Tales of the Ironlands

Kalyra Sophisdottir

Episode 10: Runs in the Family

Recap

Last time, on Tales of the Ironlands, Kalyra Sophisdottir returned to the cavern of the primordial and confronted it once again — this time with questions, rather than combat. What, exactly, was the nature of her father’s bargain with the primordial? What could possibly be worth trading away his existence as a human?

And the answer was: a child. Her father had traded his humanity for a charm to help his wife conceive; he traded his life, for Kalyra’s. A distraught Kalyra offered to take his place; but the primordial refused because she is deathtouched. Nor would it accept any other form of payment, and her father urged her to let him pay his debt himself. And so Kalyra forswore her vow to rescue her father, and left him there in the cave to continue his slow transformation into a creature of stone and earth.

Before leaving, Kalyra had the presence of mind to ask the primordial if it could tell her anything about the Rose of Light and Shadow. It seems to know something, but required a price. In exchange for information, it instructed her to “Put down the Barren.” When a bewildered Kalyra asked what that was, it only said “Ask your mother.”

Retracing her steps homeward towards Peilinham in a black depression only slightly eased by the presence of Einari, Kalyra once more encountered the mysterious carven stone that she had seen on her outward journey: the sole remaining stone, it seems, of the cromlech of a lost elven village. Pressing her hand to it, Kalyra heard agonized voices whispering the word tauti over and over. When Einari informed her that this meant “disease” in elven, she was seized with a desire to learn what happened to the elven settlement, and swore a vow to discover this.

They located the ruins of the village with no especial difficulty. There they encountered the lone spirit of a dead elf, who warned them against the Barren but would say no more. When Kalyra asked Einari, he told her that a Barren rises from the spirit of an elf who has become deathtouched, and failed in their vow of service to the Black Lady.

Session Report

Kalyra raises her head where she sits at the back of the central chamber of this abandoned elven village and she says “An elf who has become deathtouched and failed? That’s what gives rise to a Barren?”

“Yes,” says Einari. “That’s a big part of the reason why we elves generally don’t welcome deathtouched among us.” He turns back to look at her.

“Is that ... something that could happen to me? If I fail in my quest?”

“I don’t know,” he says. “I’m no Kocari. I know that it can certainly happen to elves. But whether the same would hold true of a human — I cannot say.”

Kalyra does not find this comforting. “Well, I suppose that means I just have to succeed,” she says “I just ... have to succeed.”

“I don’t think you told me what it is you’re supposed to do for her,” Einari says.

And so she tells him there, in the darkness of this ruined village, that the Black Lady wants her to go to the Shattered Wastes beyond the Veiled Mountains and pluck the Rose of Light and Shadow, and bring it to her.

“Hmm. Well that sounds pretty hard,” he says.

“I don’t even know where to begin looking!” she says. “I’m hoping the primordial will be able to point me in the right direction. I mean, the Shattered Wastes ... I don’t really know much about them, but I gather they’re pretty big.”

“Sounds about right. Well, look ... it’s getting dark soon. You want to camp out here for the night? We’re perfectly safe I up this high in the village. We shouldn’t be disturbed by any nighttime visits from wandering wildlife, for example. Although there is that spirit,” he says, looking nervously around, “That you were talking to.”

“I don’t think it meant us any harm,” she says. “It seemed sad; and lonely to me.”

“Well, you’re the deathtouched one, so I’ll take your word for it,” he says. “And I don’t half fancy scrambling down a tree with no ladder in the middle of the night — or in the dusk even,” he says looking out, because it is indeed only dusk.

“All right,” Kalyra says. “Let’s stay here then. I presume that means we’re having a cold dinner, on account of the we can’t light any fires in here.”

“Well,” he says, “We could light a fire in here as long as were careful to keep it well removed from the wood.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” she says. “I don’t carry any braziers or anything with me; they’re much too heavy.”

“Good point. Cold dinner it is!” And so they make a cold dinner out of trail food that Kalyra had gotten from the Skaren: bars of dried berries mixed with suet and grains that had been popped — popped wheat grains — to make a sort of bar. Dense, with many calories. It’s not great; but not awful either. And it will certainly keep them fed.

Kalyra spends a little time looking at the potted plant at the side of the room that she had noticed before: the remnants of one of the vines of glowing flowers that she’d seen in the Skaren village. This one is dead — long since. She examines it.

