion Week (day 47) - Sky End Stead

Act I Scene I Feasting, drinking and merriment

Vinya seems very interested in Griffith, the Lhankor Mhy initiate. Very curious about his journeys though she gets around all the characters bar Aslander.

Theorl's bragging gets to a bit much and for reasons best known to Griffith ends up in mock fight with him. Tied by the left hand and blunted swords in the right, Theorl wins the match and the re-match easily. Vinya offers to run the wounds better...

Aslander ends up dancing with Asha and Goldhen seems to manage to confuse Larad more than once with some remarkably random questions. Still, the characters manage to gain some respect when recounting their tales of a battle with a monster that had been made by Delecti and with their uncovering of a chaos cult.

Act I Scence II A dark and stormy night

The night's feasting is interrupted when Deorlaf, son of Deorul staggers into the longhouse to raise the alarm: his father's cottage and stables are being attacked by raiders. Theorl, Vinya's son, leads a war party to confront the raiders. Vinya takes the guests to one side and asks them to follow her nephew Mandrick to check whether the chieftain, Orlgard, is safe. He is overdue and Vinya suspects that something is not quite right. It's a cold, stormy night out there and snow is being whipped on the wind.

 

Act II To the Rescue

The player characters travel north and manage to save Orlgard from an attack by outlaws. The outlaws reveal that they were working for a powerful sorcerer. Orlgard admits that a powerful relic of the clan has been stolen by the sorcerer who then left the outlaws behind to kill or delay him. He stresses that no one can find out about this because his hold on the clan is slipping and he believes that if Theorl won a challenge that he would make peace with the Wyrm Friends. He doesn't know who the sorcerer is working for or how he knew about the relic but he must have had powerful magic in order to evade the clan's wyter (guardian spirit.) One of his men was struck down by fire magic unleashed by the sorcerer and Orlgard himself was badly burned.

 

Right now there is no time to lose but Orlgard doesn't know which way the sorcerer went and the snow is blowing too hard to track. However, he knows of a witch who is friendly with the clan and can perform divinations for a price. One of the surviving outlaws says that they were supposed to meet the sorcerer in the mountains in a week but that's not enough to go on. Orlgard swears the players to secrecy, gives them directions and charges them with the relic's recovery.

 

Act III Off to see the witch

It's hard travelling but the players find the witch. Much to their amazement it turns out to be Grandmother Hickory lying low. Apparently her order has kept a few bolt-holes in the area where they have roles they can slip into. Normally she would just perform a little mumbo-jumbo but it's clear that the echos of her failed heroquesting persist to this day and she and they are entangled somehow. So she performs a real divination and sees the bowl heading south to the sea where "nine men will find it."

 

Part II: Along The Laughing River

Wilday Illusion Week (day 48) - Along the Laughing River I

The PCs travel back to Sky End Stead, meet with Orlgard and arrange for Hickory's payment. Vinya performs some much need healing and they have a council with Orlgard before leaving at lunchtime and travelling down the Solthi river to Urling's Ford where they arrived very late.

 

At Urling's Ford they meet with Keldo and have an audience with the leader of Urling's Ford - Hralf Horolfsson, one of Orlgard's most loyal thanes.

 

Godday Illusion Week (day 49)

Larad's silent day... Keldo informs the PCs that Hralf was lying when he mentioned that there had been no Wyrm Friends seen recently. A patrol had gone with Hrulf Hralfsson (Hralf's son as if you hadn't guessed) to track down some broos that had been raiding. Only Hrulf - an initiate of Urox the Chaos smasher - returned having killed the broos and burnt the bodies. The locals suspected that the EWF might have been paying the broos to raid them so they could claim to solve the village's troubles however they didn't reckon with Hrulf.

 

Keldo, the only other Uroxi, was not convinced. In the morning he started to follow Hrulf to the shrine he kept in the woods, arranging to meet up with the party further down river. However, a broo raid changed things. The PCs plus Hrulf chased the broos who had kidnapped a child and led them eventually to Hrulf's shrine. The leader of the Broos - a one-eyed monstrosity - claimed that Hrulf had betrayed his god and broken guest rights by killing the EWF. All 6 of the patrol's heads had been hung on Hrulf's trophy tree and seemed to be still alive. After a bitter struggle the characters prevailed and Hrulf found himself having to be judged by them.

 

They returned to the chieftain and persuaded him that the clan should honour its obligation to the guests and offer weregeld (blood money) to the victims' families. This was likely to cost 85 cows over a period of time. In a gesture of magnamanity, Keldo revealed his stash of 500 silvers and donated it to the cause.

 

Back at the plot, Hrulf revealed that he had seen a stranger on horseback riding through the village outskirts yesterday. Normally he would have challenged him. Hralf also disclosed a secret. The EWF have been trying a "hearts and minds" strategy recently. The patrol came with 200 silvers in "tribute" for guest rights and a small clay bottle of exotic oils and spices. Hidden inside a secret compartment was a payprus note reading:

"The storm is coming. Lay in supplies and muster your fyrd for the day of battle will soon be at hand. You shall know the hour when the dragon chokes on a mouth full of fire. Know me as, Arkat."

Hralf admits that he doesn't know what to make of this and he's pretty sure the patrol lieutenant knew nothing of it. On the better safe than sorry front he is starting to get ready for a muster.

 

The characters spent the rest of the day being healed - using up pretty much every Magic Point of healing in the whole village - and it was too late to head off.

 

Freezeday Truth Week (day 50) - Along the Laughing River II

Weather: light snow no wind. Morning dawns around -10C.  Player characters due to set off for Thunder River. A long day's travel away and the last major outpost in the Howling River lands. Travelling down the Solthi river towards Thunder Bridge. For reasons unknown Keldo was hit on the back of the next by spouts of water from the river three times. Normally the journey would take a single long day but bad weather and travelling conditions held them up.

 

Waterday Truth Week (day 51)

Arrive in Thunder Bridge in late afternoon. Town is suffering badly but seemed to be surprisingly full. The reason soon became clear: the locals were planning a big raid on the clan below the cliff and were calling in some muscle. This also meant that they didn't want anyone leaving until after the raid. Holding up our merry band of heroes. The local priest - Rangor Bless Plough - a priest of Barntar Orlanthsson (the farmer's god) said that a stranger on horseback had arrived at Thunder Bridge Fort two days ago. He looked exhausted and suspicious so Rangor refused to let him pass. They believe the stranger headed east through the forest where it is possible to get down the cliff. Probably impossible on horseback and likely to take a day or two.

 

Meanwhile Rangor turned out to be arguing against the raid as he believed that the clan should trust in faith and themselves rather than raiding the neighbours. As Rangor clearly had great influence among the common folk a meeting had been called for the following day. Keldo found himself approached by Daven Longsword, the lord's son, arguing in favour of the raid while Aslander was approached by Rangor who agreed that the clans should stick together in the face of the threat from the EWF.

 

Clayday Truth Week (day 52)

Hoping to travel onwards today but got held up when the clan meeting was interrupted. Both Aslander and Keldo were called upon to speak as well as Daven and Rangor. It was clear that Donal intended to rule in favour of a raid if at all possible and, on the whole, the audience seemed to favour a raid. However three EWF missionaries arrived claiming to be able to break the effects of the winter. Much shouting and pushing ensuing until Donal restored order and heard them out. One of the missionaries, an androgynous, hairless, modestly clothed wo/man called Yalish of the Dawn cast a spell which brought warmth and caused flowers to grow in the stones of the wall. After Rangor almost lost his temper, Donal called a halt to proceedings and declared that the priests should cast their magic tomorrow morning and the truth would be determined then.

