At the breakfast whistle blows over Opal, Mar’Khabazza forges the letter that will send House Rin’ji hoarding platinum and precious gems all winter in preparation for a misdirected trade season.
Chief of Security is dispatched to get it into the hands of the Cringeys while I have a nice bath and a nap. Maybe some tea too. Magnus plants the letter and returns.
My wheelwright comes to pay up the silver that he owes.
With nothing much else to do Magnus and Naisha range over the north of Opal and we find that my cat has been visiting the ruined church of the sun god–I have history with that ugly place–but to what end we don’t really know.
Ravenna remains in her tower, growing the herbs necessary for the creation of the enchanted bread. She’ll distribute this bread in Mar’Khabazza’s name to the denizens of North Opal who are beginning to starve after a long, unforgiving winter. She is visited by Franzahl whom she invites to dinner. Franzahl talk about the destruction of the Duergar city during the upheaval and how the seven remaining Duergar search for survivors while directing the Imperial mining effort away from the perceived location of the old city.
Ravenna asks about closing the gate that exists in the mines below Opal gate: she is considering wrapping the gate in cold iron since the Winter Elves seem to be avoiding the touch of iron. Frahnzal says, “Is it that this is as good idea as any?”
As the conversation moves on, Franzahl reveals that a creature called “a bone lord” has moved into Beryl. “A leader of leaders” of winter elves.
He also asks about the whereabouts of Gorboto the Duergar shaman and recalls his ties to the winter elves in the fight in the caves below the monastery.
He offers to “fuse the stone” from the waterworks to the Salt House, implying that he could bring hot water to the Salt House in return for Gorboto’s wareabouts.
February 27, 7762
The Postmaster and the Overseer pay a visit the Salt House. The Overseer is blustery about results and demands to know what the payment for the expedition to the Monastery has gotten them. “We are no closer to understanding how to stop the winter elves”. The Postmaster is also worried about a pending invasion but is more understanding to the details of events. As the two depart, the Postmaster pulls Mar’Khabazza aside and tells him to be urgent about figuring out a way to stop them.
February 28, 7762
After focusing her will upon her Godspark, Ravenna dives into the knowledge of all humanity and learns that Gorboto has been managing human slaves mining underneath Beryl. She also learns that Void magic comes from outside of the world snake and is the source of Winter Elf magic. Together, the Troupe decides to meet with Postmaster Malowne to create another expedition to Beryl.
That afternoon Mar’Khabazza is drawn back to the abandoned church and the Troupe heads to the old building. Entering the church and doing some exploring, they discover a mysterious node that evokes the strange tingling/sludge feeling similar to the one in the river valley (actually a point where “chaos” is closest to reality”) underneath the statue to the sun god. They also find a portal stone maybe two feet across radiating heat underneath a broken windows. It has been visited off and on by three winter elves judging by the tracks on the snow.
The troupe deduces that it’s being grown by the winter elves and that “something should be done about it” but perhaps not right now.
They leave the church and decide to visit the green-eyed-green haired noldor elf winemaker, Ilyana Valric and her assistant.
She invites them in for some very fine wine and cheese. When told about the winter elves in the church, she already knows about them and says “They are not an Opal problem, or a Provence Brilend problem or a Khasdushiz Empire problem. They are a Cignoria problem.” She has a fatalistic attitude that the winter elves will destroy everything so instead she “drinks my wine and waits”.
When pressed more about it, she says that “this late in the winter puts me in a black mood. Someday when things are brighter I can share more about the winter elves.”
Magnus thinks she is some kind of goddess of nature or the seasons.
Using the Knowledge Spark, Ravenna does a reading on her and learns that she has no soul so nothing can be gleaned about her directly. However, from extrapolating from the memories of humans around her she was very popular in Harakus a long time ago. Because the difficulty of a reading is negatively influenced by distance and positively influenced by the number of souls who know the information, it must have been a great many people indeed who knew about her.
Ravenna says “You are a long way from home” and it startles her. She then says in the magical language of healing, “Who are you?” and she replies in the same language “No one important.”
