After our conversation with Adiubande the Censor of the East we’d planned to head north to Jadespike. First, though, we went to see Master Iaki, keen for news on the vanished coliseum workers. We also checked on Afra’s ex-compatriots who seemed to be settling in well. Iaki had news though not all of it was good – one of the missing people was dead, though the other had been found safe, and was for now with Iaki’s contacts being looked after on an estate residing in the Underworld’s reflection of Moonspire, near the edge of the city.
Thanking Iaki for his diligence we bought what we needed from the market before setting off for Jadespike. Caelan’s gifts of the Unconquered Sun meant he could grant Ariorn speed and strength far beyond what any mortal horse might ordinarily possess, so a journey of weeks would take us mere days. Dressed to ward against the rain and cold winds, with Teela and hare-shaped Olvir in a knapsack and Song wrapped around his neck as a finely-furred kinkajou, Caelan set out.
It was a hard ride, despite the powers of the Exalted, and when we reached Hengethorn at the end of the first day we were glad of the chance to rest – none more so than Ariorn. All was well in the town – Song checked in with Cold Night, Olvir with the town council and Caelan with Isdel the apothecary - and after a night of rest and a little hunting on the part of the Lunars for new forms, we set out the next morning for the jade mine.
We were relieved to find the gate well guarded: an unfamiliar voice challenged us as we approached. Sill had been training the new recruits firmly and after we’d announced ourselves and been made welcome we settled into rooms at the Jade Hole inn. Caelan went to avail himself of the services offered by the inn – seeking the bath house to ease the sore spots two days of riding had brought – but found himself on the receiving end of more amorous attention thanks to Sissay, who sent a couple of skilled women his way.
Leaving Caelan to his bath, Song went to see Sissay to go over the mine records and alleviated some of the newly-promoted overseers’s worries about just who was in charge (we were). Song was pleased to see that with the help of Teo the mine had begun to prosper, trading directly with the guild, shoring up defences and generally improving both mine and village. When all the needs of the mine were met, there was still a decent amount of jade for us to take away.
Olvir checked out the mine the following day and was pleased to find no dangers. He even tried a little mining himself, breaking a couple of pickaxes in the process and emerging with a huge lump of unrefined jade. Discovering it would need refining before it could be turned into a slip of currency he sighed and dropped it into one of the hauling wagons for processing, and went to find Caelan, who was busy cleaning the armoury out of weapons and tucking them weightlessly into Elsewhere. Since no-one at the mine could make use of them, he thought he might as well.
We took our leave of the village that afternoon and rode back to Hengethorn, arriving after dark and longing for rest once again before the morning saw us on the road to Moonspire. The spire itself come into view as the day drew to a close and we arrived back in the city considerably richer than when we’d left less than a week ago... so much so that Caelan thought a visit to Iron Panther was in order. The weaponsmith was pleased to see us and even more so when he saw we had items for sale and trade. Caelan negotiated a deal to exchange his jade daiklave for one made of orichalcum – an unpopular metal for its associations with Anathema – but also the reason Caelan wanted it. Iron Panther on the other hand, traded an unpopular item for one he’d be able to sell easily, leaving both parties happy.
He also had two items made of moonsilver, a chain shirt and a grimcleaver. After swinging the latter a few times to get the feel of it, Olvir exchanged his jade goremaul – barely used – for the moonsilver weapon which would shift with him in his many forms.
That left us with a solid amount of jade from the mine [Res 3] and a short jade daiklave (one of a pair, but Caelan wanted to keep the other as a backup weapon) which we could also sell if we wanted. [Res 3]. On top of that, the Wavecleaver daiklave from the Jadespike armoury would be worth a small fortune should we wish to sell that too [Res 4]. Iron Panther also had a set of jade bracers which had caught Song’s eye for their detailed inscriptions – but for now, we needed to save our jade, dealing with censors could get expensive. We left the city to relax for a while in the hot spring, and as Olvir and Caelan engaged in mock combat in the pool, Song mobilised the nearby trees to create a screen between the spring and the rest of the world, ensuring privacy even from travellers foolish enough to wander quite so far from the roads.
General Actions: