It took some time for the broken window to be repaired, and until then the open space remained covered by thick wooden boards. First, a carpenter had to replace the frame, which had split along one side, and then they had to wait for the glazier, who ended up taking two days to finish his work. Occasionally over the two days of his labor, Joy would stop by the office – its furniture pushed to the side – to watch the grey-haired man carefully measure and cut the panes of glass, then fit them into the grid.

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It took two weeks for word to reach the East Redding about the raid on the WayStation . When Crevan returned to Palderton from a trip along the merchant roads through the edges of the Quaj-held forest, Tivaris, the news was already waiting for him.

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It took a great deal of work to minimize the attention drawn to the jewelry store. Some time had to be spent jawing with the other nearby merchants, rueful statements about what a shame it was even this street – this very block – could experience such a terrible crime . “You must have just gotten a shipment of gems,” Esther Haley commented as she measured the sleeves on a fine silk shirt, to make sure the cuffs fell at just the right point on his wrists. “Loose lips somewhere in your delivery chain, I’m sure,” she added.

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Timing: Between Week IV and Week VIII

The interior of the lighthouse still stank of blood and rot, even after they had spent hours cleaning out the limbs and gnawed flesh that the hag had tossed aside. So for the three days that passed between the departure of The Unfaithful Lady and the return of another ship, Strahan Brano spent as much time as he could on the beach, in the open air. He rowed back to the rock islet holding the lighthouse only at dusk, to light the beacon, and spent the hours of dark half-dozing on the open balcony at the top, water-proof cloak wrapped around him against the ocean spray. Sometimes, at night, he would half wake to see the lights of ships passing east to west, safely rounding the reef.

And sometimes during his half-sleep, he would dream the beacon had sputtered out, another sprung up on the beach, and ships foundering, screams …

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They left Tarrish in mid-morning, after the initial rush of incoming farmers and tradesman had already cleared. Sherat moved her horse to the front of their line, I’har falling in next to her, leaving Toinet trailing behind with the guards and servants. The elven archer behind her waited until the city had disappeared behind a curve of road before speaking. “We could yet go back,” I’har told her, “and you could see her-”

“No.” She stopped, jaw clenching, making herself take several slow breaths before continuing. “No, I cannot. We cannot risk going to the jail directly. Erqua will either figure out a way to save herself, or she will hang.” She said it as flatly as she could manage, kept her eyes trained straight ahead at the road before them. “Besides, we have to move now – we have lost the girl already, we cannot tarry and risk losing the Robiane.”

I’har was silent for a few more miles before he said softly, “I know how you feel, Sherat.”

No, you do not, she thought to herself. After all, I’loz’s death on that beach was more a matter of family pride to him. I’har might be insulted at the thought of his brother falling to the humans who came in search of the Freeman, but there would be no grief. Surema had been more … even Erqua, half-blooded and debt-marked, had been more. Three sisters, Sherat thought. The middle one dead, and the oldest riding north to leave the youngest to hang.

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She said her farewells a good week before boarding. Her father picked her up to lift her onto the horse, and then stopped, holding her close. She could feel his breath against her hair. “I would tell you to be brave,” he whispered, “but I know how hard it is.” His arms tightened around her. She understood why he was sending her away – he had told her, after all, since he wasn’t one to lie to her – but yes, it was hard. “Instead I will ask you to give this hug,” his embrace tightened again, “to Daned.”

“I will, Papa,” she whispered back, and then let him set her on the saddle behind the grey-haired woman. “I will safeguard her,” the woman said, touching the insignia of Hamal on her cloak. On the ground, her father nodded, not speaking again. Maeva turned her head to watch him and the three who stood with him, until she could see them no longer. Then she buried her face in the folds of the cloak, sobbing.

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Meet Boeden Narwin’s family:

• His father, Draedon Narwin the Elder
• His mother, Arene Narwin
• His older brother, Draedon Narwin the Younger
• His younger sister, Ariel Narwin

Meet Cassick’s relatives:

• His grandmother, Marguerite Arnaud

• His cousin, Crevan Arnaud

• His younger sister, Finnella Arnaud

• His baby sister, Amalia Arnaud

• His brother-in-law, Eitri Hethin

• His nephews, Penn and Cadell

Back here I commented that John rewrote Duran’s history on me between one week and the next. To explain and clarify:

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In “real life” play, I like to use artwork of photographs as illustrations—in the campaign handout (the text of which is now in the Wiki), or in other “in game” documents (such as notices posted in the Vind Hall. For instance, DeviantArt has been a great source for NPC character portraits _(“Here, this is what Lodur, Son of Rigg looks like.”) However, in posting material to this Web site, I am not willing to use what is clearly copyrighted material.

Thus, the search for things licensed under the Creative Commons license. Unfortunately (for me, but understandably for the artists), only a few things on DeviantArt carry a Creative Commons designation. Though the AvatarArt offer is tempting, I can’t justify the cost of custom-made artwork for every NPC who crosses through the campaign.

So I’ve been spending some time over the past couple of days trawling the depths of Flickr’s creative commons photographs . Searching on “renaissance faire” or “renfaire” photos with a Creative Commons designation has yielded some viable candidates for my photographic mangling. Some of the NPCs now have thumbnail portraits, with attribution to the artist/photographer and link to the original source material in the biographical sections for the NPCs.

I’ve also been toying with modifying the photographs to look like sketches, but being new to Photoshop Elements, my efforts have been a little hit or miss. At least I’ll have something to toy with until I get to run my campaign again.