Session 65: Forgotten

When last we left our heroes… As the anvil shattered, the companions awoke on floating driftwood. They had all of their possessions -- weapons included -- and also sharp pains in various areas of their bodies. After examining themselves, they found that each of them had a chunk of black glass or obsidian embedded in their bodies: Tengelbur in his right (good) arm, Reiana in her chest, Tanurendal in his left thigh, and Vanera right smack-dab in the middle of his forehead. They began using their ropes and the driftwood to put a raft together, but were attacked almost immediately by vicious and unusually aggressive harkel. They fought them off for a few rounds before they were rescued by a merchant sloop, who fended off the harkel and picked the companions up. The sloop turned out to belong to Onerama the Bald, bound for Sencankarr, and captained by Yuralesh (whom they had known as a blacksmith and the husband of Vitherai the Amber Cutter). Yuralesh had no memory of the companions, and apparently the timeline itself has somewhat changed in the time (about a year) that they have been absent:

• Onerama the Bald is now the default ruler of the northern province. Some people believe that a civil war is in the offing; the only thing keeping this from happening is Sir Ralus, who is no Onwaeist, but also will not fight in a civil war against his own people. He still commands the border forts against the ever-present Nalshbori threat.
• Talarja is still alive, and has two young children. She is a wealthy widow in Cheykor, and is the focus of Onerama’s amorous attention. She had been married not to Vanera, but to Neras Garini.
• All of the Njeitbori completely cut off ties with the rest of the Ambori about a year ago. Nobody knows why; any attempts to find their floating cities or meet them along the usual trade routes have ended with the ships who attempted it going missing. Onwae is clearly occupied with other things and has not done anything about it.

As they continue to sale west towards Sencankarr, they sight a massive black fleet without sails headed for the Holy City -- the Njeitbori have returned.