Threads in the Skein of Fate (Thayilli)

[Imladir]

By the way, I haven't forgotten your request about the who's who. I'll try to work on it tomorrow or on Monday!

“Hey K'ressa,” Thayilly saluted the cute girl and her green dragon. She rolled her eyes next, “Rumors fly indeed...” Thayilli turned her head to squint suspiciously at Sam': dragons seldom talked to other humans than the one they were Imprinted on, but they certainly weren't shy among themselves, and liked to share interesting news to their humans. Well some of the time anyway, and what they decided to share and kept to themselves could be baffling.

After a couple of seconds - and a rub around the eyes - she shrugged and turned away, “I can't say I did much fighting though. What I did was run and try to be fast enough that it wouldn't catch me...” She sighed though, knowing full well that trying to go against the rumor was futile, particularly considering how Perrin was likely to pour oil on that particular fire.

“Now, where's my patient...” Thayilli turned around, looking for the wounded man. “Speaking of,” she looked back at K'ressa, “Could you find a couple of guards for him? I'd rather avoid any accident when he wakes up. He'll be disorientated and in an unfamiliar environment, so...”

[Grognardsw]

K’ressa smiled at Thayilli’s remarks.

"The strange ship and its metal men - we are to search for them?" Sameroth telepathically asked her dragonrider. "No other dragons have seen such things. And how were there Thread marks on the ship's side when there have been no reports of Thread?" Sam's tail swished.

Sameroth settled in as Thayilli confirmed the location of the patient. He had been brought to the healers hall and was under observation. He remained unconscious.

The other dragonriders arrived. It had been a long day and they gathered for a late dinner. F’rar and Thayilli and the others recounted their experiences for a few council members who joined them. It was agreed there would be a full council meeting tomorrow morning.

Samok the Smith caught up with Thayilli after dinner.

"I found many fascinating pieces of metal work," he said. "These people are far more advanced in metallurgy and production. Where do they come from? Why have we not encountered them before, in the dragon travels across Pern?"

The many items taken from the ship were laid out in the Great Hall for inspection by the Council tomorrow. There were samples of metals, unknown materials, strange cloth, a variety of implements of indeterminate nature, recognizable items that were crafted well beyond Pernese capabilities, and sundry other knick-knacks of interest.



The next morning the Arolos Hold Council gathered in the Great Hall. Masters from each Guild were present to hear about the crashed ship and to determine what steps should be taken.

Accounts were given of the location of the ship, its dead crew, one survivor, the metal man threat, the assumed Thread holes, the possible missing craft in the empty bay and corresponding gaps in equipment, and the inventory and make-up of the craft. The Council listened with great interest.

Sketches drawn by artists showed what the ship looked like. The Council studied the items taken from the craft.

"What does our Queen rider and Weyrwoman-in-training think of the situation?" asked S'rntor the Wise of Thayilli.

[Imladir]

Alright, it took way longer than it should have (sorry about that...) but I've done it:
https://app.nuclino.com/All-Men-Are-Bro ... Minus-One/ (you'll need an account there, but it's free and could be useful anyway, particularly if you want to edit stuff yourself)
And I'm on vacations now, so no reason not to post frequently!

“We should yes.” Thayilli answered Sam's question. “There are many of them who have disappeared and who knows what they waant or can do. Plus, we have one of their companions with us and I'm sure he'd like to get back to them. Or maybe ask them why they left the ship and he wasn't invited? Anyway, they're possibly dangerous and we don't want them running around without knowing what they want, where they come from, or in fact,” She nodded, “Where they encountered Threads in the first place.”

To Samok's questions, she answered with a shrug, “Questions my patient will hopefully have answers to, but...” She looked at the sky, “Wherever they come from, you can be pretty sure it's not from Pern. There are places we don't know all that well, but there's no way we'd have failed to notice something like the ship we saw.”



Before she answered the question, Thayilli rubbed her chin. In the end, it wasn't like she had much more to say, “Outside of trying to find whoever left the ship when it crashed - or just before it did - and trying to learn as much as we can from said ship, there's not much more to do for us.”

“But,” she added after a moment, “We should make sure both that every Weyr is on the lookout and that we can learn everything we can from the ship by giving access to it to Smiths, Harpers,” she paused briefly, “Harpers that are actually in what the ship has to teach than what we've done,” she grimaced slightly at that, “some Healers too, and who knows what else.”

