Granophyre answers Snow’s prompting, focusing now upon one area of the floating image, now upon another, by pulling and turning the map with his hands, as you also can do. His sage basso rises and falls.

“Thacia, I have learned, is no longer Shian, except in name. Following the rebellion it was ceded to the Empire through marriage, and the dacha is now the Jenghen imperial seat in the vale. El Harrouch is the royal dacha, but controlled too by the empire. We shall have to be careful when in the vicinity of either.

“Yet my understanding is that nobility from throughout the lands and seas travel to El Harrouch castle in the vale. We shall have to see for ourselves how recognizable we might be.

“We know that the Amazigh and Jlasi families rule the opium trade, which has brought them great wealth, and our dealings with both families has been violent, and therefore we have reason to expect violence in their lands in the vale.

“As for enslaved children, Varielky, the thought turns my stomach and yet… we must remember — speaking of agendas —,” acknowledging Snow with a nod, “that the Azhvuv Queen’s revelations were far from detailed. I am wary of attempting action without much more firsthand — or trusted, vetted— knowledge.

“Also, we must bear in mind that our… company… is smaller than when we began.” He is silent for a long moment. “And, that our goal, if reached, could tell us secrets from the past which could impact the present. That is why we are being pursued, after all.

“Let us speak of the next step in our quest for knowledge. Safiyah. Unusually named for a Shian. A young goat-herder during the Rebellion, over fifty years ago. What do we know about her now?”

Responding to Varielky Auger states, "The only other thought I would add is that if we do not find someone to take care of these slave children once freed, then we might find ourselves holding a burden we do not know how to handle. Tamazaert was quite simple to help sort out in comparison, and she is off to a good start as a function of Granophyre's generosity. How far would he have to go to free -- who knows how many slave children? Speaking of Tama, it was her work with me in the Archives that is leading us on this path to Safiyah..."

For Snow's benefit and for his own reminder, Auger speaks to the things he knows from the letters he found in the Abziri archives.

(OOC: Quoting liberally from previous posts)

When Auger was in the Abziri archives, he and Tamazaert found letters with an important clue, indicating that Omar El idrissid’s mother (abbreviated as A.e.I. in the letter) fought Orcs and may have been given the core of Dacite axe, by the goat herder Safiyah, in the vicinity of the Abziri dacha, on the northern slopes of the Vale.

Auger

The letters are in Shian script, florid and carefully written, and reveal the author’s intelligence and urbanity, eloquence even, which unfortunately surpasses the southerner’s fluency with the language. But with the help of Tamazaert, the following facts are revealed. 

-The correspondence took place while Nafsawiyyah was living in the Vale of Deshar, at the Abziri dacha — the family’s summer house — engaged in support of the rebellion as a troop leader. 

-The letters do not detail anything specific about troop movements or the fighting. Nafsawiyyah, in the first letter, writes that she is concerned about the possibility of the letters being intercepted by Imperials, but that despite this danger, write she would, in answer to her mother’s request and especially in light of the older yemma’s health, which is described as ‘tender.’

-The summer house, the dacha, is on the northern slopes of the Vale, and on the grounds are a mill and pastures shared by cows and goats whose beauty Nafsawiyyah describes with poetic intensity. 

-In one passage, Nafsawiyyah, with pointed fury, writes about orcs, their barbarity, their entrenchment in the annals of the Jenghen Empire, ‘which will pay a debt for their continuing atrocities,’ and the bitter failing of the Empire in its laissez-faire attitude toward them. She expresses gratitude to her ‘friend and ally from the coast, A.e.I.,’ who, while Nafsawiyyah was away from the dacha ‘on business,’ ‘saved lives and dealt the enemy a blow.’

-It seems likely that the correspondence ended, after several months, due to the untimely death of the older yemma.

(OOC: Does Auger know precisely who the elderly lady was who sat in the Archives? Because this description speaks to the death of the older yemma. I think that means Auger interacting with the older yemma's daughter, but years later, correct?)

"I see." Varielky turns, looking upriver. "Then, the timing is just not good. The children will have to wait." These words leave a foul taste in her mouth, and despite realising it is the unavoidable truth, she can't help but ponder the problems the others raised. "One more task added to an endless list." She starts to wonder whether she'll even live long enough to see it all completed and whether it is even possible. It is for that reason she needed guidance. To set her priorities in order. 

