Summary 67: A Truce? (2012-03-17)
You picked yourselves off the swampy shore of Giraine and immediately faced two insanely enraged Giant Walktapi, which spewed clouds of acid rather than poison gas. That was the worst side of them, though; with a couple chaos-curses from the Baronet and impaling spears from Boamund, they were hobbled enough that the Captain had only a little trouble dispatching them with the Stinging Spear's death magic. You remembered to take a trophy; a small bit of tentacle, which the Captain stuck atop his spear as it did not seem to stay dead.
Then Sesgallah the Mud-Hag rose from the swamps, at first not recognizing you. Then she posed a fairly simple riddle (about a shield) to gain her guidance out of the swamps, and pointed out that the Baronet had her Kiss of Death upon him- a dark mark on his upper lip like a death rune.
Her riddle answered, she told you “The wind blows from the southwest, and with it carries strange words… Bar'ran… Kogag… Sangvoc… Harrek… Vessels come dripping with blood; heed these words and watch these shores. And be off; come not again-you reek of evil magic, and your trophy will not rest!” Captain Ahappi remembered tales of this Bar'ran, a man of the seas and monster-killer like him, but the other words or names did not remind you of anything.
You followed her directions along the coast and soon ran into a warband of Sharde men; Giranois bringing blindfolded Aym Alamyn (who did not seem impaired hardly at all by the blindfold), and a roughened-up Ciddar, who had left Fort Mudlark seeking you and been captured by the Sharde but spared by Aym's eloquence. Aym was interested in Sesgallah's words but did not understand them. He explained, as the Sharde took you blindfolded back toward their settlement with an unusual degree of hands-off care, that you had been on a heroquest of St Granno, and a very deep mythical one at that. The quest was often used by the Cjed family and Sharde as a rite of passage, but you had travelled so far into legend that you were able to do more (as they had heard in prophecy some outsider would), crippling the magic gate called Yomilstor that the High Necromancer Yomil had opened to bring Chaos onto Giraine and plague the Giranois.
And now that the Sharde no longer had to fight the walktapi that came from Yomilstor, they were less distracted– and did not need something that previously helped hold Chaos at bay. Aym said he'd convinced them to let you come speak with the Sharde, and with a certain captive they held. In the three weeks you'd been on the heroplane, Aym had talked his way into better graces with the Sharde and convinced them that you would return heroically to free them from Chaos's blight. In return, they agreed to let you speak to a “demon”- not demon ruler as you'd heard from Wendel; that was wrong; a captive by the name of Lelbic– Saint Lelbic to you. The third missing weapon might well be at hand! Each year they tormented and tried to kill Lelbic, but he would not die, so he had become an important ritual for them, and he had a power that fended off Chaos.
Later that day, you came to the Sharde village deep in their swamps east of Mudlark, and your blindfolds came off. You saw a simple village of perhaps a hundred Giranois in good health and fair provision, and three male captives kept under a mangrove tree that were certainly not Giranois (but your inquiries made it clear they were not to be discussed). Aym pointed out the three Sharde elders (three similar old frog-like, greyed, hairy folk: old Shesh the conservative ruler, Shoor his brother who was less extreme, and the mad witch Shilde who did little but cackle), attended by the Warleader named Jzhurte, who Ahappi had met long ago at Burnt Priest's Hill and earned some respect from. More respect was earned when you dropped your tentacle-trophy at his foot.
You were told you could go see the captive, kept under a pile of big rocks in the centre of the village plaza, and found him atop a pile of coals– a wizened, charred body of a man with sparkling blue tattoos and glittering eyes, who could not speak unless a breeze blew (the source of that breeze became evident later). It was Saint Lelbic, and he could do little but plead with Lord Shaven for the Kiss of Death that would free him from torment. Boamund and Ahappi argued with each other and Shaven to delay that kiss, and got the saint to rasp something about having “betrayed them all” and being cursed for it, but then the Baronet could resist no longer and planted the magic kiss on Lelbic's forehead. The saint immediately turned into dust that blew away on the wind, but the wind carried his final words of “Make it right… there is always another… way.”
The Sharde folk hissed and cried at the disappearance of their captive, but the tension was quickly broken as Aym called you over to speak to the Elders, reminding them that you'd broken down Yomilstor and thus Lelbic's power was no longer needed to protect them. Ahappi made an impassioned speech that calmed them all and - for once- seemed to have a real impact on Giranois attitudes. Jzhurte was pleased: he said his warriors would regularly eat part the walktapus-tentacle as a test of strength, and he placed it where Lelbic used to lay. Shesh, the apparent leader, tossed a silver fan at your feet and said it was now yours, as agreed with Aym before. The Baronet (who Shesh said the spirits had chosen) took it and was mightily impressed by its obvious air powers.
But Shesh had harsh words about how you'd brought Yomil back from the dead (or awoken him; same thing?) when you entered the library at Maggotweald/Wormwood, and insisted you must undo this evil deed before there could be serious talk of reconciliation on the island.
Shoor, too, had his agenda- he wanted the Rokari Church's “new wizards” to be cast off the island, and insisted you take the first step against them. Ahappi pledged to burn the Chapel of St Thosos down, and this pleased Shoor and the Sharde. Shoor scolded you for killing Rokari at the library, saying that now they served Yomil, and that fallen foes must be dealt with more conclusively (cliff-tossing, eating, burning, etc; the Giranois way!). He also said something interesting, that “Granno, our savior, taught us the mystery of our descent and why we were saved. The Unsighted One [Aym Alamyn] has the blood of Granno in him and so again will help us defeat these new wizards that threaten our God-given home!”
Shesh explained that you were no longer part of the Sharde's blood feud against the colonists, for now anyway, dependent on your actions. But he made no such pledge for the rest of the colonists- it was clear he saw your group as distinct from Big Ron's settlers. He did, however, make an offer for you to carry to Big Ron: there could be a truce with the Sharde and colonists if Baron Ronalio agreed to keep his folk west of Fort Mudlark, leaving the eastern half of the island entirely to the Sharde. Details such as passage through their lands in the future were left to be worked out; the Sharde seemed characteristically reluctant, but admitted they needed access to Burnt Priest's Hill, which lay inside the Baron's side of these boundaries. Shesh added that the Hill and other Giranois holy sites must not be touched. Until such promises were made and followed, the Sharde would continue to wear their blood-feud broaches on their cloaks to remind each other that colonists were enemies. He thus left you with a “choice” between ensuring Ron made and kept this peace, or hurling the island into war.
As it seemed negotiations would go no further, you prepared to leave- Jzhurte's men would escort you out of their lands (blindfolded again). But Aym stopped you and said he would stay here now. He questioned your allegiances, commenting that it was likely the Giranois and colonists would be at each others' throats again soon, perhaps leaving the choice of which would survive on the island. You confirmed your dedication to Big Ron and distrust of the Giranois, and he seemed to understand; you parted on good terms.
And so you headed homeward, carrying a third one of the saints' weapons, a fragile new truce with the intransigent natives, and the satisfaction of driving chaos off the island!
Nothing could go wrong now…
-John
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