27 Aug 2020 11:43
Setting
The group were trying to work out what the hell to do.
Plot was created from a mix of PC action and underlying cosmology knowledge.
IC Play
Varaema was visited by Tennebris to organise a meeting with Kallyr Starbrow, in the Temple of the White Ladies. Varaema had the others present as friends, and Aria did some of the talking. Kallyr was in a bad way, only able to move because of the Flight spell. She told the group that they were not exiled, but only because they were linked to her, and needed to solve the problem they had helped to create. She wanted the problem dealt with by the end of Sea Season, however. They discussed various ways they could do this, as it was essentially a Lunar taint on the Heroquest which had effectively invited the Lunars into the kingdom.
"It could be dealt with by dealing with the symptoms.
If you choose to treat it as chaos there is the Praxian cleansing of the river.
You could possibly cut it away - but exile is cleaner
You could chase out the Lunar parts with some form of quest." - GM or possibly a White Lady…
Having agreed to this, the group went off to watch Androuranos fight the Great Troll he had challenged. The terms of the duel, as Yelmalio understood it, would be that he would not need to challenge any further Darkness Creatures while present - it was understood that the duel itself was a holy time-out. The great troll, Vragjak, was waiting along with an Argan Argar minder and her bodyguards. Saronil, knowing trolls to be untrustworthy, kept an eye on them. Aria worked the crowd, making a small profit.
After a couple of exchanges of blows, Androus wounded Vragjak, and the great troll got called off by the merchant priest who had brought him. The group went to research how Lunar effects might be cleaned away. Saronil got sent to Alda Chur by Eril to do the usual message-running up to Gallem there. He was followed by four bandits, and managed to find a ravine he could slither into where they could only come down one at a time.1 He managed to cripple a couple, force them all to surrender, and take them prisoner. The horses they were on had cancelled owners' marks from the Culbrea tribe. He went cross-country to Herongreen after that, to avoid more attempts on him.
The rest of the group went to the Lightbringers' Temple to look for help, where they were met by a Eurmali who called himself God-Emperor Kallyr. In greeting Varaema he embraced her, and stole all her money, which was noticed by some of the others; Kosa grabbed him and put his leg into a lock hold.
His leg fell off. Kosa's immediate reaction was to hit him with it, although it was a terrible weapon. However, He then disappeared, leaving them with only a leg, and proceeded to complain about assault and theft. After they had argued for a while he agreed to give them some of the money back, which he did, including a circlet that looked a bit like a battered crown.
Other Things
"Staying within the magical confines [of the market] may be a good idea, and indeed you have been doing that religiously…" - GM
"Kallyr is a very good monarch and a very sensible person!" - Varaema's reality distortion field
"I managed not to die, and it looks like you made a small profit." - Androus
"We each did as our gods pleased." - Aria
"We need to find someone we can trust." - Aria
"I can find someone I trust very easily." - Varaema
Someone's leg coming off was the funniest way of introducing a new Eurmali that I could have come up with. Also this session I revealed that blaming Eril for the Sacred Time disaster had happened because the High Priest of Lhankor Mhy in Jonstown had fumbled his Library Use. People laughed. Mostly. Some wept.