Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Systole" data-source="post: 6106773" data-attributes="member: 93930">It was a strange and cryptic missive that brought you to Venza.&nbsp; Who&nbsp; could have expected an urgent but almost completely undetailed summons&nbsp; from Cardinal Allessano Fortino himself?&nbsp; Especially a summons from someone as&nbsp; important as he to a recent initiate in the rather backwater locale of&nbsp; Acomay ... or rather, what used to be Acomay before the fall of&nbsp; Sumbru.&nbsp; For decades now, dozens petty conquerors from the surrounding&nbsp; baronies have made war over the lands of the fallen kingdom.&nbsp; But ...&nbsp; that is not relevant to the task at hand.Venza is a strange&nbsp; sight.&nbsp; You've seen Sumbru, of course, and occasionally glimpsed the&nbsp; surreal and unnatural creatures that lurk in its deep shadows.&nbsp; But&nbsp; you've never seen a city so vibrant and bustling as Venza.&nbsp; Sailors and&nbsp; merchants shout and haggle in a dozen different&nbsp; languages over amazing goods from every corner of the globe, while wizards and alchemists mingle freely with wild barbarians&nbsp; and platemail-clad warriors.&nbsp; And there are stranger things than that,&nbsp; even.&nbsp; At the city gates, you see a dwarf riding a giant lizard&nbsp; haranguing a tiefling and some sort of sphinx-like creature about the importance of remaining inconspicuous.Eventually,&nbsp; you find your way to the Great Temple of Tanager.&nbsp; Presenting your&nbsp; letter, you are escorted immediately in to see the Cardinal, even before&nbsp; you've had a chance to clean the mud off your boots and shake the&nbsp; dust out of your clothes.&nbsp; The Cardinal is an older gentleman with&nbsp; spectacles and a full beard, dressed in much simpler clothes than his&nbsp; station generally calls for.&nbsp; He's putting on his coat as you're shown&nbsp; in to his personal quarters.&quot;Initiate, it's good you've made&nbsp; it.&nbsp; The ship is due to set sail with the tide -- in two and a half&nbsp; hours or so.&nbsp; You should meet Franco and Gabbiano before then.&quot;&nbsp; These&nbsp; are names you've never heard before, and seeing your question before you&nbsp; have a chance to ask it, the Cardinal sighs.&nbsp; &quot;I'm sorry, I've been so&nbsp; involved in politics lately that I plainly forgot that I was talking to&nbsp; someone who wouldn't know those names.&nbsp; Have a seat.&nbsp; We have a lot to&nbsp; talk about and not much time for it.&nbsp; And while Franco and Gabbiano are&nbsp; our allies and partners, and good men as well, there are things that&nbsp; should remain between the clergy of Tanager.&quot;Here are the&nbsp; facts as concisely as I can lay them out: Venza is beginning to colonize&nbsp; the western continent, in response to Rhat'manis building settlements&nbsp; there as well.&nbsp; Venza is afraid of losing trading opportunities and&nbsp; naval superiority, both quite rightly I'm afraid, so the Lord-Elect&nbsp; issued five charters for new settlements.&nbsp; What followed has been a&nbsp; period of politicking more cutthroat than even this town is used to.&nbsp;&nbsp; The various noble houses have wheeled, dealed, and quite probably even&nbsp; assassinated to get their hands on a charter.&nbsp; And we're not out of the&nbsp; woods yet.&nbsp; Only three of the charters have been issued: one to House&nbsp; Forenicci, one to House Boraga, and one to House Gabbiano.&quot;He&nbsp; pauses.&nbsp; &quot;In this city, Cortessa is the patron of most merchants and&nbsp; noble houses.&nbsp; There are a few, like Gabbiano, that hold to Tanager&nbsp; because they rely heavily on shipping and transport.&nbsp; For the sake of&nbsp; the faith, I put the weight of the Church of Tanager behind House&nbsp; Gabbiano.&quot;&nbsp; He gives a wry grin.&nbsp; &quot;Of course, I've been around the block&nbsp; a few times, and in exchange for our support, I also extracted a promise that I could name the executor of Gabbiano's charter.&quot;He frowns.&nbsp; &quot;That was where I ran into trouble.&nbsp; I'm almost positive that the&nbsp; Church of Tanager has been infiltrated by agents of Cortessa and ...&nbsp; other faiths.&nbsp; And I wonder if some of our priests are lining their&nbsp; pockets with Boraga gold.&nbsp; In short, I feared to choose someone from&nbsp; inside the city.&nbsp; So I prayed to Tanager, and he appeared to me in a&nbsp; dream and said, 'You will find the light of the evening in the darkness&nbsp; of the dawn.'&quot;Cryptic, of course.&nbsp; But I've communed with our lord more than once, and you get a sense for these things after a&nbsp; while.&nbsp; So if dawn means east and evening means west, then the darkness&nbsp; bit seemed to indicate Sumbru. The city is east of here, after all.&nbsp; And out&nbsp; of the candidates in our mission there, something about you seemed right to me.&nbsp; So&nbsp; congratulations, because you're possibly Tanager's chosen candidate to&nbsp; get on a boat this evening, sail for a thousand leagues, and bring the&nbsp; faith to a savage and untamed land.&quot;&nbsp; The Cardinal appraises you&nbsp; with a steely gaze, and you can see why he is the leader of your faith.&nbsp;&nbsp; After a moment he nods.&nbsp; &quot;And if you're not, then you will make&nbsp; yourself into a very close approximation thereof or you will answer to Tanager himself.&nbsp; But before that, you will answer to me.&nbsp; So then, are you ready to serve your god, Initiate?&quot;&nbsp; <img src="http://i1257.photobucket.com/albums/ii513/pnthffr/fortino_150.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />. . Cardinal Fortino . . </blockquote>

