The Prequel
Bryan has bowed out of the game, and so Kinman shall no longer appear in the campaign. Additionally — due to an extended internet outage at the game venue — Paul was sadly unable to join this game, and so Faiofasmon shall make no appearance in this episode.
The story begins the the evening of the day the last story completed
The Story
Gestar and Mennon go looking for a place of recreation. They find, near the docks, a multi story establishment built maybe twenty metres out on the water on top of a coral bank. There is a walkway from the shore to the establishment at the front of which are two divers and a long line of people. The divers are selectively letting people in (or turning them away) and asking for something called a "cover charge". There is no apparent pattern to the amount people are charged entry. Gestar and Mennon decide that this place looks intriguing, and line up. Mennon bets Gestar the first round of drinks that Gestar cannot charm his way in for free. A dishevelled looking man with a musical horn is let in for free just before Gestar and Mennon arrive reach the front of the line. Upon being told that neither paint plays an instrument, the divers demand a small cover charge. Gestar's attempts at charming a free entry fail.
The establishment turns out to be four stories tall, with a stage in the middle of the ground floor, and each other floor being a square ring allowing patrons to see the stage from any floor. Gestar and Mennon are met by two girls who show them to a table on the 2nd floor, overlooking the harbour. The girls are, essentially, companions for the night. Both sit down with Mennon and Gestar, and one unpacks a stringed musical instrument, and plays a quiet accompaniment to the music coming from downstairs. Small talk is engaged in. The girl with the instrument turns out to have a predelection for bad puns (which her cohort refuses to allow her to indulge in). Gestar and his companion go downstairs for a dance. Dinner is then ordered and eaten.
Just after dinner, Mennon notices a very richly ornate barge rowing into the harbour. As it rows past the establishment, Mennon notices a figure dive off the back of the barge. He points this out to Gestar, they both get up and lean on the balcony for a better view. They spot where the figure surfaces and watch them swim to shore. Whilst watching this, the barge docks, and the occupants make to shore. The swimmer turns out to be a young, and very attractive girl. She tries to climb over the railing onto the ground floor, but a diver sees her, and pushes her back into the water, exclaiming "cover charge!". Gestar makes his way quickly downstairs, whilst Mennon sits back down at the table. Gestar's companion rolls her eyes and sighs "Jolianids".
By the time Gestar gets downstairs he cannot find the diver in question, and the girl is gone. Gestar makes his way outside, and finds the girl about halfway toward the shore, swimming under the walkway. He leans over and offers to pay her cover charge. She accepts a hand onto the walkway, and they both head back to table where Mennon and the two girls remain. As it happens, none of the divers encounter them on their way back to the table, and so no cover charge ends up needing to be paid. The young girl is — by just about any Gehenese measure — Drop Dead Gorgeous™.
The girl makes very short work of what is left of the food. She says her name is Imelana, and that she is running away. (Dum, Dun, Daaaaaaaah — plays the girl on her instrument). She is the daughter of a rich man from a nearby episkopy, and has been promised to marry a man she has no desire to. Gestar warns her that there is a lot of the world of which she will be unaware having such a sheltered life to date. Imelana remains undeterred. Furthermore she states that they will realise she is missing soon, and that she must make haste. Gestar declares that he will, at the very least, help her to reach the city limits. The two depart. Mennon smiles and declares that he gives them half an hour at the most before they're in trouble. The girl with the instrument seems to agree. When asked if perhaps he should be following after his friend, Mennon declares not for half an hour.
Gestar and Imelana make their way out into the night. They make find themselves in a bathhouse, inside which Imelana has a bath, and they use the time to dry her clothes. After this, Gestar realises that the city gates will be closed at this time of evening, and so he finds a place for them to stay for the night, but is prudent enough to find a different empty room to the one he is told to go to, and stays the night in there instead. He works his whiles upon Imelana, and a good time is had by all.
