Episode 16 · Session XVI
Something Gentler Than a Sword
Sirius gives a sermon he doesn't remember promising, Ireena swears her oath, and we go shopping. Then a girl goes missing, and there is a sack on the lake.
Sirius wakes up to learn that he invited the whole town to church, and gives the sermon anyway: a raven feather, a great many years of being hit with things, and the wounds a sword can't heal. Ireena swears her oath in a church with no roof, and Izek still won't shake anyone's hand.
Then we are paid, and for one happy hour we go shopping. We commission a Morning Lord with a sun coming out of his behind and a horse with several poop options, we buy a hymnal from the rudest printers in Barovia, and a smith who is glad the Baron is dead mentions a drunk who wanted a doll that would sink.
At the Vistani camp a girl is missing. Out on the lake, a man in a yellow coat throws a screaming sack over the side of his boat.
Stay past the credits.
The recap
Session 16 in about 1 minutes. The full record is in the field notes.
Read aloud before we begin.
You asked for one ordinary morning and you very nearly had it.
There was gruel at the Blue Water, and nobody was trying to kill you. Urwin promised you twenty minutes' peace, then told you his family had gone to the winery and never written back. A letter had arrived for "the party", about a tower on a lake.
The church still had no roof, but it was full. Sirius stood in front of the whole town and told them about his grandfather's feather and about being hit with things for years. He told them there are wounds a sword can't heal, that they could bring their sorrows to the Morning Lord without pretending to be cheerful, and that a day spent being kind to someone is a fine day's work. Fëanor glowed without hurting anyone. Small sunflowers appeared and faded at the altar. Ireena swore her oath. Izek still would not take Sirius's hand.
After that you were paid, you went shopping, and you were happy for an hour. The potions were dear and the printers were rude. Blinsky took an order for a Morning Lord with a sun coming out of his behind. A smith thanked Fëanor for the Baron's brains. He also mentioned that Bluto had bought a doll and had it filled with lead shot so that it would sink.
At the Vistani camp you learned the girl you'd bought a present for had been missing since morning.
Out on the lake, Bluto threw a screaming sack into the water. Clover knocked him in after it, and Sirius dived with his wings folded.
Now Sirius has burst back out of the dark water on his wings, with the sack in his arms and a hand on whoever is inside, and Bluto is still sinking.