Chapter 15: Session 06

Back in Mount Wind, Krius informs a young Eaglerider named Marcus about a new assignment. Marcus, an expert at gathering intelligence in the Varukko Market, is tasked with following and assisting the party of Bearers. Marcus is not entirely pleased with the notion of babysitting, even though Krius insists it is not. Yet Marcus is a professional and will follow orders, waiting for the Party's return to Mount Wind.

Having left Drathmorton, the party sets off to buy Durin dinner in Port Arlin, Kesh. The establishment he wants to visit is a place called "The Burning Tree" a name which does not make Lugh all too happy.

The name comes from a local story about the origin of the town. The founders of the this town had come upon this land and saw two potential parcels in which to populate. One, a rocky coastal shelf, the other, a wooded area in need of much effort to clear. The settlers asked their gods for an answer to this dilemma; that night a great thunderstorm rained down lightning bolts on the wooded area, catching the forest ablaze, clearing the wooded spot. Seeing the destruction as a bad omen the settlers decided upon the difficult to farm rocky shelf and built first a common house, today named, "The Burning Tree" (Others say that the location of the town was placed to spite the gods through the intentional misreading of an obvious omen).

Port Arlin, is the northernmost port city in Kesh, located just south of Rocky Bay, a region ceded to the Kinlarn Hegemony after a short territorial and trade dispute. Kesh gave up the rights for any ports in Rocky Bay itself, in return for reduced tariffs on trade goods. It was the same agreement that has recently caused Shrewsborn to grow into a regional tradehub as products are brought overland between Kesh, the Hegemony, and the Protectorate.

The streets of Port Arlin are rough gravel and the buildings reflect much of the same rough but sturdy construction. The Burning Tree is a large building made of stone and wood, with a large black metal sculpture of a tree worked into the side of the building, extending over the roof and shading the rear outdoor dining area. The inside looks much the same, sturdy with barely a nod toward aesthetics.

As the party approaches The Burning Tree, Mitu, among others, notices a man in an alley across the way, seemingly watching their movements. The man appears suspicious, the kind of suspicious that makes you wonder if any second he could pull open his cloak and flash his fleshy wangdoodle. That, or perhaps he intends to harm you. Thinking the latter, Mitu tries to stare down the man who keeps a steady gaze locked on the party, seeming unimpressed. He nods an acknowledgment to the party before disappearing down the alley.

The party enters The Burning Tree and is seated in the outdoor area behind the main building, since this is more comfortable seating for someone as large as Mitu, it also helps put the other patrons at ease to see this strange group seated away from them.

The food is remarkable, fine selections of local fish, poultry and mutton, roasted or stewed with root vegetables and exotic herbs; food fit for the Merchant Princes. Durin recalls the last time he dined at the establishment some 25 years ago, remarking that the food is better than he remembered. This could be due to the fact that living in Drathmorton in the past few years, everything local seemed to taste kind of "off".

Dinner is abruptly interrupted as flaming glass bottles come flying over the roof and into the outdoor dining courtyard. Mitu beats a hasty retreat from the fire as Soreiss, Slip and Bodan easily contain and extinguish the minor nuisance. Lugh and Bodan are fired upon by two men perched in the tree sculpture on the side of the building. Mitu and Soreiss investigate the front of the building, hoping to discover who threw the bottles. They find four men, possibly mercenaries, readying weapons as they recognize both Soreiss and Mitu by name.

Lugh summons a mighty gale, knocking the pair of men from the tree. Bodan cripples one man with a shard of stone through his knee, while Lugh and his wolves easily subdue the other. Bodan turns his attention toward the scene in the front of the building, as Slip simply walks through the back door of the building and out the front to see the same. Soreiss shows uncharacteristic calm and restraint as Mitu charges at the four men.

The attacking archers coordinate their bow-fire on Mitu as the monster rushes forward to pummel someone into unconsciousness. Quickly, and luckily, although not luckily enough, their arrows strike the Ogren's head and shoulders; the attack does not cause the Ogren any pause. An instant later one of their rank lies flat on his back, dazed and in pain from a brutal suicide rush. Bodan, seeing a perfect opportunity, uses his earth mastery to shake and move the earth beneath the feet of the four men, knocking the rest to the ground.

Mitu takes a split second to assess the arrows in his armor notices the color of the fletching, gray and blue, the colors of the Sellswords... and of the Company. These aren't mercenaries, these are the unwitting soldiers of the Nendir hoping to earn a hefty reward for the capture or death of anyone in this party. This information makes Soreiss stop using restraint, and Mitu takes up a more lethal weapon than his hands.

Seeing that the attack is foiled and their chances of survival have faded quickly, the leader of the four Company men crushes a small jade pendant...

In a flash of pale green light, they disappear.

The two captives are questioned as local guards show up to police this commotion. Not wanting to be bothered with local politics Soreiss simply opens a gate to Turwinton taking the two captives with us, and the guards follow. Seeing the error of following, the guards surrender much to the amusement of Soreiss and he sends them back with a grin.

