NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 5332899" data-attributes="member: 9546">THAT OLD TIME RELIGIONThe rulers of Kardashia were greeted as conquering heroes when they returned to Veritas bearing both the head of the slain owlbear, as well as one of its cubs.  A makeshift parade was held on the spot as the companions rode into town, and the celebration lasted long into the night.  At one point during the evening’s festivities, Jhod Kavken approached the leaders when they were finally able to grab a quiet moment.  “I’m sorry to interrupt your fete,” he smiled grimly.“But you’re going to do so anyway,” Mox sighed.  “What’s the crisis this time?”“I have it on good authority,” the High Priest replied, “that a cult of Gyronna has taken root in our town.  I didn’t have the opportunity to discuss this with you when you were last here, what with the recent attack and all.”Mox quirked one eyebrow expectantly, waiting for more.  Behind her, unnoticed, Selena’s eyes narrowed, but she kept her face carefully neutral.“The hag-goddess,” Davrim explained after a few moments.  “She is the patron of hatred, extortion and spite.”“There are many tales of communities in which her cults have sprung up,” Jhod continued.  “Inevitably, they tore themselves apart from within.  If they are indeed here, we need to root them out before they have the townspeople at each other’s throats.”Mox mulled the information over for a minute before she nodded.“Alright, what leads do you have so far?”“None, I’m afraid,” Jhod sighed.  “That’s one thing that makes these cults so dangerous…their ability to operate in secrecy, all the while infiltrating the normal day-to-day society.”“If I recall correctly,” Davrim interrupted, “these cults tend to be comprised only of women…specifically, adulterous wives, embittered prostitutes, and spurned lovers.  Perhaps Leaf could put out some feelers, and surreptitiously find out how many women in the town match those profiles.  It couldn’t be that many, could it?”Mox smiled.  “Never underestimate the amount of bitterness a woman can hold in her heart.  Nevertheless, it sounds like the best starting point we’ve got.  Let’s make it happen.”_________________________________________________________As it turned out, Leaf’s contacts came up with exactly twelve women who fit the criteria.  “Since these women seem to have a bit of an…issue with men,” Mox told the others, “it seems only logical that Selena and I should be the ones to conduct this investigation.”“Do you think that’s safe?”  Davrim asked.“We can take care of ourselves,” Mox replied.  “Besides, we’re just going to be asking a few questions.  What could go wrong?”The first woman on the list turned out to be the wife of a well-to-do merchant who, according to Leaf’s sources, had recently begun an affair with a local farmer in response to her husband’s unabashed philandering.  Mox and Selena had decided to take the approach of subtly insinuating that they might be interested in forming a support group of sorts for women who’d been wronged by the men in their lives.  However, the merchant’s wife was incensed that they should even imply that she’d be involved in such a thing!  She didn’t care if Mox was the Baroness, or the Queen of Korvosa herself!  She stormed off in a huff, leaving the sorceress and the witch a bit nonplussed.Their second attempt went somewhat better.  A barmaid named Trixie had recently found herself unceremoniously dismissed by the handsome and wealthy suitor who’d promised to marry her.  Selena and Mox waited until she’d finished her evening shift before approaching her with the same proposition that they’d tried previously.“Why…why would you want to do something like this?”  Trixie asked suspiciously.  “You surround yourselves with men.  Everyone knows that!”“They have their uses,” Mox said dismissively, “as long as they remember their place.”  She leaned in conspiratorially.  “You don’t really think that this whole ‘kingdom’ thing is for real, do you?”“What do you mean?”  Trixie asked.  “Isn’t that what you’re trying to do?”Mox laughed.  “You’re a naïve girl!  What we’re trying to do is bide our time until the right moment…then we will seize complete power and subvert all of these sheep to our will!”“Really?”  Trixie’s eyes widened.“It’s true,” Selena nodded.Trixie looked around furtively to make sure no one was listening too closely to their conversation.“Find me here three days from now,” she whispered, “on the night of the full moon.  I have some people that I want you to meet.”