“What are you looking for?” Einari says.

“Oh! Well, these flowers are so great. I was thinking I should get some seeds for some of these. But I forgot to do it before we left the Skaren village. I was wondering if maybe this one would have some seeds on it. Gather Information check, at +1 because of her Herbalist asset. 7v1/2, strong hit.

She is able to recover some seeds from the withered remains of this plant. “I hope they’re still good,” she says, packing them neatly away in her pouch. “I’d love to have some growing in Peilinham.”

“How large is your home?” asks Einari.

“Oh, not terribly large. There are about 50 of us overall, in eight or nine houses. Mostly we work as hunters. There are a few lumberjacks in the area, we’ll export would occasionally, downstream to other villages. I say `downstream,’ but we have to haul it several miles over to the nearest river which is navigable. There is a nice creek running through Peilinham that we use for water, but it’s much too shallow for a boat to make passage on.”

“Well, I suppose we’ll be seeing it just as soon as we finish up here,” he says.

“Yes, I suppose so.” And with no further idle chatter, they fall into a quiet, comfortable companionship and then go to sleep for the night. Make Camp. 5v7/7. Miss, with a twist. Rolled on Theme Oracle: 86, desolation.

The night is fairly cool. It’s still spring. It has been getting warmer, but somehow Kalyra takes no comfort in this. As she sleeps, she dreams. She dreams of dark open plain, stretching as far as the eye can see. She’s wading through hip-deep snow full of jagged shards of ice, lit only by the pale light of a waning quarter moon. The wind whips her hair about her head and she keeps squinting, trying to peer through the darkness which is only an eerie half-darkness, with the whiteness of the snow reflecting the pale watery beams of the moon.

There is something ahead: something she knows she must get to. But she doesn’t know which way it lies, or how long it will take her to get there.

She wakes partway through the night, perspiration beaded on her brow, and takes no comfort from this evening’s rest. -1 Spirit (to 2), Endure Stress. 8v1/9, weak hit, press on.

Einari snores. She is not particularly sure whether this is the side-effect of having broken his nose or not, but she can’t imagine that it’s terribly comfortable to have all that vibration in the nasal cavities so soon after its breaking. In the morning, however he seems just fine.

She says “Here — shall I take a look at your nose again?”

“Oh, no!” he says. “I think I am just going to leave well enough alone. Another few days and it’ll be fine.”

“All right,” she says.

“Bad night?” he says.

“I just ... had some bad dreams. That’s all.”

“Let me guess: you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ah, you begin to know me,” she says. “Come on. Let’s get out of this tree — poke around. See what more we can learn here.”

“Suit yourself. You want breakfast first?”

“No! I want to go down and start a fire someplace so that we can have some warm breakfast.”

“Good thought.”

It’s considerably easier to get down out of the tree than it was to get up. For one thing, they already have a rope in place; and for another, gravity is on your side when you’re going down. So, with only a minimal amount of effort, they make their way to the bottom of the tree.

“I wonder what this place was called,” Kalyra says.

“I don’t know,” he says, “I didn’t even know we ever had any settlements over this far. But on the other hand, we have been here an awfully long time, so I suppose it’s not too surprising.”

The two of them make their way over to the abandoned cooking area that they discovered the previous day. Kalyra grabs a fallen branch from a pine tree which still bears some of its needles, and uses it as a makeshift broom to clear away some of the forest detritus, revealing a flagstone floor similar to the one she’d seen at the Skaren tribe. They use this as a spot to light a fire, since all the stoves seem to have collapsed in upon themselves, and have breakfast.

Afterwards, Kalyra stands and packs up all of her stuff, and says “Do you have any idea where we might find the burial grounds?”

“Well, no,” says Einari looking around. “There would’ve been of a fern-lined path leading to them. Perhaps we can figure out where it is. But there is no prescribed location for such things.”

“Hmm.”

“Why do you want to go to the burial grounds?”

“I want to see if there are any ... I don’t know, obvious signs of what happened? I don’t know. Let’s go find it! Maybe we’ll find something.”

“All right.” Gather Information check: can they find the path to the burial grounds? 3v8/6, miss.

“There are too many ferns around here. They’ve spread,” Einari says.

“I know. There are no obvious paths anywhere. It’s got to be around here someplace, right?”

