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[Exalted] Solar Circle of the West - whole slew of updates 3/8/09
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<blockquote data-quote="Ao the Overkitty" data-source="post: 2819311" data-attributes="member: 9758"><p><strong>Synopsis of 10/10/05 session - “Religion and Marriage”</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Synopsis of 10/10/05 session</em></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>“Religion and Marriage”</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Jade’s Luck returned from her meditation/conversation with the Unconquered Sun to find A-dom standing next to two rather dusty looking skeletons (Bob and Fred). She scared them off, much to the displeasure of A-dom. The two got into an argument and it came out that A-dom had learned how to raise and control the dead. Those two were his friends and he was in the process of determining which of them was smarter. When he decided to replace his friends, Jade’s Luck screamed <strong>Vile Necromancer!</strong> and stopped him in the middle of casting.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> Oww! What the hell did you do that for?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> (shrieky voice)<em> You were doing vile magic! You aren’t supposed to be a necromancer!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> I had to replace the two you smoked! I can be a necromancer. I have lots of potential!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> (shrieky voice)<em><strong> GARETH!</strong></em></p><p></p><p>Gareth was dangling over the side of the ship, trying to figure out a name to chisel on the boat when he heard the yell of vile necromancer.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong><em> Maybe if I ignore them, they’ll go away.</em></p><p></p><p>When he heard Jade’s Luck yell his name, he sighed and released himself from his rope, dropping to the ground.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> (muttering)<em> Jahar was supposed to intercept her before she found A-dom.</em></p><p></p><p>Gareth grabbed a coconut on the way so he’d have something to eat.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> (to A-dom)<em> What did I say about doing this around her?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> (shrieky voice)<em> You knew about this?? </em></p><p></p><p>Gareth filled her in on the other island they visited.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em> While we were on that island and picking up the tar, A-dom started doing something weird and unnatural.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> <em> More weird and unnatural than raising the dead?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> You people are really judgmental.</em></p><p></p><p>Luck made a few not quite idle threats and A-dom felt the need to respond in kind. Gareth did his best to keep them from killing each other. It wasn’t easy, since when a soggy Bob and Fred came back from being scared off, Jade’s Luck fried them. </p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> Oi! Those guys cost me essence!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> <em> It doesn’t cost me essence to poof them?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> Not enough!</em></p><p></p><p>After Jahar showed up and was filled in, the two came to what could possibly be referred to as an understanding. It was agreed that A-dom would not use his powers to do things beyond need (i.e. no raising the dead for fun and games or stockpiling) and he’d only keep them around as long as necessary. In return, Jade’s Luck would not destroy his creations and or toast Skelly. A-dom agreed to this decision. Jade’s Luck, not so much. She said she would, but one could tell she wasn’t happy to have to compromise and might ignore the agreement.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> I promise not to abuse my nifty new powers and make large armies of undead.</em></p><p></p><p>With that out of the way, the Circle concentrated on the task at hand, the barbarian island where Gareth and A-dom got the tar. Gareth felt this island would be a good place to start developing friends and eventually followers of the Unconquered Sun. The Circle discussed for a while how to convince the barbarians that they should worship the Unconquered Bum. It was decided that they should get to know the people and do good things for them to get in their favor.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> Apparently their money system is based on canoes.</em></p><p></p><p>Gareth quickly chiseled the name <em><strong>Friendly Maiden</strong></em> on the boat and they loaded Gareth’s money and Patient Tiger onboard. Bringing a few canoes along to act as dinghies and a large rock with a rope to act as an anchor, the circle headed off to Hoen-ba island. The trip took a lot less time with a sailboat as opposed to a canoe and the Friendly Maiden sailed around until the villages were spotted. A-dom made idle comments about the untapped workforce on Opec’s island.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em> A-dom, if you continue this idea, I’ll learn Necromancy, find Rosewind’s corpse, animate it, and have it follow you around telling you how awesomely compassionate you were.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> Really? (pause) Sounds like a lot of work.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em> Yes.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> So, what you’re saying is, if I do something fun, you’ll do something fun.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em> I don’t think you’re properly motivating him.