The Slave and Her Sovereign

[Nephis]

ARUNNY squats down in front of the young girl and takes Qamra's hands with her own, smoothing out the clenched fists. "Listen to my Voice and be calm. See through the blocks in your memory. Those were not Her priests who held you thus. Omthala never tests Her own without giving them the strength to withstand, and She has obviously given you a surplus in strength.

"Be calm and remember: they left you desperate until you would believe their fiction - that they were your deliverers and not what they actually were. See through the shroud of confusion they have woven in your memory. Fight through those webs of deceit: we are here with you, lending you aid. She is also with you: use that gift of Her strength."

---

Arunny makes a Heal check to calm Qamra and help the girl recognize her own inner strength and ability to endure the pain of recovering her memories, r(12) +12 = 24 vs 15 Moderate DC. Success.

 

[Manbearcat]

2 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skills Available

---

Qamra looks deep into Arunny's eyes but the girl appears distant simultaneously, as if the child is using the gaze as a conduit for memories.

Somewhat absently, "...yes, that is what he said. I couldn't see his face. The sun was behind him like a corona. Like a halo. Your voice sounds like his and your words are the same."

She looks away and fully accesses the memory.

"Not deliverers. But captors. Subverters of our will. He drove them off or put them to sword, I don't know which. But he helped us from that terrible pit, provisioned us, gave us one of his stewards and pack animals. He talked to some of the other children as I did not have answers for him. He said he was looking for his father. I think he found what he was looking for from one of the others as he was eager to be on his way."

Consternated, "I don't know if I can find my way back to that pit. It was far. I don't know where we stopped, but there were many of the bull-people. I don't know what happened to the others...I was separated...and taken as stock for labors."

---

MEDIUM DC

 

[Nephis]

ARUNNY's face pales as she takes in these words. The priestess reaches out her hand and - placing two fingers under the child's chin - turns Qamra back to face Arunny once more. This time it is Arunny who uses the gaze as a conduit: a conduit to Qamra's memories.

Can it be? Is it even possible? Can Ahaan still be alive in this world? The Searing Voice of Omthala stares deeply into the child's eyes, allowing her breathing to slow - as her father taught her long ago - which in turns opens her mind to images and moments revolving within Qamra's disordered mind. Arunny sees the haloed face, along with the outline of the scarred ears. She hears the voice Qamra heard, a deeper reflection of the priestess's own.

Barely able to keep the trembling from her tone, the Searing Voice calmly asks the child what questions Ahaan had put to her: "think, child, what information did this man seek to find?"

---

Arunny uses her Insight as a conduit into Qamra's memories to more fully understand and to aid the girl in recovering her memories: Insight +19 = Autosuccess vs 15 Moderate DC.

 

[Manbearcat]

3 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skills Available

---

Arunny sees her brother through a montage of visions from the first person of the child.

He evaluates cracks in the floor of the well-like prison, purple seepages oozing out of the fissures. A sense that he is hearing something in his head...a furrowed brow...a frown.

He brings a sample to each child and asks them in turn and in varying languages; "...were you touched by this...did it...infect you?" Not a head nod among them.

He gives a description of he and Arunny's father and asks if any of the children saw him in their villages, missions, or temples? One child answers in a tongue that is the composite of sigils carved in the air punctuated by words of minimal consonant and maximal fluidity; Supernal. He brings the child excitedly over to his translator and commands "translate, translate...what does he say?!"

The child is fearful of its own words or something inside of it stirs to create pause as the translator brings its ear close to tiny mouth. Barely a whisper, its a struggle to hear the child's words and see the signs drawn in the air...and the memory lapses.

---

MEDIUM DC

 

[Nephis]

As Qamra's memory begins to lapse, ARUNNY carefully allows her psyche to flow into the conduit, beyond the blockage of the fading "picture," searching each cloud of foggy recollection for clarity and answers.

The priestess can feel her gut clench and her skin crawl as she analyzes her brother's evaluation of the purple seepage. Her own mind plants images of the attack on herself into this bubble, and her psyche hurriedly floats past. As it does so, her mental ears catch what Ahaan seems to hear, her synesthesia transforming the words into a vignette rather than sound. She "hears" the image of an enormous purple rock - meteorite, perhaps? - smiling with malevolent satisfaction. Then, accompanied by the intense stench of burning sulphur, she watches as her father lifts up an amethyst of reddish-purple hue and closely examines it - subtly examining the actions of both children.

