"WTF!!!" Shouts Cordoba as he sees the falling man.
Not really befitting a cleric of Pharasma, is that?
All but Pulsifer keep on their feet when the platform drops, but luckily every moves aside when the guard slams down.
Blood splatters everyone and the platform breaks apart. His legs and one arm are left behind - the rest of him goes right through and keeps falling, now followed by a shower of splinters.
The battle upstairs continues for a few moments longer then silence.
Gulaf shouts down at you.
"You have a rope? It's another 40 feet down."
Domo's eyes go wide at seeing the poor guard killed in so ignoble a fashion. He closes his eyes and murmurs a prayer to Cayden Cailean for his soul's swift passage to better lands.
"Aya. All broken up here. He cut the rope. You best get down fast."
Not long after, a coil of rope comes spinning down, looped around one of the huge ropes that hold the platform.
Hoktsumisso take the rope , ties it to a nearby support and then climb down
´ Ok who stays to to stop the pursuit and who makes a rush to the temple ? '
Given Hoktsumisso stance , he is ready to stay ....
Hoktsu slides down the rope. Ripples in the sandy bottom are dimly side-lit by lanterns down a connected passage. The rest of you follow.
At the bottom you hear a voice in the shadows.
"Hello, I am Adil. I'll take you through to the Bazaar. Follow me."
A boy in rough woven robes comes out of the shadows he gestures down the tunnel.
Hoktsumisso take the rope , ties it to a nearby support and then climb down
´ Ok who stays to to stop the pursuit and who makes a rush to the temple ? '
Given Hoktsumisso stance , he is ready to stay ....
"We go together"
"Aye."
Adil grins at you toothlessly and waves the paper Gulaf threw down the well.
“He says make haste.”
He takes you a short distance down a tunnel of stones hewn by the same tools as the shaft, but before long passes some guards, nodding, into a larger tunnel that looks much older. You pass several more posts and the tunnel widens into an underground market. Even taverns and inns can be found here, it seems.
All manner of people are trading: men, gnomes, halflings, dwarves, elves, troglodytes and even a few goblins and orcs. Some others you have never seen or heard of. A small party of drow meet eyes with you and move on. Nobody seems bothered by this here.
“Well below Katheer, below here, are great caverns,” Adil tells you. “Many strange happening below. Dangerous. The cult of Rovagug is strong here.”
Aref meanwhile keeps the backpack with the orb clutched to his chest and consults it constantly for the telltale glow. It remains dark.
The tunnel finally brings you into a vaulted chamber - a menagerie - giant frogs, cats, dogs, monkeys, raptors of varied species – giant worms, beetles, dinosaurs, queer fauna and tentacled exotica from the world over all crying out in a bizarre chorus of suffering. Cages and tanks are stacked all about – men shout at you.
“Prices. They vant to barter” Aref informs you.
You pass a Varisian goblin in a cage. Adil pokes it and it screams back.
“It’s all food” Adil shouts, pounding his concave belly.
From the entrance to this horrifying supermarket you come out into a throng the likes of which you’ve never seen before. While the morning sun is just cresting the cliff walls above you, you seem to be in a market that has been busy for many a day.
"IT NEVER STOPS!" Adil shouts. "Buyer beware, friends, everyone beware!" He disappears back into the menagerie.
Enumerating the merchandise of the fragrant, endlessly jostling market surrounding you would be futile, so let it suffice to say that as you cleave through the din, looking under the tarps and umbrellas and peering into the sheltering tents, each of you is overcome in turn with awe, with desire, with revulsion, with curiosity, with shock, and with utter amazement... Just to look upon the mind-numbing spectrum of wares to be had is a lifetime of experience.
The Pillar of Sarenrae rises up from the haze of the market before you.
Two golden towers sit atop the spindly mesa, blinding sunshine reflects from their seamless curves.
"En. The middle market of Xingjing on the Gold Dragon River is much bigger."
"Vass is still following I am sure. Let us go to the one place that will give him pause - the Temple of Iomedae. I assume that we are all agreed in this, yes?"
"Vass is still following I am sure. Let us go to the one place that will give him pause - the Temple of Iomedae. I assume that we are all agreed in this, yes?"
"Yes, it would be wise to visit the Lady's temple."
While you consider your options, angry shoppers shout at you in Kelish for blocking their paths. People bump into you.
Aref translates: "Plan your lives in the middle of the f+~~ing market geniuses. May you get robbed blind!"
Shopkeepers berate you to either buy something or move along.
The urchins are swarming. A child with a blindfold keeps bumping into you. He has a cup which he bats you with, one after the other. A small gang of 5 children plow through your tight grouping, making like they're playing a game of tag.
"Back away, kids!" His hand on a dagger.
