Halane 6th, 720
The party leaves Telumar and travels back to the settled lands of Melderyn. A day out from Thay, just beyond the manor of Balen on the north side of the Horka River, the party sees a strange encampment. A small band of a dozen people have set to beside the road. They are of all ages, from small children to the elderly. There are some mules, a swayback horse, and a painted covered wagon festooned with brightly colored flags. They are Night People, a gypsy like culture. They are viewed with suspicion by most Hârnic people, and have a reputation as thieves and prostitutes. They are noted, however, for their fortune tellers and seers.
The Night People eye the party warily, and Zarisa gets a feeling that they are staring at her. Before them in the road is a young girl. As the party approaches, a woman rushes up and grabs the girl away. The girl points at the party and says something in their language. As the party leaves the troupe behind them, they hear stringed instruments begin to play music.
That night they reach a small village, and having no inn, they in a villein's croft for a couple silver. In the early hours of the morning, the party all awaken suddenly with a start. They have all had nightmares. Though they do not discuss the details of their nightmares with each other, they do note that they all had them at the same time. The villein's family remains fast asleep. Since the players did not discuss their dreams with each other, they will not be repeated here. Zarisa does a tarot reading, and says that the Night People did not send the dreams, but they did cause them.
Instead of continuing east to Thay, they turn back west to find the Night People. They reach the wagon at the Balen manor, as it is getting water from the well. The villagers are eyeing the Night People suspiciously, as is the lord of the manor. From a distance, Torin uses his disembodiment talent to scry upon the Night People. He sees that there are a total of twelve. A small girl (not known if it is the same one) has a high aura, as does someone sleeping in the wagon.
They move up to the Night People. A middle aged but gray haired man steps forward to meet them. Zarisa does the talking. She asks for the dreams to be taken away, that in her dream she saw a boy with one blue eye and one black eye. At this, the man makes a warding sign across his eyes. This is the description of Krasula, one of the evil god Naveh's servants, who delivers bad dreams. The man replies, "the dream was sent by he who is not named." Zarisa asks more about the dream, saying that the Night People caused it. The man then goes to the wagon and talks quietly with someone inside. He returns and says that the prophetess inquired of the party, which must have brought them to the attention of whoever sent the dream. Zarisa asks to talk to the prophetess, and after more talking through the wagon's curtain, he agrees. He thinks she wants her fortune told. He says they must move off out of the village before he incurs the wrath of the lord.
They move out of town beyond the fields, into the woods. Embran performs truthsense and tongues rituals, but lets Zarisa do the talking again. The man tells the party to be seated on the ground. Then from the wagon is brought an old woman lying on a pallet. Zarisa asks her, "Why did you inquire about us? What did you inquire?" The man and the woman speak to each other in their own tongue, and Embran hears her say "just tell them a story." He then tells them, "You're aura is bright, we wanted to know if you cast a spell upon us." Embran nods to Zarisa that it is a lie. Zarisa replies that she is "a sorceress from Melderyn and will not be lied to!" The man turns angry and says that this is no fortune telling, that they will talk no more.
Both sides are angry at the other. The party demands their answers. Zarisa casts a spell to feel the woman's emotions, and discovers she is afraid. "You are afraid," she says. The old woman replies, "Not of you." Tempers flair, and Zarisa casts a spell, and the man faints away with a moan. In response the woman shouts in a strange language, and the party gets a strange feeling of awe and dread. Gerrick, Lelea and Urdamon flee, but the remainder of the party masters their fears and stay.
The Night people move to attack. There are seven of them beside the old woman. The children are in the wagon. Embran moves quickly and places his sword at the woman's throat, and yells in their language, "I have a sword at your mistress's throat, stand down!" But the woman yells back to her people, "Kill the infidels!" Two gypsies throw daggers, one of which creases Torin's skull. At the same time, Zarisa casts a powerful spell, and the woman with four of the people drop in faint, and those still standing appear stunned. Torin casts a Beam of Nolar, and dispatches another. Seeing the woman has fainted, Embran uses her as a makeshift shield. A gypsy woman charges Zarisa with a knife, but she is unskilled in combat. Soon, all of the Night People are unconscious.
Gerrick returns with Lelea and Urdamon, and he says that he went after them because they were running away in fear. The Night People are bound, including the children. Searching the wagon they find a dagger with an etching of a cat with two garnet eyes. They think it is a symbol of Dekejis, another servant of Naveh. There is also some jewelry which they take. On the woman is discovered a necklace with a black skull amulet, an obvious symbol of Naveh.
