Notes on how I will handle this thread as a GM:
- All my House Rules will apply (ask for an email copy if you don't have one)
- I will not use the "Spoiler" function for private messages. I will send private info via email
- Don't make rolls unless I ask for them, and you won't see any rolls I do
- For rolls I need done via email use evildm-dot-net
Enjoy the game
Prologue
The Aerdian Empire today.
Long gone are the days when the Twin Brother War Gods Hextor and Roneus cleared the hills around the Great Flamia River from the clutches of the Cyclops and founded Rauxes for their sons, the first true Aerdians, to live in.
Long gone are the days when the Legions defeated the Phalanxes and Philosopher Wizards of Medegia,
When they subjugated the powerful Elven cities of the Adria and Grand Woods,
When they pushed the elephant riding armies of Sunndi back across the Vast Swamps South,
When they send the savage Coruskian horned berserkers scurrying back into their mountains and Fjords North,
When they drove so far West past Nyrondia, Furyondia and Velondia, that they reached the lands of the Djinni-worshipping Baklun.
Long Gone are the days of the Senate, overthrown by the first Emperor Vecna, who became Lich, who became God.
Now Emperor after Emperor strives to surpass the glory of the one before him, embracing Nerull’s Undeath to live on forever and rise to Godhood, in hope of surpassing Vecna himself.
As for the once proud and noble people of the Empire, most have become corrupt, decadent, twisted: mere shadows of their former selves.
But a few still dream of Glory and Grandeur.
This is the story of some of them …
- 6th Day of the Kalends of Cobius
The place is Pulvis Pontum, home of the Emperor’s brother: the local Governor “Prince” Strychanius Ividius Naelax.
The “Bestia Epulia Adrinia”, or “Banquet of the Adrini Beast” as the masquerade is now named by the citizenry of Pulvis Pontum, is the talk of the town. The event took place in Strychanius’s private fest hall, a structure divided on two levels: a Mezzanine overlooking via a gigantic balcony a vast colonnaded but enclosed Atrium with the Prince sitting at the extreme end.
20 wrestlers, jugglers and dancers opened with vigorous displays while muttons roasted on open pits and wine flowed freely. The powerfully built red-haired foreigner and wrestler Bjarturius impressed all by performing a spectacular feat of strength, balancing 4 dancers on his arms. The 50 or so guests of the Atrium were soon swept away in an orgy of dancing, wrestling and lust. Soon after 20 Adrini pleasure slave girls, the best ones the nearby woods could furnish joined the orgy, enthralled under an enchantment of mindless rapture.
But the masquerade feast turned out to be a gruesome surprise: in the evening’s climax, 20 Adrini male slaves and captives, their tongues extracted to prevent them from speaking, encased in the skins of great cats, wolves, boars and stags, were unleashed in the Atrium. Their suits, glued to the skin by tarred bandages, bear claws, tusks, antlers and other natural weapons. The applications of hot peppered oils made sure the poor wretches were berserk with pain, snarling and shrieking, giving them the appearances of wild beasts.
The supercilious, effeminate and foppish dandy Strychanius, seated atop his gilded throne, watched with quiet glee behind the safety of a magical force wall preventing the “animals” from reaching him. Above his courtesans in the Mezzanine cheered the carnage. As for the guests below, all would have perished if it wasn’t for a few brave and skilled enough to, though weaponless (the Pax Aerdia forbids weapons and armor within a town’s walls, much less at a Governor’s feast), fight off and kill the wild beast-slaves. Amongst those were Bjarturius, who used a roasting spit as an improvised spear, and Valka, a comely small but fit female wrestler with blonde hair who used a juggler’s pair of flaming torches as improvised fiery clubs.
Truly a success! More importantly to the more politically astute: a clear message that the recent defeat of the Tylisian Cohort at the hands of this rebellious barbarian Adrini traitor-king Belgerix was laughable and inconsequential, and something that would not be tolerated.
