Lanal 15 – Vulūne 2, 653 DR: Wherein the group secures passage on a merchant ship bound for Ildûn as an unnatural storm brings a plague of locusts upon the ocean city of Uralū Sazularyū. Following a struggle to keep the ship, its passengers, and its crew intact, the ship sets sail leaving the beset port behind. After many days at sea the ship docks safely at the Town of Cwæyl on the northern coast of the Ildûn, where the next leg of the group’s journey may begin.
Continued from The Court of Urzam.
Alídor, 15 Lanal 653
A strange wind was churning in the city basin. Merchants and sailors alike looked to the sky perplexed by the incoming storm. Storms were not unknown in Uralū Sazularyū, but somehow this was different. These winds carried no rain, only the unshakable unease that something very bad was about to happen.
Passing among the billowing tents and bed rolls, between the fire rings and the makeshift privies, avoiding the countless glances of the homeless and hopeless, the group made its way toward the merchant dock. In the city’s harbor the ships swayed and rocked as the waves rose and fell against the piers. Soon, Ērēus returned to others supporting Tressta, who appear sickly and could barely stand straight.
At the dock’s head a sailor welcomed them and led them to the plank of the Nyum Cerulydur, a lateen orgar that looked beaten, weathered, and strong. The ship’s mate fetched Captain Yn Maryth who came out to negotiate passage and payment. After some haggling, a price of 360 audàrār each was settled upon. Upon payment, the group was led on-board across the swaying plank and shown to the passengers’ cabin. Both Graiç and Zildara thanked Dammon for paying their way. Dammon then accompanied Graiç into the cargo hold where he set-up his own space near the golem. The passenger cabin was already half-filled with other passengers heading South. The majority of these were refugees who had managed to reach the city with money in their purses. They spoke among themselves in a tongue that only they could understand. None seemed concerned with the boat’s rocking.
While they waited and rested in the ship’s hold, Dammon took a look at Tressta’s hand, wrapped in a bloody bandage. Removing the cloth, they both watched the wound ripple as a blood-bug emerged from the symbol carved into her palm. Dammon thought on this a bit and decided he would attempt to remove the spell that kept the wound open. As he wove his spell, Tressta’s hand erupted into a gush of blood in the form of streaming insects. She felt faint from the sudden loss of blood but before too long, Dammon was able to seal the wound leaving a curious scar of the symbol on her palm. With rest she would feel better, and so he led her back to her hammock.
Upon the ship’s deck, Gældor, with his hound beside him, looked out across the water at the gathered thousands who had become stranded in this city. They huddled among themselves staring at the sky and wondering what new troubles were in store for them. It was then that he followed their collective gaze and pointing fingers toward a dark cloud rising over the city walls. The unnatural cloud crested the walls like a crashing wave, flowing down in a torrent through the sloped streets and alleyways toward the harbor’s edge. Throughout the wards, screams rose above the slap of the harbor waves and the howling of the winds that spun within the ancient volcano’s cauldron. Before he could turn to alert his friends below, a giant black locust landed on his arm. Brushing it away, he dashed for the hatch ushering his dog below.
Soon the sailors had retreated below deck and the hatches were fastened closed. From within the ship, the distant screams of the refugees grew louder. One of the mates raced through the ship but could not find the captain. Jak peered out of the deck to see the ship covered in the insects. As he held the door ajar a few buzzed noisily into the hold where the others set upon them and crushed them. When the ship rocked dock-ward, he could see the docks covered in the black insects and the enveloped shapes of people flailing about on the wharf. From the cargo hatch, Dammon peered up to the mast to find the locusts chewing on the furled sail. He summoned a wind to blow them away but the solution was too brief. Announcing to the crew that the sail was endangered, they rushed from their cabins to stomp and swipe the locusts away as best they could. At least two the crew tried to climb the lanyards as the giant bugs bit at their arms, hands, and heads. Bloodied, one of the crew reached the lateen boom and cleared the tackle to lower the sail.
