The Slave and Her Sovereign

[Manbearcat]

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

---

At Ibhea's exhortation, Xin Mae's words crystalize, heighten in sound and tempo, and his religious fervor firms. Caiphon's influence is cast off.

No doubt in direct response, the spherical aberration of bone, flesh, and purple plasma floating in the air flexes and contorts as it becomes awash with astral waves when a planar conduit opens like a portal next to it; through it all behold a glimpse of The Dread Star's alien environs. Like a wretching maw, purple appendages spill out to assail the priests and their scriveners, attempting to hold them off (acid and grab attack vs Fort) (1) while primeval spew simultaneously pours through the breech, defying gravity, reifying this project in physical corruption of form and spiritual dissolution of faith. The girls' torsos, arms, and legs glisten with sweat and the repulsing violet-hued ichor that bathes them. The otherworldly discharge seeks to finish the project of physical blending and blanking of their spiritual slate as the helpless Seven writhe and scream unearthly sounds like a terrible chorus (2).

---

You've got 2 x dangers here to attend to. (1) is MEDIUM DC which must be resolved to free up someone to deal with (2) which is HARD DC.

If the move to deal with (1) fails, stop there as we're going to combat as outlined in the lead post of the SC. If it succeeds, continue to resolve (2).

 

[darkbard]

@Nephis and I have consulted on our moves here, and I will present fiction and mechanics here in a single post.

---

Recognizing that the only hope remaining for The Blessed is an immediate exorcism, ARUNNY also knows this time she cannot be the one to perform it. This liturgy must come from Ibhea, invoking both the full might of Omthala and that of her son, Delban, Sorcerer-King. And so she does what comes naturally to her: endure the pain and suffering meant for others by intervening herself between the purple appendages and the whisky priest, blocking repeated lashes with her morningstar, Omthala's holy shield (Battle Cleric's Lore's +2 shield bonus) wreathing her in a protective glowing shell as she is buffeted by blows from the writhing tentacles.

She is quite successful in her ploy, almost unequivocally so, until one spasmodic tentacle threatens to lash her from beyond her peripheral vision. But just in the nick of time, Qamra does a combination front handspring and aerial cartwheel, slicing the appendage in half with her sword, and lands in a three-point stance, sword outstretched in her remaining hand, beside her "older sister."

---

Arunny makes a Primary Skill Endurance check to take on and withstand the blows meant for Ibhea, aided by Qamra's Secondary Skill Acrobatics check (+12 vs 13 Easy DC = autosuccess for +2 bonus), r(11) +7 (training exhaused in earlier Group Endurance check) +2 = 20 vs 18 Moderate DC. Success.

I am now wagering that Advantage for 2 Successes (if appropriate) against that Hard DC.

---

IBHEA lifts the holy symbol of Omthala from around his neck, the shining symbol of a widespread faith. Yet he knows that divine power alone is insufficient to cast out the Far Realm malevolence that threatens The Blessed.

"Radiant Mother, everlasting source of light and life, lend us your power here, and join with your Heavenly Son; hasten to our call for help and snatch from ruination and from the clutches of the noonday abomination these children. Strike terror into the abomination now laying waste to your oasis. Fill your servants with courage to fight against this impending doom, lest it despise those who put their trust in you.

"I command you, malevolent interloper, alien to this realm, along with all your minions now attacking these servants of Delban, newly baptised in their faith, by the mysteries of Omthala's searing light and those of the burning black flame. I command you, I who am a minister of divinity despite my own frailties and unworthiness; nor shall you be emboldened to harm in any way these creatures, or the bystanders, or any of their possessions.

"Be gone from this place! Retreat to your incomprehensible domain! Free these innocents of your malign influence! Retreat now until the final battle is met on the Plane of Cosmic Spheres Contended, where you will meet your final doom and all creation shall be free of the threat of your influence everlasting!

"BEGONE!" he finishes, and his voice rises to an almost-thunderbolt clap, worthy of the most puissant utterances of Arunny, Omthala's Searing Voice!

---

Ibhea is augmenting his Primary Skill Religion check to intone Omthala's liturgy of exorcism with both Divine (Shining Symbol Encounter Power for +2 power bonus) and Arcane (Secondary Skill Arcana check, r(19), +11 = 30 vs 13 Easy DC. Success for +2 bonus), r(8) +15 +2 +2 = 27 vs 26 Difficult DC. Wagered for 2 Successes and closing out the SC.

