Session 9: The Ruin in the Wood

After resting for the night in Karet Cheykor, the party made their way across the Cheyth--an easier crossing in the Summer--and followed the old King's road, here little more than a dusty track, to the mining settlement of Kor-Ikush.

Lying within sight of the battlements of Galal-i-Yalir, Kor-Ikush was built within an ancient cleft of the hills, with tall craggy spires of rock reaching skyward on either side like the two hands of some forgotten giant. Kor-Ikush is a small frontier settlement, its main street scarce more than a longish strip of packed earth meandering snake-like amid the rocks. The folk of Kor-Ikush are hardy folk, risking the clear danger of frequent Nalshbori raiding parties in order to be closer to the Amber Mines of the Serth Hatama.

Sparsely populated, Kor-Ikush was more of a shanty town than it was a proper settlement, with most of its denizens currently off working their claims or hauling their finds back to Karet Cheykor. In that sense, Kor-Ikush is more of a waypoint for the miners, having few permanent residents. The party managed, however to talk to at least two of them:

• Paraman One-Hand, the village headman. A sleazy, avaricious man, Paraman's left hand has been petrified due to long proximity to the Serth Hatama.
• Amartja the Washer-Woman. With large eyes set too far apart on her head and webbed hands, Amartja has clearly suffered corruptions of her own due to a lifetime on the edge of the withered wood.

Going to speak with Paraman, Tengelbur and Reiana managed (after a small outlay of coin) to glean information as to the direction that Onerama's amber-miners set out in. Paraman hinted that they had headed in the direction of one of the tombs of the Stone-Kings, indicating they may not have been looking for amber at all.

In the meantime, the twins (Vanera and Anaris) along with Tanurendal spoke with the deformed washer-woman. After trying to sell each other off to the washer-woman, she offered to tell them where were the men they sought--so long as they would agree to do a favor for her. At last and after much agonizing, Anaris agreed to the favor without knowing what it was, and she was given a small cloth bundle to bury beneath a certain tree she would find in the woods. The party was then instructed to travel straight Southeast, and that after they had gone as far as a swallow flies in an hour, they would find the men they sought. But the men would not be returning from the Serth Hatama, for they had apparently "read a book" which was forbidden them.

Following Amartja's instructions, the party stopped along the way to bury a package -- which Anaris opened against Amartja's command -- and revealed a small human toe. Without any knowledge of who the toe belonged to or why they were burying it, Anaris did the deed and the party continued on their way. They came at last to the ruins of an ancient fortress in the woods, build in the short and squat style common in the Second Eon. Searching the ruins, they found:

• A bronze tablet buried to commemorate the construction of the fortress, reading:
• Ika-karhala Orrula, Weiksura anyalir ijilan kjanlases ika-amnoxam abla-serthatama abiyauv-inla.
• Adverbial phrase: (In the fourth [year] of Orril [‘s kingship]) Main sentence: (Weiksura this fortress built) (For the Purpose of) To upon the plain before the Serth Hatama stand.
• Traces indicating that the ruined fortress has been habitually used by camps of Nalshbori, probably by multiple tribes.
• The personal effects of the miners they were seeking, though the miners themselves are gone (although there are a suspicious number of stone trees standing within the ring of the fortress...)
• An ancient staircase, rebuilt fairly recently with stone from the outside of the fortress, leading down into a chamber beneath the old tower. There they found a bloody altar, obviously consecrated (or rather desecrated) to the worship of the Bloody Vulture. Beneath the altar, after cringing beneath its dark shadow, the party found a chamber which appeared to be used for stores and loot by the Nalshbori who often camped here.

Up above, Tanurendal and Vanera (who had remained as lookouts) spend some time setting up traps to prevent surprise. These are apparently ineffectual, and Tanurendal is spotted by a half-dozen Nalshbori warriors who appear suddenly upon the scene...