As the crew worked to save the ship’s sails, Dammon examined a locust that had flown into the cargo hold. Upon close examination he found that the insects were marked with arcane symbols not unlike those traced in Wizardmaking. Studying the Weave around them more closely, he was intrigued to find that their magics appeared to be Inkàðura. Dammon climbed onto the deck, crossed the plank, and headed toward the wharf. The locusts quickly overwhelmed him but were unable to penetrate his chalky exterior. Coming upon the huddled, locust-covered masses he began to unleash a series of Asálāyd’s Winds to blow away the feeding insects. Many of those he uncovered were badly eaten but others were able to take the opportunity to race for nearby buildings and shelters before Dammon’s winds ceased and the locusts returned to feed. Up and down the wharf he strode, casting spell after spell when he had the strength to do so.
After a couple hours, the screams died down and sun set behind the great circular walls. With darkness the drone of the locusts also died down and they ceased their flight and feeding. Those that survived among the huddled refugees climbed out from under the dead to begin crushing the millions of insects that stood quietly with their wings folded. Captain Yn emerged from a nearby tavern and returned immediately to his ship to assess the damage. Dammon followed behind. After a quick consultation with his mate, the captain decided to ready the ship for the scheduled morning launch.
Kændor, 16 Lanal 653
The winds continued through the night, but by morning had died a bit. The boat was pulled into the harbor by Zulatayan draft beasts and set sail through the great gate as the sun rose. Behind them the locusts were stirring again, there not being enough people in all the city to crush them all in one night. Leaving the city, the Nyum Cerulydur plowed expertly through the great waves that surround the city and soon they were in the open waters of the North Mar Dekàli.
Malídor, 17 Lanal 653
At sea.
Amdor, 18 Lanal 653
At sea.
Wōdìndor, 19 Lanal 653
At sea.
Iyldor, 20 Lanal 653
At sea.
Irídor, 21 Lanal 653
At sea.
Roydor, 22 Lanal 653
At sea.
Sūdìdor, 23 Lanal 653
At sea.
Talídor, 24 Lanal 653
At sea.
Padídor, 25 Lanal 653
At sea.
Bærídor, 26 Lanal 653
At sea.
Virídor, 27 Lanal 653
At sea.
Palídor, 28 Lanal 653
At sea.
Alídor, 1 Vulūne 653
Days and weeks at sea passed without incident. The time gave the group a chance to convalesce and unwind after months without letting down their guard. Gældor tried his hand at fishing. A refugee taverner named Salbra tried her hand at cooking. Before long the call of “Land” echoed around the ship and as people gathered on the deck they could see a distant jagged line of cliffs rising from the waves to the south. This was Ildûn, not some uncharted island crawling with carnivorous rocks, not some alien city rising from the ocean floor, this was a shard of the Old Empire, a land settled by the same Yrūn conquerers that had shaped the lands each of them had been born in.
Kændor, 2 Vulūne 653
By the next day, Yn’s ship found a break in the northern seawall that marked the Town of Cwæyl, gateway to the Ælyri Highlands. Within hours the ship was advancing toward a smallish port where houses and stores littered the canyon slopes and winding roads wound their way toward the cliffs and hills above. Somewhere beyond that road, their fates awaited them, somewhere in the land of Drāūn, God of Death.
Continued in Strangers in the Land of the Dead.
Characters
- Dammon Shroudson = 4 CPs (210)
- Gældor of Nyn = 3+1 CPs (154)
- Jak of Cænden = 3 CPs (207)
- Tressta Drynsval = 13 CPs (200)
- Zildara of Zalan = 3 CPs (190)
- Ērēus of Amra = 2 CPs (First Aid 1, Broadsword 1)
- Familiar = Unkn.
- Graiç of Mazzam = 2 CPs (Area Knowledge: Mar Dekàli)
- Grymgrykalya = 1 CPs
- Salbra = 1 CPs (Cooking 1)
- Tenhar = 1 CPs (Crewman 1)
- Zêla ma Ler = 2 CPs (Diplomacy 1, Language: Æzàlaric 1)
Played: 14 Jan 2006