---

With the great sucking sound of a vacuum, the planar conduit begins to dilate and pull all of its excrescence with it. The purple spherical structure disjoints. The seven Blessed are dropped, unceremoniously, from their suspended space, falling hard against the rough-cut wooden boards of the spartan cathedral. All light, even Xin Mae's lantern, is snuffed out. Stillness and calm. And following, a sense of great relief, sanity restored.

---

We had discussed hard-cutting to the 3 settlements of the remaining 9 Blessed in succession, but I propose that Dolg Hana is ripe for conversion to Delban's worship, considering the miracle--and his key influence thereto--worked here today. So, perhaps before setting forth, pivoting to that Quest is in order!

 

[Manbearcat]

Goal: Gain entrance to the church and exorcise the infected before they fully become Caiphon's thralls.

Resolved.

XP & LOOT

* 1000/2 = 500 xp apiece.

* 600 coin in the form of Astral Shards shunted through the closed rift.

* After driving out or escaping thralldom of multiple terrible entities, one PC or Qamra gains the Boon:

Divine Deliverance​

The radiance of the sun and moon drive out the presence of insidious entities from your mind.
Daily ✦ Divine
Immediate Interrupt Personal
Trigger: You are hit by a charm or a psychic attack.
Effect: You gain resist 5 psychic until the end of your next turn. Also, you gain a +2 power bonus to saving throws against charm effects and psychic effects until the end of your next turn.
Level 11: Resist 10 psychic.
Level 21: Resist 15 psychic.

---

* Of-level (7), Complexity 1 Skill Challange (DCs 11, 16, vs NAD = 19, vs AC = 21) to galvanize a religious awakening to Delban and consecrate this place as His holy bastion and these people as First Stewards of The Faith of The Shadowed Sun. 1 Secondary Skill Available, 0 Hard DCs.

---

With Caiphon's will smote yet again, the pilgrims and The Blessed Eight (two remaining) emerge from the still-intact church. The moon looms vast in the sky above; cold yet comforting.

The people of Dolg Hana must sense the miracle at hand as, one by one, their doors unlock and they shamble through the doors like awestruck zombies, parents clasping the hands of their children, mothers swaddling babes.

Xin Mae realizes something potentially historical is at hand and doffs his pack to quickly rummage through his implements and parchment, preparing to document the event for all times. He stands up abruptly and his head cranes right to left as he follows a figure in full flight. "Oh dear. That cannot be good. No. Not good indeed." Absent-mindedly, he callously sighs "...this will spoil everything, won't it?"

The young porter who manages Dolg Hana's pack animals rushes out to the small pole barn that protects their beasts of burden from the cruel sun in this inhospitable place. Whether it was the astral wave from the conduit opening, the cold radiance of the moon looming high above, or the simple excitement of the moment, the town's lone, female Frill-Boned Yak (think Triceratops) is suddenly in labor and she is clearly not ready for it. The animal begins making a terrible noise of distress and the young porter is working overdrive to get everything ready to attempt to save her and deliver her not-ready-for-this-world-yet calf.

A collective gasp from the Dolg Hanans. The death of their only female yak or the terrible portent of a stillbirth on this night would be an awful setback to galvanizing a religious awakening!

---

How do you resolve this problem? If you do so successfully, if you have a move thereafter that exalts in the successful resolution of the plight of the poor mother and her calf or exalting in the deliverance of the town from Dread Caiphon's influence, go ahead and make it. I'll generate a new obstacle after that.

If you don't have a move to exalt/consecrate immediately thereafter or you get a failure here then stay put and I'll change the situation.

Failure means wildland predators or Feral Raiders, always lurking on the outskirts of these towns, will smell or sense the death of the yak and come for a meal...or more. I'll flesh out that obstacle and it will escalate to the Hard DC.

MEDIUM DC

 

[Nephis]

After exiting the stifling air of the building, ARUNNY stands still for a moment, breathing with relief the cool night air and sensing power in that moonlight. Then, her attention is caught by movement in the gathering crowd and the murmured words of the scrivener standing at her shoulder, words that cause her to briefly give him a stern glance of recrimination.