- 3rd Day of the Ides of Cobius
In Eburacum: village of 300 souls with a small temple to Hextor at its center. A patrician villa can be seen on the low hills north of the village.
Bjarturius learns from his friend Anacreon a blonde haired warrior girl and her dwarven slave has spent the night in the home of a local prole. Valka? Here? Clearly the Great God of Trials has placed her in Bjarturius’s path yet again for some reason.
Anacreon informs Bjarturius his brother Saulius has told him the village Taverna owner, the rich and influential Timoneus Nikanor, is still cursed and willing to pay serious Denarii to solve his problem.
Meanwhile, another man has entered Eburacum, on the trail of Bjarturius.
If Bjarturius looks for Valka he finds her easily: she is with her slave getting water and food from locals.
Valka is a young 5’2”, 105lbs, fit perigrina with blonde hair and green eyes. She is wearing a typical plain white Aerdian-style tunic, laced sandals and a white hooded cape-cloak with grey motifs along the borders. Over her tunic she has a chain mail shirt. She holds a spiked scutum and has a weapon belt with a gladius and a pugio. She carries a pack with a Javelin, a bedroll and a waterskin.
When she sees Bjarturius, she recognizes him right away of course!
She walks up to him. The way she walks is slow, almost like in a ceremony. She holds up her chin high, eyes fixed on Bjarturius and speaks in a careful clear voice:
“What a coincidence to see you again! Or is it fate?”
Valka looks up at the sky now, as if she is looking for some sign of the Gods.
“What has brought you ad your clan to this place, Priest of Kord?”
The slave, Gravus, follows a few steps behind Valka, carrying several large packages of supplies purchased by his peregrina mistress. While Gravus’ arms strain to contain the cloth-wrapped goods, his burn-marked fingers interlocking tightly, his thick dwarven frame bears the load well.
His eyes, the colour of fresh-cut steel, sit above a wide nose and thick, unbraided beard of pale blond. Behind to pile of supplies, he wears a simple gray tunic bearing several loosely fastened pouches, and a tool belt at his waist holding an assortment of scalpels, vials and more unusual devices.
The dwarf briefly looks up with an appraising eye to the man announced by Valka as a priest, his gruff face somehow retaining a respectful cast as he lowers his gaze back to the packages in his arms.
Bjarturius is accompanied by a simply dressed plebeian man of middling years.
“Salve, my name is Meneus Anacreon, stone-mason by trade. I, along with my family, live here in Eburacum under the roof of my brother Saulius, who was kind enough to take us in after the massacre at Segesta. It was on that dark day I met Bjarturius.”
Anacreon’s eyes drift off as painful memories resurface.
“A Praetorian had stabbed me right here… ” He opens his tunic to reveal a long scar at gut level “…and left me for dead. I would have died as sure as Pelor rises in the morn if it were not for Bjarturius. He lifted me up, called upon Almighty Kord and, may the Furies tear me to pieces if I’m lying, my wound closed before my very eyes. I vowed that day I would give offerings to Kord and make him a patron God until the day Nerull takes me.”
Anacreon turns to the big Bjarturius and offers him a warm genuine smile.
“And now that you are back I will do my best to help you, your sister and her child”
The mystery man that had entered Eburacum on the trail of Bjarturius spotted the muscular priest of Kord and approached the scene, overhearing most of Anacreon’s speech.
By the time Valka approches and addresses Bjarturius, the 6'4" 260 lbs warrior-built priest's usual engaging demeanor is even more evident as he bears a great smile. He waits for her to finish and Anacreon to introduce himself, before saying in a thickly accented, pleasant and deep bass voice:
"It is a pleachure, and a sign of Mighty Kord, Lort of Strengfh, Courage and Figor, Provess in Body and Spirit, to meet you again, warrior-maiten! Surely He hass prepared us here our next trial, I see now!"
