TenThousandBrokenDreams/Session09

Mother Cypress speaks:

“Hello, children. I see that you’ve come for more of my stories. So what tale shall I tell you tonight? Would you hear of the Exalt Lorantha Twice-Blessed, and her quest for the Five True Pearls; of how she betrayed the Yellow River King to claim the Pearl of Water, and of the terrible doom the King laid upon her? Or would you hear more of the tale of the Sun’s bright children, and the turning of the Age?

“Then gather round, my children; come closer, and spread ears like elephants; and I shall tell you more of the tale of the Sun’s bright children, and their adventures in the lands of the East.”

An uncomfortable silence lingered over Zera and Thorwald as they made their way north along the road. Come nightfall, they reached Idris: more a large town than a city, divided from the surrounding farms by a log palisade reinforced with wooden guard towers, centered upon a low hill marked with tall trees and menhirs.

The gate guards challenged our heroes, but deeming them human and relatively harmless, admitted them at the cost of their weapons, which would remain at the guardhouse for the gate. Zera deposited his bow with the guard but, unwilling to be unarmed in this place, he made sure to conceal a dagger beneath his tunic as Thorwald made a show of laying down his great two-handed blade.

And then they were alone in the city, beneath a night sky darkening with clouds, chilled by a thin drizzle as the summer’s heat fled with the day. A few public houses tempted Thorwald with the glow of firelight, the smell of food and ale, and the sounds of laughter and companionship. He proposed spending the night at an inn, then visiting the queen Idris come the morning. But Zera would have none of that; he was a man with a mission, and would not be distracted with mere creature comforts. Even when Thorwald looked through a window and spotted a green-skinned Fair Folk trading stories with the northmen there, Zera would not be swayed to investigate, and so the pair pressed on to the center of the town.

A long, low stone manse sprawled along the slopes of the low hill at the town’s center. This was the palace of Idris. Its guards, northmen like all the other folk they had yet seen in the town, refused entry to our heroes, for the day’s business was done and the queen would not see any other petitioners for the day. But Zera Thisse had fixed his mind upon seeing Idris, and so he called forth the golden fire of the Sun to mark him as Anathema, solely to press the guards into motion.

As Zera and Thorwald traded quips as to the security of the place, the tramp of guardsmen’s boots echoed through the palace halls. Soon the pair were admitted into a large entry hall where dozens of guards stood ready, led by the lord Erlend, grandson to Idris, a brawny fellow with streaks of shining silver in his yellow hair. With a gruff warning regarding funny business, he led his Exalted visitors down low, tapestried stone halls...

... while Tepet Aekino rubbed his forehead as he pored over a sorcerous text, laboriously striving to wrap his brain around the spell’s peculiar geometries. To his relief, his studies were interrupted by a visitor of his own. His cousin Martin had come to visit again, and this time his sister would not be interrupting them.

Martin, however, had come with an agenda. Once the conversation turned to Martin’s family, the young man’s demeanor grew touchy, even angry. He proceeded to excoriate his father, describing him as a failure as a father and as a king. Aekino interrupted to observe that rebellion underlay Martin’s words. He disagreed with his cousin’s view of Ledaal Vir, seeing him as a good man and a wise one who worked hard to juggle the city’s economic and political needs. When Martin claimed to be better suited to rule than his father, Aekino stated bluntly that he would have no part of any coup attempt directed at Vir.

Rebuffed, Martin set the whole political matter aside and attempted to renew his amorous advances of but a few days earlier. Aekino rejected these as well; despite his own desires in that direction, he felt that it would be improper and dangerous to involve himself in such an affair. Such things, he said, have a way of getting out; at the very least, Tanith would learn of the liaison sooner or later, and he had no interest in involving himself in the resulting familial imbroglio. Disappointed, Martin left...

... as Thorwald and Zera Thisse entered the broad, low audience chamber in the palace of Idris. Bright tapestries and furs shone in the glow of fireplaces that flanked a great wood-and-bronze chair. There sat the pale-haired queen, aging but lovely, weary yet stern.