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong><em> I’m giving up now.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> <em> Who is Rosewind?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong><em> Oh. Rosewind the Compassionate. Very sweet little girl who went about helping all sorts of people with a smile on her face. She carried around a huge club with a gold spike in it. She also acted much more mature than A-dom does now. He swears that incarnation must have been a fluke.</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom weighed anchor and the Circle headed over to the island via canoe, leaving Tiger sleeping onboard.</p><p></p><p>Wandering in towards the village, the villager Gareth and A-dom had dealt with before noticed them.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gelf:</strong><em> Hey look, the tar people. Hey guys. Love that canoe.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> We enjoy your tar.</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar fumbled around trying to find out if they had any problems that needed fixing.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gelf:</strong> (to the other villagers) <em> Anyone need a canoe? I think they’re looking for tar again.</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom took the more direct approach.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> What do you guys worship around here?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Gelf:</strong><em> You want talk to Hoen-ba-ba-den.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> Hoen-ba-ba-den. You worship him?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Gelf:</strong><em> Her. No. She’s our shaman. You want to talk to her?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong><em> Not really.</em></p><p></p><p>Jade’s Luck, however, did want to. Gelf offered to translate, since none of the Circle spoke barbarian. Gelf spoke Sea tongue because he went to other islands and found stuff to trade. Once a year, they went to the big island (Atlantis) to trade. He said the people there were annoying. </p><p></p><p><strong>Gelf:</strong><em> They’re always complaining about things. We weren’t doing things right. We should follow their religion. Hoen-ba-ba-den said he was delicious.</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar described an Immaculate Monk.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gelf:</strong><em> Yeah. That’s the one. That one was coming here to bother us. We don’t eat the ones there.</em></p><p></p><p>This was back when Hoen-ba-ba-den was younger, though.</p><p></p><p>Gelf led the Circle into Hoen-ba-ba-den’s hut, greeting her loudly as he entered. The shaman looked old. There was no real way for them to determine her age, beyond being somewhere in the forty to seventy range. She was wearing a mishmash of fabrics; some silk, some leather, part of a flag.</p><p></p><p>Hoen-ba-ba-den went ba ba ba in typical barbarian speak while Gelf translated. She explained about religion there, which was the worship of local spirits that caused them trouble. It was a minimalistic effort to keep their lives running smoothly. All in all, seemed rather efficient. The list of those they worshipped and the offerings included:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Gnash, the Shark god. Sacrificed chickens to about every three months. Prevents people from being eaten and fish from being chased away.<br /> Fel-kor-nar, the local fishing god. Pray to him regularly before catching fish.<br /> Zquo the rat god. He gets a pig twice a year to prevent rats from eating too much of the storage food.<br /> The random storm god who comes by and harasses them.</li> </ul><p></p><p>The Immaculate monk that got ate was a typical Immaculate monk. Annoying and self-important. The shaman agreed that it was a stupid religion.</p><p></p><p>Hoen-ba-ba-den had only eaten two people and both of them were complete jerks. The other was a pirate who tried to steal the chieftain’s sister. He didn’t even bring any chickens.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> <em> You’d think that a Chieftain’s daughter would be worth, oh I don’t know, a couple of good metal knives…</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Hoen-ba-ba-den:</strong><em> Oh yeah.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> <em> …or maybe some chickens and a steak.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em> Or maybe even a ship.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Hoen-ba-ba-den:</strong> *Unintelligible*</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> (mutters)<em> I don’t need a chieftain’s daughter...</em></p><p></p><p>After Jahar, Jade’s Luck, and A-dom got involved in a tangent conversation between them, Hoen-ba-ba-den laughed and said they were funny people who talked much and said little. How true she was.</p><p></p><p>Jade’s Luck asked her if they ever worshipped the sun, to which she responded a puzzled no. The concept of worshipping things that were good to them and caused delight puzzled the shaman. After all, they were already doing it.</p><p></p><p><strong>Hoen-ba-ba-den:</strong> <em>If the sun stopped shining, we’d probably take up worshipping it. </em></p><p></p><p>*<em> A-dom got a nasty grin on his face</em> *</p><p></p><p>Gareth tried to explain the concept of worshipping something good to help keep those that were bad in line, but he failed miserably to the point of even confusing the rest of the Circle with what he was trying to say (Alex speak goodly). Gareth decided he should just stick to making and selling things and leave the bringing of religiosity to the others. Well, maybe not A-dom or Tiger. Bad things could happen there.