Session 53: Ill-met in Caur-i-Klorpeim

When last we left our heroes... The companions examined the body of the sorcerer Tanurendal's arrow had killed: they found it covered in strange, eye-shaped scars, and the remaining Njeitbori sailors quickly became convinced that they were all cursed, under the gaze of one of the Many-eyed ones. Concerning these, Vanera recalled legends that he had encountered on the periphery of the literature he had studied: of Deep Men who sometimes encountered and worshipped many-eyed monstrosities in the depths of the Sea, and whom they worshipped in occult pacts for terrible powers. But if this was a legend to Vanera, to the Njeitbori on board it was a vivid reality, and when soon a yard arm broke off and came crashing down on Tanurendal's head, the sailors took this as proof positive that the Deep One would kill them all--starting with Tanurendal--in return for having killed his prophet. Tengelbur managed to convince his men to work, and after giving the bodies a burial at sea, the companions resumed their voyage to the Leopard Isles. When they were still a few days out, they were set upon by Nalshbori pirates, but after a harrowing chase (and the exchange of a few arrows) they managed to outrun them, arriving at last at their destination:

For first-time visitors from the North, the Feirkan Kerakamu, or Leopard Isles are a marked contrast. Where the seashore of the northern coast of the sea is dark and frequently stormy, here it is white sand beaches and clear green surf flecked with seafoam. It's notably warmer here, and you find yourself inclined to shed the outer layers and heavier seafaring gear, as the warm breezes of early summer are already blowing steadily, whereas by now the North has only just finished thawing out from the long winter. The houses are quite similar in style to those in Sencankarr--whitewashed granite walls accented with blue waterstone, but here the construction is rather more spacious and most of the living spaces are open on at least three sides to the air around them, albeit with heavy shutters which could quickly be closed in case of a storm. The population, particularly of the largest island Caur-i-Klorpeim, is markedly cosmopolitan, the port city of Dlakfi Klorpeim featuring large populations of Oornan, Aaran, and Kothorlas traders, Equisliad adventurers, and Ambori from across the three corners of the Sea of Ambori. Tropical heat, Kothorlas spices, a babel of tongues, and the shouts of longshoremen all wash over you in a disorienting wave as you step onto the pier.

The companions decided to begin with going to the ancestral home of Tengelbur and Talarja, their vacation spot in the Isles, which was located some ways out of town. Arriving there, the companions found that the new Governor--Weiksura Amlalar--had taken it as his permanent residence following the declining fortunes of Tengelbur's family and the violent suppression of recent unrest in the Leopard Isles. Surrounded by the Governor's guards, they were accosted by Thauthenai, the beautiful concubine and captain of the secret police of Governor Neratsoan, for whose murder many of the companions had already been framed. Taking them inside and treating them to a fine meal and the best vintage of the family wine, Thauthenai told the now-unarmed companions how matters stood:

After the death of Governor Neratsoan (for which the companions had been framed, though in truth he had been killed by Thauthenai), Thauthenai, as part of a deal with King Onwae, married the new appointee--Weiksura Amlalar--and ran the Northern District as the real power in the governor's mansion. Following the unrest (which the companions had partially helped to foment) in the Leopard Isles, Weiksura and Thauthenai had been sent to the Leopard Isles to crush the revolt, which she seems to have done with some aplomb. There are still dissidents, however, and Thauthenai decides that Valarja will stay with her ("for safekeeping") while the companions (most of whom are wanted for crimes and/or considered legally dead) carry out a task for her: assassinating Zishunei, Mother Superior of the Convent of the Ram of Dawn--the spirtual symbol of the rebellion, and the head of the archipelago's powerful Old Rite sect...

Vanera's letter to his mother, Spring 454

Dearest Mother,

I realize it has been over two years since I last wrote to you. That was unintentional. Due to some strange happenings, I was lost to the world for two years, parted even from me dear Talarja. I am glad to say that we are reunited once more, and we are expecting! Though it is still early on, the midwife suspects that Talarja is carrying twins. I was shocked by the news but am incredibly happy about it.

I hope you, Father, and my sisters are well. I do miss you all very much. Do write and tell me how you all are. Vitherai must be old enough now that you are thinking about her marriage.

I am sure you are wanting to know how Anaris fairs. She does not fair well. I hesitate to even burden you with this knowledge. I am very worried about her. Her looks have changed. You would not even be able to recognize her, dear Mother. I have tried talking to her, but you know how she can be. Thankfully, she has sought help and is taking action to remedy her ways. But she has been saying the strangest things, and it is about these things that I desire answers from you.