As the two company captives are questioned, Mitu gives them a choice -- talk and have their injured legs splinted, their open wounds bound, or remain silent and have their uninjured legs broken. They opt to talk, but reveal nothing of importance. The low ranking Company men don't have any idea who they serve or why. Some of Turwinton's Ganthur (bystanders to the scene) laugh at the two as they hobble away, giving the two "ladies" thirty seconds to "get the hell out of their town"

Durin joins the effort of crafting the Eog, and Bartlebye and his family are picked up in Drathmorton.

Moments later, Everyone stands on the shores of Ghostrock. It is the day of the towns first election.

Bartlbye begins the process of settling in and everyone chats with the locals for a short while. Lugh walks around the town, looking at the changes that have been made since he last saw this rapidly expanding sea side town. Everyone else takes a letter of passage from Tol'Urvinn Silliann, the newly elected mayor of Ghostrock, giving them access to the cave of voices to see if they can investigate further into the darkness than they could last time.

Quickly, Soreiss realizes that the darkness remains just as impenetrable as before and convinces everyone that this is a waste of time. But he convinces them too late. The entrance to the shrouded underground pass has been sealed, it would seem, by the Mirror Black.

The walls grow slick with a sickening ichor that appears alive, responding to your every fear. The slimy blackness stretches, making the mouth of the pass appear farther and farther away. Soreiss's skin draws tight to his bones as it withers and dries, his eyes sink back deep into his head until only two bright pinpoints radiate from within hollow sockets. Soreiss is quickly fading back into the form he shed as Athrin Nur. Completely disgusted at the games the Mirror Black plays on your fears, Soreiss curses the mirror (...and the GM), and through his sheer indomitable Ego ignores the Mirror's corruptive impulses. Instantly, Soreiss returns to normal and walks to the mouth of the path.

Unfortunately, Slip, Bodan and Mitu are not so lucky. They fall victim to their deepest fears and regrets.

Across town, Lugh senses a sudden shift in balance to that of corruption, emanating from the cave of voices. He rushes off to assess the situation.

At the Cave's entrance, Lugh is faced with The Mirror -- dark and oily slick. He calls forth Warwood on his druidstaff and strikes at the Mirror in defiance. As before the Mirror yields to his blow and begins to pull Lugh inside. Fighting with all he has to remain outside The Mirror, Lugh pulls half of his druidstaff out forming what appears to be a lever.

Inside, Mitu tries to rally his friends, urging them not to give up and to walk alongside him to the entrance. They all hear that failure is upon them; they should stop fighting and give up, for all is lost. Mitu closes his eyes to what his mind might see in an attempt to break free as he feels that he is treading on something sickeningly squishy, presumably his family, now dead beneath his feet. Slip feels all of his water mastery draining away, being ripped from him, as if he stood in the massive water vortex of Mount Wind. the power drains and begins to pull away his own life as his control fails him. Bodan hears the desperate cries of everyone he ever helped, or tried to help, as they blame him for not doing enough or doing too much, failing them in the end.

Meanwhile Lugh pushes the lever his druidstaff had formed and finds himself in the Ymorphus -- a small Andir girl standing next to him. He realizes this is the dream of Nalema Renda, lady of house Renda, which he carries in a dream bottle in his pack. Knowing that the destruction of the Mirror in this realm must be a sacrifice, he asks that this girl might help. After brief explanation, she agrees to try, and try as she may, nothing happens.

Lugh turns the lever again to the real world to contact Nevia (since he's wiser than Lugh... and everyone else for that matter). Nevia confirms a suspicion Lugh has. The real Nalema had sacrificed herself to save the honor of her house and her family -- she is no longer alive. With that sacrifice made, Lugh knows what he must do as he re-enters the Ymorphus.

Lugh spins a tale, the tragic tale of House Renda and thier betrayal to the Andir people. Young Nalema's dream knows what she must do. She must rejoin her body and soul in death, and sacrifice herself to the Mirror. But sacrifices to The Mirror Black are always somehow twisted -- House Renda is doomed to fall, and this sacrifice forgotten.

In the final fleeting moments of Nalema's sacrifice, Lugh grasps at the story so as not to forget, luckily remembering enough to write another tragedy. A story doomed to be mis told or forgotten.

A bit disheartened, Bodan, Slip and Mitu emerge from the shrouded pass. Soreiss is angry at the attempt to control his feelings and Lugh is somber in writing a new tale and relieved at his victory over the Mirror.

The party assembles to meet their next task as hand... While Soreiss and Lugh attempt to plan out a means of sneaking into the city of Sashmir to meet someone at the Blue Candle, Mitu, Slip, and Stony Johnson (erm, Bodan) decide it is time to have Mevonn's Quill lead them to the next Talmoril. The party briefly returns to Mount Wind, and there they acquire Marcus before they head off to the Glass Continent.

After Soreiss has opened a gateway for them, and then leaves with Lugh to head to Sashmir, Mitu, Bodan and Slip quickly ditch Marcus through the waywinder stones, affording them a few moments to discuss what occurred in the Cave of Voices.


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[Jolt Code: 1B,3C,2CB,2R]