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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 4494425" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #26 – “Challenges, Trials & Tests” (part 4 of 4)Osilem, the 10th of Keent - 566 H.E. (637 M.Y.)The next afternoon they headed out to Lilly City.  They took a galley that took passengers from Sluetelot to the ‘City of Flowers’.  Timotheus sat near the stern strumming his lyre poorly, and the rest of the group kept their distance from his painful strains, talking quietly and observing the high battlement-topped walls that lined the canal in many places on the south side, and the rolling green landscape to the north.  Ahead of them to the west they could see the blue-green sheen of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Captured+Sea" target="_blank">the Captured Sea</a> growing larger and brighter as they approached. The green landscape grew dotted with white buildings and scattered forms of herds of sheep and other domesticated animals.The galley rowed out into the Captured Sea where surging fresh water roiled with the dirtier water of the canal, and then turned through large gates into Lilly City itself.  Sometimes called ‘the Drowned City,’ the city was made of islands with platforms of wood and stone built upon them.  It had broad avenues of water that wound its way through the city, flowing in and out a moat-like trench that surrounded the immense area.  The ferry let them off at the top of large protrusion of earth and rock that served as the city’s harbor.  The galleymaster referred to it as ‘Island Port.’  Two squat towers defended the passage beyond here into the city itself.  The Signers of the Charter of Schiereiland waited in the shadow of one of the towers, at waterside, looking out over the city in rare silence.  They could see the central tower of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/House+Roorback" target="_blank">House Roorback’s</a> citadel, http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Terrapin]Terrapin[/url], at the center of the city, dwarfing everything but the spire of the High Temple of Ra not far from it.“You folks looking for a gondola?” A voice called up from the docks below, and they saw a long narrow shell with a partially enclosed cupola, and a long pole for propulsion and steering.  At its helm was a young man dressed in a vest and a dark blue kilt.  He hopped off his boat and walked up to the young nobles, and then stopped in a sudden and exaggerated manner when he saw Bleys the Aubergine.“Ah! Noble watch-mage! Allow me to bring you and your companions to your destination this dimming evening,” the gondolier said.  He bowed deeply.The man’s name was Peter and the party asked him to bring them to an inn.  “The Gold Arch Bridge and Inn,” he told them as they climbed on. “Not far at all!”“How much will it be?” Bleys asked.“It such a short trip!” Peter protested with humor. “You are obviously fine and gentle noblemen and women visiting our fine city.  Pay in advance for my being your gondolier on the morrow and the rest of tonight is free.  There is no need quibble over coppers for each trip.”Bleys agreed.As Peter poled them to the inn, they could see that the islands of Lilly City were connected in clusters by bridges, but a gondola was required to traverse the entire city, and with the most convenient mode of travel in most areas.  The buildings and islands were covered in fragrant flowering creeping vines, and anyone who smelled the polluted canal water understood why the plants were ubiquitousThe Gold Arch Bridge & Inn was indeed a bridge, or at least it was built as part of an immense bridge that crossed the Grand Canal that led into the center of the city and under which most boat traffic had to pass to enter or leave its boundaries..  “How convenient! You can puke right out the windows into the canal!” Timotheus joked, and his cousin glared at him. The gondola was moored at a small island that held a support for the great bridge.  The architecture was impressive. The inn was a long sprawling building with one whole level beneath the span of the bridge, and partially enclosed staircases led up to the inn within the frame of the supports.  Peter was told to wait around as they would be visiting somewhere else after checking in, and he gladly agreed to wait.  They noticed nearly a dozen gondolas moored on the other side of the canal at the other support, and a small cottage that looked like was a place to hire passage around the city.Porters appeared to take their packs and gear and carry it upstairs for them, though the young nobles were allowed to ascend first.The Golden Arch Bridge & Inn was startling in its quality.  They stepped into a sitting room decorated with a plush carpet, bright paintings of the Captured Sea and scenes from the Lilly City canals and bridges in gilded frames.  The chairs were plush and wrought with decorative black iron, and the tall desk of the clerk was a deep beautiful mahogany. A low fire crackled in a hearth in the cozy room.  Peter Van Durant, the fancy inn’s host greeted them with quiet respect, addressing most of his comments to Bleys.  The inn was owned by different branch of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/The+Winter+Family" target="_blank">the Winter family</a>.They were shown to two suites on the lower level that hung beneath the bridge. They each had common room with a large window looking out onto the city, and two separate smaller bedrooms. Bleys and Markos shared one suite and Timotheus and Telémahkos the other.  A cot was carried into the suite common room for Tymon.  Markos tipped the porters generously when they carried his things into the rooms. Laarus and Victoria, however, were put in a suite up on the bridge level, as that was the final vacancy.After dropping their gear, they hurried back down and had Peter pole them over to the Silver Harbor, the place <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Danser+Von+Huet+Blued" target="_blank">Danser Von Huet Blued</a> had said he could be found in order to arrange for the time and conditions of the duel itself. The tavern was well-named if it were a tarnished silver harbor it were named for.  It had swollen and warped moors, and the building itself listed, with a half-collapsed sealed-off porch that was slightly more than half under water.The inside was dark and dingy, and there was Danser bouncing coins on a table top in some elaborate drinking game he and a group of dirty looking men in frilly shirts and tight pants played for money, as some well-endowed wenches looked on.“Ah-ha!” Danser Von Huet Blued stood suddenly as soon as he noticed Telémahkos and the others.  “So you decided to actually show up! Excellent! It is always more honorable to face your defeat with courage and magnanimity.”