Half an hour after Gestar's departure Mennon pays up the bill, and bids farewell to the two companions. The divers acting as bouncers at the gate show him the direction in which Gestar and the young lass went in. Gestar notices that there are a lot of people running around with torches, looking in, and under anything they can. He concludes that Imelana's family have worked out that she is missing. A small distance (twenty or thirty metres maybe) down the road from the establishment, he finds a bathhouse. The doors are barred shut, but sounds of splashing can be heard from within. At about this time one of the searchers with a torch turns up at the bathhouse. Mennon bursts into a fit of coughing to try and hide the sounds of (presumably) his protege from being heard. The torch bearer moves on.
Mennon makes his way back to the establishment, and gives the divers at the gate a small bribe to conveniently forget (or misdirect the direction last seen of) Gestar and Imelana. Having done this, he makes his way back to the bathhouse, and after checking nobody is watching, climbs the gate. By now there is nobody in the bathhouse, but clear signs that somebody was there. Mennon heads out to the back, and finds a back door, and makes his way through. He reasons the most likely way Gestar would have gone, and continues on in that direction.
Upon the way he happens upon a boardign house and, remembering that he doesn't actually have anywhere yet to stay the night, knocks on the door to try and establish a room for himeslef and maybe Gestar, that he can come back to later. THe boarding house claims to be full (apparently based on Mennon's feet somehow), so Mennon continues on. The next boarding house he comes to down the road is a little more derelect and is answered by a young man who is utterly stoned. Seeing Mennon's tatoos the stoned man asks if Mennon is with "the other guy"? Mennon takes a room at the boarding house, but finds Gestar's room empty. Smiling at Gestars foresight, or good fortune, Mennon retires back to his room.
In the morning Mennon awakes early as is his custom, and waits in the common area downstairs for Gestar (whom Mennon expects to catch on his way down). Gestar, in his turn, awakens and soon discovers that the gorgeous woman from the night before is now a man. Imelana wakes up shortly thereafter and quickly makes the same discovery, and is — unsurprisingly — even more surprised than Gestar. They quickly decide that whilst this is a very good disguise, Imelana will need some men's clothes. Gestar heads out to get them.
Gestar runs into Mennon in the common room, and explains the situation to him. Gestar is going to get Imelana out of the city as soon as possible. Mennon will catch up with them after he has intercepted the old gentleman, and discussed his villages tiger problem. Gestar asks Mennon to wait in the boarding house until Gestar returns with the new clothes for Imelana, and Mennon agrees. This they then do.
Mennon goes through a morning routine of bathing and massage before making his way to the pallace (which does not accept petitioners until late afternoon). When he arrives, he finds a small group of people preparing to rush in and race for first in line when the doors are opened. Umongst them is the old gentleman that was pointed out to them the previous afternoon. Mennon strikes up a conversation, asking about the tiger problem. THe man states that he was tardy the previous day and didn't get a good place in line, but he was quite sure that today he was bright and early and would definitely attain an audience. It is at this point that an official comes out of the door and announces that the Episkopos will not be hearing audiences today. The old man looks dissapointed, but Mennon says that he (Mennon) may be able to help the old man, and invites to pay for breakfast whilst they discuss.
The old man introduces himsself as Imar and explains that he is head man of his village, and that the tiger they have is mysterious. It only attacks once a month on the full moon, and that it only kills men. Usually tigers kill livestock and whatnot on the outskirts of the village, but this one does not. Mennon tells Imar that he is from the Thundering Vale, and Imar falls to his knees, begging Mennon for his help. Mennon repeatedly tells the man to get to his feet, and not to grovel, but it is no use. Mennon promises Imar that he, and others from the vale, will be at the village by the next full moon, and after learning the location of said village, heads off to catch up with Gestar and Imelana. The village is called Murino and is north of Heresketh.
Gestar and Imelana have not made particularly brilliant time. Mennon catches up to them just as they have stopped to trade some shoes for Imelana, who is getting footsore. Mennon picks Imelana up in a firemans carry, and Gestar and Mennon run for a period to make up some time. Imelana complains that it is worse than a carga. After a period, Mennon agrees to allow the party to travel at Imelana's pace. They travel at this pace for a few hours, before it is clear that they are behind in time again, at which point Mennon offers a more reasonable carying solution, in the form of a piggy back. Imelana agrees and the party make it back to the vale just before the afternoon rains. Imelana is found a place to stay in the vale's villiage.
