Jun 8, 2024 1:19 pm
GM
It is the Festival of the Maiden in the Moon, which happens every three years on the thirteenth full moon. You are at the Temple of the Moon, an outside amphitheater of stone. Semicircular seats are carved into a low hill facing a stage built into the shallow valley of that hill. Statues of women dancing are placed in front of fluted columns holding arches that mark the perimeter of the temple. The sun has set and the moon, Tarterus, sits halfway to its zenith. Flickering torches on the columns add warm oranges to the bright silver light of the moon. Six initiates, six priestesses, and the head priestess, called the Daughters of the Moon, stand upon the stage in sheer white robes that are near translucent in the moon's light. It is the first act of the play Moon Maiden's Delight. Sacred incense has been lit in several censors swung by young boys who discreetly run in front and behind the stage, holding their breath not to breathe in the psychedelic herbs.
Just as act two is starting, the moon disappears as if in eclipse. The women suddenly go rigid and their mouths hang slack. They levitate several feet up in the air to the gasps of onlookers. Bright white light floods out of their bodies, making visible their bones. Their mouths and eyes are beacons of light. In one voice they chant:
"The Shadow falls and taints all that it touches.
Magic itself corrupts and unravels.
Seek the Words of Creation or suffer oblivion.
Drowning in riches, lines read in a folio of folly.
Profaned altar of an aqueous god, bloodily revealed.
Freedoms shackled, secrets tattooed upon the flesh.
Choked by fog, a mural viewed in drug-addled dreams.
Plague-ridden First City, sky rocks floating over ruins.
On the scarred peninsula, a grand boss can open the way.
Forged in the Crucible, a champion’s reward.
Among the wonders, the mad memories of a clockwork.
In the Witch-King’s tower, the final word is profane."
Then they let out a shriek and the light goes bright enough to blind. All audience members cover their ears and close their eyes against the assault. Suddenly, silence. Darkness. With blurred vision and ringing ears you look upon the stage. Nothing remains of the Daughters of the Moon except piles of discarded robes. Mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, and lovers--thirteen vanished. Friends and family rush the stage to clutch at the garments and weep and wail. A thousand questions and no answers.
The next day a town meeting is convened and several villagers have been tasked with finding answers to what happened that night. The town pools together what resources it can spare, a few weapons and pieces of armor, as well as some horses and 26 silver shillings. Hugs, handshakes, salutes, and bows are given in farewell.
OOC:
Please post your reaction to the events on that fateful night. Introduce your character and why they volunteered/were chosen to go on this adventure. Lastly, everyone tell at least one difficulty you faced on the road from Low Country to Kem, and how another character helped.
