PARIAH ETAU CAMPAIGN, SESSION 28 & 29:

These events continue from the TWENTY-SEVENTH session. The real world dates were Sunday 31st January and Saturday 6th February 2021 on the Atelier Hwei Discord.  

Players:

- Mister Kent https://twitter.com/MrKentKomiks as Beautiful Other-far-from-the-Lake
- Oisín https://twitter.com/OisinoftheHill playing as Earnestly Wooded
- Semiurge http://archonsmarchon.blogspot.com/ playing as Witheringly Footed at the Point

30th Day of Crow Moon, Last Slither of the Old Moon

Map annotated by https://twitter.com/MrKentKomiks!

The pariahs spent the day resting until sundown, then split the party in two:

• Antelope, Fallen-far-from-the-Wind and Rides the Grove built a large pyre on the edge of the forest, in sight of the temple's main entrance;
• Beautiful Other Far-from-the-Lake, Earnestly Wooded, and Witheringly Footed at the Point waited in cover of darkness by the temple's west entrance, in preparation for their daring raid. 

The Raid

Once in position, Far-from-the-Lake released a series of shrill notes on her flute to alert the bonfire makers to set their fire alight. There was some delay before it came to the attention of the duty guards, but eventually a force of 4 warrior-priests are mustered, leaving on e on duty at the main gate and a second patrolling the perimeter.

The trio slip in, unnoticed, procuring some torches from wall sconces in the process. Wither and earnestly Wooded clothed themselves in the deep blue priestly garb stolen from the stores on their previous visit to the temple, while Beautiful Other was dressed in the plain attire of the unclean: the laity of the Water Temple.

Their plan was to delve into the depths of the temple via the well, locate the Daughter of the River and release her from the bonds that Aiduk/the Spider had placed her under. The well was located in the unclean village, the northernmost enclosure of the temple consisted of some wooden huts and a firepit shaded by banana trees and coconut palms.

As they sauntered into their enclosure, several elders and adults were still awake, sat around the firepit in silent contemplation. They watched the pariahs in silence, only interrogating Beautiful Other when she returned to fetch some torches. She learned that the were fooled by Wither and EW's disguise, but they were extremely curious as to what they were doing by the well. She was able to fob them off to an extent.

The well contained a bucket attached to a long length of rope. the pariahs deduced that it was approaching 40' in depth. They elected to take hold of the rope and lower Wither down first, followed by Beautiful Other. unfortunately Earnestly Wooded sent Beautiful Other tumbling into the darkness, hitting the water at the bottom and suffering a dangerous blow. Once Wither pulled her clear of the water, Earnestly Wooded follow after (the rope had been dropped into the well-shaft), attempting to use the shaft's walls to slow his descent. He too hit the water with a painful crash.

Underchamber

The bottom of the well opened into a large tunnel, down which ran a canal feeding the main well-pit. The walls of the tunnel were hewn from dressed stone, and doorways opened up tot he left hand side. Investigating these doorways soon resulted in the party pursuing a diminutive humanoid creature who only gave their name as "Not-Water", and seemed intent on tricking them through some very transparent ruses involving extinguishing their torches and entering unlit chambers.

They learned very little from him beside the fact he was trapped down there, receiving occasional nourishment from the people above and from rats. He hated water.

Somehow he convinced the party to pass him through the bars of a ceramic grate to the larger chamber on the other side, claiming there was a switch that could open up a secret door and allow them through. he immediately ran away, only to release a cry of despair moments later

Not water had escaped one prison to emerge in another: the adjoining chamber was completely enclosed by water.

Not-Water AKA Not-Gollum

Not-Water had warned them about Guardian Priests ("Blue Robes") patrolling this part of the temple, and the party could hear the distant sounds of wooden-shoed feet marching above, so they tried to remove the grate as quietly as they could, tying the rope around the ceramic struts and heaving as hard as they could. The "bars" fell straight into the canal below, allowing them easy access once they were certain that they were safe.

Prison of the Daughter of the River

The grate opened into a large 80' x 80' chamber with a vaulted ceiling supported by regularly spaced columns.

The chamber was flooded. A raised platform — upon which the Daughter of the River slumbered, bound by a series of thick black ropes — . A second rope the colour of gold hung in a loose noose about her neck. As per the illustration EW had previously seen, the spirit resembled a giant otter covered with a sheen of fish scales instead of sleek fur.

Two statues of proud warrior priests stood clear of the water, facing the plinth upon which the water-spirit was bound.

"No-Water" was nowhere to be seen. The wood-shod feet clomped mechanically overhead: a guardian priest was marching up and down.

Leaving some of their items at the edge of the pool, the pariahs dropped themselves into the water and paddled across to the centre. They clambered up to the creature and began to release it from its bonds:

...all of its bonds.

No-water released a loud cry, alerting the guardian priest overlooking the bound-spirit from the level above...

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS?

The guard leapt down, descending upon a plume of water. He bore a long staff, weighted by metal at one end, and struck out against the already wounded Far-from-the-Lake, striking her in the stomach. She sunk to the ground, mortally wounded.

Wither and Earnestly Wooded were quick to react however, reducing the assailant to a bloodied pulp.

A second guardian could be heard above. A second plume of water, this time in the form of a jet of pressurised steam, ascended to the upper gallery to collect him

The water spirit awoke: grateful for her liberation, but surprised to see humans behind it, EW requested that the spirit heal their comrade (Beautiful other Far from the Lake). The spirit acquiesced on condition of being freed from the final tether. To ensure no funny business occurred, EW placed his hand in the spirit's mouth.

