#major date

Outside a small town in Standius, the Elven elder Lorhas makes contact with Nymandria again, this time in person. They make small talk, but he eventually informs her of his plight. A large group of bandits have taken over his ancestral home, transplanting the small elven tribe that lived there, and forcing them to make a temporary stay here as refugees, inhabiting this previously abandoned village. The previous residents seem to have been chased off by monsters, and while it is nice to have roofs over his people, he wants to get out of here before those monsters return.

He implores Nym to go to the camp and drive the bandits out, as none of his tribe are great warriors. Nym agrees to check out the village and remove the bandits, but realizes she needs to find someone to take her there, as she has no knowledge of this land at all. As she goes to the local stable to purchase an old horse to ride, Nymandria meets another traveler–an Elven woman named Erynth. Erynth agrees to helm Nymandria for a minor amount of coin, as Nym is the first Elf she has met outside the merchants of her small village, a few miles out from The Fort.

The walls of Lal-Badal are just as impressive to see as when the Group first arrived, and they quickly pass through them to return quickly to the Wizard’s College. Grandmaster Terry is ecstatic to see them and asks them about what they found. After they describe the mansion, Terry begins to organize a group of wizards and soldiers to return there, hoping to completely purge it of any remnant evil and return some of the books to his library. He explains to Nymandria that many books were lost during the purges of the Age of Dark Learning, and that he hopes to find any sort of historical documents hidden among the old tomes. Though she presses for more information about this Age, neither he nor Deliath want to talk more about it. 

Erynth takes Nym aside to briefly explain that it was a time of religious fervor and persecution of anyone with magical powers that refused to serve the Gods of “the Way of Walking.” It is what led to the return of Elven and Dwarven slavery and is also why most Humans worship Asa and his children over any of the other local Gods of Karden. Nymandria is shocked, but Erynth quells some of her worry by telling her that this happened many centuries back, and that nearly all people today condemn what happened during that time. Even the most religious zealots do not follow the tenants of the Red Sword Cult that brought about the Age of Dark Learning. Nym wants to know more, but Erynth explains that only a historian, or an old Elf or Dwarf, could really explain the nuances of the Age. They return to the courtyard to see how Deliath and Terry are getting on.

As a reward for their efforts, Terry identifies the various rings and trinkets that the Group has, including a Wand of Summoning that Deliath keeps. He also tells them that if they mention his name at the university, the Headmaster there, an older man by the name of Farus, would teach them the basics of how to enchant items with magical potential. He also warns Erynth that the Sayars, who are the Lords of Tamaratha, would not look kindly to anyone messing with Necromancy, and suggests she hides the staff.

Erynth finally gets the portal to close as she studies it all night and into the early morning. Elated, her headaches stop, and she explains the steps to her companions in hopes of remembering exactly what she did. She writes down the details in her journal, with a detailed diagram of what the summoning circle looked like and what order she removed the components. They return to the Silver Way and continue toward Lal-Badal after an hour or so, with Erynth feeling better than she had been in days.

(Art by @kollapsar)

In the mid-afternoon, Ernyth stumbles across a cave. With the snowstorm worsening, the Group takes shelter here and discovers the frozen body of a remorhaz at the back. A second worm appears out of nowhere, crawling out of fissures in the ground and causing small quakes to begin shaking the cave into collapse. They flee out of the cave, stumbling with surprise into a strange, two story house. They flee inside, escaping the worm and the quakes it was causing, where they take a moment to collect their bearings.

In the foyer, they are greeted by a tall man with an old, if somewhat fancy suit, who offers them food and drink and protection from the dangers of the outside weather. He claims to have no worry about the approaching worm, and introduces himself as Dunkan, the current owner and caretaker for the mansion. He sits them down at a grand table, set for at least a dozen people, and leaves, offering to return in a moment with soup. 

The Group is apprehensive, but waits patiently for Dunkan’s return. When he does not come back for nearly half an hour, they decide to look around, starting with the door that their host left through. Deliath picks the lock and they go through, discovering a hallway filled with strange, old books with mysterious authors no one had ever heard of, like “Psi the Aeromancer” or “Bendis of the Red Sword”. Still, they find no sign of Dunkan. They do come across a set of stairs that leads up to the second floor, along with a second set leading into a basement. After a bit of discussion, Erynth leads the way down.