 

So the day passed with our heroes stuck in Thunder Bridge. Larad and Keldo went hunting with Daven all night for a giant boar which might help Rangor while Aslander talked with Yalish's mercenary bodyguard "Growling" Jake. Jake had been working for Yalish for a while and was pretty cagey. He did mention that he and she had met with the General of the EWF army on the banks of the Marzeel. This general - who he described as "not human" and stinking of rotten eggs  - is presumably the mysterious figure known as Telektios the Ashbringer. Jake also mentioned On the general's lieutenants, an Orlanthi woman called Maralis. The general had told them to take Lok (some sort of purple imp) who apparently knew the area and Maralis told them to try to make friends through magic. Jake clearly didn't rate the idea. Says the Orlanthi below the cliff were not exactly all that friendly. When Aslander asked about Maralis, Jake replied that he thought she was from Solthmouth originally and seemed to be trying to prevent open warfare from breaking out.

 

Windsday Truth Week (day 53)

Windsday dawned and murder was done. Both Rangor and Yalish successfully called upon their gods. Yalish tried to claim that this showed the gods working together and Donal started to resign himself to missing out on the raid. However, in a blind fury Rangor attacked Yalish. Yalish, whether deliberate or not, showed her dragon side and struck Rangor down with lightning. The crowd rioted, Jake and Yalish were torn limb from limb and the imp disappeared. With passions running high, Donal called for a raid but it was clear to those who paid attention that this turn of events was not what he wanted. Murdering those who have been offered guest rights is not a good idea and Rangor had struck first.

 

So, the raiders set out and liberated 6 cattle. People on both sides were hungry and scared. Normally one side backs down but not this time. One Laughing River warrior was killed and two very seriously wounded. One Howling Wolf warrior only just survived with healing. The raiders returned but our heroes recovered their long suffering mule and pressed on. They found an abandoned cottage to shelter in for the night but now they are strangers in another clan's lands and were present when a man was killed.

 

Fireday Truth Week (day 54) - Along the Laughing River III

It dawned windy and a bit warmer. After a hard night in a cold ruin and our heroes were tired and hungry. After some debate they decided to head straight for Sunvale and Thandor's Hall. They were due to meet up with Cormalin there yesterday. Although there was a risk of someone associating them with the raid they decided that it was important to present themselves directly to Thandor rather than trying to pass through covertly and looking even more suspicious if they were uncovered. Giffith, however, headed back to the Stair to their back-up meeting point with the intent of heading to Deepwell via Sunvale, possibly on a boat.

 

Arriving in Sunvale mid-afternoon, they were challenged by a fairly traditionalist looking Orlanthi named Hendrik. As they walked into town they noticed the amount of Draconic imagery and a large, imposing temple to Orlanth and Ernalda, The Dragons.  They managed to meet up with Cormalin who told them he was pretty sure that the sorcerer had made for Sunvale and had left his horse behind when it became lame.  There was, indeed, a distinct possibility that he was still there somewhere though Cormalin had been laying low and had heard no rumours.

 

The lord of Sunvale, Thandor Goldenhair (aka ManySons), received them late in the day and proceeded to quiz them about their travels and reasons for coming through Sunvale. The party felt the lack of Griffith's conversational skills acutely and told him they were chasing a sorcerer who was consorting with chaos. To Dragon Friends who were present took interest in this and Thandor cut the audience short by inviting the strangers to dinner.

 

After their first decent meal in weeks, Thandor cut to the point. Daja, a Lieutenant of the Fifth Claw had uncovered evidence that there was a traitor in Sunvale. The Lady Vygota, a Wyrm friend prophetess, had seen that Thandor's enemies were close by him and he could trust no one. Dajai believed that the traitor was Hendrik but Thandor merely laughed off such accusations about his old friend. Dajai showed them a letter from "Arkat" that he had managed to intercept. Larad was unable to dissemble but no one seemed to notice. Dajai believed that Hendrik either was "Arkat" or was working for him. Thandor was sceptical but asked the outsiders to investigate for him.

 

On leaving the council, Aslander noted that someone had clearly been listening at the door.

 

Later that evening they headed to one of the local inns and found Hendrik and some youths welll into their cups. There was much more drinking and shared conversations about the need to keep to the old ways. On leaving the inn, Aslander again saw evidence that they were being watched.

 

Wildday Truth Week (day 55 - aka Exposition Day...)

 

The day dawned relatively warm but somewhat windy, an echo of Storm Season to come perhaps. Larad watched Dajai drilling EWF recruits in a dragon dance at dawn and began to realise the threat carried by what seemed simple moves.

 

Aslander and Larad then travelled to the Dragon Temple to talk with the Lady Vygota about the traitor and her prophecy of the "unknowable treasure". Cormalin was tasked with following behind to attempt to spot anyone who might be following them. Aslander, naturally, didn't enter leaving Larad to talk. Her "charisma" was undeniable and Larad found himself reluctantly praying with her before she invoked dragon magic. Again Nine Men were mentioned but this time more was revealed. The nine had become one and were no longer men. This confused Larad. Vygota also mentioned a man called Colmar who had been staying at the town for a few days. She thought he might either have, or know about, the treasure.

 

Keldo travelled to the river to commune with whatever it was that was paying interest to him. At that point Keldo hit the mother-lode. He saw a vision of man dipping a bowl into the river, drinking from it and pouring it over himself. Realising that the bowl was the relic and the man must be the sorcerer he looked closer, the man's features looked so familiar. Almost enraged by his inability to make sense of this familiarity he suddenly saw himself back in the water temple, Griffith being drowned, a small weaselly man throwing fire magic that scorched a pillar before running off with one look back. The thief, the god-learner thief. Jezat the red. It was him. The sorcerer they had been chasing. The scorch marks to Orlrgard's armour were the same as left by that thief's magic. if the God Learners got hold of this relic, who knows what they could do. Griffith had previously said something about the services in Sky End Stead being unusual and unusually gory and bloody with quite an emphasis on Orlanth's passion as he fought dragons. And The Howling Wolves had often been known for powerful and unusual healing magics.

 

What if this bowl had been touched by the blood of Orlanth somehow and what could the God Learners do with such a treasure?

 

Keldo hurried back to tell his companions what he had seen and to take advice. Two of them went to talk with Hendrik while another went to find out about Colmar while Cormalin carried on with stake-out duties. Hendrik was not overly forthcoming, simply making his hatred for the EWF clear while drilling youths in the traditional way with lots of thumping each other instead of this fancy Dragon posing business. The matter was ended when one of Thandor's servants came to summons Hendrik. Keldo followed along but was dismissed by Thandor who wished to discuss matters with Hendrik.

 

Colmar turned out to be a trader from the Snow Alynx clan who had been trying to trade gold for wheat to no avail. He was convinced that Thandor was hoarding goods for his own use.

 

Cormalin then noticed that the servant who had summoned Hendrik was heading off to Hendrik's house. Cormalin followed but all the servant did was peer in the window then leave again. Cormalin followed this servant back to his own hovel.

 

The day was drawing to its end and they were all thoroughly confused right now. Someone was probably a god-learner but they didn't know who.

 

The plan was to get Hendrik and Colmar together at the inn on the basis that they could talk about trade and old ways while the rest of the party did some breaking and entering. However, once they got them together, Hendrik seemed remarkably unwilling to talk about much.

 

Larad managed to get into Hendrik's hut without much difficulty but there was no sign of anything incriminating. Unwilling to trust to surface appearances he called upon the truth in Humakt and tried to see the hut as it really was. What he saw was that one truth was used to hide a lie. It almost made sense to him.

