Session 3 - Kohuru

Now that the skirmish was over, we gathered the fallen and tended to the wounded. While Malak tried vainly to take their champion's weapon from the wagon, we became acquainted with those we rescued: Hagmet, Albier, Beriti, and Zakar. They had been foraging for supplies to sell to Jepeth. Zakar's wagon of herbs had been taken, but the others were still intact. I don't think Hagmet will end up with much profit for the fish they caught for she has a voracious appetite! And one matched by Malak who also seems to be fond of dried fish.


Before burning the beastmen, or more specifically ratakan now that I got a good look at them, Albier and Malak harvested their ears for the bounty while I went through the little bit of clothing they wore looking for anything of value. I managed to find 17 oddly-designed black gold pieces and some sort of map. No one in the group was able to make heads or tails of it, but perhaps someone in Densem might.

We agreed to journey with the survivors back to Densem, and the rest of the night passed uneventfully. We each took our turn at the watch: Malak and Cousin taking the first, Arina and myself the second, and Dabar and Toara the third. That arrangement seemed to work out well, and we may decide to make that our nightly rhythm. I know I slept better knowing I wouldn't likely be slain in my sleep.

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We arrived in Densem where Zakar, who had been quite impressed with Arina's administrations, introduced us to Sari-Avi. We explained why we were there and what we were looking for; she was grateful for our helping the caravan and freely answered our questions. When I showed her the map, she reacted strongly to the marking of the black tree - said that she thought the beastmen tribe had been long wiped out. (It turns out that Dabar is originally from Densem and they all thought he was dead too, so I don't know how much stock to put into her claim about the black tree tribe).

She couldn't tell us for certain where the few remaining ayal roam, but she gave us a direction to start. When we told her about the ayal's rebirth ritual, she turned hopeful for it provided an alternate interpretation of an old prophecy. If true, she seems to think we might be able to restore all the ayal - not just the one we slay. She also gave us a number of doses of layona and directions on where we could find layona trees if we wanted to take branches back to Arashad.

There's to be a funeral later this evening for those we weren't able to save, and while we waited for that, I asked around the village about the map as well as to find someone interested in the black gold I had found. No one could help me with the map, but a man named Gann was willing to buy the coins. I might have been able to get more elsewhere, but he seemed eager to acquire them, so if we find more, perhaps we could get a better rate.

I think the funeral is about to start.