This session was a spotlight on Rispah, the trials she had to face in order to obtain a mount, and become a cat rider.
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McKavvity, a noble cat, invoked the ancient blood oath and began the trials with an abduction of Rispah and Squiggy (Rispah's second). Three tests were to be completed to prove her intentions and to earn the trust of one cat.
Out of a choice of five, it boiled down to either a Siamese or a Russian Blue. Church (as the other cats referred to him), the Russian Blue, was Rispah's choice. The trials began soon thereafter.
The first trial was to get Church to purr. Squiggy was allowed to help at any time and step in for an attempt. All attempts failed including an misguided attack by Rispah. After deliberation, Church accepted Rispah's apology and allowed the trials to continue since Rispah's allies generally allowed the manipulation to happen. At the end of the day, three elders declared the trial a failure, but Rispah was allowed to continue with the next one.
The second trial took the pair to a hidden room close to where Dwarves were talking. Rispah was given a hint: WCH. She was to guess Church's full name. In what appeared to be divine inspiration, she said "Winston Churchill," and concluded the second trial with a resounding success.
The third, and final trial tested her nerves, will, and resolve as several cats closed in upon her. At the end, they brandished their claws and swung but instead of slashing her to ribbons, Church pricked her paw, drawing a bead of blood, then pricked his paw to also draw a bead of blood. With the combination of the two, it was declared that Rispah and Church were bound by blood in the ancient ways for five years. During this time, Church would serve as Rispah's mount and Rispah charged with his protection. Afterwards, Church had the option of continuing his servitude or severing it. Rispah has joined the ranks of cat riders.
During the trials, Bristol found some work with the city watch. He was charged with manning the walls and then gathering frogs from the poisoned river. They seemed to be immune from the black ichor polluting the waters.
Katcy spent a majority of her time taking out her frustrations on sandbags. She was not happy with retreating from the enemy on the island.
Bobo spent the majority of his time bedridden after eating toast that Rispah had made. A goblin that had the fortitude to withstand bugbear turds found himself helpless against toast prepared by a rat. In the same vein, Katcy demonstrated her culinary expertise by cooking up an omelet, which unfortunately burned Rispah like acid.
Using his ability to speak with natural beasts, Squiggy enlisted the help of seagulls to scout the island fortress. He discovered that the orcs' numbers had dwindled due to a tunnel collapse. They were digging their way through the tunnels when something happened that forced them to bury the tunnel for good. Squiggy then turned to the help of crows who seemed to be a great deal smarter than the seagulls since they had the ability to count.
Gellac and Ella have been doing research on various topics concerning Ella's mother. Athena has been working to protect the city's hunting parties. Talek is working out ways to take down Ylrish and her spawn.
Finally, Filoria made her presence known once again. She bid Squiggy farewell and told him that his uncle paid her village a visit. She and her two guards were the only survivors after a virulent outbreak of an unknown disease. Filoria sent word that she'd found his wayward nephew and informed Squiggy that the next full moon would be arriving soon...
