Mar 1, 2018 1:00 pm
You and the other travelers stream through the Sandalwood Gate (#13) and enter Pradesh, the Jewel of the West. You are swept up in the throng of revelers cheering, singing, and chanting to the beat of drums and gongs. The festive mood is electric, and highly infectious. The flow of people leads southwest, towards the City Square fronting the Great Temple. 
Some points of interest in Pradesh:
1. Bay of Jammun
2. Tusks of Gajenndra
3. Ye Scum and Villainy Tavern
4. Tower of the Lotus
5. Tower of the Tiger
6.
7. Jixiang-Ye Tea House
8. City Square
9. Marketplace
10.
11. Peacock Gate
12. Lesser temples
13. Sandalwood Gate
14. Great Temple of Gajenndra
15. Rat Alley
16. Lion Gate
17.
18. The Academy
19. The Mandala
20. Maharajah's Palace
21. Serpent Gate
22. Lesser Palace
23. The Aunties' house.
24. Trident GateThe street threads through a courtyard and just as you enter, several horn blasts are sounded. A cheer goes up among the crowd, and the music turns more frenzied. Multicolored powders, hurled from the balconies, rain down on the dancing multitude, blanketing you in gaudy rainbow hues. This is a boon - in this chaos of color no one from Cysegr will recognize you.
You push on, and at every other corner the colorful ritual is repeated. At one crossing, a parade of colorfully arrayed elephants marches past, festooned with fluttering banners, bearing troupes of musicians. One of the elephants, probably the matriarch, peers at you curiously and nods sagely before turning south, leading the procession to the Great Temple of Gajenndra, whose elaborately carved towers rise above the nearby structures.
Moving on, you come upon an inner city wall running roughly east to west, pierced by an open gate that leads to the Temple District. Here, the crowds stop to gawk at several holy men seated atop narrow stone pillars that flank the gate. These ascetics have sworn to live out their lives thus, dispensing wisdom and blessings from on high. Supplicants offer them food and water in little baskets (and the hermits' waste is sent down in another basket). The stink wafting down from their waste and from their unwashed bodies is overwhelming. Best to move on quickly.
A procession walks by bearing a holy child in a gilded litter, her skin dyed gold and her cheeks pierced through and through by thin steel skewers. A beggar, his body covered with boils, shuffles forward, pleading, reaching out to the child goddess. The child turns her head towards the beggar, who gasps and stumbles backward with tears in his eyes. He is completely healed. The child turns again, and almost locks gazes with Rydler, but then her procession moves on, trailing incense smoke and lotus petals.
Aditya is happy to be home and is caught up in the festivities. At first it seems as if he's forgotten you have come to collect your pay but at length he hires a runner to send word to his aunt. "You'll have your gold by the end of the day." he promises. "In the meantime, welcome to Pradesh! Happy Dasai!"
[ +- ] Map of Pradesh
Some points of interest in Pradesh:
1. Bay of Jammun
2. Tusks of Gajenndra
3. Ye Scum and Villainy Tavern
4. Tower of the Lotus
5. Tower of the Tiger
6.
7. Jixiang-Ye Tea House
8. City Square
9. Marketplace
10.
11. Peacock Gate
12. Lesser temples
13. Sandalwood Gate
14. Great Temple of Gajenndra
15. Rat Alley
16. Lion Gate
17.
18. The Academy
19. The Mandala
20. Maharajah's Palace
21. Serpent Gate
22. Lesser Palace
23. The Aunties' house.
24. Trident Gate
You push on, and at every other corner the colorful ritual is repeated. At one crossing, a parade of colorfully arrayed elephants marches past, festooned with fluttering banners, bearing troupes of musicians. One of the elephants, probably the matriarch, peers at you curiously and nods sagely before turning south, leading the procession to the Great Temple of Gajenndra, whose elaborately carved towers rise above the nearby structures.
Moving on, you come upon an inner city wall running roughly east to west, pierced by an open gate that leads to the Temple District. Here, the crowds stop to gawk at several holy men seated atop narrow stone pillars that flank the gate. These ascetics have sworn to live out their lives thus, dispensing wisdom and blessings from on high. Supplicants offer them food and water in little baskets (and the hermits' waste is sent down in another basket). The stink wafting down from their waste and from their unwashed bodies is overwhelming. Best to move on quickly.
A procession walks by bearing a holy child in a gilded litter, her skin dyed gold and her cheeks pierced through and through by thin steel skewers. A beggar, his body covered with boils, shuffles forward, pleading, reaching out to the child goddess. The child turns her head towards the beggar, who gasps and stumbles backward with tears in his eyes. He is completely healed. The child turns again, and almost locks gazes with Rydler, but then her procession moves on, trailing incense smoke and lotus petals.
Aditya is happy to be home and is caught up in the festivities. At first it seems as if he's forgotten you have come to collect your pay but at length he hires a runner to send word to his aunt. "You'll have your gold by the end of the day." he promises. "In the meantime, welcome to Pradesh! Happy Dasai!"
OOC:
R&R! What do you do? Grab some food at the Market district? Onward to the City Square? Hit the bars at the Dock Ward? Or something else? Feel free to rewind and interact with anything that was mentioned, such as the stylites, the elephants, or the golden child. Or anything else.
