A trader offered to buy weapons that we didn’t need, Balian and Erdidi sold their bows and Thorkatla sold her spear.
Jarl Agatha led us into the audience chamber and onto her platform.
Jarl Torgir of the Stag clan was already there. He was kind of like Fulrigg, easy going until he needs to not be.
Jarl Kenna of the Goat Clan was already there.
As we were walking in, Jarl Halvar pushed in onto his platform.
Jarl Ildunnr is already there with Prince Aldorf standing behind her. Erfidi fanned herself when she saw him across the room.
The Ravenclan’s platform was aqain empty.
After a few minutes of silence, a few of the King’s personal guards walk into the room, filing around his throne. Puerl was with this group. After a minute, King Elof walked in and sat down on the throne.
Puerl spoke, thanking everyone for coming. As he was starting to get the assembly started, he was interrupted by a thunderous knocking. Everyone looked around, not quite sure what to do. Skeld asks if he should let them in and Jarl Agatha shushes him.
Puerl motions to Jarl Halvar, as he is the closest the door. His guards opened it and a frost giant stood there. His arms and legs were shackled. As he shuffled in and made it’s way over to the Ravenclan platform, surrounded by Ravenclan soldiers. Sigurd told the rest of us in the Boar clan that the giant is the right hand man of the Ravenclan Jarl.
The Ravenclan soldiers pulled out a key and unlocked his shackles.
Tannen came in carrying a chair with a back. He set it on the Ravenclan platform and Jarl Merula walked in, wearing a frilly dress, and sits down in the chair.
Skeld said to her, I thought only the King sits down in here.
She responded that her legs were tired and the King didn’t have to walk here.
Puerl also questions the chair and said that only the King sits in his chamber. She said her legs were tired and she didn’t think that the King would mind as they just arrived this morning.
Puerl said her name and she said fine and stood and Tannen took the chair back to their chamber.
Puerl then asked why the Frost Giant was here, she reminded him to call her Jarl Merula and said that he was her guard, Captain Slagg, though not a Captain anymore as he lost his ship.
She said that the King was allowing magic users to be in his chamber, so she should be allowed to have her guard.
Puerl told her to get the giant out, the King has allowed magic users in here for now, but he would not permit a frost giant.
Jarl Merula capitulated and the frost giant was reshackled and walked back to their chamber.
The Jarl asked for the clan’s petitions and Jarl Agatha told us to go on.
Skeld went over what has happened with the Boar clan since the last clan moudet. He petitioned the King for any kind of supplies that could be provided to help us survive. He also asked if we could be granted permission to have our merchants go to other clans, at least the Ravenclan, to trade for survival.
Ravenclan and Stag Clan have no requests.
Puerl says to the Jarl of the Stag clan that they have a big job ahead of them and are they prepared, he said yes the shipment was ready and they were ready to go.
Jarl Kenna said she doesn’t have any petitions for their clan, but they would like to offer food for the Boar clan as they have an overabundance of food and would like to share with their clan brethren.
The Bear clan had a petition. He said the Bear clan had agreed to not expand their territory without permission from the King, in agreement that the Wolf clan would do the same. He claimed that the Wolf clan is building settlements north of the mountains.
Jarl Ildunnr said they were just building fortifications at the base of the mountains that were part of their territory.
There was much back and forth between the two Jarls with Jarl Ildunnr claiming that the fortifications were necessary for all the clan’s safety. Jarl Halvar insinuates that the lack of protection on the northern front is their fault and Jarl Ildunnr maligned the fox clan and said they never defended the northern borders. She then insinuated that they wouldn’t want anyone other than the Boar clan getting attacked the way we were.
We know that no one goes to far north because you might get into the nightmare lands, the lands of the boogeyman.
The King said he would consider everyone’s petition and we were all dismissed.
Back in our chambers, Skeld said he was torn on whether to believe Prince Aldorf as this could be machinations to get us traveling against the clan rules or leave our Jarl defenseless.
Sigurd said that from what he knew, Tannen was loyal to the old Jarl, he seems to be loyal to Marula, he’s a little bit of a scoundrel but he seems to be honest and pretty capable.
Skeld asked how she got the giant. Sigurd told us that he was kicked out of the frost giant kingdom (he doesn’t know why) so he started a pirate crew with other frost giants that wanted to follow him. Eventually the Ravenclan navy managed to track them down and kill all of his crew, but captured Slagg, the captain. When they brought him back, Jarl Marula offered to him that she would spare his life if he would serve him. He agreed and this is what made Sigurd defect to the Boar clan.
Skeld tried to find Puerl, but couldn’t. He then asked around trying to find out anything about where his dad went.
Thorkatla tried to find Jarl Kenna and large clump of Goat clan members, including Jarl Kenna, with a guard on either side.
Erfidi found her father. He said the Trollsplitter’s closest friends said he was in a bad place after they escorted his family out and he doesn’t think he’s been seen since that night.