Quickly returning her attention to the porter, the seer's eyes follow his urgent dash then her feet swiftly follow his path, running into the small barn immediately behind him. Her years of doing mission work with her father in small villages such as this one have taught her to trust her instinctive impulse to aid, and to do so quickly, when urgency is sensed, as it is now.

Kneeling beside the yak, she gently soothes the laboring beast with the touch of her hands and the calm of her voice, focusing her energies into the mother-to-be, gentling her pain. Within herself, she is troubled, however: how could their Lady allow such calamity immediately following their victory over the alien influence? Is this a test of Her Searing Voice and her comrades?

Then, the Moonlight Itself turns to song before her eyes, translucent moments of sound dancing in the air. Arunny breathes in the cooling music which then enters into her body. Smiling, the seer channels the Maiden's cool, healing power into the yak, soothing labor pains, making the birthing more manageable.

The Consort gives Arunny the boy's name, and she looks up into his eyes and says, "Chann, she is ready for you to help her. Maba, Maiden of the Moon, for whom your parents named you at your birth, has given you both the strength to help the calf become ready to be in this world. See how Her Light is dancing around us, surrounding us with Her healing and love!"

---

Arunny makes a Primary Skill Healing check: r(5) + 12 = 17 vs. 16 Moderate DC. Success.

---

At ARUNNY's words, there is a sharp gasp at the tent's perimeter. The priestess turns her head to meet the startled eyes of the woman standing there. The resemblance between mother and son is obvious.

Then, Arunny gets up from her kneeling position beside the now more naturally laboring beast, Chann skillfully aiding the birth. Omthala's Searing Voice briefly touches a hand to the shoulder of Chann's mother as she passes, before addressing the worried assembly of villagers before them, her tone calm and true.

"As you practical and sensible people are well-aware, a three-legged stool carries the strength that a single-pillared chair cannot. My faith is in the Strength of Three, Our Lady, the Goddess Mother, fierce and demanding in Searing Light; Her Son, dark and dangerous in his Shadowed Light, his Darkness bringing truths that are hidden in bright light; and His Consort, the Maiden of the Moon, whose cool and gentle MoonLight is Healing Music. We need all Lights: to see what is, to see what is hidden, and to see what is possible.

"Listen to the words of my comrade, Omthala's Lucent Messenger, words given him by this Triune Light."

---

Arunny uses a Secondary Skill Religion check: r(15) + 3 = 18 vs. 11 Easy DC. Success. to give a +2 bonus to Ibhea's next Primary Skill check.

 

[darkbard]

As all eyes turn to him, IBHEA is grateful for the warmth of the arak, soothing his nerves, calming his racing heart. He must overcome his natural diffidence if the glory of the Sorcerer-King is to be brought into the world!

The whisky priest clears his throat. “Good folk of Dolg Hana, as you can see in the returned health of these seven girls, a potent miracle has been worked here tonight. As Omthala’s Searing Voice explains, our Radiant Mistress played a role in casting off the alien malevolence that had infected these girls.” He pauses, breathing deeply to calm himself, excitement and fear merging to threaten overwhelming him. “But Her Son, Delban, Who Has Lived in Shadow, made manifest his most potent intervention on their behalf through us, his mortal intermediaries. Without the black light of Delban, the terrible influence of an alien realm would have exploded from your temple here, like a swollen pustule strained to capacity and burst, spreading forth across the land its fell pestilence.

“I carry with me a most ancient and holy text, The Shadowed Sun, copied by this learned and respected scribe of a foreign land. This tome identifies Dolg Hana’s seven girls as among The Blessed Ten prophesied to herald in the dawn of Delban’s worship in our world. Will you join with us in offering thanks and praise to His Most Holy and Arcane works, open your hearts to his worship, study this text and its teachings, and usher in a new age of holy might to combat the many ills that beset our world?”

---

Ibhea makes a Primary Skill Diplomacy check (untrained but augmented by Arunny’s successful Secondary Skill check and her Group Diplomacy racial ability), r(18) +7 +2 +1 = 28 vs 16 Moderate DC. Success.

 

[Manbearcat]

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

---

There is a drawn-out moment of quiet as the significance of the various miracles and Ibhea's powerful invocation washes over the community.

