#atfi episode

[oy-nuri]

Episode 3: The End of a Reign

Disaster has struck, and the Empress of Tin is no more. Her captain is dead, and her guardian Lelequna has been slain. A clash of two river titans, the lukwata and a monstrous crocodile, destroyed the Empress of Tin as though she was little more than a handful of twigs. The cargo of fruit and vegetables has been scattered, and her heavy goods are sunken now in the deep hole where the lukwata lives. More deaths were prevented, however. Clever use of enchantments befuddled both of the reptiles, keeping them from more actively making attempts on the lives of those aboard the boat as Vaïstä ensorcelled them. Umid kept Peppina from drowning not once, but twice, plucking her from the river before it took her to its depths. Shiloh sprang in and out of the river many times, ferrying not only Vaïstä to safety but also leading efforts to rescue the young girl Adsa as she was snagged on the roots of the great trees on the river's bank.

Now, however, the group stands wet and almost completely alone on the bank of the river, watching as the last shreds of the Empress of Tin are washed away. They are safe for now as the rain pours around them but Captain Almud's adult children, Samis and Ulun, are nowhere to be seen. The sun has yet to rise as the thunder dies away, and the last vestige of the Empress vanishes into the night. A storm lantern, its glow finally extinguished in a tribute to the boat, its guardian, and its captain.

[oy-nuri]

Episode 2: Busepala

The Empress of Tin arrives in Busepala on schedule, and Captain Almud offloads his many friends so that he can deal with the Sapsana family to offload his shipment and onboard more goods. The foreigners find themselves entertaining the local people with song and dance, and as the normally grueling work of the summer harvest is far less interesting than an impromptu party, it seems that a fair portion of the population joins in the celebration. Always the entertainer, Shiloh is of course the spearhead of this particular operation, although it is Umid who really gets the people involved. As this goes on, Vaïstä takes in the local clothing, realizing that her own marks her as a very unusual individual indeed. The cut and lay of southern clothes, the fabrics and embroidery, and even the colors are unusual in contrast to the many light layers of brightly dyed and patterned cloth native to the region. Additionally, she has no hat or headscarf, which sets her apart immediately.

On her own quest, Peppina finds a poison seller, a Suma-Man, who after a fairly cryptic interaction provides her with a bag of curious yellow and gritty powder, claiming that it will keep the fungus off of her wheat if it's planted close together. In fact, he says, it should kill almost any fungus.

Umid breaks away from the dancing momentarily, meeting the goblin druggist N'dix, who sells him some particularly choice Snakeweed at a deep discount, recognizing a fellow trip enthusiast. Some of this is almost immediately consumed, and Shiloh and Umid both experience a particularly chill afternoon.

The Empress sets off after a few hours in Busepala, ladened now with fruits kept cool by the frost-producing Sasalqu lizards of the Sand Empire, sailing down river for many hours. The Captain, putting in for the night in a wide part of the river, bids everyone a good night before falling asleep in the instantaneous manner he has, leaving Lelequna the guard to keep watch for him during the night. As the rain picks up and starts to hammer down, Umid awakens curiously. There is no sound other than the rain. The insects and frogs, the bellowing hippos and crocodiles are all silent in this wide stretch of the River Isha. A truncated crocodile makes a noise followed swiftly by a particularly loud and disturbing cracking noise, and suddenly a number of different factors come together in Umid's mind:

The silence of the crocodiles, the width and depth of this stretch of river, the fact that the water is thick and brown and likely impossible to see through. Only one creature he knows of would be the cause of something as large as a crocodile making that noise in these waters. There is a Lukwata here, in the center of the river, and judging by the enormous looming shadow illuminated in a flash of lightning, it is coming toward the Empress of Tin. The creatures are not well known for their tolerance of boats in their waters, and the hunger it must feel deprived of its normal food is doubtless going to encourage a violent encounter. ((We roll for Initiative next week))

[oy-nuri]

Episode 1: Tmbasa and the River Isha

Peppina arrives on the foreign shore of The Roobios Empire after a three week voyage over the sea from Thaurus. Her port in Baleri was completely missed due to a manifest error, and now the caravan that she was supposed to have joined has doubtless left without her, leaving her with little choice but to travel by river the other direction than her original plan. Meanwhile, Umid has stumbled into Tmbasa at last, almost a week of lonely marching down the coast from the river Yndara now thankfully in his past. He has been drawn by a very specific need in this case, his pockets and a sandlewood box unpleasantly light, but is called in this case to travel with people he has never met before through song and novelty. Vaïstä and Shiloh were elsewhere before; alseep and dreaming in a place where the sun never truly faded and the sounds of laughter rang through an endless woodland only to arrive with a stunning and painful abruptness to the realm of mortals. They were sent here for a purpose, and the memory of it is slowly returning or forming, one or the other, to send them on a journey with a distinct goal.

It is the rainy season, Saba-Tatu-Bahati, the fifth day of the third week of the seventh month, Year 119 of the present age. The Roobios Empire's lands are hot and wet, with the river Isha at its second highest point of the year and flowing fast and thick. A steady beat of water from the sky and the cover of clouds means that this naturally hot land is steamy and surprisingly dark most of the day, only to become completely black at night. Crickets, frogs, and cicada create a wall of sound in the mornings and evenings, quieting only during the hottest part of the day when the rains slacken to nothing and the sun scalds everything that dares show its face.

These individuals, not yet a group or a cohort, have signed on with one Captain Almud, his crew, and his passengers on board the antique wicker-and-thatch vessel called the Empress of Tin after being directed to the river dock by Asanda the miller's father, a coffee seller of venerable age. With the Captain they will sail first to the town of Busepala to drop off and pick up more cargo, and there Peppina has some business to attend to. After this, the Captain plans to sail directly to Deson City, the capital of the Roobios Empire. He says it will take no more than six days, seven should the river prove particularly capricious, but his offering was accepted, or so it seems. For now, he calls you his friends, and his open and welcoming demeanor is a kindness that was unexpected. He pushes off into the river, which slithers across the grass mats and reed bundles of the Empress, hauling himself dripping and laughing onto the massive barge as the sun sets in front of you, the darkness of the night closing in as the rain slackens to a faint drizzle and darkness of an almost entirely new moon engulfs the world.