Session 1-17-09

Alindor 6, 23CR

After encountering the fiery Wild Hunt and defeating the Ghostlord, banishing his taint from the Thornwaste of central Oberwald, the heroes return to the Barony of Dunstan on owlback to recover from the battle.  Jack is a fine host as always, and Soranna prepares some grilled game meats and berry relish with fresh bread for the exhausted companions.  All agree that their fight against the blighter-lich was a success, but they are not sure what to make of the appearance of the Wild Hunt.  Ayotunde recalls from her religious lessons that the Wild Hunt is a powerful entity of nature, normally considered to be under the auspices of Jenoic, and that it typically manifests on material Gaia only during times of great need.  Obviously, something has stirred up the Huntsman, but Ayo cannot ever recall hearing about an "elemental" version such as the one the party saw in the Thornwaste.

After a long night of conversation and good food, the friends agree to return to their lands until the upcoming Beltane ceremony, the Revelry of Maia which occurs on Maia 1 each year.  Ayo believes that her work in her lands at the edge of the Slaughterscar may be complete by then, and intends to bless the land with a ceremony of rebirth and remaking.  So the heroes sleep comfortably at the manor house of Dunstan and return to their home estates for a quiet 3+ weeks of stewarding their new holdings.

Alindor 7 - Alindor 30, 23CR

Jack invests some of his ready cash into the rebuilding of Drellin's Ferry, both because it is his sweetheart Soranna's hometown and because it is the nearest settlement to Dunstan, which could potentially increase trade for both territories.  Altaer hires a defense force of Kagan dwarves from the Hammerfist clan to protect his facilities at the Forge, as the labradorite vein he discovered has proven quite rich.  He goes back underground into the hourglass cavern, working feverishly on his newest project: a mithral shirt of preparedness, as he calls it.  Ayo sleeps little and eats less during her final preparations of the land formerly known as the Slaughterscar.  Working obsessively until she is emaciated from her labors, she walks the land daily, planting trees, pruning shrubs and bushes, singing to the brooks and ponds, and praying to the Earth Mother Shandae to restore life and vitality to the blasted, demon-cursed region.  Kaelin returns to the Hexahedron to refine his dreamdraughts, oversee new construction, and forge new alliances with his underworld contacts.

Alindor 30 - Maia 1, 23CR (Beltane)

As the moon begins to rise on the evening of Alindor 30, Ayotunde stands alone amidst one of her sheltered groves, not far from the ancient bones of Azramahmoudinaj, brass dragon general of the celestial host once known as the Thulkarr.  The plants and trees have thrived over the past ten months, growing at a miraculously speedy rate.  In less than a year, Ayo has affected a profound change upon the land, returning life and green growing things to a wasteland once thought to be permanently tainted.  Shandae's priestess hears a quiet bird call which she recognizes as a greeting from her old friends, the elves of Shul Sennek to the east.  The handsome woodsman Findar and his beautiful, willowy sister Ashaela lead a group of a half-dozen more elves out of the trees into the clearing, embracing Ayo and presenting her with gifts of wine, sweet bread, berries and honey.  "The deer told us of the ceremony, and your good work here we could not help but feel in our bones and our breath," says Findar.  "We are here to add to the joy of this blessing."

Not an hour after the elves arrive, Jack and Sorrana swoop into the clearing on owlback after a long journey from Dunstan.  They have been hunting pheasant (quite successfully), and Sorrana begins cleaning the birds while Jack stokes the ritual fire.  Jack also gifts Ayo with a lovely collection of fragrant essential oils and ointments, and a bottle of her favorite herbal perfume from the Vales.  Only a moment after Jack and Sorrana arrive, there is a sudden flash of golden light and a glowing, circular teleportation rune appears on the ground near the fire.  Besha appears within the circle and steps out, his cheerful, wrinkled face beaming with delight.  He gives Ayo a lusty hug and a grope.  "Haha!  Lovely woman, I've joined Jack and his lady here to help you bring in the spring."  Casually, the traveling merchant tosses a circle of flat blackness on the ground and starts rummaging through it.  "Hmm, my portable hole," he mutters absently.  Besha eventually comes forth with six bottles of the finest dreamwine, a satchel of strong, heady green buds and several small crates of exotic sausages, cheeses and dried fruits. 

