Session 20: Fear and Trembling

When last we left our heroes...

As the gang all headed in a fairly large, fairly loud group towards Azure Courts, Vanera tried to give the rest of them the slip so he could go on ahead and quietly arrange for himself and Talarja to slip away without confronting his in-laws. But Vanera moves surprisingly loudly for a librarian, and he found it difficult to shake off the rest of his friends, whose excitement was quickly escalating to a fever pitch.

Rounding a corner into a more derelict area of the city, the Company were confronted by a half-dozen tough-looking thugs led by Fish, the proprietor of the Rusty Anchor. It turns out that Tengelbur and the rest of the crew are wanted for the murder of the Governor of Ralakar (Governor Neratsoan, aka Governor Sausage Fingers), and that Tengelbur's mother had hired Mr. Fish to keep Tengelbur and his friends off the streets for a few days until the search for them died down, presumably preventing both the incarceration of her son and scandal for the family. After bandying a few words with Mr. Fish, the Company decided it would be disastrous to fight their way out of this, and were taken to the vault of the Rusty Anchor, where they were locked up in its strongroom. In this, Thoranrai accompanied them, although she had nothing to do with the Governor. She seemed wide-eyed and excited to be in the company of so many dangerous assassins, despite Tengelbur's best efforts to explain to her that they had not actually murdered the Governor. 

Speaking further with Fish, it seems that whatever he had been promised by Tengelbur's mother was not in fact money, but rather influence--the influence which would come to her family once the marriage alliance with Neras Garini was secured. Locked up in the strongroom of the Rusty Anchor, the party gradually discovered that Thoranrai might not be as much a fool as they assumed her to be--that in fact her operations in the city over the course of the last few days have been to draw suspicion away from the real plot currently being executed by some "friends" of hers, which is apparently to hijack a revenue ship which will be docking at Koruximei the day of the festival. 

Fortunately for the party, Reiana's pack had not been taken from her, and with some tools she was able to pry out a few of the bars of one of the outside windows to the strongroom while the rest of the party sang very loudly (insulting songs about Onwae, mostly, and later about Tengelbur, after he managed to imply that Thoranrai was a little on the skinny side compared to his own curvaceous sister--a comparison which was awkward for more than one reason). Thoranrai, the smallest person there, slipped out through the window, followed by Reiana several minutes later. Thoranrai had been given a letter to send to Talarja, after which she was supposed to go and get her "friends" who she promised would be able to get the Company out. Reiana, several minutes behind her, went to Azure Courts in an attempt to meet with Talarja, but was told that Talarja had fallen ill and was not receiving any visitors at that time. She then went on to the Royal Library in the hopes of meeting with Norkur the Scribe, which was the original errand which had brought them to Sencankarr in the first place.

Thoranrai, much to the rest of the party's surprise, came through, returning within an hour or so with one of her "friends" -- a Scarlet Sister -- who had arranged matters with Fish so that the Company could be released. Tanurendal then headed to the Royal Library to meet up with Reiana and bring her her gear while Tengelbur and Vanera (who was horrified to learn that Thoranrai had sent the letter on to Azure Courts, despite the fact that this was what he had instructed her to do) raced off to Azure Courts to get Talarja.

After a fairly botched attempt to sneak into the house (Vanera was extremely eager to avoid a confrontation with Talarja's mother), they slipped in the back way to find Arkjamu Sathneinor, the matriarch of the family, sitting and waiting for them, with Vanera's letter in her hands. "Well," she said, "it took you long enough to get here."

Session 19: Venture Capitalism

When last we left our heroes...