_________________________________________________________The first night of the full moon found Mox and Selena, both heavily cloaked, standing in a shadowed alley with Trixie.“We’re going out to the old Johnson farm,” the barmaid whispered.  “It’s been empty since the owlbear attacked.”‘Did you get that?’ Selena thought silently.  She had taken the liberty earlier in the evening of setting up a Message spell between herself and Velox.‘I did,’ the oracle replied.  ‘We’ll be nearby if you need us.’There was little left of the Johnson farm save the foundation of the barn itself.  Trixie quickly led Mox and Selena around the back side to the door of a root cellar, and knocked three quick times.  The door was pushed open from inside, allowing dim light to spill out.  Trixie hurried them down the steps and pulled the door shut behind them.  The cellar was arrayed like a crude church, with wooden benches lined up like pews, and a crude altar set up at the far end.  Oil lamps guttered along the walls, while black candles melted slowly on the altar itself.  Behind it, a crude drawing of an eye was drawn in what looked like dried blood.  Five women turned on the pews as the newcomers entered.  They ranged in age from a girl in her late teens, to a matronly woman easily approaching fifty.  All of them were dressed in shabby shifts, and wore small amulets in the shapes of eyes.  When Trixie removed her cloak, she wore the same.  Standing near the altar was a sixth woman of indeterminate age, dressed like the others.  Her eyes were piercing, and she held a curved dagger in her hand.  She smiled coldly when she saw them enter.“Ah,” she said, “I see Sister Trixie has brought us guests, and prestigious ones at that!  To what do we owe this honor?”Mox and Selena drew back their hoods.“It is as we told Trixie,” Mox said.  “We all have our roles to play, and we have played ours to the hilt.  In the days to come, we shall have need of loyal partners to see our ultimate goal of bringing Brevoy to its knees to fruition.”“As for myself,” Selena added, “as you may or may not be aware, my homeland is Irrisen, and I am quite familiar with the ways of the Angry Hag.  I think there is much we can learn from one another.”The priestess smiled.  “That remains to be seen.  For now, join us in our ritual tonight, as we ask Gyronna’s blessing over our endeavors, and make to her a sacrifice.”It was only then that Mox truly heard the small sound she’d first noticed upon entering the cellar.  A weak whimper.  The priestess reached behind the altar and came up holding a wriggling, crying babe.“May our Dark Lady accept this offering, as she has accepted so many before!”The other women began a low chant as the child was laid upon the altar.‘Now!’ Mox called.A moment later, the cellar door was smashed asunder as the men rushed inside.  Tungdill thrust his hand towards the ceiling, and a column of fire suddenly engulfed the priestess.  Velox quickly stepped to the side and clocked one of the women with the pommel of his sword, sending her swooning, unconscious, to the floor.  Mox cast a brief spell, and a second cultist went rigid, immobilized.  Selena reached out and seized another by the arm, channeling electricity through the woman, causing her to collapse into convulsions.  The priestess stumbled from the flames, screaming and blind.  Stevhan silenced her with an arrow through her throat.  “You will all surrender immediately!”  Mox cried.  “Or you will face death just as quickly!”The women who were still capable of doing so, threw down their weapons, some of them weeping openly.  “You are all hereby under arrest!”  Stevhan said.  “Cooperate, and you may be shown mercy!”___________________________________________________________As it turned out, mercy was in short supply.  The leader of the cult had been a woman named Malgorzata Niska, a local midwife.  When the truth finally came out, her fellow cultists admitted that she had spent the past several months stealing newborns for sacrifice, and replacing them with changelings.  The people were at first stunned, then grief stricken, and finally, angry.  There was indeed a trial, but at best it could have been called perfunctory, especially once the changelings were rooted out, and their families were left devastated.  Cheers greeted every fall of Davrim’s blade as the cultists were summarily executed in the public square of Veritas.  In the days that followed, it was time to both rebuild, and continue the country’s expansion, but for the rulers of Kardashia, one nagging problem still remained unsolved…Candlemere.  