“Well, I assume so. Unless ... unless the village was so new that it didn’t have burial ground?”

“Is there any way we could tell that?”

“Uhh ... no.” he says.

“Well, then it’s just speculation. Einari,” Kalyra says. “I think maybe I need to try again to talk to the spirit that dwells here.”

“If you think that would help,” he says.

“I think maybe it would be easier if I was alone.”

“Oh! Well. How about I just go hang out by the cooking area, and you can go back to the central tree and try it there. That’s where we last saw it, anyway.”

“Yes, thank you,” she says. “I will be with you shortly.”

“All right.” Einari sticks his hands in his pockets and wanders off towards the cooking area, whistling — which sounds quite strange through a mask.

Kalyra makes her way back to the central tree of the lost village. They had to leave their rope behind, because there was no easy way to untie it one they were gone. She considers and hauls herself up the rope into the tree once again. The interior is dim, as before. She sits down in the very center of the room, with her face towards the opening, and crosses her legs, resting her hands on her knees. She sits in silence for a few minutes and then she says: “Spirit! Come. Talk to me.” Compel +heart, +1 from deathtouched. 9v6/7, strong hit. +1 momentum from deathtouched, +1 momentum from Compel to +9 (capped).

It takes a few moments, but after a while Kalyra gets the sense that she is not alone. She opens her deathtouched eyes — glowing pale blue in the dimness of the central tree’s hollow heart — and there in front of her the white mask hovers once again, with the faint wispy spectral form of an elf seated in front of her mimicking her pose. “Greetings, spirit,” she says. “Please: can you tell me about this village? What was it called? What happened here?” Gather Information at +1 from Compel, and +1 from deathtouched. 7v5/2, strong hit.

“This was the village of the Shatu tribe,” the spirit says in a hollow, empty voice. “One of our Kocari, a woman named Pala, died of an accident and came back — having made a bargain with the Black Lady. But once she had returned, she found that she could not bring herself to honor her vow. When she passed on again, she rose as a Barren.”

“Did she kill the village?” asks Kalyra.

The mask tips forward and back in a slow nod. “The Barren that came of Pala spread disease among us. Pain in the joints. Shortness of breath. And they made terrible noises ... we called it the Singing Death, because of the musical shrieks that our people made as they died. Burning ... burning from the inside ... burning ... BURNING!” The mask lights in flames, and Kalyra must turn her eyes away from the brightness that flares up from it. When she looks back, the spirit is gone, burned away. Marked progress on vow to Discover the Fate of the Elves near Peilinham. 6/10.

“No ... don’t go!” Kalyra says. “I have more questions. Spirit, return!” Compel +iron, +1 from deathtouched to make the spirit come back. 8v7/1, strong hit. Momentum still capped.

“Spirit, return! There’s more you have to tell me,” she says. There is a long, sullen silence before the wispy form once again takes shape, pulling itself out of the ether.

“What is it, mortal?” it hisses. Gather Info, 6v4/5. Momentum still capped.

“What became of Pala? What became of the Barren?”

“Gone ... gone. When the last of our people died, there was nothing to keep her here. And so she left.”

“Where did she go?”

“I ... know ... not. Let me rest, mortal ...”

“Can you? Can you rest?” Kalyra asks. “Or are you trapped here?” And the spirit just hangs in the air. “Know that I have already sworn a vow to find the Baren and put it down. When I have done this, I will return here and tell you.

“Ahhhhhhh ....” The spirit exhales a breath of spectral vapor and vanishes once again. Mark progress on the vow to Discover the Fate of the Elves near Peilinham, up to 9/10. But not completing it yet; I’ll do that once the Barren is dealt with.

Kalyra stands up once again and dusts herself off a little bit. “That went well,” she says. “But now I have to find this Barren; this Pala, wherever it may have gone, and deal with it.”

She climbs down from the tree and makes her way off to the cooking area where she finds Einari leaning casually against one of the collapsed stoves and whittling. He looks up as she arrives. “Well? Any luck?”

“Yes,” she says. “I ... I conjured the spirit.” Inwardly she thinks How strange that is, that I can call up the dead and speak with them. “I conjured the spirit and spoke with it.”

“Oh! What did it tell you?”

“This was the Shatu tribe,” she says. “And one of their own, a woman named Pala, a Kocari, became deathtouched. Then she forswore her vow, and became a Barren. It said that the Barren spread a disease among them that they called the Singing Death. Because they made such musical shrieks as they died.”

