Orhan 3 Day 44 TE 6064

Imre gets debriefed. Most people come to Oathar's defense, so he decides not to sell us out and have us mind wiped. Yay!

He does insist that we go do the Eissa thing.

We head back to Selkai just in time to hear about the crowning of the King and Queen of Kieronalia, Lord Kyrik and Lady Tatiana. The household staff is trying to keep the mob from storming the place and collecting the reward. A few knights of Rakhan tromp up to the door. They demand that we turn over the traitor Kyrik. Haeraan goes to talk to them. "On my honor as a knight, the last time I saw him was on the outskirts of the city of Arakin."

The knights set up camp in our practice yard, with watch schedules, etc... Haeraan goes to talk to them. They seal up the gate and set up to wait.

Alynna gets a message from the Emporer of Rakhan that includes a card "Please give the bearer anything she requests." She goes to visit the ambassador. He leads her to a secret closet in a secret safehouse. She gets teleported to Rakhan. Well, to the Emporer's walk-in closet. She dresses up in his clothes, with an emphasis towards comfort. The emporer is receiving his daily Kyrik hunt briefing. Once the meeting is over Alynna goes to talk to the emporer. "I do need to know however, did they elope or do something stupid like that?" "Yes." "Damn her. He'd better be good for something."

The emporer doesn't want to talk about this mess any more. Alynna distracts him from his worldly concerns.

Meanwhile Tatiana wants to spend tonight's Kieronalia in Eidolon. They come home, and then are told by Arisia that Kyrik needs to go out and deal with his knights. While Oathar is briefing Kryik, an angel of Kieron appears and command Kyrik to appear an hour after sunset to be crowned.

Alynna talks to Kyrik and then rushes back to the ambassador and tries to get ANOTHER secret private meeting with the emporer. Once the ambassador seems Kyrik and Tatiana, he insists on accompanying the three of them. They teleport to the emporer's closet once more, and head to the emporer. The emporer is there and everyone chats.

"You have two minutes to convince me why I shouldn't have you killed. Go!"

During the briefing, the emporer lets us know that teh crowns have been effectively turns off.

A Zorian duke might work for marriage to Tatiana. The emporer hatches a scheme to steal some Zorian land, by having Kyrik made a Duke of Zor and then marry his daughter. OK, that can work.

The ambassador goes to cancel the manhunt. But the empress shows up and orders Kyrik's execution. The emporer calms her down. He explains the whole duke of Zor thing. They'll have a big ceremony in a couple of months.

The emporer proclaims that Kyrik is no longer to be hunted. Rewards for his head are rescinded. They teleport back home. The knights are disappointed, but Haeraan recruits some of them for his defense forces. Probably as officers or a single company or something.

The king and queen of Kieronalia are there. No one ambushes them. They take off Kyrik's shirt and oil him up and then crown with a cape. Tatiana also gets a cape and a tiara. They are led down the big red carpet. He chugs and then is asked to address the crowd. He says, "wine women and song."

Kieronalia finally ends.

Orhan 3 Day 45 TE 6064

Water day. Sales of hangover cures are brisk. It's pretty cool. Oathar gives a nice speech. Tatiana goes back to Rakhan.

Orhan 3 Day 46 TE 6064

Oathar arranges for his report to the loremasters to be delivered to Gireg Jan after he's gone.

The party heads to the Temple of Eissa.

The high priestess takes us to hear the soothsayer with the gift of prophesy:

"There is a hole in my mind. It howls with the wind and pulses with the absense of hope. Obtain the advice of the elder mind. Find the scribblings of the one who was once dark. Find the guardian of the town of the double headed bridge. Once you have obtained that which is less than nothing, find the lair that is the forsaken twin to destroy that which is nothing with its absence."

Translations:

• Elder Mind: in Iruaric this is translated as Daenku
• Once dark: guess who this is (has an estate in Tanara
• double-headed bridge: Rapata (bridge town)

Imre goes to Nomikos and rolls a 100 (unmodified) so hits the motherload.

We get a pile of info to digest.