Reiana, meanwhile, decided to go to the theater, where she saw a festal drama rehearsing the search of Malfaloth the Hunter (the Moon) for Eibram the Ram of Dawn (who pulls the cart of the Sun) in the dead of winter. While at the theater she met a young spear-maiden (at least, that is what she claims about herself) by the name of Thoranrai, from the Leopard Archipelago. According to Thoranrai, she is part of a popular movement--some might even call it a revolution--aiming to protest the high taxes Sencankarr currently charges in exchange for non-existent protection. Thoranrai managed to rope Reiana into a demonstration at the theater, which resulted ultimately in the two of them being carried off to cool their heels in the guardhouse for the night, despite the fact that Reiana weakly protested that she wasn't with the girl. Thoranrai, on the other hand, assured Reiana that this was "all part of the plan."

In the meantime, Tengelbur met up with his friend Feiral, and the two of them proceeded to head down to Thorinta's field for a night of "debauching," where amid their cups and their cards they managed to reunite with Anaris, who had returned to Sencankarr but was aiming to get a bit of her own "debauching" in before telling her parents she was home. Feiral let them to an establishment known as The Rusty Anchor, owned by a particularly tough local character going by the name of "Fish." What followed was several hours of drinking and mostly losing, first at cards, then at dice, and finally at racing lizards. Only right at the end did Tengelbur's luck turn, and he was able to acquire a small ankalar (a "racing lizard," a spined species of "bearded dragon" indigenous to the southern shores of the Amborian sea) named "Venture Capitalism" at a throw of the dice. Whatever intentions Tengelbur might have had to cure Feiral of his gambling addiction seem to have failed utterly, since Feiral's luck managed to turn at the end of the night and he alone of the party managed to return home with as much in his pockets as when he left.

During the night, Tengelbur noticed his old family servant and steward, Inyanyer, wandering through the Field on some errand. Unfortunately, he was too drunk to do anything about it at the time beyond flinging a pebble at the man (who did not notice it).

The next morning brought a great deal of sensation as Tengelbur and Anaris drunkenly returned to Rose House, where Vanera was in preparations to reveal to his parents the truth about his marriage to Talarja. Before breakfast, Tengelbur and Tanurendal managed to find Reiana (and her new friend Thoranrai) and bail them both out of the stocks, and Thoranrai revealed that the plan she and her compatriots had made involved crashing the banquet of the Blowing of the Horn--the same banquet at which Neras Garini was set to propose marriage to Vanera's secret wife.

Speaking of Vanera, after a series of escalating outrages at breakfast, he pulled his parents aside and revealed the truth about his marriage to them. His mother fainted dead away, while his father quickly began trying to work out how an annulment might be had before the whole thing erupted in one giant scandal for the Kjavabo family. While Tengelbur and Thoranrai began to plot how they might use this news to crash the banquet the next day, Vanera and Reiana set out for Azure Courts, where Vanera intends to confront Talarja's parents head-on.

Vanera's Journal: Winter 451

Fall/Winter 451 TE on the road to Sencankarr.

Delays! That is all we have had on our way back home! We were only four days into our journey when we ran into our first one. In the distance we saw smoke raising which turned out to be the remains of a merchant caravan. It appeared that some great force had overturned wagons and crushed them to pieces and piled all the bodies in a great mound to burn them. We found a young man under one of the wagons, Laran, who had set out for Cheykor with his sister Kjanle in the hopes of making a new life for themselves on the Marches of the Cheyth. Tanurendal did his best to search the pile of bodies for Laran’s sister, who happened to be wearing a gold bracelet that had two dolphins gracefully forming the band. He had no success, but we were able to count the bodies and came up one short which gave Laran hope that his sister might still be alive.

We spent two more days searching for Kjanle. I secretly was against spending so much time in the search. It was only delaying me from getting back to see my Talarja and saving her from her mother and Neras Garini. Turning up no clue as to her whereabouts, we headed to Ralakarr where Laran hoped the governor would help by sending the garrison in search of his sister. I thought we should have gone to him in the first place so we could be on our way, but after having met the governor for myself, I see that it would have been useless.

