Grobradon puts the mask on and fidgets with it but only for a moment. He goes through the motions with the rest. He says, "Is there a particular time of day we are expected to give open prayer to the living god?"
Krant takes the few seconds of silence as an indication that all questions have ended.
”The first rule you need to learn is simple – Gold is the tool of those who would oppose the Living God. Denying them their coin leads to the glory of Razmir.”
” Razmir is the god above all other gods. Those who would claim otherwise are jealous of His glory and spread lies in an attempt to tarnish his mask.”
“ Those who follow the steps of the Living God will be rewarded with glory and riches. Those who turn from His path shall have neither.”
“Razmiran, the realm of the Living God on this world, is sacred ground, and it is the duty of every believer to protect and enrich this sacred place. Every temple to Razmir is an extension of this sacred realm.”
”Those who have ascended the steps speak with the authority of the Living God. Failing to obey them is akin to disobeying the will of Razmir Himself.”
”Tithing to the faith is a holy responsibility. The faith of Razmir must have the resources to fight against His enemies, who use their vast sums of ill-gotten wealth to spread lies and deceit.”
” Those who do not believe must be converted to the faith of Razmir by showing them the glory and wealth that awaits them in His service. Those who refuse are corrupted by the unfaithful and should be denied such luxuries.”
”Only those who believe in the Living God deserve a life of plenty and pleasure. Others must suffer and toil until they see the light of Razmir.”
” The mask of the Living God is a divine vessel. Behind its protective embrace, His followers can speak the will of Razmir without fear of rebuke. His followers must wear the mask whenever they deal with nonbelievers, so that they might come to fear His image.”
”The followers of Razmir act as one. Through anonymity comes solidarity, with each part working
together to further His glory. “
”Any questions?
Your tenents don't agree with one another you pompous bag. You promise riches and coin and wealth on one hand while claiming that any who have those things are apostates. You damn yourself with your own edicts!
"Not at present, though I'm sure I will have some as I think and meditate on these tenents, Priest Krant." Rain assumes the tone of a supplicant, and stands with her hands clasped behind her back.
Grobradon puts the mask on and fidgets with it but only for a moment. He goes through the motions with the rest. He says, "Is there a particular time of day we are expected to give open prayer to the living god?"
"Communal prayers are given a number of times a day. Eleven in the morning, half past three in the afternoon and half past nine in the evening."
Krant takes the silence as an end to the questions.
[b]”Once you have proved yourselves worthy and capable, you will become free members, able to do what you please and you’ll be given all of your possessions back. Until that time, you must follow my teaching to the letter.”[b]
After this, Krant takes you out into the yard for a series of exercises, drills, and other relatively
boring manual labour. He explains that your ordinary routine will start tomorrow, and allows you to eat with the others, after which you are shown where to sleep.
Rythan was used to boring drills, at least, and they gave him plenty of time to think and to observe the priests. One thing burned in his mind: he wanted his spellbook back. Until then, he would have to conserve his magic.
He helped the others with their labor, even Evlar, and went to sleep with dark thoughts about Krant and Egarthis. He wasn't sure about the other fools who had joined this cult, but those two seemed to enjoy their positions, at least.
Whenever given a chance to meet up with the others, Heldar joins them (perhaps in the courtyard), using a discreet tone - "Well, here we are..." - even though is face is not visible behind the mask, it is easy to guess he his smiling - "What now?"
Rain tests the behavioral waters of the cult by making wry comments during their exercises and chores, testing the limits of the overseeing priests' patience. She also finds she has to repeatedly resist the urge to conjure up a blade of shadow, so disgusted is she by the Razmirans and their so-called faith. Inwardly, Rain seethed with anger, but she is able to temper it with patience and thoughts of eventual justice.
Bumping into Heledar in the yard, Rain nods, the motion still feeling odd with the added weight of the mask. She adds a shrug to the gesture as she responds surreptitiously to his question, "Continue as we are until Krant reveals the next step or steps to us, I suppose."
Over the next day, you get a good feel for the daily routine for acolytes.
You are wakened about 7:00 a.m. by Krant and taken into the dining hall for a simple breakfast of bread, water, and old fruit.
This is followed by simple labor in the yard. This usually involves cleaning up the stables, splitting timber, unloading deliveries for the kitchen or weapon and armour maintenance.
After three or so hours, you enjoy prayer and tutelage in the temple at 11:00a.m. Egarthis descends from the second floor to instruct the acolytes (new and old) in the power and glory of Razmir, telling about his mighty deeds, his generous gifts, and his incredible power.
12:00 p.m. is lunchtime. This consists of half a loaf of bread, some fatty meat, a thin slice of cheese, and some potato stew.
Half an hour later you are instructed to clean the first floor of the temple, using small brushes, harsh soap, and water. This is rather tiring labour.