Arunny mentally sends her psyche speedily to the bubble containing the child "speaking" in Supernal sigils. Not needing to hear the words - as her brother did - Arunny sees the words appear in translation: "I am not infected, but he will be, if he's not already."

---

Arunny uses her Endurance to risk psychically following the conduit into Qamra's mind and to withstand what exposure to the memories and understanding them might do to her. Primary Skill Endurance check: r(16) + 12 = 28 vs 15 Moderate DC: Success

 

[Manbearcat]

XP & LOOT

- 250/2 = 125 xp apiece

- Take an Advantage forward when pursuing what we learned from this Help Her Remember SC. You can use this per normal rules in a related SC or to give a character of your choice a +4 Feat Bonus to Initiative in a related combat encounter.

---

What we seem to have learned from this:

• Qamra can lead us to "The Pit"; the prison hole these Omthalan prodigies were rounded up by Caiphon cultists to be corrupted.

• Arunny's brother was alive when we last encountered him. He saved the prodigies. One of the prodigies knew of his father; he was "body snatched" by a Caiphon artifact in the outlying village/attached mission where the child was from.

---

Take an Extended Rest. Please make an entry including (a) Qamra as Companion Character, (b) updating PC Quests, (c) outlining the details of the next conflict you wish to pursue the following day. I'll then set SC parameters and set up an obstacle for it.

 

[darkbard]

Qamra, former slave girl, once and present acolyte of Omthala (modeled very loosely on River Tam of  Firefly).

Spoiler

Qamra Level 7 Companion Character (Defender/Soldier)
Medium natural humanoid (human)
HP 67; Bloodied 33 Surge 16 Surges per day 12 Initiative +7
AC 23, Fortitude 19, Reflex 20, Will 18 Perception+4
Speed 6

Traits
Divine Sanction
Being subjected to Qamra’s divine sanction means the target is marked by her for a duration specified by the attack power. Until the mark ends, the target takes radiant damage equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier the first time each round it makes an attack that doesn’t include Qamra as a target. The damage increases to 6 + Charisma modifier at 11th level and 9 + Charisma modifier at 21st level.

Standard Actions
(⚔) Ardent Strike (divine, weapon) ✦ At-Will
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +12 vs. AC
Hit: 1d8 +8 damage, and the target is subject to Qamra’s divine sanction until the end of her next turn.

(➶) Sword Flip (divine, weapon) ✦ At-Will
Attack: Ranged 5/10; +12 vs. AC
Hit: 1d8 + 10 damage and the blade returns to Qamra.

⚔ Radiant Burst (divine, radiant) ✦ At-Will
Attack: Close burst 1 (each creature in burst); +10 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d8 +7 radiant damage.

Minor Actions
Ensnaring Sanction ✦ At-Will, Divine, Teleportation
Attack: Close burst 2 (one creature in the burst)
Effect: Qamra subjects the target to her divine sanction. The target remains sanctioned until she uses this power against another target. Until the sanction ends, if the target makes any attack that does not include her as a target, it takes a -2 penalty to the attack roll. If a target sanctioned by this power is within 10 squares of Qamra when it hits with an attack that does not include her as a target, she can use an immediate reaction after the target’s entire attack is resolved to teleport the target to any space adjacent to her. In addition, the target grants combat advantage to all creatures until the end of her next turn. If no unoccupied space exists adjacent to her, she can’t use this immediate reaction, and the target doesn’t grant combat advantage as a result of this effect.

Call of Challenge ✦ Encounter, Divine
Attack: Close burst 3 (each enemy in the burst)
Effect: Each target is subject to Qamra’s divine sanction until the end of her next turn.

Triggered Actions
Heroic Effort ✦ Encounter
Trigger: Qamra misses with an attack or fails a saving throw.
Effect (No Action): Qamra gains a +4 racial bonus to the attack roll or the saving throw.