</p><p></p><p>Hoen-ba-ba-den felt that that was a lot of needless worship and they wouldn’t have any time for themselves.</p><p></p><p>Jahar finally got the good idea that they should offer to assist the barbarians and offer them items in exchange for temporary lodging and food so they could discuss things in private. When the topic was brought up to Hoen-ba-ba-den, she said we’d want to talk to Chieftain Klun. He was very wise and would be willing to trade.</p><p></p><p>They thanked her for her time and said they would like to exchange knowledge at a later date.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Tiger woke up on the ship. Wandering around for a little bit, he found a tar-covered skeleton wearing a tar-covered hat. It seemed friendly so he didn’t smash it.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://home.nycap.rr.com/aokitty/skelly01.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Wandering some more, he found they were anchored off the shore of another island, but there were no dinghies on the ship. While trying to figure out how to get to shore dry, the rest of the Circle exited the shaman’s hut. Both A-dom and Tiger spotted each other. A-dom rowed out to get Tiger.</p><p></p><p>While rowing back, Tiger asked A-dom what that was on the boat.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em> Oh.. uhh. Yeah… uh, that’s Skelly.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em> Skelly?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em> Yeah. Skelly. He’s my first.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em> You plan on getting more of these?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Not at the moment.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em> And you know what he is?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em> Yeah. He’s uh, a skeleton… and he came from the tar pit… and I kind of made him.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em> You MADE HIM?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Yeah. Wiggled my fingers. You know. And… Skelly! I’d do it again, but people would get upset. I had made two more and, uh, Jade’s Luck didn’t like them. So, I’m kind of keeping that on the low down.</em></p><p></p><p>Talking with Chieftain Klun was a lot easier, in a way. He didn’t need a translator, so Gelf walked away. Klun pointed out the nice parts of the island (trees, tar pit, fresh water). A-dom added in the cemetery. Jade’s Luck brokered the deal, offering pretty much any manufactured goods. Klun said some people could use some knives sharpened, among other things. They found out they only eat those Hoen-ba-ba-den says they should eat. Klun also relayed some info about the neighboring islands:</p><p></p><p>The island to the south was empty. The island to the north had some nice people on it, but was a dangerous couple day’s trip, since overnight in a canoe isn’t easy. He was concerned about a comment about building a second ship without a crew, since they suspected we might be pirates then. And they didn’t like pirates cause they kidnap people.</p><p></p><p>After their chat with the Chieftain, they wandered off to discuss what to do about spreading their religion. A-dom displayed unseen intelligence by arguing that the only person they needed to convince was Hoen-ba-ba-den (course, he called her Bubba-Hotep and Babba Yaga). Jade’s Luck thought convincing a local spirit to do nice things when prayed to would be the way to go. Unfortunately, no one actually knew how to talk to spirits yet. What Jade’s Luck had done in that bay had been a fluke. Jahar had a different tactic.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>If she only worships things that are bad, why don’t we be bad?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em> Hey. Let’s go check out the cemetery.</em></p><p></p><p>That plan was quickly shot down, since it wouldn’t be a lasting solution, since the Circle would have to stick around and keep being bad. A-dom pondered out loud if the Circle could convince her by trying to make her Exalt. Jahar wanted to build a castle to the benevolent sorcerer god. When that was shot down and he had to defend himself by saying he knew he wasn’t a god, he suggested the Circle gain the people’s trust and build a temple to the Unconquered Sun.</p><p></p><p>Over the next month, Gareth sharpened some tools, built a temple, made some canoes, and made a small sea worthy boat for the chieftain. The Chieftain thought Gareth was cool because he gave him a ship. Gareth talked to Hoen-ba-ba-den to find out if they would have a problem with them building a temple and if not, where was acceptable. She told him of where he couldn’t build one (not in town, not on the tar pits). Elsewhere was okay. Jahar found a spot on the other side of the island, next to the secondary water supply. It was a functional temple, though not very pretty, since Gareth had no clue about architecture yet.</p><p></p><p>Jahar acted like a scary pedophile by offering a little girl a trinket for a locket of hair.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> <em>What was that he was doing?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em> Oh, he’s looking for a virgin for something. I think it has something to do with a volcano. I don’t know.</em></p><p></p><p>The long-term plan was for Jade’s Luck to teach everyone about the Unconquered Sun so Gareth and Jahar could proselytize. Over the month, they acquired two thirteen-year-old kids, Jinx and Hex, who thought the Circle was pretty cool. They were taught how to tend the temple. Jahar tried to instill in them a desire to read. Lots of writing and pictures about how cool the Unconquered Sun was was then written around the inner walls of the temple.