Three hours of cleaning later, it is time for afternoon prayer. Half of the temple attends this session in the main hall; all acolytes must attend. One of the heralds leads the prayer, which includes a number of rather pompous litanies and psalms to the Living God.
Next come straining at 4:30 p.m. All new acolytes are taken out into the yard and trained how to interact with the public. This starts out as simply as ways to walk as a group, keep composure and not reveal one’s identity. After a while, it moves to less savoury training, such as how to force someone to donate, how to mock other faiths to make Razmir seem more powerful, and how to deal with local guards and others who would interfere with the temple.
7:00 p.m. is dinner time. This is usually made up of a simple vegetable stew with some inexpensive meat tossed in, coarse bread, and ale or wine.
At 7:30 p.m. there is evening prayer. The other half of the congregation attends this session. Evening
prayer resembles the afternoon prayer, except Egarthis leads the procession, and those in attendance must participate.
At 9:30 p.m. you enjoy transcription. You spend the final two hours of the day copying holy texts by candlelight. One of the priests oversees this process.
Rumha works diligently and tries to excel at his tasks. He doesn't break the rules. The physical labor is a bit difficult but he perseveres.
Rain finds the work cleaning to be particularly taxing. Her typical wise-cracks and flippant attitude fall to the way side as she mutters to herself in another language while cleaning the floor. Those familiar with it recognize her mumblings as a litany of colorful explitives in the halfling tongue.
By the time they are forced to work on transcriptions, Rain's mood is dark and sour. She works well enough on the texts, but can't resist trying to slip one of the master copies into the sleeve of her robe.
Grobradon goes through the motions, or so it seems, but actually he's looking over the schedule with a soldier's eye. There are patterns to patrols, there's a method to madness, at least normally.
The scrubbing comes easy to him. Grob is no stranger to hard work. Indeed, he holds his own better than many, but while getting the job done , he also uses the chance to see if he can pick up more of the lay out of the very place he's cleaning.
Alas...for him, the hardest part is the copying...
While not illiterate, Grobradon is almost completely at a loss for the transcriptions. His fingers are strong, but hardly nimble. And he doesn't get the shape of the letters right, having to start over more than once.
Rythan managed to scrape by while scrubbing, using his hard-earned knowledge of supervisors and schedules to... cut corners. Like Grob, he tried his best to learn the layout of the temple and as much about the priests' watch schedule as possible while scrubbing away, or at least looking like he was scrubbing away.
OR
Long hours of religious instruction in his childhood had prepared him well for the task of transcription, and he actually found the meticulous work somewhat soothing. Noticing Grob struggling, he tried to surreptitiously help his friend, hoping some of the others would ease the burden on the half-orc as well.
All in all, Rythan found the day-to-day life of the priests (except for the prayers and their somewhat skeevy excursions) to be surprisingly like life in the city watch in Skelt. A bit easier, if truth be told. Maybe it wasn't so strange for the poor and hopeless to join the cult...
Heledar goes through his most physical tasks without drawing any unwanted attention - he intends to keep a low profile for as long as necessary, until they decide to act.
Although not an easy one, the task of transcription is one Heledar enjoys, actually interested in the texts he is working on, and their contents, so he does invest some time into it.
Grum misses the first day proper. It may have been a reaction to the sleeping potion, or just something he ate but he has a slight fever and is excused duties.
Rumha finds the physical labour taxing but perseveres regardless. He does however, excel at the transcription. Rain also finds the physical work demanding but again manages the transcription easily. She also manages to pocket a parchment.
The day of an acolyte seems in keeping with military training. Alternate physical and mental, keep you very busy (and tired) and break the will of trouble-makers. Make you think and work like a team. I'll work up a map for you soon.
Conversely, Grob finds the physical work straightforward – but really struggles with writing. He has to spend an extra three hours completing the task – reducing his sleep time.
Rythanus manages both tasks relatively easily. Heledar manages the physical well but struggles at first with the written. Once in the swing of things he picks up pace and only spend an extra 30 minutes on the task.
The next day dawns and Grum is still excused. He's OK but not fully fit.
At 12.30, instead of cleaning, Krant calls you all to the courtyard (including Evlar). He hands you each a sap.
"I expect you to fight one another. The last man standing will be excused from transcription duties for the night and win a bottle of fine Chelish wine from Krant's private stash. "
He then tosses a heavy flail into the centre of the courtyard before stepping back.
Heledar looks down at the sap, and then at the others shrugging.
You can see Evlar is focused on the flail.
He refers to himself in the third person? What an ezel*! The hubris of these people!