Dimensional Vortex ✦ Encounter, Divine, Implement, Teleportation
Trigger: An enemy hits an ally with a melee attack
Effect (Immediate Interrupt): Qamra teleports the target 5 squares. The target then makes its melee attack against a creature she chooses. If no creatures are within range of the target, the attack is expended.
Attack: Close Burst 10 (the triggering enemy); +10 vs. Will
Hit: 1d8 +8 radiant damage, and the target is subject to Qamra’s divine sanction until the end of her next turn.

Skills Acrobatics +12, Athletics +7, Endurance +11
Str 8 (+2) Dex 18 (+7) Wis 12 (+4)
Con 16 (+6) Int 12 (+4) Cha 10 (+3)
Alignment Unaligned Languages Common
Equipment: longsword, leather armor.

Per @Nephis:

Minor quest for Arunny: find her brother Ahaan.

Major quest for Arunny: rescue/free her father.

Ibhea:

Minor Quest: Have copied the hererodox (heretical?) text The Shadowed Sun.

Minor Quest: Procure a safe lair in which to set up an altar to Delban and recruit clandestine adherents to his worship therein.

Though Arunny is clearly in a hurry to leave Bantouk in search of her brother, both @Nephis and I agree that it makes sense to first pursue Ibhea's quest for a scrivener and see what develops from that. Hence, we shall try to procure the services of Xin Mae, renowned scribe of matters arcane and divine in the Dome of Illumination, to produce a copy of The Shadowed Sun.

 

[Manbearcat]

Back to the scene of the original crime...

This is a seriously dangerous affair, copying such a controversial text...

Goal: Convince Xin Mae, scrivener of the DoI, to produce a copy of The Shadowed Sun.

Complexity 1, Level +2 Challenge (DCs 12, 16, vs NAD 20, vs AC 22)

1 Secondary Skill, all DCs Medium

0 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skills Available

---

Xin Mae is rushing through the beautifully cut archway into the outdoor antechamber, hands filled with bundles of parchment, rolled and flat, and implements to set language upon them. Clearly, Xin is lost in thought as he barely notices the priests (youse guys) attempting to intercede in his path.

Grumbling under his breath...

"This is absurd. This is the third time...THIRD...that I've requested parchment of a particular weight and size and my order has been mismanaged. If my assistant won't be disagreeable enough to resolve this, then I'll give the merchant the dressing down required to permanently rectify this."

The scrivener, in ill-mood already (2), almost runs directly into you, stops short and his bundles are about to go calamatously out of his hands. Embroiled in a foul temperament already, if this goes pear-shaped its certainly not going to help things! (1)

---

He's about to lose his goods that he is looking to get refunded on account of running into you! (1)

His temperament is foul already, so he's likely to rebuff you on surly mood alone! (2)

MEDIUM DC

 

[darkbard]

The renowned scrivener, distinct in the wide-sleeved embroidered red silk robe and matching futou hat of his homeland, far across the Sea of Silt and Sand to the south, grasps desperately at the scrolls of parchment and writing implements as his drawing up short at the near-collision sends them tumbling into the air.

In deep pitched-slow motion, Arunny's voice forms the words "Qaaaaamraaaaa, aaaaiiiid!" Then the scene speeds up, and the nimble acolyte dextrously snatches several scrolls as if a juggler ending her routine by plucking tumbling pins from the air, and then extends a soft-booted foot to intercept and balance an ink bottle before it shatters against the cut pumice flagstones of the antechamber.

"Ah, Master Scrivener," IBHHEA begins, "how fate smiles upon the needy! For you are just the person we seek, and in need of your aid we are, indeed! I can see you are in great haste upon some commercial endeavor, but I believe we have a commission that will interest you, superceding such mundane affairs. To cut to the chase: I carry an ancient text, retrieved from the Temple of Union in far Itirilmish, a text of ancient wisdom that carries puissant wards to safeguard its secrets. Nevertheless, I believe it time for these secrets to reenter our world, a return to Old Ways that offer respite and truth to counteract the complexities and hypocrisies of these modern times. Will you accept our commission and play a key role in reversing the runaway juggernaut of our society?"

---

Qamra makes a Secondary Skill Acrobatics check +12 vs DC 12 Easy DC = autosuccess in aid of Ibhea's Primary Skill Diplomacy check (aided by Arunny's Half-Elf Group Diplomacy +1), r(10) +7 +1 +2 = 20 vs 16 Moderate DC. Success.