 

Meanwhile Cormalin saw this servant, again, watching Hendrik's hut. Realising that he had to do something he chased him through the village but lost him. Taking a gamble he headed back to the servant's hut and ambushed him shortly afterwards. Pinning him to the ground he tried to get answers out of him but the man resisted, twisting his arm right back until it broke (not exactly deliberately) Cormalin bypassed subtlety and went straight for pain. The pain worked. Tholos (for that was his name) was an agent of the God Learners who had met with the sorcerer (who he named as Jezat) on Windsday morning and hid him in the cellars beneath Thandor's Hall. Yesterday morning Jezat had been smuggled out aboard raft in a beer barrel using sorcery to stay alive. Breathe Beer is a spell with limited but extremely popular uses...

 

So... Tholos told Jezat about Lady Vygota's prophecy of the unknowable treasure and also about this "Arkat" letter he had overheard and how Dajai suspected Hendrick. Jezat was clearly alarmed about this and suspected a conspiracy. He told Tholos to see if he could find out more about Hendrik and possibly frame him if needed. Also he was very worried about Vygota and ordered him to assassinate her. Tholos was due to meet his regular contact, Cadamil, in two weeks and was therefore up against a deadline. Jezat meanwhile was out of there.

 

Cormalin noticed a scrap of papyrus on a small table with writing on it. gathering this up and dragging Tholos off for healing before he passed out, he met up with the rest of the party. They needed to get after the sorcerer as quickly as possible and had unearthed a God Learner. Heading straight for Thandor's Hall they roused Thandor who was less than happy about having his meeting with Lady Vygota interrupted. Assessing things quite quickly he dismissed her and sat down to hear what had happened. At this point Dajai turned up - clearly Thandor's Hall has more then one disloyal servant. Hendrik had also realised something was up at the Inn.

 

Suddenly we're in Miss Marple land. Larad offers to use his Humakti Truth magic to interrogate Tholos and Thandor agrees. Tholos answers questions truthfully. Yes he works for the God Learners (but only for money, not because he believes in it) and no he's not Arkat nor does he work for Arkat. The note is revealed and Thandor reads it aloud; it sounds only slightly like the other note. It is some sort of forgery. Tholos starts to admit that he was going to frame Hendrik. Thandor at this point has heard enough and reaches for his axe to deal with this god-foresaken traitor. The unarmoured, unweaponed heroes are suddenly uncomfortably aware that Thandor has an axe and two armed guards. Dajai is reaching for his bound, ceremonial klanth. Tholos, alarmed, starts to say that he knows "the truth" but Thandor steps forward to deal instant judgement.

 

At that point Keldo steps into the way and says "I  want to hear the truth." Thandor is enraged and orders Keldo to stand down. The guards start drawing weapons, Larad keeps his sword to Tholos. Cormalin and Aslander poise to act With Aslander keeping an eye on Dajai; some say that an unarmed Wyrm Friend is more dangerous than an armed one. For a split-second Keldo has to make a decision that seems to last a lifetime. He stands his ground.

 

The world turns on its spike, Thandor steps back. Says, suddenly and shockingly.

 

"Guards, kill the wyrm friend." The guards hesitate for a second, double checking that they heard correctly. Aslander needs no second invitation and grabs for Dajai. Dajai doesn't react quickly enough and within a short time he is dead.

 

Thandor turns to Hendrik. Find the "Lady Vygota and end her." Hendrik nods, grim, and leaves. The Lady was right, Thandor dined with enemies. The enemies he dined with were the EWF and she'll not live to see this "unknowable treasure." Finally he turns to Larad, standing with his sword at Tholos's throat. Thandor stares straight into Larad's eyes and says, simply, "kill the traitor." Larad looks deep into himself and into Thandor's words then kills Tholos before he can plead for his life. He may have taken the decision quickly, but it was not an easy one.

 

After all that, Thandor realises that he owes his guests an explanation and shows them a note he has received from "Arkat." He believes an uprising is planned and Sunvale will have to feed an army. For that reason he cannot trade his surplus away. He has been preparing for weeks but when Dajai and the prophetess turned up he worried that his preparations would be discovered. He maintained his cover story as a pragmatic leader while having Hendrik emphasising his antipathy to the EWF. Hendrick was to be his shield.

 

And then you meddling kids turned up.

 

Now Thandor has had to move more quickly than he anticipated but what's done is done and he'll be judged for guest murder in the hereafter. Now, he doesn't know what exactly the sorcerer's role in all this is but clearly the artifact has to be retrieved as Orlgard needs to remain strong for the storm ahead. Thandor wil arrange for a boat downriver. The beer barrels were meant for Deepwell so that's the obvious place to look first.

 

Meanwhile Thandor must put off his fine clothes and his people must put off their dragon's robes because war is coming and it is time for his mail shirt.

 

Godday Truth Week (day 56) - Along the Laughing River IV

As they travel down the Solthi river, the increasing EWF influence becomes apparent. They see cottars with dragonewt runes on their foreheard, patrols in EWF military outfits, houses with dragon symbbols. For Aslander in particular this is both depressing and enraging. Clearly not everyone has embraced this way, but many have.

 

Mid-morninng however, something major happens. A storm explodes from out of nowhere, the river surges and visions can be seen in the sky. First a hawk is spotted fleeing from a dragon. As it twists and turns the dragon follows it, snapping it and breathing fire. Unnoticed by the Dragon a figure floats down on the wind above it. The figure is Orlanth, fully armoured, his warm helm hiding his features and his dragon-slaying sword held poised.  Orlanth lands on the dragon's back, lightly, gracefully making his way along the spine until suddenly the dragon feels him. Twisting and turning it tries to snap at him but can't reach. Victoriously, Orlanth plunges the sword deep between the dragon's shoulderblades. Screaming, the dragon falls out of the air but at the last moment its head spirals round, flame burns Orlanth and teeth rake him. Then the god and the dragon are falling out of the sky to earth behind the mountains.

 

As quickly as it blew up, the storm ended yet all could feel changes. Many of those watching felt a deeper integration with their runes. Larad and Aslander felt charged with Death. Keldo felt the raw emotion of the beast inside him. Griffith embraced the truth inside himself. Only Cormalin felt unchanged by this.

 

The party carried on down river, and discovered an abandoned raft. One man lay dead on it and several barrels were broken. The storm surge looked to have teased the raft mostly out of some heavily wooded riverside. Getting the boatman to bring themselves close, it quickly became apparent that this must be the raft that Jezat had stowed away on. One barrel seemed to have exploded from the inside and boatman seemed to have been killed with Fire magic. A few minutes later, Griffith spotted a dead duck sprawled in some weeds. The duck had also been killed by fire magic. Cormalin thought he could see movement in the area and Griffith started to investigate. However an EWF patrol was spotted nearby.

 

Wary, the party started to prepare themselves and sure enough the patrol soon spotted them. There were four of them and they were just as wary of the strangers as the party was of them. Keldo explained that the two deaths were nothing to do with them. One of the regular soldiers recognised the barrels as property of Sunvale and were said he thought this was the missing shipment. The party started to explain about chasing a sorcerer. The officer - Merulyes - decided it was a good time to commune with the dragon. One of the soldiers then began to get very suspicious of Aslander and temperatures rose. This was the final straw for the boiling Aslander. In a fit of anger he leapt at the office meaning to push him into the water. Meulyes managed to keep his footing and the two began to grapple on the edge of the boat. Weapons were raised and then Keldo brought his axe down on the back of Merulye's head. The officer fell overboard, unconscious and a savage fight ensued. The patrol were outnumbered and even though the party was unarmed they were able to make superior numbers count and all of the EWF were dispatched. Leaving none alive seemed the wisest course.