Others, too, were there, all hastily dressed for audience at an unexpected hour. There were the queen’s own guard, wolf-faced faeries bearing halberds of translucent bronze. There also stood an envoy in black and gray, its face covered by a silver mask, reeking of perfume to cover the stench of the grave. Lastly, there were two familiar figures, a noble of the Fair Folk and a green-haired smiling lady: the lord Orlàm and his lover, Silver Jade, last seen by our heroes on the barge named Dayshield’s Daughter.

Thorwald stood by quietly as Zera and the queen greeted one another respectfully. Zera then went on to speak of the perils of the shadowland of Kaihan that lay but a week’s journey from the walls of Idris; of how Idris and Tul Tuin must stand united against the legions of the dead; and of how he, as an Anathema, would use his powers to place her on the throne of Tul Tuin if she would lead the combined forces of the two kingdoms to oppose the forces of the dead.

The envoy in the silver mask interrupted at this point, insisting that Zera’s statements regarding the nearby shadowland and its inhabitants amounted to slander. It claimed that its master, the Prince Resplendent, had no interest in expansion or occupation or slaughter, and had nothing to do with the massacre at Thorns. The nemissary went on to state that its master sought only the friendship of Idris, and that it offered its aid as a good neighbor seeking stability in a region haunted by demons and the wars of mortal men.

As Zera opened his mouth to unleash a heated retort, the queen interrupted to demand the opinion of the heretofore-silent Thorwald. The northman shrugged. Surely, he replied, when given the choice of dealing with the Anathema or with the legions of the dead, the choice was clear. As the court mulled over this bit of wisdom, Zera added that every nemissary he’d ever met had wrought evil and destruction, while every Anathema he’d encountered was noble of character.

Idris pondered the arguments set before her, but would not choose without reflection; and so she ended the audience for the evening. The lord Erlend brought the Anathema Zera and his companion Thorwald to the guest rooms set aside for them. Before leaving them for the evening, Erlend made a point of insulting Zera for what he perceived to be disrespect to his grandmother the queen, and threatened him with bodily harm should he continue with his impertinence. Zera gave as good as he got, casting insults into Erlend’s face until the man stormed off in a huff. Zera and Thorwald then conversed for a time about their situation and their options.

Thorwald: “My patience is wearing thin.”

Zera: “That’s good, because we are probably in grave danger.”

Thorwald: “I can only hope.”

Thorwald: “From what I know of envoys, they are slippery and full of deception.”

Zera: “Let no one say you’re not wise, Thorwald. Flowery words and poisoned knives, that’s what they’re all about.”

Dreams haunted our heroes that night. Zera and Thorwald agreed to sleep in shifts, but as Thorwald stared into the fireplace, he dozed, and a waking dream came upon him. Both of them dreamed a dream of their former lives as Kuro the Raven and Blessed Wind, dining together in a richly appointed tower chamber in a style of some centuries ago, looking out through broad windows at the ever-flowing River of Willows.

As their dream-selves conversed in utter silence, Tepet Aekino also dreamed. He dreamed a dream in which he walked in chains beneath the noonday sun. Guards in bright armor prodded him along a bridge of white jade, arching over a plaza to a great round tower. There, in a great vaulted chamber, figures in white and gold looked down upon him from tiers of thrones where they sat in judgment. And as he slept, a shining spirit-child, all of gold and silver, stood upon the balcony, just outside the wards, and watched him unseen. A black-scaled raiton bird watched, too, from its perch upon the railing, until a great white egret fell upon it and pierced its heart, sending it tumbling into the gardens below in a shower of blood.

Come the morning, Zera spoke of his dream, but the superstitious Thorwald, ever denying his heritage and his destiny, refused to admit that he had dreamed at all, let alone that he had shared the same dream. A serving maid interrupted their converse to draw their bath. Out of superstition and expediency, our heroes refused not only the bath, but also food and drink. They went on to discuss strategy for a little longer, until they received a summons to attend the queen at her morning meal.

Several of the queen’s progeny and descendants attended the meal, many of them marked with the signs of spirit blood. The nemissary attended as well, though of course it did not eat, and our heroes ate only as much as would be necessary to avoid insult to their host, for the presence of a dead thing beneath that roof turned their hunger to ashes.