HP: 15/15
AC: 16 (12 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 13 (15 vs disarm)
F/R/W: +1/+5/+2
Shadowstrikes used: 0/7
Spell Slots:
Cantrips (--) - dancing lights, daze, ghost sound, mage hand, prestidigitation
Level 1 (3+1) - [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
Ongoing Effects
fatigued(??): -2 Str & Dex
A derogatory Halfling (using Dutch as the google translate analog) term for a person's posterior.
"I expect you to fight one another. The last man standing will be excused from transcription duties for the night and win a bottle of fine Chelish wine from Krant's private stash. "
Grobradon can't deny THAT sounds tempting. There's a military aspect to this, but it's clumsy, dangerous to the 'soldier's they're training.
"Is it really the will of Razmir that we fight among ourselves?" Rythan asked loudly. He hadn't missed Evlar's focus on the flail, but he hesitated too long to do anything about it. "Aren't we all brothers and sisters in his faith?"
"Is it really the will of Razmir that we fight among ourselves?" Rythan asked loudly. He hadn't missed Evlar's focus on the flail, but he hesitated too long to do anything about it. "Aren't we all brothers and sisters in his faith?"
Krant shoots you a look. "We'll discuss your opinions, and the appropriate time to share them after this training exercice."
His voice is cold and calm and with a real hint of venom.
Heledar swings at Evlar and manages to just catch his robes, but doing no damage to their wearer.
Grobradon moves to try to get the flail.
Grobradon moves to try to get the flail.
Grobradon seizes the flail, letting out a triumphant grunt as he does so. "Razmir has shown me his favor" Thank you, Gorum. If the half elf got his hands on this first, he might hurt one of my friends. NOW what the hell do I do?
Seeing Grob take up the flail, Rain avoids the half orc and instead zips around behind poor Evlar. She whispers, "Sorry, friend," before trying to crack the weapon across the back of his head.
HP: 15/15
AC: 16 (12 T / 14 FF)
CMD: 13 (15 vs disarm)
F/R/W: +1/+5/+2
Shadowstrikes used: 0/7
Spell Slots:
Cantrips (--) - dancing lights, daze, ghost sound, mage hand, prestidigitation
Level 1 (3+1) - [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
Ongoing Effects
fatigued: -2 Str & Dex
Talarin manages to get a good hit on Evlar, his head snaps forward from the blow but he remains conscious.
Evlar in turn swings wildly at Heledar but misses comfortably. In the corner of the courtyard you hear Krant chuckling.
Grum moves in on Evlar, sap swinging but internally wishing after his regular weapons.
Grum hits Evlar with a solid blow and the young man falls to the ground, clearly unconscious.
Grum grins happily, giving the sap in his hand an approving look. He moves to the unconscious youth, checking for items of interest.
"I expect you to fight one another. The last man standing will be excused from transcription duties for the night and win a bottle of fine Chelish wine from Krant's private stash."
There are some things Rumha wouldn't do... and moreover he couldn't risk revealing his God-given skills here. His solution carried the obvious risks but that would tell him even more about the savage nature of their 'trainer'.
"I like transcription work and I have no interest in wine. Since the rule is 'last man standing'..." Rumha tosses his sap away and sits down. "It appears I've lost."
You hear Kranr's voice booming across the courtyard. "Last man standing means last man conscious for the stupid amongst you. One down, lots more to go. Get on with it."
Rythan stifled a laugh, turning it into a cough. As good an idea as any, and better than beating each other silly. He shrugged and let the sap fall by his feet, sliding down the wall to sit.
"I wouldn't have minded that wine, but I like transcribing, too. Besides, I wouldn't want the guilt of having had to knock you all out," he said with a grin, eyeing Grob with pretend wariness. "After all, that would have kept you from learning about the glory of Razmir for a few days, and none of us want that! So I guess I've lost this game, too."
Grum grins happily, giving the sap in his hand an approving look. He moves to the unconscious youth, checking for items of interest.
The young man is wearing a white cloak like yours and a mask too. Other than ndergarments and boots, he has nothing else on his person.
Grum scoffs at their over-seer, turns toward Rythanus, and moves in as if to attack. Then he reacts as if he's been struck a severe blow to the face, reels backwards and goes down. He lies there, sprawled on the ground and lifts his head to watch the others either give up or knock each other out.
Rythan stifled a laugh, turning it into a cough. As good an idea as any, and better than beating each other silly. He shrugged and let the sap fall by his feet, sliding down the wall to sit.
"I wouldn't have minded that wine, but I like transcribing, too. Besides, I wouldn't want the guilt of having had to knock you all out," he said with a grin, eyeing Grob with pretend wariness. "After all, that would have kept you from learning about the glory of Razmir for a few days, and none of us want that! So I guess I've lost this game, too."
Although looked as though Rythanus hardly touched Grum, the half-orc reacted as though he'd taken a savage blow as he fell lifelessly to the ground. Only the rise and fall of his chest as he was breathing indicated he wasn't actually dead.