Drûr 22-28, 652 DR: A party is held at the Bloody Inn to celebrate the heroes’ victory over the Ghûls. A would-be assassin nearly ends an Immortal life. A local priest offers assistance to the adventurers. A man from Tressta’s past sends a seasonal proposition. Dammon makes plans to rebuild and claim the House of Tharad’Zor. All hail the King of Cenotaph! A disturbing case of attempted suicide. Mishara visits a chamber few ever leave. Preparations are made for the wedding of Jak of Cænden and Dadra Rumm. The day arrives.

Continued from Shores of Sêryð Swell.

Roydor, 22 Drûr 652

It was a festive night at the Bloody Inn of Dolor. The heroes had returned from Cenotaph Cemetery and the common room was crowded with townsfolk wanting to hear about the Great Ghûl Hunt. Everyone wanted a chance to drink with the strangers that had rid the region of the terrible menace. Dammon Shroudson sat at the counter and amused onlookers with harmless prestidigitations,Mishara was cornered near the fireplace by men asking about the fight, and Tressta basked in the attention of Doloron bachelors (and non-bachelors). Upstairs, Alcèrra kept prayerful vigil over the unconscious forms of Jak and Bear Nogrodd, waiting for the effects of the Ghûl’s breath to leave them. As the night bore onward, the common room crowds faded, and Dammon bid good-night to the fortune-teller Kurra who’d he’d spoken with at length toward the night’s end. Kurra gathered up her tarotry and left.

Sūdìdor, 23 Drûr 652

Later, in the dark of early morning, the sound of Mishara’s scream filled the inn, as an assailant’s sword cut deeply into his back, pulling him from his deep repose. The Eylfāe rolled from his bed but found he could not move except slowly. The assassin cut at him again and again as he reached for a sword that seemed eternally out of his reach. Alcèrra burst through the door in her night-clothes, her trident leveled against any foe that might appear. Her Yrūn eyes could see little in the shuttered room, but she soon spiedMishara’s assailant and stabbed at his shape. Despite his injuries, the assassin continued stabbing at the Eylfāe, intent on finishing this murder. Mishara blocked what he could, but his blood-loss was great. Next, Dammon appeared in the doorway, and with two volleys of Lāllan’s Lightning the assassin fell heavily to the floor. The assistant innkeeper, Iala, appeared in the hallway with a candelabra to shed light on the aftermath. Mishara, weak from blood loss, struggled to his bed as the priestess turned over the assassin’s body. It was Aren Zarad, the archer that Bear had warned them about. As the Alàmra enchantment faded from his Eylfāe-flesh, Mishara inspected his fallen “friend” and found that his ears had been docked and singed. Aren too was Eylfāe, and likely Nehkrul Neylfèrahl by his reckoning. The assassin was bound and moved into the room with Bear and Jak, where he could be watched. The would-be assassin’s labored breathing was slow, his life appeared ready to flee this vessel at any moment.

The morning of the 23rd, Alcèrra sought and found Cr. Jadçrum, a blacksmith and priest of Roð. Alcèrra spoke with the Crafter for some time, asking about a silver Roðic medallion found on the body of Aren the night before. The Crafter examined the medallion briefly and explained that he guessed that instead of silver, that the medallion was mythrul, an “evil metal” of the Eylfāe which “grew beneath trees”. Alcèrra thanked the old priest and was given a small iron Roð necklace before she left. At the inn, a well-dressed blind gentleman named Courg spoke for sometime with Dammon. The innkeeper had introduced Dammon as a companion of Tressta, of whom the man asked many questions. Most intriguing to the magician, was the stranger’s insistence that Dammon sounded Lanàdan. When he inquired further the blind man explained that the Lanàdan were from the island kingdom of Lanàdus, which was once the center of the Old Empire. After speaking on this for sometime, Dammon retrieved Tressta. Courg introduced himself as a manservant to Mardus, a past acquaintance of Tressta’s. Mardus had heard of the group’s exploits and had sent Courg to offer the courtesan a winter’s “relationship” in exchange for a handsome price. Tressta declined but thanked the old man for making the trip. The blind manservant stood, wished her well, and exited the inn. Later that morning, Dammon spoke briefly with Alcèrra and ventured out to find the Cr. Jadçrum himself. He showed the Crafter an Ættràkari dagger he’d found at Kry Moradem. After speaking for a few minutes about Ættràkar the Artificer, the magician enlisted his services to fashion a shod for the Staff of Tharad’Zor. Jadçrum took measure of the staff, and suggested that Dammon return in a few days. The magician spoke next with Cargus and arranged for a joiner and mason to meet him tomorrow. Together they would venture to Cenotaph to make estimates on his adopted home. Alcèrra scribed a message for the Mourners’ Guild indicating that she required assistants to repair the cemetery of Cenotaph, and placed it in the care of a drayman heading to town the next day.

