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Gob works on scribing the enter image spell until dusk and retrieves his tiny friend from his inside coat pocket and begins squeaking at it.
He tells the tiny bat before letting it out into the night sky.
You try to follow along as best you can. At first, it doesn't seem much different from other service as it starts off with prayers to Robori, thanking him for protection and food. About halfway though, high priestess Zuri stands up with a new announcement. "At this point, the oiling of Robori will be no more; while derived from natural ingredients, the oil was not pleasing to our god in nature, and thus we will instead use our bare hands to touch and warm Robori, to accept that he is here in physical form and feel his strength and dependability by our very fingertips. Come, make procession."
At this point, each of the rows moves forward, the people taking turns placing their hands reverently on the tree the temple is built around. Despite any reservations Benson may have, the belief and will of the people is sound as they announce their prayers and wishes, for continued harvest, for love, for family. Finally, your row begins to move, and you can tell some eyes are watching you to see how you act.
You take the long away around town as you make your way to the guesthouse. Along the way, you spot a woman leaving her home, heading towards the direction of the temple. In their message box, you see a bottle of skin ointment as well as a rolled up note inside that happens to pique your interest. You quickly dart over, and while no one seems to pay attention, you can look at the note.
Be mindful of the curtains with visitors in town.
-Molune
Gob sends his bat away, letting Gir find a suitable house to inspect. The bat finds a nearby home that happens to have an open rafter. Inside, the bat spies another bat, resting in some makeshift bedding made of straw. Gir's arrival, though, stirs the bat, that begins to squeak with it.
Doing anything over the evening?
The bat squeaks again, trying to convey a meaning. A male voice can be heard from below. "What's all the racket, Balthus?"
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If he can't work out what's in it, he'll dunk the end of his silk rope in it to obtain a sample for others to examine. (Unless you want to fluff that he has an empty vial/container to use; there's none on his gear list so I'm trying to keep this legitimate.)
Yes please, on more investigating.
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@Hakime: As you wander town, you spot several bats leaving the tops of several houses. Interesting, they all seem to leave from a small opening built into each house, as if they were designed to host the small flying rodents.
The few people you find in your pre-curfew wandering have little to say to you, but do courteously greet you with a 'hello' or smile at one of the 'blessed children of Robori'.
You dip your finger into the bottle... and from what you can gather, it's anti-itching cream.
You sneak to a window and peering through a corner where the curtain gives a little view, you see a child wrapped in orange bandages, moving around and fidgeting. You barely overhear the sincere, yet annoyed words of a mother trying to calm down an antsy child. "Roboria, we can take them off after the curfew bells, then mommy can apply the lotion to make you feel better."
You get the idea that they are curious as to what you will do versus any sort of malign intent.
A trap door opens near Gir and a man sticks his head up. Looking at situation, the man tries to shoo Gir away with his hand. "This is Balthus' home, you go back to whomever you belong to! Git!"
You see a small child, playing with a doll. She is only half-covered in bandages and what is exposed shows small plant growths lining the skin and several legions that, maybe... look like bark?
I'm going to need an Acrobatics check to slip past the man! DC 14
And little Gir is nearly pushed out of the loft!
The congregation smiles at you two as you approach, any insecurity abated by your procession towards Robori. After you two make your veneration, you follow the rest of your pew and sit down as priestess Zuri goes into another sermon.
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"Well that's... interesting," Wyeth says when Hakime finishes her story. "The people of this village, apparently their ties to nature go beyond just the one tree."
"I didn't find anything quite so useful," he apologizes, back turned to the group as he makes a cup of tea. "There's 'official' desire that we not be successful in snooping around, but I think we already suspected that. And apparently whatever requires the children be bandaged is irritating; I found evidence of medication for itching being provided to the residents."
Turning to the group and taking a sip of tea he adds, "It seems, though, that those bandages might come off in the evenings... whether that's because of curfew or cover of darkness, I can't guess. Either way, if we're willing to risk being caught outside, we may be able to get a look at whatever this affliction might be."
