Session 32

Fact Sheet Arrival in The Vale

Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Tuur and Vinnie. Dins was our DM.

Date: 22-11-23

Date in-universe: On Sunday we left The Grove, on Monday Ophelia Summersong performed, it’s now Tuesday morning when we’re all set to explore The Vale

Major developments:

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Previously: session 31 sing me a song of a love that goes on

Up next: session 33 a tale of tigers and wolves, oh my

Important: we agreed to play live in Brussels on Sun 03 March!

Notes

As we’re collecting ourselves to travel on, Gladiola points out that the skyline has changed: the Wandering Isle disappeared again & the top of The Spire is back in place. The whole change was soundless, much like its appearance: she was just puttering about the cart & when she looked up, she saw the change.

Storm asks if Gladiola recognized the skyline, because the spires reminded him of Lharsam, Soliman's holy city. Gladiola is wary about confirming it: everyone knows the city was blown up, there's no way it's humanly possible to transport it. Although Storm asks if it might be celestially possible, Gladiola seems to think either we’re just so baffled to see this apparition that we get confused, or maybe it’s an illusion on a massive scale…?

Perhaps Bella Swan has a clearer memory of the place? Storm and Gladiola go 50/50 for the incense to recall Bella Swan. After an hour, Storm completes the ritual! Upon her return, Bella Swan can share some impressions from her journey:

A swooping view of a big forest as she nears her destination
A series of buildings as she wends her way looking for a recipient for our message – Storm gets the impression that they’re in disrepair as if they've been through a lot & are only haphazardly maintained
A dramatic statue of a woman reaching up to an angel – the whole construction appears to defy gravity, as the angel appears to both float and bear up the woman…
As Bella Swan lands, a square in front of a cathedral with a lot of Soliman imagery...

Since Storm has never actually visited Lharsam, seeing the buildings and artwork doesn’t actually confirm anything. Still, we now have a strong suspicion about the Wandering Isle. Gladiola doesn’t seem phased by the hypothesis.

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We travel towards The Vale. Impatient to arrive, Gladiola only stops for a few hours during the night from Sunday to Monday. As an Elf, she doesn’t need a lot of sleep & the bodyguards in our crew who need to recover, can rest in the cart, with Aqueel.

Along the journey

Ezra makes 8 new arrows
El is delighted to discover Madonna greets them as a returning friend!
Fyllion is fixated on his crown and sings songs to it.
After a while, Fyllion starts a conversation with Gladiola & what she might know about the crown from her books or her travels. She confirms that growing foliage from their head is a common trait among Eladrin, esp. the more feral ones, but she doesn't know anything specific about his glowing wreath. Fyllion assures us all that the light of his crown will illuminate his new path of truthfulness. Gladiola warns him he should dim the light in The Vale, because it's a clear announcement of both his magic and his importance. Fyllion cheers that that’s the way he prefers to live! With a bombastic side-eye, we remind him of the looming war and the general risk of attracting brigands’ attention…
Storm asks for another Aquan language lesson: he focuses on dirty words to keep Aqueel interested and motivated, although Hali hisses he's too young for those. Turns out Hali was mostly right, Aqueel is pretty uninterested in words like fart, poopyhead, who is this clown, butthole, girl-cooties, I will fight you. It’s surprising for the equivalent of a 9 yo boy, but perhaps his regal upbringing still lingers a little… Fyllion grins he’ll just have to start teach Aqueel and Storm Sylvan
Ezra finishes the seahorse plush they were making for Aqueel & he's very happy. He’s clutching the new plushie in one arm and the tiny luggage (like a chihuahua) in the other
El has been wearing the mask for more than a week now. They remark that their attunement seems to deepen, the longer they're wearing the mask.

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The weather has been getting colder, as our road has been climbing. As we cross over a crest in the road, we arrive in The Vale towards the end of Monday afternoon.

It's not a full valley, rather more a bowl squeezed between the mountains. The Vale is only a small city at the foot of The Spine's steep cliffs (see Images).

Several saw mills and smithies are dotted among the more residential areas. The cliffs around the town show a lot of holes. These are the mines and apartments where gnomes live and work. Gladiola points out to Aqueel that the gnomes mine towards the peak of the mountains, for as long as they can: it’s because they worry that they might reach the deep underdark, where the dead dwell, if they mine too deep.