“Well that’s pretty horrifying,” he says. “Ugh!”

“Yeah, I thought so too.”

“Are we done here?” he asks.

“Well, I’m probably going to have to revisit later. Once I’ve found the Barren and dealt with it.”

“Well, then I think were done here, because there’s no way you’re going to find that thing if you stick around here. Come on.” And so the two of them return to the journey back to Peilinham. Undertake a Journey. 8v6/2, strong hit; finished the progress bar, and forgot there’s actually a move to Reach your Destination. Whoops.

It seems that the lost village of the Shatu tribe is not so very far from Peilinham; just a half day’s travel away at most. It is getting on towards noon when Einari and Kalyra make their way out of the edge of the forest. Ahead of them they can see the palisade that rings the settlement of Peilinham, located in a moderately large vale in the center of the woods here in the Havens.

Smoke rises from the chimneys of the few houses within, and Kalyra can see in the distance a few people out working the fields that stretch to the southeast of the village. “Home,” she says. “Peilinham.”

“Hmm! Interesting,” Einari says. “I’ve heard of human settlements, but this is the first I’ve ever seen. Are they all walled like this?”

“Well, most of them, I think. I’ve only been to a couple myself. I didn’t do much traveling until ... well, just recently. Come on,” she says. “I ... oh. I need to go talk to my mother.”

“Is that so bad?” he says.

“Oh, no! I love my mother. She taught me everything I know about herbs and medicine. She’s so ... kind, and I’ve really wanted a hug from her for quite a while now. But ... I have to tell her what happened to Father. And I have to ask her about the Barren.”

The two of them make their way towards Peilinham. The palisade has great big gate in it. There are no watchtowers, per se and to one side there are a series of logs in the palisade which look quite new. They have not yet dulled and faded. “That’s where the primordial broke through when it came and took my father,” says Kalyra.

“It couldn’t use the front door?”

“It came at night,” she says. “Just busted through the wall like it wasn’t there.” As she steps through the gate of Peilinham, people see and recognize her. “Kalyra! You’re back!” says a man striding out of one of the houses near the gate. “Hi Frode,” she says. “Yes, I’m back. I’m back.”

But his face falls as he realizes that the man standing next to her is not her father. “Who’s this?” he asks. “And what’s with the mask?”

“Frode, this is Einari. He’s an elf from the Deep Wilds.”

“An elf? The Deep Wilds! Good heavens. What have you been up to?” he says.

“It’s a long story. I think I’d rather not tell it all over and over again. Can we talk about it this evening at a gathering? I need to go talk to my mother first.”

“Fair enough. We can have a gathering in the hall this evening if you like,” he says.

“Yes, I’d like that,” she says.

Making her way through the village with Einari looking curiously all around him, they soon come to a house on the west side of the palisade. It’s a smaller house than most of the others. Kalyra walks up to the front door and opens it and steps inside.

Within there is a small room. Unlike many of the houses, this house has multiple rooms in it: three of them to be precise. Stepping through the front door brings you to a large common area with a hearth, a table, space for cooking, and some cupboards off to one side. The floors are made of finely sanded pine planks, and the walls are made of a frame of timbers: black, dark wood which has been sealed with pitch, and between them whitewashed walls made of wattle and daub. The roof has been thatched with straw, and the stone fireplace at the back has a low fire going even now, keeping the place warm.

There are two other rooms off to the side. One is a small bedroom with a single bed in it which is very neat and tidy. Einari glances through the doors and notes that it is empty of personal effects, which seems interesting to him. The other room is further back. It looks somewhat larger than the smaller side room, but its doors closed and he can’t see in.

There is a woman standing with her back to the door. She is currently stirring something in a pot, which has been set to one side of the fire, well away from the center of the heat but warm enough to keep a steady low simmer. She turns around. She is a woman in her mid to late 40s, it looks like, with her hair tied back in a bun, graying from the black that it once was. Her face is somewhat lined with the beginnings of age, but most of those marks appear to be smile marks. This is a face which is accustomed to joy.

“Kalyra!” she says and rushes over, sweeping Kalyra into an enormous hug, which Kalyra just falls into.

“Ma!” she says.

And Kalyra’s mother — Sophi, Sophi Enyasdottir — steps back with her hands on Kalyra’s shoulders and says “Well? What happened? How is it ... who’s this?”