“All in all, we should probably build a not so temporary camp over there.” At least it wasn't in anyone's domain so there wouldn't be any fights about that...

[Grognardsw]

F’rar nodded in agreement to Thayilli’s words. “A camp would be wise also, in case the strangers return to their ship.”

S’rntor the Wise concurred. “Let us then establish a camp there. Bring the resources and people needed.”

“We have no reports of Thread,” the council leader continued. “Yet the ship bears Thread mark. Could the craft have come from the other side of the world, where Thread is falling? Or from another world altogether?”

There was subdued talk at such theories.

“Perhaps the advanced ship came from a future time, seeking escape from Thread?” theorized Jorone. The rider was known for his fanciful imagination. His brother was a Harper.

There were many smiles at such an idea, and scattered laughter. Did Thayilli detect a nervousness among some of those laughing?

“We will investigate the ship further,” S’rntor said. “Perhaps we can glean more answers. We will send word out to all the Weyrs and initiate searches for the strangers.”

[Imladir]

Instead of laughing at Jorone's theory, Thayilli took a moment to think about it. In the end though, she shook her head. “I don't believe it. Even assuming that they...or we I suppose...could have found a way to do it safely without a dragon, which... Well...” She shook her head, “Anyway, even if that were possible, surely the metal man would have spoken our language. Which wasn't really the case.”

“As for where else they could have come...” She once again shook her head, “We found them where a falling star crashed. So they came from up there,” she pointed to the ceiling, “And who knows what there is to be found. Maybe they found Threads on the way, or wherever they come from they also have Thread problems.”

“The only way to know,” she shrugged, “Is to find the missing crew or wait for the unconscious one to wake up...and hope his brain isn't scrambled...”

[Grognardsw]

Jorone nodded his head.

“Yes, I suppose that’s right. If only we could get that ship sailing again. Or I should say flying again.”

After more conversation and review of the implements and materials found at the ship, including presentations by the Master Smith, the Council concluded.

Dragon riders were sent out to other Weyrs to pass the news and orders for continent-wide searches. Representatives from different Weyrs would be part of the camp to be established at the ship.

K’ressa met up with Thayilli over lunch. “How did the Council meeting go?”

Thayilli was tasked with flying a search sweep that afternoon. She had her choice of flying companion.

[Imladir]

Making the ship fly again, uh... “That might be asking a bit too much.” Unless the crew knew how to fix it, but... “Especially considering the knew...holes...it acquired on the ground.” What with the dragons melting a door and ripping the hull open.

“Pretty much what you could expect.” Thayilli answered K'ressa's question. “We'll set up a camp on the crash site with all the Hall members who'd be interested - and hopefully useful - to study the wreck and what it contains.”

“And,” she grimaced, “We're supposed to be looking for the missing crew. Who could be anywhere.” Which, well, it sort of had been her idea - or at least she certainly wasn't against it - but having to do it herself wasn't exactly the most fun ever.

At least it would allow her to spend a lot of time flying. “And I'm supposed to pick a wingman.” She cocked an eyebrow at K'ressa. It would mean a lot of pauses to account for K'ressa's dragon lower stamina, but it wasn't like it'd be that much of a problem.

[Grognardsw]

Thayilli and the dragonriders of Arolos Weyr took flight across the skies, each in different directions in their search for the strangers. K’ressa was happy to be flying with Thayilli.

Thayilli could see that F’ran patrolled with Jorone on his blue Torloth; Gyzax flew with H’rerra and her green Prentoth; and Masix on his brow dragon Karnth accompanied Praern on his blue Pufth. And there were many more flapping off into the distance.

Their search patterns would take them low to be able to see the rolling grounds of plain, forest, valley and mountain.

Please make a 3d6 Int. check per hour of searching.

[Imladir]

Search (15, 3 hours): [3d6]=8,[3d6]=10,[3d6]=9
So three successes I guess?

It took some effort on Thayilli's part, but she - mostly - managed not only to remember to take some pause every hour or so to allow K'ressa's dragon to rest for a bit, but to actually pay attention to what they were doing, namely look for the strangers.

Though to be precise, she wasn't actually looking for them directly as unless they were accompanied by metal men she wouldn't have been able to recognise them and even then if they were too far it wouldn't be easy, but was looking for the small ship in which most of the crew had left the big one. Or anything that might have been cause by it crashing: it was after all a very distinct probability. How ironic would that be...