Turning to Anacreon, and wielding casually the Great Club he holds in his right hand, he adds:
"I'fe seen Falka use clubs against te poor man-beasts... Smaller tan tis one, but she used two, and vit fire! Great battle! But by te Almighty Kord, tat magic is not a vay to treat warriors!" He grimaces in disgust...
Smiling again, turning to face Valka, he continues :
"My sister vill be happy to see you! She's resting now vit te little Feronius!"
A bit lower, and after eyeing the stranger a moment, and returning his gaze to Valka, he adds
"I hafe an idea vat tis trial could be, if you vant to join me and make yourself a stronger name in te eyes of Kord... Ve can go see te innkeeper. He needs help... And gold he vill pay... Vat say you, warrior-maiten?"
Valka’s deliberately slow voice, raised chin, fixed eyes and all around ceremonial attitude disappear slowly as a more practical side of her shows itself, specially when "Gold he vill pay" is mentioned!
“With things being what they are these days, one cannot spit on gold. Can you give me some details?”
She is talking to Bjarturius when she says that, but her eyes keep going to Anacreon regularly, it’s difficult to see if its because she checks his reactions, wants to keep him involved in the conversation or just doesn’t trust him (or anyone she doesn’t know in this decadent Empire!).
Anacreon interprets Bjarturius’s friendly behavior and Valka’s looks in his direction as encouragement to press on the matter with what he knows:
“The innkeeper does need help: badly! My brother Saulius, who has been working for him as butcher and cook ever since a plague of the Red Morbius Porcis decimated his pig farm business…”
Anacreon mechanically makes the old Pelorian sign to ward off pestilence.
“… told me all about it! Timoneus Nikanor, the innkeeper, is rich and influential here in Eburacum and seeking resourceful outsiders to help him with a delicate problem. He is willing to pay 2000 denarii if his problem is solved. You see, Nikanor hasn’t been able to conceive a male child. He has divorced twice to try again but soon realized, after 6 having daughters, a curse was placed on him by a village rival: the Domina Severina Berenia Panarix. The Domina is the sister of the local governor of these parts, one Hextorius Berenius Panarix.”
Anacreon pauses only an instant to catch his breath.
“Of course, because of who she is, he cannot do her harm or accuse her. Nikanor also thinks the Domina caused his best whore to have contracted WeeJa’s rash. He claims he isn’t the only victim of the Domina: the apothecary Vilmia recently also died of one of her curse.”
What a mix of feelings seeing those 2 again, and yet he was determined to speak to them. Approaching the red haired man and his comely blond haired companion? he sought a moment of break in the conversation.
"Excuse me," he says boldly, as if used to a certain measure of respect being offered him merely because of who he was, I wished to congratulate you on a well won victory. Your improvisation the other night was most remarkable. Indeed, so singular that I have sought you out to learn something of you."
With a slight flourish he adds, "I am Titus Albanus." The red cloak he wears marks him as a an Aerdian soldier, though the other insignia is not nearly so clear. His blue eyes are wiser and older than his face appears. In fact he seems to be in his mid 20's and in the prime of his life. His hair is closely cut and black and he is clean shaven. He is tall but not as tall as Bjarturius and weighs 25 or so pounds less, but nonetheless has an impressive build.
Neither Bjarturius nor Valka have ever laid eyes upon this Milite (soldier of the Empire) before.
If this Titus Albanus was at the Bestia Epulia Adrinia as his words imply, it is doubtful he was in the enclosed Atrium where the fighting took place. The survivors of the massacre were few and neither Bjarturius nor Valka remember him being one of them. More so, his impressive soldier’s frame would have marked him from the others.
Valka turns to check out this soldier Titus (is he armed? handsome? anything distinctive she can spot?).
Looking at him very suspiciously, she says:
"Were you at the Pulvis Pontum feast? If yes I didn't see you in the Atrium where the fighting took place! Are you one of Prince Strychanius's soldiers?"
Valka opens her coin purse and before this Titus guy answers says to Gravus:
"Gravus! Put the food somewhere safe! After, go talk to local proles and slaves to find out all you can about all this! Take these coins if you need that to make them talk."