“This is Einari, Mom,” says Kalyra. “He’s an elf, from the Skaren tribe in the Deep Wilds.”

“The Deep Wilds!” exclaims Sophi.

“It’s a long story,” she says. “Let’s sit down.” And so the three of them sit down. Sophi insists on getting both of them mugs of small ale beforehand. This is not a stiff, strong ale; it’s just slightly alcoholic, with a sort of nutty taste to it. Something to wet the throat with.

Kalyra sips her drink before launching into the whole story, in order. She recounts her journey north, the fight the primordial; she skips over her fight with the boar. She’s been careful to keep her eyes half lidded and her gaze turned, to delay that portion of the revelation. “Then I met this woman Aliaanor,” she continues, and recounts her sojourn with Aliaanor; the trip into the Deep Wilds; meeting the Bantu and the Skaren; the return trip; Aliaanor’s death. “Then I finally talked to the primordial and found out what Father’ss bargain was. He bargained ... for me, it seems.” she says.

“What do you mean?” Sophi says.

“He told me — Father told me, with his own two lips, that the two of you were having trouble getting a child, after you were married. He met the primordial and bargained with it for a charm to help with that.”

“Is that where that came from!” Sophi says. “Huh. Yes, one time he came home and he made me a wreath out of flowers and woven with pine needles, and teasingly made me wear it ... that evening. Is that what that was?”

“Yeah,” says Kalyra. “And I guess that’s how you got me.” She seems a little offput to be discussing the circumstances of her own conception with her mother. “But the price that the primordial demanded was that when I was grown, Father would come to him and be transformed into a primordial himself. And ... I offered to take his place.”

“You what!” says Sophi.

“Yeah, I did. I was so scared, but I did, I can’t ...”

“And what happened?”

“He turned me down,” says Kalyra, keeping her eyes half closed. “He turned me down because ... I’m not free.”

“What do you mean you’re not free?”

Kalyra slowly raises her head and opens her eyes to let the blue light shine through. Sophi startles visibly. “I ... it was a ... oh, Mom.” she says.

“Kalyra! What’s going on? You need to tell me about this, right now!”

“I got ... I got dumb,” she says. “I walked between a boar and her piglets, and it charged me and we fought, and it killed me. I hadn’t even made it to the primordial’s cave before it happened — the first time, I mean. And I saw the Door, and the Black Lady. And she offered me a deal. She would let me go back and finish what I need to do, if I would do something for her.”

“Oh, Kalyra!” says Sophi, and reaches out to her daughter and pulls her into an embrace “You didn’t.”

“I did,” she says. “And it wasn’t worth it in the end, because Dad ... after all of that, after all of the trials and the death and the fighting and the journeys and the ... it was all for nothing. It wouldn’t take me, because I’m deathtouched. And it wouldn’t take any other price. I had to leave him there — he told me himself that it was best that he pay his own debts. And so I left. It was all for nothing.’ And Kalyra weeps in her mother’s arms.

Einari very quietly backs out of the room and sits on the stoop of the house.

“Oh, Kalyra...” says Sophi, rocking her back and forth. “Oh, my darling daughter. You need to be careful when you make bargains.”

“Yes,” says Kalyra. “I learned that the hard way. Dad learned that the hard way,” Kalyra raises her tear-stained face once again. “And you learned the hard way too, didn’t you?”

“What do you mean?” Sophi says.

“Tell me about the Barren,” says Kalyra, and Sophi freezes a moment, her face blank with shock.

“How do you know about that?”

“The primordial told me to ask you about it. Dad made a terrible bargain ... I’ve made a terrible bargain. I thought maybe it runs in the family. Am I right? Was it a bargain, of some kind?” Asked the Oracle: did did Sophi Enyasdottir make some kind of bargain with the Barren? 50/50 chance, high is yes. 85.

Sophi turns sideways, leaving one arm around Kalyra’s shoulder. The two of them sit side-by-side on bench at the table. “Yes, I did. I did make a bargain with that foul creature,” she says bitterly. “Why would the primordial tell you about that? How would it even know?”

