The Return Journey - Perhaps!?

Cleaning up in the aftermath of the demise and/or capture of the Slave Lords takes quite a while in the hidden city of Suderham. The remaining members of the inner council of that organisation swear loyalty to the player characters after their show of extreme might, especially the summoning of Grome to finish off Stalman Klim, High Priest of Xiombarg and Pretender to Changshai. The surviving Slave Lords were the guildmasters of thieves and assassins, and had been rather reluctantly forced to come to terms with the Slave Lords in the first place; with a sigh of relief, they can go back to their day jobs. The players obviously don't entirely trust them, but they need help in putting everything back together again after the abortive eruption of the Suderham volcano and the sudden appearance of a 150-odd mile riverway to the sea. The population really needs calming for some reason...

Edralve of the Dharzi House Eilservs slips away in the immediate confusion, after promising the PCs help against Lolth: "We are not strong enough to move against her and the rest of our kind, who still support her out of fear. But we can subtly interfere with her plans, which are now in some disarray because of your actions." After all, this is twice she has been thwarted - once with the Rising of the Dark, and now again with the destruction of the Slave Lords.

Sir Blanque flies off on his mechanical bird of Law to meet with the vanguard of the army of Eshmir, which the group knows will be heading in the general direction of the Suderham caldera. He ushers them across the main trail over the mountains, without giving away the location of the secret tunnel route through the range - the players decided they should keep that one to themselves.

This is the world map from the Mongoose version of Elric! The dice show the locations of the players' holdings in the eastern realms. No.1 is the location of Suderham, which now sits at the head of a large river running south right through the middle of the mountains. No.2 shows the location of the Valley of the Blue Tower.

It turns out that the rightful ruler of Eshmir, The Drei Myur, has accompanied this part of his army, which also includes the rest of the PCs' trading and diplomatic mission. He has developed a bit of a shine for Alexia, the Eshmirian woman the characters saved off the coast of Lormyr from Pan Tang pirates. She is the daughter of a famous courtesan, a position of high influence in this part of the world, and is given rulership of the Free City of Suderham by her new lover. This means that the players are now in possession of a major link in the trading chain that now stretches all the way back to their banking HQ in Gorjhan (southeastern Ilmiora).

Sir Blanque is concerned about the state of affairs in and around the Blue Tower near the place where the Ragged Pillars debouch into the sea. This is another main staging point for the players, and he wants to go back there and see what is happening with their local allied clansfolk; he also wants to spend some time studying in the library of the dead sorceror-scientist who originally built the place. So he flies off on his big birdy while the others generally socialise, put everything in order in Suderham, and do a bit of training. Trade and military vessels from Eshmir have already started plying the new waterway to Suderham; it won't take much time to change the former military bastion to a major port on the new route from Eshmir that leads ultimately to the Young Kingdoms, via the Weeping Wastes. The fact that the players control the two main crossing points in the mountain ranges will help to make them very rich. Destiny doesn't seem too bothered; this is all piffling small change compared with Imrryr.

Finally, it is time for the expedition to start heading back westwards. They set off in a powerful galley loaned to them for the occasion by the grateful Eshmirians, which rows them down their new waterway in suitably stately style. There is a moment of danger when their vessel is buzzed by what they think is one of the fabled manticores of the East, which turns out on closer inspection to have a stinger on its tail and breasts - one of the very rare females of the species (possibly yet another Dharzi original). After a bit of flurry, Destiny manages to use her air elementals to push it (her?) into the water while the ship moves onwards. She is pretty sure the creature pulled herself out a bit later, looking rather bedraggled. Probably needed a good wash anyway...

The vista as they travel towards the sea through what was until recently entirely mountainous terrain is suitably grand. Eventually, they debouch into the sea proper and turn westwards. Always staying within sight of the coast, they don't bother visiting any of the towns and cities they pass, instead heading straight towards a landing point as close to the Ragged Pillars and the Valley of the Blue Tower as they dare - the waters become more and more treacherous the closer they get. No point in being dragged towards the dreaded Roaring Rocks.

There are various minor encounters with seagoing phenomena, but nothing of any real consequence occurs on the voyage. There is some excitement as the expedition is ferried ashore by the galley's boats when a large shark launches itself out of the water in an attempt to grab a tasty meal; it simply misses and then crashes back into the sea on the other side of the boat carrying Marion and Destiny. It vanishes, probably too embarrassed to try again. [Fumbled attack.]

The expedition assembles and then wends its way to the Blue Tower. They cross the area known as Nishvalni-Oss, a parched plains area lying in the immediate shadows of the eastern side of the Ragged Pillars. When they were heading eastwards, they saved a couple of tribes here from a bunch of raiders led by a loony messianic person, which means that they have allies who control this part of the region. All that diplomacy is starting to pay off rather well.

On arrival at the Blue Tower itself, they find that their tribal friends have happily set up home in the hidden valley, and are beginning to cultivate the area. The old fortress surrounding the tower remains in ruins, and there are still some rather suspicious looking dips and gaps in the ground that the characters know lead to various underground areas. However, it looks as though the party's earlier presence has scared away any potential dangers from those locations, and the amalgamated tribe is delighted to see them. Somehow, Sir Blanque has been using the Blue Tower to water the place, and Marion's herd of steppe ponies is being well cared for by the locals.

It turns out that Sir Blanque has been making use of the Djinn they found in the tower to revitalise the region; the creature is bound to the tower, but as long as nobody tries to touch the gold hidden inside, he is more than happy to lend a helping wind or two, plus water and provisions. Since he has to be here for at least another 350 years, everyone is happy with the situation. He actually quite likes the players!

Now that the expedition is reunited, it is time to decide on a date to set out westwards across the Weeping Wastes. It is three months since Sir Blanque left the others behind in Suderham; he says he has been spending the intervening time here at the tower studying "maths" and "physics" in the very well-stocked library. Marion thinks she knows what he means, but nobody else has a clue.

That night, Sir Blanque receives a vision from the Daughter of Straasha they befriended in the lakes known as the Tears of the Land...