The idea of leaving the so-called haunted island unexplored ran counter to what was best for their fledgling nation.  Superstition and unfounded fears would only lead to future unrest and doubt.  So it was, that a few weeks after the trial of the cultists, the six companions set out once more, this time aboard a chartered fishing vessel that took them the length of the Tuskwater, and then into Candlemere lake itself.  The small island in the middle of the great lake loomed out of the mist, and the boat captain dropped anchor a good mile from the shore.  He would not take his vessel closer.  The companions were provided a dingy, and they rowed towards the island after admonishing the captain to await their return for at least two days.The island was covered with thick brambles and stinging nettles, and as the group pushed their way through the undergrowth, Stevhan and Mox found themselves becoming physically ill as some toxin in the plants entered their blood.  In the center of the island, a half-collapsed stone cylinder, surrounded by a swath of rubble, was all that remained of the famed Tower of Candlemere.  Still, as the companions approached it, all of them felt overcome with a strong feeling of unease, as if something were watching and waiting for them.  The tower itself was disappointingly empty.  The stones were carved with strange runes, and though Selena could feel the age of the ruins in her bones, the meaning behind the runes eluded her.  As they searched among the rubble, the feeling of being observed became almost tangible.  It was Velox who first noticed the dim, floating orb of light hovering at the edge of the tower.  He turned to shout a warning, and when he turned back, the light was right in front of him.  It flared brightly, and a sizzling arc of electricity leaped from it to the oracle.  His hair stood on end as the energy coursed through him.  “Get back, lad!”  Tungdill called as he conjured a hail of stones from thin air.  The rocks pummeled the glowing orb, knocking it temporarily to the ground.  It quickly recovered, but as it flew towards Selena, Velox swung at it, his sword reverberating as if he’d struck a stone wall rather than an ephemeral globe of light.  It wavered for a moment, but still managed to unleash another jolt of lightning at the witch.  Selena’s eyes rolled back in her head as she swooned.  The orb began to pulse rapidly as if it thrilled at the thought of her death.  Instead, its own demise came from a volley of Mox’s magic missiles.  It pulsed once more, and then vanished altogether.  “That was it??”  Mox asked.  “That was the secret of Candlemere??  A ‘wisp?  Gods, but people can be such superstitious fools! “She huffed as she began spreading out her camping gear.“We’ll stay here overnight to prove to the fisherman that the place is no longer haunted,” she continued.  “Then we’ll return home tomorrow and let the people know that Candlemere now belongs to Kardashia!”__________________________________________________________What followed that night became the stuff of legend in Kardashia.  Mox was wrong.  It wasn’t just ‘a ‘wisp’ that was responsible for the tale of the Candlemere Lights…it was an entire colony of them.  The second ‘wisp attacked about an hour after sunset, and the third about an hour after that.  All night long they kept coming, and time-after-time, the six companions fought them off.  They recognized the gravity of their error after the sixth assault, but by the time the twelfth came, they had hit their stride.  True, the creatures were as difficult to hit with a sword as a patch of swamp gas, and true they seemed to shrug away most magic as if it were naught but cantrips, but Mox knew that the elemental force of her arcane bolts worked every time, and Selena discovered that her hexes, not being magic in the strictest sense, also seemed to catch them off guard.  Their true weakness, however, was their incomprehensible inability to work as one.  Hour after hour they came, but only singly, and so it became a marathon of attrition, and in the deep of the night, when finally two hours passed with no attack, the heroes knew they had won.  By dawn, the fisherman had brought their boat to shore, having seen the brilliant and terrifying light show all night long.  Mox and her companions never told the specifics of their tale, but they didn’t have to.  Some tales take on a life of their own…</blockquote>

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