 

The rather worried boatman was sent back up river with a command not to speak of this, and the party took the road to Deepwell, hoping to track down the sorcerer. Deepwell itself was clearly deep in the influence of the EWF, even had a Thunderer in a compound, so Aslander was banished to the back. As usual they were might by town guards who took them to the local lord - Brandig the Bold. Though still affecting the trappings of a traditional Orlanthi, Brandig had a dragon tattoo on his left hand and seemed comfortable with the EWF. Aslander's hostility did not go unnoticed but Brandig had more important concerns. This evening the annual initiation at the Caves of the Worm That Ate The World was due. Supplies from Sunvale (i.e. barrels of beer) had not arrived, there had been some sort of mysterious and mythic storm and now this party was here claiming to be on the trail of a sorcerer who had been "spreading chaos in the north." The party also mentioned seeing broken beer barrels. In the middle of this conference, Vastyr The Bright, a priest so holy that his very shadow burnt the ground, turned up and berated Brandig for going ahead with this archaic ritual. Griffith tried to make friends with Vastyr but he didn't seem overly impressed.

 

At this point, the party claimed that the sorcerer may well have gone to ground around here and one of the guards admitted to a strange incident before dawn when he felt spell-bound into some sort of sleep. With all this going on, Cormalin volunteered to be initiated and Brandig agreed to let his friends accompany him as his companions. Brandig was worried about young kids being sent into caves where a sorcerer might be lurking. As the caves were currently off-limits and Brandig didn't want to lose face and cancel the initiation, this seemed like the best plan.

 

Having a few hours to kill the party set out for some repairs and information gathering. Griffith headed to the temple and started making notes about the draconised versions of the Orlanthi gods. Cormalin went looking for repairs to his spear but found that everyone was too busy preparing for the night's festivities so ended up in a local inn with the still silent Larad. Keldo communed with the river and saw an odd sight. Looking up from beneath the water he saw three figures: a large, burly man, an elderly cloaked woman reminding him of Grandmother Hickory and a third shape that he couldn't see. Puzzled by this he went to catch up with Aslander. The two of them then spent time trying to get a feel for how the town regarded the EWF. Although Vastyr was though to be arrogant the townsfolk were fairly accepting of the changes with an odd few being distinctly enthusiastic.

 

Back in the inn, Cormalin and Larad ended up talking with Aelric, son of Aeldred the Fat, "King" of the Laughing River. Aelric had been staying at Sunvale but moved to Deepwell because he liked old myths and there were lots to collect here. Also mentioned his sister - Maralis - the same Maralis who is at the head of the EWF army in Heortland. Talked about her hanging out with a Humakti when she was younger.

 

Conversations were cut short when the party were summoned to another audience with Brandig. Bodies had been found and he wanted to know what the outsiders knew. They rather unconvincingly tried to lay the blame on the sorcerer. Two of the soldiers were from Deepwell and there was commotion in the town as their widows were being comforted. Brandig dismissed the party and all prepared for the ritual ahead.

 

The preparations were further interrupted when one of the townsfolk takes old mad Hengveld seriously and checks out his claim to have seen the devil sneaking outr of old widow Molly's house. Sure enough, Molly is dead, stabbed in the back and he meagre provisions pilfered. A high-ranking Wyrm-friend, Galana, arrives at the scene and clearly suspects the characters of involvement.

 

On the other side of the river, the town gathered. Beer was drunk, meats roasted, fires lit and feet stamped. Dark Season is ending and soon the wind will blow. Tonight the old ways feel strong and potent though the talk of the town is of visions in the skies, of murders and rumours that the worm that eats the world has awoken fully for the first time in living memory.

 

Three very nervous youths and Cormalin undergo the initiation ritual speech, with the rest of the PCs getting their lines fed to them. The rope is then let down and they climb into the depths. The caves are pitch black but after a while a certain amount of luminescence allows everyone to make out the basic outlines and begin to explore.  All can make out the faint outlines of carvings on the walls but without light, making sense of them is far from easy.

 

The first surprise comes after a while when a quavery voice asks who's there. After some hesitation the heroes identify themselves and the voice claims to be that of an Ernalda Priestess called Dagunda. One of the kids knows her and explains that she disappeared ages ago, Dagunda says she was driven out by Vastyr Brightshadow and hid in the caves. She's been living there for over a year now, relying on friends among the guards to bring her some food and also using some magic (what she doesn't explain) to stay alive. Dagunda is blind, has been since birth, so she doesn't mind the dark.

 

She also reveals that a stranger entered the caves this morning. She heard him scrabbling around and lit a torch after quite a struggle; Dagunda could smell it. She could tell he wasn't local and could feel the presence of a powerful magic item. Eventually her curiousity got the better of her and she approached him. At that point he attaked her with sorcery but he clearly couldn't see well she was able to hide away and came to no harm. However, when he cast sorcery there was some sort of flare up. The combination of sorcery, the mythic power of the caves & the magical item he bore accidentally awoke the dragon spirit. Dagunda has heard legends of the wyrm wakening in the past but never thought to be there when it happened again. There was a battle, she heard the sorcerer running and cursing and then the sound of him plunging into the water. After that she heard nothing and she thinks he must have drowned.

 

Naturally the party investigate the river running through the caves only to tbe attacked themselves by Eskal'aleel, the memory of the dragon. It calls them murderers and being a spirit the party don't have any very good defences against it. Dagunda comes to the rescue by casting Spirit Bane on Larad and Keldo's weapons. (Check this.) Cormalin casts Ironhand and attacks the dragon barehanded. Larad (I believe) is the one who finally dispels the spirit. Cormalin, however, was seen by the initiates attacking the dragon with his bare hands ends and they think he must have been the one that killed the worm that eats the world. Soon they will refer to him as Cormalin DragonSlayer.

 

In among the chaos, Griffith tries to get down the river flowing through the caves and almost drowns. He was, however, able to ascertain that Jezat must have gone that way as he's sure he can sense a way to follow the river out of the caves. The rest of the night passes uneventfully.

 

Storm Season

Freezeday Disorder Week

Emerging from the caves they realise that they were close behind Jezat but have lost some time again. They are tired and cold but need to get on the move. They also want to avoid any more meetings with Vastyr and outrun any evidence that they were behind the killing of the EWF patrol. So, they hire a boatman from a local who is fairly tradiitonalist though he does have a brother who's into all that dragon stuff and keeps trying to recruit him so he can get onto the next stage.

 

A few miles downstream from Deepwell they come across a strange sight. Some sort of undead, flying, probably firebreathing, batwinged lizard thing appears to have attacked Jezat and been, mostly, burned to death at a sight by the riverbank. They can tell it's undead when Larad suddenly screams, leaps forward and starts to smash it around with his sword. About 15 minutes later, when he's finally finished they burn the remaining parts. They have time to notice, however, that it appears to have been stitched together in ways they've seen before. This was Delecti's work.

 

There were signs of Jezat having been injured and probably escaped on foot. On the boat, a naked woman laughs rather too sensually then jumps off the boat. The boatman by now is pretty freaked.

 

Late that afternoon they arrive in Noryar for an audience with Hordred Wyrmhand. They had learned about him from the boatman. At the meeting they discover he is in great good humour because there's been a rapprochment between his brother Aeldred and his favourite niece, Maralis. It seems she has arrived in Solthmouth with an EWF fleet of a score or so warships. Apparently she has healed the rift with her father and he is going to sign a treaty with the EWF. Hordred is in great spirits so although he does lightly quiz the characters about the situation up north and the rumours coming out of Sunvale he's not that focused. Also at the audience is an elderly healer, Faeltris, a very grim WyrmFriend military officer, Seran "The Laugher," and an Orlanthi woman called Asrela who says little other than when she is lightly teased by Hordred. As always, the characters stick to their evolving story of a chaos sorcerer though now they're able to claim he's a God-Learner which is usually a good way to gain EWF aid. They figure they're on safer ground with Draconised Orlanthi if they can stick to a common enemy. Hordred is concerned but not overly so and merely reminds the characters to keep the peace and to enjoy the good times. He's heard there'll be a party in Solthmouth to celebate the treaty and he is going to be arranging one here too. In the spirit of universal peace and harmony,  he takes the chance to demonstrate his fresh, new wyrm hand; he's very proud of it.  Aslander spends the demonstration thinking impure thoughts.

