Alarming Allegations
Wisp
The party is stuck on Wisp with a missing and likely pissed off Yesu the Arcanist, a bag of Ancient Race bones hanging beneath the Island, a newly mysterious Mote, a slight lingering dry cough, and a posse of Uldans raring to come through the Vaaris-Wisp Gate. According to the now-missing Yesu they are presumably after Paetro, but the party doesn't know why - it is unlikely that Paetro's father is coming after his purloined sword after all this time.
Worried that Yesu is prowling around, the party splits duties. Orosh and Ramach begin to finish the weed-burning that the Arcanists started, hoping that this will bring them some goodwill (and because it seems like a good idea). The others watch the Gate, day and night.
In the middle of the next night, an Uldan pokes his head through the Gate and looks around. When he sees members of the party in the plaza, he quickly retreats back through the Gate. The next morning, Koros accepts an invisibility spell from Mote and passes through the Gate to scout. He sees several groups camped out in the plaza in front of the Vaaris Gate, including some Orn riders, some Uldan soldier-types, and a group of Arcanists complaining about how long it’s taking their companions on Wisp.
In the middle of the next day, two Orn fly through the Gate, climb to a decent height, circle the area around the village, and fly back through the Gate. Shortly thereafter, the Gate closes - one day earlier than it should close. The party decides to hide and wait out the last day that Gate can be open to Vaaris, and removes to the cave where they found the bones. They spend some time resting and playing cards, and in the middle of the next night return to the village to find the Gate closed, but a party of Uldans and Orn riders on the Wisp side, camped out in the village and on a small rise beyond the Gate.
Paetro scouts the village in the dark, and Koros sneaks into the village in the morning and finds a friendly Wispan, a boy named Laan, to ask what happened. Laan reports that the Gate stayed closed until the evening it was originally meant to be closed, and then opened briefly for the Vaaris Uldans and a single Arcanist (the same fellow who spent 8 years here) to come through, and then closed again.
Laan also relays that the ten Uldan Vaaris Home Guard and the six Orn Riders gathered the local Wispans from their beds and announced that they are here to find one of their own by the name of Paetro, and his associates. They announced that Paetro has recently admitted to killing his own aunt, and that and he and his associates trespassed and stole a hidden family fortune from deep in Vaaris territory.
Paid by Paetro's family, and with the blessing of the Vaaris Council, they have come to spend the next 19 days retrieving the fortune, capturing Paetro to bring back for punishment, and rendering final judgement on Paetro's associates (which for Vaaris Uldans is an unsubtle euphemism for killing). A direct return to Vaaris will be unavailable to them, so they will need to make their way back to Vaaris with their captured wayward kin through the Gate network. They have requested the assistance of the Wispans, but promised no harm to them unless they actively get in the way of the apprehension and punishment of these thieves and murderers.
The Arcanist spent some time asking around after Talmad and Yesu.
Laan reports that some of his friends and neighbors did talk with the soldiers, but mostly to beg leniency, letting the Vaaris Uldans know that Paetro and his associates helped rid them of a terrible menace. He doesn't know if their pleas were heard. The Udlans seem mostly angry and agitated about having to travel though Nade to get back to Vaaris.
With the rising of the sun several of the Orn and riders take to the air, and the party retreats again to the cave to wait out the day. They quickly surmise that the accusation is likely the continued meddling of Dar Aslan, whether leftover from his time on Vaaris or some new fuckery is not known. They decide on a confrontational course meant to show strength and make the Uldans wary, and move first to hamper the Orn Riders.
That night, Koros scouts the small rise beyond the Gate on which the six Orn Riders have taken up position. They all appear to be asleep. The party approaches, only to have all six spring up at once, as if they all heard a loud noise. In the ensuing scuffle Koros is badly injured, and in turn nearly guts one of the riders. One Rider falls off his Orn trying to escape (after a sleep spell from Ramah) and dies. Two escape to raise the alarm in the village. The party knocks out two and Akissi heals the one Koros nearly killed, and they carry these three unconscious captives away to confine them to an abandoned farmhouse, taking them out of commission for a few days. With only two riders left to patrol the skies, the party feels a little safer moving about at dawn and dusk, but nonetheless spends the next day in the cave.
The next evening, Akissi checks on the captives and questions them. They groggily say that their small troop were to act as aerial scouts for the squad of Uldan Vaaris Home Guard. It is the foot soldiers who are to do the actual capturing and fighting. The joint unit is led by a captain called Taredo.
The party again sneaks close to the village, and Koros wakes Laan to ask how the Uldans reacted to the attack. Laan says that on day one they ripped apart the village house to house, and after the attack on day two they scoured the near fields and houses for any sign of their captured companions. He says the remaining two Orn Riders are no longer staying on the hill beyond the Gate.
The party decides to hit the village and repeat their tactic, with the intent of perhaps depriving the guards on watch of their weapons or even capturing a few more. They approach the village from a near field waist-high with crops. Paetro and Koros sneak close, into position. Ramach starts the attack by putting a roving rooftop lookout to sleep, but when Paetro climbs up to tie and gag the man, he finds the two remaining Orn riders (currently sans Orn), previously prone, jumping up to run at him. He drops off the roof.
Akissi and Orosh then rush the village under flights of arrows from the three Uldans positioned on the rooftops. They know the plan has gone awry but are committed to supporting Koros and Paetro, and to showing strength to the Uldans.