“I don’t know how it knows things, Mom ... it’s a primordial. They’re ... they’re primordials. They do what they do. The Kocari, Veris, told me that they know a great deal, that they’re as intelligent as we are, and have been around for basically the whole of the world’s existence. I don’t know how it knows things. But it wants me to put the Barren down. I need to know what you know about it. I need to know what bargain you struck with it. I can’t go into this blind, the way I did with Dad’s.” |Compel +heart to see if Kalyra can persuade her mother to tell her this. 9v8/2, strong hit, momentum is capped. Gather Info at +1. 5v5/2; weak hit. Momentum is still capped, and a complication.

“I ... I can’t. I can’t tell you that. I would love to tell you that! You deserve to hear it. But ... part of the bargain is that I can’t tell anyone about it. Anyone.”

“Not even me, mother? Not even me?”

“Not even you. Not even you, my daughter,” says Sophi.

“Why not?” says Kalyra.

But Sophi just looks at her, stricken.

“What’s preventing you?” says Kalyra “Can you talk about why you can’t talk about it? Or give me some kind of hint?”

“No. I can’t. I can’t talk about it at all. The terms of the bargain ... Aaah!” and Sophi doubles over in pain all of a sudden.

“Mom? Mom! What is ... oh!” Kalyra says. “You really can’t talk about it.”

“No,” says Sophi, shaking her head and grimacing in pain “I really can’t. I am incapable of talking about it.” And it looks like she’s struggling to get something out, groaning. “Penalties!” and she winces in pain.

“It’s all right! Stop! Stop there. Stop. I’m just going to talk out loud,” says Kalyra “And maybe speculate a little. You can’t talk about it because if you do, it will cause you pain. I’ve seen that. But maybe if you were to say more it would kill you?”

Sophi just stares woodenly at the floor, neither confirming nor denying.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Kalyra says. “Oh, Mom! Is there anyone else who might be able to tell me about this?” Asked the oracle: is there anyone else who could tell Kalyra about her mother’s bargain with the Barren? Likely. Needs a 26 or higher. 99.

“Yes,” says Sophi.

“Oh good. That’s evidently not part of the conditions. Can you tell me who that person is?”

“Yes,” says Sophi. “I could tell you; but it wouldn’t do you any good.”

“Why not?” says Kalyra.

Sophi shakes her head. “Because he’s been dead these 30 years.”

“Huh,” says Kalyra “Who was it?”

“Halfdan Groasson,” says Sophi. “My old teacher.”

“Well, as it happens,” Kalyra says, “I have a recently been developing the ability to speak with dead spirits. A side effect of my bargain. So he may have been dead for 30 years ... but that may not necessarily be an impediment in my case.”

Sophi looks taken aback. “Well, he died 30 years ago.”

“Where is he buried?” asks Kalyra. Asked the Oracle: is he buried in Peilinham, or someplace else? 50/50, high is Peilinham, low is someplace else. 18. Spent a bunch of time mucking about with the location name oracle, didn’t like the results and finally just named the place myself.

“He’s buried in Eidynholt.”

“That’s down halfway to the coast, isn’t it?” asks Kalyra.

“Not quite so far says,” Sophi says. “Only about a third of the way to the coast, actually.”

“You must’ve been there,” Kalyra says.

“Yes, that’s where I was born, actually,” Sophi says. “It’s where I was born, it’s where I buried my parents when I was 14, and where I apprenticed myself to the herbalist Halfdan Groasson. He was a kind old man. He taught me so much about herbs and medicine. In a way he’s been your teacher. Everything I know — or almost everything I know — about herbs medicine, I learned from him and taught to you.”

“Well then,” says Kalyra, “I guess I have to make my way to Eidynholt and find him. Where in Eidynholt is he buried?”

“Eidynholt uses a series of natural caverns in the hills nearby for burying their dead. As long as you’re going that way, you could lay some flowers in your grandmother and grandfather’s niche.”

“Of course,” says Kalyra. “How will I find it?”

“Oh, it won’t be hard,” Sophi says. “The place is minded by a caretaker, a priestess. She was very young last time I saw her, but that was quite a while ago now. She’s probably still there. Or if not her, then presumably her successor. Just find the priestess of the catacombs and she can show you where all of the people are buried.”

“All right, I’ll do that.” Kalyra reaches down and unbuckles her sword belt. She frees the scabbard from the belt and takes the scabbard over to the fireplace. There are pair of pegs set in the wall above it, and she reaches up and rests the sword and scabbard upon them, and leaves it there.