Talídor, 24 Drûr 652

The next morning, Dammon distributed the coins and treasures collected in the cemetery warrens before setting-out to Cenotaph with Cargus and the mason. Reaching the town square, Dammon spied a beggar moving along the house fronts. The man yelled that he was “Merten, King of Cenotaph, there are none to question my rule!” Amused, the magician sicced his familiar on the poor man. The king was last seen running down an alleyway. Dammon and his contractors examined the house from top to bottom. After a few hours, during which Dammon visited other houses looking for old books, the three returned to Dolor. His contractors explained that they’d have to speak with a glazier, roofer, and cabinetmaker before giving him a proper estimate. Returning to the Bloody Inn, Tressta asked the mage to examine the brooch for her Cloak of Shadows. Dammon spent a watch or more examining the item before determining that the source of the cloak’s magic was the smoky quartz stone inset into the clasp. He explained that replacing the quartz with one of good quality, and cut to the exact specifications of the clasp, would recharge the cloak.

Padídor, 25 Drûr 652

The next morning the group gathered in Jak and Bear’s room to interrogate the wounded Nehkrul assassin. The conscious Aren scowled and stared at Mishara but refused to answer any questions put to him. When Mishara tried to reason with the Eylfāe, Aren spit and cursed at the archer, demanding he be killed him rather than abide these Yrūn monsters. When Mishara refused, blood began pouring from the assassin’s mouth. Aren had bit through his own tongue. Appalled, his interrogators turned him on his side to keep him from drowning in the blood. The assassin struggled violently, thrashing his head against the floorboards with sickening force until he was too addled to continue.

During the day, Tressta found her way to Aren’s room at the Bloody Inn and found two vials of a strange oil among his possessions.

Bærídor, 26 Drûr 652

On the first morning of Monthturn the group left Dolor, their welcome exhausted. Alcèrra gave Bear a message she had prepared for the High Lord as he was the only soldier that would be returning Kryr Shùrulm. Dammon collected the newly-shod staff from Jadçrum, and left with the Baron’s men to Cenotaph to inspect his prospective home. The Baron’s men explained that as reward for the cleansing of Cenotaph, they would grant subtenancy of the house to Dammon for the cost of ten year’s taxes. Talas were exchanged and the magician became Cenotaph’s newest resident. Meanwhile, Jak accompanied Alcèrra to the Centopah Cemetery where she explained that she would not be present at his wedding, and would not continue with the group. Over his protests she offered him a wedding present that she’d fashioned in the preceding days. She explained that the potion was for Dadra Rumm, his wife-to-be, and that it would save her from some of the rigors of childbirth. The two parted, with Jak returning to Dolor and then onto the Village of Cænden. Alcèrra Nàdrelan remained near Cenotaph. Looking out over the ruined graveyard, she made plans for Drāūn’s great work.

The group journeyed to the frosty marshes of Cænden that afternoon. Waiting for them at the Fiery Wench were two men. The first was an enormous misshapen anthropoid who introduced himself as Grumug. The second was a lean distressed-looking gentleman named Jurrus. The herald explained that he had been commissioned by the “Uren” to design an achievement for Jak of Cænden. Before continuing, he handed Jak a deep blue stone which glowed faintly in the spear-man’s hands. The herald invited the spear-man to sit with him in the Fiery Wench, and together they reviewed and made record of Jak’s past deeds. When the day grew late, the herald insisted he must return to his City study to research the surname Daralien and learn whatever appropriate emblems Jak may be entitled to receive. After some discussion, the herald was permitted to depart. That same evening Mishara, Tressta, and Bear departed for Kryr Shùrulm, carrying the body of Aren the Assassin.

Late that night, the trio entered the dark keep and handed over their treasonous package to the soldiers that met them. Mishara and Tressta were invited to stay the night, though the Eylfāe found no rest.