Zarisa is still wondering the truth of why they "inquired" of the party. Trying to rouse the old woman, Embran discovers that she is dead! Did she die of a heart attack in the fight, or something more sinister? After resting, Zarisa casts a language spell, and talks to the older girl, the one who had stood before them in the road yesterday. The girl says, "You're not her! You're a fake!" The girl pouts and answers "no" to further questions. Then Zarisa casts a powerful spell known as "Tongue of Bwan-Koh". The girl then answers the questions as if they were perfectly reasonable. She answers that Zarisa is not the "priest lady", that she has blue eyes instead of grey. Asking further, Zarisa learns that there is priestess (presumably of Naveh) who resembles her, and who sometimes visits the old woman who is the girl's great grandmother. The girl does not know what they talk about.
The Night People are bound and placed in the wagon, and the party proceeds to bring them back to Balen Manor. They hand them over to the lord, accusing them of sorcery and of being Navehans. The lord has them placed in his locked cellar. He thens give the party hospitality and provides them dinner and lodging. He says he will judge them on the morrow after he has questioned them. He also suggests that he will give custody of the children to the local Peonian priest. Zarisa inquires of the older girl, suggesting that she may have talents of use by the Guild of Arcane Lore. The lord frowns a bit, and says he must think hard on it. If he decides so, he will send word to the Kusella chantry, a days walk to the east.
The next day the party continues on to Kusella.
Halane 11th, 720
When the party reaches Kusella Chantry, they split up, each pursuing different goals. By this time, Torin has attuned to the egg shaped artifact found at Telumar. He perceives that it's purpose is to recharge other Earthmaster artifacts. While he is doing some minor recuperation from the earlier fight, Torin uses the time to finish his research into a new spell. This is a spell to dye objects or change their color. His research succeeds.
Embran leaves Kusella and crosses over to Thay at the ferry. He proceeds to the Laranian temple, where he reports on the strange Morgathian inscriptions at Telumar, and the encounter with the Night People. Afterwards he seeks out a priest of a higher circle to help him learn some new rituals. He succeeds in learning two new lower circle rituals. He wanted to learn a higher circle prayer, but the temple reserves those for priests of higher rank.
Gerrick visits the Sarajinian temple in Thay and spends some time socializing with the small Ivinian community there. He asks wether they have heard of a "witch woman" in the city, but no one has. Then he heads back to Kusella, and asks Bereme the Viran for permission to hunt in the woods. Although not a manor, the chantry has some hunting rights in the neighboring woods, and he is granted permission. He stealthily stalks a wild boar, and solidly hits it with an arrow. But it only enrages the boar who charges. A timely sidestep prevents and a strike with his axe fells the beast. Then he takes it to the Sarajinian temple and offers it as a sacrifice. He prays for glory in battle and to win one or two women for his side.
Zarisa tries to read Lepridis' book. It is "rigged" and deliberately obfuscated, but through her magic is able to read parts of it. It is Lepridis' journal of his Telumar studies. He is uselessly terse in his description of how he tamed the nolah, but there is a section where he records the variety of light patterns that may be useful to scholars. Torin also tries to read the book, but he cannot make any sense of it.
Finally Zarisa tells the Viran Bereme of their journey. When he hears of Lepridis' death at the hands of the party, he warns them that Lepridis has a powerful brother in Cherafir, none other than the Primate of the Church of Save-K'nor. Zarisa says she will be open and up front, and tell him immediately upon their arrival. She then recounts the events of the Night People, and how they "attacked us". She says that there may be someone in Thay who looks like her, but Bereme has not heard of anyone matching her description.
A tenday later (Halane 21st), the party at Kusella then takes the ferry into Thay. Torin first uses his new spell to change Zarisa's eyes gray. Zarisa herself pulls her hood over her head and attempts a surreptitious manner. It is obvious she is trying to disguise herself as the rumoured Navehan Priestess. But as she walks through the city streets, she fails to notice anyone look at her strangely or with recognition.
The go to the Laranian temple to meet with Embran. While there, Torin participates in a ceremony to convert to Laranianism. This isn't an impulse decision, and had been talked about earlier before they left Telumar.
Zarisa goes to a seedy inn which she suspect may have some Lia-Kavair contacts. She choose "The Slippers", near the wharf. The clientele is mainly the poor and some longshoremen. There may be Lia-Kavair there, but she cannot tell. She goes to the innkeeper and daringly asks for "the usual." The innkeeper appears mildly surprised at the request, but she doesn't get the sense that he "recognizes" her. He replies if an ale will do. She then asks if there are any messages for her, to which he says there are none. Then in an act that explores the boundaries between bravery and foolishness, she tells him to forward any messages to her at "The Sybil" inn, where she will be staying under the name of Zarisa. She then goes to the Sybil inn to where the rest of the party had taken rooms.
