Howdy, or as they say in Sun County, "Shine, brother."
Thurs night's game went better for the party. As several people searched for BF tracks, the others looted and burned the shrine. You looted the bodies, too; lots of neat stuff. One body was an ogre! (chaos-tainted creatures that look like fanged humans; infiltrate human societies and eat people) Pachala smashed the altar and found a chest with cash and Documents. Tarranyr rigged a stretcher to carry Tison and Chygyh's bodies back to Pavis.
Pachala, Dorgon, and the 5 eyes tracked the BFs to a pudan, or stone depression with enchantments (common in the Rubble; old Pavic defenses). As twilight fell, they battled the remaining BFs. Dorgon slew the trollkin and newtling, but the Pavic woman and Illwraith escaped after dealing Pachala some nasty blows. 3 of the 5 eyes tracked the Pavisite down and killed her (later). If you were there you would have seen a pathetic sight: an exhausted woman lodged in a crevice in the ruins, panting from exhaustion and fright, then newtlings appearing out of the twilight and skewering her as she pleaded for mercy. She cursed at them as she died, and a spectral image of an old sage left her body and flitted off screaming madly into the night...
Pachala, Dorgon, and 2 of the 5 eyes had a much harder time tracking Illwraith; she led them on a wild chase through the nasty Griffin Gate ruins, awakening monsters to get in your way. Soon you realized that broo were tracking you, and you camped just outside the Gate, near Windwhistler's tower nest. The broo came soon; many of them. You wisely fled (GM note: you came sooooo close to dying!) and gave up on Illwraith.
Arcus and Tarranyr had their own misadventures lugging loot from the shrine back to Wyrmsjaw. A small flock of gargoyles were attracted by the scent of blood and glitter of metal, swooping in to grab the bodies and maybe Tarranyr or Arcus. Arcus's spear and Tarranyr's magic (loaned from Tison) saved them and drove off the gargoyles.
Phew. You made it back safe to Pavis by the next day. Tison was resurrected by Che'enshashan and the CA medicine bundle (last use for the year...; 3 1/2 seasons to go!). Pachala convinced Cholobo to search out Morta's ghost, and he did (he got lost briefly in the spirit world and had to defeat a wraith, which weakened him but not enough to prevent him from finding Morta). Cholobo held Morta captive in his flaming Fetch and Tison interrogated Morta's howling ghost with Truespeak. With the fetch's searing spiritual pain and Tison's questioning, Morta gave up a lot of info. I can remember some:
The documents are his, and contain everything he (or anyone) knew about Firshala. Briefly, she was a daughter of Lodril + unknown goddess. Wandered Prax/the Wastes and saw little worship. Burned a lot of elven forests! (they hate her for that) Has powers of destruction and rebirth; lands burnt by her flowered into fertility afterwards. Was raped by Zorak Zoran in the Darkness, spawning evil spirits called Kotothi (one is in Idylla's apocalypse gem... the other is possessing the battle wyrm Striking-Teeth-and-Consuming-Rage!). GLs found her in Prax and warped her, mated her with Lorian to make Tanian. Bound her in Robcradle to catch giant cradles. Giants got pissed and stomped Robcradle; she was forgotten for a century. EWF priests (incl. First Dreamer) found her and moved her binding to Wyrmsjaw, where she was used as a power source to fuel the fort against troll/nomad/giant invaders. FD was betrayed by his fellows and enslaved himself as her eternal jailor. And then you found them.
Morta threw in a few more hints: the door through the acid tunnel under Wyrmsjaw is probably very important, Illwraith's ring was planning to destroy the 2 main rings and take over Pavis' underworld (bold move!), they were also planning snipers at Arcus's wedding (but you killed them). If others remember things, fill em in.
It was quiet in Pavis; no sign of Illwraith for weeks. 4 hunter demons that Elohwyn sent for Illwraith (true name was told by Morta) returned saying that Illwraith "does not exist or is not within the walls." You sold and ID'd a bunch of magic stuff from the BFs (long list).
Arcus's and Caernak's weddings went well. There were good speeches and merriment. Caernak raised hell when the Yelmalions served newtling tail at Arcus's wedding, scolding the domers for their arrogance and divisiveness. The sentiments of unification and tolerance preached at the weddings did not get far, but did not make things worse. You can see a long, hard battle ahead to change many stubborn minds in both cults. Noteworthy persons seen at the weddings include many of the wealthy Glowbrow family and Sun Quarter residents/holy men at Arcus's wedding, and the Coders, Ingilli family, and others at Caernak's wedding. Humakti mercenaries hired as guards were quite bored and frustrated. Elohwyn shocked many people with her announcement that she is leaving (Jeff, please send her farewell message; and the others are interested in trading stuff with you before you go)
Finally, you went to Griffin Gate to gab with the golden wyrm. On the way you looked at the anthill where you spotted a gem before; the hill was larger but no gem in sight. A gold-feathered young griffin dove like a sunspear at Arcus, but shifted aside at the last second, dropping a huge feather at Arcus's feet. That griffin and its 2 large parents were met talking with Windwhistler by the gate. They chatted for a while about gold, giants, and such. Windwhistler mentioned a large band of broo and shaman that had taken residence in a park near the gate. Maybe dozens of them! They had taken cover in the twisted vegetation of the park and hence he could not reach them. He welcomed you to take them out. Windwhistler had no items that he was willing to trade this time. You discussed plans for attacking the broos: the shaman with them might be Illwraith!