All eyes are drawn to a stone grain silo near the center of the Dolg Hana. Atop it is the domicile of an ancient woman who makes herself known with the creaking open of the shutters to her tiny hut. Looking down at you from her window, veiled head to foot with only hands protruding, she speaks no words but signs in shroud-defiling hands which shudder, stagger, and seem to elongate as they are dappled by moonlight.

There is a gasp and several members of the community whisper under their breath "Chono Sarantuya..."

"The Moonlight Wolf" in the old tongue of these lands.

As all behold her signing, the man who MC'd the ceremony before, clearly some kind of reluctant leader of the scrabble of humanity out here, translates her gestures into words "why does the sun and the moon allow themselves to be swallowed by darkness? Is this both the work of Delban? What does your book say is the source of this mystery?" (1)

Xin Mae, flustered, huffs quietly "...as if I didn't know what she said...what do you take me for...a mere halfwit of language..."

The speaker's head cranes from Chono Sarantuya's position on-high to the scrivener which abruptly shuts him up. "Out here there is struggle, superstition, and as many sacrifices necessary to the Gods, Spirits, and Entities Below (Primordials) that will see us through another day. We do not have the luxuries of Bantouk. The sun has not been swallowed for hundreds of years. But on that night, a Dolg Hanan child is offered for the sun's safe return. But the moon is taken ten or more times in a lifetime. On that night, we offer up a goat...and we do not have many to offer up."

He looks at Arunny and Ibhea.

"The Maiden of the Moon is sacred to us. While she afflicts some of us with the hardships of 'The Changing,' it has delivered us from more than our share of Feral Raiders. Omthala gives us light to grow our meager crop. What will Her Son, Delban, Who Has Lived in Shadow give us? Or...what will he demand from us?" (2)

---

You definitely need to answer (1) to placate their revered Chono Sarantuya. You can take +2 item bonus from the sacred book you possess.

If you succeed and want to engage with (2), then do so. If not, I'll change the situation after you engage with (1).

MEDIUM DC

 

[darkbard]

IBHEA unshoulders his traveling pack, withdraws the copy of the sacred text, and unveils it from its protective wrappings. He raises the gorgeous, illuminated tome in both hands above his head, then lowers it, riffles through its pages, clears his voice, and begins to read.

"And lo, then did Dendar, The Night Serpent, swallow the sun and the moons, the greater sphere becoming black and then silver, and then red as blood, while the lesser spheres transformed icy blue, then indigo, and finally violet as they passed through its great maw and along its sinewy form.

"But Delban's ruse went undetected, for he did not share his plan even with Mother or Beloved, so vital was his secret. His black flames burned and concentrated within the gut of the Beast, and so did he burn a mighty hole through Dendar's tail, forging escape back into the sky after a time."

Omthala's Lucent Messenger stops and closes the book. The text is a parable of the necessity of change and transformation. The Celestial Spheres allow themselves to be swallowed in darkness for just the same reasons your fields must lie fallow for a time, or why the caterpillar must sleep within its cocoon before emerging as the emperor moth. Without the eclipse, there can be no change in the mortal world, and this is also why they are so infrequent; to allow us mortal creatures time to adapt to new dispensations. Xin Mae, sign that to their Chono Sarantuya (1).

---

Ibhea makes a Primary Skill Religion check, augmented with the +2 item bonus from The Shadowed Sun, +15 +2 = autosuccess vs 16 Moderate DC. Success.

---

When the scrivener has finished making the arcane signs to the veiled figure behind the shutters, IBHEA turns back to the speaker. "You ask what Delban offers you in return for your worship. Omthala's Searing Voice has answered that for you already." He turns and looks at Arunny, who gives him a reassuring nod. "Delban's black flames illuminate that which is hidden, and someone or something is hidden within Dolg Hana, a malevolent agent of Dread Caiphon, that sickly purple star that infected your girls. For surely they could not have been taken from you without the aid of someone within this village. Give praise and thanks where it is due, rededicate this temple to shared glory between Her Brilliant Radiance and Her Son, and the black flame will illuminate the subterfuge within our midst."

---

Ibhea uses Beguiling Tongue (Encounter Power) for a +5 bonus to a Primary Skill Diplomacy check, r(18) +7 (untrained) +5 +1 (Group Diplomacy) = 31 vs 16 Moderate DC. Success.

---

Oh, by the way, we decided it's fictionally most appropriate for Arunny to receive the Boon Divine Deliverance.