[QUOTE="Systole, post: 6106773, member: 93930"] It was a strange and cryptic missive that brought you to Venza. Who could have expected an urgent but almost completely undetailed summons from Cardinal Allessano Fortino himself? Especially a summons from someone as important as he to a recent initiate in the rather backwater locale of Acomay ... or rather, what [I]used [/I]to be Acomay before the fall of Sumbru. For decades now, dozens petty conquerors from the surrounding baronies have made war over the lands of the fallen kingdom. But ... that is not relevant to the task at hand. Venza is a strange sight. You've seen Sumbru, of course, and occasionally glimpsed the surreal and unnatural creatures that lurk in its deep shadows. But you've never seen a city so vibrant and bustling as Venza. Sailors and merchants shout and haggle in a dozen different languages over amazing goods from every corner of the globe, while wizards and alchemists mingle freely with wild barbarians and platemail-clad warriors. And there are stranger things than that, even. At the city gates, you see a dwarf riding a giant lizard haranguing a tiefling and some sort of sphinx-like creature about the importance of remaining inconspicuous. Eventually, you find your way to the Great Temple of Tanager. Presenting your letter, you are escorted immediately in to see the Cardinal, even before you've had a chance to clean the mud off your boots and shake the dust out of your clothes. The Cardinal is an older gentleman with spectacles and a full beard, dressed in much simpler clothes than his station generally calls for. He's putting on his coat as you're shown in to his personal quarters. [COLOR=#00ffff] "Initiate, it's good you've made it. The ship is due to set sail with the tide -- in two and a half hours or so. You should meet Franco and Gabbiano before then."[/COLOR] These are names you've never heard before, and seeing your question before you have a chance to ask it, the Cardinal sighs. [COLOR=#00ffff]"I'm sorry, I've been so involved in politics lately that I plainly forgot that I was talking to someone who wouldn't know those names. Have a seat. We have a lot to talk about and not much time for it. And while Franco and Gabbiano are our allies and partners, and good men as well, there are things that should remain between the clergy of Tanager. "Here are the facts as concisely as I can lay them out: Venza is beginning to colonize the western continent, in response to Rhat'manis building settlements there as well. Venza is afraid of losing trading opportunities and naval superiority, both quite rightly I'm afraid, so the Lord-Elect issued five charters for new settlements. What followed has been a period of politicking more cutthroat than even this town is used to. The various noble houses have wheeled, dealed, and quite probably even assassinated to get their hands on a charter. And we're not out of the woods yet. Only three of the charters have been issued: one to House Forenicci, one to House Boraga, and one to House Gabbiano."[/COLOR] He pauses. [COLOR=#00ffff]"In this city, Cortessa is the patron of most merchants and noble houses. There are a few, like Gabbiano, that hold to Tanager because they rely heavily on shipping and transport. For the sake of the faith, I put the weight of the Church of Tanager behind House Gabbiano."[/COLOR] He gives a wry grin. [COLOR=#00ffff]"Of course, I've been around the block a few times, and in exchange for our support, I also extracted a promise that I could name the executor of Gabbiano's charter."[/COLOR] He frowns. [COLOR=#00ffff] "That was where I ran into trouble. I'm almost positive that the Church of Tanager has been infiltrated by agents of Cortessa and ... other faiths. And I wonder if some of our priests are lining their pockets with Boraga gold. In short, I feared to choose someone from inside the city. So I prayed to Tanager, and he appeared to me in a dream and said, [I]'You will find the light of the evening in the darkness of the dawn.'[/I][/COLOR] [COLOR=#00ffff]"Cryptic, of course. But I've communed with our lord more than once, and you get a sense for these things after a while. So if dawn means east and evening means west, then the darkness bit seemed to indicate Sumbru. The city is east of here, after all. And out of the candidates in our mission there, something about you seemed right to me. So congratulations, because you're possibly Tanager's chosen candidate to get on a boat this evening, sail for a thousand leagues, and bring the faith to a savage and untamed land." [/COLOR] The Cardinal appraises you with a steely gaze, and you can see why he is the leader of your faith. After a moment he nods. [COLOR=#00ffff]"[/COLOR][COLOR=#00ffff]And if you're not, then you will make yourself into a very close approximation thereof or you will answer to Tanager himself. But before that, you will answer to [I]me[/I]. So then,[/COLOR][COLOR=#00ffff] are you ready to serve your god, Initiate?" [/COLOR][IMG]http://i1257.photobucket.com/albums/ii513/pnthffr/fortino_150.jpg[/IMG] [COLOR=#00ffff] [B]. . Cardinal Fortino . . [/B][/COLOR] [/QUOTE]

Verification