Ældrūan 7 – Maran 9, 653 DR: Layers are pulled back from the mystery surrounding Dammon Shroudson and the group is given a mission to perform for the High Lord of Oð, a journey which may take them overland to fabled Taldàna, and perhaps to distant Ummon.
Continued from Seal of the Ghûl.
Irídor, 7 Ældrūan 652
Dammon sat miserably in his cell of stone. The only sounds came from the drip of water upon distant rock, and the sounds of cockroaches skittering back and forth across the floor. Today footsteps drew near and the window to the cell door was thrown aside. A mirror-lantern was held up to the window. Its blinding light swept through the room as a man struggled to see through the port. “This might be him,” the man yelled back down the hallway. Another voice answered, “Good work Thirik, you will earn that Talas yet.” Darkness, footsteps, and voices were all part of collage of wakeful dreaming.
Dammon saw a dark-haired boy standing in a doorway. The smell of salt-air and distant ocean-blue calling his senses through the passed the child. The boy was dirty and upset. He shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot. An old man asked, “How may I help you young man?” The boy glanced up at his elder and then lowered his eyes. “My father, Calen, sent me here.” “The Shroud boy, please come in,” the man answered. The boy hesitated. “Is there something wrong young man,” the old man asked. “My friends say you’re a wizard,” he answered. “They do?” implored the old man. “And they day you’re going to hurt me.” The old man laid a grandfatherly hand upon the boy’s shoulder. “That I will, my son. That I will.”
Knocking at the door pulled Dammon from his dreaming. Keys rang against the outside lock and the door swung outward, leaving only bars between him and his visitors. The man holding the keys looked familiar. This was one of the men who had visited Dammon at Leva’s many months before, attacking him and murdering the innkeeper. He had attacked Dammon and left his room in shambles, looking for an amulet. Thirik called for another. A lean and tall gentleman with graying dark hair stepped forward. He wore a heavy black overcoat and a mantle of gold and red. “This one?” asked the gentleman. “That’s what the gaoler said,” Thirik answered. “You there, what is your name good man?” Half-asleep, Dammon answered the visitor. “We’re looking for an amulet and were hoping you could help us.” The man described a silver pendant with a blue-green gem inset into its face. On its reverse he described four overlapping circles intersected by an arc. It did not sound familiar, and Dammon said as much. Dammon told the man what he knew, and of some things that he’d remembered since “arriving” in Oð. The conversation between the two lasted for many watches with many revelations for each participant. Finally, the visitor agreed to help Dammon. “I’m going to ask that you be removed to more tolerable accommodations. You see Dammon, no one knows who you are, why you’re here, or whom you’re in league with. It seems that you gave the Mundanes quite a scare the other day with your wolf-kin display. Even in Circles that might be sympathetic to you, such displays are frowned upon. I realize of course, that your back was against a wall, but you have closed many doors with these actions. Indiscretion is the death of a magician. Personally, I think you understand that at some level. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to operate outside the Circles.” The man explained that his contacts in the Circle of Vereç might be able to help, and that litigants would be sent to negotiate restitution and release. Once the man was satisfied that the prisoner had answered his questions truthfully, he returned to Dammon’s earlier question. “As for who I am, my name is Dammon Shroudson and I’ve been looking for you for sometime.”
Some days after the visitor left, Dammon returned to his unbroken cycle of sleeping, dreaming, and darkness. At one point a soldier appeared before him, grinning from behind a brown and gray beard. “You sir, are a lucky man,” the soldier explained in a foreign tongue. The soldier handed Dammon a small pouch containing an amulet. The amulet was well-crafted, except that its blue-green stone had chip missing. The soldier shrugged. “We caught them in a backstreet, not three blocks from here. They were trying to pry the stone free. But don’t worry son, they won’t be bothering you again.” Such were the dreams of the magician as he waited for the visitor to make good on his promise.