We hear the sound of a big river rushing. The river Alwarid is the confluence of many waterfalls tumbling down the cliffs, where they gather to form the river. Remarkably, before the Alwarid flows down the mountains towards Hod Haran, Quantir and eventually the Mandurian Strait between Breheima and Kharkhorin, the water forms a surprisingly deep port.

We can tell it’s pretty deep, because moored to the eastern docks is a big, decorated Rosarian frigate. The HMS Surya is a real warship, much bigger than The Young Kraken. Gladiola is worried: she thought The Vale was pretty independent & didn't get involved much in Rosarian or Thamyrian politics... but the frigate Surya seems to indicate differently!

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El rides ahead on Madonna with the promise they’ll find us a place to stay.

Soon, 2 tired men and a plumb woman having a late supper on the sidewalk in the logging district spot El. With a worried wave, the woman warns El that that road is dangerous! The only thing that way is the blockade!

El waves back nonchalantly and starts asking where they could find an inn, and which place in town would best know how to take care of a sweet and very special camel?

The woman repeats: those freaky vines react to people getting close, it’s dangerous to be on that road! When El continues explaining that a camel is different from a horse, the guys become irritated: they don’t know who El is, and since they haven’t seen El and that camel pass by, they must be from the town. So they have to know about the blockade and all the problems it’s causing. Why is El being so cavalier??

Luckily the cart is now close enough, so Ezra makes an impressive jump to land near El and the townsfolk. Our intrepid young captain quickly explains the blockade is cleared! Not to be outdone, El mentions we cleared it: this is our captain, who lead our efforts & now the blockade is gone! Thanks to El's NATURAL TWENTY, they calm down & become very hopeful!

The older man and the woman explain we should go to the guild master immediately: the guild threw 100s of people at the problem, because the blockade had a huge economic impact! We'd probably be rewarded.

The woman gives us directions to

the Vale’s only inn The Iron Oar
the guild hall, with a quick explanation that Master Rilke is the leader of the trading guild and thus the head of all the guilds, and by extension the city.

While the men quietly discuss if they can take the risk to walk up the road to check if the blockade is really gone, Fyllion jumps from the inside of the cart in a new disguise: a female Eladrin half-elf Ophelia Summersong! She promises she'll sing the story of our adventure in the inn tonight! The people are very eager: great news and a good show is just what the Vale needs to distract from all the troubles they’ve been having:

we already know about the blockade’s cost in people and trade
a werewolf went crazy & killed a bunch of people & it was a disaster
a city appeared on the top of our mountain
the military appeared to check up on The Vale.

They mention that the frigate is pretty much a mystery. They brought a cleric, so maybe they came to help with the werewolf’s victims? Or are they waiting here to pick up a high profile prisoner? Or do they have a plan for the blockade? Or is it all a political play to limit The Vale’s unofficial independence?

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El heads over to the Iron Oar inn to procure a resting place for Madonna, while the rest of us head to the guild hall to check in with Rilke, the guild master. El notices that the inn is pretty quiet, there are few travelers right now. After procuring water & feed & someone to brush Madonna, El joins us.

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As we're walking through town, we see the shop Ghorann's Sorcery Sundries, just like Lutiel had told us. Storm pokes captain Ezra: should we tell about their father's death? And maybe return the tiny luggage and/or the magical chess pieces? Aqueel hasn’t heard Storm’s question, but Hali shifts uneasily at the suggestion.

Unconcerned about any awkwardness, Ophelia shouts about her performance tonight & offers a free round whenever a cluster of people seems to listen to her invitation. The whole spectacle is a little embarrassing but at least she's not using thaumaturgy. Growth, that is what this is!

People are responding with a lot of curiosity and excitement. The city is rather uneasy though:

people are still glancing at the cliffs and the mountain peaks
people easily startle, whenever a dog barks or there’s an unexpected noise

We notice there are guards in the streets, but they're not city guards: they are Thamyrian soldiers patrolling! As we wonder among ourselves who the guards might be looking for, Ezra checks their reflection to make sure they look as little as a tiger shifter as possible. Any family resemblance to Aashvi Saree is probably not the best idea right now.

