Aria joined the campaign. Several people could not make the session, so it was small.

The GM made stuff up based on which NPCs were around in Apple Lane.

IC Play

Aria had overwintered in Tarsh, with her family, but some family spat or argument led to one of her uncles essentially showing her the door, and then the city gate. She went via Alda Chur and Dangerford to Jonstown, meeting with a wet duck¹ roadblock² on the way. From there, she was invited to join a caravan going to Jonstown by a merchant there, Dagryr. Dagryr asked her to look out for a thing, an arm ring that had gone missing from there, and might still be in the area. The loss of it, Dagryr said, was likely to be causing disharmony. She described it as having Harmony and Movement Runes, and the Rune of Sartar.

Dagryr was putting together a caravan with two other people, Pallia and Sangen. Pallia had 4 mules and Sengen only had one, and specialised in taking orders for metals and high-value goods, and in passing orders on. Aria added her mules, and they agreed to meet the next morning.

When morning came, Dagryr was held up by something and said to go ahead, according to Pallia, so they went through Birne's Squeeze and came safely to Apple Lane. Just as they were setting up, and people were flocking round, they heard the sound of breaking furniture from the Tin Inn, and Varaema apologised for the Storm Bill. Then she went in to calm Granshi. The visitor had drawn a human-shaped target on the wall in charcoal, and was practicing throwing furniture at it, while Gooseberry cowered behind his rock-built serving counter. Varaema managed to talk him down³ but could not extract a promise he would not do it again. However, as the conversation was ending, he suddenly began to sniff the air, and said there was Chaos about, and he needed to deal with it. He got back to the market, trailing Varaema.

Androus had been talking with the merchants, getting to know them, but did not see Sangen go missing immediately after Varaema left. However, Aria spotted a figure escaping very fast on a horse. Shortly thereafter Granshi arrived, found out who was missing, and went and violently stole a horse from Hendroste, punching him out of the way. Hendroste, who had just had a horse taken by Sangen thought it was the same robbery and came to report it to the village square, as he did not want to chase after a Storm Bull in full flood.

Androus and Varaema gave chase. Androus managed to catch up with them first. Granshi had just thrown himself from his horse onto the merchant's and they were grappling while they fell, with Granshi already having been stabbed. Androus managed, after a little time, to grab the reins of the merchant's horse, and get it away. Granshi stabbed and slashed at the merchant but some magic kept his weapons from harming Sangen. The merchant was mostly defending himself and backing off. Varaema repeatedly tried to get between the two who were fighting, and repeatedly failed as she bounced off Granshi, who was almost twice her size.

Finally, realising that he was unlikely to win, the merchant ran off, casting Mobility to get away, and sprinting across broken ground towards cover. Granshi chose that point to ask Varaema to pull the dagger out of his gut, which she did⁴. He keeled over. Varaema noticed that the edge of the wound she was trying to deal with were coated in something strange, but noticed it too slowly to stop herself getting it all over Granshi's skin as well. The Storm Bull stayed uncharacteristically silent, and indeed limp, as they carried him back to town. They took him to the Ulerian Temple to be looked after.

Meanwhile, Pallia asked Aria if Dagryr had asked her anything odd, which led into a conversation about the arm ring. Dagryr had asked Pallia to look out for it, and even offered money. Pallia said she would give Aria a cut if it was located, but had little connection to her god right now, hinting heavily that Aria could Divine for it. After waiting for a bit, and thinking about it, Aria did, and was told it was 'On the arm of Harmony, and in the Hero Plane', a strange combination. She also had a receipt from Issaries - probably part of the divination process but nevertheless also a holy mystery.

Pallia also asked Androus about the ring, offering a broken Wheel and the bit of gold to mend it, as payment. He said he would have a think about it overnight.

Varaema went to ask her goddess how to deal with a Storm Bull and wake him up peacefully. She received the answer, 'Dispel the magic upon him and cast Tame Bull'.

She later asked how to rid herself of the greed ring, and was told, 'Rid it of the arm, or the arm of greed'.

Other Things

by Amber Game

Laika had some of her pigs on someone else's land, although not all of them had been driven from Clearwine.

Androuranos was slightly out of time, having missed a couple of sessions.

Plot was based on working out what would happen in winter, and doing it, plus the scorpion men and scorpionid stat blocks from Stone and Bone on DrivethruRPG.

