Journal of Miyara Kyosuke (73)

    It is snowing outside Fallingwater, as all sorts of chaos results from the fusion of the sogin rokus.

    Miyara tells us no-one should use the powers of the stones for a while.
    Sun says that perhaps we should consider how we are going to survive.  The food is running out, and the storm outside prevents us collecting it.  He then complains about his sleeping quarters and the wind blowing through them.
    There is agreement that trying to deal with the symptoms does not work.  But no-one has a solution.
    I say that we need to find the man.  Goru objects.  Miyara says I will not need to find him, he will find me.
    She asks me where I was planning to look, and I am shamed to admit I do not know,
    I say that perhaps Miyara can use the combined stones to stop this.  She says that it is causing this, and will make things worse.  I counter that perhaps we need to make things worse before the man will come.  Make things worse to make them better.
    Hosei says that meat will not be a problem, as he can produce a fish.  That will help us.  He then says that we are all magical creatures now.

    ((Goru has two visions, superimposed to one, quickly merging.  It is a vision of swirling whirlpool of water, air, fire, trees, houses, people, and Goru and everyone swirlling down it, the hole that leads out.  He sees us all along with the others trying to avoid slipping down the hole that goes out, walking up the maelstrom away from the hole that goes Out.  The party comes across a blind man who leads us away from the hole.  In.))

    Goru tells us of the vision.  He says we need to find the blind man.  I say it's the man I've been talking about.

    Hosei suggests that Baraku should go outside on a rope held by Goru, to investigate whether the effect extends much outside Fallingwater.
    The snow is deep, it is cold and slippery, and within a hundred feet the effect still persists.  ((Baraku sticks his spear into hte ground with the rope tied to it, and goes down the stream to the road, within ten minutes.  The weather is still there.  He comes back up the stream, finds the staff, and comes back on the rope.))  Baraku comes back and tells us that the weather is the same at least as far as the road.  He adds that he realized that King Og is buried not far fom here, and didn't he drink a lot?

    Meanwhile, Hosei pulls out a fat maggot instead of a fish.  Ashu starts yelling something, but is drowned out by the severe electric shock Hosie takes.  Hosei drops the maggot and Goru squishes it.
    He tries again.  This time whatever it is tears its way out of his pocket, tearing at him.  Hosei tears off his robe and a snotling pushes its way out of his pocket.  It is quickly killed.  Hosei puts his clothes back on.
    On his third attempt, he pulls out a fish at last.  It's a mackeral.
    Baraku makes a wind block from poles and skins, so we can all sleep in turn.  It works only for a few minutes, though, and then the wind blows through it.

    Hosei meditates for a while.  He then explains that if you hold up your cloak, it will block the wind for a while.  After a while, the magic from us fades and it lets wind through.  We can change that magic to feel warm.

    I immediately meditate on bringing the man here.  I am the distilled essence of Tzeench.  The distiller of chaos is coming, to drink of chaos and end Tzeench's plan.

    ((Sun reports that the river is getting deeper, about 6" deeper than it was.  They discuss whether that settles if they need to stay or go.  But first they are going to uncover Pireseri's body and kick him to see if he wakes up among all this chaos.
    Hosei says after that we should go to the Druidess, and to the blind man there with the time travel box.  They should then go forty centuries ago, to the beginning of the plan.  But the deerskins used to make the screens are full of tiny holes, and can't be used to carry the stuff from the chest.  Everything has to be carried on person.  Miyara takes the statue, of course, along with the unnaturally light rock.
    Sun says the water is now a foot deeper.))

    Miyara will not let me stay, although I insist, but I am strapped onto Goru's back and continue my meditation on the way.