Valka takes out a denarius and 5 sestercius. She gives them to Gravus and says, trying to sound like a Mistress:
"I WILL ask how the money was spent!"
Valka looks at Titus and waits for his answer.
The dwarf inclines his head towards Valka at her command, uttering a barely audible sound of acknowledegment as he shifts the foodstuffs in his arms in order to store the coins in a pouch.
"Of course, domina," he says once he has rebalanced his load, his voice thick with the sound of gravel common amongst his people, and which had earned him his name, "I shall find ye once I have learned what I can."
With another bow of the head, he heads out into the streets of Eburacum, to store his mistress' purchases at the residence where she had been lodging.
...
Emerging once more into the streets, now unencumbered, Gravus takes a moment to survey his surroundings, musing over the best method of accomplishing his task in much the same way he would plan out the most effective combination of minerals and balms to unlock a particular effect.
After a few moments, his eyes cease their wandering to fix on a point beyond the buildings of the village, out over the northern hills. He lets out a low chuckle, and mutters bemusedly to himself as he makes his way to the gates leading northwards out of Eburacum, "if that ain't the place, I'll chew me beard."
Better looking than average by a fair bit gives Tits some initial charm, but the rich timbre of his voice, almost a singer or orators, and his confidence and poise finish the task. You may confident that he does not lack admirers.
With a moments look at his uniform, you see some decoration from the 5th Legion, but there is also other insignia that is significantly less easy to recognize. He has the traditional armor and weapon of the Equites, that is to say, leather armor, a shield and a long gladius.
He pushes his hand in a downward motion and says jovially, "I was at the feast as a guest. I am not in the command of the Prince.
But enough about me, I know that subject and it bores me. I know Bjarturius but I do not know you. Tell me your name and how you came to be there and where you travel hence."
His face is merry but his eyes are watchful and wary.
After a moment Titus realizes that he was not precise and restates his comment. That is to say, I know who Bjarturius is by name and reputation, but I would like to learn more of him from his own mouth.
Titus Albanus does wear the Red Cloak of the Legions and both metal shoulder guards of his Boiled leather cuirass are in the shape of a Bear's head, a distinctive sign of the "Adria Ursa", the 5th Legion stationed in this region and under the overall command of Strychanius Ividius Naelax of Pulvis Pontum, the Emperor's own brother.
Another sign of his allegiance to that army corps: the bronze clasp fastening the cloak, in the shape of a bear's claw.
As for his weapons, the long gladius is often used by the Equites since they provide better reach on the downswing, an innovation that dates back to the conquest of Almoria, a land known for the quality of its swords.
His scutum (shield) is a long oval shape (unlike the rectangular and wide infantry scutum) for ease of use on horseback, the exposed thigh of a cavalryman making the use of an oblong shaped shield ungainly and problematic.
The more enigmatic insignia is an iron medallion displaying an eagle assailed by twin snakes forming a double "S".
As for Bjarturius, the northerner of obvious Coruskian descent has short cropped red hair (in Aerdian fashion) and gray eyes.
A silver Holy Symbol to Kord, twin great clubs and twin spears forming a cross, sits visibly over the metal breastplate that covers his massive chest.
Bjarturius' smile from when he's seen Valka hasn't disappeared in this exchange, he seems in good spirit.
After having observed the leaving Dwarf, and obviously trying to remember if he's seen the Milite somewhere before, he answers in a strong and cheerful voice:
"Reputation? Ha! I am jusst a simple man. My words and my actions speak te same: in the service of Mighty Kord."
Now taking his Holy symbol in his powerful left hand and holding it high, he adds in a softer voice, looking intently and even joyfully at it:
"Whatefer ve earn here trough te trials He sends us, is to prepare us to our final meeting wit Him after ve cross te great Gate... and our final Home! Te only reputation I neet iss a nople Deafh Song for the Lort of Battle!"