Anaris tells me that we are illegitimate, or that she is at least illegitimate. I would not believe her that either you or father would have done something so dishonorable. She says it was upon finding out that she left home. Mother, if this is true then tell me. Am I not really a son of the Kjavabo family? I think once upon a time knowing that I was not truly a son of the Kjavabo family would have ruined me, but after having parted under less than good circumstances I would not be surprised if you and Father have disinherited me and cut me off from your lives altogether, and I may have not been an excepted son all this time.

Do know that I love and miss you all. Talarja sends her love as well.

Vanera

P.S. Do not hesitate to send name suggestions. We will need two, after all. 

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.

Sessions 47-51: The Temple of the Serpents

When last we left our heroes...

Session 47: Pressing the old woman, more closely, the companions at last managed to ring the truth, or at least part of it, out of them: the old woman Yenara, and the much younger woman--scarce more than a girl--Aryanyan had been pursued by the Gaunt Men across the North for quite some time. They had knowledge of the Gaunt Men and Nalshbori who had taken over Kor-Paurja, at first ostensibly because they'd been fleeing from it. Apparently, an old beggar Yuralesh, who another company had encountered in sessions 33-34) had betrayed the village to the Nalshbori, letting them into the stockade. Later, it would be revealed that Yenara and Aryanyan were actually headed back in that direction, as there was something near the village that the old woman wanted. What was more, they revealed that they knew about the "key" that Peibo had spoken of; what was more, they knew why the Gaunt Men had been capturing young women: it seemed that some young woman or other either was the key, or at least knew the location of the key, and for that reason they were being captured. With Yenara's help, the companions attempted to sneak into the village of Kor-Paurja by a back way, hopefully liberating it, but they botched an attempt to sneak past a Nalshbori patrol and were overwhelmed, falling unconscious one by one (with Tengelbur falling last, and only after a prolonged duel with the Nalshbori commander, before which he had felled three of the enemy with his own hand). Yenara and Aryanyan had vanished into the countryside long before the battle was over. When the companions awoke, they found themselves in an ancient subterranean temple, about to be sacrificed by being burned alive in a great brass pan, while the Serpent Woman of legend officiated from her carven throne.

Session 48: Just as they were about to be sacrificed, the companions were freed by one of their Nalshbori guards, who turned out to be Peibo in disguise. Another one was revealed to be Aryanyan, who began firing arrows into the guards and gaunt men surrounding the Serpent Woman's throne, while Peibo freed the others and engaged the Gaunt Men, telling the companions to run. For the most part, the companions chose instead to stand and fight (sans their weapons), leading to Tengelbur falling unconscious again, horribly wounded as he attempted to strike down the Serpent Woman herself and was in turn overwhelmed by two Nalshbori of the Sea Scorpion clan. With a flaming sword in hand, Peibo managed to fell the Gaunt Men and lead the companions (including an unconscious Tengelbur) to an adjacent room, an armory, in which the companions barricaded themselves and tended to their wounded.

Session 49: Having found weapons and armor (including some items of ancient, even magical provenance) in the armory, the companions re-armed themselves and located a secret passageway that allowed them to slip down into the lower level of the temple. Moving through several sacristy rooms full of horrors (including a strange sacrificial knife that Anaris kept for herself, and a coffin used to drain the blood from living victims), the entered the main throne room of the temple, where they found eighteen young woman unconscious, seemingly comatose, under the effects of some spell. They were on the verge of waking these when Aryanyan and Peibo revealed that coming back to rescue the companions (who had been captive for something like two weeks or more before they were awakened for the sacrifice) had only been part of their reason for coming to the serpent temple -- they were also here to locate something, perhaps a scroll or tablet, which Yenara and Peibo believed might hold the key to finding the tomb of the Stone-king that the Serpent Lady was seeking for. The companions agreed to help find the table, then try to find some way to awaken the maidens and flee the temple.