 

Back at the inn, there's always an inn, the characters are relaxing while quizzing the locals. Their evening is interrupted by a kid who says his master wants to see them. After a little distrust, it turns out that he wants them to take a secret passage behind the bar. The barman affects not to notice all this so they make their way through a cramped tunnel. The come out the other end into a basement where they meet a woman who soon reveals herself to be Asrela. She is planning a rebellion, has messages from an "Arkat" and wants the characters to recruite a mercenary band. She promises to use her network to find the sorcerer in return. The characters are more than happy to help, only pausing when she tells them never to call the mercenaries "ducks". They are durulz and the leader of the band, Dhrek, is particularly sensitive about this.

 

The night passes uneventfully for all of them except Aslander who wakes up twice during the night, both times in the middle of some sort of adrenalin rush. It ain't easy being an insomniac dragonslayer.

 

Waterday Disorder Week 

Early morning and all of the merry party bar Griffith, who is interested in discovering more about the caves in Deepwell and gets smuggled into a Lankhor Myh shrine just outside Noryar, head off to see the ducks. Being the paranoid types they take a circuitous route to the money stash - 20 Gold Ducats - and then off to Billhook Farm. Arriving there by mid-morning they are struck again by just how thoroughly Noryar has gone to the Wyrm Side. The ducks, however, are suspicious, obstreperous, bad-tempered and, as no-one pointed in a fowl mood. They have no desire to worship dragons, storm gods, invisible gods or any god, come to that, who doesn't pay in cold, hard cash.

 

The farm consists of a couple of acres of land enclosed by a low wooden fence. Low by human standards that is. After much to-ing and fro-ing at the gatehouse while one rather young looking duck kept a crossbow trained on them at all times, the party finally manage to persuade the gate-duck that yes they do have money and yes they do want to hire their illustrious commander. So, it is with much sniggering that they travel down the path to the main farm buildings past the duck pond and to meet with Dhrek and his magician Kakaleel. 

 

Initially Dhrek takes them for fools and asks for a ludicrous retainer when the party mentions they wish to hire his services in a rebellion against the EWF. Larad has had some experience in the mercenary life though and does his best to be a grim Humakti. Lacking anyone with social skills to negotiate, the party eventually manage to hire the ducks by promising them pretty much everything they want. Dhrek does mention that they are currently short-handed so he's offering them a "discount." They don't ask him more about this, and the remaining activities are cut short when the ducks sound the alert. Dhrek considers whether the idiots are smarter than they look and have double-crossed him but the party are blissfully unaware of this and the two hidden arrow holes in the adjoining wall. His hand is forced when one of the ducks comes breathlessly in shouting "It's Seran! And he has dinos!"

 

Swearing fowlly, Dhrek jumps to his feet, stands down the hidden cross-bow ducks and tells the party to come with him. "Rebellion starting early?" The party know nothing so decide to keep stum and follow Dhrek to the gate house. Kakaleel starts to prepare spells, his drooping, palsied face energised by his love of magic.

 

A tense stand-off ensues. Seran accuses of Dhrek of finally going too far: he knows they are harbouring criminals and consorting with Asrela to perform treachery.  It's clear that Seran and Dhrek have some sort of mutual amnity and Dhrek appears to be spoiling for a fight too. After all, they have a gatehouse, ducks with crossbows and a sturdy fence. At that point, one of the watch ducks shouts "thunderer!" and the equation changes.

 

Spells are cast, crossbow quarrels loosed, Seran doesn't laugh and then a Thunderer comes charging through the gates as if they are made of plywood and chaos breaks loose. Several ducks and the party rush to hold the gap. Aslander swings wildly at the thunderer as it trundles by. Dhrek though has seen this kind of thing before, chomping on his imaginary cigar he rolls to one side, slashes up with his bastard sword and attempts to hamstring the thunderer with a precise attack. His attack had no great effect but Aslander saw what he was trying to do and and got focused, holding his next swing until the last second in an attempt to find a weak spot.

 

Back at the gate, one of the smarter than average ducks has finally spotted the dino's controller and takes him out with a crossbow quarrel. The thunderer, which had previously been ordered to head back towards the gate and smash more things is now free to focus its rage on the annoying mammal with the heavy sharp thing. A couple of regular ducks try to help Aslander but one gets impaled and the other squashed.

 

Meanwhile Seran sends in his best troops with kite shields and spears to push through the gate. The area is a mess of ducks, spears and blood. The new troops are good with shields and neither the party nor the ducks can damage them. However they are just about holding the area when another alert is called: Renders are flanking.

 

Vicious, I-can't-believe-they-not-velociraptors are easily jumping the fence and coming in from the side. One duck is almost clawed in half but the Renders are clearly out of the Pathetic Sharks school of nasty things and quickly go down under the varied weapons of our heroes. Dhrek is now at the gate and Kakaleel is making his way towards him, trying to use his magic in support. Kakaleel is having a bad day, nothing is working but his old nest mate has rallied the troops at the gate house while Aslander has fun with the Thunderer. Larad & Keldo have finally got sorted towards the front. Keldo's axe being the only thing that makes any sort of dent on the attackers and Larad doing his best to prevent them from getting flanked.

 

Seran seeing that this fight is bogging down takes the initiative. A final wave of skirmishers are sent to climb the fences, drawing some of the defenders away. Then, looking every inch the hero in his mind, he charges on his war-horse, scattering the defenders and bursting through the line. Several defenders take a swing at the horse which receives a few nasty gashes but Seran is able to block the worst with his klanth.

 

Turning his horse sharply (good riding roll...) he is able to run down Kakaleel and kills him outright. "Pate" he shouts, without laughing at his own joke. At about this time a bloodied and bruised Aslander is sinking his axe blade deep into the thunderer's neck as it sinks to its knees. Cormalin, Keldo and Larad are outnumbered but holding. Hearing Kakaleel's death squak, Dhrek runs back to face Seran who has ridden down another duck and turning back for more. Dhrek's a tough cookie however. Turning away from Seran's attack he is able to bring down the flagging horse and Seran falls badly. After that it's just a matter of time, Aslander is nearby and Seran is all show and anger but not a whole lot of ability. He can't hold off both of them. Some of the skirmishers try to get to him but are intercepted by Cormalin and a couple of novice ducks. When they see their commander fall, the rest lose heart and start to flee. 

 

Dhrek is merciless. He has every last one followed and killed. He doesn't want word of this getting back for as long as possible. He's lost some good ducks, including his nest mate and best healer. There are several injuries to deal with and the matter of the people who brought all this to his door. There's also something else going on that he's keeping to himself. And so a meeting. It's midday now. Dhrek suspects that Hordred will be amenable to calling it quits as Seran was liked by none and that he ought to be able to screw a fair amount of gold out of Asrela over this. He also recognises that Aslander stood with him and showed great bravery while the rest held the gate post with courage. He asks them what they plan to do next, they say they want to head down river to Solthmouth. Dhrek decides that getting them out of his feathers is no bad thing and lets them go. A duck is assigned to raft them down the river and Dhrek turns back to mourn to his nest mate.

 

Normally it's a bit less than a day to Solthmouth and the Solthi's running fast and high. There are however rapids about 5 miles outside of Solthmouth and it'll be dark by the time they reach them. The duck refuses to go white water rafting with a bunch of humans and a mule in the dark so they moor in a small village for the night. This time Aslander gets a decent nights sleep.

