A report from the Orlmarthings who were there.
exw
Honoring Day, Clayday, Fertility Week, Sea Season 1618
The marriage between Ernalsulva and Sarlanth took place on Honoring Day. Sarlanth became Ernalsulva’s Year Husband and may now reckon himself a thane of Greenstone Temple. Everyone, except Sarlanth, returned to the tula by the next Clayday; Sarlanth lingered with his wife in Greenstone for some time afterwards. Finally with a deep kiss, Ernalsulva sent Sarlanth away, though the parting was sweet. He was still a weaponthane of the Orlmarth and she was still an active priestess of Greenstone. Each of them have duties to attend. However, Ernalsulva promised Sarlanth that the separation would be brief and that she would come to Nymie Vale in Earth season to personally assist the clan with the Ernaldan high holy week.
Xyw
Godsday, Truth Week, Sea Season 1618
On the last day of Sea season, only eight or so weeks after the quest to the Underworld, “Redhands” Desrik found himself in his cups again, sleeping outside with the sheep. During the night, he was visited by a mysterious person named Cinsulo who called Desrik his (or her) father and thanked Desrik for allowing him (or her) to seek out his (or her) doom. Cinsulo’s ramblings made little sense to Desrik, who may have just been too drunk to make sense of anything anyway. He awoke the next morning in his bed, but covered in hay.
ej.
Clayday, Disorder Week, Fire Season 1618
Dinestan had been keeping to himself of late, wandering into the wilderness for days at a time to spend time alone. Among his kin, he seemed distant and uninterested in the normal goings-on around the stead. Pointing to the terrible scar on his right arm, the elders said he left part of himself in the Underworld and his soul longs to return to find it.
Desrik grew worried after Dinestan had been gone from the stead for longer than usual and sought him out. He found Dinestan high in the ridges, perched dangerously on a ledge overhanging the smoking Cinder Pits. In the way he does, Desrik snapped Dinestan out of his malaise and convinced him to come back to the stead for dinner. Desrik sang a song to keep their mood up and Dinestan even broke out his drum to play along.
While still high in the ridges and still far from anyone’s stead, they came across a dwarf who excitedly asked them to help him obtain a magnificent treasure: “Greetings good mortals! I bring you opportunity for riches beyond the avarice of human kings.” The cousins questioned the dwarf, he called himself Fersurasen, and were convinced enough to return to the stead to fetch Orsten and Sarlanth. Orsten took some convincing to come along, but Sarlanth was game for adventure.
Fersurasen terms were simple. We could have any of the treasure we found as long as we returned a particular trinket, the “Dwarf’s Armring” to him. He had been sent by his king, Agalaitgastald, to whom he claimed the ring actually belonged, to regain the treasure.
Fersurasen quickly set the pace, striking eastward immediately towards the Thunder Hills. During our time with the dwarf, we saw him use many strange bronze devices and learned he could blow smoke from his pipe into almost any shape he could imagine. It took us a little over a day to get there from the tula. We climbed into the rocky, beech-covered highlands, up to the famous landmark, Two Face Hill.
These jagged hills were formed in the Darkness when Chaos tried to attack the home of the gods. Shooting stars and lightning bolts barraged them until there was nothing left but shattered rocks. The hills are a wild place, all but impassable, full of steep cliffs, shifting footing and cutting stones. The elves covered them with a thick beech forest, the mighty roots of the trees burrowing through the rubble.
The Two Faces guarded two huge bronze doors that were ajar, but did not otherwise prevent our entry. Orsten refused to go into such a dark place, and waited outside with Fersurasen, who said “We promised the old lord of the hoard that we would not. But we did not promise we would not ask others to do it for us.” The dwarf gave us two intricate bronze lamps and one final warning: “If you encounter a guardian, challenge it to a Contest of Lore and Wisdom. You are good with riddles, right?”
The small temple ruin, surviving from the Empire of Wyrms Friends, was as the dwarf described. Full of treasure and covered in artwork depicting dragons and their worshippers. Dinestan found the Armring, and somewhat overcome by its beauty, picked it up.
A sibilant voice slithered out of the darkness above us: “Greetings thief! Courtesy demands that you tell me who you are and where do you come from?” What was, or we thought was, a emerald-encrusted depiction of a dragon embedded in the ceiling of the temple took form a moving, living gem-encrusted serpentine dragon which lowered itself down and coiled about us. Stricken by fear, Sarlanth answered the dragon’s polite questions accurately and without hesitation, as the dragon gently pried into who we were, where we were from, and other details.
The green dragon was unfailingly polite and easily gave up his name to us: Lalaach. We then struck a bargain with the dragon: we would engage him in a contest of riddles. We staked our lives as dinner for the dragon, and Lalaach staked his treasure in return. Fortunately, Desrik is a master of riddles and we beat the dragon at his own game. Lalaach was so impressed our riddling he held no rancor against us and invited us to return for more riddles and conversation in the future. We loaded up our arms with everything we could carry and returned outside.
Fersurasen danced excitedly when he saw the Armring. Dinestan was loathe to give it up, however, and things got tense. Fersurasen summoned his Iron Dwarf protectors, who appeared from the stones themselves and surrounded us. We presented our receipts from the Census Dwarfs we met in the Underworld.
The receipts proved everything was in order and Dinestan relinquished the Armring. The dwarfs thanked us and disappeared into the hills.
We returned to the tula and regaled our kin with the new story. Our young cousin, Kalland the Shepherd, a clever boy of 15, asked us to tell the tale over and over again.
