While we wait, Arisia hires a nanny to help take care of the kids. Imre questions them extensively. He scares several off. After a few days, the pack is narrowed. One is cursed. She was excommunicated from a dark church. She's also the most skilled. Haeraan neutralizes the curse, but she still won't talk about it. Sadly, Oathar's wife likes this one. Her name is Janus. Sigh.

Imre psychoanalyzes her and finally finds out that she's a bit scarred. She was brainwashed as a child and then had doubts and was crushed and throne out, and now she's bitter and lonely and now has put all that behind her. He gets her to tell him her curse. It has two parts: 1) She used to be a spell caster and now has no more powerpoints; (this means she can't pray either), 2) Dogs hate her. All of them. They attack her too.

Imre assures Oathar and Arisa that it will be fine, and they hire her.

Orhan 5 Day 10 TE 6059

Since it's all terrible up where the orcs were, we go talk to the ambassador from Voorig Kye. He'll have a ship for us in two days.

Orhan 5 Day 13 TE 6059

Since we've been inducted, we get taken to the big black astle this time. We're brought to the conference room to speak to the man. He wants an assessment of their current military capabilites and if they are makin gany attempts to destroy the southern eye. He gives us a metal cylinder about a foot long, with a glass plate at one end. Touching this to the wall of darkness will activate a beacon, and it will take a couple of hours for a response.

We return to Sel-kai while he prepares.

Orhan 5 Day 16 TE 6059

Back at Sel-kai we find that Emporer Gerund's second son and his wife are here, to get them away from the fighting, as lugraki have invaded from Zor. Oh dear. We go to a reception at the Rakhan embassy. It's a broody little place, just like the empire.

Alynna's brother gets hit on by the Rakhani heir guy. Haerann sighs. The heir's wife starts hitting on the bard too. More sighing.

Oathar networks a bit, and off everyone goes home.

Orhan 5 Day 17 TE 6059

We prepare to sail off with Voorig Kye. We sail North West!

Orhan 5 Day 47 TE 6059

We pass through storms. The tiny ship is tossed! We sail on! We sail up to the icepack and head out on foot.

Orhan 5 Day 57 TE 6059

We leaving and telport our way north west into the arctic wastes. Lo! It is the Wall of Darkness! Oh dear. Voorig gives us translation amulets that let us speak Vassaii. Voorig turns into a dragon! He opens a hole in the wall of darkness and the hole closes. We're trapped in the Eastern Hemisphere.

We camp and acquire a teleport point.

Orhan 5 Day 62 TE 6059

We start heading south, making use of leaving true to shorted the journey when we can. We come to a couple of fishermen and follow them back to their huts.

We have Imre make a basket of waybread and try to earn their trust. They are suspicious, but we talk to them anyways. Eventually, their fears are put to rest and we discuss. The waybread is a big hit with them. We ask them about the west and the south. The evil overlords are that way. They came here to flee the overlords, but sadly, they starve and grow weak since there's little here for them.

Overlords live somewhere very far to the south. The grandparents of these guys came here, on large boats, but such things are no more. The overlords came and destroyed their souther villiage, but up here they escapes the purge. This was about 20 years ago. The survivors are scattered now and starve and grow weak.

They point us towards their old settlement, where we might find perhaps some remnants of their boats. The overlords and their minions (who look like Alynna) have much and powerful magics. They claim there are either 5 or 6 overlords. These folks can't even read and write, so we can't figure out the language.

We camp nearby. They choose not to ambush us in the night.

Orhan 5 Day 63 TE 6059

We give them some more waybread in the morning and head out. We head southwest towards their old city.

Orhan 5 Day 67 TE 6059

To the northwest we see some sort of plateau or mesa or something. It's strange. We check it out. It's a big ice dome. It's really quite large. Like miles big. Oh dear.

Kyrik tries to cast portal on it, but his puny 3' deep portal doesn't help much. We trundle north until we get to what appears to be a hole in the ice dome. It looks more like a crack than an actual door, but we decide to squeeze our way in. Alynna goes first. We follow with long door.

In the middle of a lake inside the ice dome it's strangely warm. Oathar and Alynna detect essense residues inside. Imre thinks it's some strange preservation spell. We head ot the island, and suddenly two women turn a corner and see us. Oh no! Tropical women in bikini's flee from us. Oh dear, we're doomed.

Two guys in multicolored robes show up with six goons. They've got spears and clubs and stuff and ask who we are. We come from the southeast this time. The overseers wouldn't allow anyone to come here.

No one (especially Imre) won't let Oathar talk much, so the party ends up being judged by Gomorou, their god.

There's a big stone temple set into the side of a volcano. We get to be judged in the stonefire temple. At the end is an altar with a small cave entrance behind it. Heat radiates from it. We need to go in and walk the path. If we survive, we are judged. We wander down the path, surrounded by the virtual hellscape as we go. A stone face says "You are judged worthy!" We leave.

When we come out, the priests are astounded! They tell us of their god. They fled the evils long ago and must never go back. They show us a room behind the temple, and inside is a giant stone archway, a portal through which they came. Haeraan interrogates them a bunch and they talk about blinky and other demons of the void as well as metal beasts roaming the land.

It turns out there are a couple thousand of these folks. We talk to them for a while. Kyrik starts working his way through the women.

Orhan 5 Day 68 TE 6059

We awake and prepare to move the poor cold fisherpeople here.