Session 40 - Insurrection

When last we left our heroes...

Arriving at the borders of Onerama the Bald's vast estates, with 450 Legionnaires at their back and Captain Landras who, thanks to the companions egging him on, was now spoiling for a fight, the Company found that Onerama had had at least a few minutes of advanced warning, and that his militia had assembled and blocked the passage of the road into Onerama's farmstead. A series of tense negotiations began as both sides seemed intractable regarding their demands:

The Company and Captain Landras: that Onerama should immediately stand down, allow himself to be arrested, and stand trial for his crimes.

Onerama and his militia: that the army withdraw immediately from his lands; barring that, that emissaries be sent unarmed beyond the barricade to parlay.

Eventually, the Companions managed to arrange a conversation with Onerama himself. After accusing him of being involved with the Cult of the Bloody Vulture--a charge he flatly denied--they were invited to bring anyone they liked (up to twelve men, who could retain their weapons) and spend as much time as they liked searching Onerama's farm for any evidence of necromancy. Onerama, in any case, positively refused to do two things: either to surrender unconditionally to the army that has just shown up at his doorstep, or to attack the numerically superior (4 to 1) force under the command of Captain Landras. "If Amborian blood is to be shed this day, it will be on your hands--not on mine."

Seeing no other choice than to take Onerama up on his offer, the companions chose 7 of Captain Landras's personal guard and began the search of the property. In the meantime, Captain Landras better positioned himself for overunning Onerama's makeshift barricade should the Companions find something incriminating.

The companions searched for nearly four hours until they found a secret chamber underneath the floor of one of the three large dining halls in Onerama's sprawling mansion. Here, they found not evidence of the Cult, but military-grade weapons and armor which had been forged and laid in reserve. They immediately sent two of the guards who had come with them back to Captain Landras to tell him what they had found. Onerama did not seem upset when they found it -- in fact he seemed quite pleased.

"Well well well, it took you long enough," he said. "I thought you'd never find it. Have a seat. Something to drink, perhaps? I have a spirit which has been aging the last three years. A delight for the palette, I assure you. As perhaps you'll see now, I am not a cultist--nothing of the kind, in fact. As for these weapons, this armor... Well. That is what I would like to talk to you about. I take it, based on your activities (especially you, Thoranrai--I know all about your history, including the child) that you are no great lovers of 'King' Onwae and the current regime? I thought not. You see, I've become increasingly aware that sooner or later those of us who live in the North will have to choose--as indeed will those of the Red Isle, and the Leopard Isles, where the rumor is they are already plotting an insurrection--to choose between freedom and slavery. It's for this I've been preparing, and for this that I've been trying to get Sir Ralus to meet with me. If I can convince him, then perhaps we can save the North before it's too late. The Cheybori must look out for themselves."

"Convince him of what?" the Companions asked.

"Why to be king, of course. King in the North. The North needs a strong leader, someone everyone respects and trust. That's Sir Ralus or it's nobody, and you five, well... you're his friends. So here's what I'm suggesting: he'll need a bankroll, and grassroots support. All of that, I can offer. All he needs to do is what he's really been doing for years now: lead us."

It was at this point--as the Companions were struggling at how to respond to this offer--that one of the guards they had sent out ran back in, breathless. "They're gone--Captain Landras, the cohort--all gone!"

Sessions 38-39: The Siege of the River Forts

With Mawish on his way, and surrounded by thousands of their enemies, the companions had to think quickly. Thanks to a distraction by Thoranrai (which involved burning the Nalshbori camp's three-armed augur alive in his tent), the companions managed to break Sir Ralus and a few other prisoners away--including Klorpeim [played by Hope] and Amsotha [played by PJ], two soldiers who had been captured by Nalshbori during the course of their duties around the River Forts. Fleeing the camp, the Company opted to take the more direct--and more hazardous--route west through the Serth Hatama, as a result of which they managed to avoid most of the pursuing Nalshbori forces until nearly in sight of Hural Yalir, when they were set upon the Icebound--legendary frozen warriors rasied by Orkon's sorcery. Despite the fact that they were alone, hungry, and mostly unarmed, the Companions managed to defeat the Icebound (Sir Ralus snapping a couple of necks with his bare hands), entering the fort immediately afterwards where Feiala's (who had been wounded in the encounter and was in grave condition) were tended by the fort's leeches.

This ended the Fall of 452. During the fellowship phase of that year, the companions undertook various undertakings as they rested in the vicinity of Cheykor.

---

The Winter of 452 began with unseasonable war on the marches.

It is the 14th of Harkel, when Amborian children ought to still be sleeping off the their meal from the 10-day harvest festival with which this month began. But things have gone otherwise along the marches of the Cheyth: Nalshbori have poured out via the old King's Road from Gashund-i-Yalir, laying siege to the two eastern border forts of Hural Yalir (in the North) and Galal-i-Yalir (in the South). The forts are holding out for now, bolstered as they are by supplies and reinforcements fed to them via the river, but nobody is sure how long this will last. Come Spring, reinforcements will almost certainly come from the Red Isle, if not overland, but in the meantime the situation is bleak--as is the mood in Cheykor. With most of the men of the village mustered into militia and women, children, and old men removed to smaller villages in the hills, Cheykor is quiet and morose. Only a few elders and opportunists have stuck it out, the latter hoping to somehow profit by their proximity to the war. Onerama the Bald has opened up his vast estate, some six miles to the north, to whatever refugees should choose to look for shelter, food, and work there. There are even rumors that he has been mustering his own force of armed men, who can move into action should the Nalshbori win the crossings...

The adventure began with the companions being called before the village elders of Cheykor:
Kaneral, Inyanyer, and Falaru - Village elders. During the day they can typically be found in the town square in good weather, or in the Cracked Beaker in bad weather.

• Kaneral: Late middle-aged, has a stump for a left leg. Quite happy to tell you all about how he lost his leg fighting one of the great Tusked Beasts of the Cheyth Wood.
• Inyanyer: Old and toothless, has a keen and penetrating glance. Longs for the days when he was a famous hunter and warrior.
• Falaru: Younger than her two fellow elders, Falaru is rumored to be gifted with the second sight. Her husband and children were lost during a Nalshbori sortie some thirty years ago.

The elders introduce the Companions to Telini, the red-haired fletcher and go-between for Onerama the Bald who many of the companions had met previously. She was battered and bruised, and her story was one of ill news:

• She told how she was summoned to Onerama's chambers. She thought nothing of this--as someone who works for him, she reports to him frequently. When she entered, she found him and three or four of his closest foremen standing around a ritual circle. It had apparently become time for Telini to be inducted into the worship of Tauran-Tauror, the Red Vulture. Telini fled (though not before she was struck across the face and also managed to grab the small vulture idol the cultists were using) and headed for Cheykor.

The elders laid out the situation for the companions: Onerama has a small army gathered at his estate, not to mention hundreds of refugees. If he is in fact a servant of the Vulture Cult whose presence in the area was revealed during the previous year, he could take one of the border forts, or even Cheykor itself, by storm. The elders need someone to go to Leil Yalir and warn Captain Landras of the threat. He has enough men that they should be able to deal with Onerama. The situation is doubly delicate, since Leil Yalir is also vital for resupplying Hural Yalir across the water, which is currently under siege.

The companions traveled to Leil Yalir and, after a bit of discussion with Captain Landras, managed to convince him of the reality of the threat. Leaving a small force to man the fortress until he returns, Captain Landras mustered his company, and with the companions began the short march to Onerama's farm.