• The cord was cut.
• Beautiful Other was healed.
• The spirit released Earnestly Wooded's hand.
• The guardian priest leaping from the level above was obliterated by water magic and Not-Water
• was destroyed by a plume of fluid from the river spirit.
• The temple shook. The water level rose... the pariahs fled...

Exit via the Gift Shop

The pariahs elected to dash back the way they came, hoping that the increase in water level would be enough to draw them towards the surface and at least give them the chance to call for help. In the event, the water level rose swiftly and rapidly enough to spit them back out in the enclosure of the unclean.

The water level did not stop there, however, and Earnestly Wooded did his best to encourage the community leaders to round up the villagers and leave: his last words with the Daughter of the River implied she was going to destroy the temple and surrounding lands indiscriminately.

During the confusion that followed around half of the unclean made it out of the temnple complex as water began to gather at everyone's ankles. The young initiates were calling for help from their crumbling tower, as the priest Fimu did his best to convince them to stay put. Beautiful Other and Wither went to rescue them as Earnestly Wooded climbed the tower of the story-priests, hoping Twelve could be convinced of the need to move the vast store of knowledge to a safer place. When reason failed and he resorted to intimidation, only Fimu fled in fear, leaving Twelve, Doonwit, and the hitherto unknown priest Nine glowering angrily.

Fimu assisted in the rescue of the young initiates and led them back towards the exit.

Spi-duk

Leader of the water priests, Aiduk, was calling out to fleeing laity to remain. The great spider had positioned itself upon his head, presumably the better to whisper in his ear. Wither and EW snuck up behind him as Far-from-the-Lake blew a great horn as a way of distracting him and the two remaining guardians. 

The dust that Rides-the-Grave had created from the dried onion-flower was blown over the magic spider, sending Aiduk stumbling forward. The spider disintegrated into a cloud of smoke, which partially reassembled into the form of a naked old man, covered in very faint tattoos.

Aiduk, meanwhile, was disorientated and ineffective, leaving his guardians to attempt to rally the remaining laity. Around half of those that had not yet fled the complex clambered up onto the central square. Those that remained fled the scene with the pariahs, the naked old man, the nine initiates and Fimu, wading through knee-deep water in the hope of catching up with the procession of torches flickering in the distance.

Refugees

The pariahs and their new allies were able to quickly catch up with the rest of the group. They used the great earthworks that divided the rice paddies as their path through the landscape, trusting that it would keep them clear of the rising water. The further they got from the temple, the less serious the threat became... yet still the pushed on, determined to get to Etau's stockade, sitting proud of ground level on its artificial hill.

There was no chance to warn Antelope, Rides and Fallen, but hopefully they too would reconvene at Etau's settlement. Without them the pariahs numbered 3, accompanied by:

• 9 Initiates
• 1 priest (Fimu)
• A naked old man (who had materialised from the dust of Aiduk's spider)
• 37 lay folk including elders and youths

The weird old man continued to chant for the duration of the trip... until the procession was disrupted by the sound of arrows flying through the air.

Ambush

A whistling shot, a dropped torch, the sound of screams.

The pariahs had been ambushed. They crouched, taking cover, allowing the nine initiates to slip down into the drainage ditch by the side of the path. The pariahs dropped their torches, spotting lights off to the west slowly advancing forwards.

Earnestly Wooded let fly with multiple arrows, Wither charged through the darkness towards one of the enemy torch-wielders. Beautiful Other instructed the young boys to flee.

A return volley included one arrow destined for EW, but he was certain that he felled one of the raiders. Wither caught one of the torchbearers unawares and dealt them several deathly blows, though they clung to life. A group of raiders charged towards the refugees wielding hand axes, prompting Beautiful Other to draw her bonesword. She dropped one of the raiders, but had caught the attention of more.

As Wither fought savagely in the darkness against a lone raider he had detached from the main group, EW rushed to support his comrade, only to see Beautiful Other fall to the ground clutching at her left elbow: her forearm had been completely severed. The refugees were already meekly complying with the instructions of the raiders and seemed unlikely to rise up and overpower them...

EW and Wither laid down their arms.

The naked old man stepped forward, speaking to them intelligibly for the first time.

"We will take these people to the forest, and show the, the true way to live. They will come to no harm. You, however, will return to Etau: tell her she has until the first quarter of the Auroch moon to take her people and leave this land."

"What will you do if she does not?"

"Not what I will do, but what the forest will do..."

The old sorcerer turned his back and joined the procession snaking its way into the dark forest: all of the laity, including their young ally Lion were now prisoners of the forest spirit. Even Fimu had been captured. In fact only the nine initiates had escaped, thanks to Beautiful Other's instructions.

Denoument

By Mr Kent https://twitter.com/MrKentKomiks...
...you might need to make some amendments...

Beautiful-Other-far-from-the-Lake was terribly wounded, and neither Wither or Earnestly Wooded could do much to assist her: they tied a tourniquet about her stump and cauterized the wound with torches, before carrying her to shelter. In the neighbouring field they found the 9 initiates huddling in an abandoned hut: no doubt the previous occupants had fled due to the increasing drought.

At least that had been resolved.

* * *

The size, scope and nature of the Etau/Unlucky ones campaign necessitates some changes to how these write-ups are delivered. Regular readers will know that I struggle to find a format that I'm comfortable with, and I'm never very satisfied with how they turn out. 

Henceforth, campaign updates will be posted every Monday with the unluckyones tag and will mainly serve as a campaign record for the many players currently taking part in the growing PARIAH campaign.

However, the first summary post will be going up on FRIDAY 19th February. 

So see you next time. Meanwhile, a word from our sponsors...

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