Overview
The heroes make their way on the road west, riding out one of the Storm Queen’s rants, to arrive in Dun Acyl and immediately find themselves plunged into tension, danger and diplomacy.
The Story Brief
Slogging through 2 days of the storm on the last eastern roads, the heroes walked through the night of the diminishing storm to arrive at Dun Acyl, their arrival heralded by the clouds scattering in a line from the west, letting some pure morning sun bathe the easternmost Dun as they approached.
Arriving at the palisades of Dun Acyl, the heroes found a young man cleaning and preparing the path into the large dun (the entrance to the main defensive lodge building).
The young man introduced himself as Badger (the animal of House Daear) and shows them inside where apparently they were expected by the Speaker of the Day House who ensured repast and space by the fire were prepared for them. Wary, the heroes completed the rites of hospitality and took their refuge in the dun, partaking fine food and comfortable rest for their weary selves.
And this was the easy part of the road.
A Magebreaker and his enslaved P’ntri Pathfinder arrived at Dun Acyl, having come up from the south and east, from The Godswood.
Careful circling, the arrival or the haloed Hwn, Speaker of the Day House caused even more rising tension. Eventually, the humans all spoke, and Dinl-Chi and Soo (T’su) spoke, resulting in:
- the heroes receiving the direct blessing of House Daear as a surprised Lord Ewen delivered it to them all unwitting
- Hwn gave Siúlóir a samite bag with cloth of gold carrying some kind of seeds
- Ewen loaned the heroes two asses, gave them a token to provide with the goods of one ass to Lord Balwen of Dun Dwym
- The Lord of Dun Dwym is rumored to be a stubborn and difficult man
- the Magebreaker told the party he and Soo came from the South following on the trail of one or more sorcerers from the High Kingdom, but that something foul woke a Builder Structure near the Godswood and there was some implication of the Night Lodge Gods in its waking
The Company Assembled
Personis Dramatae
Threads
Having made the choice to pursue a direct route across the bog on an old highway, and not divert southward as the Magebreaker warned them against, the heroes made excellent time through the quiet world of the Eastern Wet. They found an uprising of clean water in a deep pool and took shelter on the hill over it populated by Oak, Ash and Buckthorn. They made a fire. They slept.
Perhaps in a dream, Padraig woke to find Dolain, the moon that keeps last secrets safe, shining down through a high layer of cloud. Drawing his arm close to his body, and closing his free eye he extended the red blush of some powdered Carnelian, he brushed the backs of his fingers against the clouds and felt Dolain’s power gathered around him, around the group, protecting.
They dreamed of running in the dark, in the storm, fleeing from terror toward music, toward a lure of light.
Siúlóir woke. There was a strange light out of sight in the trees. There was a beautiful voice floating out across the quiet bog. There were a score of birds of all shapes and sizes, but especially raptors - crows, ravens, peregrines, hawks, a few small seabirds, and a massive eagle perched over the Speaker, eating seed out of the pouch purloined from his pockets…