“Aren’t you going to need that?” says Sophi.

Kalyra shakes her head, and says “I ... I can’t. That’s sword that I used to swear the vow to get father. I can’t.” But she raises her hand to the small iron necklace, the charm with a symbol of a spiral that her mother had given her. She says “But I’ll swear by this iron that you gave me, I shall find the priestess of the catacombs and see what I can learn from the spirit of your teacher.” Swear an Iron Vow, 6v6/9, miss, -2 momentum to 7.

“Won’t you stay for a while?” Sophi says. “Or are you intent on leaving immediately? Look at my daughter, all grown up! Out in the world, and forging her own way.”

But Kalyra turns her face towards her mother and her eyes are glowing blue. “Not really my way. Or, it is ... I chose it,” she says, tapping her eye. “I chose the path. But I don’t know where it stretches. And yes, of course. It’s been a terrible few weeks. I’m going to stay for a few days. I’ll give an abbreviated version of the story to everyone this evening — Frode said he would arrange a gathering.”

“All right,” says Sophi. Sojourn, because she really, really needs it. She’s bonded to Peilinham (one of her background bonds). 6v4/9, weak hit. Gained +2 spirit to 3, forgetting that the bond entitled me to a second choice from the list on a weak hit. Heal check: 10v10/2, weak hit, gained +2 health (5). Sojourn again, 10v8/9, strong hit. Realized that being bonded entitled me to more stuff; wound up just capping out Health, Spirit and Supply.

Kalyra stays in Peilinham for almost a week. The other villagers find her new eyes offputting. Asked the oracle: does she have any problems in Peilinham because she is deathtouched? 50/50 chance, high is yes. 28.

The other villagers are off put by her strange eyes. But either they don’t know much about what it signifies, or else they have sufficient faith in Kalyra that it doesn’t bother them. Einari spends the week getting familiar with the other villagers. Frode, Torgeir, Brynje, Eldred, among others. Everyone is grieved to learn about Beren Verkenson’s fate. The younger ones seem puzzled that he would strike such a bargain as Kalyra describes, but the older ones nod knowingly. That seems like Beren Verkenson to them: always wanting things, powerfully.

When the week is done Kalyra packs up her gear and gets ready for her trip to Eidynholt. “Are you sure you won’t take the sword?” Sophi asks.

But Kalyra shakes her head “No. No, I can’t.”

“What if you need to defend yourself?”

“Well, I’ll just have to deal with that then.” Kalyra packs up her bow and her arrows, and takes a spear.

As she makes her way towards the road that leads out of Peilinham and southeast into the Havens, she comes across Einari, leaning against the exit gates. “Well, off again, are you?” he says.

“Yeah, seems that way.”

“Where to now?”

“A city called Eidynholt.”

“Well, mind if I join you?” he says.

“I’d be glad to have you,” she says. Decided to Forge a Bond with Einari. 6v2/9, weak hit.

“Friends?” she says, and holds out her hand.

He looks at it briefly and says, “Well, friends, yes, but ...” He looks at her outstretched hand and he says “How serious are you about fulfilling your vow to the Black Lady?”

She says “I have to. I don’t want to find out if a human can become a Barren.”

“I’ll tell you what,” he says. “Yeah, I’ll come along with you. But I want you to understand: we’re friends. But if there is anything I can do to stop you from becoming a Barren, I will. Even if that’s no good for you.”

She falters a little bit, but keeps the hand extended outwards. He reaches out and clasps it. She raises her other hand to her necklace and she says “Einari, I swear I will prove to you I am committed to honoring my vow to the Black Lady. Swear an Iron Vow to Demonstrate her Commitment to honoring her vow to the Black Lady to Einari. 7v3/3, strong hit. +2 momentum.

“Good,” he says. “Good. Come on, then.” And he lets go of her hand, picks up a pack that was concealed around the corner. “Day’s wasting.”

“You were coming all along, weren’t you?”

“Ah, well, I suppose,” he says.

“You are such a rapscallion!” And with that the two of them set foot on the road to Eidynholt.

Bookkeeping. The vow to Speak with the Spirit of Halfdan Groasson is Dangerous. The vow to demonstrate commitment to Einari is Formidable. Marked 2 progress on the vow to Deal with the Barren: 1 for determining where it came from, and one for learning that it had some kind of bargain with her mother (2/10).