Session Date: 2/25/2024
The silver dragonborn sees Arythas and dashes inside, and Arythas stands there awkwardly. Dia asks if he would like to speak to them, and Arythas specifically says that the man was clearly not comfortable and he didn’t want to bother him. Dia rolls her eyes and huffs as she walks up to the cottage. There are windows in the cottage (after a very long conversation about defenestration) and the cottage is very nice, built by hand. It’s well maintained and well loved, clearly.
Dia waits a moment to see if the man comes back, but if he doesn’t she gently knocks on the door. A woman’s voice calls out, shouting in common, asking what someone is doing and that there’s someone at the door. The woman opens the door and is confused. Iskra starts saying that he knew of their family in the past because they helped with a funeral and he wanted to check up on them and thank them. The woman immediately recognizes what Iskra’s talking about, and she says that it was a tragedy what happened. She is surprised at how old Iskra is, and he’s clearly aged.
The woman is clearly slightly younger than the man who ran into the cottage, though not by much. She’s well into middle age. She’s more wiry than the man, but it’s just her metabolism. She is awkward and offers to let us inside for drinks.
The cottage is cozy but large enough for us: there are separate rooms and an upper floor where we presume the bedrooms might be. Next to the fireplace sits the man that rushed inside, who she introduces as Aphen, and she is Nepin. We all introduce ourselves.
Aphen is staring at Arythas, and Nepin explains that they originally traveled and then moved here. Aphen is clearly nervous but it’s not that he thought all of his family died nervous. Arythas looks him over and can tell that he feels very guilty about something, but it’s very old guilt, and he’s nervous that Arythas might hurt him. He looks to Iskra and halfway remembers him, and if he weren’t so nervous he might be more gregarious and ask about Iskra’s father.
Dia forces a lot of friendly conversation and small chat, but after that Dia asks why Aphen ended up running inside nervously. Nepin clearly has no clue what’s going on, and Aphen requests to go outside and talk to him. Rohan goes out of his way to try to calm the situation, and Arythas wordlessly reassures him that it’s not needed. He fidgets with his message ring to act similarly to a microphone.
Arnas Ialdethish — my grandfather, a judge
Aphen explains that Arnas was a very good judge, and was very good to the people, especially those deemed worthy of assistance. Aphen explains when he was young he made mistakes and had debts he could not pay. When the debt collectors came for him, Arnas did a great kindness: he could not save Aphen from the law as it was on the debt collector’s side, but he could not actually make payment. Arnas gave Aphen some of of the things of his youngest son and shared his surname with him, for as long as Aphen was able to live up to it.
Aphen reveals a bust of Arnas that is beautifully carved, and Aphen explains that Arnas saved his life and he was never able to repay Arnas. He was a stranger given his uncle’s name. He explains that he not Arythas’ biological uncle, just a man given our name and a second chance. Nepin had a suitor that they dodged a few times, which is why they’re here, and they have a son that’s now Arythas’ age. He’s a lumberjack, working honest work now. He explains that with the laws, Arythas could strike him as he is and it would be in his right.
Arythas doesn’t, explaining he would rather consider him family and have a relationship with him. Aphen would really like that, and the two of them share an emotional moment where they are happy to have each other and want to be family with each other. Rohan ultimately tells Nepin about the fact that Arythas wants to be family and when they return, Nepin pulls Arythas into a hug because she’s glad to have more family, especially visiting. After the conversation, Aphen clearly opens up and starts to talk about the cabin and his family and son.
Nilmuk Ialdethish — Aphen’s son, a lumberjack, around Arythas’ age, wants to become a trader and is a lumberjack to become a trader
Aphen Ialdethish — A woodworker, “uncle”
Nepin — Auntie
Dia excuses us around sunset to head toward the town hall to meet with the Barrus family. Arythas catches that the warden is coming to the town next week for the party. Dia enters planning mode with this new information and we all discuss possible things we can do, and Dia becomes convinced she needs to get her hands on a violin or other instrument she knows how to play. The tavern we’re at specifically hates violins and has them banned, so Arythas asks if there’s a woodworker nearby and he points out that Aphen is actually a woodworker and Arythas finds Dia to recommend we ask him if he has an idea where to get one.