IC Play

Androuranos returned to his Temple in Boldhome, to silence and then whispering and the direct greeting of the Light Son, Farenor. He was questioned by Farenor and others about the exact circumstances of the change on the Hill of Gold. He spoke of what had happened and demonstrated the ability to create fire on his spear-head. He talked about successful bridge-building, but Farenor reminded him that Yelmalio stood alone, and was strongest that way.

The Temple called on Andros to take up his seasonal service so that they could study the spear, with the warriors falling into a faction - by far the largest - that supported the notion Yelmalio's power had been returned by his bravery, and a faction that supported the idea friendship had helped him. Andros' understanding of the sacred Lore was that it was his own actions and bravery that had pushed Zorak Zoran aside, and nothing to do with the bridges he was building with others.

Helver Swordsman did thank him personally for the Hill of Gold victory, mentioning a lost spear and bow. The thanks came with a warning not to go through Birne's Squeeze alone, if he was travelling to Apple Lane, as there were many bandits reported. Androus went via Clearwine instead.

Laika's pig-landlord - the man with the hide and a half - suggested marriage to her. She considered it, and decided it was time she found out his name.¹ She was happy with the notion of a year-marriage. They decided to wait for Saronil to come round, so he could attend.

Thus, some days later, Saronil woke up to find one of the pretty initiates at the Ulerian Temple was flirting with him outrageously. He did not notice that part at all, but listened carefully to her instructions on eating.² He went over to the Tin Inn to be asked if there was anything he could not eat at the wedding feast, which rather surprised him, but he was happy for Laika.

There was threshing to be done, and everyone took a hand at it. After a while it was decided that Varaema should look after the children instead of trying to move the flail or the sieve, and the threashing got faster. Varaema was very sweet with the children who from the age of about four up swore to defend her with violence if necessary. One of them tried to vanquish Saronil, but was defeated by the man's scabbard. Varaema sent them off to fight oak trees.

Androus got into Apple Lane just in time for the wedding, and to have an emergency gift made. He gave the pair an earring each, a golden pig that Squinch helped him to cast from a Wheel. Saronil gave Laika his best, very expensive, sharpening stone, because her axe frankly needed it. Varaema gave her a little lead pig charm on a necklace. Rastar, as an entertainer, was exempt from gift-giving in an official capacity. Durggi, Laika's new husband, gave everyone gifts of food and drink, and there was a great party.

In the morning, Rastar took a couple of the older boys of the village out ice-fishing, and they showed him how to hook and cast, and then one, Arlan, of them spotted a monster fish below the ice. One massive yank later, and Arlan had been pulled into the water. Rastar wisely decided not to go in, but his friend Duli started stripping off to swim and Rastar tied a rope to his ankle, so he could be pulled back if need be. There was a disturbance beneath the water and a lot of blood, and the rope went limp. When Rastar pulled it back it had only the leg attached. He stabbed down through the ice hole with a spear and got the fish, which swam away. Arlan managed to get back up, gasping, and dressed in Duli's clothes to survive the trip back.

Back at Apple Lane, Duli's parents were informed and Varaema used White Lady magic to heal Duli's body so there was enough to bury.³ They discussed what to do. Rastar recognised the sort of fish as a Malani Alynxfish and Saronil (was it Saronil) remembered where the Alynxfish Clan were, out on the edges of the Malani-Colymar land argument.

After some discussion the young man's blood price was fixed at 60 Lunars, and the group set off to to Malani lands to tell them a holy catfish had killed a Colymar boy. This involved going through Birne's Squeeze, which was fair enough, as they were in a group. They set off between snow falls, as the God-talker of Orlanth said that the weather would be good for a day.

They set off, with only light snow, which soon stopped. On the way through Birne's Squeeze to Jonstown, they encountered strange footsteps which Varaema confidently pronounced to be Impala⁴, although they seemed a little pointier than that. After about an hour, they came across a man standing alone in the rocky valley, and he asked them about Chaos he was hunting. He had Air and Beast and Death signs very prominent. However, as he sniffed the air something went wrong, and he decided that Androus was Chaotic.⁵Fortunately Varaema intervened⁶ and calmed him, and he tried again and admitted maybe it was not Androus. He asked⁷ them to come with him to fight it. They turned back, and soon found the pointy tracks again.

