We’re back in Thistlehold! Talking to the head witch, it turns out the rubbings we had of the stone tablets were nothing more than simple merchant receipts or something like that. So much for that, huh?
Murmei is told that his sister Rilia has gone missing, which he already knows - she is, after all, a full-fledged barbarian now and calls herself Deadorna ... who is shown the place where we caught the Flayer, and told the story of how that came to be.
We see Elsiosi a couple of times: first when she comes around looking for her betrothed (who hides in his bedroom, pretending not to be in), and second when she comes around sporting a corrupt basalt ring. This time Murmei isn't hiding and, after botching a roll, tells her stories of how brave they were in Davokar.
There's a message to meet with a Prios person in a bar. The big, city-wide warning bell, which has been silent for the past four years, goes off. There are Colossi coming through the forest - witches normally ride those? Deadorna talks to barbarians about a well, and we finish on what sounds like a great big explosion in Thistlehold. Not so much an explosion as a giant sink hole suddenly opening up and swallowing a considerable chunk of the city.
“My wife thinks I have antifreeze as blood.”
“They practice their Athletics by doing tango in the witch circle.”
“Murmei likes her, even though she hasn’t enthralled him, even though he is.”
GM: “Please note the game master is not trying to lock up Murmei any chance he gets.”
“I need more rolls so Macauley Culkin disappears off the page!”
“It’s almost like I’m trying to manipulate the game.”
“We’ve just left Davokar, let’s go back!”
“Now I am justified in my madness! I feel better.”
“I swear, you’re stealing my lines now!”
“Yeah, that’s intelligence-gathering, not loving interest!”
“He’s getting that enthralled he’s gonna need to change sheets?!”
Deadorna: “Are you saying that out loud in Barbarian, dear brother?”
Murmei: “Yes! You’re welcome.”
GM: “You’re destroying my adventure.”
Player 1: “I thought it was from the book?”
GM: “It is from the book.”
Player 2: “The book doesn’t expect a party like us!”
“I know who the bad shot is.”
“Not meeee!”
(there’s a big hole in Thistle Hold)
“What was there?”
“Not our house.”
“Oh, that’s fine, then.”
To be continued!
