The Slave and Her Sovereign

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.
 

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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
 

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.
 

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
 
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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
 

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.
 

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

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.
 

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
 

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.
 

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
 

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