Leaving Adari
Three days cooling heels while Will heals the sickest. By the end, there's quite a crowd surrounding the temple most of the time, and it would be easy to grow concerned about your ability to leave. Before falling into an exhausted sleep late on the second night, Will sends word to all of you that he intends to conclude with a big ceremony first thing in the morning on Wildday the 35th. In the mean time, Rasa feels worse, the cold continues and the wind does not return. Definitive word comes from Boldhome that Whitewall, the last free city of the Orlanthi, has fallen to Lunar assault. Surprisingly, there is no word of the capture of the Heortling King, Broyan or his various heroic followers, rumored to include Kallyr Starbrow and other Sartarite expatriates. The crowds on the street say that Orlanth is dead, that Lunar magic has killed him.
Speth received a cold reception from the Ernalda temple, involved herself in what are rumored to be desperate rituals and does not answer any inquiries. "Her life is not yours to ask for, man," says the haggard, worried looking guard at the entrance to the temple. "She has gone on, seeking the goddess in the dark. Do not expect her to return."
On your last evening in Adari, Garusharp is returning to the crowded Pavis shrine after a day of observing the secret life of the town. Small crowds of people huddle under the portico clinging to each other for warmth, preparing to wait out the night for Will's morning ceremony.
Among the many crouched there, a spirit-marked Heortling sits and stares down the steps until Garusharp approaches. Then he shakes his head as if he has just seen something unexpected and leaps to his feet like he's drunk. "Ah, finally! Yes, I get to meet you at last...no more waiting." He approaches the teshnan hands empty, and in any case he looks too malnourished and cold to be any sort of a threat. There is an odd light in his eye.
Meeting Garusharp at the foot of the stairs, he continues happily "Garusharp Banaru beloved of Vaneesha Kan Sa edge walker and friend to the Vessel of Light, now I know relief!" He reaches out his hands to shake or clasp Garusharp's. "I need to warn you. Something terrible, I feel it--something terrible terrible is looking for you outside the city. Hot and burning, angry and sparking. It's coming!"
Does Garusharp welcome this stranger?