What ensures is a confused and running battle through the narrow alleys, rooftops, and small courtyards of the village. The Uldans spring up from unlikely locations, boiling out of houses and alleys, and the party fights or sneaks their way in, separated but gradually finding each other to try and fight their way out again.
Vignettes from the skirmish:
There is a spellcaster among them. This disguised magic user puts Paetro to sleep on a rooftop, causes a thunderous explosion that pushes Akissi and Koros from an advantaged position at the mouth of an alley and out into the open, and shields himself from a few attacks that would have damaged him. He is also seemingly communicating with the others through magic, coordinating their movements.
The captain, Taredo, an older Vaaris Uldan in scale mail, seems to have good command of his troop, multiple times directing individuals or small teams to chase, block, or surround party members, and pulling injured men back.
Ramach makes a roving image of Paetro that confuses the Uldans for a short time.
The two Orn Riders, after the party’s initial approach, seem to focus solely on Ramach, who stands at a distance and never enters the village. They shoot arrows at Ramach while Ramach shoots firebolts back, and their strikes seem to harm Ramach more than they should.
Orosh makes a rooftop foray, in which he takes a tumble into an interior courtyard, chases the rooftop guards, and most importantly rushes and slams over the edge of the roof captain Taredo, who had been standing over Paetro’s slumbering form.
Akissi, after being blown out of an alley into open space by the hidden spellcaster's thunderous sorcery, is surrounded and beaten unconscious by four or five Uldans. Orosh breaths some life into her and she is able to get up and flee to an alley full of allies to regroup.
Koros attempts to cause a few distractions, but the guards seem disciplined. He attempts to gut one from behind, and throws poison in another’s face, and ultimately, he is the first party member to break and flee the battle.
Ramach, peppered with arrows, dives into the crops to hide. From concealment, he sees one of the Orn rider scouts stalking the area, looking for him. Mote puts the Orn Rider to sleep, losing his own invisibility. Ramach rushes forward, grabs a rock, and bashes in the head of the sleeping scout.
While Mote and Ramach stand over the dead scout, and Koros high-tails it out of the village, Paetro - feeling that it may be the fastest way to resolve this misunderstanding - kneels and surrenders in a back alley.
In the last moments of the battle, Akissi and Orosh knock out two guards. Akissi hits another with some kind of radiant burst from her weapon, and he falls to the ground with a significant portion of his face and head burned away. Orosh trades blows with Taredo, who seems to be blocking an alley entrance. When Taredo backs way and puts forward another guard in his place, Orosh in a rage slays the man with one mighty blow. In a brief lull with no enemies attacking, the two run from the village.
They encounter Ramach and Mote on their way in, but the party retreats, having exchanged significant blows with the Vaaris Uldan Home Guard. They note that the Uldans, despite initial reports of their lethal intent towards everyone but Paetro, were consistently using the flats of their weapons on opponents.
As they retreat, the party knows that Paetro is missing and presumed captured, but they also know the Uldans do not intend to kill him and the Gate opening is still 17 days away, so there is time yet for a rescue. they return to the cave to wait out the night.
Paetro is taken into one of the village buildings. There he and Taredo converse through the night. Taredo outlines the circumstances that brought he and his men to Vaaris, and reveals that "Paetro" supposedly went before his father in person and admitted to killing Thalina and stealing a fortune form the vault. Paetro attests his innocence, and tells the tale of Dar Aslan - if there's a foreigner meddling in Vaaris affairs, it's him. As a gesture of goodwill, Paetro also reveals where the captured Orn Riders are being kept. Taredo listens intently, and coupled with some holes he has found in the accusations and Paetro's reputation on Wisp, and the fact that Paetro gave himself up to spare his friends, Taredo believes in Paetro's innocence. Although he is not happy about the deaths in his troop (the two dead Orn Riders are another matter), he understands that these things happen even in careful "non-lethal" fights. His ire becomes focused on Dar Alsan.
However, he cannot just let Paetro and his associates go. For one, the local Arcanist, Lakim, has threatened to trap them all on Wisp if the Uldans do not capture the party and present them to the Arcanist for questioning about the missing Yesu and Talmad. For two, although Taredo is a keen discerner of truth, his men are keyed up to kill or capture the party, and in particular the mage (Ramach) is a target due to his non-combat murdering of two Orn Riders. Taredo needs his men to "win", either by the party's surrender or having a straight-up fight. He lets Paetro go with the understanding that there will be no more deaths (except maybe Ramach, no promises about him).
Paetro returns to the party and after much discussion they decide to play it straight. Mote and Ramach remain hidden, but Paetro, Orosh, Akissi, and Koros go and surrender to the Uldans. The Udlans take the party to Lakim, and the party tells the story exactly as it happened, leaving out the part about the Ancient Race bones. Lakim declares that the party has told the whole truth, and Taredo convinces his men that these four, at least, are not their concern any longer and that the fight should be forgotten. The mages, however, they will continue to hunt down. He hands Paetro a Writ of Appearance before the Vaaris Council, and then they are free to enjoy the scant few diversions of Wisp for the remaining 16 days until the Gate opening to Nade.
Over the course of several days, Paetro is able to negotiate a blood payment to the Orn Riders to stop their murderous search for Ramach, and they agree. Ramach is able to come out of hiding, but still keeps his presence light around the Uldans. Mote is no where to be seen, and after a week even the Uldans seem to lose steam in searching for him.
When the Gate opens, the Uldans and the Arcanist go through immediately. The party collects the bones, and steps through the Gate to Nade…