Just Confusion?

Rask scanned: the horses’ and mule’s ears, the trees, the trails. After a few minutes, his eyes settled into a pattern and he started to think again.

His eyes slowed a bit as they swept across Gustav and the sword Alexis called “Dauntless,” Torr Bjorn’s sword, a gift from Ishtar, made of start metal, and re-forged by Torr himself. The sword had rejected Rask, chosen Gustav, but Gustav spurned the sword, wished to be rid of it. Gustav Raidensbless’d seemed disgusted and disturbed by the relic. They both needed protection from the Dark Hand.

Alexis Laelius, Ethelred, they were planners, engineers. What was the plan here? Were they really going to take the sword to Mage Eye and Ursill? Even if that is his plan, doing it while being hunted by the Dark Hand and their orcs?

It must be an elaborate ruse. We learned a bit more about the enemy. We could double back soon, push the logs over the trap door, and take on Shyeeni and her orcs. We killed three quickly, we could take out the slaver and her minions before going into the caves to rescue the refugees from the other slavers below… Yes that must be the plan.

Rask scans: the horses’ and mule’s ears, the trees, the trails…

A bit later, Rask clears his throat “A-huH-lex-IS.”

He looks at the Sutheroni sharply and jerks his head back towards the cave and enemy.

He whispers, “How much time are we going to give them?”

Rask scans: the horses’ and mule’s ears, the trees, the trails…

A Remembrance Of Mysteries

After Vagram and Teldon have left the tent of the Crimson Calling, Alexis consults his notebook and then addresses the group.

“Depending on how things go up north we might be able to answer some of our outstanding questions, mostly from our time at the Greyfax estate.” Alexis looks at his companions, and through his look conveys that this is a good time to bring Ezrin up to speed on anything that might have been missed previously.

“Some of the questions that have been on my mind” Alexis pats his notebook

“What really happened on the night we witnessed?”
“What was the nature of the donkey cart with all the monies that went into the woods?”
“Who was the girl chased by the wolves? It would be nice to make sure her name is sent to the Hoodites for a proper ‘rememberance’.”
“Where were the people taken? What were the swirls in the mist?”
“What happened to Torrin, and why was he the anchor for Utiog?”
“Were they aware of Avv’s involvement? Can they tell me more about that?”
“What happened to Lady Sofia that night? Where was she?”
“Who was the girl Ty-Lin girl that haunted Telosh? … and who was eventually… um… banished to the undead city?”
“What is the name of the undead city? Is it Kobos? Do they happen to know anything about Kobos? Now that I think about it, I should ask Vagram and Teldon on our hike north, on the very-remote chance.”
“How much interaction did they have with the Dark Hand? My understanding was that the ‘night-of-the-mists’ resulted in the people at the Greyfax estate being taken away into slavery. If so, it seems reasonable that they could have had a ‘relationship’ with the Dark Hand.”
“Much to do with Barra’s cave. Did they know it was Barra’s cave? What do they know about the pool? What do they know about the Eyes?”
“Based on how much Torrin hated Arri, it seems reasonable that they might know about Arri. I would be curious to know more.”
“Do they happen to know any more about the Saggi or the Akkil?”
“Obviously, all the mysteries around the twice-broken?”

And there are some additional questions I have since we will be going north.
“What is the nature of the bell?”
“What other treasures do they know about at the undead city? Do they know more about the nature of the undead city?”
“Have they heard about lost treasures north of Middlebar?”
“What was the effect within Middlebar when the villagers came out and confronted the Aegirian army?”

Alexis looks between his companions, mutely asking for additional questions, or ready to answer questions they have about his questions.

Sword Snatching Strategy 2: Dark Hand Boogaloo

Near the end of the time the group spends resting, studying, and practicing, Ezrin catches the groups attention,

“Now that we know where the Well-Trained Pony is How are we going to get past those Green Shirts, with enough time to deal with The Ruins…

“And are we really going to do it while Pool-issumus Light Foot is watching us?”

After a few minutes of confused looks, Ezrin sighs and clarifies:

“The sword we want, it’s been broken twice, like a well trained Westlander… ‘s pony.”

He looks expectantly at the others, clearly wondering if they are on to his cant or need more explanation.

Twice Broken, Twice Mended

The Sword then, the one we seek, breaking it, again? will remove the Scarred Orcs, ‘The Made,’ from the board and weaken the Dark Hand.”

Ezrin looks to Alexis for confirmation.

“So, it’s not the Sword Chaotic, and the weilder of the Chaos Sword doesn’t want it found? Or the Chaos Sword itself? And it is connected to a dead god what weeps and whose wound is being used by the… Dark Hand to do something with Orcs referred to as The Made?

An I missing something? Do we know anything about the Peacemakers? The Sword Chaotic itself? Who calls these three stripe orcs the The Made? Any clue how the sword was broken before? Mended?