After a few long moments, she turns back to face the others. "I might be confused about the details. Not that it is impossible, but are we sure that Safiyah - a goat herder, is the same person as the troop commander Na-Nafsaw... the longer name? Though it makes more sense for the axe to be in the hands of the troop commander, I find it odd for one to mistake a famed fighter for a goat herder. And if the woman was both at the same time, wouldn't referring to her as a goat herder be considered an act of disrespect? It does not add up unless I'm mistaken about something."

Re: (OOC: Does Auger know precisely who the elderly lady was who sat in the Archives? Because this description speaks to the death of the older yemma. I think that means Auger interacting with the older yemma's daughter, but years later, correct?)

(OOC: —Yes that’s correct. And it is her son, the Viceroy Abziri, who has been taken into custody, according to a rumor you heard the prior night in Jemmu Village.)

Snow listens to Auger and Varielky discuss the information they had picked up in the past and tries to relate that to what Strewn had told him the previous day. Unfortunately he was not much help at this moment, he had nothing useful to add.

He tries to piece things together in his own mind. It seemed the Abziri Dacha was merely a summer house, with another residence being in Abziri Amboule in Kalahata, which is where this archive was located that Auger went to? He had no idea who this Tamazaert was, something to ask later. And the rumour about the arrest of the Viceroy of Abziri they had heard, that surely isn’t a coincidence.

And in regards to Safiyah. They had no location for the one time goat herder except anecdotal evidence that Adilah El Idrissid was at the Abziri Dacha many years ago, the Dacha which has goats in the grounds, and helped in the rebellion saving lives and dealing the Jenghen Empire, or specifically Orcs, a blow. And Omar El Idrissid had confirmed his mother was a young ranger when she got the axe, so the timing could match. They do not know for sure Safiyah is alive but if she is she will be very old by now.

Travelling through the majority of the Vale of Deshar was going to be treacherous, with enemies all around, be they from the Jenghen Empire, Amazigh or Jlasi.

Oh, and who was this Azhvuv Queen? Another question for later.

If anyone notices his thoughtful and slightly confused expression at this point and remarks on it, he blurts out all the suppositions and questions, otherwise he stays quiet and lets the others discuss things.

Granophyre notices Snow's expression, allows him to give voice to his questions and suppositions, and is curious about the viewpoint the half-elven archaeologist/bard from the Kingdoms will bring.

As you discuss your next move, traffic is building on the river, and a queue forms of transports and barges heading south and awaiting their turn to be carried down, while after your arrival at the head of the falls, the great Demsha urn soon pulls away once again and slowly moves downwards to collect more vessels heading upriver, in time depositing them behind you to continue their journey upstream.

As you yourselves turn northward and your sail fills, you take a parting look behind you to see the bank of fog, now beneath you, rolling away like ghostly cotton bunting, pierced by the only visible vestige of Kalahata: the topmost reaches of the Poppy Citadel, perhaps two miles in the distance, brightly reflecting morning sunlight. As you look, out of its high aerie two rocs emerge, which now fly directly toward you, their enormous wings moving in slow, powerful strokes and carrying them over the fading mists to the head of the falls.

Seeing how Snow is confused, and how some of the information is even confusing to himself, Auger relates what he can.

"The Azhvuv are a group of undying. Well, undying assassins mostly. We asked for a boon from them to free a friend. They asked for a boon in return. Free their Queen. That brought us into the desert yesterday. The Azhvuv act with their own interests at heart so there is no guarantee that any future interactions will be easy or smooth.

"When we freed the friend, Benita, we also freed another person, Tamazaert. Tama assisted me in the archives as she happened to read and write Shian, a language I struggle with. It was an Abziri managed archive in Kalahata but there is information about all of the Vale there." (OOC: right?)

Auger continues, "I met the Viceroy while in the archives. Pleasant enough as nobles go I suppose. I do not know why he in particular would be part of any round-up. If the Jenghen know about his family's possible connection to our path, that would speak to them throwing great resources at us in order to--" 

At that moment Auger sees the Rocs flying towards them. Auger suggests Granophyre step inside the cabin and after a moment's thought, he joins him, leaving Py outside. Before he closes the cabin door, he says to the others, "A low profile is best."

Auger finds a seat on a bunk and lets his senses pass into Py's. Become invisible he sends, but otherwise just fly up to the top of the mast and keep the Rocs in sight.

Snow turns to look at what Auger has seen, as he and Granophyre move into the cabin. Squinting his eyes slightly to avoid the reflecting sunlight from the Poppy Citadel, he spots the two roc riders.