[Grognardsw]

Thayilli and K’ressa swooped and veered above tree lines looking for any tell-tale signs. In the second hour Thayilli spotted an odd and rare sight. A handful of Sulidor - great shaggy primitive humanoid creatures with long snouts and clawed appendages - were dead. From her height Thayilli couldn’t see any detail.

[Imladir]

Thayilli at fist didn't react to the vision of the dead bodies: they clearly weren't what she was looking for. Quickly though, she ordered Sam' to circle around while she pointed the ground at K'ressa to indicate that she had seen something.

No, the Sulidor weren't what she was looking for. But... If they had been killed by a predator big enough to attack and kill a number of them, it would have eaten the bodies. And a lone predator not big enough for that would have avoided the encounter.

It was entirely possible of course that the predator had been wounded and had fled to lick its wounds instead of eating, but she didn't really believe it. No, it was more likely that this hadn't been done by an animal at all.

Of course, it didn't mean that they had been killed by those she was looking for, but it was definitely something she was going to have to check out. After a minute or so to check that there was nothing dangerous visible in the vicinity of the bodies, Thayilli said to Sam' “Tell K'ressa to keep watch above, and land over there,” while pointing at a clearing.

Once on the ground, she approached the bodies cautiously: there wasn't much that would want to mess with a dragon, especially a Gold one, but if they had been killed by someone who didn't come from Pern... Well, they might not have the same caution. And worse, they might not need it in the first place.

Once close, she started to examine the victims to see what had killed them.

[Grognardsw]

Sameroth glided down to the sight of the dead bodies. Thayilli dismounted and investigated. The half-dozen or so furred humanoid creatures did not die from other natural predators, judging by the nature of their wounds. There were limbs cleanly cut off; holes in the flesh that passed straight through the body; burns and chunks of flesh missing; and a few bodies that bore no wounds at all but were somehow dead. Dried brown blood was everywhere, but so was dried red blood. The ground was scuffed with many prints, all such that none could be made out specifically.



It was a disturbing and mystifying sight. Who or what could cause such wounds? The bodies had been dead for a day or two.

[Imladir]

Hmm, what do we know / think of the Sulidors? Are they animals, primitive that could be friendly or agressive or..?

As she examined the bodies, two things became quite clear to Thayilli: first, that this had definitely not been the work of predators; second, she had no idea what kind of weapons had cause those kind of wounds.

Some might be the result of sword attacks, but sharper than any she had ever seen. But the holes, to say nothing of the deaths nothing seemed to have caused... No, there was no way something local could have done that, which meant this had very likely been done by the people she was looking for.

With the bodies being two days old though, who knew where they could have gone. She was no tracker herself. On the other hand... If they were now on foot, their...raft...had to be somewhere close by, probably damaged.

After a last look around to make sure she hadn't missed anything, Thayilli went back to Sam'. Once in the air, she transmitted to K'ressa via the dragons, “The sulidors were very likely killed two days ago by the people we're looking for. They're on foot though, which means their ship-raft-whatever shoud be nearby, probably damaged. Let's look for it.”

Before that though, she took a minute to imprint the place in her mind, to be able to transmit it later to Sam' or other dragons to come back here directly. If nothing else, they would need to bring a tracker to follow them to wherever they had gone.

[Grognardsw]

Thayilli knew the Sulidor to be a reclusive, semi-intelligent powerful humanoid race living in the more mountainous and deep-forest lands. Their furred, clawed, large-snouted bodies were well-suited to hunting. Given their dwelling was far afield from any Hold or Weyr, encounters with the Sulidor were rare and they seemed to keep to their own.

Besides realizing there was a multitude of footprints of Sulidor and unidentified others, the hard ground in the area prevented anymore insights. It was likely a tracker could better follow tracks from the scene.

Thayilli mounted Sameroth and took to the air.

"These strangers were many, or wield powerful weapons," thought Sam to her rider. Thayilli could feel her dragon's emotional anger at the disruption to nature and the death from the strangers.

K'ressa was excited to be on the track. "We should follow any rivers and lakes. They'll need water if the crash left them with none."





After another hour of flying and searching, the forest thinned out to plains. Thayilli and K'ressa spotted a road and a caravan of traders.

[Imladir]

“And they'll be judged for it. If they're not killed before we find them.” Thayilli answered Sam'.

She wasn't sure K'ressa's reasoning was sound, but she readily agreed to follow the river: if you had no idea where you were, following a river would at least ensure that you'd get somewhere. And since a lot of villages, towns, holds and...well, centers of population really, tended to be built close to one of those, they'd be relatively sure to get somewhere interesting.