    ((Rabena goes to Pireseri's body and meditates about him being alive again, forming the Chaos into Pireseri, taking the power of the Chaos and bringing him back to life.
    Pireseri sits up.  But his body is still lying down.  He looks around, somewhat transparent.  He looks over and mouths something.
    Hosei casts his spell and talks with Pireseri.  Pireseri stands up.  He puts his hands out like he can't see, like he's blind.  As Hosei speaks with him, P looks in his direction.  His mouth moves but nothing comes out.  Hosei touches him, and he feels like he's actually there.  P reacts to the touch too.
    Rabena tries to fix the body, only putting more into it than usual with the magical force surrounding us.  Her abilities tell her that the body is completely dead.  But she can feel the magic swirling around, and she thinks she can get the body to stand up and walk around if she pulls it the right way.
    The waterfall is spouting a lot more water than they've ever seen it do.
    The body of Pireseri stands up.  She pushes it mentally towards the spirit, and shoves it by the arms towards the spirit.  She pushes it to merge with the spirit, willing them to be one and alive.
    The body walks right through the blind spirit.
    Hosei asks P/spirit if he can use his seeing ability, but he cannot, as he is blind.
    Rabena holds both and tries to push them together, but they bounce off.

    The water is now squirting out of the rock.

    The body walks clumsily and slowly and only when Rabena pushes it.
    The spirit does nothing.  Hosei tries to walk him through a bush, but he crashes into it.  P interacts with material things.
    Baraku shepherds the blind man.

    We walk down the hill, but held back by the two slow beings.  The water has overflowed the banks and is flowing at their feet.  Visibility is five feet in this blizzard.

    Baraku carries the spirit, Ashu carries the spirit .))

    I have a vision.  I am swallowed and begin flowing through the innards of whatever has swallowed me

    ((The river hits them from behind and washes them down, all tied together.))

    Some time later, we all wake up on the bank of the river.  It is still a storm, but it isn't as bad as it was.
    Neither Pireseri is here.
    Rabena says it will snow for the next few days.
    I say I have been drunk, as the vision showed.  The distiller of chaos has showed up, drank me, and will end Tzeench's plan.
    The barbarians try to tell me what happened with Pireseri, but when I ask Miyara she says that Rabena tried to revive Pireseri.  His spirit and body came separately, and then they were all drunk with me.
    Hosei says to make a fire.  Ashu lights a tree.  Hosei strips and dries himself.  Suddenly he noticed his pack is on fire and puts it out.  But the runes book is burnt, as are some of his spell components.  All the paper umbrellas Miyara made for him are gone.
    It's a good fire.  His pack was a good fire too.
    Miyara asks if I'm feeling ok, and I say I am fine.
    Hosei is sorting out his pack components.  I pick up something that he put aside and throw it on the tree fire.

    Goru hits me over the back of the head.  I am badly hurt, a totally unprovoked attack by a barbarian.  I fight back.  He's not using his maul, and is shouting something.

    I immediately start Clown Fighting.  Miyara gives Goru a very unfriendly look, but steps back.
    Goru swings at me, but I dodge.  I hit him back.  We exchange blows again, and I hit him heavily.  And again.  Suddenly I hurt myself with a bad blow, and he backs away.  I follow him and keep pressing the attack.  Why does he dishonor me by not fighting to his ability?
    Miyara calls out not to kill him, but at that point Goru falls down dead.  ((Rabena runs over to try to save him.))

    ((Meanwhile, Baraku asks Miyara to hold the rock still.  He says his vision was that he would put a stop to the chaos.  He will hit the rock and break it.  He does that, and it hurts him.  Miyara puts the stone away.))

    I walk over to Miyara and ask her why Goru dishonored me by not fighting to his full ability.
    He wanted to stop me throwing anything in the fire.  He was afraid I was going mad.  Like a barbarian would know...
    Suddenly I heard Goru's voice and asks what demon's work is it that he was up.
    Goru doesn't know.

    ((Rabena has healed Goru completely.  She immediately keels over unconscious.))