Lowering his gaze to look at the Milite, he asks:
"Who do you follow, Alpanus of the Atria Ursa?"
I, like you, follow the Brawler, and Roneus also, but I think it does not matter. The gods are too big to notice us and if they do it is only because far worse things are about to befall us.
So where do your travels take you now? Where do you seek Kords trials?
Titus looks to the blond and waits for her answer to his questions.
Valka returns Titus’s look with a challenging one of her own:
“Until we have shared things together, do not presume to demand anything from me, not even my name. Anyway if you where there, you know the name the crowd gave me that day: Valka Spartica. Why I left Pulvis Pontum? Too many bad memories! Where I am going next? I don’t know! Here I may be interested in this Innkeeper’s story if there is gold to get! I just sent my slave to ask questions.”
To Bjarturius: “Why don’t we talk to this innkeeper in the meantime, see what’s the deal.”
To Titus: “Are you interested in earning some gold too Titus Albanus? An extra sword can’t hurt!”
“I will take you all to Nikanor’s taverna if you wish.” Anacreon offers. “I have already spoken highly of you Bjarturius to everyone there. It seems Nikanor has met you already, from your first passage here after the destruction of our beloved Segesta.”
Anacreon leads the trio to the taverna (if they so wish...)
At her outburst Titus laughs. {b]Many apologies Valka Spartica! The crowd is one thing. I wanted to know what you called yourself, and now I know. Earning some coin would indeed most welcome and I will lend my sword for a share of what we may obtain.[/b]
Titus follows the others to the taverna.
After having lowered his Holy Symbol to his chest, Bjarturius answers to Titus in a jovial tone:
"Ach, you are troupled and don't understant vhat te Lort of Strengfh vants from you! Vell ten come vifh us, ant py facing His trials all vill become clearer, I tell you!"
Turning to Valka and Anacreon, he adds: "Come, let us meet again tis Timoneus... Warrior-maiten, your slave also knows the Lort of Strengfh ways?"
Anacreon takes you to the small central forum: the heart of Eburacum’s commercial, spiritual and social activity. The Temple of Hextor, in its classical six colonnaded naves design, dominates the surrounding architecture. A 10 foot painted marble statue of the War God of Destruction and Slaughter, a blood soaked clenched fist raised in victory and the other hand holding a slain severed cyclop’s head, looms over the central causeway leading to the main temple entrance and keeps an eternal vigil over the forum, glaring as if to remind all, high or low, human or not, that Hextor can strike down anyone that stands against the Empire and its Gods.
Anacreon leads the group past a large general store and heads towards a lane located between a wine and grain merchant. The lane opens into a bigger street: a broad two story taverna stands at its corners, a sizable building the size of many Aerdian homes. A small stable is even attached to it.
“Here we are” Anacreon states.
Anacreon heads to the Ianua (main door) and enters without knocking. Inside, the vast hall that comprises the tavern is silent and almost empty, save for an old female slave sweeping the floor.
“We are here to see Nikanor” Anacreon says to the slave.
A voice resounds from the balcony above, slightly accented in Almorian fashion:
“You have found him. Priest of Kord: you son of a whore! Once again I see you traveling with a lady worthy of Wee Ja’s orgies. You Coruskians and your big cocks: you always get the best girls!”
Nikanor, who was shamelessly buck naked when he appeared on the balcony, grabs a simple stained tunic that was hanging on the railing and dons it as he casually makes his way down the stairs.
“Last time, that Nerullian witch you had with you promised to help me. And what did you do for Nikanor? Nothing! My coins aren’t good enough for you big man? Or was that witch the impostor I’m sure she was?”
Unworriedly, Bjarturius looks around the inn in a appraising manner, the kind of look a man used to combat uses to assess immediate potential trouble spots. He then looks to Nikanor descending the stairs, and answers affably:
"Ha ha like vit te Nerullian vitch, I vould not recomment you, or anypody, touch tis warrior-maiten witout her consent, Nikanor! You vould lose much of vat you vant to safe! Ha ha ha!" He laughs in a booming voice...