“That’s not good”, he says looking at the river around them. “They are likely focussing on vessels travelling North, escaping the city. And there aren’t that many, we will stand out like a wort on the end of your nose”, he adds to any within earshot.

“Hold on”, he says and suddenly turns the tiller, altering their course and sending them towards the end of the southbound queue of traffic. He concentrates for a moment and summons his invisible mage hand and uses it to keep the tiller steady as he heads towards the sail, intending to lower it before dropping anchor and stopping the boat in the queue.

It takes no more than three minutes. Snow must rush to move the boat across the river.  You have just pulled into the queue when the enormous raptors flash overhead, only a few hundred feet above you, screeching warnings to their perceived prey below.

First comes a wiry bird with multi-color plumage, which dips low at its rider’s bidding to circle the northward bound lane, to land for a moment on the eastern bank. You see the rider cast a spell, one of the bargemen floats upwards in his magical grasp. They exchange words. A few moments later,  with a wave of the dagger-moon liveried rider’s gloved hand, the bargeman suddenly drops, arms flapping, into the river. The roc’s head turns away, darts down, plucks a lamb from where it grazes, cocks its head back to swallow the creature whole. Then with two flaps of its great wings, it is up again following the second huge avian.

It, the second roc, is broader than the first, with black and brick-colored plumage, and bound to its saddle are a series of swaddled bundles, one or two feet long. It maintains course, steady and indifferent. They fly away north, and as your heads crane back to mark their passage, you see distant flashes of light, some eight miles northwest. A signal from Thacia castle. 

"Wait, let's not do anything rash." Varielky tries to stop the captain if it is not too late. "That would only attract attention to us. As far as I know, and hope, none we should hide from knows the master is travelling with me nor with Auger, surely not with you." 

Either way, as she sees the events unfold, Varielky remains standing on the boat, whether or not Snow decided to listen and maintain course or follow with his plan. "I guess they weren't after us. Fools, we are. They couldn't know who we are." Either way, Varielky keeps watching for a bit more, to see whether the rocs turn or keep flying away. If they do not return, she'll let the ones inside know.

Snow holds his hands out and shrugs apologetically. “My gut told me we had to get off that north bound side so I had to act fast. My apologies if that was the wrong choice, but did you notice that roc only circled the northern side of the river. And one of those bargemen travelling north was interrogated, if they weren’t looking for something or someone why would they stop and do that?”.

“It is concerning that those roc riders are apparently magic users, we cannot underestimate them”, he adds.

"Perhaps you're right, but then again, they only checked a single barge?" Varielky ponders Snow's words. Mages were always concerning. Even the best fighter still used a weapon, of some sort. Magic... it was unpredictable. It could manifest in so many different forms, too. But, indeed, flying mages were the worst. Even her throwing axes... axe, couldn't reach beyond a certain distance, which wasn't too great. The best she'd be able to do, most likely, is wait for the others to take care of them or hope they'd fall off their mounts. "You should never underestimate anyone. That always brings bad results. Estimating someone's skill correctly is often more important than your own skill. Their strengths and weaknesses, too."

Snow smiles at Varielky, "Well now you know I am a little impulsive, whether that is a weakness or a strength I do not know, perhaps it can be both. Your words are wise however, and that is a strength".

"Shall we get moving, I think the rocs are gone? If more come, I will stay the course", he adds with a nod.

He makes sure Varielky is happy to get moving, and if so raises the sail and brings the Animu Borongo back around and continues north.

"I wish I could say I'm not impulsive at all, but the past speaks for itself." Varielky moves and knocks on the cabin's door. "The rocs are gone. If they were searching for us, they didn't know we were here and didn't bother to search very well. They continued northwestward. Shall we continue?" With approval from Granophyre, Varielky would ask Snow to sail on northward. 

The rocs keep to their course and soon disappear over the softly rolling horizon. Up the Sebu you sail, unmolested, for over an hour, until you see the river road branch west toward Thacia castle, which overlooks the vale from a tall crag. At the intersection, travelers on foot are being stopped and searched one by one by a company of garrison soldiers. 

Nearer, an armored man in imperial livery, upon a long barge anchored near the eastern bank which carries a dozen armed footmen in Jenghen blue standing calmly, chatting among themselves, kneels, and dribbles some pellets into the lapping water to feed a large trout whose head pokes out of the river, its wide mouth working between pellets.

The armored man then stands and hails you, his voice magically amplified. 

“Approach and prepare to cast anchor… Animu Borongo.”