    Sun points out a man who has arrived.
    Miyara greets him, and invites him over.
    He asks if everything is ok.
    Goru and I argue but Miyara tells us to shut up and we do.
    Hosei goes over to the man and starts a conversation.  ((The man is Pipo.  He is blind.  And he is young.  He has come down to the river to check his traps.  Hosei says that the river is higher, and that something happened to the headwaters.  The river, however, looks like it's at a normal level now, with no evidence of flooding.))
    Hosei brings him over to the fire and introduces him to Lady Miyara.
    Goru waves me over to the fire.  I glare at him but that's where Miyara is receiving hte visitor, so that's where I go.  I promptly fall over.  ((Goru places me comfortably.))
    The visitor is clearly poor, but dressed in warm clothes as a small-time hunter and trapper.
    ((Hosei goes over to Rabena and sits on the far side of her.  He watches Pipo.  After a little while he determines that Pipo is not magical, but the rest of us are still magical.
    Pipo asks if we need a place to stay, if we're lost.  He says he'd be glad to take us to Urudaba (Urdevar).
    Miyara says that yes, we should accompany him.  She adds that two of us have fainted from the cold and exertion, and that we should wait until they recover.
    He says that they should not wait in the storm.
    Miyara says that then they should bring the fainted people with us.  Goru carries Rabena, while Baraku makes a travois with some tree branches and my cloak and carries me.

    For three hours, we follow Pipo through the storm.  He leads us up into the mountains.  Along the way we gain a following of wolves, and after a while Rabena wakes up from her exhaustion.  Goru continues to carry her because she is very weak and tired.
    At first the wolves hang way back, but as they get closer the group notices them.  Baraku mentions them to Pipo and moves closer to the front.  Pipo says to do nothing until they attack.  Baraku tells him to stay with the unconscious me while the rest of the group deal with the wolves.  Miyara takes up the rear to protect us.
    The wolves get close enough that if they were really hunting, they would have attacked by now.  They are checking us very carefully, and are not friendly in any way, but they seem to be afraid of us.
    Hosei senses that they are not magical.  Other than the party, there are no magical beings within a hundred yards of here.

    After three hours, we arrive at Urudaba.  As we approach the village, the wolves hang further and further back until they are gone.
    Pipo takes us in and introduces us around.  It's a small village, about 15-20 buildings, all stone, nestled down in a small valley.  The road has been graded, a long time ago, over some hills.  In the back of the village are steep and high cliffs, and signs of small mines going into the cliff.  Perhaps a couple of hundred people live here.  The village itself seems at least as the hills themselves, and most of the buildings are in various levels of disrepair.
    Pipo brings us in and starts at the meeting hall.  There's a large firepit with 25-30 smelly villagers gathered in their cloaks, with a fire burning in the pit.  This is the firepit where they have their meetings, he says.  He points out the cistern that works when it's not frozen.  He then takes us over to Querla's.  It is sort of a general store place.  Q is a halfling.  She is older, female, and as dirty as any of the other neighbours.  The General Store is not well stocked, but does have plenty of alcohol.  It is quickly apparent that her girls will service our enterainment needs - two other halflings and a human.  She does have some food, and asks us what we have.
    Hosei says he has a puddle of silver, which Q sntaches right out of his hand.
    For that, Q has dried smoked meat and two bags of flour.  She says she can provide a pot, and points to the fire outside, ignoring the one in here.
    Hosei tries to negotiate firewood, but it's expensive because it's cleared out from the village.   He manages to rent the fireplace for another silver.
    Q asks if they have anything to sell.  She says she'll give an excellent price for anything we have.

    Hosei and Sun cook, and do it really well.  Unfortunately the starting ingredients were so bad that it is merely edible.
    The group mostly hangs out in the shelter and warmth.
    Goru considers that he can help the town with some smithing services.  He heads out to check the village to see if they have a smithy (they do not).  Pipo still shows them around, while Miyara goes with them.
    Pipo looks like the man in Goru's vision.
    Suddenly Goru gives a start, and tells Miyara they need to talk later.
    Pipo shows them Bolo's, which sells peat moss.  B has a huge stock of peat piled up, cut and dried, of course covered in snow.
    Most of the buildings are used for sleeping or living quarters.  Pipo pokes his head into a number of them.  There appears to be no privacy here, as he pokes his head in without any hesitation or qualms.
    It is a poor mining community.  Manners and hygiene are appalling, even by barbarian standards.
    Occasionally he points out a person and tells their name.  He does it all by sound, so he only introduces people who he notices.
    He also shows off a big vegetable garden at the edge of town, buried under snow of course.