 

[Manbearcat]

1 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/0 Secondary Skills Available

---

The scrivener stares blankly, blinks twice, exhales.

"That is a dizzying appeal. This feels like a sales pitch. Was that a sales pitch? It was a good one. <pause> But. I don't like sales pitches. I don't like salesman. They're always trying to get one over on you...just like the one I'm about to see and give a good talking-to." (1)

He regards Qamra. "You should be in the circus with those reflexes....or maybe the playhouse. You know that comedy by the eastern playwright Bendevici Burlahn? The one about the scrivener and his assistant who follows him around somehow catching all the things he clumsily knocks into and loses hold of? I'd pay good coin to see that. I mean you in that."

He finally catches that she is kitted out with armaments and armor and checks the hilt to see if its real. Shocked face. Pulls it a few inches out of its scabbard to make sure there is a sharpened rather than dulled blade.

"Wait. You're giving actual weapons to tiny children now?"

Looks up at the pair of you with one arm out wide and one hand, palm up, gesticulating at Qamra and other children and adolescents walking around not-so-armed.

"Tiny children!" (2)

Back to the play.

"Ok, what in the underworld is the name of that play? I can't continue my day until I can recall. I just cannot." Full consternation with hand on chin and tapping foot; "What_is_the name of that damnable play?" (3)

---

Resolve one or more of the above.

MEDIUM DC

 

[darkbard]

The genial smile fades from IBHEA's face, replaced by a cold stare. He pulls back the basleq from his head, exposing his short-cropped hair, receding hairline, and the leather phylactery strapped across the top of his brow.

"We are no hucksters, no snakeoil salesmen, Scrivener. Behold, the mark of my station as Lucent Messenger. My colleague is Omthala's Searing Voice. And this is no mere child. Qamra is the Radiant Shamshar of our Mistress, her mortal sword here on earth. With those quick reflexes you note, she could draw her blade and split an iron statue in two before you intake a breath in surprise.

We are here with a most serious proposition, one that very well may decide the future course of the empire. Our offer is a benevolence we bestow upon you, an honor by which you should be humbled, not distracted with storytelling diversions!"

---

Ibhea uses Beguiling Tongue (Encounter Power) to augment (+5) his Primary Skill Intimidate check, to shake the scrivener from his frippery, r(3) +7 +5 = 15 vs 16 Moderate DC. Failure.

 

[Manbearcat]

1 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/1 Failures/0 Secondary Skills Available

---

The pair of state soldiers manning the security for The Dome of Illumination overhear the raised voice of the priest and intuit that some offense has been taken due to the lowly artisan. They exchange a glance and one of the dragonborn hoplites doffs its helm as it strides away from its post with purpose toward the group.

"You forget yourself scrivener. You do not talk to a Bantoukian priest like that. I would arrest you and send you to the stocks if it were not for my duties here. But you shall not forget yourself again."

The sentinel raises the steel helm overhead to strike the first blow of what will surely usher in a debilitating beating that scrivener Xin Mae will not soon forget (nor soon recover from)...

What do you do?

---

MEDIUM DC

 

[darkbard]

As the Dragonborn hoplite's arm descends, steel helm promising Xin Mae a world of pain for his class transgression, Ibhea reaches out, grasping the towering dragonman's wrist and halting its descent.

"Soldier, I thank you for your aid, but you forget yourself. As we are clergy of Omthala, this scribe's insolence is no crime against the Empire but against Our Holy Church. I assure you, we have at our disposal the means to deal with this artisan's failure to show proper respect." IBHEA glances sideways at Xin Mae with a kind of just-play-along-if-you-wish-to-get-out-of-this expression. "Return to your post, hoplite. I will see that your superior is informed of your diligence, and this," he proffers a purse of gold coins, "serves as a token of our gratitude in the meantime."

---

Utilizing details of the setting's caste system we established early in the game (We know we've got a hierarchical structure of Emperor/Empress > Royals > Priests > Military & Aristocracy > Merchants > Peasants > Slaves. I would add that this strict caste system is complicated by some checks and balances and gray areas, like the Sect of Omthala’s supra-judicial status.), I'm making a Primary Skill Diplomacy check here for Ibhea to "pull rank" and establish that this is not an affair of state and therefore outside the Dragonborn hoplite's jurisdiction, r(1) +7 +1 (Half-Elf Diplomacy, within 10 squares of Arunny) = 9 vs 16 Moderate DC. Failure.