As Jack renews acquaintances with his good friend Findar, with whom he once discussed his newly-manifested dreambrand (see Azarr Kul's Ambition Session 4-14-07), he notices Ashaela's peculiar and viscious bone spurs.  It seems her spinal bones have elongated to sharp points along each individual vertabrae, piercing her flesh and leaving her with a jagged, sharp row of spines running the length of her back.  The elf woman bears her deformity with grace, a quiet and determined spirit, but her eyes betray her constant feelings of pain.  "Ever is the sight of you a joy, Jack Dunstan," says Findar.  "We are pleased to spend this blessed night among you and your friends."

Besha passes around a few intoxicants, sets up his insane one-man-band contraption and then slaps his forehead.  "And me, forgetting to go get Kaelin and Altaer.  Back in a while!"  He gestures in arcane patterns and vanishes in another flash of gold light, teleporting away to the Hexahedron and the Forge, respectively, to bring Kaelin and Altaer back with him to the grove.  "Come on boy, get out of that dank cavern for awhile and see the moon and stars with us," he chides Altaer, who finally acceeds grudgingly.  Kaelin of course is always up for a party, and has ordered a large store of food to be brought south by more conventional means, transported via Chicane Guild wagons by Vintra Marktunsel.  Kaelin's planning ahead pays off, and the halfling caravan arrives just as the three men teleport back to Ayo's grove.  Vintra orders her caterers to oversee the distribution of sweet rolls, stuffed sausages, chocolates and fine spirits to all the revelers. 

The fires grow higher and bodies of the festival-goers grow warmer as the revelry continues.  An hour before midnight, two more sets of guests show up.  Klar and a small contingent of Bloodflayer Orcs from the Wyrmsmoke mountains arrive on the backs of their wyverns.  Klar bellows a throaty greeting to the assembled friends, and Ayo jumps into his arms for a warm, lusty kiss.  "Aaahh, that's what I've missed," howls Klar, and he disappears with Ayo into the sheltered grove for a few hours of proper Beltane greeting ceremonies.  Klar's shaman, the grizzled old orc Gril'daun Bloodflayer, has brought some hallucinogenic mushrooms to share with Ayo's own stash of Walker's Wisdom.  The orcs pull out their drums and rattles, and the dance grows faster and more vibrant.  At last, a group of Kagan dwarves from the Forge arrive from the south.  With dwarven ale flowing freely, the Kagan soon add their own drums to the circle and perform a rousing stomp-dance.  Several of the orcs pull freshly killed mountain boars from their mounts and set up a fire pit to roast the succulent hogs.

As the drum circle picks up energy, so do the fires of lust flare up among the participants.  Jack, Sorrana, Findar, Ashaela, and three other elves join Ayo and Klar back in the grove for a sweet orgy of earthly delight. The revelers spend themselves, sleep on the cool grass, and then awaken by dawn's light for more.  The sheltered area beneath the grove becomes a moist, heavy tangle of limbs and rutting bodies, and remains so past dawn and well into the next day.  As morning turns to noon and Vintra's caterers pass around roast hog and cheese sandwiches with fresh berries, two more old friends show up: Captain Armin Harreck and Alistair Zyesco the mage of the Luminous Order of Bahamut in Sumberton.  Harreck, who has not seen the heroes since they departed the Valley of Obelisks early in the summer of 22CR, brings his congratulations and blessings of the Order for Bahamut's chosen.  The newcomers are properly welcomed with food and offers of springtime coupling by the assembled revelers, and the party continues throughout the day.  Kaelin entertains everyone at the fire with poems, tall tales and bawdy jokes, earning the respect of the Kagan dwarves for his drinking and storytelling/filking talents.  Orcish and dwarven festival drums echo through the former Slaughterscar where the war drums of the Abyss and the Thulkarr once beat out their battle rythmns hundreds of years ago.

