On Our Return From the Fat Farm...

[Bevan]

I suspect, as Dave indicates, that she will do the shaping of the relationship between herself and the group on her own terms, and that there may be some futility in our attempting to steer things too strongly. Ewen can, of course, return the horses just to see if she makes a move in whatever game she is playing...

I agree as well. When I made the suggestion that you go with the horses I was definitely thinking more on the lines of presenting an opportunity for her to speak with you...not the other way around.

[Imarë]

I have been giving the concept of helping Rahel a lot of thought. I think that we would have (and still will) help her with any task that she gives. The fact that she has saved our lives does not change that. I base this on a couple of things. One, Sir Auram said she is a friend. If he views her as such, that gives her an aura of officiality. Two, there is a likelyhood that her master is Lord Morgan. I don't believe that anybody is going to turn him down if his person asks for help.

I also think that she knows who the group is and who it works for in much more detail than we know of her. She also keeps some kind of loose tab on us since she noticed we had fallen off the face of the earth. I still think it would not be out of place to give her a token of our esteem and thanks (and not as trying to repay her largess).

[Lord Ewen]

Again, my own opinion is that we maintain greater aplomb by leaving things be for now, rather than risk appearing fawning. But if others decide that such a course of action would be churlish, I will of course graciously kick in my share.

But I must ask: What does one give a girl who has everything? (Expectant heads turn to Bevan... )

[Imarë]

No, I had given up on giving a gift to Rahel. Your fawning comment is very apt. I was never trying to suck up to her (as she is likely to see this in a negative light), just wanted her to know that we (I) did appreciate her saving our bacon. My post was just what I had been thinking about what we would do before and after she saved us and do not think there is much of a difference.

[Lord Ewen]

Gotcha.

Meanwhile, is there any consensus on whether we all go to Coranan?

[Imarë]

I do not think everybody is required to go to Coranan. I think that Bevan and Sir Baris should go (Sir Baris needs to be there to get his new armor and to keep him away from the Laranian). Ewen and Imare should go back quietly to both look for Baya and to report to the temple. Is there anything else that people feel needs to be done?

[Lord Ewen]

The only problem with this plan, as I see it, is that Elessa of Aerth indicated that it would be a few days (I seem to recall her saying 4 or 5, but neither my notes or Teddy's session notes specify - does anyone remember?) before she would have her response for the Selvos Aramia, so Imarë and Ewen might have a considerable wait. He just met with her "yesterday".

A lot of time passed while we were imprisoned. I wonder whether Arnys might know something, or have some ideas about, Baya's fate in Selvos?

[Imarë]

I would then suggest that Bevan and Sir Baris go to Coranan and Ewen and Imare wait for the message. I seem to recall that Bevan wanted to get a handle on if anything in the city has changed and it would probably be a good idea to spend a day or two doing this. I think that our former landlord in Selvos would be the primary place to start to gather information on Baya. She would have to eat and she is familiar with the inn. This area, as I recall, is where a lot of sheep are raised. There would probably be flocks of sheep and the attendant sheppards. This might also be a good place to garner information. As a tracker I can look around for any signs of her in the surrounding area. Once Bevan has reported and Sir Baris has his new armor they can come and join us in Selvos if we have not returned yet.

[Lord Ewen]

OK, I'm not opposed to this plan. Do we know how Baya would respond to either of us, in the absence of his occasionally neglectful mistress?

The Arnys line simply seems worth the shot, while we are waiting in Golotha, and doesn't obviate your own sensible plan once we get to Selvos.

Shall we ride or take ship? While we have no intention of crossing paths with Barald Palgren and his ilk, I am now vaguely uneasy with the notion of relying upon a berth on a boat if we need to leave town in a tearing hurry. Of course, Palgren's first move would likely be to seize our mounts should he attempt to hazard anything crazy, but I somehow feel we'd be more independent with horses. One would hope that the chastised Serolan will keep buttoned up at his temple; at the least sign of trouble from that quarter, I have no qualms with speedily seeking sanctuary with Sir Ellis at the keep!

But this makes me wonder: why did Rahel of Aerth choose the land route anyway, assuming she was in a hurry to come rescue us? I would certainly think her capable of comandeering a berth on a ship for her and her men. Maybe nothing was leaving in time? We appear to have made the journey back in two days, even with poor Arnys strapped to his mount - the time saved by the water route can't be too much.

