Session 52: Fishermen Raving

When last we left our heroes... As Anaris was getting her marching orders concerning a pilgrimage by which she might possibly lessen the stain of corruption on her soul, the rest of the party was discussing matters with Palfeinan, the scholar of Cheykor. Palfeinan had spent a good deal of time considering the fragment which Vanera had found in the Serpent Temple and translated. The fragment seemed to reference Orusen, one of the legendary forefathers of the Amborian people, but it had several features which Palfeinan found to be idiosyncratic:

• Although it mentions Orusen, it seems to reference a hitherto unattested legend (at least in the knowledge of the loremasters of Sencankarr) about him, that he received the Anvil of Lanenomen as a bride-price and sailed south to the Leopard Isles on a great floating city, similar to those which the Njeitbori use.
• Considering the stories the Companions had told him about the Anvil of Lanenomen and the strange, if still-not-understood fate of their old companion, the Njeitbori Orusen, Palfeinan has proposed the following theory: What if the song that the Swan-maiden sang to the Companions during their adventures "back in time" indicated that the soul of Orusen had been planted in the ancient tower and had grown up to become the tree that had been missing when they awoke from their long sleep, and which Anaris had prevented from being wounded by stepping in front of Mawish's spear? Although many of the connections are still unclear, Palfeinan proposes that the poetic fragment Vanera unearthed may point to Orusen's having somehow survived the Tower, and carried the Anvil of Lanenomen away to the Leopard Isles. If so, it is vital that the Companions retrieve the Anvil before someone else does.

Since all ways now seemed to lead to the Leopard Isles, the companions spent the next few days rigging the Venture Capitalism for a sea voyage (which included picking up a couple of extra companions: a Well Priestess named Artana and Neras, a Njeitbori archer and sailor [played by Grace and Daniel Stephenson, respectively]. Additionally, they picked up Thoranrai, whose memories have been spotty since she was rescued from the serpent temple. She agreed to accompany the party, hoping the sea air and her old homeland (currently undergoing civil unrest which the Companions all, in their own way, helped to foment) would do her good. Talarja, Vanera's wife, also accompanied the heroes. As soon as the feast of Orusen was past, the companions began the month-long voyage which would take them to almost the very southern edge of the Amborian Sea.

About three weeks into their journey, Tengelbur found himself with a mutiny on his hands: five of his crew, Njeitbori sailors all of them, attempted to lure him up onto the deck and murder him, after one of them had captured Thoranrai, carving a series of strange, staring, blinking eyes into her skin in order to cast fell sorceries upon the crew. Thanks to the light of the Polestar which shone around Atarna, the companions were able to fight their way in a grueling hand-to-hand battle towards the bow of the ship (except for Anaris and Tanurendal, who spent most of the battle overboard), eventually killing the ritualist and his associates. Just before he died, the sorcery said, "You will not stop us. We have heard the prophecies of Orusen, and we know who you are. They will not come to pass. They will not--" and then he fell with Tanurendal's arrow in his throat. With the sorcerer dead, the eyes on Thoranrai's body faded to ugly cuts, but Tengelbur was left puzzled at this betrayal at the hands of men who had worked for him for several years.