</p><p></p><p>The Circle left and headed back to Atlantis. There were no problems docking. The Circle split up to go tend to their lives. Jade’s Luck went back to talk to Jade. Gareth took the gold and silver and went back to his shop. Jahar, Tiger, & A-dom took the hunk of jade and the gems and went back to Jahar’s family estate. Skelly was told to get in the bucket (in the ship’s hold) and stay still.</p><p></p><p>Gareth’s shop was fine, as was the slave. The slave was a little bit better at sewing. He’d spent a little bit of money and had been selling ‘Welcome to Atlantis’ shirts. Gareth stowed his stuff. He spent the rest of that day visiting his family.</p><p></p><p>When the trio got near the estate, Jahar noticed Tellus standing outside the entrance, waiting. Tellus was in good spirits and told Jahar his father wanted to see him in his den right away.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>You seem a lot happier than you usually are when you’re standing outside waiting for me </em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tellus:</strong> <em> Well you aren’t in trouble for once. But it will be interesting.</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar took Tiger and A-dom with him as he went in. He entered his father’s den to find his father sitting on one of the couches talking to an old wood-aspect dragon blood.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://home.nycap.rr.com/aokitty/CynisCujug01.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>They have a lot of paperwork between them and they both straighten up when they notice Jahar.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar’s dad:</strong> <em>Come in, Jahar. I have wonderful news. Your mother and I have arranged a most excellent marriage for you. I know you weren’t expecting this, but you have to face facts. You’re a mortal dynast and you’re not going to live forever. So you can’t just dilly-dally around wasting time like your sisters. As well, an arrangement as good as this with House Cynis might not come up again for another hundred years. </em></p><p></p><p><strong>Cynis Cujug:</strong> <em>Given your parents’ impeccable breeding and amazing rate of exaltation among their children, House Cynis has every confidence that you and Jara will have similar breeding results.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>And what does she have to say about this?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Cynis Cujug:</strong> <em>Oh she’s thrilled.</em></p><p></p><p>The meeting was brief after that, as Cujug had to go home to set things in motion. The wedding was scheduled for a week’s time.</p><p></p><p><strong>Cynis Cujug:</strong> <em> Sesus Weijin Jahar, I look forward to you marrying my grand daughter.</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar was informed that this was a political alliance made necessary by events upon the Blessed Isle. House Memnon was looking like it was trying to seize the throne and other houses were looking to present a united front against them. Jahar was granted great liberties in this arrangement, such as keeping his own name and retaining possession of his room and holdings at the Sesus estate. Also, the first two children who do not exalt will be handed over to House Sesus. Plus, if he produces a good number of exalted offspring, House Cynis just might be able to prolong his life. </p><p></p><p>Jahar was reeling from the news and didn’t really react when told his sister wanted to see A-dom right away. She needed his help with preparation work. Something about shopping. And thus the emasculating and humiliating of A-dom began. His tale was a sad one over the course of the next several days. That he was forced to wear a string with a flap in the front and nothing else was the least of the degradations.</p><p></p><p>Jade’s Luck found Jade to be fine and rather busy. Jade filled Luck in on the political situation, all the weddings, and the large number of parties that were happening. In fact, she was putting Luck in charge of the bachlorette party for the wedding of Cynis Jara and Sesus Jahar. Jade’s Luck sent off congratulations to Jahar immediately. Jahar was not the least bit amused. Jade’s Luck came by Gareth’s shop to inform him of the marriage. He set her straight about the marriage not being a happy thing. Her opinion of Jara changed when she found out the woman was the one who smacked all of the Circle, but Gareth, with a Gore Maul to bring them out of a Wyld trance and took special pleasure in smacking Jahar.</p><p></p><p>Jahar and Tiger were able to sneak away for a little while the next day to get to Gareth’s shop. Dropping off an invite, he informed Gareth of the marriage and his sudden need for protection. Gareth remembered Jara well and understood Jahar’s need. He sent the slave over to his sister’s to work and got Tiger to stick around and guard. He then made the forge as sealed off light-wise from the outside as possible and quickly made twin excellent swords for Jahar. The first one, a defense sword, came out much nicer than the offense sword, but oh well. He’d have time to do better ones later. Once the coruscant aura had gone away, he sent Tiger back to Jahar with the swords.