While we wait in Golotha, we should probably canvas our accumulated contacts in order to gather the info about developments in the city. This might range from the high and urbane (Jahmis Keir? Sir Blors (well, high at least)? Sir Tovar?), to the middle class (Nicola of Variens, Boraga (!), Selik?, etc) to the downright dangerous (Sir Zaurial's old haunt?). Thoughts?

[Matt]

OK, I'm not opposed to this plan. Do we know how Baya would respond to either of us, in the absence of his occasionally neglectful mistress?

The dog does not seem picky in your experience.

why did Rahel of Aerth choose the land route anyway, assuming she was in a hurry to come rescue us? I would certainly think her capable of comandeering a berth on a ship for her and her men. Maybe nothing was leaving in time?

It's about a day by ship, two by land. OTOH, horses are somewhat more tricky to transport by water than just people.

[Imarë]

Isn't Baya a female? I had always thought so but I might have been mistaken. I think that it is worth the try, at worst we would have to go back with Bevan and at least we would have some idea where to find her.

I would council using horses. You do not have to ride openly into the town, it is possible to skulk some and check the lay of the land. This is why I think Rahel came this way, some cover is always nice. Whether or not the Soloron does anything, I don't know and will also keep my way to the keep clear. I was considering not staying in the town but hiding in the wilds and only going in for short periods but I think that would be a little on the paranoid side and would give the appearance that we feared the Soloron (whether we do or not). I do not think any further attempt will be through starvation and torture, it will probably be (if anything) a direct attack so I intend to stay out of dark alleys as much as possible.

Checking the contacts sounds like a good idea, at the very least it cannot hurt (except maybe for Sir Zaurial).

Besides the message and retrieving Baya do you have any ideas for Selvos? We should also make sure that we leave an schedule for check in with those in Golotha, Imare has lost enough weight for now.

[Matt]

Isn't Baya a female? I had always thought so but I might have been mistaken.

Girl dog. Indeed, when I needed a picture of her I had to edit out certain parts of the wolfhound picture I had ...

[Imarë]

Had some thoughts on BayaQuest '05. The primary one is why she ran. There are several thoughts. The first is that she was afraid of the men. She has been in fights and around armored men before (she was, I believe, with us in Orbaal in the fighting we took part in there). This could be because there was something greater than we could perceive there which made her run. It could also be the GM deciding to rid himself of the on again off again dog. I discount this because the only thing she ever seems to do is cost Bevan to spend more money (I belive the GM thinks this is a positive attribute but he can deny if he wishes). The dog had just come from a Morgathian Amorvren pit and did not run at that point. This could be an indicator that something else is going on in that town, something that made her run. It will be interesting to see if she can be found.

[Lord Ewen]

My own analysis, accomplished via a combination of painstaking computer modelling and highly detailed hand-drawn Venn diagrams, suggests you're reading too much into the dog thing.

Was Baya really in the Morgathian temple??? Is something even more nefarious portending from her disappearance?

We forgot about the dog, and then we remembered the dog. Not unreasonably, given the fact that the dog being forgotten HAPPENS SO FREQUENTLY IT IS FEATURED ON THE FIRST PAGE OF THE WEBSITE, the GM decided after an eternity of forbearance to spank us on it. Dog's missing. I'll bet you a bottle of Palithanian wine that any plot connected to said disappearance of the dog will be wearily cobbled together by the GM if we make an undue nuisance of ourselves about this thing. Far as I'm concerned, if we don't find the dog right off, or if the mutt gives us a bit of trouble, we can just surprise Bevan with a yappy terrier puppy and let her sweat housebreaking the thing over at the ol' Palliser Arms.

[Imarë]

I did mention that this might be the GM taking the chance to get rid of the dog. While this is a large possibility, there is also a chance that it is more than that and I just want to go into the session with this possibility in mind. It should be apparant fairly quickly if there is any chance of recovering Baya and I agree that the search should not be a recreation of the search for the Lindburgh baby. As Baya was with us when we reached the inn and stays with her mistress unless otherwise indicated I had just assumed that she was with us the entire evening. She also seems to be an intelligent animal (running away from the Morgathian hill in Golotha but waiting for us away from the zone of danger) and seems to be able to sense things which we do not. Therefore I am going to keep my eyes open in this situation both for a theme and for a puppy breeder.

[Lord Ewen]

Fair enough. Sounds like we are in agreement in taking horses.