He asked her about the fight with Korsca and said it was a shame we didn’t have a good Jarl to tell the tale. Erfidi told him about their other feats over the last few months, including the Cobalt Crusade and the Silk Witch.
Eirikr said her mother used to talk about the silk witches. They came in the night for anyone who displayed magic openly. He had thought she wasn’t going to have to worry about it since he was bringing her up in the Stag clan, but he supposed it couldn’t be helped now.
Erfidi told him about how she wouldn’t cross the bridge into Greenmoot, and we didn’t know why. He guessed maybe it was because she couldn’t cross water, but Erfidi told him she could fly. He said that was one more thing to worry about.
He said he may try to make a whirlwind trip through the clans and see if he could come see us in the Boar clan at some point.
Skeld learned that his father hadn’t been seen since the night his family was escorted away.
Thorkatla caught up with Skeld, Bronin and Balian and told them that she was trying to figure out how to get a warning to Jarl Kenna without telling her guards in case they were in on it.
Skeld proposes sending a message to her, then he walked right up to her. He reminded her of who he was and then said that he told Mollie he would send her salutations and see how she was doing. Jarl Kenna said she wanted to know how she was doing and she was worried about Mollie. Skeld said Mollie was worried about her too and Jarl Kenna said maybe she should be. Skeld told her to keep her ear to the wind because sometimes you can hear her talking. He told the guards to be vigilent and walked away into an alley where he started sending her messages.
He told her that we recently received some kind of intelligence that she would be in danger on the way back to the Goat clan. We were warned by one of her allies that there is an element within her clan that wants to dispose of her. Any friend of Mollie’s is a friend of ours and we are willing to help if she needs it. She insinuated that she knows she is in danger and she knows who from. She then said it was not anyone at the clan moudet that she knows of. She said she knows what awaits her in her homeland. Skeld asked if she needed assistance and she said if she’s worthy she’ll be fine. He said sometimes fate throws boons to you, and we are willing to help. She asked if Mollie knew about this and Skeld reassured her that she didn’t.
She said two of the elders plot against her and she suspects they will have an ambush waiting for her. She doesn’t know how many will be there, but she will hope that her 6 guards will be enough.
She wouldn’t give him their names as she didn’t want to sully their names if they decide not to move against her.
He asked her to let us know if anything happens before it’s time to leave. The Boar clan wants to help her.
Meatboat performed in the streets and the crowds loved us! Skeld had a night to moderately remember with a lass of medium comeliness.
The next morning we head to the meeting of the Jarls. Bronin is hungover, Erfidi can hold her liquor and has no hangover and delights in yelling very close to him.
Once we all get into the chamber (Jarl Halvar is the last one in), the King comes out and sits down.
After Puerl says the King is going to address our grievances and petitions.
The king says, to the Boar clan, my answer to your petition is No. We live outside of the clan’s lands and outside of the clan’s ways. We can perform miracles and yet we cry for aid. If we can’t survive the winter on our own, we are not clansmen. They allow us to keep the name Boar clan, but otherwise we are outside of the clans and we are not part of them. We are also denied the ability to go and trade with the other clans.
He said the Ravenclan reported that a wagon had been stolen and tracks led north to the Boar clan. Jarl Merula said it’s only one wagon and no worries, we can keep it. It’s made of wood and maybe we can make a house out of it.
The King moves on and tells Jarl Kenna that her request is also denied for the reason he gave us. She questions that he made her send a little girl to the Boar clan and wanted to know if he made her send her to her death. He said that she will have the same fate as the rest of the Boar clan and we will find some way to survive.
The Bear and Wolf clan said they have solved their differences.
He then asks Prince Aldorf if he has addressed his concerns. Prince Aldorf says that they will make the King’s enemies question what their decisions. The King asked him if he was worried about the Falconiers and Prince Aldorf said that Falcons may attach wolves, but what will they find but gnashing teeth.
The King walks starts to walk away from the chamber. Erfidi makes a snide comment and there’s snarling and posturing between her and Skeld and the King’s guards. Puerl calls Erfidi a whore and earns her enmity. We got told that we were to leave immediately and not participate in the festivities tonight. Eventually we all walk out. Jarl Agatha reprimands us and reminds us that the other Jarls have heard our concerns and we also got the chance to get help from Eirikr. If we lose the chance to come here, we lose out on all of that.
Jarl Agatha said her goal is to make sure that the people back home don’t starve and if we have any other goals than we are welcome to leave the clans and go south. We need to be allowed to come to the clan moudets and be heard and not be airing petting grievances. Erfidi acknowledged her experience and apologized.
Thorkatla updated the Jarl on what happened with Jarl Kenna last night. Jarl Agatha sympathized with her situation, knowing how hard the first year as a Jarl can be without the other terrible things going on with her. It seems like Jarl Kenna has just given up and may be planning to accept her fate. She said whether or not we should go to help her depends on if we trust Prince Aldorf.
