Session 7

The tattered, bloody and generally disreputable group made their way through the belt of outlying villages, orchards and farms surrounding Rath Connul, making for the city proper. The peasantry, as usual, greeted them with a mixture of scowling disapproval and fear; mothers hurried their children off the roads and people gave them a wide berth in case Kaelli went into one of the unpredictable psychotic killing sprees for which Wild Elves are notorious.

Approaching the gates of the city, they were challenged by a hostile guard; their suspicions were allayed somewhat when they realised that the tattered rags Tallis was wearing were actually a habit of the Little Sisters, and the guard captain offered her the services of a youthful and pimply guardsman to guide them to the Chapter House of the Order. Tallis, Kaelli and Pandora were greeted by the House Matron, and Fabio-Justin was made reasonably comfortable in the stable where he had agreed to look after Kaelli's horse (now called "Lucky" by everyone except Kaelli). There he met another transient guest of the Little Sisters: Barsh Godar, a travelling monk, and his disciple Jim.

Tallis solicited some expense funds, arms and equipment from the Order's armoury, and most importantly, a BATH. Justin, unable (by the rules of the Order) to be supplied from their armoury, got directions to the Street of the Armourers and went in search of someone who could fix his badly chipped bastard sword; he found the recommended place easily enough and offered the smith his looted elvish shortsword in lieu of cash. The smith took an immediate liking to him, and gladly agreed to the trade; in fact he felt that the elvish sword was far too valuable for such a little job, and offered Justin a chain hauberk, helmet and shield as well which Justin received with great satisfaction.

Kaelli and Pandora were invited by the House Matron to join the nuns at their evening meal, where she offered on behalf of all the sisters of the Chapter House of Rath Connul their thanks and appreciation to Tallis and her companions for freely volunteering to engage in such a dangerous mission in which they were all almost certain to suffer gruesome deaths of weird imagination. She asked Tallis if she would say grace for the gathering, which she did.... several times. There was no sign of the divine beneficence they were used to experiencing during such prayers, even after the Matron tried praying herself, a fact which worried the Sisters more than a little.

The Matron took Tallis to the chapel, where again the Divine Presence was completely absent. The House oracles went into a frenzy of divination, but could make no contact with the Maiden at all. Tallis wondered if the Bad Guys had perhaps already performed their dastardly ritual, but the Matron assured her that they could not do so until the winter solstice. They postulated that perhaps they had found some way to isolate the Heart of the Maiden, to shield it so that the Sisterhood were cut off from their patron. By means of divination the Order had been aware that the Heart had not yet left the vicinity of Clancappail, but now that they could no longer feel it, it could be taken anywhere without their knowledge and might then be impossible to find in time.

This eventuality gave added urgency to Tallis' mission, and the Matron decided to supply the whole group with fast horses to get to Clancappail as quickly as possible. They left before dawn the next morning, and rode hard down the Old South Road, expecting to get to the great city in two days or so. Barsh and Jim agreed to accompany them to help.

Evening of the first day found them riding the road along the edge of the Forest of Donn, overlooking the plain of Herne's Ride. Justin was riding ahead, but failed to spot an ambush lurking among the trees; a group of three mounted knights burst out and charged with their lances full into the flank of the party. Justin was knocked flying but tumbled nimbly to his feet, but the others had seen the danger in time meet the threat and were ready for the impact when it came. An epic fight ensued in which it became apparent why knights wear all that armour. Justin decided that since the knights hadn't offered any formal defiance before they attacked he wasn't honour-bound to stick to the rules, and instead of trying to fight the knight himself he chopped away it his horse — this infuriated the knight, not least because warhorses are really expensive. Tallis did likewise after being badly bitten by the stallion; Pandora fluttered down to heal her but was swatted away by the knight's great broadsword and ended up unconscious in the long grass somewhere. Kaelli leaped and pranced acrobatically, as ever, and made lots of zwipping noises with her shortsword Cuisinart of Death. Barsh unleashed his Fists of Fury and discovered that Fists of Fury work best against people who aren't wearing Armour of Steel.

Justin brought down his knight's horse before being bludgeoned unconscious; the knight demanded repeatedly that he yield, but unfortunately he was too unconscious to hear. Tallis likewise took out the horse that had bitten her, and was likewise beaten senseless by its infuriated rider. Kaelli and Barsh between them managed to knock out the third knight, but Barsh was then kicked flying by his horse and ended up on his back, unconscious. Kaelli then engaged the other two knights, disarming them. Justin regained consciousness, grabbed the knight's fallen sword and attacked him from behind. Now the knight's really outraged. The unconscious knight came to, leaped back on his horse and rode around to attack Justin from behind, so that's tit for tat.

Kaelli and Justin are the only two party members still conscious, (not counting DNPC Jim, who has bravely run away in time-honoured DNPC fashion) and both are teetering on the brink of going sleepy-byes if they get so much as a tap. The knights, having started out intending nothing more than a bit of run-of-the-mill fort-main robbery, are now severely out of pocket after losing two warhorses, and are getting a wee bit tetchy at this unreasonable resistance by mere nobodies.