</p><p></p><p>The week passed quickly for everyone but A-dom. His torture was quickly sending him towards the breaking point. At the bachlorette party, Jade’s Luck did a good job of making sure the proper people didn’t get buggered and, if they did, that she got paid for it. A-dom didn’t like having to ‘amuse’ the crowd using a dead body (and no necromancy). He tried juggling the dead body, but didn’t do well. He got whipped badly. When taken into the slave area to get cleaned up, another slave tried to teach him that he should be more compliant. Poor dead body number two. Then A-dom did his naughty little trick. He sent the zombies to ‘go mingle’ and sat back to listen to the chaos. It took half an hour before people noticed in the drug-smoke fog. Jara was sure Jahar was to blame. A-dom got yelled at for hiding in the slave quarters. He impressed people with some acrobatics while trying to amuse the crowd. The word limber got thrown around. Somehow, an auction started up with A-dom as the bidding item. Jade’s Luck, in an effort to help, sent off a runner to Jahar while she did her best to drive up the price of A-dom.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Gareth, Tiger, and Jahar were having a good time at the bachelor party. Not able to escape his fate, Jahar was spending his last night as a free man in a drug induced stupor. Gareth saw the guy who had beaten him into exaltation there. He manipulated people into brawling and beating up the guy. The runner showed up and informed Jahar in private about the auctioning of A-dom. Of course, Jahar was in no state to care or relay the information.</p><p></p><p>Ultimately, the bidding ended, with A-dom going to the rich man from House Mnemon that was responsible for the first dead body. A-dom was taken home by his new master and unspeakable things were done to him that night.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ao the Overkitty, post: 2819311, member: 9758"] [b]Synopsis of 10/10/05 session - “Religion and Marriage”[/b] [i]Synopsis of 10/10/05 session[/i] [size=5][b]“Religion and Marriage”[/b][/size] Jade’s Luck returned from her meditation/conversation with the Unconquered Sun to find A-dom standing next to two rather dusty looking skeletons (Bob and Fred). She scared them off, much to the displeasure of A-dom. The two got into an argument and it came out that A-dom had learned how to raise and control the dead. Those two were his friends and he was in the process of determining which of them was smarter. When he decided to replace his friends, Jade’s Luck screamed [b]Vile Necromancer![/b] and stopped him in the middle of casting. [b]A-dom:[/b][i] Oww! What the hell did you do that for?[/i] [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] (shrieky voice)[i] You were doing vile magic! You aren’t supposed to be a necromancer![/i] [b]A-dom:[/b][i] I had to replace the two you smoked! I can be a necromancer. I have lots of potential![/i] [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] (shrieky voice)[i][b] GARETH![/b][/i] Gareth was dangling over the side of the ship, trying to figure out a name to chisel on the boat when he heard the yell of vile necromancer. [b]Gareth:[/b][i] Maybe if I ignore them, they’ll go away.[/i] When he heard Jade’s Luck yell his name, he sighed and released himself from his rope, dropping to the ground. [b]Gareth:[/b] (muttering)[i] Jahar was supposed to intercept her before she found A-dom.[/i] Gareth grabbed a coconut on the way so he’d have something to eat. [b]Gareth:[/b] (to A-dom)[i] What did I say about doing this around her?[/i] [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] (shrieky voice)[i] You knew about this?? [/i] Gareth filled her in on the other island they visited. [b]Gareth:[/b] [i] While we were on that island and picking up the tar, A-dom started doing something weird and unnatural.[/i] [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] [i] More weird and unnatural than raising the dead?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b][i] You people are really judgmental.[/i] Luck made a few not quite idle threats and A-dom felt the need to respond in kind. Gareth did his best to keep them from killing each other. It wasn’t easy, since when a soggy Bob and Fred came back from being scared off, Jade’s Luck fried them. [b]A-dom:[/b][i] Oi! Those guys cost me essence![/i] [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] [i] It doesn’t cost me essence to poof them?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b][i] Not enough![/i] After Jahar showed up and was filled in, the two came to what could possibly be referred to as an understanding. It was agreed that A-dom would not use his powers to do things beyond need (i.e. no raising the dead for fun and games or stockpiling) and he’d only keep them around as long as necessary. In return, Jade’s Luck would not destroy his creations and or toast Skelly. A-dom agreed to this decision. Jade’s Luck, not so much. She said she would, but one could tell she wasn’t happy to have to compromise and might ignore the agreement. [b]A-dom:[/b][i] I promise not to abuse my nifty new powers and make large armies of undead.[/i] With that out of the way, the Circle concentrated on the task at hand, the barbarian island where Gareth and A-dom got the tar. Gareth felt this island would be a good place to start developing friends and eventually followers of the Unconquered Sun. The Circle discussed for a while how to convince the barbarians that they should worship the Unconquered Bum. It was decided that they should get to know the people and do good things for them to get in their favor. [b]A-dom:[/b][i] Apparently their money system is based on canoes.[/i] Gareth quickly chiseled the name [i][b]Friendly Maiden[/b][/i][b][/b] on the boat and they loaded Gareth’s money and Patient Tiger onboard. Bringing a few canoes along to act as dinghies and a large rock with a rope to act as an anchor, the circle headed off to Hoen-ba island. The trip took a lot less time with a sailboat as opposed to a canoe and the Friendly Maiden sailed around until the villages were spotted. A-dom made idle comments about the untapped workforce on Opec’s island. [b]Jahar:[/b] [i] A-dom, if you continue this idea, I’ll learn Necromancy, find Rosewind’s corpse, animate it, and have it follow you around telling you how awesomely compassionate you were.