“We shall see who will defeat whom,” Telémahkos replied. “And yes, I have arrived for our duel… Now we only need decide when and where and by what terms.”“Go and sign us up for a time to use the arena in the Duelist Market Square.  It can be arranged for at the temple of Fallon,” Danser replied.“The Temple of Fallon? Really?” Victoria was confused.“The Fallonites take small donations in return for the service of keeping track of the duels and administering over them so that fewer are killed or gravely injured than would otherwise be,” Danser explained.  “As for the conditions, we already know that when I win I shall take back my rightful possession, the sword of my former master, and if you… ahem… win, then you shall have proven yourself a worthy enough swordsman to wield it – though, there are few I think, perhaps, including yourself? Heh… Few who think you have any chance of defeating the student of Kilgante Valeros!”“Yeah… Yeah…” Telémahkos was dismissive.   “I get to chose the conditions of victory, and the first of us to yield or fall unconscious shall be declared the loser.”“Those terms are acceptable, and we shall fight with rapiers,” Danser replied.Telémahkos told his challenger that he would return with the time of their duel (aiming for the next morning), and he and others got back on Peter’s gondola and headed out to the Duelist Market Square, not far off the center of the city, and often in the shadow of the spire of the High Temple of Ra when the sun was shining.  As it was, Peter lit a small lantern he hung from the prow of the gondola, and poled carefully in the darkening waterways of Lilly City.  The square island had several buildings on it, but the vast majority of it was given to dozens of stall for merchants and peddlers to hawk their wares.  The vast majority of them were already closed and the rest were closing.  There was a recessed area where the duels took place and perhaps a hundred people or more could squeeze into the three-tiered stone levels overlooking it.   As the young nobles made their way across the wide plaza, they noticed a large weapon smithy, another place where gondola service was rented, a message post noted for its pen of pigeons and its <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Faultless" target="_blank">faultless</a> on wooden perches, and finally the white stone of the long temple of Fallon.  It was built low to the ground, and the front doors were down a short and wide set of yellowing marble steps.The Signers of the Charter of Schiereiland were greeted by Felix of Fallon, who gladly chalked in the name of Danser and Telémahkos for an hour after noon the next day in return for a silver coin for the temple. “While we are here, we also have need to speak with the ranking Medicus here,” Bleys the Aubergine said to Felix.  “It is regarding a matter that we believe is of some importance to your order…”“Certainly,” Felix gave a shallow bow and had them wait in a sitting room outside of the of the inner temple chamber where the altar was.   The portion of the temple dedicated to the recording and arranging of duels was in a narrow wing just off the entranceway, far from the sacred chambers and hospital itself.Phaedra was the high priestess at this healing house. She was approaching middle-age, but her hair was already graying, she had a hard face, but kind eyes, and listened patiently as Bleys told the story of the recovery of the Amulet of Fallon from the Tomb of Dalvan Meir. [sup]1[/sup]“Do you know <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Leisel+of+Isis" target="_blank">Leisel of Isis</a>?  It was she who told us we’d be best served bringing it here,” Laarus of Ra said. [sup]2[/sup]“Oh, Leisel! What a lovely woman she is!” Phaedra’s face lit up when the priestess of Isis was mentioned.  “You do our temple and Fallon great honor to return to us this ancient item from the days before our order even existed!”“We did not know if it would be right to keep it, but agreed that your wisdom on this matter would be the best followed, if you said we could keep it we would…” Bleys said.  Markos leaned in, eager to hear the answer to this.  He had spent a good deal of time back in Sluetelot and on the journey to Lilly City trying to convince his allies that they should make an offer to the temple in regards of some kind of favor or reward for it return.“This shall come into the hands of the Church of Fallon and be sent on a pilgrimage around the world to heal the sick and wounded,” Phaedra replied.  “Such relics are best not kept unused in one place, or used by the same people for too long… Fallon’s favor is meant to be shared.   It shall travel from temple to temple and we shall be sure to let everyone who hears its history know that it was the Signers of the Charter of Schiereiland who retrieved it from a tomb of darkness and evil…”“Also know as the Sons of Thricia…” Telémahkos added. “If you could also let it be known that our charter would be open to having one of your order accompany us on our adventures as we seek to aid the people of Thricia and right more wrongs, we would really appreciate it…”Phaedra of Fallon agreed to do so.On the way back to the Silver Harbor, Peter decided to bring them the long way around, past the impressive walls of the High Temple of Ra and the towers of Terrapin, in order to get a view of the Theatre of the Fire Gods.  It was huge impressive building of three crenulated spires and long wide steps that led up to a broad open patio from which the inner theatre was reached.  It was constructed of red and brown stone, and decorated with long narrow tapestries of yellow, red and gold, that ruffled in the wind and were lit up by the flickering lights of reflecting lamps.“This impressive theatre is really the jewel of Lilly City’s architecture,” Peter told them.  “It is the home to the renowned Rainbow Garland Players, and once a month Ataro the Olman Princess sings a special performance… I have never been able to go, but I hear it has people falling into the aisles, weeping from the sadness or joy that her divine voice evokes…”After a quick stop at the Silver Harbor to let Danser know about the arranged duel, the young nobles returned to the Golden Arch Bridge & Inn to eat and rest before the next day’s activities; that is, except for Markos, who was making plans to go back out again…End of Session #26----------------------------------------------------Notes:(1) See Sessions #17, 19 and 20.(2) Actually, it was <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Amarantha+Roorback" target="_blank">Amarantha Roorback</a> of Isis that told them to bring it to a temple of Fallon, though Leisel was present. See Session #22</blockquote>

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