Later at the inn, while she is speaking with Gerrick, Zarisa suddenly notices that there is something in her purse that was not there earlier! She pulls it out and it is a sealed parchment letter. She does not know how or when it got there. Was it at the other inn or elsewhere? She and Gerrick go upstairs to Zarisa's room. The seal is black wax and has the impression of a skull.
Using a dagger, she opens the seal. Suddenly the room is thrown in a pitch black. Zarisa feels her way to the shutters and throws them open. All is still black. Zarisa and Gerrick have gone blind! They bang on the wall to alert the others in the next room. Zarisa tries to detect more spells upon the letter, but cannot. Embran and Torin arrive, and Embran says a prayer to aid them, but they remain blind.
Zarisa has several warding spells on some magical items of hers, and one that has been cast on her tarot deck now activates. It is a spell of her own devising, and it alerts her that someone is attempting to scry upon her and divine her location!
In an effort to learn more about the letter without triggering any more spells, Torin summons an ethereal. The ethereal is the ghost of girl, by the name of Susa, who was in the inn. She does not appear to know that she is dead. She is commanded to examine the letter. She says she does not know her letters, but can see a sign of some kind glowing upon the letter. She does not know what it means. It is an active magic of some kind. Torin releases her.
Embran then says impulsively, "Larani will protect me!" and grabs the letter and opens it. Nothing untoward happens, and the party lets out a sigh of relief. But Embran cannot read the script it is written in. Neither can Torin. Zarisa has Savoryan spells to read strange scripts and tongues, but Zarisa is now blind.
But Torin and Zarisa come up with a plan. Torin will allow Zarisa to "possess" his body while they are both using the disembodiment talent to become ethereal themselves. It takes them a while before they are successful, but finally Zarisa takes over the body of Torin (which subconsciously tries to resist). Then she can use Torin's eyes and her spells to read the letter. She reads it aloud to the others.
The letter speaks of a khala who has been inquiring regarding the grave of Aedan Kor. There is a shadow that waits there. The writer appears to be asking for instructions on how to deal with the khala, who is described as a drunkard and a hairless swine who spends his time in the lap of whores. He may be waiting for someone. It is signed "Abbot" and addressed to "Mistress." Embran knows that "khala" is the title for Morgathian priests, and Zarisa seems to recall that "Aedan Kor" was someone associated with the Atani Wars of the ancient past. Zarisa wonders if there is a conflict between the Morgathians and the Navehans.
Halane 21st, 720
Note: Reading this session's accounts, it may seem that luck has smiled upon the party. It actually did. Some very good rolls were made by the party and some very bad ones by their opponents.
Gerrick and Zarisa are still blind. The party discusses the letter. Who is Aedan Kor? Who is the "dissolute hairless swine"? Since Zarisa knows that someone has probably scried out their location, they decide that their rooms are now unsafe. They feel that getting out of the city and to the Kusella chantry would be best. It is dusk and if they wish to catch the ferry across, they must hurry. Lelea cannot be found, so they leave without her. Using rope to lower down the blind members, the party leaves through their window, onto the stable roof below, and down into the inn courtyard. Embran is the last one down, and he notices someone on the city wall has seen their egress. Is it a guard? They make their way out the gate and around the city to Shietra, a part of Thay outside the walls.
As they near the ferry, and are passing between two buildings, Embran notices that a peasant bystander is pulling a blowgun out of his tunic! He charges the man before he can get a shot off. He manages to knock the blowgun away before it can be fired, then strikes the man before he can pull a dagger.
Meanwhile a man dressed in black enters the alley in front of they party. From above them a small glass sphere is thrown, and reddish smoke issues from it as it shatters. Torin drags Zarisa away from the smoke and yells at Gerrick to move away. He then casts "Beam of Nolar" at the man in black, striking his foot and causing him to stumble backward. Gerrick is feeling his way along the wall away from the smoke, and comes upon the prone man in black. The man gets up, but Gerrick swings blindly with his axe and strikes him hard in the gut, downing him again. He cannot see what is happening elsewhere, and continues to hack away with his axe at the downed man.
Another person appears on the roof above them (by appearances, a two story warehouse) and throws a dagger at Zarisa directly below. But thanks to a spell of forewarning, Zarisa senses the attack and dodges out of the way. As Embran dispatches his opponent, the person on the roof fades back into the darkness. A beggar that is nearby and witnessed the attack runs off yelling into the night.
