I was exhausted yesterday so completely forgot to do the writeup after our session – but what a game it was! We picked up from last week with the group split across three locations as they negotiated and bargained with various groups of survivors to band together under Thorin’s banner to retake the Hold.

At Flower Town, conversations began about the practicalities of how to gather people together at the right time and in the right place. There was a rapid realisation that the DDC hadn’t considered how to keep in touch – but fortunately a representative of House Sivis was among the refugees and through the power of their Dragonmark they were able to get a Sending to Caeluma.

For their part, Caeluma and Karkanna had arranged that when given a signal, the werewolves would assemble near the Hold. Caeluma got to know the spokesman of the wolves so that they could use a Sending to likewise signal to them when it was time. Hearing from the rest of the group, Caeluma decided to make their way to Flower Town, while Karkanna returned to the shrine.

Kerne continued their research into a cure for lycanthropy following the sharing of a hag’s recipe by Faye. Taken as written there was a high cost to assemble the ingredients per dose, but Kerne reasoned that if they could interpret some of the more obscure terms, they may be able to reduce the costs by sourcing things that might be known under more familiar names. When Karkanna returned alone, Kerne feared the worst and challenged her. A tense and sassy exchange left a silence between them as Karkanna turned to feeding her child, and the werewolves present enforced a distance between them.

Caeluma was able to swiftly fly to Flower Town and surprised everyone by dropping out of the sky into Thorin’s lap while everyone was sat round celebrating. Under the cover of flirting, they updated Thorin on the plans, but as light was fading the group decided to accept the refugee’s offer of roofs for the night. The group was put up by several families in homes around the main square.

Kerne and Karkanna resumed talking as Kerne wanted to ease the tension but also share the discovery they had made. The high cost was pitted against the saving of lives – but when Kerne asserted that if need be it could be only given to those who wanted the cure, Karkanna made an empassioned speech about the corrosive and corrupting nature of the lycanthrope curse. She did not want the curse. She definitely didn’t want her child to bear it. Kerne asked if the Clan could afford it, and Karkanna said that even if she wanted to give Kerne all the money right now, she couldn’t as she didn’t have the key to the Vault – that was in Thorin’s hands. Karkanna said that Thorin was the rightful heir now. He had the skills and aptitudes. He had the support and willingness to sacrifice himself. Karkanna was, now and always, the monster in the dark and would protect and avenge from the shadows. The evening night drew in with a rapprochment and gentle acknowledgement of the fight and struggle to come, and as the temperature fell, Kerne and Karkanna retired to Karkanna’s tent.

The rest of the DDC were rudely awoken in the night by a gout of flame and the screamed challenge of the red dragon Killiklik. Accompanied by the Dragon Blessed called Sigrund, a challenge to the Heir and his companions was issued to test their worthiness against the Draconic Prophecies surrounding this event. A tense and bloody fight ensued as the group leaped to defend the village and each other before Sigrund ended the challenge and cast a mass cure upon all the combatants. An agitated group rounded on them and their decision to appear in the middle of the night, only to be met with the assertion that fate and destiny wait for no one, and despite the suddenness, they had proved equal to the challenge and therefore capable of facing what was ahead. Rings were offered to the group as signs of their place in the Prophecies and of the favour of the dragons of the Argonnessan – but Caeluma challenged Sigrund and Killiklik further – to join in the fight.

There then followed a series of cryptic questions that tested the DDC’s awareness of the situation, and the stakes involved should they fail. Caeluma spoke passionately about saving lives across the continent from the Winter’s Knight and the eternal ice he planned to release in the heartlands of Khorvaire. Killiklik then turned to Thorin and asked if he had made his Choice. Thorin said he had – that he would fight for his land and his people.

Killiklik then nodded to Sigrund, who bowed in return, and the Killiklik repeated a line he had said earlier – that he knew his Doom and would face his death – and then affirmed to the group that he and Sigrund would fight alongside them.