 

[Manbearcat]

Goal: Galvanize a religious awakening to Delban and consecrate this place as His holy bastion and these people as First Stewards of The Faith of 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.

Both resolved.

XP & LOOT

* 300/2 + 150/2 = 225 xp apiece.

* Religious Bastion established in Dolg Hana: After a Short Rest or Long Rest in Dolg Hana, take +2 forward on your next roll.

* Ibhea gain 1 Magic Item of level 4 or lower.

---

"I am called Gan" says the man you have been dealing with.

"When the girls arrived, we could sense both that they were special and that they were sick already with something terrible they were exposed to. Our suspicions of both of these things were confirmed a few days after when a platoon of soldiers from Bantouk led by a horned man of infernal heritage. He was looking for them. The safest place to hide them was the den of Chono Sarantuya for reasons that I'm sure you can come to. And so we hid them. Despite the infernal man's threats, we held fast. He said..."

The man is cut short by another voice; Bita Bahlin. And a platoon of Bantouk myrmidons at his back.

"I said I would be back. And I said that if I find the girls in your midst, I will burn this village to cinders with all of the people in it. Here we are."

He points his finger as he pans to the priests and the recovering collection of seven members of The Blessed huddled behind them. "And here they are."

His head tilts like a dog.

"Ibhea! My old friend (Vengeful Rival background). Its so good to see you. I remember when we were young on the unforgiving streets of The Burning Row. Simpler times. Not so simple anymore. When once you were content with rabblerousing and grifting with our small band of urchins...now you seem content on rabblerousing and grifting at a scale so profound that it is hard for me to weigh my full astonishment!" His eyes narrow. "Heresy? <Tsk, tsk, tsk> For old times sake, I am feeling merciful. Hand over the seven, no eight (pointing to Qamra), heretics in your midst, hand over the foul text you pilfered to sow this schism, and recant. Do this and I will grant you a swift death, far removed from what these treacherous Dolg Hanans will endure. Do it not and you will join them..."

---

You take +2 forward from Short Rest in the Religious Bastion of Dolg Hana. If you wish to engage in parlee to have him accept more reasonable terms (which cannot include "allow The Blessed to go free...this includes Qamra") or you wish to try to swindle him or stall him to create some kind of diversion or delay so you can get a boon (beyond the +2 to Initiative that you would recieve if you escalate to combat now), let me know.

Otherwise, I'll put together a combat + nested SC pending your goals. You're facing extreme danger here. This will be a Level +6 combat with Bita Bahlin (Solo), Soldier Standards (Swarms; phalanx), and Artillery Minions. However, you can make a Standard Monster out of 1 of Chono Sarantuya, The Blessed Seven, or Gan + one Hazard (could be Dolg Hanans or could be a feature of the rustic village or could be Moon Maiden or Shadowed Sun intervention) that you are immune to (homefield advantage) to offset that budget by 2 monsters (so Level +4). However, they are slain, that is donezo for them; curtains.

Let me know what you plan to do and we'll resolve.

 

[darkbard]

Our intentions in response to Bita-Bahlin's challenge are as follows:

What we want to do is (i) rely upon Arunny's oracular vision (likely a Perception check) to foresee the imminent arrival of Chanvati and Co, with the potential rhetorical leverage of Iron Gorgon Tribe "cured" to set up (ii) a Bluff check by Ibhea to create a distraction for their arrival.

This would all be to even the combat odds but also forestall immediate hostility to establish a bit more of the "what's really going on" in the shared imagined space via the outcome of checks and concomitant fiction.

Per @Manbearcat:

Of-level, Medium DC (16) for Perception and Hard DC (23) for Bluff (this is Bita Bahlin's sweet spot).

Failure on Perception will mean that C, P, BB, & H are arriving, but it turns out that Bita Bahlin's forces are greater than expected. Everyone is on-scene, but there is no offset by your dudes. I'm increasing BB's forces in proportion.

Failure on Bluff will mean that I'm escalating straight to combat and you guys suffer a -2 to Initiative as he's sussed out your ploy and countered it.

Sound good?