We began to plan to move the vast treasure from Two Face Hill to the tula without “any Lunar entanglements” or other problems.
el.
Clayday, Harmony Week, Fire Season 1618
Dinestan came across Kalland in the high pasture fondling something small and shiny. He pressed the boy, who revealed a trinket from the dragon’s treasure, a trinket we had not taken ourselves. When pressed, the boy revealed that he and his siblings had snuck off to Two Face Hill. Kalland had entered the temple alone and stolen some of the dragon’s treasure for himself right from under the dragon’s nose. While we couldn’t help but be impressed - clever boy! - we knew the dragon might not take this breech of our agreement well. We rushed back to Two Face Hill with the stolen trinkets, only to find the doors to the temple wide open and the very rocks outside burning with dragon venom. The dragon was gone.
.l.
The Dragonrage Solstice, Summer Solstice, Fireday, Harmony Week, Fire Season 1618
By the time we returned to the tula, we could see smoke rising from Nymie Vale. For as far as the eye could see up and down the valley, everything was on fire.
The clan elders summoned us to Old Man Village and vented their anger at us.
Xl.
Godsday, Harmony Week, Fire Season 1618
Lalaach swooped down upon our tula, setting fire to our herds and barns. We lost Ulfkarn, one of our thanes, in the attack. Lalaach swallowed him whole.
wt.
Waterday, Death Week, Fire Season 1618
King Kangharl the Blackmoor summoned us to Clearwine Fort, which we saw had also been attacked by the dragon. We found him fully armored and glistening with Lunar magic. His kinsmen, likewise, we armed and fully prepared for battle. Kangharl was furious with us and threatened to feed us to the dragon. When Desrik spoke up to mock him, from behind the King a powerful Lunar sorcerer appeared - a Dara Happan man bearing a staff topped by a perfect replica of the Red Moon. He was Tatius the Bright, the most powerful sorcerer in the Lunar Empire. With but a single word, Tatius struck Desrik’s tongue from his head and cursed him to rot to pieces. Erianda the Witch was also there, and she picked up Desrik’s writhing tongue from the floor and gave it back to him.
After we explained our version of events, Kangharl demanded to send Kalland into outlawry and that we repay the damages the dragon had caused to the tribe. We swore that he would not see the dragon attack again. To bind us to our word, Kangharl threw Sarlanth into the dungeon and swore to kill him if the dragon attacked the tribe again. Dinestan and Orsten then set out to locate the dragon.
et.
Clayday, Death Week, Fire Season 1618
Orsten used a wind to carry Dinestan’s words to the dragon. It worked, and Lalaach soon reappeared above the tula. Dinestan apologized and the dragon heard him out. For recompense, Lalaach demanded the life of Kalland. Dinestan argued that the boy deserved the same chance we had gotten - a Contest of Wisdom and Lore. After some wrangling, we arrived at the bargain: Kalland would return to riddle with Lalaach after he had initiated. Lalaach flew back to Two Face Hill to wait out the years.
Desrik’s condition became more dire.
gc.
Day 88, Founder’s Day, Windsday, Stasis Week, Fire Season 1618
On Founder’s Day, over two weeks after he had been thrown in the dungeon, Sarlanth was released into the quarters of Erianda the Witch. She offered him food and drink and explained many things to him, including the fact that Kangharl had returned to Runegate over a week ago and had left Sarlanth to rot in the dungeon. Erianda herself had only just returned to Clearwine from Boldhome and had Sarlanth released by her own authority (or, really, by the authority of Tatius the Bright). Erianda spoke with open frankness with Sarlanth on many things, but never allowed Sarlanth to pin her with crimes she did not herself commit (those she had, she accepted). Sarlanth sparred with her over the meaning of Chaos and the wickedness of the Lunar Empire. And Erianda revealed that she had been forbidden by Tatius, her master, from wasting anymore time in her pursuit of petty vengeance with us. As a final demonstration of both her own motives and the overarching goal of the Red Goddess to bring peace to all of Glorantha, she asked Sarlanth send word to Desrik to come to Clearwine and to wait for her to travel to Furthest and back, a little more than a week, to bring Sarlanth the proof that all that she told him was true. Sarlanth agreed.
es.
Clayday, Movement Week, Fire Season 1618
Erianda returned from Furthest with a White Healer to restore Desrik. The healer soon revealed himself to be a Wild Healer, a broo named Haukhorn. Erianda said there are only meager handful of Wild Healers in all of existence, and that Haukhorn was a skilled healer. Haukhorn said he had found peace through the Seven Mothers and specifically through the child-goddess Teelo Noori. Subsequently, he became an Arroyan to atone for all the harm he had caused to others earlier in his life. Despite our deep, mythical misgivings - prohibitions against allowing broos to live and harming followers Chalana Arroy - the astonished Sarlanth allowed the Wild Healer to tend to Desrik’s curse and heal him. The White Goddess’ mercy can come from the most mysterious of places. The Wild Healer lifted the curse from Desrik and set his body on a course back to rejuvenation.
oi.
Freezeday, Illision Week, Fire Season 1618
After weeks of careful planning, we returned to Two Face Hill to recover the rest of the dragon’s treasure. We had loaded every last gold nob we could lay our hands on under the watchful eyes of Lalaach; however, on our way down the mountainside we were waylaid by none other than the Blackmor himself, outnumbering us with a small army of his Black Oaks and with Lunar sorcerers and regimentals bolstering his numbers. With no other choice but to engage in open rebellion and kinslaying, we rendered the entire treasure to the King, and swore our vengeance under our breaths.
The Robber King must die.