Glasswall (Jaridan & Peek)

Continuation of Peek & Jaridan's adventures

Arrival at Glasswall

Peek spends the next two days grumbling about the village chief's behavior at the foot of the cliff. This amuses Jaridan who makes a few trades with certain inhabitants they meet, bartering food and drink for weaving or Praxian necklaces as they encounter them. Within a day or two they should rejoin the main road coming from Tarsh leading to AldaChur. To think they could have taken that road and none of this would have happened.

Objective: at least reach the road if not AldaChur without incident.

The heroes should thus rejoin the Pavis road. Geographically speaking, here are the dangers they could encounter: chaos due to the proximity of the Serpent Pipe Hollow or arriving without incident at Glasswall, stronghold of the Princeros tribe.

Our two heroes finally rejoin the Pavis road, one of the royal roads from the time of King Sartar which, irony of all ironies, well served the lunar army for its incursions and invasions in the Dragon Pass. Advancing eastward, they enter an arid land made of crushed glass pieces on which nothing grows, then finally spot a circular fort with strange dark glass walls, Glasswall. Jaridan has stayed there before and Peek passed through when she came to Tarsh last year. They thus head without incident toward the fort's entrance, happy to have arrived before nightfall because night in this region is often synonymous with chaos incursions that crawl near the Serpent Pipe Hollow, a bruise on the Earth located further north that vomits hordes of monstrosities at regular intervals. If one can speak of regularity with chaos! Night falling, they decide to take a room at the White Tree Inn. Times are quiet and the inn is not crowded. They settle in for a hearty dinner and listen to local news.

A table not very far seems particularly agitated. The men speak among themselves in low voices. From their appearance, they are more warriors judging by the swords they carry at their sides. They notice glances toward them and suddenly one of the men stands up and comes to see them.

"Hello, strangers. I welcome you. May I offer you something to drink? We have excellent wine here at Glasswall. Yes yes, you will see." He signals to the server, a big lout who brings them a large pitcher that he serves to our heroes as well as himself. "So travelers, what brings you to these distant lands?"

Jaridan replies: "We are going to AldaChur but actually we are heading to Pavis. As you can see I have with me a guide and a bodyguard for Prax. I intend to trade there. Do you know if the road is safe at the moment?"

The man replies: "Nothing is safe in this world with chaos, you know that well, friend but the danger is sometimes more from within than from without." He has an enigmatic air.

Peek: "Is that a threat?"

The man: "Oh there friend, you are under Orlanthi protection, you risk nothing within these walls or on our lands if you behave well. You know and respect the virtues of Orlanth?"

Peek: "I only venerate Waha, Eiritha and the Spirits. Orlanth is a great spirit on your lands but he never set foot in Prax except since your defeat against the Empire which brought a good number of your like to Pavis. Is Orlanth so cowardly as to flee far from home rather than stay and fight with his people?"

Jaridan frowns. It is true that Peek is rather upset with the Orlanthis who prevented them from taking the cliff road. They would already be at AldaChur. But the man scratches his chin and says in a low voice: "There are battles one wins differently than head-on. And that, we learned since Harvar schemed, betrayed and brought AldaChur under his control."

Jaridan tempers: "you do not seem to appreciate Harvar. Would the Princeros be at odds with him?"

The man: "The Princeros? What Princeros? Those days are long gone when our ancestors faced the mountain giants. Now we are reduced to delivering our young men on the pretext of allegiance to the Duke of AldaChur." He withdraws into himself. "I should not bother you with this." He drinks his glass then pretends to leave.

Peek: "Stay and speak frankly. Are only nomads the ones who honor integrity in this world?"

The man sits back down and clears his throat: "Tomorrow at dawn, three of our young men will be taken to AldaChur to be judged there. We all know we will never see them again."

Jaridan: "And what crime did they commit to be treated this way?"

The man: "They merely dared to proclaim their devotion to Orlanth the Thunderer out of bravado. You seem like a mature enough man to know what youthful exuberance is. Unfortunately, Perandal our current chief took the matter very seriously. We do not know why and he decided to have the three young men judged. We all know they will be crucified. Welcome to the Lunar Peace!"

Jaridan: "your chief.. Perandal that is, and the Duke of AldaChur seem to show extraordinary zeal and in what way do you think we could help you? I am only a merchant after all."

The man: "you could accompany the escort and if our young men could live or at least die fighting, you would then in our eyes be the arm of divine justice."

Peek: "And why don't you do it yourself? I mean, free the young men."

The man: "We have attempted this kind of feat in the past but to save three we would make nine other victims. Such is Harvar's tribute. If you go see Perandal you will see that the Lunars are there to watch everything that happens here. Whereas if the young men were freed by strangers, the blame would not fall on the clan."

Jaridan to Peek: "What do you think?" Then to the man: "Give us a few moments please."

Peek: "That seems perilous. Do you think we could hide in AldaChur if things go wrong?"

Jaridan: "The city is big enough for us to be discreet. There are quite a few Sable nomads in the garrison around the city so your presence will not be too noticeable. And of course, we must use false names from now on: what do you think of Taros for me?"

Peek smiles: "Nice to meet you Taros, I am Rouk then."

Jaridan continues: "Let us finish the meal and go present ourselves at Perandal's hall."

