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"Ah ain't sure we can. Dunno where she is, and he sure as the Vaults on high can't tell us." says Kleetus sheepishly, his head bobbing out in a very avian manner. "Ah figure, maybe we ask Mr Director here to keep things nice and quiet fer a spell; just long 'nough we git ourselves some o' dem black robes, stand by the thinger, pretend real good, get the info we need, and git our gal back. Maybe you can sweet talk him, or Ah can make him understand that Ah'm willin' to overlook the breakdown of order that has taken place here if he shuts his fat trap."
Kleetus scratches at his clean shaven chin thoughtfully then adds: " Ah mean, only way to make sure eyeballs here don't tell nuthin' is if we cut his tongue out. And Ah ain't that kinda person. Plus side, he's blind. Unless his momma's real good at figurin' out how voices sound, she ain't a problem."
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Catching up from listening to the others. Unnvar is pretty clear what must happen next. They must pose as perspective cult members...but what to do with boy.
We could take him with us or leave him here, if we leave him Kleetus's plan sounded good. But if the mother comes back then she definitely notice he's a mute and wonder where the orderlies went. But she'll have no way of knowing what happened, unless she beats it out of of Belodia here. And he'll surely sing like a bird. So two liabilities. Maybe we cut both there tongues out? Unnvar ponders the possibilities. Might be easier to just run them both through. Probably shouldn't do that though.
We're supposed to infiltrate this cult and learn all about them, that might take time. How do we keep these people here quiet? Kleetus might have it right?
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Kleetus looks uncomfortable at the idea that one of his ideas might be put into effect. "Ah don't know that takin' tongues is the way t'go. 'specially if people find out our people were involved here. Like Ah said, Ah think the way t'go 'bout this is bein' per-su-a-sive and quick 'bout it."
He nods towards the director. "And the guy over 'dere is still in shock over wut's happened. Maybe that'll make him listen to us real good."
As you step out of the Assylum in the direction of the Baited Hook Inn you glimpse again the figure that followed previously. This time she stands in one corner, with a black hood covering her face.
She closes towards you and reveals her face. A young woman of compelling lines lies behind the cover "Sorry to address you in this way but... I noticed you have just recently been in the Dunstone's manor." she looks at the ground, then back at you "How is him? I am sure you have seen him. Jonder Dunstone, the smallest of the brothers. How is he doing? Is he ok? Is he perhaps suffering of lovesickness?" the girl looks at you with hope.
The girl looks down to the ground "My name is Nora Siperco"
She looks around too make sure no one else can listen her "I have heard a rumor you are looking for a cult. I have heard things about one named The Feasters of the Heart. Please, let me help you find it. It is the only opportunity I have to recover my love"
This girl seems to say the truth, desperate for love as she is.
"I know the cult is devoted to Lissala. I also want to join them the same as you. I want her to help me make Jonder Dunstone to fell totally in love for me, and only for me" she says, her eyes full of hope.
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"Whelp maybe it's the best way t'go 'bout them things darlin'? Gettin' cult members t'help you with your love life is practically fool-proof. Anyways, yup, our Master is lookin' fer somethin' like that. Think you could help us out?" he starts cheerfully, before whispering in a conspiratorial tone: "He'll git cranky if we dun help him in his en-dea-vor."
Nora gives a stern look at Allie "I will do whatever needed to convince Jonder about our love" she then gives a more pleasant look at Kleetus "I would be pleased to join you in this search. It is the day, the disappearances are usually with the new moon."
The dim light of the stars is clearly seen in the dark sky of this new moon night.
The new moon shall not last more than 3 more nights counting this one.
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"Ah! Well, I daresay we've missed our midnight rendezvous." the wizard says, groggily. "Moreover, it's well past time this wizard should be sleeping. We've a few days of this new moon remaining ,never you worry. Elementary astrology, that is. It's like they don't teach you young Pathfinders anything..." shaking his head and mumruring in dissaproval, Archibald seems to nod off where he stands.
You search through the coast line for more than an hour until you finally find lone menhir overlooking Conqueror’s Bay under the dark sky on the night.