"And maype it's petter for you the vitch didn't keep her promise... Maype te gott of Dead vould hafe ask you for more tan your denarii!"
He points at the present group with his Great Club, and continues:
"Put know tat I am here vit new... compagnons... Tey talk for temselves.
As for me, if te Lort of Strengfh sees your plea as a vorty enoufh trial... ten I vill use my strengfh to find a vay to testroy your curse!"
“Well my offer still stands: 2000 Denarii for those who can rid this curse of mine!”
Nikanor, now at ground level, barks at the slave:
“The wine won’t bring itself! Can’t you see my guests are parched?!”
The old slave finishes a spot, appraises her work and exits, obviously not in too much of a rush.
“Strength is good yes, but this may require some finesse. Eburacum lives under the shadow of that Patrician b!t@h, and the milites of Hextor will do her bidding!”
Bjarturius nods...
"I hafe peen vorking for her, vifh te oters. She didn't vant us to stay vifh her, so she sent us to her broter Hextorius, te Governor... Yes, a poverful family... put tey don't follow te Lort of Battle, tat's for sure! Te Governor vill sacrifice some of his men to Nerull, if he tinks he can gain te advantage from it!"
Looking around if the others have questions, he asks:
"Vat apout you, warrior-maiten? Vat does the fire in your heart tell you?"
"And you, Titus Alpanus, are you not vifh your legion, te Atria Ursa? Tis not te legion tat protect Eburacum?"
Before we entered the tavern, Valka answered Bjarturius about her slave. She speaks in a very serious voice:
“My slave is NOT to be sent into battle. It is MY property and I DON’T want a scratch on my goods! Gravus will certainly be of use to me in other ways.”
----
Inside the tavern, Valka stays very neutral, silent and observant when Nikanor makes his entrance.
“My heart is disgusted at this entire thing and place but the cold blood in my veins will answer this quest.”
To Nikanor: “I will help you. You say we need finesse, what can you tell us that could help?”
Nikanor eyes Valka lasciviously:
“I am sure you can be of great help to Nikanor”
He raises his eyebrow, licking his lips in lewd invitation. He suddenly bursts out laughing, raising his hands up defensively:
“I kid! I kid! Okay, we talk serious now. No-one in the village likes Severina: she sticks her nose up at everybody. Not like Nikanor: me, I’m everyone’s friend. Only the Priesthood of Hextor she is close to, because they have power. Except for them, if you need to ask around, you can talk to anyone here.”
To Bjartrius, I am still with my legion, the Atria Ursa, yes. But do you mean why am I here, now? The answer is this, he says, patting the eagle and serpent emblem I have leave of the emperor himself to see to the security of this Empire. I do not wish to explain further except to say that at this time, this cause has my interest. Who knows, maybe Kord himself has placed us together for a purpose we may not yet guess.
To Nikanor, Do you know the specific means of breaking your curse?
Nikanor nods at Titus Albanus’s words: “Nikanor is glad to see the Emperor remembers us little good working people and don’t always take the side of the Patricians, especially snobby old bit@hes like Severina. If I knew of a way to break the curse, you can trust on Damarus’s golden @o@k I would have already told you! No my friend, sorcery is at work here and only Vecna himself knows what she did to me!”
Bjarturius eyes a few moments Titus at those words, his normally jovial face momentarily looking frozen, as if he's considering several thoughts at once... Then his fleeting expression disappears as he turns back to Nikanor and says:
"I vill pray to mighty Korud at sunrise tomorrow ten, and look for te signs...
I vant some denarii before ve start, it vill help loosen te tongues of te ones vho ton't vorship te Lort ot Might!"
Nikanor is at first taken aback by Bjarturius’s request, obviously unused to be asked for coin up front. He considers for a long moment:
“All right big man. Nikanor give you 10 denarii advanced pay.”
