Chapter Five: Bapdis Orjo's Gift of Reconciliation

The ferryman collects his 3 CP and takes Vhezyen to the other side of the river.

There's a small barrack where the palisade meets the cliff side, with a stone lighthouse high up on the cliff itself, overlooking the city and the bay. A few rows of rustic houses sit near the edge of the sands. People on the beach catch crabs and build a fire in a sandpit.

The area around the entrance to Dagon's temple is relatively bare. The façade itself is easily eighty feet high, with columns carved with a scale pattern on either side, surmounted by a semicircular pediment with a monstrous fish surrounded by various other creatures of the sea, along with humans in a worshipful posture, carved in relief on the tympanum. The doors set in the façade stand open, but there is no-one coming or going from the temple.

Zangua, did you want to play these guys for money? I assumed it was cards for cards' sake, these rowers are pretty lean in the wallet iykwim.

Domarc, did you want to end up at the Bitten Sail with Mordred and Bagu, or a different tavern?

Domarc inadvertently follows in Mordred's footsteps to the Bitten Sail, and is similarly greeted upon entry. There he finds Mordred standing at the edge of the crowd, watching Bagu at the bar.

After a few steps into the temple's dark vestibule, Vhezyen is met by a man in a dark robe and a hooded sealskin mantle. "Go no further. This is a consecrated place," the man says. "What purpose brings you to the House of Dagon, Lord of the Profound Deep?"

"The customary propitiation is a riding-horse, or a young ox. But the Lord Dagon takes as he will from those who presume to ride upon the face of the sea. To die in the black waters as nourishment for the children of the great dark deep is a nobler death than most are afforded."

The cleric has a flat affect; he seems guileless enough.

The cleric takes Vhezyen's gold. "You will find the House of Atargatis in the city center. The common folk can show you the way." He stands there, waiting for Vhezyen to leave.

Vhezyen finds a pair of children with a raft, brother and sister, who ferry him back over for 2 copper.

To the northwest of the castle, near the public market, he finds the modest stone longhouse that serves as the Temple of Atargatis. Though unassuming on the outside, inside he finds a warmly-lit and sweet-smelling hall with over a dozen people kneeling on the floor in prayer or contemplation. A teal-shawled priestess sits with one couple, giving quiet counsel. Another priest paces the length of the hall with a censer. At the far end, surrounded by lamps and candles and offerings of fruit, cloths, flowers, and coin, stands the idol of the goddess herself, palms spread in a welcoming gesture, with a towering crown upon her head. She has the lower body of a fish.

Domarc gives Modred a nod, but moves towards the band, wanting to get a sense of the music and the tastes of the crowd.

This is a sailor's tavern, rough men and hard drinks. The band is playing "The Rock-Eel and the Fisherman's Daughter," the version with the lyrics you don't sing when children are present.

Bagu and the bearded man get up and head for the door.