"So is it here where we have to meet the cult?" asks Nora who insists on following you "I am so excited! Do you think we will find them?" she covers in her black robes with care as you wait for some contact.
You find a track of recent passage close to the menhir. Regretfully the track is lost in the transited roads of the harvor.
You wait for more than one hour but no one seems to come to the meeting. It is far past midnight and you are feeling all tired.
4 hours past midnight after whole day of investigation!
Alie and Archibald are feeling fatigued.
Nora nods at Unnvar but he keeps following the party as you make your way back to the Baited Hook Inn.
Once you get there in the middle of the night the place is almost deserted. A man stands behind the counter instead of the woman you have seen during the morning.
Only three or four people stay there having a meal very quietly. In the extreme of the room you find Gerhart Aldrim with his face all over the table taking a nap. Next to him stand three empty jars of beer.
Nora nods as Unnvar and Alie comments about her. She is satisfied to stay with the party during the night and attempts to do so at Kleetus or Unnvar's room.
During the next day you proceed to buy black clothing for each of you. It is easy to find some black fabric and Nora helps you do so in a very cheap store.
At some point of the day Gerhart Aldrim attempts to look for you in order to get some report, so it is up to you what you deliver to the old guy.
For the rest of the day you keep with a low profile trying to avoid sharing any more time with Palin's Cove citiziens and focusing on your job.
Finally, short before midnight you walk back to the black menhir with Nora following you.
Another figure waits already there. He hides behind the stone at the beginning but relaxes when he observes your black clothings "So are you part of the Feaster of the Heart cult? I want to become a new cultist. My name is Henrim Tirlea. I was a local farmer here but I lost my wife and two sons to disease a few years ago. Since then my life has followed a downward spiral into alcohol and debt. I am desperate to feel something, anything, even if it’s painful. I hope the cult can answer my need." he looks at Unnvar, then Kleetus, then Yvell "So can I join you? Can I become a Feaster? What do I have to do?"
"It is good to meet you, brother. Our paths are similar, I think. What do you know of the cult? We are all new initiates, so it would be good to share information, don't you think?"
"I have heard they help each other with devotion. They show you about love, and I will perhaps be able to find again my reasons to love something in this world" says the man with a sour tone.
Shortly after midnight, a lone person in similar black robes makes his way along the path to the menhir, his approach signaled by a bright lantern. The cultist arrives and states simply, “Follow me to prove your devotion to the Feasters of the Heart.” He then turns and walks back toward Palin’s Cove along the same path. Both Nora and Henrim seem excited to be so close to joining the cult and eagerly follow the cultist "We are finally to join the cult and take all this suffering out of our life. Are you not excited?" they ask at you smiling then keep following the cultist.
You are lead through the riverside up to a huge building next to the river expelling smoke to the moonless night through its chimney. Right at the door a large sign states Talich's Foundry. The large open-plan building has stone walls and a high ceiling supported by curving wooden rafters. The floor is covered in fine gray sand.
The cultist stops at the door and silently lets you in looking far at the street to check no one is looking. He closes the main door after him.
A foreman’s office along the south wall has a commanding view of rows of molds; stacks of coal, wood, and metal; and the enormous gears that link the waterwheel outside to the bellows. The room is dominated by a titanic furnace, a wall of stone with a huge triangular notch that takes up the entire east wall. At the center of the triangle is a massive black door leading into the furnace body. From under the door, a trench dug into the floor lets excess molten metal flow out.
A dozen cultists in black robes like those you are wearing stand in a circle in front of the furnace trough. All their faces are hidden beneath their upturned hoods. The cultist who led you here motions for you to step into the center of the circle, then joins his fellow cultists.
Despite this chamber’s large size, it only occupies approximately half the space that the building’s exterior should hold, an indication that there is more to the foundry than meets the eye.
"My, what a nice place? Umm... stand in the center? Okay!" Mavaro moves into the center of the circle warily.
