  Dear Journal, As part of my training to enter the priesthood, I am assisting with the Fertility Festival of Sospitas in the town of Nature's Gate. During this special time, the priests of Sospitas can cast spells of greater power than they normally could. Anyway, past festivals had been hit hard by pickpockets, so the temple had me out on 'patrol'. (I'm perfect for the job, it takes a thief to know one.) Anyway, I ran across this wacky-looking foreigner with spikey yellow hair, so I tailed him to a local tavern, the Live Oak. Marie SilverRose, the festival's star singing attraction was on stage and a pretty good crowd was inside. A dignitary of some sort and his attaché of guards were doing the most conspicuous job of trying to be inconspicuous. The spikey-haired guy ducked outta the place, so I tailed him again but he gave me the slip. Suddenly, I was dealing with a stable full of horses that had gotten loose somehow. With the help of some local kids and some fresh fruit, I got the horses rounded up and then turned in for the night. I awoke late that night to help with an emergency. Marie SilverRose had been attacked in her room at the Live Oak and had been brought to the temple for healing. I was sent to interrogate Marie's attacker, who turned out to the spikey-haired guy. His name was Cloud Strife and he was a merc. He whipped my butt in a game of chess, but the real victory was mine! He slipped up, and remarked that he wasn't from this planet. Well, I had my report, he was nuts. Maybe the temple priests can heal his sick mind. Dear Journal, The second day of the festival started with me giving a blessing as a temple priest cast a spell to remove the 'dark forces' controlling Cloud. Then I went to the tryouts for the annual temple play. I landed the job of director and went to wor 'improving' the script.
The play was a disaster. When the Cleric issued his warning to the merc-king, the merc-king slew the cleric. The orc/baby/pig got loose on stage, and Guard #1 (an extra) chased it around trying to catch it. Then when the Kindly Stranger showed up, she decided to haulthe merc into town for mudering the cleric. In a moment of desperation, I wrote myself in and killed the Kindly Stranger. The crowd threw gp on stage afterwards, and I tithed 7gp to the temple. That night at the dance, I danced with Sir Phillip. He was cute, but he's a bit of a klutz [CHA 16, DEX 8, I believe]. In the middle of the dance a shadowy monster burst in calling out for 'Taxil' (whoever that is), but my new friends from the play helped defeat it. The next day, I was assigned to travel with Marie SilverRose to my hometown of Living Valley, in the kingdom of Rael to the east. Dear Journal, I arrived back home in Living Valley, along with Lotus, Kalira, and Marie. Mr. Cloud showed up and was bugging Marie (I guess he is acting of sound mind then). A paladin staying at our temple, Sir Bedavere, went out to stop Cloud from hiding in the bushes outside the temple. Sir Bedavere ran Mr. Cloud off. That night, Marie was performing at the Exotic Intoxication when Mr. Cloud showed up. I went and got Sir Bedavere. At the end of the performance, Mr. Cloud rushed the stage, knocked Marie unconscious, picked her up, and tried to escape. Lotus, Joseph (Marie's duet partner for tonight), Sir Bedavere, and Kalira attacked him while I blocked the front door. Mr. Cloud ran backstage, where he was finally taken down. Once we had him in custody, we gave him a truth serum, but it had no effect on him. Back at the temple, Lex showed up, accompanied by Sir Phillip. Lex told Lotus, Kalira, Sir Phillip, Charliss Belmont (the head priest at my temple and my mentor), and I that he was really Prince Vandemax of Mothergreen. Charliss confirmed this fact. The prince was on the run from his kingdom (understandable, since magic-users are forbidden to rule). Charliss charged me with escorting the prince westward, away from Mothergreen. Kalira and I disguised him. He wanted to travel under the name Taxil (the name the monster called out!!), but instead decided on Terry. So I set out heading west, accompanied by Marie, Lotus, Kalira, Sir Phillip, Mr. Cloud (who was allowed to travel with us after saving Marie from an assassin--over my objections), and Lex/Vandemax/Taxil/Terry (all the same person). Dear Journal, We arrived back in Nature's Gate today and headed for the Temple of Sospitas. This is the temple where my idol/role-model Brother Byron D'Arton is resting eternally. When we arrived, a priestess named Janele approached us and asked for our aid. Someone had broken into the temple's crypt and loud explosions had been heard. The party, along with Janele & a researcher at the temple named Magus, headed into the crypt(floor 1 | floor 2). We did battle with orcs down there who ambushed us after we came across a cave-in. At one point, Lotus used a coffin lid as a shield. Unfortunately, Lotus fell in battle and had to be transported to the surface. In the chamber where Byron D'Artan and the other temple priests who died fighting Lucas Nightshade were resting, we discovered more orcs and a skeleton which we dispatched. Unfortuanately, others in their group had already made off with their prize. They had gained Byron D'Artan's journal, which had been buried with him. We found what appeared to be a scrap from the diary that had been left behind, which I kept. Because it was written in an unknown language, we will have to use magic to read it. Dear Journal, I know I've neglected you quite a bit, but after today's events I felt the need to write things down. I have two major revalations to tell you. But first, let me get an interesting event out of the way. We'd sold the dragon carcass for a good price and I had a fat sum to tithe in town. I'm not sure what to think of the people of this area. How can someone embrace a deity yet reject the gift of magic they bestow upon their clerics? It seems that fear is the greatest motivator. Marie's mother was safe and things were looking better than usual when Marie's temple came to us with a favor. They wanted us to infiltrate a brothel where some mysterious killings had occured. Cherie, Marie's mom, wouldn't approve of this and was kept in the dark. So some 'work' was acquired by the girls: Marie (aka 'Rosa') dressed as a barmaid, Lotus (aka 'Busty Melons') in the garb of a dominatrix, and I (aka 'Cherry Poppins') clad in a short red dress. Mr. Cloud (aka 'John Smith') got a job as a bouncer. Prince Vande-sama (aka 'Randy') and Vernon (Lotus' new boyfriend) posed as clients. We were all in place. My first (and only) client was a rich-kid who was too shy to go through with it. I walked him out and talked it up about what a stud he was so he wouldn't lose face with his friends. Getting down to business, a couple of spells placed our likely target in the 'Wolf Room', either a girl named Marianne(?) or her client. Marianne(?) emerged from the 'wolf room' and I identified her as the target. There was a client with Marie who wished to know when Marianne(?) became available, so I was sent to inform them that she was now available. I conveyed the information to Marie in celestial but was suprised that her client understood me. He was a surprise visitor, Marie's half-brother, a paladin named Actrevius. He was doing his own infiltration. Meanwhile, Lotus and Vernon had dissapeared. Prince Vande-sama had had managed to sleep with 3 women...how this was helpful, I'm not sure. Bizarrely, Marianne(?) took Actrevius (her client) out for a walk. Lotus showed up, and along with the prince, Marie and Mr. Cloud we secretly pursued them. Seeing that she planned to attack Actrevius, we took her down first. Ok, time for major revalation #1: Prince Vande-sama got screwed. And I'm not talking about the 3 working girls. He's being scryed on by rival nation Gellian, Sir Phillip is working for his enemy, and his sister is dead. His kingdom is in great peril. Sucks to be him. As a result of this development, the prince's new apprentice is being sent to Charliss with a letter from me and a the Cult of Sadie's scrolls. Big time event #2: I met one of the legendary heroes today, Benjamin Lightshroud, Paladin-King of Ilian. . . to be continued . . . |
