Tylendel is standing on a bridge in the Hall of the Watchers, watching Quinton Messny ascending from the depths below. He tries looking for spells surrounding the disgraced Moon Guard, but only gets the feeling that there is a strong will controlling him, but not as if he is compelled. Tylendel stands there for a while, watching the man he hates so much, feeling the hate recede, then turns away and heads for Eamhyn’s smithy.
Once there he starts looking for a longsword. After some searching he finds one, and he makes his way back to the Commander’s Hall. Inside the Hall he makes himself comfortable in front of the statue of the Lost God Found and starts casting spells. He performs three rituals – one to warm the air around him, one to keep wind from him, and the last to change the Longsword into the Blade of the Lost God - A longsword with a perfectly mirrored Moonsteel blade, a gildensteel cross guard in the shape of the Lost God Found, a bleached leather grip and a gildensteel pommel with an engraving of the Imperial crest. On the blade near the cross guard the Greyoak crest can be seen. The blade has a wicked edge that won’t need sharpening.
Once this is done, he goes back to his old room and collapses into his bed, exhausted.
When he wakes up again, he eats hurriedly and leaves the Hall. He flies down to the armoury, where he finds a rope, then over to the Stormcrypts – there is no sign of Quinton today. Inside the crypts he descends to the lowest level, finds a large piece of the Seal and ties one end of the rope around it. He ties the other end around his torso and flies out with it. He struggles to get it through the window into the Commander’s Hall, but eventually manage. He settles the piece of the Seal on the floor in front of the statue of the Lost God Found, sits on it, then meditates to reach the Between along with the piece.
The first place he opens his eyes is on a vast, grassy plain where large boulders are impacting the ground. He hurriedly tries to get away from there and, after a close call where a stone impact near him, the next place he comes to is the entrance to Ipeshtir’s haven. Ghostweave is moored behind him. He wills the piece of the seal to become lighter, then carries it inside.
Today the room looks like something from a palace. Pábes is sitting on the floor, the Codex of the Lost in front of him, scribbling on some notes, and Ipeshtir is walking around the room watering plants in planters hanging from the ceiling. One of the planters has cat it in. Tylendel walks over to Pábes and drops the seal near him. Pábes looks up at Tylendel, down at the seal, up at Tylendel then down at the seal. He gently lets his fingers slide along the inscriptions of the seal.
Ipeshtir: “Ah, my friend, you have returned. And you found your way here! You continue to impress. And you brought the stone.”
Pábes: “It is a part of a seal.”
Tylendel explains that he thought it prudent to bring a larger piece, both to make sure they have enough, and to make sure that he brought a piece with all the layers.
Pábes: “I think that sounds wise. This will do. With this I can-”
He starts leafing through the Codex of the Lost, mumbling to himself. After a while he looks up at Tylendel.
Pábes: “With this we can reconstruct a framework so we can make a second Twilight Gate.”
They talk for some time about the construction of the Gate and what to do when (if) they make Parafor pass through it. They talk about a location, both in Eras and the Between, and eventually come to a temporary conclusion about putting it somewhere deserted, on a small, floating rock over the Endless Ocean. Tylendel also tells them about the chain he saw hanging from Parafor’s wrist, then, using the mirror, he shows them where it is anchored in Eras.
Pábes: “That’s Eveninghall, the High Temple of Carhuthrun. That is where the Archpriest and all his acolytes reside. It is the heart of the faith.”
Ipeshtir: “So they bound him, then. Is that what it means?”
Pábes: “Could be. I don’t know. It could mean he’s bound, that there is still one chain holding him back. Perhaps.”
They talk some more about the nature of the chain.
Pábes: “Well, he was chained beneath the Doomed City. Perhaps that chain still holds him.”
Ipeshtir: “It would explain why he hasn’t come to smack you around yet.”
Pábes: “Could he be trying to pull that last chain off? Is that why we have been granted all this time?”
Tylendel asks something
Ipeshtir: “Possibly, if it is, as you say, a place of power, he could assume that power and perhaps then he would be strong enough to remove the last chain. If what we are now speculating is actually true.”
Pábes: “But it sounds like it could be like that.”
Ipeshtir: “Tell me, your visitors, you are speaking of the Nine, are you not? The Nine who first found Eras and there begat more of their kind, yes?”
Tylendel nods
Ipeshtir: “Have they… If you want all nine of them to return to the Between, I cannot imagine it possible. But then again, you’re continually surprising me.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Are you sure?”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “The Cult. Yes. The Crow-king?”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “It’s a good thing we’re gonna save it.”
Tylendel asks the mirror to show him if there are any men or beasts in the tunnels leading out from Tamolyn Pahórek, and the mirror disappears, giving him the impression the tunnels are empty.
