Eberron: Curse of the Cold Sun (game thread)

[Davachido]

"Alright my friends, I shall check in a bit later. Catch you all a bit later, where should I meet you all. Local tavern for a good rest after a long journey? Haha I'm sure we could all use a good drink!" White gets his back and thanks the guard for his help then moves towards the warehouse. When he reaches the outside he looks around for the dogs and tries to see if there is a guard or a gate attendee he can talk to about passage.

[sblock=GM]
As Diaz Sebanile (his actual name, been a while since I used it), walks towards Iormel's warehouse he thinks hard trying to focus on the Lantern's voice. Trying to connect with the others in his retinue that are mind readers and says in his thoughts. I have found my way to the town, I am delivering the package to Iormel as instructed. I shall be out of here as soon as I can without drawing suspicion. The mercenaries you have put me with don't seem to care about the politics or greater movements at this world at current so they haven't questioned any motivations yet. Thankfully. I shall send my thoughts to you once again when I leave this town. [/sblock]

 

[Scotley]

"Indeed, I'll stand you all a round at the tavern once my errand is done. If no one objects I'd like to take that 'Dark Sun' symbol to the local temple and see what they know about it." Bertram asks the guard where he might find Brother Derny and the local temple of the Sovereign Host then he follows Arthun to the old toll house to make sure that the prisoners behave themselves until we pass them off to the locals, then he makes his way to Brother Derny.

 

[81Dagon]

[sblock=occ]Sorry, it seems to take far too long to write up posts for this thread. Will be updated in the 36 hours, and hopefully we'll start moving at a quicker rate.[/sblock]

 

[81Dagon]

At the Temple (Bertram):
This shrine of the Sovereigns is roughly the same make and size as every other building in down, composed of clay bricks and thatching. Stepping inside, it is clear that all of the Sovereigns are worshiped, but the community seems to favor Dol Arrah. An old man enters the main chamber as you shut the door.


“You are new face,” says the elderly man. “Have you come to pray for fortunes on your journey, traveler?”




At the Warehouse (Diaz):
This building is clearly one of the oldest in the town, but it is none the less well maintained. Massive hounds scamper around the inside fences, clearly Vadalis bred from their size. They bay loudly as White rings the bell attached to the outer. A window on the second floor opens and an elderly woman sticks her head out.


“And who is it who calls upon the storehouse of Sir Iormel?” she asks.


At the Old Toll House (Arthun):
Arthun and Vela are able to travel part of the way together, until you come to the river.
Arthun’s announcement immediately gets the attention of the armoured brunette woman inside the building who looks to be in her early-thirties. “Oh, you’ve brought me such a wonderful gift,” she says with mock joy. “Well, at least you caught the blighters on the road than the other way around. We’ll see that justice happens to them. What is your name sir?”


At the Druid’s Grove (Vela):
Leaving Arthun and the prisoners behind, Vela approaches two enormously thick ropes that span the length of the river, attached to a flatbottomed barge and two paris of draft horses. A friendly dwarf named Drathgar speak to Vela about payment, but as soon as she produces her letter certifying that is employed by House Orien, he allows her to cross free of charge. The journey takes about six minutes, as the draft horses pull a crank to move the ropes across the river. Once on the other side, it is easy to find the spot the guards told her to go looking for. In this area, the jungle is once again taking over, but some clear spots remain. In one such spot, dozens of spirit masks, in many bright arrays of color hang, indicating the weaver’s grove.

 

[Scotley]

At the Temple (Bertram):
This shrine of the Sovereigns is roughly the same make and size as every other building in down, composed of clay bricks and thatching. Stepping inside, it is clear that all of the Sovereigns are worshiped, but the community seems to favor Dol Arrah. An old man enters the main chamber as you shut the door.


“You are new face,” says the elderly man. “Have you come to pray for fortunes on your journey, traveler?”

Bertram approaches the elderly man with a large round bundle over his shoulder. He bows his head to the older man. His usual gruff bravado is replaced by a more humble demeanor here. "Indeed father I could use some good fortune. But I am not merely a random traveler. I come with the greetings of the Host and a gift to aid in your good works." He lowers the bundle and unwraps it to reveal a cauldron. "I also seek advice and information. Some fellow travelers and I were attacked along the road by a band of goblinoids who say the serve the Cold Sun. One of them was carrying this." He pulls the symbol from a pocket and holds it out to the priest. "What can you tell me about this? I was nearly slain and had a strange vision."

 

[81Dagon]

The brother takes the symbols careful in his hands, "Indeed, what did you see?"

"Hmm... It is little wonder that you did not recognize this, especially because it does not belong to any goblin faith of I have heard of. Very few would recognize it, but I know this sigil to be unique to Q'barra. It is the sign of the Cold Sun, a sort of demon-god that some of the lizardfolk revere and some fear, although Keeper knows if you can tell which one is which with the scales. I've studied their beliefs a bit and I think this Cold Sun is their amalgamation of the Shadow and the Mockery. It certainly has the darkness and womb of monsters bit from the Shadow covered quite nicely, but it also is subversive and opposes the life giving sun, like the Fallen Brother does. I'd been hoping that understanding what the scale believe might lead to closer religious ties between our people and connect them with the Sovereign Brethren across the continent, but their many superstitions have prevented me from making headway. I wonder how goblins came by this?"

