A. The Decision to Give Up the Swag.

On the ride out of the forest, the PCs discuss what to do with Toinet, Zachary and Sherat (who spends the journey gagged and bound). (DM’s notes: I sense they don’t like her.) Vermilion says that he is starting to think the “swag” may not be worth the trouble of trying to bargain with Antazos. Athron speaks separately with Toinet and Zachary and asks each of them “What would you do if you were free?” Zachary answers that if Toinet would agree, he would take her and go as far from her father as possible. Toinet, in turn, is worried that there is no way to escape Antazos’s reach – but when Athron asks, she agrees that she would take the chance if it were given.

Sherat says that she would return directly to her lord to clear her name. Athron offers to write a letter to confirm that she did not start the fight at the ziggurat. Sherat responds that a letter from one such as him would carry no weight with Antazos; further, he has his own way to confirm whether she speaks the truth.

In the end, once they reach the north-south road that runs between the East Redding and Tarrish, Athron and Broc take Sherat one day’s ride north, while the other PCs take Zachary and Toinet south. Before they depart, Toinet tells Athron that Dembrosio “has spies everywhere” and Dembrosio knew that Maeva would be on the Freeman long before it left Torei. She also said that they had the same information as Retta Pierce – about the Eye of Hamal – before it even reached her. When Vermillion, Cassick, Duran and Boeden release Zachary and Toinet, they ride directly west into the Middle Redding. Further north, Sherat tells Athron that Antazos will not stop looking – for Maeva, for the Eye, for his daughter, or for the PCs. Athron tells her to ride safely, until they meet again.

DM’s notes: I was surprised by the PCs decision to let Toinet and Zachary go – I had already started preliminary planning for what this would mean in the long-term. It wouldn’t change Antazos’s desire to crush the upstart PCs who had foiled his plans twice, but it would have (a) almost certainly resulted in Zachary’s death and (b) likely would have eliminated the possibility of Toinet being an ally in the future.

I was even more surprised by the decision to let Sherat go (though entertained mightily at how Nick and Chris role-played Athron’s and Broc’s interactions with her. Especially Broc’s continuing intimidation of her. Yeah, I’m thinkin’ they’ll be seein’ her again.

B. Trouble in Tarrish.

Back in Tarrish, the PCs split up. Duran goes to the Vind Hall to find another notice up for his arrest, offering a reward of 600 gp. The notice also states that the tribal chiefs have decreed he can redeem his honor by winning the highest Warrior’s Laurels at the Conclave of All Tribes at the autumnal solstice – and if he does not, then all the holdings of the blood of his “father’s father” will be forfeit.

Athron goes to the local chapterhouse of the Temple of Hamal and asks to meet with High Pater Aubin. Pater Aubin expresses doubt about the Viersiring, but when Athron tells him the story of where it was found, he agrees to arrange to have it delivered to the Kirk in Hatham. A couple of days after that, Pater Aubin sends a message that he has arranged to have the package on a ship to Visaiyain, then onward to Helve and Hatham.

Cassick finds a letter waiting from his sister Finnella, who three weeks before hand-delivered it to the inn where he usually stays in Tarrish. She writes of their untrustworthy cousin, Crevan, and meeting his friends Tallon and Seril the winter before. She also writes that their sister, Amalia, had resettled with her husband in Tagahir, a village known for an almost cult-like devotion to their local fertility god Varaz. Amalia had twin sons the previous fall, when their mother visited – but all messages since then have gone unanswered. The innkeeper says Finnella was on her way to the Vind Hall. There, Cassick speaks with the Vind clerk and describes his sister; he is told she left a posting recruiting people to be blockade runners of League blockades and to be involved in smuggling. The clerk tells Cassick that League authorities are not happy about the posting, but the Vind Hall has refused to identify Finnella.

Vermillion reports to the Nightsong Guild, where he learns thatJames Laibrook has expressed interest in hiring the agency to assist with his security needs. Heroz also tells him that his father came in to report that a “friend” had been looking for him.

Later, Vermillion finds himself confronted in the street by a life-long rival, the street rat Traeger and some of his thugs. Vermillion handily chases Traeger away while Boeden (who happened to be nearby) kills one of the thugs. Another turns and runs after Broc charges, sword upraised and screaming, and then skids to a stop in front of him. The survivor drops his club and protests that they weren’t paid enough for this, before he runs. In the midst of the encounter, Vermillion catches sight of a tall blonde Shal woman watching from the doorway of a bakery, but she disappears before he can find her.

At a bar, Broc has been told that a tall blonde Shal woman has expressed interest in meeting him, but he does not relay this information to any of the other PCs. Later that evening, the woman Varimer approaches him and flirts with him, drawing out that he was a member of the party that defeated the pirates at the lighthouse. She also learns that the party traveled to Halveet, and then north along the road towards the East Redding with a stop at the WayStation of Kalle. In the late hours, a large hulking warrior then demands to know what Broc is doing with “my woman.” When Varimer protests, the man backhands her, and he and Broc get into a bar fight – in the midst of which the woman stabs Broc with a poisoned dagger.

The next day, a package is delivered to Athron at the chapterhouse – Broc’s sword with a note saying only “We should talk.” Athron posts a message at the Vind Hall, asking a reward for any information regarding the disappearance of Broc, and then gathers the others. He later receives a message via the Vind Hall, telling him to come to an abandoned, burned out farm several miles northeast of Tarrish.

Meanwhile, Broc awakes in a room, hog-tied, with no ability to see. He is questioned in turn by the man and by the woman, who attempt to determine whether Maeva was taken to Halveet. However, he successfully bluffs them both. His attempts to break his bonds fail.

DM’s notes: Varimer and the other ruffians who have kidnaped Broc are lifted from An Eye for an Eye by Monte Cook.