Ikarnos & Hanya's Misfortunes

Continuation of Ikarnos & Hanya's adventures

An alliance with the Ogres, why not?

Hanya slept until quite late. She wakes up. Ikarnos tells her: "Go hunt. Try to resist the blood but if you cannot, feed yourself. I thought while you were sleeping. If you do not feed the baby with blood, in my opinion it will take from you and this could cause your downfall." So Hanya goes hunting and returns with a rabbit for Ikarnos. She does not tell him that she has gorged on another rabbit raw. She sits down.

Ikarnos tells her: "you like me, were seduced by the Ogres of the domain. I do not think we were drugged or under a charm. I was fully conscious at that time. These creatures are intelligent, refined, and possess a magic that could be useful to the Goddess. I have decided if you agree to make this a strength rather than a weakness but this choice is yours. Perhaps Peek and Jaridan will find a way to heal you, but deep down, do you truly wish it?"

Hanya remains silent: "I am just afraid of no longer being myself."

Ikarnos: "I have with me a treatise on magic that speaks of the forgetting of names. I used it against the Tarshite exile, remember? I do not know what is happening but perhaps the mechanisms are similar."

🎲 Attempt to understand the phenomenon Hanya is experiencing

• Conflict:
  • Forget the names
  • Chaotic transformation
• Result 1 vs 1: Victory +1

Ikarnos understands that what is happening in Hanya is different. The Ogres' Chaos does not remove memories. It seems to simply infiltrate by creating an appetite for human flesh.

That is what he tells Hanya and adds: "the Goddess's enemies are not lacking. We could use them to feed our Ogre army. Cai and his family seemed quite human apart from that and I do not think they were pretending to be human. You will become different, that is all. Will you follow me in this project Hanya then?"

Hanya reflects and inspects her values but if this brings an advantage to the Goddess it could work. She knows the Goddess tamed Chaos like the Purple Bat for example and she ends up conceding it is a good idea. They then spend some time detailing their objective and the different stages or options to reach it.

• manage to find Cai and his surviving daughter.
• find another community of Ogres.
• approach a Lunar cult that knows Chaos
• discuss with the authorities: The Emperor or Fazzur? or both?
• once the choices are made, Ikarnos would return without Hanya to see Jaridan and Peek, lying to them to continue Fazzur's mission? (within 60 days)

They agree that returning to the Apple Clan is not a good idea, especially since Cai must be far away by now. They could head to the Serpent Pipe Hollow, a place reputed to be highly chaotic and located further north, but this could be excessively dangerous without guaranteeing they find Ogres there. The only lead they have is to start from the domain and search for traces of the Ogre. They know he left on horseback before releasing the snakes to protect their flight. They must follow the trail even if it dates back more than a week now. This is their only option. So here are the short-term steps:

1. return to the domain by bypassing the clan's lands
2. follow the trail.

If they meet Lunars, tell them they are looking for two fugitives. If they meet Orlanthis, pass themselves off as explorers whose group was separated. Cai and his daughter would have left on horseback to seek help because Hanya was wounded. But she was healed by the priestess Sheena of the Apple Clan to lend credibility to their story with a real name. And now they are looking for their companions. For the rest we will see later.

Ikarnos and Hanya slip through the lands without problem and arrive at the domain. The villa has been burned. What a waste, think Ikarnos and Hanya. They follow the escape route the Ogres seem to have taken.

Ikarnos and Hanya thus methodically follow the trail, discreetly questioning everyone they meet. Unfortunately nobody has seen the fugitive couple but this does not discourage Ikarnos who knows that patience always pays in intelligence work. Cai's options are probably limited too: either he returns to Tarsh, or he branches east to AldaChur, or he heads to the Serpent Pipe Hollow. They need to find the small clue that will allow them to deduce the direction they chose.

The Dwarf Marches

Now one day, as they follow the Dwarf Marches heading north, they spot a small group of four dwarves who seem to be discussing a bit further on. One of the dwarves is in a robe, two others look like soldiers, and another seems very old. The Dwarves spot them and the soldiers raise their crossbows in their direction. They approach with raised hands: "Peace my friends!" The Dwarves let them advance and finally the two groups face each other at 5m apart. The soldiers still suspicious, gripping their crossbows.

The Dwarven robed one begins to speak: "Greetings men, I am Goundar of Dwarf Mine and we too, traverse the lands of men in peace."

The Dwarven one who seems old (almost of stone) holds a translucent sphere in his hands into which his gaze seems plunged.

"We are looking for two fugitives, a man and a woman. They have committed atrocious crimes and we must arrest them. Have you seen them?"

The Dwarven robed one turns to the older Dwarf. A crystalline sound emanates from the sphere and it seems to palpitate, changing color and on its surface appear multiple small lights flickering in an apparently random manner. The old man speaks in a guttural voice to the robed Dwarf who seems to darken. Time is suspended.

🎲 Resist the Dwarves' vision sphere

• Conflict:
  • Ikarnos's enigmatic side, they are not guilty
  • Saw the Dwarven object, Rune pattern analyzer
• Result 2 vs 2: setback

The robed Dwarf speaks: "Return the object you stole from us or die!"

The Dwarves' binary choices are always very clear.

Ikarnos speaks: "We stole nothing from you. What are you talking about?"

The Dwarves advance and ask them to let themselves be searched. They comply and the Dwarves of course find nothing. Ikarnos remembers the object found in Cai's residence.

He smiles: "Would it be a hexagonal medallion you are looking for?"

The Dwarf nods: "Where is it?"

Ikarnos: "Scratch my back, scratch yours, friend! I tell you where it is and you tell me if you saw a man and a woman traveling together."

The Dwarf: "And if I had not seen this man and woman, you would say nothing?"

Ikarnos and the robed Dwarf size each other up.

The old man clears his throat and the robed Dwarf begins to speak in another voice as if translating or as if the old Dwarf were speaking through him: "I, Grindaroum, saw you at Dwarf Mine, you spoke with Isidilian, if you know something, you must say it. You want to be our ally then prove it."

Ikarnos tells them about the fight against the Ogres and that the medallion is now in the hands of an Orlanthi clan, the Apple Clan. "You see Grindaroum, the Goddess is honest. So you can let us pass and continue tracking the two fleeing ogres."

The Dwarf speaks again: "I thank you Ikarnos of Raibanth" (Ikarnos is impressed by his memory of names). "These ogres have killed too many Dwarves and our expedition was tasked with finding the reason for all these disappearances. We know now but must recover the medallion. Now you know who the man is who took the medallion. If you lead us to him, then you will be able to connect to the far-seeing stone and attempt to find the two ogres. Do you accept to help us?"

A choice is thus offered to the protagonist: continue an investigation in these wild lands with not the slightest lead for the moment or try to obtain information through a magical means?

Ikarnos weighs the proposition and discusses in a low voice with Hanya: "it is risky given our relations with the clan but it is tempting, what do you think?"

Hanya: "it is terribly risky and you know the reasons Ikarnos. I do not know. Do you remember the face of the man who took the medallion?"

Ikarnos: "yes, I think I would recognize him but to approach we will need to use a stratagem."

Then he announces to the Dwarf: "I accept but we will have to be clever so that I can go back to see the clan and Hanya who accompanies me will not be able to come with me. If you agree to devise a plan with me, I am your man and you will recover your medallion."

The robed Dwarf replies: "Deal then."

And so our two heroes find themselves embroiled in a mission with the Dwarves to recover one of their objects within the Apple Clan.