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As we make our way into the guild hall, past several closed offices, we see a female sea elf stepping out of an office. She has a very domineering presence, with a tricorn in her hand and a sun emblem on her chest. We hear someone mutter “bitch” under their breath as she steps out of the office she was in. The glint in the sea elf's eyes confirm she's heard the insult, but she doesn't respond in any other way.

She addresses a chilly “excuse me” to Ezra, when she finds us stopping her from sweeping out of the building in the way she clearly wants. Even while Ezra shuffles to the side, Ophelia chirps an “enchantée, my name is Ophelia” at her. Before she replies with her name Io Halloran (see Images), her eyes rest on Aqueel for a long time.

Hali pokes Ophelia so Ophelia invites her to the performance while Hali quickly shuffles Aqueel out of Halloran's range. Aqueel is fascinated to see a sea elf, something he knows from home. Halloran declares she'll think about it.

As she leaves, she looks at Aqueel again, and then flicks her eyes at Hali, who somehow seems to reassure her enough to not take action right now. Ophelia can't tell if Halloran intends to attend or not.

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We head into the office, finally. Guild Master Rilke is a young looking woman in very practical dress (see images). She’s looking both tired and exasperated.

Rilke: Walk right in why don't you? Is this an open door day?
Ezra: we come bearing good news, so no need to be passive aggressive
R: I'm working an hour later than I wanted, so why don’t you come to the point
E: The blockade thing is not blockaded anymore!
R: I'm not in the mood to joke around
El: we come-a from the south by camel, so you must-a realize it’s true!
R: I've had a harrowing couple of months, I need friends who won't stab me in the back
Ophelia: let me convey the epic adventure through song!

Ezra and Hali poke Ophelia till she stops singing, and just invites her to tonight's performance of Ophelia and the jacks of all trades!

Ezra advises Rilke to send someone to check on the blockade tonight. When she’s heard our adventure and when the confirmation comes in tomorrow morning, she can still get to work to sort everything out, to restore The Vale’s trade, to gather funds for a fair reward, to figure out how to claw back her political influence from Rosarian and Thamyrian influence…

With a short nod, Rilke rings a bell and summons a neatly dressed dwarf to go to the messaging guild. If their hawk confirms the blockade’s disappearance, she'll need to contact all their trading partners immediately!

Storm warns her that Yaruda didn't survive, even the elder druid is gone. Rilke sighs she might have to trade with the dryads to ensure they meet the criteria for logging. She's bitter about this, because the Thamyrian crown pushed The Vale into a subpar contract with Rosaria to deliver ore and wood in order to build the Rosarian fleet. Compounding her bitterness is the presence of the Rosarian frigate the Surya, who's come as a not-so-subtle means of pressure to get the deliveries sorted.

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Ezra asks about the prisoner, as circumspectly as they can manage. Rilke doesn't care much but thinks it's a hoity toity merchant from Koh'Shar, destined for the frontline with his magic. Is it Nasser, or Mi'Kal? Our descriptions are too vague & she doesn't care enough.

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We also ask about the rumours about the werewolves. It's supposedly someone who worked in the mines & avoided the full moons that way. Apparently he was surprised by the moonlight: he killed 3 people and mauled 15 more. Now the ore production is a disaster & the frigate The Surya came early to meddle with the investigation. Rilke mentions there's a bounty available for anyone who solves the mess with the werewolf. That’s another reason Rilke is worried about the city’s funds.

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Storm also asks about Ishmael Ghorann. Rilke only knows that he was exiled 30 years ago, she was a kid & doesn't care. When she hears he passed away, she tells us we should tell his kids in their shop. Unfortunately, Magnus, the brother, went missing after the werewolf attack, and poor Maya, the sister, got her leg bitten off by a werewolf just a few days ago!

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Ophelia gives Rilke a bardic inspiration with the promise: if Rilke attends, Ophelia personally doesn't need payment for the blockade nor for the werewolf job.

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Giving Ophelia some serious side eye, we leave Rilke’s office.