The queen thanked them for their generous offer of aid, but noted that she had little cause to trust them any more than what little trust she might have for the dead. Furthermore, the Prince Resplendent who ruled in Kaihan clearly possessed great power, in the form of his undead legions, which might aid Idris in her goals. Zera Thisse might be an Anathema, but he had not established that he could offer the same level of support. But if Zera and his companion could demonstrate both power and trustworthiness…

And so Thorwald of Stonehold and Zera Thisse found themselves traveling into the farmland north of the city of Idris to destroy a nest of demons. After a day’s travel through wooded and hilly land, they came to a small village, one empty of inhabitants. Following drag-marks through the undergrowth, our heroes entered the woods as the sun began to set. The last rays of the sun glittered on something amid the trees, and Zera took to the boughs to get a better look.

From his high perch, Zera spotted glimmering black needles swaying in the twilight, independent of any wind. Pressing forward, he was the first to see the nest: a mass of earth and twisted trees pulled down and tangled together, from which hundred of black needles and spikes rose. Some of the needles sported the bodies of forest animals, birds and squirrels and the like, all pierced and swaying as grisly ornaments; and atop the center of the nest, the largest of the needles supported a human body. The man, not quite dead, whispered something that Zera could not hear.

And then shapes shambled out of three openings in the nest, slouched naked figures that appeared human at first glance, but from whose backs jutted whole forests of black spines. They walked right beneath Zera’s branch without noticing him, for their attention was focused on Thorwald. And as they walked, they placed their horn-nailed fingers together and drew them apart, and black ooze dripped and hardened into long black needles that glinted with the last rays of the sun.

Three more of the creatures shambled from the openings in the nest, and then three more still, and the black needles shone as they raised them against Thorwald. But Zera had strung his bow, and gold fire flared around him as he rained arrows down at the demons. Two of them fell, their skulls burst open by arrows from above. Then Thorwald stepped forward to cleave three more asunder with a single mighty sweep of his sword, and the battle was fully joined.

More of the demons shuffled out of the nest. Thorwald chopped two more of them in half, but they grew more cautious as they saw their fellows bleed out hardening black ichor onto the ground, and advanced in a bristling phalanx of black spines. Others flung shorter needles at Zera, forcing him to dance from limb to limb to avoid the barrage, his glowing anima bleaching the leaves and sending wild patterns of shadow and glaring light through the forest.

Thorwald pressed on as more demons swayed and thrust at him, and his own anima flared brighter as he took wound after wound from the beasts. And in his fury, he called upon the power deep within him. A wave of pure golden light spilled out over the demons. One fled outright, while the others staggered back, overwhelmed by the purity of the Unconquered Sun. Thorwald redoubled his efforts, chopping and thrusting with a blade made heavy and blunt by hardened demon-ichor, and in one instance kicking a dying demon back into one of its fellows, impaling the latter on the former’s countless back-spines.

Seeing no limit to the demons that marched out of the nest, three by three, Zera’s lips tightened and he reached for his bow. Dodging the needles that flew upwards from below like some bizarre inverted rain, he called upon the Sun’s power to fill his arrow, and sent a bolt of fire blazing down into the nest. As his brother Solar fought on below, Zera leapt nimbly from branch to branch and sent arrow after arrow down into the nest, stopping only when his Essence was depleted and the damp wood of the nest roared with flame.

With their reinforcements cut off, the remaining demons fell quickly. The very last demon turned and fled in terror; Thorwald gave chase, but it seemed to vanish into the woods like smoke. And so our heroes came together and stood before the burning nest, watching as the red flames towered alongside their own pillars of golden fire, listening to the panicked squeals of demons in the nest, smelling the rank stench of burning fat. As the fire slowly spread in a light eastern wind, Thorwald and Zera lopped off the heads of the dead demons, strung them on a rope, and headed off into the darkness.

(Note: all PCs received 3 XP for this session. Zera received an additional 2 XP for contributions. XP totals to date: Aekino 52, Li 50, Thorwald 50, Zera 50.)