A t E: Session 08 - Epilogue

General Summary

grant me patience. I travel within the realm of mortals, on mortal ground and for mortal purposes. i am bataqua, a Geli'Qys. this means i am servant to a greater drive. to be consumed in the final throes of the dying realm, when that time arrives. unlike the Monstrous or the Chaerin, my kind have been gifted with this fate. immortals that must die. we know well the art of dying.     my better has ceded me to follow as, a companion, two mortals of miranse. these are Surtice Ly and Kade Arhkdevaunt. with them travel others but these are not to be overly considered. it is these two that are important, if not vital to all that will come to pass. it is in the events of the future that my better knows best. he unlike myself is of the Violet. i understand things of the future well as i am of the Blue. despite his weakness in things to come, he is surprisingly knowledgeable, thanks to the Blue skull he uses to divine what will be.     as i have been attached to the two mortals, i must go where they go, see what they see and learn how they will act. in this fashion, i will become their intermediary. a bridge that will allow their efforts to cross over and be in concert with the Geli'Qys way. it is not for me to say that i am best chosen. only that i must prove to be.     Surtice Ly is as ever, detached from portions of the place as Kade eats a meal. at this table of fare, they are approached by two orderly, rough agents of the nation of ulmavyn. these strike a bargain of their own devising that in no way is negotiated with Kade or Ly. it is as though these two ulmavyn men are so strongly convinced of their place, that there is little discussion held and less room for denial of what is said.. .. .. it is determined for them that they will accompany the haulage train of wagons that leaves in the morning. this caravan will head north, around palecast bay, then turn south to rogazny, before arriving at its final stop in saddervale. Kade and Ly are to protect the goods carried, in exchange for a small percentage of the proceeds of the goods' trade and sale along the way. to be truthful, i sense little interest on either's part for the pay offered. it is noteworthy that neither is motivated by something as crass and mortal as money, despite its many uses. horses will be provided to those that ride and a place among the wagons for those that do not.   it is after this, that Kade reaches out to me to ask me to join them. it has not been spoken of and yet i see that he thinks nothing of a Geli'Qys being asked to accompany mortals. is this hubris? arrogance? i do not think it is either of these yet he does ask and receive my acquiescence without much ado. rarely has a Geli'Qys been so calmly perceived. perhaps this Kade is just used to dealing with those who are not mortal.. .. .. i contemplate these two mortals while they rest or think, as mortals always seem to need to in the evenings. in this they are no different than others of their type. the mortal races are only small in number. still only four. i should not be so demanding upon them and their base creature-like requirements. they will need at least some more to join their ranks, if they are to create the conditions to allow their mortality to be ignored, when sacrifice comes.     my perusal of them ends as they rise to greet their day. we gather.. .. .. in the market there are preparations well-begun. we add ourselves to the group. when our eight wagons reach the city gate, we join another fifteen wagons already stationed there. the lighter wagons are pulled by horse-creatures, the heavy by goat-creatures. the goods are a mixture of things that mortals find necessary. there are no casters in the group and for this i am grateful. it will make my minor deception of traveling as a Cleftyck more easily maintained. as long as my wings remain furled, the illusion is quite a good one. my armours and devices, simply excused as Cleftyck-chantried makings. none would think it odd. my face being half-concealed raises no questions either, so all is comfortable as we travel north.     i learn that Kade is some kind of tracker. he is most at home on the land, especially so when it becomes more unforgiving. seven days out from milven, he suggests a time-savings of almost a day to the wagon master. this fellow, Erees and Kade discuss it at length and i am surprised that the fellow allows Kade's suggestion to live. the short cut is used and well that it is! if not for the departure from the usual trail markers, the occasion of meeting the Vastires might not have happened until a less fortuitous moment.     i was unaware that Vastires were about and this is my only defence as to why i did not think to warn the mortals of such a possibility. i will try to be more insightful moving forward. it is only just that i do so. it has not occurred to either of these mortal men to ask why a Geli'Qys is even available for such a mundane enterprise. we do not typically wander through the worlds in such unimportant ways. that they do not question this thing is to their credit. trust is not always easily given my kind. we had earned men's distrust in the time of the Breaking. pact-broken do not deserve trust.. .. ..     this is why as the landscape turned cool and the dog-creature identified snowfrost, i was oblivious to the Vastires' presence. the mortals knew of it before i did as they moved to meet these and i returned with the first of the victims of this encounter to the wagons. when i returned with the deathcaster and his able manservant, i saw arranged a tableau of brutal savage battle. Geli'Qys have long been involved in cruel inter-personal combats. i saw well that Kade did engage both from a distance and at close quarters with the Vastires Coils. these are the antecedents to their creation. knightly in attire and therefore alien to tighan. the creation stood just behind them, supportive of their cruel crimes and their aggressive stances. standing some twenty feet at least to the shoulder, this giant barge of a being looked for all the realm as any Vast, but easily threefold as large. this thing is called a Trave. they showed their disdain or menace to those that stood before them, namely the stranger wearing a red shield on his back ahead of us, and our party too. as well, there among the dead spars of frost-withered trees, hung a young mortal girl. that the Coil had suspended her was certain. as to what their reason might be for this was unclear. what i do know is that the Vastires Coils prefer their captives alive. she must have been troublesome indeed for them to forgo their.. .. .. preferences.     