That night, as midnight approaches on Maia 1 on the second day of the party, the ceremony and revelry reaches its apex.  The grove orgy has been going nonstop, fed that evening by the unlikely coupling of Vintra and Kaelin and kept going by the quiet, furtive rutting of Altaer and Ashaela.  The sorcerer seems especially attracted to Ashaela on account of her painful bone spurs, and finally accepts her offer of sweet release.  Altaer, more than most, can understand what a painful transformation she must have undergone during the Convergence.  Besha can no longer contain his lust for Ayotunde, and the two of them take a long walk south back to her home temple at the vine cave.  There, he reveals himself to her, and they perform the Great Rite together for several hours as the other revelers reach their own peaks.  This coupling results in Ayotunde becoming pregnant by Besha (see Research and Letters to Eko), and completes the rite of spring and the blessing of the land.

Elsewhere, Jack and Sorrana stand near the edge of the fire circle, watching firelight dance off the bleached bones of Azra above them.  "You know, she should call this place the Furrow," says Jack, causing Sorrana to laugh in a naughty way.  "Shandae's Furrow, hmmm, I like it," she says in return, her eyes gleaming with lust.  Jack has been somewhat troubled throughout the revel despite Sorrana's excellent company, and he announces his intention to speak to Azra on Altaer's behalf.  Sorrana nods, and the two warriors each eat a handful of Walker's Wisdom mushroom caps washed down with a healthy swallow of Besha's dreamwine.  They lie back together on a huge stone slab beneath the old Thulkarr dragon's bones and watch the stars turn slowly as the 'shrooms take effect. 

Suddenly, Jack hears the bones around him almost breathing, and he finds himself still upon the slab but suspended in quiet darkness, with only Sorrana next to him.  They are sitting before the spirit of Azra, somewhere between the worlds and outside of time.  His huge, scaly brass scales glint off some unseen source of white light.  "So you have come to me to beg for Altaer's honor and pride?  Or do you have questions for the great general of the Thulkarr, who once fought to save your world?  We, the celestial host and native Gaians alike, came forth to protect our fragile planet from Mu Tahn-Laa's infectious demonic presense.  And now the seals are weakening; the Blood War once again threatens to spill over into Gaia."

"That may be the case, but we are here to speak about Altaer!" says Jack.  "You broke something in his spirit... you and Bahamut were too hard on him, your judgment of him was hasty.  Altaer did not fail - he succeeded and destroyed Azarr Kul by his own hand in the Fane of Tiamat!  How can you continue to let him suffer so?"

Azramahmoudinaj growls deeply, but a flicker of anguish appears in his glittering draconic eyes.  "I do not question the wisdom of the Dragon God.  We sought to spur Altaer on to greatness and give him a second chance to succeed, not to soak in the sorrow of his failure and what he lost.  My scion claimed victory from the very jaws of utter defeat, and then blamed us for his plight when it was Bahamut who returned him to life!  Send Altaer to me; no more must he wallow in his shame."

Jack nods.  "I will do this. Now tell us more of what you spoke about before.  You say the seals that protect Gaia are weakining, and demons still threaten us?  Surely, such a decorated member of the Thulkarr would have much to share with us about these threats."

Azra seems pleased at Jack's compliments.  "And so it shall be.  Bahamut watches over you, as he loves Gaians and counts himself an ally of our Three Sisters.  But know you of the Threefold Sundering?  The sisters are not what they should be... long ago, during the Banespawn Wars, the casting out of Irindix by Jenoic was a result of demonic deception.  The Abyss is far older than Gaia, and demons existed prior to the awakening of the Sisters.  During the Banespawn Wars, over thirteen millenia ago, Irindix was accused of sharing the secrets of godhood with Yshunor, Ethoar and Tyraudon.  The truth of what happened back then is lost to the surface world, but some still know.  Seek out the acolytes of the Dark Huntress.  The minions of the Spider Queen, Lolth, are your enemies. Seek too the wisdom of the dragons, though my people guard it fiercely.

