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8 (88.9%)

N

1 (11.1%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: September 16, 2018, 11:40:20 pm

[The_Two_Eternities]

A.

[King Zultan]

A

[Maximum Spin]

She smiles at your quick acceptance. You briefly wonder if she has something more than a mere promise to guarantee compliance, but then she continues speaking. "A dear friend of mine is fascinated with the stories that tell that many of the lesser gods were once mortals, elevated through ritual and worship. She has... come into possession of certain tomes which detail the procedure the ancients are supposed to have followed after the death of Dagvarrd Aldazine, the Daywatcher. And she's finally decided to try it out."

Rítes watches your face for a reaction before going on.

"My friend, Salkun, also recently lost her first child. She seeks to make the tragedy into an opportunity by making a small god of the babe, empowering its spirit to protect the children of Abystok. But the ritual requires devotion, and there are few willing to participate in so... daring an experiment, with no idea how the priests might react. They say a king's prayers are worth more than a common churl's; pay your respects at my friend's shrine, and I will let you have the book."

A) Agree and follow her to the shrine.
B) Reject the deal outright.
C) Try to talk her into letting you do something less... "daring".

[King Zultan]

A

[Iris]

A

[Basil ii]

A

[The_Two_Eternities]

A.

[Maximum Spin]

You assent, and Rítes solemnly leads you through various tunnels while you contemplate the prayer you will give. In due course you come to another magic door upon which your companion traces another sigil – yet this time the door doesn't open but merely shakes quietly in response. After a couple minutes the door melts away to reveal another young female dwarf, looking a bit older than Rítes, clearly still bleary with sleep. She squints at Rítes and begins to ask "What do you need at this hour, Ri?", then her eyes seem to come into focus as she sees you properly. Almost instantly, she drops to the floor in an elaborate sweeping motion, ending up kneeling with her arms to the sides and her forehead touching stone, a deferential gesture so ostentatiously ridiculous that even thralls haven't been required to use it for many centuries. Rítes says in a somewhat conspiratorial tone, "His Majesty would like to pay his respects at your shrine.", and the woman (Salkun, you recall) looks up with wide eyes. "You mean—?", she blurts out, and Rítes nods, and in short order they are both shepherding you in and down a short hallway into a lady's bedroom.

The furnishings are old-fashioned, with heavy grey drapery which was considered feminine in an antique period of local fashion. Speaking of antique, the bed certainly is, a basalt piece whose decorative carvings have nearly weathered away entirely. Whatever musings you might have on the intimacy of the setting — while you've heard of kings winding up in their subjects' bedrooms from time to time, this isn't exactly how you thought of it — are cut short as the women drag an unassuming walnut chest out of a side closet and present it to you. On the lid of the chest, a brass plate has recently been inlaid, on which the following words are delicately carven in a somewhat archaic form of dwarven script: "Herein be all that remain of revered Ergedós, whom I, Salkun, bore unto ruin and thereafter bore unto glory."

A) Open the chest.
B) NOPE right back outta here.

[Shadowclaw777]

A

[King Zultan]

A

[Maximum Spin]

You open the chest and find the slightly charred bones of an infant laid out on black velvet, as you expected. I don't know why you would've expected anything else. Among the bones you also see a scattering of jewelry (mostly rings), prayer sticks, small coins, pieces of solid incense, and what appears to be a lock of dwarven hair braided into a ring. Some of these items are smudged with charcoal, salt, and blood. As you kneel before this odd testament to pious devotion, feeling the presence of it all, you consider adding an offering of your own along with the prayer you've already promised.

A) Just sit and try to commune with the spirits or whatever.
B) Actually, just sit and do nothing! How are they going to know?
C) Besides communing, also offer... (select one or more options below)
   1) some pocket change
   2) the iron ring you received previously
   3) a bit of incense (which you'll have to beg off Salkun since you didn't bring any)
   4) your own blood
   5) something else at your discretion?

[King Zultan]

C1

[Basil ii]

C4 surely the blood of kings and emperors have some odd mystical significance

[The_Two_Eternities]

C4.

[crazyabe]

C1.