Caelan proved himself an adept woodsman once again and picked up the trail of the bandits near the outskirts of the circus camp. Olvir and Song saddled their horses and followed him as he led the way. Caelan tracked them around the village and out onto the path ahead where the track became a little more difficult to follow for a while. Thankfully their incompetent attempt to disguise their passage as they left the path was glaringly obvious. We found them sleeping in a makeshift shelter not far beyond. Moving carefully up to them Olvir laid a boot on the throat of one while Song of Falling Rain rested her blade against the second throat of the day.
They woke with a start, realising they were in trouble. Olvir questioned them but they were recalcitrant and didn’t want to admit to anything. They were cagey about telling us where they were from or what they were doing – though we let them think they’d been successful in their mission of killing ‘the boy’. Caelan himself was hidden a little way off, straining to hear. We eventually established they’d come from the same city, Brightwater, and been sent to retrieve the vitriol-scented hearthstone he carried, (an item they told us he’d stolen).
At that point they opted to make a break for it, and found out the hard way one shouldn’t pick a fight with a strongman or a gypsy. Olvir brought his club down on the hand of the one who went for him with a satisfying crunch of bones and as he clutched his broken hand in pain, Song escaped from the grasp of the other bringing her knee up to his groin with a hideous squishy sound as his testicle exploded. He collapsed to the floor whimpering in pain. Caelan crossed his legs in sympathy.
As they cowered, Song took the opportunity to examine a pattern drawn in sand near where the pair had been sleeping and recognised the design – a prayer to Cecylene, the Endless Desert, the Yozi. She asked the two injured brigands if others in Brightwater practiced likewise and they admitted that yes, some did – though Caelan hadn’t, or he’d never have ‘stolen’ the hearthstone. While she questioned them about their demon worship Olvir picked over their camp, opening their bags and finding, amongst the water skins, a kind of spiced water. He tossed it to Song to take a look. It smelled rich and highly spiced and when she poured a little out onto the ground one of the men tried his best to catch it, despite his broken hand. She was going to take the water skin with her and study it, but he pleaded for it to be returned to him and feeling a moment of charity, she did so. It didn’t prevent her scuffing the sand pattern with a foot as they left however, her dislike of demon worship evident, for which the man almost attacked, barely restraining himself.
Olvir left both of them with a suggestion they return home and admit they’d failed to retrieve the artefact. Neither looked happy with the proposition but he amiably remarked that they should consider themselves lucky either way. Should their faces ever be seen near the circus again, he and his club would not be so merciful. With that, he and Song made their way back to the path where they met up with Caelan, who’d skirted around the brigands to avoid any chance of being seen. As they made their way back to Selene’s Flurry they discussed disguises - taking any chance to tease Caelan but figuring that some kind of disguise would be useful if there were any others hunting him down. Having played up his death once they didn’t want his life to risk the camp – or anyone else in it - again.
We talked to Selene about the notion of disguises once we returned, and she approved. After we’d told her of the day’s exploits she suggested he could be disguised as a Prince of the Earth – certainly no-one would think to question it if he could pull it off, but he didn’t feel quite confident enough for that and instead opted for Song’s suggestion of a more mundane disguise. Thus it was that warily, he accompanied Song back to her caravan where she instructed him to strip naked and liberally coated him in a strange-smelling ochre dye. However, once he’d overcome his modesty and the dye was allowed to dry he found himself transformed into a deeply tanned, older-looking man. A tattoo Song painted across his face in similar style to those worn by many of the circus folk helped cover his youth yet further.
The circus gave a performance that evening, although for those who knew it well the atmosphere was dampened; no acrobats performed, and that night, Olvir ensured extra guards were set. He’d ventured into town earlier and procured a pack of hunting dogs to guard the camp as well. Thankfully, all was quiet and the next morning, undisturbed and unmolested, Selene’s Flurry packed up and set off on the three day journey to Shadow Falls. We were glad of a simple journey for once.
Shadowfalls was much as we’d left it the previous year: a large town set into the side of a cliff by a waterfall, with a lake atop the cliffs feeding the waterfall and a larger one at the base. The sheer cliff gave way to stepped terraces joining the two sides of the town.
We had a few hours to ourselves when we arrived. Song set about making trades, Olvir renewed old friendships and got caught up in some trials of strength with local monks. He won some of them – not faring so well in the local endurance test of standing under the freezing, thunderous water of the falls however. Caelan took himself off to make a bow (which perhaps wasn’t quite as good as he’d thought it was). Prayers were said for Osuk, and offerings made to the deities of the Falls.
One of Olvir’s compatriots, Aurelie, had mentioned in passing a scheme recently proposed to the town by a Scavenger Lord who sometimes visited, named Water Shapes the Land. Olvir took Caelan and Song to see her and talk it over further. Water Shapes the Land, it transpired, wished to invest in a pumping system from the nearby local river to pump water to the top lake, widening both lakes and falls. It was to be his offering to the local gods. Aurelie seemed mostly positive to the idea, though explained it would take a while to be agreed on and implemented.
The days spent in Shadow Falls, especially for those who were close to Osuk, were used as much for mourning as for performing. The circus spent several days in the town before moving on, although we left about a day before the rest of the circus: Selene had a mission for us, and it coincided well with one of our own. We wanted to head to Clear Skies as Aurelie had mentioned Water Shapes the Land had been there, and we wanted to know more about his plan – Olvir in particular was concerned about the implications to the beauty of Shadow Falls’ magnificent waterfall. Meanwhile Selene wanted the White Clouds (the two Air-aspected Dragon Blooded who usually travelled on ahead and made preparations) to stay with the circus for extra protection and for us to on ahead instead.
There are a number of things which need to be done before the circus arrives – negotiating terms, securing land, booking space to stay in the local inns, as well as arranging who’ll sell tickets ahead of time and who gets to attend the most select gathers on the first night. Merchants need to know to expect us and any local thieves need to be warned not to expect a payout. Most of all there’s a need to instil the excitement and mystery of the adventures soon to come when Selene’s Flurry visits town.
So: it would take the circus 17 days to get to the next big town on our usual route: Eagle’s Point, pausing at Corin’s Pass and Misty Vale, smaller villages in between. We needed to arrive at least 4 days in advance, which left 13 days for us to head to Clear Skies and find out what we could before heading on to Eagle’s Point ourselves. We packed what we needed, and set off.