He exits a moment and returns with a purse. He gives Bjarturius 10 denarii.
“Look for your signs Priest. Nikanor wait for news. Now go, Dammarus grant you good fortunes!”
Valka is happy to leave the tavern. When they are out she turns to all and says:
“This is really because I need some gold! That innkeeper looks and sounds like the scum of this world! I’m gonna try to find my slave, see if he found out anything. Until I do any idea about what to do and where to look? Do you really wanna wait until tomorrow to ask your God for signs Bjarturius? What about you Albanus any ideas?”
Valka looks around where they are now. There is the big temple but is there anything else that looks important?
Besides the temple of Hextor, Nikanor's tavern/inn and Severina Berenia's patrician villa north of the village, most of the important buildings seem to be located in the village forum.
Bjarturius takes the 10 denarii and puts them in his pouch...
Outside, after having again rapidly assessed who's there, he answers to Valka:
"Ve can start py asking Anacreon's proter, apout te people lifing here... Maype tere is someone ve vant to talk to! Or ve learn someting apout te town..."
Anacreon: “Saulius knows everyone in Eburacum: I am sure he will be able to help. I will take you to him.”
Titus follows the lead of Bjarturius. Once we have those answers Bjarturius, and any information from your slave, Valka Spartica, a path may suggest itself more clearly.
Anacreon leads everyone to his brother Saulius’s humble domus (home) on the northern outskirts of Eburacum. Saulius isn’t home at the moment but his oldest daughter Domitilla and Bjarturius’s own sister Veleda are there, Veleda tending to baby Veronius while Domitilla does needlework.
Veleda is shocked to see Valka and almost drops Veronius, so startled is she at seeing Valka:
“Blessed Erda! You’re alive!” The young woman quickly hands Veronius to Domitilla and throws herself at Valka’s neck, smothering the smaller warrior (Veleda, like her brother, is rather tall) in a hug.
Titus Albanus and Bjarturius spot the dwarven slave Gravus trekking down the road back into the village. He is not alone: he has a slave of quality with him recognizable by the telltale rectangle necklace tin plate dangling over his chest with the name “Berenii” inscribed in Suel. They precede a patrician lady, a 5’8”, slim, dark haired, grey eyed classical beauty with her long hair braided, piled up and pinned so you can see her neck, with ringlets hanging down in front of her ears. She is dressed in a simple but elegant sleeveless stola (Aerdian dress) with lady’s fine leather sandals. A few well chosen matching pieces of jewelry adorn her body.
The slave of quality, a balding man in his 40s, gives a curt bow of the head and says, eyes lowered: “May I present you Domina Valeriana Pia, a guess of the Lady Berenia”.
Valeriana Pia gives each person present an appraising stare and ends on Valka who gets a still more penetrating gaze. To Valka: "You are this slave's owner? My dear friend Severina Berenia was fleetingly entertained by him. Word of your prowess has reached her, and she wonders if you possess the skill to provide her with some amusement? Her life here is dull and new things enliven it."
Valka returns Veleda’s hug, she feels all tiny and squeezed but happy to see her!
“Your brother should have told you I was alive and well!”
She breaks away from the hug (some air please!) and smiles at Veleda:
“Look at you! Are you ever gonna stop growing?”
When Valeriana stares at her and says what she says, Valka looks at her directly, blood rushing to her face. She gives her a polite forced smile and says:
“Ha! It’s good to see our bad fortunes in life and our …”
Valka tries to express what she wants to say but can only find the right words in the Feruz slang of her home village
” … our ‘p’tites misères’ pleases Severina Berenia”
"Indeed. We should all hope for such. I, myself, am unfamiliar with your supposed fame but my dear friend believes you might be able to further entertain her. Should I tell her that you refuse this opportunity to be of service?" Valeriana answers.
Titus watches these greetings quietly. He hopes that they will be alone soon to find out what Gravus knows.