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b][i] Really? (pause) Sounds like a lot of work.[/i] [b]Jahar:[/b] [i] Yes.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b][i] So, what you’re saying is, if I do something fun, you’ll do something fun.[/i] [b]Gareth:[/b] [i] I don’t think you’re properly motivating him.[/i] [b]Jahar:[/b][i] I’m giving up now.[/i] [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] [i] Who is Rosewind?[/i] [b]Gareth:[/b][i] Oh. Rosewind the Compassionate. Very sweet little girl who went about helping all sorts of people with a smile on her face. She carried around a huge club with a gold spike in it. She also acted much more mature than A-dom does now. He swears that incarnation must have been a fluke.[/i] A-dom weighed anchor and the Circle headed over to the island via canoe, leaving Tiger sleeping onboard. Wandering in towards the village, the villager Gareth and A-dom had dealt with before noticed them. [b]Gelf:[/b][i] Hey look, the tar people. Hey guys. Love that canoe.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b][i] We enjoy your tar.[/i] Jahar fumbled around trying to find out if they had any problems that needed fixing. [b]Gelf:[/b] (to the other villagers) [i] Anyone need a canoe? I think they’re looking for tar again.[/i] A-dom took the more direct approach. [b]A-dom:[/b][i] What do you guys worship around here?[/i] [b]Gelf:[/b][i] You want talk to Hoen-ba-ba-den.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b][i] Hoen-ba-ba-den. You worship him?[/i] [b]Gelf:[/b][i] Her. No. She’s our shaman. You want to talk to her?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b][i] Not really.[/i] Jade’s Luck, however, did want to. Gelf offered to translate, since none of the Circle spoke barbarian. Gelf spoke Sea tongue because he went to other islands and found stuff to trade. Once a year, they went to the big island (Atlantis) to trade. He said the people there were annoying. [b]Gelf:[/b][i] They’re always complaining about things. We weren’t doing things right. We should follow their religion. Hoen-ba-ba-den said he was delicious.[/i] Jahar described an Immaculate Monk. [b]Gelf:[/b][i] Yeah. That’s the one. That one was coming here to bother us. We don’t eat the ones there.[/i] This was back when Hoen-ba-ba-den was younger, though. Gelf led the Circle into Hoen-ba-ba-den’s hut, greeting her loudly as he entered. The shaman looked old. There was no real way for them to determine her age, beyond being somewhere in the forty to seventy range. She was wearing a mishmash of fabrics; some silk, some leather, part of a flag. Hoen-ba-ba-den went ba ba ba in typical barbarian speak while Gelf translated. She explained about religion there, which was the worship of local spirits that caused them trouble. It was a minimalistic effort to keep their lives running smoothly. All in all, seemed rather efficient. The list of those they worshipped and the offerings included: [list]Gnash, the Shark god. Sacrificed chickens to about every three months. Prevents people from being eaten and fish from being chased away. Fel-kor-nar, the local fishing god. Pray to him regularly before catching fish. Zquo the rat god. He gets a pig twice a year to prevent rats from eating too much of the storage food. The random storm god who comes by and harasses them.[/list] The Immaculate monk that got ate was a typical Immaculate monk. Annoying and self-important. The shaman agreed that it was a stupid religion. Hoen-ba-ba-den had only eaten two people and both of them were complete jerks. The other was a pirate who tried to steal the chieftain’s sister. He didn’t even bring any chickens. [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] [i] You’d think that a Chieftain’s daughter would be worth, oh I don’t know, a couple of good metal knives…[/i] [b]Hoen-ba-ba-den:[/b][i] Oh yeah.[/i] [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] [i] …or maybe some chickens and a steak.[/i] [b]Gareth:[/b] [i] Or maybe even a ship.[/i] [b]Hoen-ba-ba-den:[/b] *Unintelligible* [b]A-dom:[/b] (mutters)[i] I don’t need a chieftain’s daughter...[/i] After Jahar, Jade’s Luck, and A-dom got involved in a tangent conversation between them, Hoen-ba-ba-den laughed and said they were funny people who talked much and said little. How true she was. Jade’s Luck asked her if they ever worshipped the sun, to which she responded a puzzled no. The concept of worshipping things that were good to them and caused delight puzzled the shaman. After all, they were already doing it. [b]Hoen-ba-ba-den:[/b] [i]If the sun stopped shining, we’d probably take up worshipping it. [/i] *[i] A-dom got a nasty grin on his face[/i] * Gareth tried to explain the concept of worshipping something good to help keep those that were bad in line, but he failed miserably to the point of even confusing the rest of the Circle with what he was trying to say (Alex speak goodly). Gareth decided he should just stick to making and selling things and leave the bringing of religiosity to the others. Well, maybe not A-dom or Tiger. Bad things could happen there. Hoen-ba-ba-den felt that that was a lot of needless worship and they wouldn’t have any time for themselves. Jahar finally got the good idea that they should offer to assist the barbarians and offer them items in exchange for temporary lodging and food so they could discuss things in private. When the topic was brought up to Hoen-ba-ba-den, she said we’d want to talk to Chieftain Klun. He was very wise and would be willing to trade. They thanked her for her time and said they would like to exchange knowledge at a later date. Meanwhile, Tiger woke up on the ship. Wandering around for a little bit, he found a tar-covered skeleton wearing a tar-covered hat. It seemed friendly so he didn’t smash it. [img]http://home.nycap.rr.com/aokitty/skelly01.jpg[/img] Wandering some more, he found they were anchored off the shore of another island, but there were no dinghies on the ship. While trying to figure out how to get to shore dry, the rest of the Circle exited the shaman’s hut. Both A-dom and Tiger spotted each other. A-dom rowed out to get Tiger. While rowing back, Tiger asked A-dom what that was on the boat. