Game 19: The Inkeri

When they go down the spiral stair, they find a cistern with ranks of columns like in the pictures of the Istanbul one, and a row of console-like devices against the far wall. Across the top of the equipment are a row of jars that Aeris recognizes as Leyden jars. Also, there are five people there.

• First, you see Harlan Volker there. He appears as before, except now he has fresh, crudely sewn stitches, around the left side of his forehead, eye, temple, cheek.

• Second, you see a smallish emaciated looking man dressed in the style of an office worker from the eighteenth century. He has a three-piece suit - jacket, vest, white shirt - all unbuttoned so that his chest shows. He's barefoot. He has thick black hair, dark eyebrows that overshadow his little eyes, and a black beard that comes down about three or four inches below his chin, cut off straight at the bottom to make a square.

  This character's name is Lessner. His head is shaved in the back and he has a scar from stitches running vertically from the top of his head down the back.

• Third, you see a boxer-looking guy. He's just wearing MMA-style shorts. He has a similar scar to what Lessner has, vertically from the top of his head down the back. His name is Morgenson.

• You see two others, Keeler and Berens, dressed in scrubs, who might be Harlan's assistants. Keeler looks like the droopy-eyed character actor Vincent Schiavelli.

When the party goes to the park, they do find a camp there crowded with tents. At first there are just a few folks outside the tents, tending animals, but as the party moves through the camp, word spreads, and soon the entire camp is stirring. Near the center of the camp, the party finds a clearing in front of a large circular tent, which has a diameter of about 25 feet. An old man standing near the tent entrance opens the front flap so they can enter.

They stand up and one says "Welcome. I am Ormir, and these are Gomme and Ernhurst. We are three elders of the Inkeri, and this is Kajal.

The four of them look at Beowolf, since he's obviously a barbarian, and suggest that he is Beowolf. They say they have been looking forward to meeting him, and also acknowledge the party, saying they are glad to meet them. They ask the party to relax with them, motioning to a circle of rugs and furs where then can sit together. Many younger men come into the tent late and make themselves comfortable in an outer circle. Ormir introduces three of them as Belwe, Leutwin, and Asger. Belwe reclines comfortably against a saddle that's been set on the ground as ad hoc furniture, with a fur draped over it as a kind of luxury.

Ormir passes around food and drink, and says that there is a rumor all over Hilde that Beowolf is a Highpyre survivor? The second elder Gomme says there are also rumors that Beowolf revisited Highpyre and even the interior of the Hilde? What was his experience there? Did he...lose time?

Gomme also says there are wide-eyed Hilde rumors that the green meteor Noreste is Beowolf's star. He says that Noreste has become bright, even visible during the day, with a long tail that stretches far across the sky, and people are saying this is a sign of Beowolf's ascendance.

The first elder, Ormir, says the Inkeri need an ascendant leader. When Highpyre was destroyed the Inkeri high leadership - both political and religious - was killed. Not knowing what destroyed Highpyre, Inkeri in other cities scattered into the wilderness and are divided. And with the Inkeri scattered, the other great cities, like Hollin and Blackwells, claim Hilde resources that the Inkeri once controlled, like Greencake.

But, he says, a new Inkeri leader would have to do much more than just unite the Inkeri under his political and religious leadership and reclaim Hilde's resources from the great city­states. He would also have to find out what destroyed Highpyre and reestablish the city as a barrier against the horrors in Hilde's waste.

They ask if Beowolf could be up to this task. If yes, they also question his companions, the party. I guess particularly they find Aeris disturbing, maybe questioning the bag; they find a collaborator from the Caliphate maybe promising, asking if he is Caliphate nobility, but turn sour when they find he's an exile.

At this point one of the younger Inkeri, Belwe, stands up from reclining on the fur-covered saddle in the outer circle. He goes to the center of the circle, and addresses the elders, saying, "Ormir, Gomme, Ernhurst, and reverend Kajal. Beowolf has never lived on Hilde, and does not know our people or cities. He does not know our religion, and instead travels with a Caliphate heretic. Our religion reveres nature, and the wolf Muninn was a friend to the Inkeri for many generations, but now Beowolf wears his fur as a trophy."

A second young Inkeri, Leutwin, stands up in his spot the back row, and says, "Also, Beowolf cannot protect the remaining Inkeri cities from being attacked and burned like Highpyre, if he cannot even protect his own business from being burned down."

At this a murmur goes around the tent. Belwe draws his sword and says, "Ormir, Gomme, Ernhurst, and reverend Kajal. Asger speaks correctly. Beowolf is left-handed and inhuman, and I claim my right to kill the abomination now in single combat."

• To operate in the interior of Hilde, Beowolf needs an item that will let the party travel without losing time. The guy who has that is the father of Belwe, who Beowolf just killed. Kajal suggests that if Beowolf is serious, he should put down Belwe's father and get that item.

• Finding Lethe's Star and raising it over Highpyre again would be a major rallying point for the Inkeri.

• Adopt the Inkeri religion / get some barbarian magic / get a spirit animal. Maybe find an Inkeri shaman to see if he has any inkling if Beowolf is the leader or has a place in the Inkeri religion.