After the Horror of the Night

The Apple Clan

After the horror of the night, the heroes enter the Sartarite village at dawn.

Day breaks. Villagers come out of their houses. The heroes advance on foot, leading their mounts. The people look at them perplexed. There are men, women, children. The children are taken inside. Some women go back home. Finally only men and women armed with lances remain.

Ikarnos speaks: "Good day brave people, we have news for your chief as well as for young Irken whom we have met. We ask for hospitality. One of our mounts is also wounded."

A man steps forward and declares: "Greetings strangers, I am Jirudal, Irmir will take your mounts to the stables. Kalia, go get Sheena to look at the wounds of the... beast. You others follow me, I will ask the Circle to convene."

Peek follows Fta-Ah and wants to make sure everything will go well. The others go to wait for the circle to convene. They gather in the great hall of the chief's house while waiting for things to be organized. They are brought some food and milk. They recover from their emotions. They are also under the watch of a few armed men. Finally a discreet presence but they are not fooled. The decorations are still very Orlanthi in style. Lunar influence has not penetrated much in this clan.

Peek reassures Fta-Ah and chants a melody that calms the antelope a bit. A young woman in a white dress arrives with 2 servants. She has a basin of water and small bags with her. "Hello, nasty wound, the poor beast looks tired too."

Peek: "hello, you must be Sheena, I am Peek-ee-Peek daughter of a chieftain, from Prax and here is Fta-Ah, she was wounded by Ogres. We had to flee and galloped through most of the night. She is exhausted but will recover. Do you know the Healing Spirits?"

Sheena smiles: "no, but the goddess Chalana Arroy will provide, trust me."

The priestess gets to work and applies ointments to Fta-Ah's wound while murmuring prayers. Her hands seem wreathed in light.

Sheena turns to Peek and announces: "she will be fully healed after a week of rest. You will thus have to stay here."

Peek thanks her warmly and is then led to the Hall where she rejoins her companions. She announces they will have to stay a week here for Fta-Ah to recover. They barely have time to react when things move around them, 7 people arrive and seat themselves around the great table located higher up in the Hall. Villagers stream in. Finally, Irken arrives looking distraught. Silence falls.

A burly man with a square face speaks: "I, Jarlan, Chief of the Apple Clan declare this session of the Circle open. Step forward strangers!"

The heroes step forward and introduce themselves, then present the facts. The people listen horrified.

Jarlan declares: "you killed 3 out of 5 and the infamous Cai is thus safe along with that monstrosity. Hmm, we must go finish the job and reclaim the lands. Will you be with us?"

Ikarnos: "We thank you Jarlan, and you can count on us. In any case our antelope must rest a week before we can leave. We will help you and leave right after."

A man with a gaunt face and wearing a beard speaks: "if these ogres came here it is because there may be something in our lands that attracted them. We must find the cause."

"And eradicate it!" declares a vigorous fellow wearing a Bull helmet while casting a dark look at the heroes.

"Calm down Brontos, they have proved they fought and we will verify."

Brontos: "that thing in the Sky has revived the Chaos and you know it well. I will fight and We will prevail."

Other people in the crowd repeat "I will fight and We will prevail."

Jarlan: "let us not fan the flames my friends. I order a party of 20 thanes accompanied by the strangers to go see Cai's domain and as Pizidan suggested, we must search the surroundings. I have spoken."

Irken steps forward: "I request permission to accompany them and you, Jarlan, you should have listened to me! You all should have listened to me!"

A woman of the circle speaks: "even the lunar saw nothing, these ogres have become masters in the art of concealment. Let us count ourselves fortunate that the number of victims was not greater for our clan."

The council ends and the expedition prepares. On foot. It will take 4 hours of walking to get back there.

Return to the Delli villa

Finally, the group is a bit larger. There are indeed the 20 thanes but young people have joined, so Irken: about ten in total, some of whom were already there with their torches." They arrive before the great residence. Silence reigns. Despite the sunny weather, anguish is clearly present in the assembly. The party surrounds the residence then a small group including the heroes enters through the great door. Bloodstains are visible where the combat took place but there are no more bodies. According to Peek, 3 horses are missing from the stables.

"They must have fled."

They go around the house. No more trace of the statue. The furniture is still there. Jaridan notices the ventilation system that put them to sleep. There is a chest but it is empty. They even go down to a cellar and discover a large stone table, covered with dried blood traces in the grooves. The table seems ideal for holding a body. Everyone shudders. They see travel goods in a corner. They understand the Ogres mainly killed travelers. They also see small-sized goods. They killed Dwarves too! Jaridan searches and finds a hexagonal medallion.

"Should we not bring it back to the Dwarven King?"

Ikarnos reflects: "let us keep it and we will return it to his ClouSilex brothers once in Pavis."

But one of the armed thanes stops him: "What are you doing stranger? This object now belongs to our clan."

🎲 Succeed in keeping the medallion

• Conflict:
  • Jaridan: negotiation (1)
  • Thane: legitimate (1)
• Result 1 vs 1: Defeat at -1

The thane thus recovers the medallion. The group returns outside and is divided: what to do with the house? Some want to burn it, others find it a shame. The house is solid.

Ikarnos reminds: "that may not be the priority right now. If they fled on horseback, what can we do? They must already be far away now and we are on foot. Perhaps we should search the surroundings to look for what your Grey Sage advised?"

