You go toward Bowfor, about 3 hours away.
An hour out from Lowclere, you meet a person riding a mule; a man in his 20s, in worn travelling leathers, with a short dark brown beard and hair, displaying plenty of Trade and Movement runes, which you notice as you approach to pass him. He is staggering along the trail and singing, badly, in Auloring. You are wary of trouble, recalling the Trickster, and just leave him be. He doesn’t do more than leer with glazed eyes as he passes. Dagodent confesses afterwards that he’s glad you didn’t stop to speak with him. If he needed help, Auloring hospitality would require it to be given, and that might be inconvenient. He was roughly headed the right way to Lowclere, so maybe he’d be OK if he managed to stay on the trail.
You reach Bowfor, which is a much smaller settlement than Lowclere. It’s easy to find the bride’s hut. Elzabet’s father, Barrelmaster Francis, one of Clovis’s lesser plumerey, greets Boamund and Dagodent at the door. He is a broad-shouldered blonde and bearded man who carries himself with modesty but confidence. He doesn’t want to talk to you, showing suspicion and caution at these strangers asking very personal questions of this wedding-to-be even though they say Lothair sent them. But Boamund’s words conveyed by Dagodent wear him down, and he invites you into the main room.
Inside, you meet mother Morgana; a fat, homely, outspoken woman who tries to be generous with her hospitality (and, Dagodent later tells you, is a busybody gossip around town). Dagodent helps you to be as cordial and affable as possible as you talk with Francis through him. Meanwhile, Shrett and Bog again show that they are able to hold their drink. Morgana’s homemade spirit has quite the kick, and Bog thinks its sweet edge is the best he’s tried yet. Fraud sips his. Francis isn’t so pleased that Boamund won’t drink.
A thing you notice about their hut is how many decorative trinkets there are, some of quite high quality and obviously from a considerable distance away. Francis couldn’t bring in the income for these, so maybe they are gifts, Dagodent guesses? Francis, making a lot of small talk and trying to avoid the topic of the wedding, comes around to the issue after diplomatic pressure from Boamund, with others’ input. Your patience with these Aulorings is wearing; Bog’s is well gone except for the good booze. Francis confesses that he’s had his suspicions of the wedding, and that Childebear has his faults, and Elzabet hasn’t been herself lately, but “she could do worse” and Compt Lothair + the Dornar clan’s Compt Clovis (who you looked for before visiting Francis, but he was away hunting) are in favour of the union so it’s best for the clans. The two young people, you recall, do have some prior relationship; this is not purely an arranged marriage.
With effort, you get permission for Boamund and Dagodent to visit Elzabet’s quarters with Morgana’s escort. Thissmall, tidy and rather sparsely furnished room, quite in contrast to the one they entered from, is accessible only from her parent’s, via a doorway covered with a heavy blanket. Elzabet is fast asleep in her bed, beside which is a wooden flask of unfamiliar design, one-third full of a liquid that smells vaguely herbal, when Dagodent gets permission to inspect it. Morgana’s attempts to rouse Elzabet fail, and she is not willing to try harder. The flask, though, Dagodent whispers to Boamund as they leave, is not only a potent sleeping draught imported from Ralios, but also a potent abortifacient! Aha. Morgana says that Elzabet is an adult; she got the medicine from friend Lynet and Morgana doesn’t know more. Soon you politely leave, and head for Pettilow, having spent about 2 hours with the family.
An hour or so out of Bowfor you encounter a badly mauled and partially eaten carcass by the trail, entrails spilling out onto the blood-soaked ground. Even non-hunters can tell it met its end suddenly and violently. Shrett identifies it as a raphi, and the assailant, with Dagodent’s input, probably as an unusually large giant wild mink – either a wild Vison, or a rare Fisher (the truly giant, intelligent mink). Clear tracks in the damp ground lead off into scrubby vegetation. Shrett notices there are two, not one, big animals; surely Fishers. And something else; smaller; and he’s not even sure the traces he sees are tracks. They went northwards. He also spots both a crude collar on the raphi’s neck and a brand-mark on its hindquarters. Dagodent identifies these as belonging to neutral clan Mordrain, to the south. Dagodent explains when asked: Even wild mink, under the governance of Ustelm, avoid harming that which belongs to Hibour or Carra. Therefore this is most unusual. Raphi are somewhat rare in these parts, and Mordrain are the only Brangol clan to herd any significant number, although they thrive in the lands of the Lentra Tribe to the west. Wild mink aren’t exactly common either. But thanks to Shrett, you know that this is an exceptional situation: two Fishers killed and ate a raphi. And this happened here recently.
You get to Pettilow. It is a very small settlement, little more than a small hall that serves as home to one family and as a meeting place for hunters, gatherers, fishers and the occasional traveler. There is a small stockade protecting the entrance to the hall itself, and hardly anyone present. The one sleepy guard doesn’t know much. He says that Geoffrey is away somewhere; and Lynet and her master Carloman Farwalker are, too. You wonder if these are more disappearances. As it’s still midday, you choose to go back to the tracks by the carcass and follow them while they’re still fresh.