Auger returns to the deck, leaving most of his things and his coat, standing where it is in its fashion, behind him in the cabin and agrees that heading northward again was good. Observing the discussion between Snow and Varielky he has little to add. Yes, the move may have drawn attention, but the move also kept them away from these mages on Rocs. It seems to have worked out. "We do travel in fresh waters, perhaps Piya favored us in this matter."

"The flashing point that came from Thacia, did anyone get a good look and recognize the signal? I'm curious if it was a welcome to the Rocs or a warning to those nearby." 

Per the previous discussion, Auger tries to take on the appearance of a deckhand and has a few carpenter tools on him. Looking towards Snow he asks, "Does anything on the boat need any shoring up?" Auger looks around himself to see if there is any actual need he can detect.

Snow thinks back to the flashing, and tries to recall the sequence he saw before shaking his head. “I didn’t pick up any message in the flashes of light sorry”, he replies to Auger.

When Auger asks about any work needing doing, he thinks for a moment before he says, “In truth I have not made a proper inspection of the boat recently. It would be worth checking the deck, mast and boom for any signs of wear and tear or damage if you are ok doing that?”.

It is then that he spots the armoured man in imperial livery kneeling on the barge, accompanied by a group of Jenghen soldiers. “There goes our favour”.

“I hope he read Animu Borongo on the side of the boat, and hasn’t been waiting specifically for us”, he says after the man shouts instructions. “I see no option but to do as he says”, he says to the others, locking eyes with each of them in case they have other ideas as he raises an arm in acknowledgement.

As he drops his hand, he reaches behind his back and grasps the violin, managing to pluck one of the strings. He concentrates on the sound filling the hollow inside the violin and says a few words of power, and feels the magic infuse within him. Anyone watching closely would see a ring of fire in his eyes, making its way around each pupil before disappearing (Enhance Ability - Eagle’s Splendor).

Unless he is told otherwise, he will do as the armoured man instructed.

Having just put up the mast that morning, and seeing no obvious problems with it, Auger chooses to start his search for issues by inspecting the boom. This inspection is relatively fast as he cannot do much with it, he sees, without disrupting the piloting of the boat.

[Auger rolls a (customd20) 5 then adds +4 for a proficient tools/investigation of the boom for warps or problems. Total is 9].

He detects no particular issues and so he begins examining the deck point by point, shoring up a few loose planks he finds for the next hour. Occasionally Auger will lean back for a rest and pass his senses to Py and look around from its vantage point.

Auger is in the process preparing to pull up and then reset a slat where the deck could be more even when he hears the voice call out to the Animu Borongo. He stands and looks at the speaker and then at Snow, nodding to indicate his own agreement with him, yes, they should follow the instructions. Auger then puts his tools into his case and walks them back into the cabin, closing the door behind him and informing Strewn of what is coming, if he did not already hear. Auger takes his floating coat and folds and places it at the bottom of his pack. Then he stores his tools in an upper part of the pack and returns to the deck, empty-handed and stepping to assist Snow or Varielky as needed.

Stay invisible up there, he sends to Py, unmoving and still up on top of the mast.

You row to bump up against the barge, throw the mooring line and it’s made fast to a pile. The armored man unfurls a scroll part-way, reading questions from it. Behind him, a woman at a small table seems to write your answers into a large ledger. 

“Names. Place of origin? What is your destination and purpose in the Vale of Deshar? How long will you be here? How many in your party? Do you bring items of value? It is a punishable offense to transport opium or opium-ready poppy products within the vale, and punishable by death to buy or sell such products. Is that understood?”

Snow wanders over to the side of the boat near to the armoured man.

“Good day sir”, he says jovially with a beaming smile before bowing deeply.

“I am Captain Snow Das out of Ignomar on the Sea in the Kingdoms. I am travelling with my entourage”, he gestures to Auger and Varielky, “for the purpose of tourism and discovery, heading up river to the north of the Vale”.

“How long we will stay depends on how fast we travel and how long we tarry along the way. I expect there is much to see and do in the Vale”, he adds.

“Items of value? Well my instruments are of value to me, but I am not sure you would say the same, that is a personal thing. I am hoping to play for some of the families whilst here in fact, assuming I would be welcome at the Dachas. I am a bit of a musician you see, well regarded where I am from”.

“We have no business with opium or poppies of course, do not fear in that regard”.

“Whilst we are chatting, could you please advise us about the river ahead. Will we have trouble with the mast?”, he asks finally, motioning at the height of it.

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