"We, the mighty host of the Thulkarr, fought to protect Gaia, but we could not defeat the Abyss itself and so the threat remains.  Lolth is now on the move, and the very planes echo with the rumblings of the Blood War.  Too, another failure of we dragons of Gaia seems to be coming home to roost.  Old debts are indeed coming due.  The Dragon Empire of Moridar is now under the control of a madman, and his occupation of Hathorae is no accident, nor Ralaevar's will alone.  The Threefold Sundering may yet be made whole, but it will be your generation, and not ghosts of the once mighty Thulkarr such as I, that will perform the necessary deeds and make the planet whole.  I forsee you walking among the branches of Ygdrassil, the World Ash, gateway to other primes and other planes.  And Dunstan - beware the power of the one called the Exile.  He has returned, like Jenoic's ancient shadow, and can use your dreambrand and heritage against you.  His agents bear false brands.  The Exile is an ancient fey lord, Gaian Dreamkin sure as your own blood, and will try to seduce you to follow him.  Remember, send Altaer to me, that he may go forth with you towards your destiny with a lighter heart.  He must not wallow any longer, for there is work to be done.  Farewell, Jack Dunstan, and may the blessings of the Thulkarr remain with you always."

Jack's and Sorrana's vision swims, and they find themselves back on the stone slab in the green grove near Azra's bones.  The revel reaches its climactic pitch, with dancing, drumming, rutting and singing all coming together in a chorus of life and lust.  As Jack and Sorrana journey together, Ayotunde (who returned with Besha during the vision of Azra) gathers the others to perform the final rite.  Ayo takes a cherry pit from the weave of her dreadlocks and buries it in the fertile earth near Azra's bones.  "By the Mother's will, let this land be whole again," she prays, channelling divine energy into the earth.  The rite is complete, and the Slaughterscar no longer remains.  As Jack named it in jest, this land is now Shandae's Furrow. 

Just then, a massive rumbling beneath her takes Ayo by surprise, and the other revelers run scrambling as the ground cracks beneath them.  Shrubs and rocks go flying as Jack and Sorrana are upturned on their stone slab, tumbling to the ground nearby.  A massive creature of earth and stone adorned with antlers of stone atop its man-sized head rises from the earth below, shattering the bones of Azra into powder as it stands to full height, the bones serving as one last great sacrifice to the land reborn.  This creature resembles the fiery Wild Huntsman, except that this one seems to be of elemental earth.  Its eyes, two brightly glowing green orbs, seem to pierce Ayo as it speaks in an impossibly deep, grinding voice.  "Servant of Shandae, you have called me forth and I answer! This valley is now protected by the Wild Hunt of Jenoic.  You have made the land with labor and love, and Jenoic recognizes your sacrifice.  Seek out and call forth the other three Huntsmen: of water, of air, and of spirit, and bind the five into a greater whole.  Perform this service in the name of Shandae, Jenoic and Gaia.  Ancient wrongs must be righted, for Gaia is now threatened by the Exile Returned, a treacherous shadow and an echo of times long past.  But the Exile does not truly know himself or the forces that shaped him.  Seek the drow loyal to the Dark Huntress, for they know many secrets of the sundering times.  Earn their trust by stopping the weavings of Lolth's strands, who now moves in the darkness, against whose will Jenoic has bade us the struggle.

"Summon the Wild Hunt in its fullness and strike against the Spider Queen who now plots against all the forces of goodness and light across Gaia and other realms.  I grant you this boon..." and the huge elemental huntsman pulls forth a glowing green gem from within its chest, placing it gently into Ayo's palm.  "You may call me with this gem in a time of great need... but only once, servant of Shandae.  Know that Jenoic seeks a return to fullness and balance in all things, and the Great Brother is watching over you.  This land will thrive under our protection."  The massive earth huntsman bows low towards Ayotunde and the other revelers, turning from them to begin its patrol rounds through the Furrow.  As she watches it depart, Ayo is certain that her work to transform the Slaughterscar has been a success.

And so a gathering of the vernal races - humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, half-orcs and halflings, with the gnomes absent but home at last - blessed the once demon-tainted land with their lust and their love in the name of Shandae and Gaia, renewing the earth's promise of life in Shandae's Furrow and taking the first steps toward mending the Threefold Sundering.

The Threefold Sundering