The tracks follow in and out of a somewhat dried streambed. It’s Earth Season so the waters are not high around here. But the tracks are excellent. Soon, two huge, SIZ 35, fierce Fishers (black minks) step forth from hiding places ahead, flanking you, and growl out warnings in Auloring. Dagodent is shocked. They say to go away, that this is their territory. One casts a spell at Dagodent when you don’t immediately leave, but the spell sputters. You try doing some quick talking but the Fishers aren’t amenable. However, a ghostly mink spirit forms behind them, and just watches, maybe curious; not aggressive like the Fishers. As you start leaving (Bog is already long gone; fed up), Shrett kneels and tries a few final Beastspeech polite words directed at the spirit. Through some gentle persistence, he gets some information; aided later by Dagodent. “I come from the Mistmarch, hearing the cries of injustice. One has taken what is not to take. By Stormflood’s fangs, there shall be punishment, and the Taker will remind all of this.” And there’s mention of a girl. But you’re not sure if the mink spirit truly knows why it has been called here in retribution. Maybe it doesn’t even care? Stormflood is the violent son of Hibour. His emissary must mean the sending of Death, or at least danger. You leave back to Bowfor, spreading word of this danger there, worried that Elzabet is the target. The mink was not headed for Pettilow so you don’t return there, but figure it’s worth going to Lowclere to update the Compt and warn him too.
You go there as night comes. Along the way, you all feel some magical tremor that surprises you. Boamund and Fraud sense it most strongly, and think it comes from far off somewhere; not in these clan lands, maybe not even in Caratan. Some great magic has occurred. [In due time over coming weeks, you learn of the Dragonrise in far-off Dragon Pass! Yes, even here in Caratan, its power was evident. The Brown Dragon has come.]
Childebear is still absent in Lowclere. Lothair gratefully accepts your news, but isn’t keen on the (reformulated from others to be pitched more respectfully) request to know the clan’s secrets so you can solve what the retribution that the spirit comes for is about. He says that you still don’t have the evidence he sent you for, and that the clan has no deep secrets relevant to this case; he has shared all that is pertinent. Dagodent does a scrying about this retribution and just gets a simple vision of Elzabet and Childebear together. You’re really getting tired of these Aulorings, but Boamund is doing his best to be diplomatic. You even discuss just leaving them to their own problems. But Boamund, with added words from Shrett, reminds that you’re questing to make friends; and the river/water powers here might even be useful. Lothair says that you didn’t truly find out that Lynet or Geoffrey are missing. They just weren’t home, as far as you truly know, although you suspect malfeasance. So you rest for the night, frustrated.
And you return to Pettilow the next morning. Fortunately, nothing terrible has happened yet with the mink or Fishers. No one has met them. However, the guard asked the hall’s owner (who was away when you visited yesterday) about Geoffrey and learned that he has gone to the holy place of Sauvin Rise, where it’s his turn to oversee the shrine. Dagodent recalls that there is a Wesrod shrine there, which he’s never visited. Furthermore, Silverhand Lynet and her master came in last night with their mules, heard word that you sought them and were cautioned of the mink + Fishers, and stayed around awaiting you, so you meet them.
Lynet’s master is a foreign Trader Prince, Carloman Farwalker (tall, brown-haired, very well-manicured, prim and proper, serious, perceptive). He defers questions to Lynet, saying that he’s not getting embroiled in this Auloring business. At least these two speak Tradetalk!
Silverhand Lynet is short, plain and unusually dark-haired; lightly armoured and armed with broadsword, and with scars suggesting she knows how to handle herself. She is welcoming, but she attempts to trade with you, dodging queries. Shrett indulges, hoping to find something useful in trade. He doesn’t know it, but he gets the short end of a bargain for some exotic Esrolian spices, yet this warms her up for discussion. With a little more urging, she confessees that “Elzabet confided in me, despondent. Childebear was unkind with her, and impatient, and argument led to him stealing her maidenhood. She fears that to reveal this will bring more harm than good.” You say that you must tell the Compt this, and she supposes it must be done, but Lothair might not just take her (seconhand) word for it. You figure that maybe Geoffrey could divine the godly proof, so you go toward Sauvin Rise.