    Back in Q's, when it seems that Sun is taking a break from cooking, the human girl slides up to him and says something quietly to him.  He smiles.
    Hosei has determined that there is no-one magical within a hundred yards, aside from us.
    A little later, one of the hobbit "girls" (obviously a lot older than "girl") walks up to Baraku and gives him a big hug.  She stinks of many things, including alcohol, and asks him if he can buy a girl a drink.  Baraku says "No," and leaves.  The girl goes after him, pleading for a drink, as he heads for the door.  He still refuses and continues outside.
    The second halfling "girl" sits down right in the middle of the group.  She is not even slightly attractive.  Hosei says to her that when his friend wakes up, he'll need some company.  She is Jacunda, and his introduces himself as Brother Hosei.  They have a nice little conversation.  She says that she grew up here. She's not sure which the nearest town s, and guesses Noln.  She has not heard of the Yetsin Valley,  It does not take long to realize that she is extremely stupid.  She asks him if he wants to be one of her boyfriends, and starts chatting him up.  He declines, and makes the excuse of cooking to break away.
    Jacunda starts paying attention to me, rubbing my head.
    The first halfling comes over again and asks if anyone would like a drink.  Everyone declines politely, and she offers to serve any of us who want some.

    Soon the others are back.  The meal is stickbread and gravy and is not bad at all.
    The drunk girl squeals with delight at the dwarf, asks him if he wants a drink.  He accepts it, and she brings his and one herself.  She starts pushing him towards other services too.  The drink is both weak and foul.
    The meal is much better than the drink.  Goru surreptitiously dumps his in hers.  She comes back with more, and he gives her two gold coins to buy her drinks for the night, and to stay out of his way.

    Baraku comes back in to eat and then goes back out to find a building that is not (or barely) occupied to spend the night.  When he's noticed by someone in one building, he's welcomed to sleep with them for the night.  Everyone just flops on the bundles of blankets and furs on the ground.  Baraku asks if the workers are coming back from the mine and asks if the room will fill up.  The man says it will, and that everyone works in the mine.))

    I wake up in full health, and Rabena faints a few seconds later from the extertion of healing me.

    I am in a foul room in a foul building.  A foul ugly shrunken person says something to me in a friendly manner.
    Miyara brings me up to date.  Apparently we followed the blind man here.  It's a terrible place, but he brought us here.

    Hosei haggles with Q for a cask of whiskey.  She is good, however, and makes him feel good about overpaying.  He is good enough to recognize this.  He asks where Pipo sleeps, and she says a name that he does not know.  He asks her how far Noln is from here, and it is apparently a month or two.  Kurutsofen is four or five days away, and we are half a day from the Yetsin road.  The storm started two days ago.

    The miners start filing in.  They buy alcohol and food and leave.  It is clear they do not want people staying here.  A few miners pay for the girls' services, and I am saved from the tiny hag.  Apparently they mine silver here.

    Baraku and Miyara lead us to a flop area, and as Sun suggests a little silver convinces a building just the right size for all of us to clear out.  The thick stone buildings have probably been here longer than anyone can remember, with thick stone walls and no fire.  The rugs and floor coverings are warm but disgusting, greasy and dirty and full of bugs.  But they are warmer than being outside, and the building heats up quickly with all of us inside.

    Everybody has been friendly and desperate for someone to talk to.  They're cautious, but there is no money in this town so we can't steal any.  They have nothing to lose.  As soon as we showed they had nothing to fear, they were consistently warm to us.