In an attempt to ward off an escalation of some sort with the hoplite, I'm hoping to preemptively spend 180 gps (1/10th at-level magic item cost) as a bribe/mitigation of fallout against the ensuing change of fiction. Not sure how you want to handle that mechanically.

 

[Manbearcat]

EDIT: Just occurred to me @darkbard . Are you wanting to “buy-off” your failure above (with an actual buy-off in the fiction), remove the hoplite as obstacle, and reframe the situation at 1 success/1 failure? If so, that’s cool. Let me know and I’ll change the below (I’ll just strikethrough it and come up with new stuff).

Otherwise, if you’re interested in the below instead, we’ll keep it and just make a move.

---

1 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/2 Failures/0 Secondary Skills Available

So I think we need to open up the prospects of bribe/charity in order to put into effect the clemency we're hoping happens here. So, lets go with this; Defeat this next obstacle to open that up and you can bundle your offering of 180 gps for 2 x successes in the SC. Sound good?

---

As your physical intercession and entreating of the soldier occurs, the dragonborn stares blankly into you with its reptilian eyes...betraying nothing.

Looks down at your purse and the offering. Doesn't take it.

Looks back up at your face as it dons its helm. "Very well clergyman of Omthala. My role is to enforce the law as I know it. I can see when my understanding of its intricacies has reached its limit."

The dragonborn calls to his sentinel partner to get their superior; Officer Festusha Toqiroth. Her legacy of proficiency in legal matters precedes her...its good...but not great...there are holes, but her pride makes it such that she is not apt to admit them when they occur. She strides out of the dome's entrance, partially-unraveled scroll in hand. Seemingly reading it to herself she begins a procession of "I see...I see...yeeeeeeeeeessssss...I see." Whether she actually "sees" or whether this is performative is to be determined.

"Good priest, are you aware of the ballad of The Scrivener's Duty? Written in The Fourth Age during The Winter Coup and The Fell Harvest? I believe that has some bearing of legal precedence here, yes?"

Looking at your purse and then following a tracing hand on the scroll she bears. "Yes, yes. <clearing throat as prelude to reading> And moneys did not afford the scrivener reprieve from their duty nor the people succor from their starvation nor the farmers the headman's axe after their long folly in handling land and crop."

She looks up from her scroll and at the trio of priests. "That is what it says here. So I ask you; should coin afford one scrivener, these many years later, leniency?"

---

MEDIUM DC

Make your move and on success you can add-on your charity/bribe/tribute/offering of 180 GP for 2 x success.

 

[Nephis]

ARUNNY watches as the scene plays out and its actors prepare to stumble ... badly, then steps forward to intervene (inwardly rolling her eyes at Ibhea's unusual ineptitude). As she moves closer, she glances at the partially unraveled scroll held by Officer Toqiroth and is able to catch a glimpse of a passage pertinent to the moment.

"Inquisitor, you are absolutely right, or at least would be, if Scrivener Xin Mae were offering you a bribe. However," the Searing Voice continues, pointing at the appropriate passage, "surely you remember that it is written in the ballad which follows The Scrivener's Duty - the ballad which rings out The Fiery Joy of Our Lady's Voice - that Omthala instructs her priests to give gifts of thanks to those who are charitable to those lesser in rank?"

Arunny plucks the purse from Ibhea's outstretched hand and - taking the officer's hand - places the purse into it and closing Officer Toqiroth's taloned fingers around it. "Our Lady thanks you kindly. Go bask in the warmth of Her light."

---

Arunny makes a Primary Skill Perception check to recognize The Ballad of the Fiery Joy of Our Lady's Voice on the scroll held by Officer Toqiroth, r(10) +15 = 25 vs 16 Moderate DC. = 2 Successes.

 

[Manbearcat]

3 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/2 Failures/0 Secondary Skills Available

---

Officer Toqiroth looks down at her draconic hand wrapped around the coin purse while she mouths "The Fiery Joy of Our Lady's Voice...yes...of course." She places the purse in her satchel and gives two quick claps in an impromptu standing ovation. "Well done. Truly. In my next seminar on these subjects I will reference this exact conversation and give you full credit (not a chance!)."

