24 Jun 2021 16:55
Setting
The party had been sent by Fazzur to take a message to the Shaker Temple.
The plot was going to be at the Shaker Temple, but instead was provided by travel, beetles,and arguments.
IC Play
The group travelled, rather nervously, through Lunar Tarsh. They spotted a dust cloud riding, which turned out to be a Lunar patrol that was not very casual at all; possibly even directed. They managed to hide in a culvert off a rocky path, but although they got away from the Lunars, Kerentha's beetle decided to take a chunk out of Kosa's horse. Kerentha tried to bribe the beast, while Saronil tried to smite it, to silence the fight, and came off distinctly better, in that he was alive at the end of the fight, while the beetle was dying.
The group then heard other noises, and on investigating found Trollkin. Androus immediately challenged them, as they were creatures of darkness, but they did not answer. He therefore set out to wound each one, according to his interpretation of his geas. This panicked them, and they split up, trying to lead him off and kill him, while he followed.
Meanwhile, one that had managed to get past him, wounded, crawled up to the beetle and began sobbing openly, comforting the thing in its last moments. It had Darkness and Beast Runes carved on its skin. Karentha failed to communicate with the trollkin, and Androus retreated, wounded, but still calling out his challenges. There was a lot of noise.1 Aria coaxed the trollkin into leaving, and they did,taking a beetle leg with them - the one that was already mostly hanging off.2
The group pondered routes. Aria remembered a rocky path further back up the road, and they went that way. Aria fell into a very very cold lake while trying to keep her horse safe, although she was rescued quickly. She was nevertheless freezing and miserable for a while. However, it seemed they had lost the Lunars.
They travelled through Old Tarsh, where there were few troops, little food, and a lot of evidence of fires. They reached the Shaker Temple near the end of Disorder week in Earth Season, when there was already a festival happening. Androus was sure he could feel shaking beneath his feet, but when he asked about it, was told he was blessed.3 They were held as honoured guests, with a very simple square guesthouse given over to them, until the Priestess Amara could speak with them. Kosa and Saronil both spent some time at their shrines.4
During this time they met several priestesses, and decided not to talk to the women dressed only in bloodied chains.
Amara spoke with them in a room with a single brazier in, below the ground. She said that they were politically interesting to a lot of people because Saronil had failed at keeping Death from Zorak Zoran, but Yelmalio had taken fire back from him; everyone was mystically entwined, but Aria was a weak link because she was only there conceptually, and had not taken part. She was therefore in danger. She let them know about the political situation; some were offended by what Andros did, some Humaktis thought that Saronil had failed. Some who followed Yanafal Tarnils thought they could do better. "Friends should understand there is a lot of politics balanced on them, with the lunars and at boldhome." She said a commander of large lunar unit was interested in them. However, the Priestess was more interested in Androus than anyone else, saying that the group (and possibly the Temple) must be ready when others tried to take Androus power from him. She called on him to talk with her later, alone.
When Androus had a talk with Amara at dawn - in the same room, but very brightly lit, and with many women there - she asked him questions about why Yelmalio did not search for Yelm in the Great Darkness, and about loyalty. Amara noted cold-bloodedly that she would be very happy to kill him if he failed her; she had a plan. A trickle of the Father's blood had been held from Yelmalio, for failing to find his father, but if he could go through the Hill of Gold and find the details of Yelmalio's searching, then he could attain knowledge. In effect, by doing a version of the Hill of Gold that they helped him with, they could open up the Shield spell to Yelmalio once more.
Other Things
“I don’t think I even have ride beetle” - Kerentha
“Why are you riding a beetle then?” - Aria?
Androus: I'm looking for the undamaged one
Kosa: At his challenge, Kosa does face palm, as best as possible with a shield in hand.
Hendira: Aria gets full points for sense.
Hendira: "Androus, this is not honour, it is slaughter."
Aria, after rolling on Survival: "Oh no. That's more zeroes than I like to see."
Aria: "I'm not stripping in front of everyone! Does someone have a spare sheet?"
Kosa is impatient. "I've spent years in an Earth Temple. You have nothing I haven't seen. Just change."
Kosa: Kosa is very happy here. Can she wander off to a shrine?
Kosa: She does so.
Kosa: Kosa will make a blood sacrifice at her shrine.
Hendira: Kerentha isn't happy. She is in a middle ground between terror and a feeling of safety.
Androus: I'll go barefoot.
Hendira: I would warn him against this, but I kind of want him to be Shaker-ed.
Hendira: ShAkEr-Ed.
Hendira: So… how come I have Loyalty (Shaker Temple) on my sheet, but not Fear (Shaker Temple)?
Androus: they are capable of great subtlety. Sadly, they are utterly disinterested in exercising it.
Aria: I always thought it would be odd to choose to be a Humakti, but this Temple is making me rethink that.
Hendira: There should be Insight (Earthquake)
‘This priestess does make me feel at home too, it’s just that I had a dysfunctional childhood at home’ - Karentha
"Your POW is now 7." - GM
"I'm rich." - Aria