In the month of Ældrūan, Tressta finally accepted a “winter relationship” at the home of Mardus, outside the City. After several day’s duties, she was permitted a brief sojourn into the City to attend to a friend. Tressta ventured to the Naryard where she purchased a formal dress and went about the effort of making herself presentable for Court. Afterward, she walked to Kryr Shùrulm and asked to see the wizard Foulstern and the High Lord. Foulstern agreed to see the young lady but Carolar, the High Lord’s Chamberlain, explained that Rott would not be bothered by the matter. Tressta was welcomed into a cozy chamber where she spoke at length with Foulstern, Carolar, and a third unnamed man with long tongues, or perhaps tentacles, which flailed from his lips as he spoke. Foulstern had to interpret all that the man said. Tressta pleaded at length for Dammon’s release. The men listened and assured her that they would see what could be done.
Days after leaving, Tressta returned to Mardus’s home. After some argument, Mardus decided that she was not living up to their arrangement and was dismissed.
Eventually, days maybe weeks later, Dammon was visited by two well-dressed gentlemen. The men escorted Dammon to a higher chamber within the keep, where he was given wine and decent food. The litigants explained to him the nature of his restitution and identified the Circle responsible for his release. Dammon nodded slowly as they explained that he would be required to fulfill some to-be-determined request of the High Lord’s. Dammon’s attentions were elsewhere however for he had been given many things to ponder since his last visit, and did not wish to waste time. When the men were finished he was escorted to the front gate, above which hung the desiccated remains of a prisoner, his tawny hair blowing across his frosted face. As the gate closed behind him, Dammon wandered north of the city and found his way back to Cenotaph. Returned to his house, he immediately delved into his studies, precious weeks having been lost.
Irídor, 7 Maran 653
With the new year, Jak and Saldus visited Ironhold. Black Tom greeted the two outside the palisades. Eventually, he directed Jak and Saldus to the donjon where Endren now enjoyed a headquarters without canvas walls. Crossing the courtyard, a small man called down to them from a scaffold mounted high on the donjon wall. Feyd called down in a hushed voice, “Get me out of here!” Inside, they spoke with the congenial Endren about travel to the South and how to find the Land of Ummon. Endren explained that he had never been to the Mountain Kingdom, but was familiar enough with the East coast of Teréðor to tell them to seek the City of Kændal and venture inland via the river that empties there. After much exchange of news, the two returned to Cænden.
Roydor, 8 Maran 653
On the eighth of Maran, a messenger arrived in Cænden from the northern keep. Its instructions bid the group present themselves at Kryr Shùrulm with haste. Dammon was summoned from Cenotaph.
Sūdìdor, 9 Maran 653
The next morning, the assembled party walked around the city walls until they came to the barbican of Kryr Shùrulm. Above the high doors still hanged the weathered body of an unfortunate soul. Looking up, Mishara recognized the corpse as Aren’s, its black and shrunken lips pulled back from its teeth in a rictus grin.
Within the courtyard, the group was greeted by Captain Zulref of the High Guard. Zulref explained that it was his duty to brief the group on why they had been summoned. He explained that a flock of pigeons had returned to Tyrol two days passed. The birds belonged to the caravan of Ettegus Tolvor, a merchant who had attempted a spring crossing of the Tor’n Evalshat. Under normal circumstances, Zulref explained, this would not be the High Lord’s concern. The mountains do not fall under the High Lord’s protection and those that travel into the wilderness do so at their own peril. In this case however, the caravan was carrying a message from High Lord Rott to the High Lady of Taldàna. That message should not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. The High Lord, having knowledge of the group’s wishes for travel to the South, had also ordered that a small detachment of soldiers be organized to accompany the group. As an officer of the Lord’s Men, the soldiers would fall beneath Saldus’s command. In addition, he continued, horses would be granted so that the caravan could be found with haste. The captain finished the “request” by adding that success of the mission would fulfill Dammon’s restitution to the High Lord.
Continued in A Backward Glance.
Characters
- Dammon Shroudson
- Jak of Cænden
- Mishara Mythdaras
- Saldus Greymane
- Tressta Drynsval
- Aren Zarad
- Ændroth of Oð
- Black Tom
- Dadra Rumm
- Dragulspeaker
- Endren of Orynder
- Ettegus Tolvor: unknown
- Familiar
- Feyd
- Mardus
- Thirik
- Zulref
Played: 09 Oct 1999