her 'hero', whoever the fellow of the red shield might be, turned overwhelmingly bad odds even more against his chances of survival by blundering into the Coils and promptly swerving to the ground in an undignified manner, devoid of skill and leaving his flank open to a dispatching stroke. the nearest Coil was only too pleased to deliver the death-stroke and that ended that. my two mortal charges fared far better. Kade eradicated the centre-most Coil, who armed with a rifled stave-gonne, posed the most immediate threat. Another of the Coil thought to strike Kade with a thrown bladed club. this missed and being stuck in an intervening tree, became the object of this Coil's next effort. bringing himself to the tree, the Coil sought to remove it knowing that Kade approached quickly from his right side. Kade had paused only to send off the last of the remaining Coil who had gone to his knees in ritualistic stance. he sought a summoning of his nearby kindred, i sensed. i prevented this with a Geli'Qys whisper. none were the wiser.. .. .. the Coil at the tree trunk was armed in his other hand and swung blindly with his war hammer, where Kade might emerge. this connected solidly with Kade's knee. Kade was barely put off-stride at all. he swung his sword at the Coil but missed. my efforts at training need to be re-doubled. it is clear that my method is lacking. while our physiology is quite similar, there is clearly more to training mortals than i first surmised. perhaps, i should watch him engage with another and learn what his own actions reveal. it could be that he has to use his unschooled movements to develop a style unique to himself. truthfully, it was like watching a duel within the man, more than any fight he was bringing to another. it may be that he seeks to learn a thing and unlearn the same thing.. .. ..     Surtice Ly on the other hand was anything but active. if i were to put a word to it, i would use -- reserved. in careful manner and calm, as a massive ship touches quietly to a pier-side wharf, Ly managed his efforts with easy efficiency. in orderly fashion he drew forth each one of his paired gonnes-pistolero and fired off their charges. these he directed with clear design upon the left shoulder of the Trave. once, twice and again did his pistolero sound out and find this target. i must say i saw no obvious reason for this location's selection but then Ly is something of a anatomist and it may be that he spotted a weakness in the left shoulder that i could not discern. the Trave fell not resoundingly, as the snow at its feet lessened the impact's sound, but the aberrant thing was well downed and well-dead nonetheless.     in aftermath, Pethro and Surtice Ly attended to the dead and the living. Pethro; the fool of a being who had not even used the shield he wore on his back. Ly; the girl who it was discovered still breathed. from her it is learned that the Coil descended as the blzzard does upon her village some days ago. they slew men. captured mothers and children. captured women who they did not kill immediately. in her case, Yseth, was lucky as she was more than girl but less than woman and the Coil seemed unsure which horror to visit upon her. it was this that had delayed her fate until today. she said little else. perhaps she will later.     Pethro brought forth cavernous sounds quite out of keeping, coming from such a small husk of a being. Geli'Qys do not hold with the dead speaking. the deathcaster did his noisesome work well enough. its name had been, Granotnam. it had been a creature of chenaga, the world of Weres. unlike most of his kind he was happy to travel away from his haven-home where, "there is always a moonrise", to venture elsewhere. a braver Were than most then. unlucky though. he ran afoul of one called, Ceriestraedent. this was relatively nearby to where we found the fellow. in kedge a nation next to the one we are presently, Ceriestraedent found this one and his partner. this partner was the other that we had first found slain in the snowdrifts. it was this partner that had taught Granotnam the ways of the red shield. Granotnam had only barely used weapons before this, preferring his own natural 'weaponry'. it was this that had made him so clumsy in the fight. that and the fact that as a were-scorpion, he had never been in snow before. i would have struck out with my tail, if i had had such a weapon at my disposal. to not do so, is akin to me forgetting that i can fly.. .. ..     Pethro spoke to him a little while more. to my surprise, he spoke in generalities and soothing phrases. while he might have asked and learned more, he seemed to be concerned that Granotnam be at ease. it was evident the being was confused as to his situation. Pethro expertly navigated the questions in a manner i had to respect. mortals are rarely able to be so considered. i will watch Pethro more. he is a surprise. that these two mortals have chosen him is also to be considered. Kade calls him "friend". Pethro calls Ly, his 'salvation'. intriguing.. .. ..     We returned to the wagon train having taken pains to bury the Coil. this would have taken far too long even with the tireless effort of the corpseman, so i whispered a Word to make this happen quickly. forgiveness can be sought later of the Monstrous powers that control the Earth element. in the morning, should the Coil leader leave the train alone, we will depart for polsing's ford and if not delayed, onward to a castle north of that.

Character(s) interacted with

Kade -- gun for hire   Surtice Ly -- animated healer   Ohnshee -- f. Seynse-Or'Rahn of creatures   Pethro -- invalid deathcaster   Tomahawk -- O, noble hound!   Bataqua -- Geli'Qys   Erees -- wagon master   Yseth -- girl saved from Coil predation   Granotnam -- Were killed trying to aid Yseth