The search is organized. The Orlanthis adopt the Air method. They proceed by making a sort of snail representing the Air rune which is a rather effective way to search the surroundings. The Lunars use more the grid method and the Dara Happans use a solar method by sending groups in all directions (rays).

The vineyard search

The ogres released snakes in their flight to slow them down. This is an opportunity to learn what snakes Glorantha has.

The heroes advance with the Orlanthis through the tall vines of the domain when suddenly the first cry reveals the danger. Orlanthis exclaim: "snakes!!" Dozens of snakes infest the vineyard.

Each player will face the snakes. We will see through a roll how many, what the impact of the attack was on the Orlanthis.

🎲 Snake Attack

• Conflict:
  • The sting-snakes: flash attack (1), swift (1), cunning (1)
  • Ikarnos: nothing (0)
  • Hanya: movement (1), safe route (1)
  • Peek: nomad (1), death lance (1), swift (1)
  • Jaridan: earth rune (1), in reserve at the time of attack (1)
• Results:
  • Ikarnos (4 vs 1): Fiasco
  • Hanya (3 vs 2): Victory
  • Peek (3 vs 3): Victory
  • Jaridan (3 vs 2): Defeat

Ikarnos is bitten and the venom seeps into his veins. Peek manages to extricate herself from the danger zone. Hanya cuts down a few snakes and escapes too. Jaridan dodges but is not out of danger.

🎲 Snake Attack

• Conflict:
  • The sting-snakes: flash attack (1), swift (1), cunning (1)
  • Jaridan: earth rune (1), Peek reinforcing with her bow (1), snakes dispersing to attack the Sartarites (1)
• Result 3 vs 3: Defeat

Jaridan manages to extricate himself from the vines but a snake bit him too. He rejoins the others. There are enormously many wounded among the Orlanthis. Some are still lying in the vineyard. A decision must be made. A man steps forward and declares: I can burn the vineyard by Yelmalio.

Brontos the Storm Bull declares: "you will burn our men, fool!"

The man: "They are already doomed."

Peek proposes: "let us give them a dignified death without suffering."

And she nocks her bow awaiting the green light from the Orlanthis. The moment is heavy. The arrow flies followed by others launched by the still valiant Orlanthis. The men are killed. Then they see the Yelmalite raise his hands against each other and form a circle, they see the air thicken between his hands forming a sort of lens, the sun begins to heat and a ray shoots from his hands then another and another, setting fire to the vineyard which ignites burning the snakes as well as the few deceased Orlanthis.

Plot twist!

And suddenly they realize a young Orlanthi is being strangled by a strange rainbow snake that is planting its fangs in him. Hanya approaches, and crosses eyes with the latter who tries to hypnotize her.

🎲 Hanya against the Rainbow Serpent

• Conflict:
  • strong (1), hypnotize (1)
  • lunar fanaticism (1), axe(1), swift (1)
• Result 2 vs 3: Victory
  • there were several unrecorded escalations

The combat is epic, the serpent does not hypnotize Hanya and tries to flee but she catches up with it and must deal it several blows. Seeing itself attacked the serpent tries to bite her. Peek knows that Hanya is immune to arrows but does not want to take the risk given what happened with the Gazzams and for now the proud guardian of Jillaro seems to be managing. The Orlanthis do not dare shoot and nobody is nearby to intervene in close combat. Finally after several blows, the serpent collapses dead!

They must act quickly because there are many wounded. The unharmed must run to the village to get healers. The wounded will walk toward the village to save time as well. Brontos is already amputating some seriously wounded people, cauterizing with his great axe. It is horror and sadness among the group members.

Jaridan and Ikarnos are wounded. This could get worse if they do not intervene quickly. Hanya and Peek leave with five other Orlanthis to seek help.

🎲 Race against time

• Conflict:
  • movement (1), nomad (1)
  • poison (1)
• Result 2 vs 1: Victory +1

The group arrives in time and returns with healers on horseback. Peek chooses to follow on foot: she would rather die than ride a horse! In any case she is not a healer. The healers arrive. Herbs are burned, and with the smoke they draw out the venom. Prayers to Chalana Arroy are sent. Ikarnos sends his thoughts to Deezola one of the seven mothers, a healing goddess in the Lunar pantheon. The poison is stopped.

Return to the village

Plot twist! (Illusion and Truth)

The atmosphere is heavy and Orlanthis begin to accuse the Lunars of having hidden things from them, which is ridiculous since they themselves suffered from it but they argue that they may have pretended. They accuse them of being in cahoots with the Ogres.

🎲 Plead innocence

• Conflict:
  • Ikarnos's Authority (1), Jaridan's Diplomacy (1)
  • Clan prejudices (1)
• Result 2 vs 3: Defeat -1

They are made to understand that they are no longer welcome and cannot stay. Ikarnos reminds them that their Antelope must remain at rest. They propose to leave her and come back in a week to retrieve her or otherwise leave at a walk and camp where they see fit to rest which would actually be better for everyone apparently. So it is in a heavy atmosphere that the heroes leave and explain the situation to Peek who does not fail to insult the Orlanthis, calling them cowards, fools but nobody responds: their choice seems already made and they mourn their dead. The heroes recover their mounts, are given some food and they leave at a walk, leading them by the bridle so as not to tire Fta-Ah. Peek suggests to Ikarnos to denounce the clan to the Dwarven king since they kept the medallion. But Ikarnos replies they must move on. Although healed, it does Jaridan and Ikarnos good to walk and in any case, they will not be able to stray too far to make camp.