These tracks were followed, and turned out to belong to some scorpion men and a set of strange carapaced humanoids with stinging tails. The beasts went under the snow and emerged from a tunnel. Fortunately, no stings managed to hit the adventurers, and they made short work of the problem. One surviving scorpion man fled down his tunnel, as Granshi the Storm Bull gave chase, losing both of his weapons in his berserk frenzy, and punching it hard enough to break carapace. Androus caught up with them and unwisely but nobly finished off the scorpion man, resulting in a berserk storm bull with no obvious foes turning on him. Fortunately Granshi had lost both of his weapons already, but he managed to do damage to himself, Androus, Saronil, and Saronil's shield before Varaema caught up. After this he thanked them, and they told him about Apple Lane needing a hero. He said he had heard, and was heading that way if nothing else got in the way.

The bodies of the scorpion things were burned, and they parted ways with Granshi, with him going to Apple Lane and them on to the Malani lands and the clan of the Alynxfish.⁸There, the chief of the clan, also confusingly called Saronil, listened to the complaint, and said it was not his problem, and he would not be paying the blood money. He also refused to deal with the fish, but said that the skin belonged to the Malani.⁹

The group returned to Apple Lane with this news.

Other Things

by Amber Game

Androus the Yelmalian was still away, but the others were all present in Apple Lane.

Plot was a list of things that needed to be done for winter, but with an understanding that the adventurers might have their own ideas. They did, and it was entertainingly terrible. Plot enemy was provided by Tom McKinnell, who has deployed him against innocents.

IC Play

After a little time spent attending to such things as the cutting of trees and the dragging of wood, the adventurers gathered, their Rune points replenished, to decide how to deal with the great boar, Red-eye. Led by Ethrava, they concluded they were going to have to Heroquest to weaken the boar and strengthen themselves. They considered Orlanth and Aroka, but settled on a Yinkin quest, with Rastar to play Yinkin, and Laika to be Odayla, a huge figure out in the wilds.

Aileena did not offer to help, but Kareena the god-talker was happy to help them into the Heroplane, in the hope of seeing more of the great things they had previously done. Laika set off to the wilderness, carrying her crossbow just in case of trouble. Kareena danced a spiral in the snow for some time, and then the adventurers found themselves outlined by a longhouse, and Ethrava began to lament how her people were being attacked. She sang about it, and unfortunately did so without reference to the correct song.¹ At that point, the enemy of the house - tusk riders - rode through the ritual. Laika, who was at a bit of a distance, noticed them, but everyone else was surprised as they burst out of the snow. One went for a farmer with a lance attack. Three went for Varaema, the softest-looking target.

Saronil snapped up a shield spell for Varaema, which undoubtedly saved her life, and she was hit twice, hard. However, it used up all of his Rune points. The tusk riders got away, with Ethrava failing to Befuddle a tusker.² Laika tried to shoot, but missed, and the tusk riders got away into the snow. The adventurers turned out to be bad at tracking, and could not work out where they had come from or where going to.³ Varaema healed herself, first with magic and then with First Aid.

That evening, Rastar was earwormed by the music Ethrava had been singing. There was something wrong about it, and for a while he could not work it out. When it finally hit him, he realised there had been someone else singing too. Ethrava had made mistakes, but the other voice, also a woman's, had been malevolent, and taken advantage of Ethrava's errors to invite disaster in. When Rastar told his friends this, they managed to decide on another Heroquest to go after the voice and defeat their enemy, so they could get on with defeating Red-eye, without the previous defeat and the tusk rider enemies hanging over them.

Kareena was still happy to help, and Ethrava managed to cajole and persuade the farmers into enthusiasm, based on their cachet in the town⁴. They set off into another Heroquest, this one started inside where they could not be attacked, with lookouts posted. As they started to move into the Hero Plane to look for a thing, the Durulz cook from the Tin Inn came running to say their trophy had been stolen.

This time, they set out from Ernalda's longhouse. Ethrava found herself playing Uralda, the cattle mother, an Eirithan aspect. Ernalda was Laika. Rastar was Yinkin, but inside he was sure he was Eurmal really. They tried to set off, but Yinkin could not find any tracks, no matter how hard he cast spells or tried.