The Officer walks back into The Dome of Illumination to take up her office. The pair of sentinels move back to their posts.

Xin Mae approaches with a mix of mirth at the exchange, excitement at the prospects of penning a copy of an ancient tome, and another emotion...anxiety...fear. He leans in.

"Look...well, rather, listen. The Mind is a Shardmind of unparalleled mental prowess. It can reach into a brain and tear the thoughts from it...expose your darkest of secrets. It knows everything that takes place in The Dome of Illumination. I will take the work to my quarters. I will reproduce a copy of this controversial tome. But I will only do so once I see that you...one of you...all of you, I care not which, has preoccupied the mental eye of that living construct so I can go about this heretical work without...well, without being exposed for taking part!"

We're going to smash cut to the dome with The Mind up on the mezzanine, ever watchful. Xin Mae will depart for his quarters and do his work once you've held up your end of the deal (tying up The MInd's mental surveillance within The Dome of Illumination).

---

MEDIUM DC

 

[darkbard]

Tucked momentarily in a dark aisle, IBHEA pulls the cork from the bottle of wine and swigs deeply from the bottle, his adam's apple bobbing like a lure tugged down and up by some frantic fish on a placid lake surface. "My, uh, reputation precedes me in this, Arunny. But in this it makes our ruse all the more plausible." He wipes his sleeve across his mouth. "Now follow my lead and do as we planned!" he whispers.

"Don't try to shtopp me, Shishter," he slurs in too clamorous a volume and stumbles out into the main hall, directly beneath the mezzanine where The Mind surveys all. "If thish youngshter is to fight wicked enemiesh of Our Lady, then shhe musht learn her catechishhmsh of Viiisch [vice]." He swings the arm holding the bottle in a wide arc in the general direction of the stacks.

"A dozhen shpectral shervants, and none doesh sherve Her Lady'sh ... shervants! Hellloooo! Ish this a library or a tomb? Where can a priesht find shacred texshts when he needsh them?!?" Ibhea almost trips over the hem of his qaba.

Arunny, following her colleague's mad plan, calls out plaintively, "Will someone just help us find the collection of Omthala's Mysteries so that our tutelage here can be brief and I can help the Lucent Messenger back to the Sanctuary ... and out of your hair," the last in a faux sotto voce.

All activity in the hall grinds to a halt. Volumes attended by spectral servants hover midair. The Oracle stops writhing in his chains. No one utters a word.

Then The Mind discorporates into a thousand crystal shards and cascades from its perch on the mezzanine to reform before the boisterous priest.

---

Ibhea makes a Primary Skill Bluff check, using the bottle of wine carried in his satchel as a convincing prop (and +2 equipment bonus) in his ploy to draw The Mind's attention away from Xin Mae's illicit activities and upon himself, r(7) +13 +2 = 22 vs 16 Moderate DC. Success.

 

[Manbearcat]

The Mind's scrutiny fixates on the priests and their performance. Its penetrating gaze discovers nothing more than they wish it to.

Spectral servants are commanded to search the shelfs and vaults for the requested collections. Many hours later, with Omthala's Myteries rescued from a dusty cupboard, they are fit to satchel, satchel is fit to priest, and priests are escorted from the premises.

That evening, Xin Mae shows up in cloak and cowl at an Omthalan ceremony. He deftly hands over the copy of The Shadowed Sun with a neatly folded letter half sticking out. When the priests unfold it afterward, it is an earnest request from Xin Mae to have the priests put in for him as their personal scribe on a mission for Omthala. He is so moved by the prospects of witnessing the rebirth of an ancient religion that he must serve it by documenting the phenomenon as best he can.

---

XP & LOOT

- 350 - 63 (Qamra Successful Acro Primary Check) /2 = 144 and 143 xp

- Xin Mae becomes obsessed with Dalban in the copying of The Shadowed Sun and requests to travel with you and document His momentous rise from the shadows to the light. Xin Mae travels with you as scribe (color) and you gain Historical Revelation (Skill Power, History) as a Daily.

Historical RevelationHistory Utility 6
When your ally struggles to recall an important fact, you supply a story to nudge him or her onto the right path.
Encounter
Immediate Reaction - Close burst 5
Trigger: An ally within 5 squares of you makes a knowledge check and dislikes the result
Target: The triggering ally in the burst
Effect: The target rerolls the knowledge check and uses either result.