During dinner, Mennon talks to the head of his lodge about the Tiger. The lodge head's name was foolishly not recorded by the player, but was — unsurprisingly — an avatar of Timeon. It is agreed to send a party to allow Mennon to hunt the tiger (since success will mean one more adept in the lodge). Mennon is warned that "single handedly doesn't mean unarmed, and doesn't mean stupid". He is also strongly advised to find somebody who knows about were tigers (which the story from Imar strongly sounds like)
The next day, Gestar and Mennon break their fast with Imelana (after the usual morning routine of gymnastic activities and a bath). Gestar and Imelana decide to try and work out what happened to Imelana. Mennon is determined to organise his tiger expedition. The full moon is four days away. Imelana's feet sores are completely dissapeared. It appears he knows some yoga (much to the characters' surprise). Imelana seems a little interested in learning more about the Vale, as well.
All three of them make their way to the library in Skywalker lodge, to talk to the librarian. Gestar and Imelana first talk to the librarian, who speaks a little of shapechangers, but doesn't know much himself. He directs them to a part of the library which should have relevant books, and they set off. The librarian then talks to Mennon about were tigers. He describes three types of were tigers that he has heard of. One type changes based on a trigger (a full moon or somesuch) and is completely bestial when in tiger form. Another type can change at will, and retains their full wits in both forms. The third type changes between forms when it has sex, or when it kills, and is completely bestial when in tiger form. Mennon describes the expedition he wishes to go on, and the librarian suggests that he (Mennon) should speak to a man named Leppaman who is an adjuvant in the Skywalker lodge.
Gestar and Imelana find a tretise on shapechangers. Unfortunately it is written in elvish, which Gestar cannot speak, read or write. Fortunately Imelana can read elvish. They begin the slow process of translating the book (made slower by one of the translators not being able to read the language). The book is an attempt at an objective treatise. It fails miserably, and the prejudice of the author against all things shapechanging, and the opinion that they are abominations is abundantly clear.
Mennon finds Leppaman and describes the situation to him. Leppaman reiterates the three types of shapechanging tigers he is aware of. After a small amount of thought, Leppaman suggests that if a female chapechanger of the third variety was to sleep with a man she would then turn into a tiger. The bestial tiger would then, naturally, kill the man and then change back into a person. In this way only the man is killed, no livestock are killed, no tiger prints are found, etc etc. It seems to match Imar's stories very well. Mennon asks Leppaman if he would be willing to accompany the tiger hunting expedition as an adjuvant witness, and expert advisor on were tigers. Leppaman agrees. Leppaman has been drinking an awful lot during the time he has spend with Mennon. Mennon suggests that since — after killing his tiger — he only has the trial of the forrest remaining to be both huntmaster and adept, and that since Leppaman needs only the trial of fleetness, that they could work together and each train the other for the trial they have yet to attain. Leppaman explains that he has something dislocated in his knee which is quite painful and prevents free movement. As he gets older the problem gets no better, and whilst he *could* have a surgeon cut out the loose part, then use yoga to heal it, he has thought about it and decided that he doesn't really want the trial of fleetness that badly. Mennon departs.
That afternoon, Mennon talks to the head of the lodge again, and appraises him of the situation. He has, including Gestar, two adjuvants to act as witnesses, but still needs a huntmaster. The head of the lodge assigns one of the lodges better huntmasters, and that huntmaster's progegé to go along as well. They all have a discussion and decide that with Leppaman's knee the way it is, they had better leave on the next day to give them 3 days time to travel. Mennon goes to inform Leppaman of this eventuality. Leppaman is completely doped up on laudenum, but thanks Mennon for the extra travel time consideration.
The next day the party sets off. Imalana asks if he may acompany them, but when told the pace they were expecting to keep, and the distance to be travelled, quickly realises that it would just not be possible. Gestar arranges permission for Imalana to continue using the Skywalker library in his absense, so that Imalana may continue to research what had happened to him. The party set off
Ok this is as far as we got on the Saturday evening. We played a few hours extra the next day, but I"m out of time to write that up.