The Elven captors are, themselves, attacked by a group of bugbears looking to cross in the early morning. Deliath’s hawk, Nymeriah, frees his master, who in turn, saves the Group. Deliath helps them to escape into the nearby woods, where she tells them of her secret lineage: she is the only child of the Elven Queen Silivistrath and is trying to avoid both her overbearing mother and her duties as princess.

She prefers helping her people directly and wants to live as a ranger in the wilds forever. She tells them that she is grateful to them for supporting her and wants to help them in their quest for the kidnapped girl, but she has to leave to finish her hunt for the Cambrion. She will try to rejoin them in two weeks at The Sight.

Traveling to the coast only takes most of a day, and the group begins to follow the coast looking for the cult’s ferry. They are attacked by spiders on the edge of the forest and save Lylla from being eaten. She is surprised that they would save her and, under the soft urging of Nymandria, she finally opens up. She explains that her father hates her and only cares for his sons, planning to marry her off to some old man in House Darken. She was contacted by the cult and saw them as a way to escape while also getting back at her father.

Her initiation was to stab her brother with a ritual knife, just to injure him, but the blade was enchanted or poisoned–she wasn’t sure which–that killed him. She was shocked at the time, but knew in that moment that she was free from the abusive life she had known. She fled, and met with her contacts outside the city, who had offered to teach her magic–something she had an affinity for but was never allowed to practice under her father’s watch. They were supposed to take her to their main camp in Islandra, but the Group intervened the night before they were set to leave. Nymandria takes pity on Lylla and tells the young girl that she will be protected as long as she stays with them. The Group debates on whether they should even take her back to her father or not. They end the night without a decision.

The Sight is filled with unruly people, and the Group sneaks in after a fight breaks out just beyond the outer gates. Fi begins asking around about House Darken and discovers that a strange “gang” is in town that could possibly have ties to the Governor. Nymandria discovers that most of the common folk are not aware of Princess Lylla Hidatsu’s kidnapping, or that a murder had taken place in one of the other capitals. She also learns that the humans in the area are loath to talk with nonhumans, and that Elves like her need to be careful when traveling the city, especially in the richer districts.

Fi begins to follow people around, fixating on a man with a tattoo on his face that moves with his every facial movement. He eventually overhears the Tattooed Man tell another man with a scarred face that “the group made it in today,” and that they need to find “that gross place they are staying.” Aeren finds a rough tunnel that looks like it could transport a small group of goblins into the city. They cover it up as best as they can, but it remains mostly open.

~

That evening, the Group searches abandoned buildings in the working district, but come up empty. Nym spots the man with the scars and has Aeren distract him as she steals a book from his robes–a locked diary engraved with “L.H.” She follows them carefully through the upper-class houses but is caught by a patrolling guard. She charms him and presses him for information as well as convincing him to let her go. The guard tells her that House Hidatsu has a fairly large military presence in their capitals and that House Darken would not have the means to challenge them, especially by sending assassins like the Governor believes.

When Nym returns to the others, Aeren is able to break the lock on the diary, but they accidentally tear the tome in half down the spine, losing a large portion of the pages to the wind. The trio piece together what they can and find mention of “Dagger’s Sheath Inn'' and a reference to “the 25th of Dragonsfire.”

They arrive at the village and demand Lorhas to tell the full story of what is happening. The elder admits that the Humans had set up a village here, and that the Elves had taken over the buildings temporarily to make way for the return of an Elven settlement nearby. He tells them that the settlement is taking much longer to erect due to the constant attacks of the bandits, and that they need to kill them right away.

Nymandria tries to convince Lorhas to just meet with the Human leaders and find a peaceful solution, as she does not believe either side to fully be in the wrong. Lorhas refuses and demands they leave the village if they will not help. The duo instead remains, interviewing other Elven residents what they think should happen. Most seem to be in favor of reconciliation, but are worried that the elder would banish them–or worse–for speaking out.

The Duo finds an abandoned house to stay in, and Nym tells Erynth her full story: She is an Elf from a distant land that was sacrificed at birth to a powerful Local God by her mother, as she was not born as a male vessel for that God. Instead, the spirits of the forest protected her and Ythandl, the fox spirit that is her constant companion, protected her from death. She explains that her mother took this as a sign from the Local God that Nym actually was the chosen vessel, and used her as a figurehead for her own gain. Eventually, Nym escaped and has been traveling ever since, guided by her fox spirit and her own sense of direction. Erynth tells her that she is glad to be her companion, and that she doesn’t need to keep running, as long as they both stick together. She thinks they both can learn what place they have in the world, if Nym would let her come with.