As we’re walking towards the Iron Oar inn, Ophelia asks if Aqueel wants to participate in the show: he could play one song on the flute Fyllion gave him. Aqueel would love to, although he wonders why mr. Fyllion looks different? Ezra and Hali explain it’s just a party trick. In Aqueel’s opinion, Ms. Ophelia looks nicer when she’s Mr. Fyllion but in common he says "I would like to play flute with you Ms. Ophelia".

Ophelia grins that Aqueel can still call her Fyllion, and by now his common is great! He offers to teach Aqueel draconic or sylvan next. When Storm butts in on the potential lessons, Aqueel eagerly nods!

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At the Iron Oar inn we meet up with Gladiola again. She's been taking care of her cart & Lapis. We let her know that we haven’t received The Vale’s reward for the blockade yet.

The Iron Oar inn is a place where people of the town come together, and the decor reflects that, as well as the punny name: both mining and domestic decorations and paintings. Right now, it's not busy: the city is pretty tense, that’s why everyone seems so eager for Ophelia’s performance!

The woman behind the bar immediately notices us: Wendy, the inn keeper, is a redheaded human woman in her 50s, a babushka to be. She waves us over: oh it's you lot again! I wondered why I didn't see you with your captain when he was in town a few days ago. I liked your hair better Ezra when it was ginger. Say, your captain left a letter! Let me just get it (see Images).

After a painful moment of consideration, Ezra looks up from reading the letter out loud with a rigid grin: it's John Magpie’s handwriting and the paper matches the previous letter.

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Ophelia asks why Magpie wrote Skaravel is lost… like, what does that even mean? Does Magpie think Fyllion is dead? Or didn’t he know about the double names…? Hali and Ezra think it's about the loss of his power.

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Wendy doesn’t react to the names Ophelia, Fyllion or even Tommy Lutish. She does turn to Ophelia to make her acquaintance: she recognizes the lute Ophelia is holding & wonders if our crew decided to replace our bard Viola?

Why isn’t she with your dear captain Magpie & not with you either…? I was rather fond of that blond half-elf, you know. Ms. Viola gave a wonderful performance: her songs were stand out! I still find myself humming my 2 favourites:

the super romantic torch song about that angel saving his love from hell
the more narrative ballad about a kindly satyr living in a little cabin in the woods

Wendy, the innkeeper chortles that Viola even gave her an autograph on the poster from that night! Ophelia asks to see the autograph & Wendy goes to fetch it: it's in glittery pink ink, in bizarrely familiar handwriting. Even as Wendy is prattling on that she’s a bit hurt we don't remember her name, Ophelia just flops on the ground, she fainted from the shock.

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Hali gets Ophelia outside, hoping the fresh air will revive her. We wonder if Viola was just another cover, but does that match with what Fyllion told us he saw in Lusídhe's memories (in session 31)? There it was apparent that Fyllion and the sexy blonde elf are separate people.

As Ophelia wakes up, Fyllion shifts into his best approximation of Viola & runs back inside. Wendy immediately coos: “ooh viola there you are”! Fyllion runs back out, silently freaking out about his identity: is he Fyllion, as his 26 years of memories of growing up with Ifykon suggest, or is he an impersonator who forgot he's just playing a role? What role is real and whose face is behind all the masks?? In the vision Fyllion saw Viola travelling with us towards the Vale: could Viola be Skaravel’s changeling fiancée???

Gladiola can't really help with her books: the Eladrin typically live on another plane & nothing is documented very well, so all she knows about Fyllion, she’s already shared. Still, she asks a pertinent question: do you think perhaps you took her form to cover for her, Viola could be a real person you impersonated?

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While waiting for us, Ezra organizes everything for Ophelia's performance. Wendy easily agrees, the inn has been rather quiet. She's pleased, thinking the army came here to clear the troubles.

As they’re discussing the practical aspects, Wendy also recounts the troubles with the werewolf. As an inn keeper, she naturally knows all the gossip: Grewishka, Grew for his friends is a dwarfish miner. He spent a lot of time in the mines, but a few days ago, he attended a dinner. In the middle of the meal, Wendy guesses the moonlight fell on him, or something. He turned into a raving beast and attacked. Three people died and 15 others were severely hurt by his mauling. Probably the Ghorann girl is the worst off: her leg was bitten clean off, and her brother is entirely missing!