Ernalda, however, could feel something lying on the Earth that did not belong there, and they set off towards it. Soon, at the edge of the Storm Tula, they came across a longhouse in a round enclosure. Reddish smoke was issuing from a chimney, of all things. Humakt, or Saronil, recognised the shape of house, path, and wall as making up the Moon Rune. Ernalda, annoyed by the newfangled chimney or the Rune itself, ignited the thatch, which caught nicely but did not all burn away. In fact, the fire just stayed where it was, tame.

Yanafil Tarnils came out of the house to invite everyone in.⁵ Uralda accepted, and Ernalda hinted to Yinkin to go around the back, not through the door of hospitality. Saronil told Yanafil Tarnils he had nothing to talk about, and drew his sword.

Inside, Uralda was offered food and drink by a red-headed woman. The same red-headed woman simultaneously opened the back door to put out fish scraps and talk to Yinkin, although they did not realise this at the time. Time itself was a little strange in that longhouse, and they spent some hours eating and drinking, with the woman showing off all of her master's things but hardly mentioning the glowing, beautiful arm-ring that was set on a shelf. Yinkin, recalling he was really Eurmal in disguise, snaffled it. They left, and the door was barred behind them.

Outside, there had been all sorts of drama, subjectively fitted into a few seconds. Ernalda had cast Absorption on Humakt, while Yanafil Tarnils failed to cast his own magic. Humakt called on his own godly power, however, and managed to shatter the scimitar. Yanafil Tarnils did not surrender at that point. Instead, he cast Repair. The Moon God was plainly a better warrior, and Humakt was without his magic, but the magic that Yanafil Tarnils cast next went into the spell, and Ernalda felt her spirit refilled from the ignition of the roof. They put almost identical cuts on each other. Finally, Yanafil Tarnils got brought down by Humakt, but then his massively boosted Mindblast went off, punching through Humakt's spell protection. Then Ernalda went for him with an axe, and she'd spent all of her magic but Yanafil Tarnils hadn't, and defended himself successfully, then used Madness on her. Like Humakt a moment before, she fell.

The warrior god healed himself as Uralda and Yinkin stared, and he limped back to his home, and they went and sanctified an area for Ernalda, which gave them a cubic pit to climb out of back in the Middle World. Rastar had the arm-ring, which he excitedly showed off to the others and Kareena. Unfortunately, it now had a Moon Rune on it. They hid it, thanked everyone, and sent for Squinch. He was able to identify its magical properties - people would want it, and it was designed to bring Disorder. Ethrava noted they could use the Dragonnewt Plinth to get rid of the thing. Squinch suggested he look after it just to be safe, and was quickly pushed out of the door with thanks.

Varaema decided to Divine on it, and had a vision in which she could see people arguing, and… fumbled Harmony. And put the arm ring on. To save others from arguing, of course. To everyone else, it disappeared, and most people thought that Rastar had squirrelled it away.

Other Things

Apple Lane is now more likely to be quarrelsome and greedy. All of the worshippers will take a 10% boost to Darkness and Disorder. Those who took part, including Kareena, are immune to that, but may have other effects.

Saronil was imprisoned in his own mind, fighting Kargan Tor and losing every time.

by Amber Game

Dark Season in Sartar is a time of snow and gales, and also, I decided ice shinty grudge matches against nearby clans.

What is ice shinty? Well, like ice hockey, but with less armour and more cheating.

Plot devices were provided by other members of my RPG group.

An extra player and a missing player meant Asprag, Ethrava's tenant, was promoted from NPC to PC for the evening.

IC Play

Asprag the Farmer found himself voted in as captain of the Shinty Team for the in-no-way-a-grudge-match against the Varmandings, the clan team from across the river. With so few people living in Apple Land and the clan, and with travel difficult, he appealed to the adventurers for help. Laika, Rastar, and Ethrava were in the village, and agreed to help.

Laika was already a competent skater. The rest were issued with skates and some quick lessons. Rastar turned out to get the hang of it pretty quickly. Ethrava… less so. Asprag sent Laika out to check out the river where it was going to be held, and Laika managed to work out that yes, it was a river, and frozen, and then came back.

Meanwhile, Saronil had been offered a quick bit of escort duty by Graria, the Lay Captain¹ of the Temple of Humakt. Escorting a man to Apple Lane was exactly the sort of thing he felt he could do. Graria asked if he knew what Shinty was. When he didn't, he was invited to take a healer along; naturally, he plumped for Varaema.