Hoktsu (nice roll) and Cordoba:
Everyone:
As the kids run through your little circle Hoktsu and Cordoba manage to pull two of them away just before they pickpocket Aref and Domo.
Hoktsu deflects another as he passes, sending him face first into the dust. The kid doesn't stay and chat though, rolling up and away in an instant and melting back into the crowd.
Cordoba tells the kids in a voice reserved only for those about to die, "I'll warn you only once: do not attempt to take what we do not give you."
"Now, where is your master?"
"Now, where is your master?"
The boy chatters at you in Kelish.
Aref translates: "He says your mother sent him."
"Right, tell Vass I'm coming for him."
Ve must make for de temple with haste! Come now, move, before you are all picked clean of valuables.
Ve must make for de temple with haste! Come now, move, before you are all picked clean of valuables.
Domo looks perilously confused. "But they EAT goblins here?!? EAT them?"
It's a 'eat or be eaten' world out there , brother ...
"That's pretty weird..." Syd mutters.
The Deceiver leads the charge to the temple, "Quickly! Let none approach us!"
For Pharasma
Sorry guys. My sensitivity to coffee it turns out, also applies to alcohol, and I had a relapse into feeling really f!%$ed up.
I'm just starting to climb out of my pile of backlog at work. Not. But I do want to get this going.
So... are you guys with me?
Roll call.
Yep
Yes, honorable DM, we are in.
|
Sorry guys. My sensitivity to coffee it turns out, also applies to alcohol, and I had a relapse into feeling really f%%&ed up.
I'm just starting to climb out of my pile of backlog at work. Not. But I do want to get this going.
So... are you guys with me?
Roll call.
Still here, no plans on leaving. Life can be tough sometimes. I just spent a week(and a couple grand) dealing with a backed up sewer issue in my house. Life happens, we roll when you are ready.
Sorry to see you go, Fabes.
No worries, dude, I understand. We shall miss you and your curmudgeon sailor.
Still here, no plans on leaving. Life can be tough sometimes. I just spent a week(and a couple grand) dealing with a backed up sewer issue in my house. Life happens, we roll when you are ready.Sorry to see you go, Fabes.
Backed up sewer. No God.
You press through the crowds following with Aref, Hoktsu, and Domo in the lead, gripping your valuables a casting your eyes suspiciously at everyone who rakes by you.
You must have struggled a quarter of an hour to move several blocks east. Ahead the sun rises above the gilt walls along the eastern rim of the inner city. Eyes following the walls to the south where they end at the canyons edge will see the bleached white curves of the Temple of Pharasma, which sits atop the cliff carved sanctuaries of the dead.
You take stock of your gear outside the bazaar and realize you've lost Syd - you wait - he doesn't come - you discuss the problem and decide he knew where you were going.
Hoktsu shrugs and marches east on a broad avenue. Everyone follows.
He winds north up onto an steep, foul smelling road that climbs through an ancient arroyo from the middle level of the city up onto the Katheeran plain where you started this morning. The smell, you learn, comes from thick legged ogres pulling huge carts laden with goods up and down the steep slope.
At the top the road opens into a nexus of streets with temples at every corner. To your left a huge temple of Irori, and to your right a mead hall of Cayden Cailean.
In the middle a reeling monk circles, staggers and sways around another, stone still but for his eyes following the other. Around them monks of Irori and Caliean watch on. Chatter and coins pass between an outer rings of onlookers.
Ahead, on the other side of the bout stand a slender silvered hall. The temple of Iomedae.
Domo:
With the temples opposite each other and the monasteries nearby, my notion is that these bouts are more or less friendly, common, and ritualized.
The monks of Irori are more numerous and disciplined. The monks of Cailean are more entertaining and popular.
Domo, I would suppose, has fought in his share of these.
The Deceiver eyes the monks.
For Pharasma
The Deceiver eyes the monks.
For Pharasma** spoiler omitted **
Rad:
The Deceiver scans the crowd for Vass' glowing red eyes.
Nothing suspicious among the onlookers. Aref notices Cordoba scanning the crowd, looks in his backpack at the gem, and shakes his head.
Nothing
You're currently looking for the key to controlling the Eye of Aroden in hopes of getting rid of the Demon, or at least putting him back into a prison.
Having arrived in Katheer yesterday evening you sought refuge in the Cantina of Draka the Wide. Through Vass's interference you clashed with another group of adventurers, one of whom was banished to the northern wastes by Draka and another who slipped away.
Not willing to risk an entrance into the inner city through the gates, as it would afford Vass an excellent opportunity to have you feathered or otherwise skewered, you entered through the tunnels that riddle the walls of this canyon side city.
Vass again attempted to kill you during your descent into first level of tunnels and failed. From there you entered the inner city through the great bazaar and made your way toward the temple of Iomedae, which stands in front of you.
During the trip through the market Syd disappeared without a trace.
"No time for spectating."