We had been on the road for nine days total when we reached Ralakarr. It could have been seven. We stayed at the Crossed Candles, where we heard of a tale of some minors who had broken into a “cyst” in the ground and unleashed some sort of pestilence that killed them all. Only one of the men survived to tell the tale before he too died. While listening to this story, some of the governor’s guard came and began asking questions before asking Laran to come with them to answer some more questions about the caravan at the governor’s palace.  Reiana and Tengelbur, who had met the governor before, both decided to accompany Laran. I felt something was off and had Tanurendal join me in following the group.

I believe Reiana and Tengelbur had some trouble getting in-- I was too far away to hear any of the conversation-- but at last they went in. I approached the gate with Tanurendal following. I spoke to the gatekeeper, a man called Verekan, and told him I had come from the Royal Library at Sencankarr for the yearly inspection of the governor’s library. He then went to get the librarian himself to verify this information.

The librarian was an old man named Neryaleth. He seemed gravely insulted that I would be here to inspect his library. As he sung the praises of his work at the library and why it did not need to be inspected, I was overcome by the strong desire to see it myself. It took a little convincing to make him realize I genuinely wanted to see his work, but he let us in.

We left Tanurendal outside the library, which gave him the opportunity to sneak around. I found the state of the library to be everything Neryaleth had boasted. He did an excellent job given the resources available to him. It would seem the library is not high on the governor’s priority list. It is really a shame. I am going to put a good word in for Neryaleth at the Royal Library. Perhaps something could be done for him. Maybe we could send him some ink….

I had asked Neryaleth if he had a favorite story, though I thought I already had a good idea. There were several copies of “The Wooing of Kanle” on his shelves. My guess had been right. At some point he made some comment about the wooing of women, and this instantly made me feel uncomfortable. He mentioned how he himself had a few notches in his quill, and I had to admit I had mine also. I feel people as a rule do not think of us scholars as being particularly of the romantic type, but we can be rather charming. Neryaleth then offered to read “The Wooing of Kanle” to me. How could I refuse? The poor man seemed so lonely.

The evening dragged on, and though I was enjoying myself for the most part, I knew I needed to get back to my friends. I finally made my excuses, though it was hard to decline taking my dinner with the old man. I do think he took a liking to me.

On my way down the hall, I suddenly found myself grabbed from either side by a guard, and I was escorted into the banquet room where my eyes were assaulted by the repulsive thing I believe I have ever seem in my life! Governor Neratsoan. He was the largest man I had ever seen. Not in height, but from side to side. He was enormous. I wish I had had my paper and pencil on me so I could sketch him to show my friends at the library. I do think they would all find it most interesting.

At this point I was still clueless as to what was going on, but Tangelbur was standing with his sword to the governor’s throat and making demands. Apparently Laran had claimed we had been the ones to ambush the caravan. He had been told to do so and testify in court if he wanted his sister to live. Tangelbur was overtaken when the governor batted him with one of his arms. At least I believe it was an arm. We were then all taken and locked up.

In the cell there was a trapped door that Reiana managed to open. Unfortunately, it was a waste chute for the palace, and the cell was flooded with all manner of unpleasant things. We did our best to climb on the iron bars to get out of it. My cloak that mother made me still smells of it. I have washed it at every stop along the way. I fear I shall have to burn it.

Thauthenai, the governor’s lady, came to the cell and made a deal with us. If we told her why we were really going to Sencankarr, then she would help us escape and find Laran’s sister. I truthfully told her why I was going. I had to go for a wedding. I did leave out that I was going to stop it. Tangelbur also claimed to be going for his sister’s wedding. Finally, Reiana told her our mission and she seemed satisfied. We were to make our escape in on hour when the guard changed.

In that long hour, Reiana asked me if I had someone at home. I told her I naturally had family. But she meant a lady. I did my best to brush aside the topic since Tangelbur stood less than three feet from me. He seemed to think I had a hard time with ladies and that one day I would find one to love. I must admit I found this amusing.

We made our escape and went to the house where Thauthenai told us we could find Kanle. As we approached, the overwhelming stench of mice castings and decaying bodies filled our nostrils. Tangelbur was able to get her attention through a window, and she made an excuse to the guard that she needed to relieve herself. He let her go out on her own, and we took her with us to meet with her brother. Then we left the city right away and bought horses in a nearby village.