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Kleetus pulls down on the hood of his robe to conceal his masked face as he thinks back to the brief synopsis he gave Aldrim while the others kept Nora occupied. "We've found where they round' up the wannabe cultists; it's big rock-thingamaroo. If we ain't back in a couple days, tell the next team to wear black cloaks, wait 'dere and pretend better."
He cautiously walks into the center of the circle and waits.
Once the circle has been formed, the cultists begin chanting a prayer to Lissala in Thassilonian. As they do so, they hold hands and draw a series of intricate runes in the ground with their feet in an ancient, almost festive dance that writes words in an arcane script into the ground around you.
One cultist, a woman, raises her head and speaks loudly to you while the other cultists continue their chanting. "You have come to serve the goddess, but she has no need of the weak and no need of those who know not obedience. You must prove yourselves worthy, and in return you shall be granted enlightenment, power, the promise of eternal life, and the honor of serving. If you would kneel before her, then you must willingly bear her symbol of power upon your flesh. Her holiness will be your holiness, and her blessing will aid you in the tests to come. Who will wear the Sihedron and know the power of the goddess?”
The Sihedron Rune is a seven-pointed star that symbolized the seven virtues of rule of early Thassilon. With the decline of the empire, the rune became more closely associated with the seven vices, the seven runelords, the seven schools and Thassilonian magic, the seven skymetals, and the power of magic.
The rune is found on many Thassilonian ruins, objects, and artifacts.
When the woman completes her speech, the cultists cease their chant and the circle opens on the eastern end to provide access to the trough of molten slag running from the furnace.
"You!" the woman points to you "Would you bear the mark of the Sihedron upon your flesh?" you understand by the tone this is something relevant to them, and the question is not one that admits discussion or questioning, just a yes or no as an answer.
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"Ah! Old Thassilonian! Why, not exactly in vogue in most circles nowadays. Why, in my schooling years Osiriani was all the rage! All the young roustabouts used to bustle about the quadrangle with Pharaoh Nethys tattooed on their... Oh! Me? Well if you must, but I do wish to sit down first." he says, shuffling incessantly as his new robe is all twisted. The tip of a pointed hat pokes momentarily over the brim before being stuffed back down his front.
As Unnvar answers positively, one of the cultists approaches the woman and says "Indiria, here is the stamper" and offers her a whitehot brand in the shape of a seven-pointed star.
With this she closes up to Unnvar, "Show me where you want the symbol" and when the half-orc shows his skin, Indiria brands in there the mark. The heated metal surprisingly causes no pain and leaves behind a tattoo.
She repeats the process in Alie and Archibald. Then she looks at Nora and Henrim, and they say one after the other a clear and loud "Yes", receiving the symbol the woman in her belly, the man in his back.
Indiria addresses then Mavaro and asks "Do you accept the Shiedron?" and repeats the question to Kleetus and Yvell.
"Yes, I will accept the tattoo."
Mavaro holds out his arm, ready for the pain.
Once all the initiates have been marked the ceremony proceeds, the cultists again forming a circle around the party.
The cultists again begin to chant and Indiria speaks above the din.
“Serving Lissala is not a simple task, and one must be willing to suffer and sacrifice to attain the benefits of rule. The fire in your heart must burn brighter than this furnace. In this place metal is separated from dross and given new form. Who among you is ready to be remade in the image of the divine? To join us, to become one of the Feasters of the Heart, you must walk through the furnace. In that hellish chamber, your devotion will be your armor. So come and tell me"
Indira makes a sign for one of you to approach "Whom do you serve above all others? At whose command would you walk through flame?”
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The things we do for crazy cult knowledge
Unnvar is again the first to step up.
I am ready!
The tattoo did not hurt, so perhaps the furnace will not burn.
Unnvar's death experience in Bonekeep has made him prone to take potentially deadly challenges recklessly, he heads into the furnace, based on the cult leaders instructions.
Indira nods to Unnvar as he steps to the front. She stops the half-orc in the furnace entrance and asks him "Whom do you serve above all others? At whose command would you walk through flame?”
"Oh, to be a damn tiefling right now..." Mavaro says under his breath. Then he steps forward and says "I'll do it."