Tylendel: “Have you ever noticed I’m an idiot sometimes?”
He asks the mirror to show him the Tombs of Light.
Ipeshtir: “Well, maybe you are. The Tombs of Light?”
Pábes: “There is one more thing I would need from you, I think. I think it would be very useful if we had a skilled smith.”
Tylendel: “I know just the man.”
Pábes: “Really? Well, I need help making the Gate.”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “And you need help making the other side of the Gate.”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “Unless you bring him here. I mean, it’s not like you can’t bring things here.”
Tylendel: “???”
On the wall, the mirror forms an image of a large, cracked plain. On the plain there are many stone blocks, cubes.
Tylendel: “I’ve been there.”
Ipeshtir: “The Hazelands.”
Pábes: “Those are tombs?”
Tylendel describes the last time he saw the blocks, and what happened.
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “The woman you spoke of. The moon… Thing?”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir looks thoughtful.
Ipeshtir: “You think there is some entity in each of these tombs, and you freed one?”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “I do not know what you could do inside a tomb. Probably not much.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “I don’t know. I’m speculating. I’m trying to think aloud. Or perhaps you freed some essence and there is more. I don’t know.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Is that blood running there?”
Tylendel tells him that it appeared to be blood, but that he didn’t taste it to find out.
Ipeshtir: “We should probably investigate this place closer.”
He looks genuinely interested.
Ipeshtir: “Perhaps there’s some way to find out who or what made these things, where it is in relation to everything else. Perhaps there are some symbols, or… Did you see anything… These tombs, do they have carvings or anything that could hint of what this is.”
Tylendel explains that he didn’t see any.
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “It looks like all these streams of blood are flowing the same way.”
Tylendel asks the mirror to show them where the blood ends up, and it shows them Brightshedding.
Tylendel: “I’ve been there as well.”
Ipeshtir: “Of course you have.”
Tylendel tells of the time he rode the light and entered the Crow-king’s factory.
Ipeshtir: “Impossible. Are you sure? I know this place by recognition. I’ve heard of it. They call it the Tears of the Flaming Gods. I think it belongs to what was once known as Ether.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Aaah, now we are getting somewhere.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “What I find terribly interesting and scary here is that, somehow then, this blood running from these tombs ends up at quite another place in the Between. So it follows a stream of sorcery. This is made. It is not how it should be.”
Tylendel: “???”
Tylendel asks the mirror to show him where he was pulled out of the stream of sorcery, and the mirror shows him a stone chamber. The stream of light seems to enter a funnel below the room.
Ipeshtir: “Ah, I see. There is…”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “So we have blood running from the Hazelands, through the sorcery, keeping all these broken places together, ending up, somehow, at this legendary place I know as Tears of the Flaming Gods, down to this… And somehow linked to Candath and Candathi ore. Interestingly, perhaps, Ether is that part of the Between that has been the most affected by ancient sorceries and ancient cataclysm. Hence its name Ether; it is where, let’s say, the fabric of reality is the most unravelled.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “It is hard to say, because everything in the Between is in motion. Sometimes, probably, sometimes maybe not. This is powerful, ancient magic that keeps things together with these strands of magic and who knows. It is hard to tell. And I consider myself quite knowledgeable about such matters. But I’m thinking that if this happens in Ether it would be the place most easy to manipulate for someone who knows how to use the force that keeps everything in the Between alive. Not abandoned yet by dream. And my feeling is that somehow this Crow-king or whatever it is leeches life here represented by blood, from beings encased, imprisoned, perhaps. Those great light curtains remind me of the Tower of the Spirit, which is also life. And then, I cannot tell you, why there is Candathi ore involved. But I know where it is mined.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Yes, it is one of the stranger places, also in Ether.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Yes. Possibly. There must be an answer to that question.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “I cannot tell you. Not now. I think we should arrange an expedition. While you study, of course.”
He pokes Pábes.
Ipeshtir: “I can go, if you cannot attend to that matter yourself.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Perhaps it would be for the better in the sense that you wouldn’t draw attention. Or that I wouldn’t draw attention in the way that you would. Ah, Qulluqu would be so excited; it’s been a while since we were on an expedition.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “What do you mean?”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “It sounds like a very dangerous thing to try, but who can stop you? Not me. I would again advise you to try this far from those few hubs of civilization that we still have.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Ah, the Endless Sea. Not bad, not bad.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “It’s like I told you. It can be quite difficult and dangerous to travel through Ilk.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “But so few do. So very few. I personally know two of them.”
Pábes: “Who?”
Tylendel asks the mirror to show him where Pábes body is in Eras, but the mirror doesn’t show anything. He then asks it to show him the wolf that bumped shoulders with him north of Byrkburgh.