We still have a long way to go before we reach Sencankarr. The nights grow colder as well. We cannot get there fast enough. I am impatient to see my lovely Talarja and hold her in my arm. Hopefully we will not run into anymore delays on our journey.

Vanera's Journal: Fall 451

Vanera’s journal entry just before leaving for Sencankarr. The writing is barely legible, as though it were written in a mad haste. 

Fall 451 TE

I have just received the most distressing letters. I must leave with all haste to Sencankarr. Anaris must come with me and marry Neras Garini! I cannot believe my mother has failed to make the match. Everything depended on it!

I only needed a little more time! I am sure I could have found a tomb of the Stone Kings. Now I must go home empty handed and face a world of trouble. If we are discovered, we may be shunned from society. Thrown out with all ties severed from all we hold dear. I shall be the black stain on the purity of my family’s name! This is not how I planned things…

(The text ends abruptly here then picks up in Vanera’s normal handwriting again a few spaces down.)

I went on a walk to work things out and clear my head. In this time of distress, I could think of no one to go to for advice. I most certainly could not speak to my friends or Anaris about it. I happened to be passing near the shrine of the Sacred Well when it occurred to me that perhaps I could seek answers there.

As I stooped at the low door of the small stone house that made up the shrine, I paused for a moment to catch my breath after the walk up the steep hill. As I did so I studied the ancient wood door. I believe it was older than anything else in Cheykor. The carvings were framed by the old, fluid, high script with the overlapping stems and fruits. I am quite familiar with the ancient writing being a scholar. I have seen it in old books, scrolls, on monuments, and on reliefs in Sencankarr. But here it seemed out of place not adorning a monument, but this ancient house of stone. Inside I could hear the gentle, rhythmic splashing of water to the low, alto chanting of Feala the Well Woman. As the song ended, I pushed open the door to the shrine and saw Feala making her way around the lip of the well.

I have tried to write down our conversation as well as I can remember it, for her advice is not something I wish to forget. My conversation with her proved to be both insightful and very uncomfortable.

“Are you going to remain outside examining my stonework? Would you like to come in? Tell me what it is that brings your weary to feet to my doorstep so late in the day.”

“Oh yes,” I said a bit hesitantly. I entered and looked around, then nodded to her.

“Hmm, and what can I do for you?” she asked.

“Well, I came mostly out of… curiosity. But I do seek guidance in a certain matter.” I replied.

She stirred the water with a sliver net. “What is it you wish to know?

“Umm, well… my future? I am going back home, and I foresee some difficulties. And I need some guidance as to what to do.”

“I can never tell when people come in and ask questions like this if their speaking in vague terms because they want to see if I really can read their thoughts, or if they’re just too embarrassed to be specific.”

“I think it might be more of an embarrassment issue.” I stammered out.

“What is the young woman name?”

I coughed. “Well, there are two young women actually.”

“Ahh.”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” I quickly interjected.

“I think you might need the apothecary down the road.”

“No! One of the young ladies I need to know about is my sister. You see, I am trying to marry her off to someone.”

“Anaris, yes.”

”Yes. And really any advice you can give me would be extremely welcome.

“I do not think she needs the sort of help I could give her.”

“Yes well….”

“Perhaps you should stop trying to correct your own failures in your sister

“Right…” I began to regret having come to ask advice. It felt most uncomfortable. “I will think about that.”

“Since you came here for advice,” she paused. “Merely because you failed to honor your parents wishes in regards to the choice of a spouse,” The room suddenly seemed to become rather hot, and I could feel the color rising to my face. “Does not mean that you need to control your sister’s choices. It is writ incumbent on your sister as it is on you to bring honor to her family. But that is her choice.”

“That’s a good point. I will think about that. A lot.”

“Was there anything else?”