Session 50: Fighting their way through the temple complex (in which some kind of a civil war seemed now to be raging between the Nalshbori on the one hand, and Gaunt Men and Arjagbori servants of the Serpent Woman on the other--why this was happening, the companions never learned), the companions made their way to the Serpent Woman's private quarters, where they discovered a whole cache of scrolls and tablets. Taking all of these, they fought their way back to the throne room and sought for some way to awaken the sleeping women. Thanks to Vanera's keen intuition, they realized that the sleep of the maidens was connected to the huge orbs of red amber which made up the eyes of the two stone serpents coiled around the empty throne at the far end of the room. After some unsuccessful attempts to approach and destroy them, the companions managed to pry them loose--Anaris keeping two of the orbs for herself (despite the protests of the party) and Tanurendal meanwhile secretly keeping a third, which he hid in his gear when the rest of the companions were not looking. Awakening the girls, the companions fled from the temple complex -- which, with the spell of the Stone Serpents broken, was beginning to collapse. They fought their way through the Arjagbori guarding the door, losing two or three of the young women to falling rocks in the process, but made it out with the majority of them safely to the surface world. From there, they did what they could to return the girls to their families, taking the rest (including Thoranrai from the other company) back to Cheykor.

Session 51: Back in Chekor, Vanera found his worst fears unfounded: Talarja had waited patiently for him, and had kept herself busy learning the work of an amber-cutter in the meanwhile. After a joyful reunion with friends and loved ones, the companions took a long-needed and well-earned rest, taking their seasonal undertakings:

• Tanurendal integrated the red amber into his moorland bow, augmenting its power in combat--but has begun to suffer from evil dreams as a result.
• Vanera spent his downtime trying to decode the tablets taken from the Serpent Woman's lair. In addition to a map which he believes will allow him to safely navigate the Serth Hatama and find the Tomb of the Stone-king, he also found a strange inscription on an ancient clay table, now mostly broken.*
• Tengelbur spent his seasonal undertaking tending to his shipping business, which unfortunately seems to have lost a bit of money in his absence.
• Reiana searched for answers regarding the Nalshbori incursions on the West side of the Cheyth, and managed to locate their landing spot -- as well as the information that in the following season (Spring 454), the river would be too flooded to cross at that point, meaning that Nalshbori would be totally cut off from escape or reinforcements and as such could probably be dispatched with a small force.
• Anaris' fate has taken the strangest turn, as a number of her deeds together with the corrupted items she had accumulated in the Serpent Temple had... changed her for the worst. In addition to random fits of animalistic behavior, in which she would throw off her clothes and eat grass like an ox, her weight increased by some 300% as she became more and more anti-social, passing the time by hunting down deserts from the River Legions and turning them in for bounty.

As winter came to its end and Spring began to thaw the North, the companions staged an intervention for Anaris and Tanurendal, confronting them both (but especially Anaris) about the choices which had led to their corruption. Finally humbled and scared of what was happening to her, Anaris went (and/or was taken by Tengelbur) to see the Well Priestess, who (after Anaris handed over the Red Amber and the evil sacrificial knife that she had kept) assigned her a pilgrimage to a small unknown isle in the Leopard Archipelago. There, the Priestess told her, if her repentance was genuine, she might find healing. The rest of the companions, meanwhile, argued with Tanurendal about his bow while Vanera debated whether or not he should go off adventuring again -- his wife, as he had recently learned, was pregnant with twins...

* THE INSCRIPTION WHICH VANERA DECIPHERED:

Orusena, first of fathers,

Out of bloodshed, out of warfare,

First of fathers brought an anvil,

Brought a bride-price for his daughter,

Brought a gift of Lanenomen

When the tides of blood were flowing

Over Northlands, when the thunder

Fled from heavy stroke of hammer.

Orusena brought the anvil,

Brought the bride-price, fleeing danger,

Then he took a mighty forest,

Built a city on the waters.

That fair town upon the waters

Orusena sailed to islands

Fleeing battle on the Moorlands.

To the Isles he brought the anvil.

Sessions 45-46: Death in Darkness, and the Sleepers Return

When last we left our heroes... The companions bravely engaged the four Gaunt Men in battle deep beneath the earth. Already wounded and weary from their encounter with the Arjagbori at the entrance, and with Feiala missing a weapon, they were in no shape for this battle, and the Gaunt Men quickly made short work of them. The last thing any of the heroes heard was: "Take the women... Kill the men." And then darkness fell.

---

[We fast-forwarded in time just a few months to the return of the Sleepers, who had reawakened in their own time back in Session 34. Session 46 marks the beginning of a new ruleset, as we begin to play a modified version of the CLASH system ported for Amboria.]

When last we left our heroes... After awakening, the heroes had headed south to to Kor-Gilin, where they found food and some small solace in the wayside inn there. In the nearly empty common room, they were accosted by a stranger who identified himself at first only as "a Wanderer," and then later as one "Peibo," and informed the Company that they had been gone for seven seasons. In their absence, Sir Ralus had been captured and rescued, war had crossed the river, and one of the Border Forts had fallen and been recaptured. During the distraction caused by this, the Nalshbori seemed to have gotten some kind of a beachhead on the western shore (though no-one had found it as yet), and the area had become increasingly dangerous due to Nalshbori raids.