What they would do once there... She had reasons to be worried considering all she had seen of the strangers.



As she noticed the caravan, Thayilli briefly hesitated: it seemed probable that they hadn't seen the strangers so there was little point going to them, but on the other hand, they might not know of the danger they posed.

So instead of continuing on her way, Thayilli instructed Sam' to land in front of the caravan but some distance away so as to not frighten the beasts pulling the wagons, something she knew some riders enjoyed doing. In most cases it was "simply" because dragons found that fun, but that just showed poor judgement from the riders who should have taught them better. There were after all a lot of ways dragons could have fun that wouldn't hurt or inconvenience anyone so it wasn't like they were missing anything.

She then jumped on the ground, said to Sam' “Go back up there, I don't want you on the ground where the strangers might be.” since, as she had just realised, they might in fact have hitched a ride - assuming they had overcome their aggressivity for a while - and leisurely approached the caravan...but trying to see if she spotted metal men or strange things.

[Grognardsw]

Sameroth dropped Thayilli off and quickly took flight. As the dragon rider waited for the rambling caravans to arrive, she thougtht about the life of these continent travelers. Trade was the backbone of the Pernese barter economy, with great traveling caravans carrying products across Pern. Most items produced in Pernese Craft Halls found their way to the rest of the world on wagon wheels, alongside any interested person looking to start a new life somewhere else. Conveying people was as much a facet of caravan life as carrying products, brigands and bandits. Each caravan tended to have its own method of operating, with as much to do with the families involved as the practice of traveling long distances itself. They were divided into clans; a distinctive feature of each is the surname, by which they are identified.

The lead rider in front of the caravan pulled ahead and reached Thayilli.

"Hello girl," he said.



"Was that a dragon I saw you riding?"

[Imladir]

“Girl?” Thayilli mumbled with some incredulity. That coming from the older golden riders was one thing - and since it was usually condescending she didn't like it all that much either - but coming from a caravan head was... Well, to be fair, she supposed he wasn't all that wrong but still. She was almost tempted to have Sam' buzz him...

“I did.” She answered his question with an eyebrow cocked: surely there weren't all that many people standing in the middle of nowhere with just the clothes on their back? Well, maybe if he had seen the strangers recently?

“There is a group of strangers roaming around. They probably don't look like anything you've ever seen, likely with strange weapons. Have you see anything like that?” After a second, she added, “Or maybe a weird metal boat in the middle of nowhere?”

[Grognardsw]

The man raised an eyebrow at Thayilli's confirmation of her dragon.

"Well, what brings you to these remote roads? What Weyr do you hail from?" he asked. "I am Harnack of the Amhold Clan of traders."

Thayilli had heard of the Amhold clan, a well-known name among traders. They typically carted supplies from Igen to Telgar Hold, among their other routes. It was said that their leader Borgald Amhold would put thin sheets of metal on the top of his trader wagons, like his forefathers did. The Amhold train serviced holds since the very First Pass.

"No I have not seen any strangers. Though two nights ago we heard unusual sounds in the distance. Nothing natural. We thought better not to explore it, given we have a schedule to keep. And several nights ago we saw an odd sight in the night sky, like a falling star that did not fall right."

The wagon caravan was catching up.

[Imladir]

“I am Thayilli of Arolos, rider of Sameroth.” Which wouldn't tell him anything, so he was likely to conclude she was riding a green, maybe a blue. After all, while most everyone knew the names of the established Queens - there weren't that many - Sam' was still too young for that.

“Not giving free rein to your curiosity was quite smart, those weird falling stars are related to the strangers we are looking for. While you might have missed them, they are dangerous. Deadly so.” She paused, making sure he understood how serious she was. “I wouldn't be surprised if what you heard was one of their weapons.”

“Can you tell me where exactly you think that shooting star fell?”

[Grognardsw]

"Arolos - yes I have visited there several times. I have a cousin in the Weaver Hall at Wabonel Hold." (#5 on map)

"Ah bandits! We know how to deal with those types," Harnack replied. "Who have they robbed? I haven't heard of any new gangs."

The caravan wagons were approaching.

"What type of weapon could make that noise?" Harnack asked.

The trader pointed northeast as he said, "The falling star fell that way, arcing in from the northwest. Some said they saw a trail of smoke as it came down. Others said not. It was night time though."

The direction matched the area and trajectory of the "ship" Thayilli had been in.