---

While Ibhea reads from his holy text and offers exigesis to the man called Gan and those assembled in Dolg Hana's agora, ARUNNY feels her outer senses recede, replaced by visionary sight. Flashes in quick sequence: the Half-Giant Pa'avu, who saved her from the demented warlock outside The Sanctuary of Light and Ibhea's merchant companion destroying a sentient fallen star; the two engaged in intense colloquy with a clan of Goliaths, unlike Pa'avu in may ways; the Half-Giants celebrating a vow with drink and beating drums around a great bonfire, not unlike the remains of the funeral pyre smoldering now in the agora; Pa'avu and the merchant leading the Goliaths on a war march; a great, pitched battle, the merchant's consort locked in combat with a horned man with too great a resemblance to her to be anything but her brother; the brother slain.

And then Arunny "comes to," a new man speaking in the agora. A horned man making threats. Faint drums rhythmically beat in the background.

"Ibhea," she whispers, "I think there is to be battle here, and unexpected allies are yet to arrive. Hold him off for just a few minutes."

---

Arunny makes a Perception Skill check to partake in oracular vision and sense the approach of allies, +15 vs 16 Moderate at level DC = autosuccess.

---

At Arunny's words, IBHEA sputters as he culminates his declamation. And then he hears the drumbeats in the distance. Who or what can they be?

The whisky priest glares at this figure from his past, and hatred rises in his breast.

"Bita-Bahlin!" he spits. "You always were mean-spirited, a bully. Even as children, you took the greatest delight in lording your power over those younger or smaller or weaker than you. And yet, like all bullies, you never did fight alone. Always a group of underlings and sycophants to back you up. I suppose nowadays you call them soldiers."

He paces in front of the huddled Blessed, stalling for time, hearing the drumbeats grow closer.

"And that was you in Itirilmish, was it not? I thought I recognized your horned visage, even beneath that turban! Unless I am mistaken, there were unexplained deaths at the Museum of Relics. Your work, I assume?"

Ibhea stops. Gestures at the Blessed.

"And now you would add the blood of more innocents to your tally, wouldn't you? Despicable. Well, I am no longer an urchin nor a weakling, and I won't stand for it. And these good folk of Dolg Hana, who defied you once already, will not have it. And now, we have the power to enforce that refusal!"

His oration finishes with great power and eloquence. Just as the drumming rises to a crescendo that drowns out whatever words might come after, a fine plume of gritty sand kicked up by the many feet of an army on the march washing over the agora now, and the towering forms of the Iron Gorgon Goliaths racing toward the heart of Dolg Hana, weapons brandished and ready for a fight!

---

Ibhea makes a Bluff check, augmented by Beguiling Tongue to keep the Tiefling spellbound by his speech, to delay long enough for reinforcement to arrive, r(17) +13 +5 = 35 vs 23 Difficult at-level DC. Success.

 

[Manbearcat]

Ok, lets just call this:

* Of-level (7), Complexity 2 Skill Challange (DCs 11, 16, vs NAD = 19, vs AC = 21) to Stall Bita-Bahlin, even the odds, and get him to reveal his hand. 2 Secondary Skill Available, 1 Hard DC.

You already have 2 successes and 1 of them was the Hard DC. So we're at:

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

---

Bita-Bahlin stands at the vanguard of his contingent of phalanxes. He moves to one soldier and performatively pricks his hand on the tip of the Bladeling's spear. Yes, Bladeling. Their armor obscured them before, but now it is abundantly clear that these infantry are, in fact, all Bladelings.
Referring to your earlier comments regarding Itirilmish and the Museum of Relics; "...you don't miss much, Ibhea." As he walks over to his troupe of javelineers, under his breath "...always the keenest of insight...despite your...habits." He pulls artillery from a soldier's quiver, hefts it to feel the weight and squints as he pretends to look down the barrel of a throw; "never wide of your mark." He re-holsters the javelin.

His hands go out wide and he bows at the newcomers.

"Well you all certainly are a surprise! It seems the Empire's dissidents...and ex-dissidents of course (he smirks as he invokes his past)...are all gathered in a little rural village in the middle of nowhere. What a strange thing." At Bita-bousseh, a nod; "sister."

Turning away, he gestures to the sky toward the beaming glow of the fullest of full moons. "Lovely night."

Then head to the ground, he deliberately kicks some dirt like a child at play. Not looking up, he tugs at the horn hanging from his neck and quietly says "I hope everyone understands that I have but to apply my lungs to this horn and my numbers here will be doubled in short order. No, not doubled. Tripled."

---

What is your response?

MEDIUM DC