Thorkatla asked the Jarl if the previous King was more accepting of the Boar clan. She told us that the previous King wiped out the fox clan when he was the Jarl of the Wolf Clan before he became King. He petitioned for his daughter, Ildunnr to be made Queen after him, but that didn’t happen. He probably expected her to finish the job with the Boar clan.
The Jarl says she won’t make the decision for us, she thinks it will be dangerous and we may be seen, but it is for us to decide. She said she thinks she would be fine heading home with the supplies (the wagon was filled with supplies overnight, mostly perishables).
As we prepare to leave, Tannen comes in and says that there was some rough stuff in there. He then says they wanted to provide 6 guards to help us protect our goods back to the Boar clan. He then asks if we’re going to help Jarl Kenna because she got permission from the king and left an hour ago.
Thorkatla catches up with Tannen and asks him what’s in it for him. He said he’s just serving his Jarl. She asked if his Jarl is in support of Jarl Kenna and he said sort of. Jarl Marula has a deep concern and love for all her clan members.
The Jarl and Thorkatla’s mom headed out with the 6 Ravenclan guards in hooded cloaks.
Erfidi wraps her cloak around herself to not stand out with her outfit and we all head out. With all the drinking and the supply train ruckus, there is not a lot of notice given to us.
We stealthed out of the city with Skeld distracting the guards with sparkly birds and tales of birds getting it on to keep them from noticing Sigurd’s noisy exit. Erfidi drank one of the Potions of the student and gave everyone flight.
After about 30 minutes Thorkatla sees some people on the road and it seems to be Jarl Kenna’s group.
As we’re flying, Sigurd looks like Silver Surfer, Skeld is flapping his cloak and making owl sounds, Balian is making doggie paddle circles.
We swing wide around them and land about a half mile ahead of them. We keep walking until nightfall and Skeld sends a message to Jarl Kenna to ask if she’s still ok. “It’s Skeld. Are you alright? Are you resting or still traveling through the night? You can reply with 25 words.”
Jarl Kenna responds with “Captain, let’s make camp over there for the night. We’ll resume at sunrise. I want to get back as soon as possible.”
Thorkatla scouts ahead and doesn’t see anything ahead other than the place where the trees end and give way to rolling hills.
Skeld makes his hut and we spend a safe night resting.
We get up at sunrise and head out, staying ahead of Jarl Kenna.
We got to the treeline without seeing anything. Thorkatla climbed a tree but still didn’t see anything.
Thorkatla scouted out ahead and we followed behind. After an hour, we still hadn’t seen anyone, but we started to catch glimpses of Jarl Kenna’s group behind us.
We debate how far ahead we should be then we all get chagrined that we forgot that Prince Aldorf said he thought the ambush would happen after she crossed into Goat Clan territory. We rush ahead and make it to the river that serves as the border at nightfall.
Skeld sends her another message to try to get us time to check across the bridge, “We think the ambush is across the river. We need time to scout ahead. Rest for the night again. Say you have woman issues.”
Jarl Kenna responded, “Captain, when we get across the bridge, I’d like to set up our camp at the river side, to the south.”
We went ahead and crossed the bridge and situated ourselves on the north side of the path.
After a few minutes, we saw them cross the bridge and set up on the south side.
The night was uneventful. We rose early to get a headstart and got to a sparse forest and started feeling the thermal vents coming up from the ground. We got about 150 feet away from a spot with a crack in the earth with a stone bridge across it. Around the area, we see stone pillars that seem to have been naturally occurring and some movement on top of some of them. Thorkatla sees that there is something or someone on top of at least one of the pillars.
Skeld made Thorkatla invisible and she snuck ahead to see what was on top of the pillars. There were 3 people each on top of 6 pillars and 2 on horseback. None of them were wearing armbands.
We started attacking the ambushers. As we ran in, Erfidi exploded the top of one of the pillars with blue fire, killing two of the ambushers and severely injuring a third.
We killed a large number of them and sent several others on the run, including an ambusher with gray hair mounted on a horse that was hit by Erfidi’s lightning.
We searched the bodies and found about 150 silver. Sigurd is holding on to it to split later as he is the most honest. Skeld also took 6 Goat armbands that they had hidden on them.
After about 10 minutes, Jarl Kenna and her guards came across the bridge. The guards encircled the Jarl as if to protect her. We told them that we were protecting the Jarl as we had been warned about a planned ambush on her way home.
Bronin handed her the flower and she asked if that is who gave us the warning.
She looked at the bodies and said she didn’t see any of the elders among them. When we told her that some of them got away and one that had looked like an elder was hit by lightning, she got panicked and said the singeing on the pillars is distinctive and people will know it was us. She appreciates what we’ve done for us, but is afraid we will pay the price for it.
Erfidi tried to repair the pillars somewhat with moving earth and stone.
Jarl Kenna and her group left into Goat territory and we started to head back toward home.
AND WE LEVELED TO LEVEL 7!!!
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