After the heroes told their own story, Peibo explained that about two weeks ago, Cheykor had lost all contact with the village of Kor-Paurja. This, coupled with the rumors of Gaunt men in the area, warrants investigation. The Gaunt Men, according to Peibo, are looking for a "key" -- an item, or possibly a person -- that will open one of the lost Tombs of the Stone Kings. To prove his credentials, Peibo explained that they all had a mutual friend in Norkur the Scribe, who had sent the party back to the Marches of the Cheyth to investigate the activities of the Scarlet Sisterhood and the Gaunt Men. Norkur does not trust the Scarlet Sisterhood, but it seems that they recently lost a party of their own adventurers (see the previous session) who had been sent to the area around Kor-Paurja, and those people need to be found.

Reluctantly, the Company agree to go to Kor-Paurja before returning home to Cheykor (where Vanera has a wife waiting, and Tengelbur has a business he's worried about). The race is on: find the "key" before the Gaunt Men, or the Scarlet Sisterhood does, and prevent either of them from opening the the tomb of the Stone-king. Since Peibo was headed to Cheykor to follow up on some other leads based on the story the companions had told him about their friend Orusen, he offered to take messages on their behalf back to Cheykor, telling their loved ones and business associates that they yet lived.

The company traveled 5 days up the road towards Kor-Paurja before they were ambushed by a small band of Nalshbori--an ambush which, thanks to Tengelbur's watchfulness, they were prepared for. Though Anaris was gravely injured in the resulting fight, the Company cut all seven of the Nalshbori warriors down, and rescued their two prisoners: a young girl of twenty-five or so, and an old woman. The old woman claimed that they had been captured by Nalshbori on their way to Cheykor -- but Vanera intuited that there was much that the old woman was not telling them...

The Last Words of Klorpeim

By Hope and PJ

---

The surgeon had done all he could for Klorpeim. When asked about Klorpeim’s chances for survival, he did not need to say anything. His look told everything.

In a moment of consciousness, Klorpeim, weak from loss of blood, looked about him as best he could from the cot where he lay. 

“Amsotha,” he said feebly. “Amsotha.”

Looking over in Klorpeim's direction, Amsotha pushes himself up and limps over to Klorpeim's bed. He collapses to his knees and puts a hand on Klorpeim's shoulder.

"With you still holding on to life, it seems that we were successful in our endeavor," he says with a weak smile on his face. Realizing Klorpeim's wound, Amsotha mourns, "I was not wanting to have to pay for it with my best friend's life though."

“It seems a fitting payment. I was the one to convince them to leave the fort to go after Onerama, so I must pay with my life to get it back. But I am willing to make it if it means the overwhelming tide of the Nalshbori are held back, if not just a little longer.” Here Klorpeim paused as he struggled to catch his next breath.

"Fitting Payment?", Amsotha answered quizzingly,"My friend, for all we could have known, Onerama could have attacked us while the Nalshbori lay siege to the Fort. Don't blame yourself for today. Your actions kept the Nalshbori from taking the fort. I regret not being able to take any of the archers down." Amsotha picks Klorpeim up, trying to get him in a more comfortable position. And watching as Klorpeim's soaked bandage tried to stop the bleeding.

“I am...I am sorry about your sister.” Klorpeim said once he had regained his breath. “I know you will find her.”

Amsotha sighs, "Sister missing, best friend slipping into the afterlife, this world is a cruel place," coughing up blood he continues, "I am not positive either one of us will make it to tomorrow." Amsotha chuckles a little and asks, "Tell me my friend, is there anything you want sent back to the family?"

Klorpeim could not help a half smile. He found Amsotha’s bedside manner lacking somehow. “You may send all my things to them. I will not need them beyond the Final Night where mortals may not look.”

Laughing enough to cough again, Amsotha replies with a fool's smile, "Well, we prefer to send you clothed. Nonetheless I shall see to it that  your dagger is sent  back, and if you so wish, the sword by which a thousand Nalshbori fell. If it so happens that death does not favor me, I will take it to your family myself."

Klorpeim grasped Amsotha’s hand in his. “My time grows near that Death shall come and make the Sign of Death. You are a good friend. In parting from you, I part from a brother.”