The journey was not difficult. On the way Saronil worked out that he was with another Humakti, but one he did not recognise. At Apple Lane they met the large group of clan players and hamlet folk on their way out, and quickly followed along.

Asprag went out to help the opposing captain cut the centre line, as tradition dictated. His opposing number asked why there was a White Lady present, complaining that he wanted to get home that day. It was agreed that if someone had been healed of a major injury, they would not go back on the ice.

Rastar, as the person in the brightest clothing, was sent to choose a sapling for a puck. After the tree had been chosen and looked at for a bit, Laika was sent to help him choose a better shaped tree, and it was cut down and the puck made.

Asprag chose to put Ethrava and himself on the ice first, with Rastar and a few others. He got himself in control of the puck pretty quickly, and Ethrava fell over and got stamped on pretty heavily. Apple Lane drew ahead in the game, but the Varmandings were definitely more violent.

While sitting on the sidelines and cheering, having had her ribs put back in place by Varaema, Ethrava noticed blood on the snow, and rather more than she remembered anyone spilling. She called over Laika and they investigated - the ground was bleeding. Varaema's patient noticed and the WHite Lady came over, to say she could not do First Aid on the ground. Ethrava called up an earth spirit to find out what was under there. It was prepared to talk to her and to Laika - Laika even understood from its habits of speech that it was the sort of spirit that wanted blood. It said there was a dead thing under the ground.

Laika, Ethrava, and a couple of farmers began to dig.² They got to a bit of a body, and a ghost began to form, and this was not the talkative kind - it attacked them instantly, and they had to destroy it, which caused the game of shinty to be paused. Laika got covered in the physical touch of the ghost, a layer of frozen gunk.³

Afterwards, they were able to ascertain that the bit of body they had pulled up was just that - a bit. A quartered corpse had been buried, with pig teeth embedded in the skin here and there. Reluctantly they asked for a longer pause in the game and began searching for the other bits. They found more, and fought another ghost, while the Varmanding team did nothing to help, but did at least agree to the game being paused. This was fortunate, as Asprag was rendered unconscious in the fight, and had to be put somewhere warm for a bit. Laika got gunked again. It was just as unpleasant the second time around.

While Rastar built a snow-corpse to help with the preparation of someone who was missing a lot of himself, one of the Hiordling team turned out to be a hunter who went out to get his alynx. Using her skills, he found two more spots under the snow, and one where he was sure there would be… something. Asprag was just about awake enough to decide to use all of his Rune Points to protect himself in spirit block… and they fought two small ghosts and then a huge angry pig-ghost. Asprag ended up unconscious again, and so Saronil was put in charge.

Then, leaving Varaema to put the spirit of the corpse safely to rest, the others went back to finish the shinty match. The other side were not prepared for the tactical Humakti's instructions to his team, and could not keep up with the skill and ferocity of Laika and the other farmers. With the healer occupied, it was over before dark, and the Hiordlings won, taking the trophy, an arm ring with some history. Asprag came round again in time to take the trophy home.

There was a lot of celebration, and the Humakti who had been escorted to Apple Lane seemed entirely unmoved by it.⁴

Other Things

A man with a hide and a half of land including some oak trees made an agreement with Laika to have her pigs on his land.

Shinty is hilarious because extra rules keep cropping up. Yes, you DO have to be conscious AND holding the stick, in a hand that IS still connected to your body… and there is precedent for every single ruling.

by Amber Game

Mostly on Fireday of Disorder Week.

Earlier in the day there had been an attack on a farm outside Apple Lane, by two Tusk Riders, who had kidnapped a farmer. He had been rescued, and the group repaired to the Tin Inn. Saronil, who had not been there, was escorting a group from Clearwine.

Plot taken from Chaosium GM Pack. This was the actual Defending Apple Lane plot as written, with last week's used as an expanded preamble.

IC Play

Saronil, Laika Pigwife (no close relation to the famous Leika) and Rastar the Entertainer were on their way from Clearwine to Apple Lane when the weather came down hard, and they had to force their way through the snow. About an hour away they saw shapes in the trees, and Saronil made the decision that they should not investigate, but press on despite the weather. They met a horseman coming the other way in the dark, and he had met Saronil before - he was Hendroste from Apple Lane. He took them via routes that were mostly clear of snow, and they got into the Tin Inn safely, if a little cold. Hendroste reported to those who were there that he could not get through - the shapes in the trees were probably Tusk Riders. Instead, he had brought back Saronil the warrior, and some famed members of the Ernaldori.

