Lanal 12, 653 DR: Wherein the group meets the Ildûni ranger Gældor and his dog Grym. Jak has an out-of-body experience that draws him back into the halls of Kryr Shùrulm. City guards arrive looking for Oðári spies and Gældor turns them in. Members of the group are taken to a city building and questioned. Dammon returns to help Graiç and together the two escape into the city.

Continued from Refugees.

Bærídor, 12 Lanal 653

The inn was mostly quiet until the Ildûni ranger stepped through the door, followed by a large dog covered in strange markings. While arranging for a room, the sharp-eyed stranger spied the pile of crates near the stairs and walked closer to investigate. After poking the jumble of crates he asked the innkeeper about the pile. She responded that “they walked in a few days ago, and have been sitting there ever since.” She went on to say that some of the guests talk to the crates now and again. Intrigued, Gældor returned to the pile and spoke with Graiç for a while in hushed Æzàlaric. After a few moments, Zildara and Tressta walked over to introduce themselves to the rugged stranger.

In the streets outside, Jak and Zêla were returning to the inn when Jak reeled and collapsed in the street. While Zêla tried to determine what had happened, Jak found himself in a hall of heavy gray and black stones. From somewhere came the voice of High Lord Rott, asking about his progress and location. Jak spoke with the High Lord for some time before the vision ended. The last thing he heard before “returning” to the street was the High Lord’s thanks for a gift. What gift? Zêla helped her master to his feet and they continued toward the inn.

At the inn, Graiç and Gældor were speaking about the ancient and ruined City of Ildûn while Zildara and Tressta were ordering ales, when Jak and Zêla entered. They were quickly introduced to the stranger and his dog. Jak scratched the dog behind the ear and Grymgrykalya did his best to tolerate it. Grabbing a back table they sat and talked for a while about their pasts and the wood golem standing near the staircase. While they were exchanges stories, Grym began to growl at the sound of armor clinking in the streets outside. Looking out the front windows they saw a search party moving from building to building in the street outside. The inn was quickly filled with talk of how unusual such a search was in the city. Gældor left the inn to ask the guards what they were looking for. When the guards said they were looking for people that spoke Oðic, Gældor returned to the inn and asked Jak what city he was from. When Jak answered “Oð”, Gældor returned outside and motioned the soldiers toward the inn, explaining that he was just talking to such a group. The ranger soon returned toward the inn with an escort of soldiers. Zêla warned they were approaching and Tressta stood and touched her cloak crystal, fading from view. Returning inside Gældor led the soldiers toward the group with drawn swords. Gældor, looking concernedly at the drawn blades, explained that the soldiers were looking for people from Oð that might know something about the refugee problem. Jak tried to explain that they didn’t know anything about the refugees, but the soldiers insisted on taking everyone for questioning for they might be spies. At the mention of this, Gældor noted to himself that Tressta was missing and that the crates had shifted, and looked menacing somehow. The guards talked to Zildara, who understood Æzàlari, and asked where the group was from. Jak tried answering but Zildara refused to give a clear answer. Zêla urged Jak to be cautious. During the questioning a man emerged from the basement exclaiming that there were “armored men in the back”, but stopped himself when he saw the soldiers. At this point the soldiers began arguing between themselves for a moment and then made motions that they would be taking the group somewhere else. As they escorted the group from the room, the innkeeper pointed at the crates, but no-one seemed to pay her attention.

Tressta remained still as the remaining guards searched for the fifth person Gældor had mentioned. Hidden by her magic cloak, she knew there was little chance that they would find her. As one of the soldiers grabbed Gældor’s arm, Grym let out a low growl. The ranger told his dog to heel and the dog followed behind. Zildara tried to talk her way out of the escort but the soldier in charge explained she would be needed to translate, and so went along.

The group was led to a large building, higher on the city slope. The front door was flanked by a pair of guards with pole arms. Inside, the group was asked to disarm before being led into the inquisitor’s court. In the inner chamber stood sat a robed Yrūn man, with a spear man to one side and a pale looking Zultàya to the other holding a beaded staff. Jak was put forward for questioning with Zildara by his side. At first Jak gave the man truthful but misleading answers, but eventually gave in and explained that he was from near Oð where he was a Ðard of the one who contests the throne. When asked to explain, Jak proceeded to tell the story he has told a hundred times. Behind him, the others looked on with interest, trying to read reactions in the inquisitor’s face. After it became apparent that Jak did know the reason for the refugee crisis, the inquisitor asked if he might guess the purpose of it. Jak struggled with an answer, finally outlining the story of Aren Zarad, an Eylfāe spy that penetrated Kryr Shùrulm. He supposed that the High Lord might suspect that old enemies were up to old tricks, and that it was better to act than react. To this, the inquisitor explained that refugee reports of the attack claimed that the warships were sailing under Dekàli flags, a breach of treaties over 600 years old. The inquisitor explained that he wished to speak more on these things, and assured the group that they would be treated as guests during their stay. With knowledge of Oðári natives running loose in the streets, he suggested that this place would probably be the safest they could hope for. When asked who he was, the men explained that he was an adviser to Urzam, their host in Uralū Sazularyū.

Meanwhile, at the waterfront, Dammon who had watched the group being led away by soldiers, sought answers about what might have transpired. After much asking around, he eventually found an audience with a low-level Zultàyi official who explained that his companions had been implicated in the refugee crisis and were being held in one of the ward’s government houses. Following this meeting, Dammon wandered to the next ward to find an inn, comfortably removed from the excitement of the day.

Returning to the group’s inn at dusk, he found that the situation had grown worse. The street outside the inn was crowded with people, the innkeeper was yelling at the commanding soldier who was instructing his men to remove a wounded soldier from the doorway. Something bad had happened here, and judging by the deep wide wound on the injured soldier, Dammon had a pretty good idea what had happened. Moving down an alley, Dammon found more soldiers at the lower back entrance to the inn. Weaving an invisibility around himself, he slipped past the guard and entered the inn, climbing the stairs to the common room. There, in the twilight he found the battle-ready silhouette of Graiç standing in the center of a destroyed common room. The tables were smashed against the walls, and the ground was littered with five soldiers, four appeared injured and crawling toward the door, a fifth lie perfectly still with a massive open chest wound. Dammon carefully approached the wood golem and asked what had happened. Convinced that this was “defense”, Dammon led the golem from the room and down the stairs to the cellar. Graiç’s movements were staggered by an internal injury from the fight. The golem struggled with a feeling that it thought might be pain. At the basement door a soldier sees the massive golem emerge with bloodied wooden shards for hands. The soldier yells and backs away. Dammon then led Graiç into the lower alleys to the sounds of footsteps close behind. The magician weaves a spell over the golem making him invisible long enough for the soldiers to race by, then they look for an alley to hide.

Inside the inn, Tressta sneaked into their rooms to collect some small things but stopped at the sound of guards coming up the stairs. That, and a nearby unexpected voice in the room offered a deal in exchange for helping her escape.

Continued in The Court of Urzam.

Characters

• Dammon Shroudson= 0 CPs
• Gældor of Nyn = 0 CPs
• Jak of Cænden = 0 CPs
• Tressta Drynsval = 0 CPs
• Zildara of Zalan = 0 CPs
• Ērēus of Amra = 0 CPs
• Familiar = Unkn.
• Graiç of Mazzam = 0 CPs
• Grymgrykalya = 0 CPs
• Zêla ma Ler = 0 CPs

Played: 18 Jun 2005