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i] Oh.. uhh. Yeah… uh, that’s Skelly.[/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i] Skelly?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i] Yeah. Skelly. He’s my first.[/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i] You plan on getting more of these?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Not at the moment.[/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i] And you know what he is?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i] Yeah. He’s uh, a skeleton… and he came from the tar pit… and I kind of made him.[/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i] You MADE HIM?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Yeah. Wiggled my fingers. You know. And… Skelly! I’d do it again, but people would get upset. I had made two more and, uh, Jade’s Luck didn’t like them. So, I’m kind of keeping that on the low down.[/i] Talking with Chieftain Klun was a lot easier, in a way. He didn’t need a translator, so Gelf walked away. Klun pointed out the nice parts of the island (trees, tar pit, fresh water). A-dom added in the cemetery. Jade’s Luck brokered the deal, offering pretty much any manufactured goods. Klun said some people could use some knives sharpened, among other things. They found out they only eat those Hoen-ba-ba-den says they should eat. Klun also relayed some info about the neighboring islands: The island to the south was empty. The island to the north had some nice people on it, but was a dangerous couple day’s trip, since overnight in a canoe isn’t easy. He was concerned about a comment about building a second ship without a crew, since they suspected we might be pirates then. And they didn’t like pirates cause they kidnap people. After their chat with the Chieftain, they wandered off to discuss what to do about spreading their religion. A-dom displayed unseen intelligence by arguing that the only person they needed to convince was Hoen-ba-ba-den (course, he called her Bubba-Hotep and Babba Yaga). Jade’s Luck thought convincing a local spirit to do nice things when prayed to would be the way to go. Unfortunately, no one actually knew how to talk to spirits yet. What Jade’s Luck had done in that bay had been a fluke. Jahar had a different tactic. [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]If she only worships things that are bad, why don’t we be bad?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i] Hey. Let’s go check out the cemetery.[/i] That plan was quickly shot down, since it wouldn’t be a lasting solution, since the Circle would have to stick around and keep being bad. A-dom pondered out loud if the Circle could convince her by trying to make her Exalt. Jahar wanted to build a castle to the benevolent sorcerer god. When that was shot down and he had to defend himself by saying he knew he wasn’t a god, he suggested the Circle gain the people’s trust and build a temple to the Unconquered Sun. Over the next month, Gareth sharpened some tools, built a temple, made some canoes, and made a small sea worthy boat for the chieftain. The Chieftain thought Gareth was cool because he gave him a ship. Gareth talked to Hoen-ba-ba-den to find out if they would have a problem with them building a temple and if not, where was acceptable. She told him of where he couldn’t build one (not in town, not on the tar pits). Elsewhere was okay. Jahar found a spot on the other side of the island, next to the secondary water supply. It was a functional temple, though not very pretty, since Gareth had no clue about architecture yet. Jahar acted like a scary pedophile by offering a little girl a trinket for a locket of hair. [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] [i]What was that he was doing?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i] Oh, he’s looking for a virgin for something. I think it has something to do with a volcano. I don’t know.[/i] The long-term plan was for Jade’s Luck to teach everyone about the Unconquered Sun so Gareth and Jahar could proselytize. Over the month, they acquired two thirteen-year-old kids, Jinx and Hex, who thought the Circle was pretty cool. They were taught how to tend the temple. Jahar tried to instill in them a desire to read. Lots of writing and pictures about how cool the Unconquered Sun was was then written around the inner walls of the temple. The Circle left and headed back to Atlantis. There were no problems docking. The Circle split up to go tend to their lives. Jade’s Luck went back to talk to Jade. Gareth took the gold and silver and went back to his shop. Jahar, Tiger, & A-dom took the hunk of jade and the gems and went back to Jahar’s family estate. Skelly was told to get in the bucket (in the ship’s hold) and stay still. Gareth’s shop was fine, as was the slave. The slave was a little bit better at sewing. He’d spent a little bit of money and had been selling ‘Welcome to Atlantis’ shirts. Gareth stowed his stuff. He spent the rest of that day visiting his family. When the trio got near the estate, Jahar noticed Tellus standing outside the entrance, waiting. Tellus was in good spirits and told Jahar his father wanted to see him in his den right away. [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]You seem a lot happier than you usually are when you’re standing outside waiting for me [/i] [b]Tellus:[/b] [i] Well you aren’t in trouble for once. But it will be interesting.