After two weeks, the Troupe has learned what it came for, although with some disappointment, and it is time to leave. In the end it is decided that they will leave for the Koyatki Plains and return the two sisters to their clan via the void using the map recovered from the winter elves. They will then travel to Opal to update the Council, pick up Savenia Loresong, travel though the void and infiltrate the Dark City in Tothkubad.
December 30, 7761
Ravenna opens the void gate in the caverns underneath the monastery and, after a short walk across the harrowing darkness of the walkways between the nodes, the troupe emerges from a portal located set of gigantic standing stones deep on the Koyatki Plains.
From here Ghanorlah-ben-Thylorh-mah-Lanoorha and Selthor’ah-mah-Lanoorha, the two half-sisters of the Fire Eaters Clan lead them across the dark and windswept plains under a rare clear sky filled with aurora and shooting stars. It is a two day journey of bitter cold in which the very air itself seems to freeze solid.
January 1, 7762
How the two Koyatki women find their camp in the wintery darkness is a mystery, but find it they do.
Out of the darkness they are challenged by herdsmen tending to their herds of reindeer and, with introductions from the newly-liberated Tis, there is great excitement and in a whirlwind of energy the troupe are swept into the camp. They are herded through a small village of yurts and other shelters to a central tent of heavy leather over thick birch boles followed by a good portion of the tribe. Presenting herself in front of the the tribe’s seven elders, the Tis retells the story of her betrayal and subsequent imprisonment by Oolay’ah-ben-Ethrah-mah-Lanoorhah-Tis, her release by the troupe, and her return home. After completing her story she reveals the Scepter and bejeweled Orb of the Tis and after only a perfuntory discussion is named the true leader of the tribe. However, before her ascension celebration and truly begin, one of the elders stands up to walk around the central fire roaring in its hearth to confront Magnus.
She calls him “Red Feather” and in front of the entire gathering names him butcher and enemy of the tribe. Magnus stands perfectly still, hands well away from his weapons, a eye of calm in the swirling uproar. Some cry for his immediate death while Ghanorlah and Selthor’ah come to his defense, arguing that a butcher such as Red Feather would not have bothered to restore the rightful Tis to rule.
Magnus waits for a lul in the din and says simply, “I have no memory of this Red Feather though I must look like him. cannot say where Red Feather is, but he is not here.”
One of the elders, an old crone, rises off her furs with a grunt and a sigh and shuffles directly to him, looking him hard in the eye. “Give me your hands, young man.”
She grips his wrists in her surprisingly strong grip and closes her eyes in concentration. After a pause, she opens her eyes and turns to face the collected koyatki mob. “Whatever his appearance, this man is not Red Feather and does not host the aia of Red Feather. In fact, this man has no aia at all.”
Before this pronouncement the crowd was clamouring for his death, but now the grouped koyatki back away from Magnus with the signs of warding against evil spirits. Eventually the joviality of the return of the Tis returns, though Magnus remains alone. Ravenna and Mar’khabazza, Sergeant Joktuk and the rangers are invited to stay and share the fire.
But before they get too comfortable, Ghanorlah-Tis slides up to Magnus and says, “You should leave our camp as soon as you can. While we believe that you are not Red Feather, you wear his face and some of the younger men might try to test their mettle at your expense. I’ll not have the early days of my leadership marred by violence and injury, though I will have you return to our camp come the spring thaw and I will show you the hospitality of my people.”
Without further ado, the troupe slinks away into the darkness, the rangers collaborating to find their way though the snow back to the standing stones.
January 3, 7761
The troupe and the rangers reach the standing stones and Ravenna focuses her arcane energies on the stone and a gate to the void opens. Stepping through into the murky nothingness, the group follows the Winter Elf map that will lead them across many intersections to lead them back to Tothkubad. From there they can walk to the other gate that leads to the nexus that they know leads to multiple locations around Opal and the Mulpara Mountains.