Session 63
When last we left our heroes...
The companions awoke bound on the floor of a room which felt as though it were subtly moving beneath them, like a ship and yet somehow also very much unlike being on board a ship. They deduced -- and this was confirmed almost immediately by their hosts -- that they had been taken to one of the Njeitbori's floating cities. In fact, they had arrived at the floating city of Amukarr, having been abducted by the Sons of the Prophecy/Sons of Orusen and been taken before the leader of that order, an individual who introduced himself as the Blind Seer and claimed to be the current guardian of the Anvil of Lanenomen. As he explained it, the coming of the companions had been foretold to him by the prophecies of Orusen, but there has been much debate among his followers as to whether the companions were coming to destroy the floating cities, or to save them. Eventually, the Blind Seer struck a deal with the companions: he promised to take them to Aryanyan's father, and so the Key, if they would leave one of their company behind to become the new Seer and guardian of the Anvil.
Tanurendal volunteered himself (arguing that he had no family or loved ones that he would be leaving behind), but Anaris -- using the fact that Tanurendal had been assigned a penance of obedience to Anaris for the duration of the journey -- forbade him, offering herself instead. Her reasoning was that, since she had already been the guardian of the Anvil in a previous life, it was most likely to accept her (the consequence of being rejected by the Anvil, mostly likely, would have been to be turned into something... unpleasant).
The Companions began to make their way across the city to reach the shrine where the "Starstone" -- the Njeitbori name for the Anvil -- was kept. Along the way, they were ambushed by Nalshbori of the Sea Scorpion and Red Vulture clans who had infiltrated the Njeitbori city and were hoping to kill the companions and take the Anvil for themselves, as part of Mawish's plan to free the hosts of Arjagbori imprisoned in the Serth Hatama. Engaging in battle with the Nalshbori, the companions managed to defeat them -- thanks in part to the cannibalistic proclivities of the Red Vulture clansmen -- and arrived at the shrine. Once there, Anaris entered the chamber on her own... only to be greeted by someone she didn't recognize, and who clearly seemed surprised to see her as well.
It turned out to be a Njeitbori; not just any Njeitbori, but the Njeitbori: Orusen, the one-time companion of Tengelbur and now also the legendary founder of the Njeitbori civilization. Apparently, after his "death" at the hands of the Grey King, his soul was imprisoned within a beech nut, which was brought -- via the agency of the Swan-maiden, whose relationship with the normal flow of time seems tricky at best -- to be planted in Tengelbur's tower back during the First Days. The Tree which grew was wounded by Mawish, preventing Orusen from breaking free; however, when Anaris sacrificed herself and Tengelbur rang the Anvil to transform Mawish's hordes into the stone trees of the Serth Hatama, the time loop was broken and Orusen was freed, awakening in time to take the Anvil and travel with it to the shores of the Sea. Since the Njeitbori -- his people -- did not exist at that particular point in history, he used the power of the Anvil to build a floating city, taking it out to live the only life he had ever known, and follow the tides and the great whales, keeping the Anvil safe from any of the servants of evil who might seek it. In this way, Orusen (who was later conflated in the historical record with the much more important Orusen the Serpent-slayer) became the mythical founder of his own race, and the Njeitbori managed to keep the Anvil hidden all throughout the Dark Times which followed. Orusen left certain "prophecies" -- actually the records of the doings of himself and his companions -- which would guide the Njeitbori during the time when the servants of evil once again began to seek after the Anvil. These prophecies (which Orusen now "completed" by getting the details from Anaris of what had happened since the Tower) had guided the Seers, the guardians of the Anvil, and had also fueled the aggression of some of the more misguided Sons of Orusen, who saw the coming of the companions as the end of Njeitbori civilization.
With the loop now closed and his role completed, Orusen (who had been speaking to Anaris from the other side of Time via the Anvil) vanished, and Anaris was left to make a choice: She must ring one side of the Anvil, which would determine which version of history should manifest itself now, determining the fate and future of both the Anvil and the Njeitbori people. If she chose wrong, it could spell the end of Njeitbori civilization...
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