[/i] Jahar took Tiger and A-dom with him as he went in. He entered his father’s den to find his father sitting on one of the couches talking to an old wood-aspect dragon blood. [img]http://home.nycap.rr.com/aokitty/CynisCujug01.jpg[/img] They have a lot of paperwork between them and they both straighten up when they notice Jahar. [b]Jahar’s dad:[/b] [i]Come in, Jahar. I have wonderful news. Your mother and I have arranged a most excellent marriage for you. I know you weren’t expecting this, but you have to face facts. You’re a mortal dynast and you’re not going to live forever. So you can’t just dilly-dally around wasting time like your sisters. As well, an arrangement as good as this with House Cynis might not come up again for another hundred years. [/i] [b]Cynis Cujug:[/b] [i]Given your parents’ impeccable breeding and amazing rate of exaltation among their children, House Cynis has every confidence that you and Jara will have similar breeding results.[/i] [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]And what does she have to say about this?[/i] [b]Cynis Cujug:[/b] [i]Oh she’s thrilled.[/i] The meeting was brief after that, as Cujug had to go home to set things in motion. The wedding was scheduled for a week’s time. [b]Cynis Cujug:[/b] [i] Sesus Weijin Jahar, I look forward to you marrying my grand daughter.[/i] Jahar was informed that this was a political alliance made necessary by events upon the Blessed Isle. House Memnon was looking like it was trying to seize the throne and other houses were looking to present a united front against them. Jahar was granted great liberties in this arrangement, such as keeping his own name and retaining possession of his room and holdings at the Sesus estate. Also, the first two children who do not exalt will be handed over to House Sesus. Plus, if he produces a good number of exalted offspring, House Cynis just might be able to prolong his life. Jahar was reeling from the news and didn’t really react when told his sister wanted to see A-dom right away. She needed his help with preparation work. Something about shopping. And thus the emasculating and humiliating of A-dom began. His tale was a sad one over the course of the next several days. That he was forced to wear a string with a flap in the front and nothing else was the least of the degradations. Jade’s Luck found Jade to be fine and rather busy. Jade filled Luck in on the political situation, all the weddings, and the large number of parties that were happening. In fact, she was putting Luck in charge of the bachlorette party for the wedding of Cynis Jara and Sesus Jahar. Jade’s Luck sent off congratulations to Jahar immediately. Jahar was not the least bit amused. Jade’s Luck came by Gareth’s shop to inform him of the marriage. He set her straight about the marriage not being a happy thing. Her opinion of Jara changed when she found out the woman was the one who smacked all of the Circle, but Gareth, with a Gore Maul to bring them out of a Wyld trance and took special pleasure in smacking Jahar. Jahar and Tiger were able to sneak away for a little while the next day to get to Gareth’s shop. Dropping off an invite, he informed Gareth of the marriage and his sudden need for protection. Gareth remembered Jara well and understood Jahar’s need. He sent the slave over to his sister’s to work and got Tiger to stick around and guard. He then made the forge as sealed off light-wise from the outside as possible and quickly made twin excellent swords for Jahar. The first one, a defense sword, came out much nicer than the offense sword, but oh well. He’d have time to do better ones later. Once the coruscant aura had gone away, he sent Tiger back to Jahar with the swords. The week passed quickly for everyone but A-dom. His torture was quickly sending him towards the breaking point. At the bachlorette party, Jade’s Luck did a good job of making sure the proper people didn’t get buggered and, if they did, that she got paid for it. A-dom didn’t like having to ‘amuse’ the crowd using a dead body (and no necromancy). He tried juggling the dead body, but didn’t do well. He got whipped badly. When taken into the slave area to get cleaned up, another slave tried to teach him that he should be more compliant. Poor dead body number two. Then A-dom did his naughty little trick. He sent the zombies to ‘go mingle’ and sat back to listen to the chaos. It took half an hour before people noticed in the drug-smoke fog. Jara was sure Jahar was to blame. A-dom got yelled at for hiding in the slave quarters. He impressed people with some acrobatics while trying to amuse the crowd. The word limber got thrown around. Somehow, an auction started up with A-dom as the bidding item. Jade’s Luck, in an effort to help, sent off a runner to Jahar while she did her best to drive up the price of A-dom. Meanwhile, Gareth, Tiger, and Jahar were having a good time at the bachelor party. Not able to escape his fate, Jahar was spending his last night as a free man in a drug induced stupor. Gareth saw the guy who had beaten him into exaltation there. He manipulated people into brawling and beating up the guy. The runner showed up and informed Jahar in private about the auctioning of A-dom. Of course, Jahar was in no state to care or relay the information. Ultimately, the bidding ended, with A-dom going to the rich man from House Mnemon that was responsible for the first dead body. A-dom was taken home by his new master and unspeakable things were done to him that night. [/QUOTE]
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