Valka gives Gravus a knowing glance and says:
“So, Gravus, we discover in you some talents of entertainer to patrician ladies. Why don’t you tell us all what you did to amuse the Domina Berenia so?”
"Nothing that required too great an exertion on my part, Domina," the dwarf replies flatly, hiding any signs of either embarrassment or pride at Valka's suggestion behind his stoic mask, "it so happens that the Domina Berenia has a fondness towards men with a bestial aspect..." he pauses as he says this, giving his mistress a meaningful look before finishing, "I merely gave her a brief display of such."
Valeriana:
"Yes. Although I fear she was hoping for something a little more...dramatic."
She glances about the mismatched group.
"Perhaps between you you can come up with something that will make the hours pass a little more swiftly. Send word to Ballio here at the villa if you can be of service, but do not delay overlong, Severina Berinia's interests are often fleeting. Come Ballio, the forum awaits: I have some shopping to do and wish to return before the sun gets too high."
Valeriana leaves with Ballio in direction of the village forum.
Valka waits until Valeriana and Ballio are gone and says:
"Gravus, now that she's gone tell us all what happened and if you have learned some information about this innkeeper's curse."
Bjarturius looked at the scene with his now seemingly almost perpetual smile, especially when looking at his little sister engulfing the smaller Valka in her arms!
As Domina Valeriana came and spoke, he said nothing, but her demeanor quickly reminded him of Domina Severinia. He closed his eyes in remembrance, reliving the trials and the enemies he'd face with his companions to fetch what the haughty and bored Domina had requested; and remembering the ones who died for it, as well as the ceremony he'd held in their memory, all the while as one of his hands played with his holy symbol, while with the other he rotated the Great Club resting on his shoulder with ponderous intensity.
As he opened his eyes, shaking the images from the fierce battles, he realized Valka's dwarven slave was talking...
After the Domina left, he says, looking at Valka and Titus:
"Yes, te Tomina Seferinia likes te man-beasts! Te Lort of Strengfh strike me if she vouldn't hafe lofed te Pulvis Pontum feast! Maype tat's vat she heard apout you, warrior-maiten..."
Gravus nods to Valka once Ballio and Valeriana are out of earshot, "As you ordered, Domina, once I had stored your purchases I set out to talk to local slaves and uncover what I could about these 'curses'. Taking the direct approach, I decided that the slaves who would like-as-not know the most of the issue would be those belonging to Domina Berinia herself, and so I headed to her villa."
"Reaching there, I met with Ballio, the slave accompanying Domnia Valeriana Pia just now. After a brief discussion, I'm confident that the Domina Berinia is indeed the source of these 'curses' plaguing the village, it seems that any perceived slight against her is enough to bring down her fury, apparently worthy of Erythnul in both its ferocity, and creativity."
"In any case, I took that as an excuse to offer me services to the Domina, as a show of respect. This gave me the opportunity to see her and several of her household myself... which I am sure will prove to be quite handy should you feel the need to infiltrate the villa at some point."
"It was here that Domina Severina Berinia requested that I present to her a demonstration of my skills, further suggesting that something which would lend a man a bestial appearance would please her most... did you not say, Domina, that it was such men who were the cause of the scene at the Pulvis Pontum?"
"Obviously, I chose for the demonstration something which her knowledge of would nae pose a trouble, should she become your enemy, Domina. Though in the course of the demonstration I did note rather odd behavior from Domina Valeriana, she was accompanied by a man, apparently her slave, but when he was commanded to drink the elixir I had prepared, he refused quite forcefully, something Valeriana was oddly unsurprised by... and when he was slain by a house guard, she seemed almost pleased. From his words, it struck me as though he was, until that point, agreeing to go along with some deception with Valeriana, perhaps even she is not who she claims?"
"Oh," he remembers a few moments after finishing, and retrieving the coins he was handed earlier, "as it happened, I had no need of these, though I did agree to buy some drinks for a couple of the slaves tonight, in hopes of learning more when they are away from the wrathful eyes of their Domina."