Going Home

[name blotted out] is going to invite us to our wedding. I think we should throw her a bachelerette party, though I'm not sure how happy she might be with the idea.

We landed just shortly after sunrise. Notice how easily I can throw little phrases like we landed in these notes now? Coming around a small bend in the road, we barely have time to glimpse a rider in white and gold ahead of us before a large fireburst goes off. From out of the fireball a large, firery humanoid who immediately bathed the area in flames and attacked the rider. We closed the distance as quickly as we could and came to the assistance of the rider….cause people in white are always the good guys right?

Upon defeating the flame creature and his summoned flame things, the rider turned to us and addressed us by name. He explained that his name was Tunnanor. He is from the temple of Thoth and was sent to interview us about our lifting the curse in the valley. I have no idea what the Temple of Thoth is, but he wants to hear the story. I only wish my ballad were completely polished. I face the dreaded delimna of whether to keep my ballad back, or present the work in progress. I think I'll simply tell the story as a narrative and work in some of my more favorite phrases from my ballad.

Merewen asked why he was ambushed by the flame creature. Details, details. It's totally my story time. Ah well, while the others eat and get healed and worry about ambushing fire minions, I can polish my story and get it ready for presenting.

And, since it's always good to increase my pool of interesting tidbits…here's some of Tunnanor's story. He said that in the Vasta dessert, people trying to make "deals with the devil" to increase their own personal power often make deals with the efreet (which is what the tall flame creature was). The Kingdom of Seter (which destroyed the kingdom of Darmak), was one that made such a deal with the efreet. Tunnanor had recently learned of another city that was similarly attacked…though this city was attacked with a magical spell that hindered their ability to remember anything. Tunnanor and his party broke the curse on that city, and was being hunted down by the efreet for his interference.

My turn!

And, not my turn yet. He says those coming from other lands are surprised at the number of cities in the Vasta that are cursed. I missed the rest of what he said.

My turn.

I’m still not comfortable with how parts of the story play out. On the one hand, I need to allude to the one who helped us so much, while respecting that one’s desire for privacy and anonymity. On the other hand, I want to relay what happens truthfully, without…well bother. See, I can’t even get it out correctly in my notes, let alone in a ballad.

Nonetheless, Tunnanor was pleased with the recounting. He’s offered us each a gift, both for ending the curse in Seter, as well as for sharing the information with him and his temple.

We may each ask one question, and the Temple of Thoth will use their resources of divination to find the answer for us. He cautions us against asking questions that mortals were not meant to know, or asking questions that would attrack the attention of beings far more powerful than we. He reminds us that the future is shifting and malleable, so asking questions about specific events in the future will not yield pratical knowledge. Asking questions about where largest accumulation of treasure in these lands will give us the location, but beware that there is likely something guarding that treasure, and so on.

Do I want to ask where my mother is, or what her fate was?