A small group of locals arrives, led by the beggar. Torin runs around the warehouse building, hoping to cut off the last assailant's escape. The reddish smoke is starting to disperse, and Zarisa quickly concocts a story that the smoke blinded her. Then Torin notices a someone in black running out the back door of the warehouse. He runs after her, and as the person reaches a narrow four foot wide alley, turns and attacks him, swinging a dagger. Torin takes a shallow wound in the thigh. He sees now that it is a woman, but she has a hood and he cannot see her face. He swings his staff at her, and strikes her solidly in the stomach. She tries to make an escape down the alley, but Embran has come up behind. She performs an acrobatic maneuver, grabbing a sign post and leaps over him. But Embran hits her with his sword as she passes overhead, and she comes down in an unconscious heap.
Torin now notices that his leg where he was hit is going numb. He has been poisoned! But either the wound was too shallow, or Torin is tougher than he looks, because he does not succumb. His leg remains numb for a while, but that is the extent of the poison. Embran quickly searches the woman, and finds three glass globes, and a necklace with a black obsidian skull. Searching the other assailant, Torin finds a ceramic jar and two darts. They also notice that the woman looks rather like Zarisa. A city guard has finally arrived. Embran explains that these are Navehan assassins, that he is a matakea of Larani, and that the woman who is still alive should be delivered unto the Larani temple. Two other guards arrive, and there is a discussion of what is to be done.
The guards take the woman to a small cell at the city gate, and the party goes to the Laranian temple. Once there, Embran speaks with a high ranking priest who is the head of the Melderyn Ethelanca (the holy inquisition), of which Embran is a member. Embran explains their story starting with the Night People. He does not mention any use of magic. He obtains aid for his injured friends. Torin is healed, but the priests cannot cure the blindness, for it is magic and not an injury or disease. Gerrick impulsively announces that he will convert to Laranism if they will cure his blindness, but the priests reply, "Larani is not a bargainer."
Then the party goes to see the Navehan priestess(?) in the dungeon. But she appears to be in shock, and is not coherent. Zarisa talks to her and tries to implant by magic the thought in her head that she is doomed and must aid the "woman who looks like you." Torin plants one of his focuses on her, as he always knows the location of his focuses.
Then they return to the temple where they spend the night, feeling it much safer than the inn rooms. The find Lelea, and she stays with them. That night Embran does some research in the temple archives, and finds a reference to Aedan Kor. He was the king of an ancient tribe who worshipped Morgath.
The night passes uneventfully, and in the morning the cross the river to the chantry. Speaking with Bereme the Viran (who is also blind), they discover that the blindness spell is Odivshe in origin. There is an Odivshe mage there by the name of Jarimat. He is not skilled enough to dispell the magic. But Zarisa casts "Perfection of Sif" on him, which enables him to succeed. Finally the blindness is gone. Gerrick states irreverantly that "magic is stronger than the gods!"
Torin uses clairvoyance to scry upon the leader of the Night People and the little girl. It is a lengthy and tiresome affair, but he manages to get a glimpse of the man sitting before a fire, and the girl washing clothes at a river bank. Have the Night People been released?
That evening the party comes back to Thay over the ferry. They check on the Navehan, and learn to their shock that she is dead! A guard explains that she was discovered dead in the morning. She must have died of the wound suffered in the fight, for there were no other wounds upon her. Her body is at the embalmers, and the party goes there. In his authority as a priest, Embran takes her possessions, which are the globes and the necklace.
Torin and Zarisa go to the Save K'nor temple to research. Zarisa asks of information in the archives regarding Aedan Kor, and that she wishes to speak with the Father Visitor (Maecor) on an urgent matter. She also makes a large donation. The Father Visitor arrives after a while, and she tells him of the Navehans and the letter, and of possible Navehan and Morgathian activities in the area. When she shows him the letter, it is blank! The writing has faded away completely. He thanks her for the information, and then gives her some information on Aedan Kor. He was the king of an Atani tribe centuries ago. Many of the Atani tribes worshipped the dark gods, and this tribe worshipped Morgath. He was slain by Caelynnd the Jarin hero, and is buried somewhere in Elorinar. Not much more is known, and what information there is comes from the Ballad of Caelynnd.
Meanwhile Embran and Gerrick go visiting brothels, hoping to find information on the Morgathian khala mentioned in the letter (who spends his time in the lap of whores). Two brothels later, they discover no information regarding a hairless man. But Gerrick does manage to learn a new skill while there. :-) They even go to the expensive House of the Rainbow Moon, thinking that the letter might have meant courtesans. But they have no luck.
After a discussion, the party decides to return to Cherafir. Although they would like to stay in Thay and investigate further, they do have obligations to attend to back home. Zarisa needs to inform Lepridis' brother of his death. Lelea and Torin wish to present themselves to the Nurisel chantry to become Shenava, and Gerrick wishes to hire onto a ship to get back to sea. There is a ship leaving for Cherafir in the morning.
End of mini-adventure