Bound to War and Hate

See Also: Bardic Knowledge

Hafwyn, Thorne, and Kukla go to the Watchers' House to get Kukla and Thorne treatment for their wounds. Ollonni tells them of an uproar in the encampment of the Followers of Techiuan. It seems that several powerful Sidhe are involving themselves in the matter.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.Martin Luther King, Jr.

While the others are getting treated by the staff. Hafwyn draws Ollonni aside and demands an answer. He tells her that he was one of the first of the True Elf that followed Ellowyn. Just as he was one of the first volunteers to side with Mardac and accept the warrior spirit. It was difficult for the first as Mardac had no understanding of exactly what it would do to the elves, but he had to do something to stop the slaughter by the Orgundi. When Mardac left he stayed behind, his idea of penitence.

Ollonni would have said more, but the temperature dropped from chilly to near frozen. She sheet of ice forms on the stairs and climbs up the walls. Hafwyn steps towards the parlor where her friends are resting and looks up. A dazzling and powerful High Lady of the Sidhe comes down the stairs escorted by Warden. She demands that everyone leave as she has business with the proprietor of this inn, but Ollonni has already rabbited.

Thorne, Hafwyn, and Kukla promptly exit the inn. When they leave the inn it feels different and when they step out of the door it is in a dark cellar. The only exit is through the wall where somebody uses a pickax or other tool to break into this cellar. The door they came through is made of ice and melts away to the sounds of laughter. With no other choice they go into the hallway beyond.

The hallway beyond is fashioned in dressed stone, nearly twenty feet high, and five could walk abreast with no difficulty. Immediately outside is a desiccated body pinned to the wall with a wooden spear as thick as their forearm. It is covered in a thin layer of ice capturing the horrific moment when he was killed. He is dressed in the tattered remains of patchwork clothes.

Thorne calls up some faerie light and they continue down the hallway eventually reaching a large chamber. A big pile of furs are piled up in one corner, a stack of discarded and broken spears nearby. In the center of the room is a large firepit with the remains of a human body spit-roasted over the hot embers. Its right arm and both legs have already been torn off.

They hear soft whistling and before they can hide a women enters the room dragging a mauled body behind her. She is terrified to find someone in the room of her master and tries to shoo them away, but they wants answers to their questions. She explains the body was mauled by the Dark Keepers and if they do not leave soon they will meet the same fate. The creatures hunt in packs and seek the flesh of the living - they will not eat anything once it has died.

Thorne tells the woman that if she knows where they might be safe to lead on. She takes them to a well concealed door in an unremarkable hallway. After pushing a few stones she pushes a very small door in. Just as Kukla slips inside a large roar can be heard echoing through the tunnels. She shuts the door and lights a very small lantern. The only thing inside this cramped room is a large bell - no possible way it go in through the door. She rings the bell five times and tells them to wait. She must leave or her husband will come searching.

It is nearly an hour after the woman left that the sounds of chipping and sliding stones can be heard. A light is cast from the ceiling and Vitorii's head pokes down. He knows Hafwyn, and sort of knows Thorne, so he takes her word that they are safe. He drops them a rope ladder and guides them past a hidden door into a storage room in at the Pestilence Pustule.

He tells them they were in the Tunnels of Misery beneath the Grand Temple. It is those tunnels where the condemned are thrown. He comes down to find if any bodies can be found intact. He avoids the Keepers, Darkspawn, and Master of the Tunnels. It is dangerous work, but usually yields more bodies that just waiting for someone to die.

Thorne discovers the purpose of this special brothel and decides that it could be an interesting experience. He takes the coin he lifted from the King's Guard and pays for a few hours of entertainment. Given that Thorne is a “special guest” he explains to his how the spirit is decanted into the body, while his assistants prepare and dress the body he selected. He leave the Sidhe alone with everything he needs for a unique experience.

Hafwyn and Kukla go downshelf and see a crowd gathering around the palisade walls. Nearly a hundred fae, and countless wee folk, have gathered inside the encampment around the stick Keribrar put into a pot. Standing on the other side are the Followers of Techiuan. Both sides refuse to give any ground, but despite the warlike nature of the fae they have not attacked. It could be that standing on blessed ground is causing them difficulties - it is definitely affecting Kukla.

As the tension builds a redcap shots an arrow at Hafwyn. The two of them trade insults with Hafwyn gracefully accepting her verbal defeat. That is better than escalating this to a physical confrontation where hundreds will die.

Everyone's attention is drawn to the sudden confrontation between Father Karl, Benevueta, the High Lady of Ice, and Warden. Father Karl escorts his two guests to a test. While the four of them negotiate four of his followers carry in a chair holding Lady Anne Mowbry. She is barely able to move, but she relishes the chance to cross verbal swords with a member of fae high nobility.

The fae claim the land upon which the pot sits is fae land and by rights theirs to hold. Father Karl says the land is blessed by Techiuan and belongs to him - and he has said nothing about fae.

At the gathering by the palisade a knot of men push people aside to make way for their leader. Gabor begins to whip the gathering into a frenzy while he men distribute iron tools, bags of shavings, and a few knives. The fae fear the touch of iron and he has come prepared for battle. Hafwyn tries to talk them down until Kukla steps up and hits Gabor hard enough to collapse the man. The riot starts after seeing Gabor injured by this “fae creature”

Hafwyn tells Kukla to run and then disappears before the crowd. Kukla is drug under by the surging mob until he changes his shape to a human and joins them long enough to slip away. The humans, armed with iron, drive through the fae inflicting terrible casualties. The fae are just as vicious, but severely hampered by the blessed land. Their illusions turn to smoke and the powers of the Shadow Realm fade to mist when they work their magic.

Several humans charge the tent where they are negotiating, but each of them freeze solid before coming within a dozen feet. The ice shatters leaving the humans in hundreds of pieces on the ground. Terrifying enough, they are still alive in some sense as they call for help from those nearby.

The fight does not end, but slows as the white-hot anger of the crowd dissipates. The mob congratulates itself for driving out the unwanted outsiders. They gather in small knots to enjoy cups of the ale Gabor had his men bring down. A true toast to the end of faerie kind is offered and seconded. By voice vote they carry the day.

Thorne tires of the experience and thanks Vittori before leaving. Vittori tells him the spirits are very restless as the night draws near. It would be best to stay behind a door tonight as the spirit control the land when the sun no longer touches the stone. Rather than walk all the way down the shelf he goes to the Watcher' House. Inside are nearly a score of wounded fae. They tell him about the battle with the humans and how they will mete out their own revenge.

Ollonni has still no returned although the High Lady is gone. He wills the house to a door he knows close to the Camp of Techiuan. He gets there in the trailing moments of celebration. It is nearing night and everyone wants to return home before the sun no longer touches rock. With the battle the fae will be on the hunt tonight. Nobody wants to get caught outside on this night.

When he wanders up to a group his wavers and collapses. He manages to quick-talk his way out of the predicament by bringing up his friendship with Sierian. Although a Sidhe she is well-known to the downtrodden - and better well-liked. Most of the crowds believe a fae attacked first, in fact, many of them believe that lie.