Jaridan signals to the man who returns and informs him they accept to try the feat. The man has a radiant smile and wants to offer them another round but Jaridan stops him: "We must now go see Perandal. I have a plan in mind."

The fort of Glasswall (Hanya, Jaridan)

Jaridan's objective is to meet Perandal and find a way to join the escort of the three prisoners heading to AldaChur.

Setback!

Peek and Jaridan leave the White Tree Inn intending to enter the main compound of the fort to go to the clan chief's hall and speak with him but at the moment they get outside, a Lunar squad stops them and a Lunar officer accosts them: "you, the nomad, what are you doing here? and why are you not in your regiment?"

Peek is dumbfounded and can't help but stifle a laugh.

Jaridan explains: "she is my guide and does not belong to any regiment."

The stern-looking officer replies: "that is convenient to cover for a deserter. I remember her, she passed through here a few months ago with a group of nomads who were supposed to reinforce the forces in Tarsh to fight the Exiles and now she is suddenly alone."

🎲 Convince the Lunar

• Conflict:
  • honeyed tongue, convince
  • small chief, nomad desertions
• Result 2 vs 2: setback

The discussion is heated and difficult with the officer. The heroes learn that there are many desertions among the nomads and that apparently the Lunars do not find their Praxian allies so reliable, which explains the officer's zeal. Finally, Jaridan yields and declares that Peek will stay with them and in any case, they are going to AldaChur tomorrow and that is what he wants to talk to Perandal about. Jaridan places his arm on Peek's shoulder to signal that everything will be fine.

The officer then leads Peek into the building right next to the inn which serves simultaneously as Lunar barracks, passage control center, and temple of the Seven Mothers and locks her in the same cell as the three young Orlanthis! Jaridan however has the right to enter the compound and go see Perandal. The Lunar seems satisfied: he recovered one of his own and what the Tarshite does is not his concern.

The meeting with Perandal (Jaridan)

Jaridan enters the fort compound. It is night and he heads toward the largest building. He passes a black glass post over 10 meters high standing in the center of the circular fort and has no trouble finding the building where the clan chief and his entourage are. He explains the reason for his visit to men outside who let him enter. The night is quite advanced now due to the setback with the officer and he hopes Perandal will receive him.

Perandal is not in bed and agrees to speak with Jaridan but seems in a hurry: "What do you have for me merchant? Or don't tell me you came to bother me to sell me something?" he says in an unfriendly tone.

The man seems martial, of a certain age, and wears his armor and weapon, as if he expects to have to fight at any moment, no doubt due to the proximity of Chaos in the region, Jaridan deduces.

But caught off guard, Jaridan tries to regain his composure. He has just realized that you do not visit a tribal chief without a gift. He decides to weigh his words and warn Perandal about their encounter with the ogres and that if he tells him about it it is because tomorrow he must leave for AldaChur but a man like him, renowned for his fight against Evil, must be informed that there was an ogre man and woman in the region and knowing the perfidy of these creatures, he had to be warned as soon as possible before they committed their misdeeds.

This makes Perandal laugh who declares that no ogre would ever dare come here! But he thanks Jaridan and prepares to end the audience when Jaridan tries to press his advantage by asking if he could accompany the Lunar escort that leaves tomorrow for AldaChur. He would feel safer.

🎲 Convince Perandal

• Conflict:
  • art of discourse, being safe
  • does not want Heortians to know too much about this traitor delivery business
• Result 2 vs 1: victory +1

Perandal seems to hesitate but tells himself that Jaridan is a Tarshite above all and therefore a foreigner, so he will not snoop in tribal affairs. He even thinks Jaridan is a bit simple-minded (because of the ogre story) and no doubt blinded by money given his expression when he mentioned gifts. He thus agrees and asks one of his men to accompany him to see Gomax to inform him that the merchant will join them tomorrow and benefit from their escort. Then he dismisses Jaridan who is effusive in thanks.

In the cells of Glasswall (Peek)

Peek enters the cell and seeing three young men chained with sad gazes, she understands she is with the three rebels they must free. She smiles inwardly. The men look at her and the light in their eyes revives. Once the jailer has left, Peek introduces herself and explains why she is there. She only hopes Jaridan will be able to accompany them because otherwise the escape will be all the more difficult and time will work against them because AldaChur is only a day or two's march depending on their pace. She regrets so much having lost her Kill the Stranger spirit that would have allowed her to eliminate this stubborn officer. But from what she understood, she is not really a prisoner but the Lunars just want to ensure she does not slip away in the night. She will thus recover her weapons and Fta-Ah tomorrow under Lunar escort who probably intend to take her to a Sable nomad camp for her to stay there. She thus intends to use the night to better know the young men, their strengths, their weaknesses, the exact reason for their imprisonment and that they be ready at the time of their escape.

🎲 Succeed in obtaining interesting information

• Conflict:
  • give them hope
  • they are afraid to talk, distrust of a Sable nomad
• Result 1 vs 2: defeat -2

While one of the young men seems about to speak, suddenly another stops him. "Do you not see that this is a trick by Gomax or Perandal to worm information out of us? Be quiet. She is a Sable, she must be with them."

The young man falls silent immediately and Peek will not learn more during this night, realizing that the escape risks being quite complicated if the three young men do not trust her and even believe she is in the enemy camp and obviously impossible to learn more about their abilities which could be useful to facilitate the operation. The three young men being chained, she finds a corner away from them to sleep with one eye open.