Shrett leads the way along the smaller trail northwards past Bowfor. An hour or so away, in spare forest, an elk limps past, its right hindlimb injured and its head low. He notices movement behind it in the brush; it may be pursued. Bog rushes that way and sees weird motion of the undergrowth, which drops down rather than parts. He’s looking in the right spot as a silvery blob comes forth, turning toward him – a gorp! It has lumpy, shiny mirror-like growths all over its ooze. He switches from maul to mace and shield, backpedalling as it comes. Boamund soon sees it and Disrupts it, but the spell reflects onto his right leg! Fraud tries three castings of Arkati magics, all of which also rebound; even one that he ratchets up to full power. Meanwhile Bog has lost his shield to the gorp’s acid, and finds that its hide is very tough. Shrett has come forward with the Tear of St Tutrys, impaling the gorp, but got his head grabbed by a pseudopod after Bog retreated, and only Fraud’s deft throw of the Perrindens tree’s fruit/leaf saves him: the gorp lets go. Bog casts Firemaul and rejoins the fray, with Boamund now using a Firesword. Dagodent has been watching, shocked at this Chaos monster and unable to truly help. At last, Boamund deals a powerful blow that cleaves the foul blob open and kills it. It was a costly combat though, with Fraud burning ~7pts magic and Bog using Shield (and losing his shield), and Shrett’s helmet being dissolved.
But you get to Sauvin Rise in the afternoon. It is little more than a shallow pool, some 4 metres in diameter, besides which is a small shelter that doubles as a shrine and refuge for followers of Wesrod; and a sluggish stream is to the north. Goodsight Geoffrey watches you come, then welcomes you in Tradetalk. He has the disturbing tendency of looking past whoever he is talking to, all the while wearing a half smile. He is friendly, but not easy to convince; he thinks the matter of the wedding to be trifling; Lothair should resolve it, and he humbly says that he can’t see how he could add further help with his meagre abilities as an Ordoner. Once you mention Sigefrid he becomes much more amenable, with some good speaking and persistence, and says that he will try his modest best because of the urgency of the mink spirit and such.
He says he will wait until the most auspicious time, sunset, and require you to join him in a ritual divination. You rest a while, waiting as he prepares with Dagodent’s assistance. He then asks you to position in a circle around the pool and join him in ritual chanting (you repeat some simple Auloring words; unsure of their meaning), all the time circling the pool in a clockwise direction. As the divination continues you see the waters of the pool take on the appearance of a mirror. In it you soon see brief scenes of a feast, the Spirit mink attacking the raphi, Faireye Elzabet and Silverhand Lynet together, and what appears to be fighting around the village of Lowclere as the roundhouse burns in the night.
Geoffrey is visibly shaken at the end of the ritual, and mutters something about “shades of the Taker.” He is decisive now. He asks you to join him in a trip through the Mistmarch, the “other side”. He offers you all a drink from a lidded tankard before you start their journey, and Bog tries first; hoping for more Auloring booze. But it is water, with a poor taste, full of silt and takes some effort to finish the mouthful. The water comes from the Mistmarch, Geoffrey says, and drinking this is necessary to cross into it. Dagodent remains behind to watch. He expects you to leave your bodies into the Spirit World.
Geoffrey simply then says “follow me” and dives into the pool. As you swim deeper and deeper there is an “otherness” of it all – from the surface the water looked no more than waist deep, but you are swimming a long way down in growing darkness through silt and weeds. At some point you notice that you are breathing the water without any ill effects, and all still can dimly see. Time becomes obscure. Geoffrey leads you horizontally through underground channels into another, roughly square pool. Thankfully, although at first some of you sunk in your armour, by now you all can swim without burden. Looking up you can see daylight, not the night that you left behind you, and at a point you really want real air again, your lungs begin to ache as you all scramble to reach the surface as soon as possible. It seems that you could not breathe the water forever. Bog falters in trying to swim upwards, but Fraud is able to help him – however, in doing so Fraud gulps down some water and is winded.
When you surface you find yourselves in a light but mist-shrouded landscape, full of the sounds of wildlife, somewhat like the Caratan lands you know but more vibrant in noises and other sensations. Geoffrey then leads you off into the gently glowing Mistmarch. Next he warns you, “Halt, danger comes through the mists!”
Lynet wondered about the effects of the rape on Elzabet. She obtained a Carra blessing to investigate privately, and learned of the pregnancy. Elzabet is aware, but asked for the sleeping draught to calm her mind and aid her sleep. Lynet chose one that would end the pregnancy, and did not tell Elzabet. You were worried that this would incur more retribution, but Dagodent explains that to use the power of the Taker (the potion/Lynet) to stop some of the wrong that the Taker (Childebear) had initiated with the real, first crime against the gods, was not in itself a religious offense. Others that learn of it might not be happy; most of all, Childebear. BUT before you left, Lynet said that she was not sure that the tonic has ended the pregnancy. Elzabet has slept more than expected, and so has not yet finished the drink (as Dagodent noticed). So it remains possible that this issue is not resolved, and Dagodent says it is best left to the people and the gods; this is not your matter.
And It took 2 MP from each of you (personal, crystal, whatever) to enter the Mistmarch.
© Copyright - 2000-2024 - John Hutchinson, Tim Evans, Pete Nash, Colin Driver and Gordon Alford