“I don’t think I have anything else today.”

“You still have not asked me about the second woman. You mentioned that there were two.”

“Well, you covered that when you talked about the other thing. Sort of. I really would rather not go into detail. It is a little uncomfortable.”

She hmmed again. “You’re not doing her or yourself any favors you know.”

“I know. But I don’t know how to… well… you know…It’s really hard. But I hope to make things right when I go home.”

“In that case I would hurry home.”

“I am trying.” I stood there not knowing where to look and scanned the floor as though it were of great interest. “That’s all I have to say now. So I should be going now so I can go hurry on my way to go home. Fix my problems.”

“This I will say to you, scholar. Take the straight road. All others lead to chains.” The tone in which she said this was rather ominous. I nodded my head not really knowing how to respond to this.

“Right. Thank you for that. I am going now.” With that I quickly left and came back here.

I feel rather ashamed, if not guilty, that I have tried to sell off my sister to fix my problems. Anaris should be free to marry whomever she wills, as should I. I will just have to face my problems and overcome them. How badly could it end anyway?

I wish I could shake this feeling of worry in the pit of my stomach. As the hour of departure grows nearer it grows stronger. The journey back promises to be a long one now that the winter months are setting in. Hopefully we will not have too many delays.

No matter what happens, I do not regret my choices. If I had it to do over again, I would still do the same.

Session 18: Family Affairs

When last we left our heroes... Pressing on towards Sencankarr, the party passed over the Northern Moors, down into the Royal Forest, and arrived at long last at the Holy City of Sencankarr--City of a thousand shrines and ten thousand pilgrims. Vanera offered to put the Company, along with Laran and his sister Kjanle, up at Rose House, the residence of the Kjavabo Family. Reiana decided to spend the evening at one of the great theaters in the city, while Tengelbur headed for Azure Courts, the now-dilapidated family home of the Sathneinor family, where he met with his father, mother, and sister--though not before sticking around at Rose House just long enough for Vitherai, one of Vanera's younger sisters, to develop a pretty definite crush on him.

What followed was a set of parallel scenes in which both Vanera and Tengelbur dealt with their families' various expectations and disappointments, each in their own way. Vanera's parents assumed that he had come home for good, and in fact had obtained work for him in the city. It was only with great difficulty (and reducing his mother to tears) that he explained to them that he had not in fact come to the city to stay, and that his "work" out on the Marches of the Cheyth was still too important for him to neglect. Inquiring after the latest gossip in the town, he found out that everyone expected Neras Garini to formally offer marriage to Talarja Sathneinor at the upcoming Feast of the Blowing of the Trumpet in two days' time.

Tengelbur, meanwhile, met with a much colder welcome at his home: though his sister was glad to see him, his father was indifferent, absorbed as usual in his studies, while his mother--the once beautiful, now bitter matriarch Arkjamu, strongly warned Tengelbur against interfering again in his sister's future. Arkjamu is determined, against all the desires and wishes of her children, to secure the family's future and restore its fortunes--and doing that means that Talarja's marriage to Neras must go off at any cost. Finally frustrated, Tengelbur entrusted an old family servant with the chunk of red amber he had cut from the tree in the Bent Grove, instructing him to give it to Talarja.

Tengelbur then went off into the city in the hopes of finding Feiral Kavalar, the young man on whose behalf he had fought a duel a year ago. Tengelbur eventually found him (along with his new wife, whose dowry Feiral is currently in the process of squandering thanks to his new-found gambling habit and gambling "friends," who he met mainly thanks to Tengelbur's help last winter. Feiral agreed to meet Tengelbur secretly for a bit of "debauching" after his wife went to bed.

Vanera, meanwhile, finally survived his parents' grilling and went up to his room. There he was surprised by Talarja, Tengelbur's sister and--as it was revealed, following a fairly brazen interruption by Tanurendal--Vanera's secret wife. Talarja informed Vanera that he had two days to intervene before she was offered in marriage to Neras Gerini...