Chapter 3: Pyres, Fires, and Owlbears

General Summary

Our heros started out by remembering a story from their youth:   As you wake up after your long rest eating a meal of what is essentially instant oatmeal, you contemplate everything that happened last night. It all happened so quickly, and it was so extreme, that you are only now really realizing the depth of what you've signed up for. As you chew you recall something from when you were younger. Maybe it was a mentor, a bard in a tavern, a parent, a teacher. But you recall them reading or singing or telling tales around the fire. The fire crackles and snaps, the first strings of a lute are plucked, a dusty old tome is flipped open.   "So it was that in those days of yore magic flowed in the veins of the people just as water pours from the Mighty Ansklere. Great deeds and heroics were wrought in the power weilded by those who could grasp it. Nations rose and fell and rose again with the use of magic. It was not until the Emperor Loras Hamonet saw how this power was abused. That those who could practice magic found themselves far wealthier, far more powerful, and far above the masses in gilded towers than those who could not use magic.   They without the power suffered in dirt-filled homes, wearing rags - tatters and eating food unfit for the trough...if they ate at all. Loras saw this tragedy and wept for those without the power, as he himself suffered under the rule of overpowered magic. In time, Loras became strong enough to help the nations of this continent, restoring balance to those whose banners were replaced by the tri-star of peace. However, the daemon-touched one, she of the blue skin, the mage of the south, the usurper....Thydona Ezohr, longed to keep her power. In secret, behind the walls of Ilythyra, the city she built with power, she spent 7 score years building her army, plotting, and scheming for a way to overthrow Loras. When the Benevelant one, the peacekeeper, the great uniter, father of the nation, Emperor Loras came to offer a treaty of peace under a banner of snow white, he was greeted with the calamity that claimed the lives of him and his retinue....but also of her. The force of the magic used was said to be felt as far as the frozen halls of Olfyra itself.   As such, from that moment and ever forward, those who bear the horned blood of the usurper have been named as those "Touched by Thydona." Those who dare practice magic have been named "Thydonites." For so they shall be named after that sinister one, for they dare attempt to amass power with their selfishness and greed by using magic.   The fire dies down, and is reduced to soft, glowing embers. The last note struck hangs in the air, and the book is closed once move, and placed on the shelf.   Falaern, in an attempt to gain the trust of the group, opened herself up to the three. They questioned her and learned she was from the south. She had a few friends in Moldoryn that trained with her in her hometown. There, they were trying to help ferry magic users from there to a place where magic was more accepted.   From there they traveled for a short time, learning more about their pasts. Inhe shared with the group that her wife had been murdered and she had been injured. Jacquora shared that her mentor had been killed as well.   A few nights into their travel they were attacked late at night by an Owlbear. After Inhe took a few hits, they were able to vanquish the foe. They cooked a few pieces of meat and made some dried owlbear meat and took a few feathers to commemmorate their victory.   The next day, Jacquora and Lenihlra saw a plume of smoke in the distance and traveled to see the smoldering remains of a house in a small clearing. Jacquora found the remains of four individuals, two adults and two children, in the ruins. It appears as though they were locked in and there were quite a few people there that saw to it that they didn't escape. The two tried to see into a small shed on the property but found that it was locked.   They traveled on to the city of Veybjorn. In the town they heard of an upcoming execution the next morning of a young boy who supposedly killed a guard with magic. He has been named as a "Thydonite." After finding a quiet spot on the beach, they discuss their possibilities. They decide to attempt to create a distraction by making noise inside of the prison, drawing the guards in, and stealthing their way in after them while Falaern would keep watch. This plan works and they are able to make their way into the prison. After attempting to hide in a closet, they burst out, not quite fitting into the closet, and Lenihlra was able to charm the guard into showing them the "Thydonite." Inhe punched the guard in the back of the head upon seeing the young boy. The guard fell unconscious and the boy was finally seen in the cell. He was hurt, bleeding, and scared. The calmed him down and quickly opened the cell door.   They snuck the boy out and lit the pyre on fire before quickly escaping the town. The guards, not knowing that the boy had been sprung from his cell, attempted to put the pyre out in anticipation of the coming execution the next morning. After riding out of town for a bit, the group paused to regain their composure and questioned the young boy. He then told the the group the following:   My family has always used lwo forms of magic, just simple things. We've always been so careful though. But recently, the Chief Elder has been more suspicious of folks - especially those of us that don't live in the village all the time. I came into town to sell some of the wares we make - wooden goods like fishing poles, utensils, clogs and the like - and then I left. I thought I was far enough away from the city to start using again. I was taking a rest and whittling a bit when I cut my thumb. It was a stupid mistake. I thought no one was around so I healed myself. Some little kid was watching and told their parents who told the Chief Elder. It took all of a day before they came knocking on my family's door. My little siblings were crying, my parents were bewildered and were about to give themselves up. But if they did, no one would buy our goods again and they would starve. So I turned myself in...I said I learned it from a traveller and that no one else had anything to do with what I did. Then they took me to the cell. They did everything to make me use my magic. I tried to resist at first, to show that I didn't know how to do much. I thought that maybe I would get away with maybe a lost hand, or a tongue, or...Gozreh knows what. I didn't think they'd do what they did. They tortured me. For days. Unspeakable things. Finally I could take no more and I did something...there was one guard who was nice. He would bring me water and a little bread. He was kind. He said that he was going to try and tell them to go easy on me. But...but he came in after the worst session. They had pulled my fingernails...they had cut me in a hundred small spots...pulled out my hair...I was trying to heal myself -- really I was -- but I'm not sure what I did. One second the guard was there and the next he was across the room. He musta hit his head or something because he died the next day. I swear I didn't mean to. I swear...But then it went from magic to murder. I swear I didn't mean to kill him....I swear....I didn't want to....I swear....   Lenihlra gave him one gold and two silver, of which he returned on silver to return to his parents and two sisters that lived a day or so to the west. The chapter closed as the boy disappeared into the distance, heading for Lorisen, where Falaern told him he could find some help in the textile district and to look for purple.     Scroll North in the map below to see the path that you are currently on and where the cities you have and may see in the future are located.