Virídor, 27 Drûr 652

In the early morning hours a knock on the door stirred him from his shallow reverie. The wizard Foulstern greeted him sternly, explaining that his help was required with the questioning of Aren. Mishara agreed to this and prepared to follow the wizard. Tressta expressed her wish to come, but was told that the bowels of the keep were no place for a woman. Despite her protests, the wizard insisted that she stay. The deeper they descended into the oppressive hulk of Kryr Shùrulm, the more Mishara wished he’d stayed above too. He knew however, that the request had been a formality, and that it was not really a request at all. After endless turns and staircases, they arrived in a large pitted chamber dominated by an dreadful machine. It crouched over a wide pit like a spider built from gears, chains, pipes, and rotating lances. At the center of the device was suspended the pale and blood-streaked body of the Nehkrul Neylfèrahl, Aren Zarad. He was somewhere far beyond the pain of this world, horridly staring into the shadowy abyss above with what now seemed unmistakably Eylfāe eyes. The torturers watched curiously as Foulstern approached with the Anàhlāen in his wake. Their expressions were unfathomable, but their judgments were clear. How could any member of any race submit another of their kind to this, unless they truly were the monsters that legend told? Foulstern Wove a spell of truthfulness, and began asking questions.Mishara listened, translating what he could of the Niragôl dialect. The dead voice of Aren answered that the inscriptions on the blade were enchantments, temporary enchantments common to the Neylferahl. When asked who he worked for Aren gave the name of Zahlar Gahrazyllphyr, a Nehkrul name to be sure, but not one that Mishara knew. Foulstern lowered his hands as the spell ended and led Mishara away from the machine. Mishara insisted that this wasn’t necessary but learned that it was the High Lord’s order, and that Aren’s torment would be over in a few days. The idea sent a chill through Mishara. It was bad enough that the Eylfāe would be tortured, but to die in this deep unholy place. Glancing over his shoulder, Mishara watched the gears slowly click into motion, the chains rattle until taut, and the piercers beginning to spin. From somewhere within the machine, Aren screamed and something inside Mishara died.
That afternoon Tressta and Mishara wandered back through the Kyard, moving in and out of shops. Tressta commissioned Malda, a lapidarist, to fashion a new stone for her cloak. Afterward, Mishara treated the Yrūn woman to wine and a fine dinner before returning through Northgate. In Narhaven, they hired some entertainers for the next day’s wedding. With all this done, they wound their way back to Cænden to help with preparations.

Palídor, 28 Drûr 652

The day of the wedding was bitterly cold. The muddied streets of Cænden were covered with a thin layer of ice and a cold gust blew in from Argud’s Sound. The bundled inhabitants raced around, blowing on their hands, and talking in frosty clouds as they built fires and erected tables. Grumug stood in the middle of the activity watching the Yrūn racing back and forth, thinking how similar it all looked to his own community in the Nar Drūden. Jak finished polishing his Dekàlan armor and went to meet his guests. Adāe the Farmer had arrived early for there was food and drink in abundance. The druid stood near the launch, sampling the food as it was carried from the High-Towns. Another large figure arrived, having heard of the festivity near Dolor where word of the Ghûl-slayer’s pending nuptials still circulated. The massive Danoç greeted his old friends, and undeterred by the frigid temperatures, took his place at the tables’ end and played his flute while the work continued. When the food and the guests were assembled, the musicians began playing. Jak was summoned forward and began his traditional groom’s-work as servant to the assembled guests, who mercilessly sent him on his way back and forth to the barrels and kegs. For a time, people forgot their troubles and joined in the celebration of this wedding day. But this is Oð…

Continued in A Long Awaited Day.

Characters

• Alcèrra Nàdrelan
• Dammon Shroudson
• Jak of Cænden
• Mishara Mythdaras
• Tressta Drynsval
• Aren Zarad: killed
• Bear Nogrodd
• Cergus
• Dadra Rumm
• Familiar
• Dana
• Deatra
• Eg Dar
• Foulstern
• Grumug
• Gurswerg
• Harmus
• Iala
• Jadçrum
• Kurra
• Maav
• Mardus
• Tamullan
• Veldur
• Yalla
• Zahlar Gahrazyllphyr

Played: 13 Jun 1999