Introductions happened - Laika was chiefly famous for having negotiated with a Stone Goddess and brought her into an alliance with the Clan, while Rastar claimed to be an entertainer, but had a fine sword with him, and armour to wear as well as his bright clothes. Laika said she was there to try to arrange to buy cattle. Ethrava recognised the story, and knew that Laika was enmeshed in politics. The Colymari knew a little about each other already.¹

The group prepared for the coming fight, with a warding in front of the Tin Inn and one at the back gate.² They spent much of the night pouring water onto the ground where it could freeze under snow. A wagon was pulled into position to help bar the big front gate, and the Sun Elk, Gnasher, was tied just behind the wagon.³

Around dawn, six Tusk Riders came, along the road and then filtering through the trees. They stopped out of spirit magic range to put on their own magic, and then charged. The first one in line slid on the ice⁴ and came in sideways, and was hit by the fourth in line, also sliding⁵. The other pigs managed to charge the gate but did not do much damage. Meanwhile, Androus peppered them with arrows⁶. Saronil leaned down to Repair the gate, using his spirit magic. After one of the tusk riders was left dead the group split up with some going around to the back while others stayed at the front.

Saronil and Ethrava dashed for the back, and Androus stayed up top on the wall. The biggest Tusk Rider took down his shield and he aimed for that man as they charged. Things got a little complicated as the gate took hammering after hammering. At the back a tusker managed to break the gate, but came to a dead halt as it did, only to run itself into Ethrava's befuddle spell, blocking the doorway. Its rider leapt off to face Saronil, and Laika stepped up to be the Humakti's back-up.

Despite Hendroste and Androus' defence at the front, the main gate gave way, but there was only one Tusk Rider there as a second lay dead on the ground with an arrow in his eye. On the ground were Rastar and the Sun Elk, Gnasher. Rastar stepped up and put his sword through the last Tusk Rider's abdomen, but got his sword stuck.⁷ This made very little difference as no sword could have helped him - the tusker completely mashed his head, destroying his helmet on the way.

Saronil managed to bring the Tusk Rider down, eventually. Laika calmly stepped in and finished the job when the man just refused to die. Ethrava then befuddled one of those who was going back around to the main gate.

Varaema threw herself off the wall where she had been crouching in case the archers were injured, and cast Harmony, making everyone calm. Everyone except Gnasher, who calmly ignored the calm peace offered by Chalana Arroy and threw a tusker into the air, damaging it badly.

The end result was a very dead Rastar, a sleeping Gnasher, and the bodies of several⁸ of the riders and tuskers. Androus saw one of the Tusk Riders pulling away the body of the leader, dead with a Yelmalian arrow through his eye. His geas to challenge darkness creatures to a first blood duel kicked in. With Saronil alongside and Asprag the farmer as a tracker, they set off into the snow. Pretty soon they saw the body of the leader of the tuskers, but they had to keep following the trail - three of the beasts had left this way.

Laika and Hendroste escorted Varaema and the body of Rastar (with extra bits in a bucket) to Clearwine, as fast as they could, with the body tied onto Varaema's High Llama. As they cut through the forest they found they were being followed by something, or else something huge was going in the same direction as them. Once they were out of the trees they could hurry along, but Hendroste was very apologetic over the danger he had put them in.

In Clearwine, Varaema had the body brought into the Lightbringers' Temple, where she used Heal Body to give Rastar a head back. They asked for their friend to be brought back to life, and on the spirit plane, Rastar met a goddess dressed in white. He recognised her as Chalana Arroy, and took an apple from her and ate it, on her instruction. This reminded him of the world, and it was delicious but strangely heavy.⁹ He woke with the taste of apples in his mouth.

Meanwhile the group had successfully followed the trail of the Tusk Rider who got away, but only Androus could keep up, so he ended up pulling ahead of his comrades. He managed to draw blood on his enemy, but the tusker charged him, the rider kept using some sort of spell¹⁰, and Androus turned¹¹ and found Saronil again. They did not pursue further.

Back at the inn, Ethrava had calmed people down, helped make sure all was going well, and settled in. Everyone gathered there, and shortly there was a party in their honour. Hastur Lawspeaker arrived the next day to thank them on behalf of the Queen, and ask them as great killers of pigs to deal with Red-eye the boar.