 

Clayday Disorder Week

The four of them, sans Griffith, arrive at Solthmouth mid-morning to see the EWF fleet moored in the harbour and the streets full of bunting; Maralis has returned, a treaty is to be signed and it's party time. The party are at a bit of a loss as to where to start: Solthmouth is by far the biggest town on the Solthi and they have no contacts there. The boatman suggests the Riverside Inn is a popular one with travellers. They visit and book rooms, decide that they should present themselves to Aeldred. 

 

Aeldred is, however, a busy man and it takes some bribery to jump the queue to see him. When they finally do at first he seems distracted and uninterested until he is told that they are from the north. At this point he takes the party to one side and begins to quiz them in detail about life there and Orlgard's intentions. This raises their suspicions but having experienced something similar with Thandor they begin to wonder if all is not as it seems.  As ever they try to keep their intentions vague and talk only a chaos sorcerer. Aeldred knows nothing of that and closes the private audience by inviting them to attend the feast tonight.

 

Back at the public audience, as the party prepare to take their leave they see Maralis for the first time. Tall, rangy, not beautiful but definitely charismatic and every inch the Wyrm Friend general. She casts her eye over them, seeming to pay most attention to Larad but the party don't notice that. (Lack of insight anyone...) Aeldred notices as does her long-time confidant Hilda. Aeldred suggests that if they are looking for a place to stay which won't mind their old ways customs, then Stumpy's probably has beds.

 

So, no further ahead they leave. Larad is trying to remember the story behind the magnificent greatsword hanging on the wall behind 'King' Aledred, Keldo is thinking of beer, Aslander is twitching, Cormalin's worrying about where these nine men are who are going to get the bowl. In the end, Keldo finds the way to Stumpy's (he's good at that) and sure enough the patron is a dwarf and does have beds free. Having already booked in at the Riverside, Aslander and Cormalin head back their to pick up their belongings while planing to ask about chaos sorcerers at the docks. En-route, Cormalin notes that the harbour entrance has been blocked with huge chains just below the waterline.

 

At Stumpy's, Stumpy is making a small fortune by dint of giving meaningful answers to questions. He hasn't heard about chaos sorcerers but he can ask around, he recounts the history of Maralis and Aeldred: seems she left home about 10 years ago with the rumour being that she ran away because she had been forbidden to marry. Since then there has been an estrangement. He does mention a horseman from their neck of the woods who passed through a few days ago. Doesn't remember his name but does remember an odd rune on his clothes: one they recognise as being used by Vinya. For some reason Vinya has sent a messenger here. After some time a large man in shadows nursing an ale pointedly remarks that if they're going to be chucking silver at Stumpy they may as well buy drinks instead. Larad & Keldo sit down at the table and introduce themselves to Cadamil but don't recognise his name. Cadamil is well into his cups; he's a mercenary travelling through the area. Larad and Cadamil hit it off and start talking tactics while Keldo focuses on drinking. It's deep into beer o'clock when Keldo remembers where he's heard Cadamil's name before. Keldo gradually comes to the realisation that Cadamil has been learning a fair amount from them.

 

Meanwhile, asking at the docks hasn't been too fruitful. Eventually someone mentions some ducks who moored up yesterday and were asking around about the Nineman. Once Aslander and Cormalin managed to get back on their feet they manage to get the story. The Nineman is "Zugat" a troll and dealer in magic items and various oddities who lives down the coast. Why the Nineman? That's how many she has eaten. No one knows her exact location but her agent Urko who can usually be found at the Riverside Inn.

 

Aslander and Cormalin beat a path to Stumpys where they find Larad much the worst for wear: never drink with an alcoholic and an Uroxi in the morning. Keldo has managed to drag Larad out. After a quick discussion in the street they realise they need to track down Urko and can't risk a confrontation with Cadamil right now. So they head back to the Riverside to get information about Urko. Sure enough he was engaged by some ducks to take them to the Nineman this morning. The barman hasn't seen him since then though they could try Stumpy's where he's been known to hang out during negotiations. There's a collective groan as they head back across town again, cutting through the bunting and trying to ignore the revellers starting early on the celebrations. 

 

Sure enough, Cadamil has left but Stumpy is there and is happy to point out Urko, sitting at the back, for another silver. He's been there for a while. He eyes them cautiously as they approach. Though not armed and armoured they are clearly travellers who mean business. Some tense negotiations ensue. Urko agrees, eventually, to take a message to Zugat and ask for a meeting as they are interested in certain rare items. 

 

So, Urko heads off. The party give him a head start and send Cormalin to track him down. The rest head off along the western cliff path, the supposed route to Zugat's lair. Cormalin's years of tracking deer in the woods finally pays off. He quickly finds the tracks and is able to track him. About an hour out of town, Urko heads down a narrow trail in a cut into the cliffs. Cormalin sneaks into position and spots a duck on duty, keeping a less than enthusiastic look out. The duck and Urko exchange words then Urko heads into what must be a cave but Cormalin can't see from here. Deciding that he has everything he needs he hurries back to intercept the rest who are making their way in the general direction. A hurried consultation later they decide the best thing to do is to ambush him as he comes back, maybe they can get a drop on Zugat that way. They are still a bit puzzled by the ducks and their role in this.

 

Sure enough, Urko is heading back about an hour later, around mid-afternoon. He's taken by surprise and quickly surrenders. Phase I of the plan has succeeded. Now they need to figure out how to scramble down a cliff in plain sight of a duck with a crossbow.

 

In the end they decide to brazen it out. It's a cold day, wind whipping off the sea and blowing salt into their faces. As soon as he sees them the duck hails them and calls an alert. Keldo calls out that they are here to see Zugat and that it's none of the duck's business. They continue down the path and along the rocky beach. Eventually a voice booms out from the cave somewhere. Zugat wants to know who they are and why they are here. At this point they don't really have a plan.

 

Keldo shouts that they're here for the sorcerer. He has stolen something. Zugat knows this full well and asks what they're willing to pay. Jezat squeaks his outrage at this turn of events from somewhere inside. The party are still moving cautiously towards the entrance. After a bit more flannelling from Keldo, Zugat shouts that she'll accept 2000 Gold Ducats for the treasure. Larad counts his remaining silvers and looks somewhat grim. Aslander tries the "we all hate the wyrm friends so why not give us a discount" line of argument. At this point Jezat shouts that the strangers are servants of Delecti and can't be trusted.

 

This leads to a "wtf" moment from the party. Which then leads, as most things do, to a charge. 

 

Keldo makes a bee line for the duck hoping to catch it by surprise. It looses off its quarrel but the shot goes high and Keldo barrels into it, grappling and rolling on the floor. The remainder charge up the scree slope to the cave entrance. Aslander is alert enough to be wary of an ugly, squat statue while Larad and Cormalin try to shelter from a hail of sling stones. Zugat can be heard muttering spells and getting her armour on. Aslander swings his axe at the statue which ducks surprisingly nimble and rakes him with terrible claws in return. Larad and Cormalin try to flank it but get outmanoeuvred when it starts to fly. Meanwhile various trollkin can be seen in the cave.

 

Back at the beach, Keldo and his duck are wrestling. It's a slippery customer.

 

Zugat shouts for them all to leave if they value their lives and Jezat lets loose fire magic. He's weak and tired though so the spell splutters feebly. The gargoyle has taken several blows and Aslander finally finishes it off however their advance into the cave is halted by some sort of darkness magic. Rather unpleasantly, the trollkin can see right through and the party, start being bombarded with sling stones and Disruptions.  They can hear Zugat muttering a chant.

 

Back at the beach, Keldo and his duck are wrestling. It's a really slippery customer though has a lost a few feathers now.

