Scrying Delwath Nov 15

(Nov 11 - Nov 15)

Kharsan

With the amount of time you spend watching random places around Kharsan, you get a good sense of the preparations. It seems a large army of undead, at least a few thousand strong, and a smaller but fierce army of many 500 Orcs, are preparing to march. There are racks and racks of crude if sharp weapons, and shields and armor, and horses and supplies for the Orcs. Which direction they plan to march, is hard to say, but it seems to you that it will only be a 2-4 weeks before they march. It does not look like there are enough weapons yet for the size of the undead army, but the Orcs are clearly getting restless and feeling their strength. There is not a lot of activity to the south or west of the city - you see few Orcs among the Samraat Tombs, and nothing in the deserts to the west, between Kharsan and Shakun’s Protection. And there is no sign in your scrying that the army is making any preparations to defeat Shakun’s magic - so if anything you would guess they are heading east, not west. But again, it is hard to say for sure.

Karawa/Tokra Road

Random scries on the road are tricky, and the odds are high that you will just see animals and the plants and dust. And indeed, that is all you see the three times you drop in. At best, you could say there is probably not an unusually high amount of travel between Karawa and Tokra.

Vola

Vola resists your scries twice, but you do see her a few times. Once, she is riding across an open plain, it looks perhaps like the Hara river valley, south of Tokra; she seems to be alone. Once, she is in camp, on vast plain, sitting by the fire and cooking a brace of birds. Antonia is nearby, and Hektor sits in silence, but you don’t see Kadmos or Casian. Vola doesn’t talk much, responding to Antonia’s attempts at small talk with monosyllabic grunts. The last time, she is crossing a slow flowing river (perhaps the Hara?), fording at a shallow spot on her horse, and looking back to indicate where to cross to Hektor, Antonia, Casian, and Kadmos.

Fausto

Fausto is elusive. Twice, you sense just a blankness, and once you sense him resist your scry. Once, he is eating a meal alone in his tower, looking over bills (he clearly still has a lot of money, and is clearly hosting elaborate dinners, based on his household bills). Once, he is on the streets of Chardon again, walking with some urgency through what looks like the academic quarter, stopping to great people with a wave or a nod but moving with purpose.

Hralgar

You attempt to scry on Hralgar twice, failing both times.

Sura

You scry on Sura five times during the five days you are in camp. She is busy, and often in audience or council. The discussions often center on the mundane concerns of an army camp - food, logistics, horses, funds.

Once, she is alone, seemingly tired and worn out, sipping on a glass of some kind of wine in her dressing gown as two handmaidens prepare a bath. She sighs, weary and exhausted, as (I presume?) you look away before she steps into the waiting water.

The last time you scry on her, she is meeting with Havdar, a few other people who look like trusted advisers but whom you don’t know, and with another man who seems to be standing a little apart, watching and looking around. They are talking about battle plans – there is a map laid out and you can see Sura’s camp marked, and the armies outside of Tokra, reinforcements along the Darba road. There are notes scattered as well, speaking of possible Chardonians coming by sea to aid Karnas. Havdar is saying, “if it is to be war, our only hope is a surprise, we must strike and at least capture Tokra before aid from Chardon arrives.” Sura interupts, saying “if Chardon is really throwing their weight against us”, when the watching man says, “Shit! They are watching us now!” as chaos erupts and Sura shouts - “hide the maps - find the spy, they must be close!” (you gather from this that the implication is they think someone is using clairvoyance, not scrying)

Radomir

You frequently check on Radomir, during your journeys and at camp, as you typically scry on him at night and have more time.

About half the time, you fail to see anything, which is perhaps not unexpected given you’ve never met him, so scrying is difficult. But you begin to piece together a picture. Most of the time, he is still asleep in the early morning, and it is usually still dark. Once you see him awake abruptly in a sweat, grabbing for something at his neck, but there is nothing there.

His midmorning routine is fairly boring, to be honest. He seems to live alone, and is not in good health. He seems to spend his mornings taking care of chores around the small one-room hut he lives in, and cutting wood, always cutting wood, from a huge pile of sawed logs. He moves slowly when he does, and coughs, but the wood pile is staying the same, and maybe even growing, despite the prodigious quantities he burns for heat and warmth.

Twice, you see something out of the ordinary. One morning, a man rides up in a wagon, and drops off what seems like a good store of food. They don’t speak - the man in the cart seems resentful. But Radomir is grateful. Another morning – later in the same day, after he awoke in a sweat – you can see him writing a letter. The language is strange, but of course you can read it. The letter reads:

“My dear Yelena,

Sister, I am sure you wish your disgraced brother would be silent as commanded, but I must write. The nightmares have not ended. I had the dream of the winged creature attacking the monks again, while I was petrified and could not do anything. And a few days ago, the dream of being on a sinking ship, wracked by waves. I cannot go on like this. You have sway over the Rodnya Voknaz, I know, can you not ask them to destroy the thing once and for all? I am sure they would succeed where I failed.”

At that he stops, sighs, and crumples the letter, throwing into the fire.