We began last session with Tanurendal and Reiana, who had arrived at the Royal Library of Sencankarr to deliver their messages to Norkur, and to speak to the famous scribe about the recent events in the North. After some waiting, they were ushered inside...
Norkur is a surprisingly small man, with a neatly trimmed beard and dark hair streaked heavily not with grey, but with white. The chief thing about him is his eyes, which are very dark, though flecked slightly--at least, so it seems when the light shines upon them at certain times of the day--with gold. He listens to what you have to say, and reads your letters, with the utmost sense of calm, without expressing anything in the way of interest or surprise. Then, when you finish, he quietly writes a reply which he then places in a scroll case and seals.
In the ensuing conversation, Tanurendal and Reiana learned the following:
- The stirring of evil powers along the Northern front is no coincidence. A terrible bargain was made when Galal was taken, one which Norkur believes Onwae is unable to break. That is why support for Sir Ralus has been completely pulled back. Probably, suspecting the Company of carrying messages for Sir Ralus, someone has framed them for the murder of Governor Neratsoan.
- Mawish's return after having been thought dead for so many centuries bodes great ill for the North. Evil things will be attracted to him, and he will almost certainly make another attempt to destroy or pollute the Sacred Well at Cheykor, which is very ancient and holy. While it stands, Mawish and his forces cannot endure for long on the Western shores of the Cheyth. Mawish can only be slain for good by his own sword, which was briefly in Tanurendal's hands...
- Norkur warned the Company about spies and advised them not to take the overland route home. He advised them to definitely stay clear of Ralakarr for the time being.
As the interview came to its conclusion, Norkur (who all along has seemed to know more about the Company's business than they have actually told him) warned them that their friends were in grave danger--they had passed under a shadow of some sort, and he could not foresee what might become of them. Reiana decided to head back to Azure Courts in hope of helping Vanera and Tengelbur with whatever they might be facing, while Tanurendal was entrusted with Norkur's letters. Tanurendal began making his way toward the harbor town of Koruximei, some miles down the Sacred River from Sencankarr.
Back at Azure Courts, Tengelbur and Vanera's interview with Tengelbur's mother, Arkjamu, was going... strangely. Arkjamu sat, her face shrouded by the hood of a dark robe. She offered Vanera and Tengelbur a deal: Talarja, Vanera's secret wife and Tengelbur's sister, was lying upstairs, apparently ill but actually poisoned. Arkjamu would give them the antidote in return for their leaving Sencankarr instantly, never to return. Under this arrangement, Vanera could stay married to Talarja, but would never be able to see his parents again, and arrangements would be made so that everyone would think them dead. She said she no longer had any need for the alliance with Neras Garini--that other prospects had come the way of the Sathneinor family.
Vanera ran upstairs to check on his lady love. As he did so, Tengelbur and his mother verbally sparred until Arkjamu drew back her hood, revealing... something. Something which rendered Tengelbur unconscious.
After checking on Talarja, Vanera returned, sneaking up to the entrance of the kitchen in time to see Arkjamu crouched over her unconscious son with a knife, a circlet with a gleaming red amber gem on her head. Catching her by surprise, Vanera managed to resist the charms of the red stone long enough to knock the circlet from her head and conceal it beneath a napkin. In the denouement that followed, it was revealed that the family's last remaining servant--faithful old Inyanyer--had taken the chunk of red amber Tengelbur had given him and had it made into the circlet, which he then "gave" to Arkjamu, transforming her from an embittered old woman into... something much more. At Vanera' insistence (and despite Tengelbur's protestations), Tengelbur escorted the old man out to the stables, where the antidote for Talarja's poison was retrieved. As they did so, Inyanyer revealed two things--the first, that he was and had always been in love with Arkjamu, a "great woman married to a fop of a husband," and second, he called Tengelbur "son"--just before throwing himself from the hay loft, impaling himself to death on a pitchfork. Tengelbur returned back to the kitchen where a very confused and disoriented Arkjamu was waiting with Vanera, and where Reiana was just arriving, with more questions than he had answers...
