...and here's the first part of the next installment of the Story Hour. Sorry I don't have more written -- I was planning on getting it done tonight, but instead I spent 2 hours getting thrashed by my fiancee (Kibi's player) in a game of the Settlers of Catan card game.
More story hour (involving stealth, followed by a mighty racket, followed by Xorns) should be coming along soon, but as always I make no promises as to exactly when.
Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 139a
After the Company has been escorted back to the Temple of Ell, Morningstar sends word that she wishes to brief High Priestess Rhiannon on their recent discoveries. This time, though, the High Priestess is indisposed, and sends a trusted advisor to speak and act on her behalf. That’s not much comfort to the party, since Stersa, recently revealed traitor, was
also a "trusted advisor," and look how that turned out. But the priestess, named Corshani, understands their reservations, and amiably agrees to a battery of magical tests. They go outside to the street (since Morningstar, as an Illuminated Sister, is not allowed to cast divine spells inside Ellish temples), and she starts with a
detect magic, to make sure Corshani isn’t wearing anything magical that could mask her alignment or motives. (In fact, Corshani herself suggested this.) Then she casts
detect evil, and Step follows up with a
gaze of truth. (This last spell confirms that Corshani is not currently
charmed or under other enchantment.) Finally, Morningstar casts a
memory read, looking for the memory of when Corshani first came in contact with the Black Circle or their agents. As hoped, the spell reveals no such memory. When Corshani has checked out, they all go back into the Temple, to a private meeting room, where Morningstar fills her in. Corshani also sends for healing for Morningstar, still not fully recovered from the attack by the Null Shadows. An older priestess comes in with healing potions, and also casts a curing spell that eases Morningstar’s hurts.
Part way through this meeting, Captain Cobb arrives as scheduled and joins the meeting. He agrees to set a discreet watch around the section of the Silent Quarter that the party believes to be at the center of the Divination Sink. More guards will be sent to patrol the wider area, watching especially for any signs that the Black Circle is packing up and moving their operation. Lastly, he promises to send someone to check the records at the town hall, to find out who owns the large estates in the northern end of the Silent Quarter, and if there are any unusual recent changes of ownership.
Lastly, Morningstar casts a
sending to Aravis:
We’re fine. Will investigate more after resting. Staying night at Temple. Pewter is fine. Step caring for him.
Aravis, having debriefed with the ranking priest at the Temple of Pikon in Tal Hae, goes back to the Greenhouse. Kibi and Grey Wolf are, of course, both surprised and alarmed to see him. He begs out of eating the leftover black lizard pie pressed on him by Skorg, and then decides it’s time for another look at the Crosser’s Maze. His thought slides back into the expanse of the multiverse, and he brings his point of focus closer in toward the two merging Primes. He is able to get a closer view than he has before, and in doing so notices something extremely alarming. There has been a clear increase in the rate at which the planes are accelerating toward congruence! He spends the necessary time for a thorough examination, establishing that at very least the second derivative of the velocity is a constant. But given the change… uh oh!
He slides out of the Maze, exhausted, and starts to mutter: "cellar… cellar…" Kibi and Grey Wolf think that something terrible must be happening in the basement, until Aravis follows with: "accelerating… the primes are accelerating." Ah. When Aravis becomes coherent, he shares his bad news with the others, and then stumbles off to bed. As he’s falling asleep, his head pounding, Morningstar’s
sending arrives. He replies:
Planes aligning sooner than thought. Two to three days! Will teleport Wolf and Kibi tomorrow to Moonspell. Tell Pewter I’m fine too.
Back in Kallor, Corshani arranges for rooms for the whole party under the temple roof, since the temple is a safer haven than the Moonspell. They sleep.
…to be continued…
