atur has plenty to offer for those devoted volites who come from all over the country to visit the crimson monestary and add their blood to a communal fountain then drink from same
there's not much here for the rest of us but that doesn't mean it's entirely dull
the others went to the monestary to talk to the high priest while spark and zer and i investigated the room hilde soldorak's murderer "teoban grogloth" stayed in
somehow ours was the more exciting of the two
zer's ability to make the past visible let us see grogloth rambling to himself about the sword and how the monestary's high priest "evanor" said someone named "kraal" is in bedem
the innkeeper put in heroic cleaning efforts but we could still smell that grogloth is ... decaying
spark found a devotional book that she didn't know had a magic trap on it – when opened it knocked us back with a massive blast of force
don't worry
i fixed the dents we made in the walls
that was at the inn called the "old bones' repose" but we're staying at the "wolf and lamb"
to emphasize the wolf part they have decorated the entryway with a dead but preserved wolf
to emphasize the lamb part they have a large central fire pit over which they ... cook
i first encountered that cooking style when i visited medya's family in "wind's rest" so i was prepared enough to successfully pretend not to be squeamish
but i've smelled enough death for one day
we happened across several other students of the same travelling school of martial arts that spark learned with
they were happy to see her! but they had slightly bad news to share
in bedem two of them came to the aid of someone being harrassed by soldiers for no good reason ... then it became a brawl and now about a dozen of them are jail for a week for being disorderly and the rest have been asked not to return
spark wants to visit them when we're in town
spark briefly wanted to plan a jailbreak but we're not doing that for folks who will be out rather soon by their own standards of acceptable confinement (!)
especially since vedim has gently reminded us that his position obliges him to act on behalf of the law
our group has a strong tendency to act on principle without regard for law so i'm glad he's here to help us find solutions that won't get us chased out of yet another country
or worse
forced to live here
when the locals see vedim's hands they act differently toward him and his requests are never turned down or contradicted
his wolf-paw tattoos are a sign that he has the authority to enforce the king's will by any means he feels necessary ... and that includes the taking of lives
the king's will is that he hunt the order of the emerald claw
he's assigned to our group specifically to find out why they're interested enough in relic's sword to steal it by way of murder
more travel tomorrow
probably in the same pattern as we have been – 5 hours on the road then an hour's break wherever no other travellers are visible then 5 more before we camp
the carriages are comfortable enough but it's wearying to spend so much of the day cooped up with little room to stretch and move
and i'm extra sore from being bounced off a wall so it's time for pain relief
arlan tea and a bit of glitterreed should do nicely