 

The rest take a deep breath and attempt to charge through the darkness. Bursting out the other side they see Jezat who hurls another useless firedart and some trollkin poking them with spears. They also see a rather odd trollkin with some sort of barrel strapped to its back. Then the darkness moves again and they can see no more.

 

Back at the beach, Keldo and his duck are wrestling. It's more slippery than Slippy McSlip, the five times winner of best eel impersonator in all of Safelster. Mostly they're tusselling over a dagger.

 

Back in the cave, there's more charging through darkness. Cormalin thinks he saw a side tunnel and heads back for that. Rather strangely the trollkin appear to be aiming disruptions at the trollkin with the barrel while said trollkin is running towards party. Drawing upon powers of mystic intuition, they decide that this must be dangerous and scatter. The disruptions don't bite though. 

 

Back on the beach, Keldo has finally out-wrestled the duck for the dagger and proceeds to stab it once in the chest and twice in the abdomen until it stops moving. 

 

Now Cormalin has found the exit to the side tunnel into a large cave area just in time to come face to face with Jezat trying to take the same tunnel out of there. Another failed firedart later, Jezat is running away and Cormalin is chasing after him. Zugat has now come to the party because the trollkin can't hold back Larad and Aslander. She takes a heavy blow from Aslander but retaliates by knocking Larad clean across the cave with her giant hammer. Bleeding badly, Larad slumps to the floor. Aslander spots the opening and shrugs off a trollkin's attempt to grab onto him with another ferocious attack against Zugat. She's now reeling and desperately tries to cast a healing spell while the rest of the trollkin try and rush the axeman. This simply causes her to lose her guard and with a final blow, Aslander puts her down.

 

Meanwhile Keldo is charging up the slope. Cormalin has now got into a Benny Hill routine as he chases Jezat through the various corridors. The extra duck in the caves is staying hidden away waiting to see where the profit lies and Larad can see a grief-stricken trollkin with a barrel on its back. Larad shouts a warning, Aslander dives out of the way, the trollkin goes boom and Larad spends the last of his hero points to roll slightly behind Zugat for shelter. 

 

It's messy. Really messy. I don't think Larad ends up with any positive hit points in any locations and even Aslander looks rather blackened and stained by various trollkin bits. After that, however, things resolve quite quickly, Jezat is run down by Cormalin and bargains for his life. The other duck negotiates safe passage and bites its tongue when it discovers that its nest mate has been stabbed to death and left on the rocks. When he gets back and is able to exchange stories at Billhook Farm, Dhrek will turn against the Orlanthi. The players have an ongoing weakness in that they're not able to manage the side-effects of their actions, something that is storing up problems for later.

 

Back above the cave area, however, Jezat has led the party to the bowl and is bargaining for his life. For now, each takes a turn to hold and admire this plain relic that has brought them so far. Keldo and especially Cormalin feel thrilled by its presence yet Larad finds something disquieting while Aslander finds it almost blasphemous. Each finds themselves wishing Griffith with his insight was there because they're beginning to wonder just what the myths of the Howling wolves actually are. Now though, they have pressing matters to attend. It'll be dark soon and they've been invited to watch the formal alliance between the EWF and the Laughing River. Perhaps there'll be a chance to stop it. On the other hand, they've all got an inkling that they've seen this before in Sunvale.

 

So, with Jezat safely roped up in the inn and their best court clothes on (Larad brushed his winter cloak especially for the event) the fab four return to Aledred's Hall. Solthmouth is drinking and dancing but they're on the alert and start noticing who is armed and who is not. Aslander and Keldo feel naked without their axes but there's not much they can do about it. Keldo attempts to drink various local bigwigs under various tables while the rest remain tense. Finally, after an interminable wait, Aeldred gets up to speak and then Maralis makes an entrance. If you want to know the details, you;ll have to buy the book but suffice it to say that the fleet goes boom and a war starts. Aslander's never been happier. They've rescued the bowl, caught the sorcerer and helped start a rebellion against the EWF. Sometimes life is sweet.

. Stab a duck, kill Zugat, catch Jezat, retrieve the bowl. Get back just in time for a party and a rebellion.

 

Part III: The Calm Before the Storm

Windsday Disorder Week.

• Jezat is interrogated. Reveals that he was working alone. He is terrified of someone called Rsadi. He believes there is a link between Rsadi and Delecti but doesn't know what. Rsadi is a God Learner wizard who is interested in Orlanthi myths. Cadamil also works for Rsadi. Jezat bought off the characters with his stash of 39 Gold Ducats and got a promise from them to put him on a ship. Went to the Togaro Islands.
• Aslander has thrown himself into the rebellion as a religious obligation. The others are more focused on getting the bowl back.

Fireday Disorder Week

• The party sans Aslander meet with Maralis and her advisor Hilda. Maralis appears to be sceptical that this chaos sorcerer exists and pushes them for more information. They say as much as they can. After some tension Maralis appears to accept their explanation and offers them a deal. She'll give them a detachment of men to take up north if they'll argue for a treaty between The Laughing River and Howling Wolves to oppose the EWF. Maralis's plan is simple: start an insurgency during Storm Season while Orlanth's magic is strongest and make occupation so painful that the EWF will pull back to Dragon Pass.
• Characters set out for Sky End Stead with Hilda in tow. 

Freezeday Harmony Week

They pass within a few miles of Sunvale and see signs of a siege.

Windsday Harmony Week

Arrive Sky End Stead. Discover that the theft of the bowl is known. Vinya has called a moot to replace Orlgard as chieftain. The return of the characters persuades him to stand again.

Orlgard holds a thanksgiving feast.

Fireday Harmony Week

Arrangements are made to have Keldo and Cormalin initiated into the cult of Orlanth Martyred.

Wildday Harmony Week

Initiation starts today and ends on Freezeday.

Godday Harmony Week

Still poisoned.

Freezeday Death Week

After three days between life and death, Keldo and Cormalin are reborn as initiates. It is obvious that something very profound has happened to Keldo.

Waterday Death Week

The moot. The clan is clearly divided between the way of peace proposed by Theorl and the old ways proposed by Orlgard. Eventually Keldo sways the issue. The vote is close and some bad feeling lingers. 

Clayday Death Week

The party head to Granny Hickory only to find evidence of a struggle. Hilda casts Reconstruction and sees a confrontation between Hickory and God Learners one of whom is identified as Rsadi. Another is some sort of steam-powered sorcerous being.

Partt IV: Ashbringer's War

Windsday Death week

High Holy Day of Humakt.

 

Fireday Death week

Travel to Urling's Ford. Discover that the village chief does not want to get involved in any uprising. He thinks that the event's around Hrulf's shame was a message. They end up taking a teenager from the village to Thunder Bridge in order to convince him that they need to fight dragons.

Wildday Death Week

Travelling south

Godday Death Week

Arrive Thunder Bridge. Larad notices the west wall is weak. Meet with the chief. They're all for war but are happy to see the Laughing Rivers face some pain and have no great desire to ally with or help them.

Freezeday Fertility

Travel south to scout out area around Sunvale. Still have kid with them.

Waterday Fertility

Attacked by a wyvern patrolling. They manage to lure it just low enough that Aslander gets a critical bow attack. The Wyvern makes an ungainly landing and they go racing after it. A nasty, brutal skirmish ensues but they end up victorious and take the head as a trophy.

Continuing on the east road in to Sunvale, they encounter a guardpost of free Orlanthi. They tell them that the north and south roads have been cut off by the EWF and only this east road is still free though they are getting more and more pressure.

The party head to Sunvale where they meet with Hendrik and Thandor. Thandor explains that they halted the initial advance in the west woods some two weeks ago but since then they've been almost completely enciricled. He's holding out waiting for help from Maralis. The party say that she's trying to create an alliance and they're working on persuading the Wolves.