With the other Amsotha holds his friend’s head, “May you find your way to the gates where all will be judged, May Nankienala find favor in you, may He take in account your bravery that turned the tide on this day, and when your name is spoken let it bring fear in the hearts of Nalshbori. Let evil remember that on this day, it found an adversary worthy of fear!!” Unable to hold the tears back Amsotha gives his last goodbye to Klorpiem.

And with that, Klorpeim breathed his last breath.

Far beyond the Northern lands, across the Plain of Ice,

Where the wintry air chokes out the sun and all is cold and white,

Across that plain he wandered and came to earth no more.

But the stories say he came at last to another sunlit shore.

And taking there a coracle, he rowed across the gulf

And passed beyond the Final Night where mortals may not look.

Sessions 43-44: Shadows of the Past

When last we left our heroes...

The companions made their way North to the village of Kor-Paurja, a copper mining village about a week north of Cheykor. Along the way, they managed to run into almost every conceivable hazard:

• Amsotha, the party's scout, fell down an abandoned well and was stuck there for several hours until the rest of the Company eventually found him.
• Feiala, the party's Guide, nearly led them into a dangerous landslide before realizing her mistake.
• Artana found what looked like a good, safe place to rest--but it turned out to be the hideout of some army deserters and highwaymen, who ambushed the party while they slept. Fortunately, Thoranrai noticed their danger and awoke the party in time. 

Just after the latter episode, Feiala noticed what appeared to be strange animal tracks--great cloven hoofs--which, however, vanished in the sunlight. Thinking back, she recalled the story that had begun to circulate a year or two ago of a party who had been ambushed by the Arjagbori (the Horned Things) of legend, on their way to Ralakarr from Sencankarr. All trace--including the bodies and even the tracks--of the Arjagbori were said to vanish with the rising of the sun, though most considered these fanciful details to be mere superstitious rumors, like the rest of the story.

Finally making it to the village, they were able to find the beggar Yuralesh, who was known to have a local reputation as a swindler and was even rumored to be working in concert with a group of local highwaymen and deserters in the area--probably the same ones the Company had encountered and killed a few days earlier. In any case, Yuralesh promised he could show the Companions the "old mine" where the girls were being taken, in exchange for half of the treasure they retrieved (Artana clarified that this would only be half of her own cut) from the mine. Asking around, the Companions learned that the hills north of town had been believed by the locals for several generations back to have been haunted, and there were stories of those who became lost in the hills after dark being kidnapped, eaten alive, or witnessing strange and gruesome sacrificial rituals--like seeing a headless figure stirring a great brass cauldron full of limbs. 

A few hours before sundown, the Company met Yuralesh on the north side of town, and followed him into the hills. Some time later--just as the red sunset in the West was giving way to an eerie twilight--he brought them to a crack in the side of an ancient mount which appeared at sundown and which seemed to widen as it grew darker. This, Yuralesh told them, was where the girls had been taken. The Companions lit torches and proceeded inside, only to be attacked by two Arjagbori--in fact, the very Horned Things of legend--who were guarding the entrance. The heroes triumphed narrowly, with both Thoranrai and Amsotha having taken the brunt of the fighting, the latter bleeding heavily due to a wound inflicted by one of the deadly scythes wielded by the horned monsters. Moving forward, they followed a long, snaking tunnel, adorned on either side by bas reliefs which portrayed Amborian history--or rather, an alternate version of it. It showed, for instance, the feud that broke out between the Treianraal and the Sothbori at the wedding of Lanenomen and Alyeitalya, as actually having been between the Treianraal and the Serpent-folk, the latter of whom it portrayed as the rightful natives of the lands around the Sea, driven off and oppressed by the coming of the folk of Starland. At the end of the tunnel they entered an antechamber, guarded by two enormous serpents of stone, who watched them motionlessly with huge eyes of glowing gems. Feiala tried to destroy the eye of one of the stone guardians, but only shattered her longsword in the process. Moving past the guardians--a task which daunted more than one member of the party--they pushed on through carven bronze doors and came at last to the great, central hall of what they had now realized must be an underground palace or temple complex.

There, arranged in a semi-circle around the base of a throne, were some two-dozen or so girls, all of them young, all of them arrayed in white, all of them laid out upon slabs of stone. A strange, twisted figure of a woman with serpentine eyes and a red amber crown upon her head, stood over them, seemingly drawing something from them, when the Companions entered. Pointing to them and uttering a word of command, the Serpent-woman sent forth four of her Gaunt Men to oppose the Companions, while she herself fled the scene...