Unfortunately, the bat fails to make any other progress.
You notice a large number of bats coming from the south. They'll likely reach town in about 5 minutes.
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Gir hurries back to his master to relay what he saw.
Gob nods his head as Gir relays the information via squeaks.
"Really? Just shoved you out, that was rude. Hmmm very interesting, and you say there are more bats heading this way?" Gob turns to the group. "My tiny friend here tells me that the children seem to have some sort of plant like growths on them going so far as to turn the skin to look like tree bark."
It's only a few minutes after Gir returns that screams and shouts can be heard outside that fail to mask the screech of thousands of bats filling the air.
The party heads outside and see a crowd of citizens of Mercy throwing rocks at the swarm.
Inside the temple, the screams attract the attention of those inside and the congregation goes outside to see the trouble.
Then, a swirling collection of shadows appear along the large wall of the carriage house, near the ample lighting of torches near the guesthouse. As the people in the square cry out in surprise, the shadows collect themselves into distinct forms.
The shadowy scene is of a figure in a large cape battling a feminine shape.
In the scene, you get the idea that the feminine shape is the 'villain' with the caped figure the hero. These shapes are some strange form of communication.
The crowd continues to disperse, the screams now turning to vampire!. Sheriff Molune's voice can be heard, telling everyone to get inside. Meanwhile, the shadow of the feminine figure turns into a smaller, doll-like shape, but it still seems to be a villain. Another set of shadows appear above, of a frowning, 8-pointed star, looking at the caped figure.
In this case, the frowning figure seems to be some master that is showing disappointment in the caped-hero.
The 8-pointed star symbol looks an awful lot like the unholy symbol of Azathoth, the Blind Formless Chaos That Lies Behind the Stars, the blind idiot god. He is one of the many beings of power that reside in the Dark Tapestry.
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"Then Azathoth is displeased with the caped figure for failing to deal with the woman who makes or turns into a doll? That's the sense I make of it. Vampires? That might explain the curfew."
Benson begins to look around. "Nothing in the service to connect to any of this. It was standard stuff. Nothing sinister or occult that I could tell."
Benson yells at the sheriff, "If we might have our weapons back, we will help deal with the vampire."
"Ahh, alright!", Molune going the long way around the carriage house as the scene begins to change once more!
Now, six more figures come to the caped man and the symbol of Azathoth smiles as now the caped man and six figures begin to loom menacingly over the small girl.
If you had to gather... the six figures are the party, coming to help the caped figure against the little girl figure.
At this point, Molune runs, weapons in his large arms as he approaches the party. "What is that thing doing now?", the screech of bats still filling the air.
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"None of this makes any sense to me," Wyeth says as he watches the spectacle unfold.
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"Well, I suppose there could be other women in the village who make or turn into dolls." The sarcasm in his voice is fairly obvious. "Not sure about this last part, but ...", Benson glances about, counting heads, "there are six of us, so ..."
To Gob, Benson asks, "What kind of god is Azasause? Azeroth?"
As he talks, he takes his swords and longbow and quiver and starts placing them on his belt and back. "Are the bats casting the shadows or are the shadows a separate thing? Have any bats attacked anyone?"
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"Azeroth? You know...i think i heard a varisian child talk about it.
Supposedly some war torn world of fiction, apparantly they made a game of it, played solely by humans.
Sounds like a silly place."
"Back on topic....i get the hunch those 6, are to represent..us.
Us..depicted as helping the caped one against the little one."
You see that a black tarp on a market stall seems to be moving along with the shadows.
With the crowd mostly dispersed, with Sheriff Molune eyeing the situation as he leads Mercians away, a single, faint word can be heard behind the party. "Murder." Looking, they see little Nira, outside of the guesthouse, pointing at the shadow performance.
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"Sounds a delightful fellow. And still people scoff when I reject kowtowing to gods." He shakes his head in amazement, then turns his eyes to the spectacle again.
"So... what do we do? Can't very well fight bats or shadows with a fauchard. And the way you two describe this god, I don't think we want to be on its side!"