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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MortalPlague" data-source="post: 7501623" data-attributes="member: 62721">The Elements:Blind FaithBlood DebtBody CountEthereal CourtierOdd CubeRegicide AuspiciousThe City-State of Banderwall has been protected by a ritual since before anyone can remember.  On Midsummer's Eve, six names - the Fortunate - appear on an iron cube called the Auspicate.  For a week, they are celebrated, and the city revels.  At dusk on the seventh day, the die is cast.  One of the Fortunate is sacrificed.  The others return to their lives, and the city is safe for another year.Ten years ago, King Jolan's name came up.  At the King's command, the Court Wizard Methael created a ritual to replace the King's name with another, one that King Jolan selected.  The King presented the altered cube to the population, and at the close of the week, the name that had replaced his was chosen and sacrificed.  The next year, the King's name appeared again.  The ritual was conducted once more, and the added name was the one who perished.  And again, the next year.  And again.This is the eleventh year of the deception.  Methael has been dead six years; the King murdered him for developing a conscience.  He learned to conduct the ritual himself, picking people who have become inconvenient.  Nobody is any wiser.The AuspicateA smooth iron cube the size of an apple, heavy in the hand and utterly featureless except during the feast.  The six names appear written in common, engraved into the surface.  The cube is an artifact, and radiates strong divination magic.  Methael's ritual changes the face without altering the magical aura, and the ritual cannot be dispelled by normal means.If one of the Fortunate die during the week, their name disappears from the cube, and it is rolled with one face blank.  A blank face has never come up.  Furthermore, nobody can recall a time when a name has appeared for a second time.Feast of the FortunateThe heroes are in Banderwall when the Auspicate is presented.  There is a grand ceremony where the Fortunate are named; they become celebrities.  Throughout Banderwall, there is drinking, feasting, and merriment.  These Fortunate have been chosen to keep Banderwall safe from threats.  Their bravery must be celebrated.An ApparitionLate the first night, the ghost of Methael appears to the heroes.  He explains the truth: the ritual has been compromised for years through his actions.  He cannot rest until the deception is exposed and his debt is paid.  He has tried for six years to find someone to listen to him, but no citizen of Banderwall believes the Auspicate can be compromised.Methael can guide the heroes in dispelling the ritual, but he requires several components.  The only challenging ingredient; a drop of the King's blood.Out For BloodThe heroes have six days.  During the feast, the King is often in the streets, surrounded by his royal guard.  Banderwall soldiers are slow to violence, due to the long-standing peace they have enjoyed.King Jolan also spends time in the palace.  A wall with battlements and a courtyard garden ring the estate, which is, itself, a labyrinth of corridors and chambers.  Finding the King would take time, and the heroes would have to deal with servants and soldiers.The heroes may employ many skills and tactics to achieve their objective.  Creative plans should yield some opportunity for success.  The people of Banderwall are peaceful, and may be cowed by displays of aggression.Changing FateWith King Jolan's blood, Methael will help the heroes set up the counter-ritual.  It must be within five hundred feet of the Auspicate, and the heroes should wait until the king has emerged from the palace to enact the ritual.  King Jolan should not be given a chance to detect the reverted name.With the ritual complete, when the Auspicate is cast, it will come up with the King's name.  A ripple of confusion spreads through the crowd, and a look of horror dawns on the face of the King.  Methael appears to the crowd at large and tells the people that the ritual can be undermined.  That King Jolan has manipulated the result for years.  He reads a count of those killed by the King's hand, including himself.  The angry crowd drags the King to the block and sacrifices him.Banderwall is safe for another year.Moving OnThe people of Banderwall are too set in their ways to abandon the ritual, but where there was utter certainty before, now there is doubt.  There is a murmur, that perhaps one day will grow to a roar.</blockquote>

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