The mirror shows him the gigantic wolf walking through a forest. The forest looks old.
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “Sounds like that friend of yours from the mountains. Isn’t he dead?”
Tylendel asks the mirror to show him Lylas Yellow-eyes, and the view doesn’t change.
Ipeshtir: “Who is this Lylas you speak of?”
Tylendel tells Ipeshtir about Lylas and the Wailing Widows.
Pábes: “He was a ranger. Maybe he kept an eye on the place.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Excuse me, but you’re talking about the wolf? I thought only in the between you could have animals that behave like someone with our stature.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “And now he’s a wolf.”
Tylendel: “???”
Tylendel gets the impression that Lylas is looking for something.
Tylendel asks the mirror to show him what Lylas is searching for, and the mirror shows him a different part of the forest. It stops on what looks like a tree, but it is many roots woven together in the shape of a tree.
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “It almost looks like art. It’s beautiful, in a strange way.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “And this wolf is looking for this place. Many mysteries on this fine evening.”
Tylendel: “???”
He asks the mirror to show him who ordered the murder of the God-king. The mirror shows him a wind-blown coast, then moves to show him a white city. It moves the point of view to a palace, then inside the palace to the throne room. A woman in her fifties is lying reclined on a dais – on the other side of the table is the Mad Spearman. Next to his chair is the haft of a spear.
Ipeshtir: “Mmm, who is this?”
Tylendel: “The Queen Mother of Oxosth.” [Abrianthe]
Pábes: “Huh?”
Ipeshtir: “She awakens something in me. I think I shall turn around.”
He turns away from the mirror and goes to pet Socks.
Pábes: “This is getting complex.”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “WHAAAT?! Really? He looks like a monk.”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “Really?”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “That’s a good question. Perhaps it’s his walking stick. It looks old.”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “It’s been a while since I changed frocks. Why? What do you mean? Do you suppose it’s something special about it?”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “Yes, it’s the god of the Salt Coast.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “I have not heard of a spear-hearted.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “No, but look at that woman!”
Tylendel wonders whether Alande has reached the Salt Coast, but he doesn’t think so. The Queen Mother and the Mad Spearman seem relaxed, having a conversation.
Tylendel asks the mirror to show him where the head of the Mad Spearman’s spear is.
The mirror shows him the root tree again.
Tylendel asks about Murilon and Ruis.
Pábes: “Merbus’ stories, yes. I’ve read his book a few times in my life. Parts of it, anyway. She was kissed. You think that’s the Lost God?!”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “You’re thinking we’re looking at one of the most holy places of the faith?”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes kneels in front of the mirror.
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “You think so?”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “B-but… So the spearhead is there?”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “I cannot fathom that we’re perhaps looking at the most important place in the works of Merbus himself. Now that you’ve said it it’s like I feel it. I think… But… But I do not understand why this is the way it is. Or what it has to do with this priest.”
Ipeshtir: “Ah! I see you have changed the view!”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “That does not surprise me.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “That would suggest that there is something that you perhaps haven’t seen or… Because you are suggesting that something is wrong. Because he seemingly helped you? In a sense? Or the Empyre? Or not? Were you taken away because he wanted you gone or because he wanted you safe? I think that is an important question, am I right? But if he wanted you gone he could have-“
Pábes: “Nope! He couldn’t. He doesn’t have his spearhead.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Exactly. So we can assume that he wanted you, not dead, but gone.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Exactly.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Afraid of too many eyes?”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Well, that’s… Well. I can imagine that he wouldn’t go to your father and say *hi, I’ve got your son but you can’t have him’.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Ah.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “If your legends then are true it means that you descend from one of the Nine.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “It would explain your ease when you use the sorcery.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “Yes.”
Tylendel: “???”
Ipeshtir: “I suggest, based on what we know, about our nine friends, that at least one of them is involved.”
Tylendel: “???”
Pábes: “What?”
Tylendel asks the mirror to show him who orchestrated his abduction from his mother.
The mirror shows him the Crow-king’s northern army, then zooms in on the Deserter, then settles on the Deserter’s sword – a longsword. The hilt reminds Tylendel of Red Dancer. The Deserter’s sword is a Brentoni bloodsword.
Tylendel asks the mirror to show him Barosía from above. He then asks the mirror to highlight where the Deserter is. The view changes quickly to zoom in of the Deserter, showing Tylendel that they are in the south-west of Porsomónia. Tylendel guesses that the northern and southern parts of the Crow-king’s army will meet at Kingsbridge.
Subject: Online Session Recap - 07.03.2019 
Fri 15 Mar 2019, 13:10