Right at the end of the session, on Godsday, a letter arrived for Saronil. It was from Lord Eril, asking him to call on the Boldhome Temple as a personal favour.¹²

Other Things

Laika has decided to pick up Command Swine. Rastar has decided that Eurmal stole his Divine Intervention Rune Point, and is sulking. He is also rather poor again, having spent his ransom. He and Laika did some serious talking about wills and property if they should die.

by Amber Game

Ethrava, Saronil and Varaema were in Boldhome, where Ethrava was the newest Initiate in the Temple.

Plot is taken from the Chaosium Gamemaster Screen Pack adventure book.

IC Play

High Earth (or maybe Low Earth) Priestess Kalis asked her dear Ethrava to deliver a letter to Apple Lane, and to take a guard or two with her. Ethrava grabbed Saronil and Varaema and took them that way. Varaema also agreed to get some Red-root powder from the Horsemaster there.

On the way, however, they saw¹ a dragon flying overhead. The dragon scared their mounts as it flew off into the distance, meaning Varaema had to put the Sun Elk to sleep to let Ethrava catch it again. They then woke it up and hurried onward, reaching a steading with dead cattle and dead people. The poisonous breath of the dragon had killed much of what had not been killed by the beast itself, including one of the farmers. The survivors, helped by Varaema's knowledge of how to treat poison, burned their dead. The adventurers then gave them an escort to Clearwine, to see the Queen.

Queen Leika was concerned about the report, and asked them to look into whether it was in the Thunder Hills, and also ask the Dryad Tarndisil² for what knowledge she had. Dunorl, Storm Voice of Orlanth, gave them the run-down on how to deal with dragons, and after that Hastur the Law-speaker told them about the history of dragon-killers in the area, and an old grave or two where he thought they might be buried. Dunorl also gave them a bag that would command the wind inside it, just in case they happened to run into the dragon while investigating. They lodged the letter and the message for the Horsemaster with the Lawspeaker.

Then, they dutifully went off to see the Dryad³, and she did them the honour of coming to the edge of her grove⁴ so that Saronil did not have to leave his sword behind. She spoke mainly to Ethrava, who was a Priestess-in-training of Ernalda. Tarndisil was generous with information about the dragon known as Yezerum Storn, whom she remembered from the time of the Empire of the Wyrms Friends. She probably wished for worship once more, and was likely in or by the Queen's Tomb - both of the Sartarite Natives knew where that was.

She also said that if Leika wished for a lasting peace, she could create it by bringing Tarndisil the tusks of Red-eye the boar.

They came back to Clearwine⁵ with the message to find that Leika was away, searching the Starfire Ridge for the dragon. Dunorl bored them for a while until Hastur moved him gently aside to explain a point of law, and suggested that while the Queen was away they could go to Apple Lane with their message, and take the chance to go past the Old Grave he had mentioned, on Malani lands.

This, they did.⁶ They found their way towards the grave site, pausing along the way only long enough to insult a group of Malani hugely when a trade-talk conversation went wrong⁷. Fortunately, the person doing the talking was a White Lady and therefore not immediately a target. Thus, they blundered around for a few days, until they found hospitality at a hearth where the farmer knew which old grave they meant, and sent them there with his boy.

They found that the place had already been opened some time ago, but on crawling in - Ethrava first as she was of the Earth⁸ they found themselves in an offering chamber. There was a body there, a corpse holding a silver cup as if he had died in the act of theft. There were also bowls and cups that might once have held offerings. Saronil put the cup back where it looked like it went, and then filled the cups and bowls a little before Ethrava led the way into the next room. There was a pile of grave goods and the ghost of a big man who appeared to be angry at them that he was forgotten. Ethrava talked him around quickly, and he agreed to let his equipage be used for this single task as long as the Colymar came to make offerings once a year, at his grave.

With this managed, they borrowed his kit, hauled the dead corpse outside to make sure its spirit had gone on, and set off for Clearwine. On the way they saw the dragon flying overhead again, probably heading to the Tomb, and certainly for that area.

Other Things

The group paused a little early to allow other adventurers to join the group next week.

The GM would like a medal for not calling this episode 'enter the dragon'. For one, that might be next week when she kills them all.

by Amber Game