 

[Kaodi]

"I am known as Arthun Logale, ma'am," says he with a polite bow and a sly smile. "And let me see if I can turn that resignation to genuine delight with these," he adds as he pulls the package with the enchanted boots from his pack. "Chance brought me across these scoundrels, but this is the delivery that brings me to Q'barra, or New Galifar, or whatever you folks like to call this corner of the world."

 

[Davachido]

At the Warehouse (Diaz):
This building is clearly one of the oldest in the town, but it is none the less well maintained. Massive hounds scamper around the inside fences, clearly Vadalis bred from their size. They bay loudly as White rings the bell attached to the outer. A window on the second floor opens and an elderly woman sticks her head out.


“And who is it who calls upon the storehouse of Sir Iormel?” she asks.

"My name is Albion White my fine woman." White gives a short bow. "I bring here a package for Iormel, say that it is courtesy of the dimmest of beacons. He will understand what that means. I need only drop this package off to him. I shall not disturb you for long." White smiles to the woman. Trying his best to put on an amicable face.

Sooner this is over the better...

[sblock=OOC]
I know that was a very poor way of masking who he works for but I couldn't come up with something better! Basically he is alluding to his service without naming his service. [/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

Leaving Arthun and the prisoners behind, Vela approaches two enormously thick ropes that span the length of the river, attached to a flatbottomed barge and two paris of draft horses. A friendly dwarf named Drathgar speak to Vela about payment, but as soon as she produces her letter certifying that is employed by House Orien, he allows her to cross free of charge. The journey takes about six minutes, as the draft horses pull a crank to move the ropes across the river. Once on the other side, it is easy to find the spot the guards told her to go looking for. In this area, the jungle is once again taking over, but some clear spots remain. In one such spot, dozens of spirit masks, in many bright arrays of color hang, indicating the weaver’s grove.

Vela dismounted from Kikarten's back and rested her tiny hand on his flank for a long moment as she looked at the masks.

"I think I should send you back," she said quietly, but made no move to do so.

Kiki made a keening noise and whined, "Why?? I like it here!"

"I know...but she might not understand."

"What if she's evil?" Kiki demanded petulantly. "What if she sent the goblins?! You'll need my help!"

Vela laughed. "She's not evil, and she didn't send the goblins."

The 'dinosaur' huffed a sigh, hesitated, then asked in a small voice, "Am I bad?"

"What?" Vela asked, taken aback. "Are you bad?"

"Is that why the others hated me, and made you leave? And now you always want to keep me secret?"

The halfling turned and put her hands on either side of Kiki's head to look him straight in the eyes. "No. You are not bad," she said firmly, fiercely. "They were ignorant, and...and...stupid. We're well rid of them. We'll do just fine without them. Just you and me."

Kiki butted his forehead affectionately to Vela's, bumping the symbols that burned on both together, then commented, "It was a good thing there were those others with us today though."

Vela was forced to nod. "Yes...I suppose it was."

"They didn't mind me either. That one was really nice."

She sighed. "Maybe we'll see them again. I'm going to send you back now, all right? Just for a little while."

Kiki scratched at the dirt with her talons nervously. "You're not going to leave me there, are you?"

"Never." The word had the force of a promise, with the firmness it was spoken.

"Here's the thing you're supposed to bring." Vela felt Kiki press the delivery into her hands. Then light began to crawl between his scales, slowly consuming him. "Seeya."

He evaporated, and was gone. The mark on her forehead vanished as well. Suddenly Vela felt heavier, as if a load she'd only been helping to carry before now sat squarely on her shoulders. She took a breath and settled her shoulders, and walked into the grove, alone.

 

[Scotley]

The brother takes the symbols careful in his hands, "Indeed, what did you see?"

"Hmm... It is little wonder that you did not recognize this, especially because it does not belong to any goblin faith of I have heard of. Very few would recognize it, but I know this sigil to be unique to Q'barra. It is the sign of the Cold Sun, a sort of demon-god that some of the lizardfolk revere and some fear, although Keeper knows if you can tell which one is which with the scales. I've studied their beliefs a bit and I think this Cold Sun is their amalgamation of the Shadow and the Mockery. It certainly has the darkness and womb of monsters bit from the Shadow covered quite nicely, but it also is subversive and opposes the life giving sun, like the Fallen Brother does. I'd been hoping that understanding what the scale believe might lead to closer religious ties between our people and connect them with the Sovereign Brethren across the continent, but their many superstitions have prevented me from making headway. I wonder how goblins came by this?"

Bertram describes his experience and is particularly curious about the feeling of water flowing into him. "The goblins seemed to be followers too, but perhaps I was confused. It was a rather stressful time and I did miss much of what went on. We brought some prisoners back, so maybe we can learn something from them. I am too be in the area for a while, and I will try to learn what I can. I may be able to enlist some help from some of my fellow travelers."