Clayday Fertility

Travelling north

Windsday Fertility

Arrive back at Thunder Bridge. Find a messenger from Maralis who says he can arrange a meeting with a God Learner agent who has offered trade agreements. Maralis's supplier of weapons and exotic items used to blow up the EWF ships was The Nine Man but somebody killed her...

Fireday Fertility

Party head east to a rendezvous point in the hills. There they encounter Cadamil who takes them to the Ebenriss Hawk Exultant. For the first time they meet Rsadi and Yarlech The Humble. Rsadi offers them some weapons as a 'gift' and says she can authorise trade with the Orlanthi as the God Learners have no more love for the EWF than the Orlanthi do. The party are suspicious but the weapons consist of a dozen exquisite, enchanted iron swords, spears and axes. Plus three "power" weapons: an axe, sword and spear. They leave and watch the airship ascend into the clouds above the hills.

Wildday Fertility

Back to Thunder Bridge, deciding what exactly to do with their new toys.

Godday Fertility

At Thunder Bridge. A messenger from Thandor has arrived begging for their help. Donal and Daven are not overly inclined to risk their men but the party's words and the display of weapons gets Daven fired up. Donal agrees that Daven can take 12 men and accompany the party to Sunvale in an attempt to help break the siege.

 

Freezeday Stasis

Travelling south. Mostly manage to avoid EWF patrols but eventually run into a camp of 12 men. They are able to dispatch them with minimal injuries and arrive at Sunvale.

There's a conference with Thandor and they talk over various tactical options.

Waterday Stasis

Before dawn, the attack on Sunvale finally begins. 4 hours later it has been beaten back with great cost of life and Aslander is missing, possibly dead.

Clayday Stasis

Windsday Stasis

High Holy Day of local Uroxi. (Yes, I got it wrong...)

Travelling south to Deepwell with Jotisan. Keldo indulges his religion through violence and alcohol. Cormalin becomes a boat thief. Meet with Hara and Dagunda and agree plan to liberate prisoners through use of Jotisan's sylph. Keldo decides not to trust Hara.

Fireday Stasis

Travel across river to Deepwell caves and camp during the day. Hara sneaks into caves with weapons. Various activities alarm the party, especially a detachment travelling towards Dagunda's hide-out but then 6 guards are called back across the river.  Liberate prisoners at dusk rather than waiting until the next morning. and toss Vastyr to his death.

Wildday Stasis

Real High Holy Day of Urox...

Talk with Brandig about options to liberate Deepwell. Brandig makes the point that many of the villagers have signed up with the EWF and doesn't want more bloodshed.

Around midday Mali's Maulers arrive: a mercenary detachment with Cadamil at their head. Were heading for Sunvale to join the rebellion but detoured to Deepwell when they heard reports of a battle.

Hara, Cormalin and 2 scouts cross the river to check out Dagunda's hiding place. Discover Dagunda missing and the others killed. 

About this time the rest see a gibbet erected outside the temple and Dagunda's body is hung from it.

Come up with plan to sneak across the river at night, infiltrate the temple and rescue the hostages with mercenaries as a back up. After a few small skirmishes they succeed and the next morning the EWF troops agree to leave.

Godday Stasis

EWF leave Deepwell. Brandig takes over. Much merriment and celebration though not from everyone.

Cormalin decides that Cadamil is suspicious. Larad stays silent all day

Hara discovers that Dagunda was betrayed by one of her women Adana, the wife of one of the men (Eran) held in the caves. Seems that Adana had made a deal to free Eran but lost her life for her pains: was found garrotted in the temple.

No explanation forthcoming about why Vastyr recalled some men from the caves.

Cadamil interested in whether the caves can be fortified and used as a strong point.

Freezeday Movement

Jotisan prays for spell recovery and succeeds with Sylph. 

Larad makes suggestions about increasing the defences and suggests sending scouts to harry the retreating EWF. Scouts return the next day and reveal that they flushed out several EWFers keeping an eye on the town.

Keldo teaches axe play to a few unfortunates.

Cormalin has decided that he needs to keep an eye on Cadamil.

Party decide to travel north to Sunvale with Mali's Maulers the next day. Hara wants to accompany them as she has nothing left here; she says that she has contacts who can tell her about EWF activities to the west.

 

Waterday Movement

Travelling north. Signs of EWF influence diminishing.

 

Clayday Movement

Arrive at Sunvale. Many meetings and much celebrating. Daven is there from Thunder Bridge. Orlgard is still in the north but Keldo will speak for him. Maralis arrives with a Warband from Solthmouth. The war is going well and there's a big feast that evening, many speeches are spoken, plans are made and various confidences are told and Keldo is confused.

Hara approaches Larad and asks if he can keep a secret. She starts to tell him that she's not originally from Solthmouth and had been sold into slavery when Keldo comes over to see what's going on. 

Larad later heads outside with Maralis where they discuss the war. Maralis reveals that there is a plan afoot to marry her to Theorl and cement the alliance. She's not exactly happy with that. Impetuously she asks Larad to lay with her. Larad just about manages to say no. So they plan to get married instead. Larad's not sure if it's him or the death rune she's after...

Windsday Movement

High Holy Day Orlanth. Taking advantage of this most auspicious of days, the Storm Council is called. As an even greater omen, Harp the Dragon Killer, King Androfin's Weaponthane, arrives with 50 warriors to covertly aid the rebellion. More surprisingly, Rsadi turns up. A lot of the council are not happy to have any kind of dealing with sorcerer. It was agreed that they needed to keep on pushing the EWF hard but Hara had received information that a huge number of reinforcements were on the way from the EWF. Apparently one of the council of twelve had "opened an eye."

A plan is hatched: the God Learners can take a small party behind enemy lines to both scout out the area and do as much damage to the supply lines as possible. Said party should consist of people who knew the Marzeel river area between Jintul and Malton well. The whole room looked the PCs...

The priests, meanwhile, are very excited about the storm that's building.

 

Fireday Movement

A very bumpy airship ride to just north of Malton. Cormalin continues to be suspicious of Cadamil: to Cormalin it is starting to look as though Cadamil might be possessed. The mule is unhappy. The machine explains itself to Keldo.

Wildday Movement

Arriving just north of Malton in the outskirts of the old spider woods. The wind is whipping around making landing impossible so they are descend rope ladders while the mule descends into its own private hell.

A couple of hours after Dawn, arrive at Malton and meet with Mayor Easy. He's now mayor in name only but offers them a good breakfast and what information he knows. The party divide.

Keldo and Jotisan hang out at the Thirsty Wind. Keldo starts telling stories of derring do while Jotisan sits back and judges the mood of the crowd.

Larad and Cormalin head to the market. Manage to find a loyalist who can take them down river. Do hear that there is an overland trade route from Malton to the 5th Camp. Rafter says that they need to leave now to have any chance of getting down river to Jintul today.

Meet back at the inn. Keldo is in full flow. They talk with Jotisan. They agree that Jotisan will take over and try to spread sedition by inspiring them to act. The decide that they will take the raft half way down river then travel overland to pick up the new road from Jintul to the 5th camp.

 

Midday, leaving the inn. The call to prayers has just ended. Jotisan feels suddenly worried. Then the wind stops. Completely and the world becomes still...

 

To be continued

Godday Movement

 

Freezeday Illusion

Waterday Illusion

Clayday Illusion

Windsday Illusion

Fireday Illusion

Wildday Illusion

Godday Illusion

 

Freezeday Truth

Waterday Truth

Clayday Truth

Windsday Truth

Fireday Truth

Wildday Truth

Godday Truth

 

Sacred Time

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