---

So what is the move after this?

Minor Quest: Procure a safe lair in which to set up an altar to Delban and recruit clandestine adherents to his worship therein.

Is that it? Somewhere out in the Hinterlands where the missions to Omthala do the work of The Radiant Lady? Or here in Bantouk?

EDIT - For anyone following along and wondering “why the hiatus?” Our intrepid heroes are on extended vacation IRL!

 

[darkbard]

So what is the move after this?

Minor Quest: Procure a safe lair in which to set up an altar to Delban and recruit clandestine adherents to his worship therein.

Is that it? Somewhere out in the Hinterlands where the missions to Omthala do the work of The Radiant Lady?

This is it, in part. That is to say, Arunny will certainly press upon Ibhea that enough time has been squandered in his obsession with ancient relics and possibly heretical mysteries, time that should be dedicated to an immediate search for her brother, whom she had believed dead before Qamra's revelations.

So from Arunny and Qamra's perspective, the task is to retrace Qamra's path back to The Pit, near or within the Minotaur City on the Plains in search of any evidence that might lead to Ahaan.

From Ibhea's perspective, however, this journey will draw upon stories about the Ten Prodigies or Prophets held within the Decateuch section of The Shadowed Sun, stories that link the miracles worked by these children to the birth of Delban's worship in the world. Perhaps one of these prodigies has already attracted some attention upon which Ibhea can build his clandestine congregation. Perhaps the distant, missionary outposts of Omthala's faith, perforce more fluid in interpretation of The Radiant Lady's mysteries than centralized urban centers of Church hierarchy, like those of Bantouk, as a means of presenting a syncretic appeal to new believers, hold likely converts primed for the teachings of Delban as necessary, integral counterbalance to Omthala. Perhaps the incursions of Caiphon in such remote places are signal to a cosmic war brewing between Delban and Caiphon, one that will play out among new worshippers in the mortal plane. Perhaps it will simply be that an attempt to bring such a heresy into the world is safer beyond the reach of powerful orthodox crusaders closer to the centers of power.

In any event, Ibhea is happy to leave Bantouk in pursuit of his quest as parallel enterprise to Arunny's own designs. And Xin Mae, of course, hopes to witness the birthplace of the new faith.

So the four will outfit themselves for a journey to the Minotaur City and set off as soon as the necessary preparations can be made!

 

[Manbearcat]

Goal: Provision and Evade the Imperial Forces of Bantouk to beyond the gates and into the wild.

Complexity 1, Of-Level Challenge (DCs 11, 15, vs NAD 18, vs AC 20)

1 Secondary Skill, all DCs Medium

0 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skills Available

Follow-on conflict will be:

Goal: Qamra as your guide, brave the wild and journey to The Pit.

That will be C2, Level +2.

When there are opportunities for Ibhea to proselytize along the way, we’ll handle those as a side conflict @darkbard .

---

<Offscreen>

Under the morning sun we hear a rough rapping at a door. Its the Omthalan Temple our heroes left not long before. An imperial soldier with a few more lurking behind greets the steward.

“Under order of the Empress and her Minister of Internal Affairs, Bita-Bahlin, we demand you surrender the clergy <suffering from rudimentary literacy, the soldier struggles with pronunciation>; Arunny…and…Ibhea. They were seen with possible conspirators against the state on these very grounds. They are wanted for questioning.”

Stewards a wife-eyed, blank face; blinks twice, shakes head.

<Cut to Bantouk market>

The trio of heroes and scrivener meander through the dense market sprawl, Qamra smiling at a trinket or fabric she is taken with as a merchant vainly tries to ensnare her for a purchase. She politely slips away.

Emerging around an opening she runs into the back of Ibhea and Arunny. The sprawl has briefly opened up to a central plaza with sightline to a pair of Imperial Sentries no doubt showing a street food vendor the priests penciled or magically fabricated likeness on papyrus.

The vendor tip-toes to look over the throng of buyers and sellers in the plaza…points out the priests.

The soldiers eyes pan in the direction of our fellowship, some 20 meters away…

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MEDIUM DC (ALL)

What do you do? You need to both provision (1 successful move) and evade the forces to beyond Bantouk’s gates.