Beyond the Trail of the Giant

In camp, some days after leaving the valley of chaos and cold.

“I’ve a thought… what if we don’t have to kill the giant to get the sword? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for killing the giant, but it seems like there is a lot of other things going on, and the longer this takes, the more… strange things get. Maybe we should try to deal with the swords first.

“The giant is our goal because of the Twice Broken Sword, be believe it is in the fort, right?

He looks at all his companions.

“Raff is… concerned about the Twice Broken Sword, but the Chaos Blade is not, correct?

He looks at Alexis.

“We know Earycka has more access to the inner workings of the fort that we do…”

He looks around at every one and pauses to see see if at least Alexis and Red are following his line of thinking…

“We are deal-makers after all…”

Order and Chaos

Not long after seeing the Kohlar, Priest of Anashar preach, Telosh signals to Alexis and behind a hand quietly mentions:

“Perhaps the good friar would know the right thing to do with Raff’s tooth.”

Telosh makes the signals, Priest, Law, Sword.

“If it is broken, surely he’d be the right one to deal with it.”

Twice Break, Sword. Three times.

Brittle Sword. Easy to Break?

Sometime during the two weeks after Utiog has been destroyed, Alexis is walking with Ethelred through what used to be the village green.

“Having seen the sword in action, do you still think it is very fragile and easy to break? From what you’ve said, Barra bashed it several times against the ground while destroying Utiog. A layman like me would think that a powerful being like Barra smashing a sword on the ground would destroy a weak sword.”

What now?

Lucius looks around at his companions, and his “liege,” stirs the dirt a bit with a stick, and speaks up,

“We’ve done a bit of exploring, and survived a group of outriders, and now the army is moving out of the Copper Hills fort, it seems to me that we’ve kicked the nest a bit already, and there is a strong likelihood Barra will attack the fort soon…

“Red’s suggestion from a few nights ago was a good one, and now that the army is on the move, it seems like it is time to return to the fort and begin to plan for the inevitable. Being in the woods while Barra attacks the fort doesn’t seem like it will help us fr… break the sword.”

Bora Bloodfist’s Proclaimation!

Telosh – Sneakthief! The scavenger Grokxex, she knows you, from your drunken desperate stench. You came upon her hunt and stole it.   Grokxex was starving, and you made off with her last meal. She resorted to chewing on berries and leaves that were poison and she perished.  Do you deny this?  Do you take responsibility for this?  …This is good. She-Who-Is-Fierce wishes for such weakness and stupidity to be culled.  When  Grokxex returns to us she will be blessed now, with better eyes and ears for detecting and rooting out those who would try to steal and sneak.  She-Who-Is-Fierce is grateful.

Gustav – The spirits of those first free’d by the peacemakers…you fought a memory of them in a fragment of this world…they know you and only wish they had been cut down by your blade originally, and reborn, instead of trapped by the spirit catcher of these hills. You called them goblins as an insult, and goblins were the minions of the spirit catcher, and so they have sworn a blood oath to She-Who-Is-Fierce that they will not be so easy to defeat once they are full-grown again. Your taunting has made them more savage and even if they were to fall on a spear they will have the power for one last killing blow.

Ethelred –  Seedling of the one who wielded the Fangblade, a warrior of  Kuststad who fought with the ageless wanderer. The beginning of a war that until recently raged ceaselessly in these lands.  Those who were cut down by the Fangblade grew more fierce in their return and thus our tribes have become more powerful, with warriors who know no bounds.  Those who were cut down by the Fangblade are among the greatest of us today!  She-Who-Is-Fierce was most pleased.  You must be a peerless warrior and leader to your people!

Alexis – You are the one who She-Who-Is-Fierce has sent us visions of, and the Lady has led us to you. The dead god wanders the hunting range of She-Who-Is-Fierce and she tires of his presence. He mourns and weeps and is quite unseemly.   She-Who-Is-Fierce worries the dead god will make sheep of our people.  She would allow him to walk back into the world and become reborn as is our way, but he cannot as he is barred by his own making.  She-Who-Is-Fierce wishes a boon of you, now that you have walked the steps of the peacemakers who free’d our people.  With them gone,  She-Who-Is-Fierce has guided me to you in hopes that you will attain the object which holds the last of the dead god’s powers, and break the spell that stops She-Who-Is-Fierce from casting him out.  The Peacemakers were our allies by blood oath, but now they are gone, defeated by the slavers.  The call of war will soon begin again.  Find the Peacemakers weapon, a broken sword mended twice, guarded by many spears, in the place the humans have named for the metal they dig from the earth, and break it for the third time to give She-Who-Is-Fierce free range again before her children must fight.  The battle to come may be the toughest any of our tribe has ever faced, and we would not do it hobbled.