Oh, that reminds Wendy: The Vale has a clinic with a surgeon, but now there’s also a cleric aboard the Surya! Maybe one of them could check out Ophelia. Random fainting isn’t something you should ignore, you know? What if Ophelia is in the family way, she should take it easy and look after herself, and we should help her do that!

When Ezra asks about lodgings, Wendy confirms she still rents rooms. However, we'll have to share: her brother Osgar is expecting someone and made a reservation. He's had some bad news about an old flame & isn't up to blacksmithing right now, but he should be okay for our commissions in a few days.

Oh, and she had to raise her prices to stay afloat while the Vale was cut off from the world by the blockade: it’ll have to be 10 silver per room, but during Ophelia’s performance, she’ll shout us our first round.

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As more townspeople file into the inn for the show, Hali notices that some of the guests are Eladrin & did pick up on our mentioning Fyllion's real name. Before the taproom’s full, we see master Rilke file in.

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Ophelia improvises a song about a satyr in a cabin in the woods. The melody and words flow naturally, from the same well as when Fyllion performed in Koh'Shar and sang a similar song (see session 13).

The guests and the innkeeper are into the music, relieved and happy to have some diversion. The Eladrin listen, but not differently form the other guests. Their Fey heritage is visible in the foliage growing from their head, logical since they're close to the Portal in The Grove.

Ophelia tries to enthrall the guild master, the 3 Eladrin & Gladiola again. Rilke and one Eladrin are enthralled.

Aqueel and Hali perform together: thanks to a DIRTY TWENTY Hali is able to neatly cover and complement Aqueel's attempts, even if he falters from time to time.

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We collect 15 gold & with a grand gesture, Ophelia gives it to the innkeeper, for our rooms & some provisions for our animals etc. Wendy protests it's too much, but Ophelia convinces her to start a tab for if we stay longer or if we come back later again.

Hali herds us to bed in the 2 rooms Wendy prepared for us, Aqueel is dead on his feet. Wendy is pleased to see Hali travelling with... her kid...? Oh, her nephew, how charming.

El asks Wendy to take good care of Madonna, with a lot of love. Wendy vouches for her stable boy even though he has more experience with horses.

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Ophelia goes to check on the Eladrin, incl. the enthralled one. They all have foliage growing out of their hair & are wearing neutral working day clothes. The most noticeable one has white hair & orange eyes & is dressed like a teacher, very soberly (see Images). He was listening politely to Ophelia’s songs, he’s not really the excitable sort. He's not surprised Ophelia is interested in meeting them, he's been passively interested too. Birds of an Eladrin feather flock together and all that, heritage is important for him.

He compliments Ophelia on her metaphors: it was nice to hear someone referencing the iconic images of Eladrin culture. Kids nowadays are so often ignorant of their background, why some don’t even learn Sylvan, no matter how deeply that language is rooted in their ancestors and lineage. Ophelia’s song reminded him of a quaint children's book: satyrs are such funny little creatures, right?

Ophelia asks if he’s ever heard of Ifykon and Cedar? They're supposed to be brothers…? The guy digs in his memory, but he only recalls one name Ifykon referred by another bard, an Elf, the one who came in for a second just earlier.

Ophelia fights off another fainting spell and asks if it’s Viola? The Eladrin confirms: yes, I heard her but didn't talk to her. Ophelia follows up with a question about another bard: have you heard of my colleague Fyllion Springcrest? The Eladrin bristles that he’s not culturally alienated, unlike some ungrateful kids or people of mixed heritage, he knows my own gods! As a teacher, here’s a little lesson about Fyllion Springcrest:

He's surprised Ophelia calls a god her colleague
This side of the mountain is not really their domain, supposedly they were associated with the lands to the north of The Spine
They used to be quite powerful but they've been dead for 30 years in the mortal plane, assassinated by assassins of the Morrigan
Lately, there have been rumours there's a bard going around singing songs and claiming to be him but who knows, we couldn't even check with the Fey Wild, what with the Vale’s portal being closed

Ophelia trills that a teacher is so interesting! The guy nods, he teaches Sylvan because it's important that kids know their heritage. Ophelia agrees demurely: I grew up without that enrichment, that's why I want to ask you so many questions & I even taught myself sylvan. Speaking of heritage, could you also give me a brief summary about changelings?

changelings are a bit shunned in polite society: they have their reputation that they use their gifts for crime & of course, they’re associated with the Morrigan of the Gloaming courts
some of them are on the mortal plane & here they typically don’t follow any god
Fyllion was preparing a bit of a revolt.