Late that night, they go gambling in the Tempest and Mar’Khabazza looses money, which is nothing unusual. But twice coins stand on edge as he flips them into the pot. Ravenna gambles and wins, then goes to the menagerie to blow it. Magnus waits at the bar and flirts with Andrea Halloran – the bartender and owner of the Tempest.
Upon arriving home, Lotwil Veriatus reports that the understudy of Mykos the Librarian is waiting for them. Without instructions, he has put him in the very cold and drafty great hall to wait.
The Librarian pleas to Mar’Khabazza that “Hoods are terrorizing Mykos!” Apparently they have forced their way into the narthex several times over the last few days and are currently barred from the building. “There is a group of them waiting outside the library right now, at this hour. I feel they want to bring harm to Mykos and we don’t know why!”
March 1, 7762
In the early, early hours of the morning, Magnus escorts Javon back to the library to speak with Mykos. He sees 6 hoods out front who don’t react to him.
Magnus goes inside and tells Mykos that Ravenna and MK will arrive in the morning and then he will “give the Hoods a lesson. it won’t take long”.
Preceded by Magnus by some hours, Ravenna and I set out in the early hours to go see what’s up with these fools harassing the library.
Before we can get there, we encounter Kyle of all people, beat up (probably deserved) on our way to the library. He’s all full of cryptic warnings for us, that we’re walking into a trap and should come with him, because he is just so trustworthy. We dither a bit about what to do and then it’s an attack.
At first it’s just some foolish hoods, easily-ish dispatched, but then, oh joy, the Slender Man turns up looking especially ghoulish to assist his goons. He tries to be reasonable: “All I want is Ravenna, is that too much to ask?” Unlike his goons, the Slender Man causes all manner of trouble with his undead kung-fu routine. He dislocates Ravenna’s spell-arm and makes me fumble around in the dark looking for my sword. I duel with him very inconclusively. I suppose the good news is that we manage to keep a hold of a fallen Ravenna until the watch is frawn to the sound of combat. After a few I’ll-be-backs, our bad guy friend splits.
Back at the Salt House the wounded are tended to, a bath is had, even if there’s no easy cure for the dose of humiliation Mean Boss Dead Man just dished out.
My cat, after a long absence, is back on the couch, talking, and once again I am compelled to question my life choices. My cat has been looking for “the Maybe-is” or some such Ravenna-talk, and padding around to a whole mess of void-gates, mostly unknown to us, that lie within cat-range. I ask to be shown these gates, the cat agrees, and leads the way. But apparently the cat is possessed of a rather better teleportation trick than I can do, and so for a second time in just a few hours, I get to be humiliated, not by a skeleton this time but by a talking cat.
March 2, 7762
We brainstorm about how to onboard the Postmaster and Overseer for our Beryl expedition prior to their arrival. Seems that we’re going to ask for Big Things. Salvage and mineral rights are high on the wishlist.
While that plan germinates, we go door to door distributing Ravenna’s magick survival bread to the Downtrodden who don’t look sufficiently impressed at my generosity. Tough crowd, the starving–who knew?
The Postmaster and Overseer turn up to enjoy the pleasures of the Salt House table and Masha pulls out all the stops. At meal’s end, when our two guests are trying desperately to shoulder a pair of major food-comas, we get down to business. I’m all: I have Secret Information(™) about Beryl! I will liberate it for the Good of Opal and Myself! I’ll free the slaves! They’re all: we’ll help by seeing if anyone is dumb enough to volunteer, but, oh please, who would do that? I’m all: You fools, this is a golden opportunity to make a colony out of Beryl and get rich off their stuff! You two can just sit here and wait for the money! They’re all: Ok, ok, fine, you can have a couple of dogsleds, and a tarp or something. I’m all: Actually, what I want is mineral rights. But I’ll take the volunteer(s) and dog sleds too. They’re all: haggle haggle haggle. I’m all: haggle haggle haggle. End result: I’ll be rich! All I have to do is kill about a thousand winter elves, a “Bone Lord,” and Gorboto the insane murderous duergar shaman. Perfect plan, what could possibly go wrong?