When Ophelia pushes that she’s heard a song about Fyllion’s lover being a changeling, the Eladrin sniffs that he doesn't go in for gossip, especially not about the north & their gods. Ophelia should go to the north of rosaria or its equivalent in the fey wild, if she’s so interested in Fyllion? Of all the people of the court, they were around for a brief time & then erased. That guy is not really a good role model if Ophelia is looking for further cultural enrichment, you know?

Ophelia replies: the brightest flames burn the fastest, that appeals to me!

The Sylvan teacher responds: the promised flames burn forever.

As another guest sidles up to ask Ophelia's signature, the conversation ends. When Ophelia notices the Eladrin are leaving, she sees that the teacher is pausing to have a quiet word with Wendy the barkeeper. Ophelia quickly casts “detect thoughts” & picks up that the guy is a bit suspicious of Ophelia: why is she so interested in Fyllion? Since the bar is busier than it’s been in weeks, Wendy doesn’t really have an answer for him.

Ophelia drinks a lot & falls asleep on the bar, till Wendy sends a server to drag her to her room.

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After a good night’s sleep, on Tuesday morning, we meet again for breakfast: Gladiola reserved a table for us, as she wants to discuss what to do next. Ophelia is very hung-over & wants to suffer.

Gladiola has prepared her payment for a total of 800 gold pieces & formally thanks us as "unexpectedly pretty competent". Ezra stumbles through a thanks in turn & El takes charge of the bank.

Gladiola shares she plans to spend a few days in The Vale before she arranges passage on a ship to Royal Rosaria, to rest & to prepare the rest of her journey. She’s planning to hide her spell books in a vault of one of her family's contacts where she can magically draw them to her. Without the books she can travel a lot more safely. Since our own plans aren’t exactly clear yet, we agree to look for messaging paper. Either we’ll be able to find her at the inn before she leaves, or we might be able to co-ordinate through the magical paper.

What about our plans? It’s clear that Crescent Cove remains our destination:

It was in Eluviel's letter to Ghorann (in session 2)
Eluvelon invited us in Storm’s dream (in session 30)
John Magpie asked us directly in his letter just now

Right now, the only direct way seems to be on a ship, through the Mandurian Strait, past the Bay of Beasts and Saltmarsh on the coast of the Chelmian Sea and partway along the edge of the White Sea (see The World)? It’s very expensive to purchase passage because all the ships are busy with the war preparations… and it’s pretty dangerous for us too. Our best option is probably to ask the local miners how to get through the mountains safely and without undue attention.

As we’re discussing our options, Gladiola reminds us of Aqueel's needs… She can't really take him with her: she’s travelling further away from the Sea of Storms. We have to consider if he’s safe with us: trouble always seems to find us, and Crescent Cove is also very far from the Sea of Storms. And we can’t just plonk him in the river, even if the Mandurian Strait connects to the Sea of Storms. We’d need someone we can really trust, should we ever want to consider handing him over…

Gladiola thanks us for keeping her secret, we're the only ones who know it beyond her family.

We’re ready to start our Tuesday.

Storyline

Previously: session 31 sing me a song of a love that goes on

Up next: session 33 a tale of tigers and wolves, oh my

Images


The Vale combines different districts for mining, logging, shipping and living	Io Halloran, captain of the H.M.S. Surya, a Rosarian military frigate temporarily docked in the Vale. A proud and rather fearsome woman.	Rilke, the practically minded (and usually blunt) master of the trading guild - one of the Vale's most influential factions

John Magpie's letter to his mutinous crew, showing he still knows us well	Pandolf, an Eladrin Elf, a teacher of Sylvan in The Vale