by Sara "Zarine" Jessop
My accounting of the events of the past weekend requires me to back up a bit and explain what happened during my previous visit to New Verai. Twen and I both had personal business there and we went at once when the borders were reopened. Everything was going well, I had stacks of papers to go through that had piled up in my absence, and then one caught my eye. It was a warning about Asmodeus’ spies in our midsts. I was not surprised, there is always a fox in the henhouse, so I set it aside. Twen met me for dinner and explained that the Prince and Magistrate were both missing and that Asmodeus’ ‘fans’ seemed to be gaining traction. Before we even got to eat, our dinner was interrupted by one of my new girls who had intel that assassins were after us and we needed to run. So run we did, past my dead guards, through the gutters and back streets where I ruined a perfectly good dress, but we escaped with our lives, a small amount of information, and the ability to return with help.
The help got there ahead of us apparently, for Twen and I returned to the heroes of the realms already in town.Twen and I met up with Sha’ri, the High Priestess of the Sisters, who we’d previously worked with. She explained the political situation in more depth, the short and sweet version being that between the plague and cultists there was a lot of tension. There was also the major problem of Prince Nertail being missing, meaning the council was at an even number and couldn’t decide on anything so they needed someone to make them odd again. This planted a seed of an idea in our head, but now was not the time to think further on that as cultists were attacking and I had complaints about the going rate for a handshake.
Whatever the Voranians were doing was starting to become difficult to ignore and seemed mildly important, so I wandered over to check it out. It seems the Gods were out of balance as Asmodeus had claimed most of the power. I won’t pretend to understand exactly what happened, I try to stay out of the affairs of gods as they seem nothing by trouble, but Sultana was called upon with a ritual performed with items acquired earlier in the day. A spirit showed up and told us that we’d healed the magic of the land, and that we’d opened the way to Asmodeus' temple. The plan then became to go to this temple, kill his followers, and desecrate it until it no longer held power. However, we were told the path would be dangerous and we didn’t want to attempt this on empty stomachs, so we decided to eat first and reconvene after dark, which we all know is the best time to assault evil.
After a slightly longer than expected wait on our ‘temple assault guide’, we were on our way. We came upon a camp before the main path, where we were presented with many tools of desecration to choose from. During this time Twen told us that she had learned that some of the cultists had been forced into service and were not true followers of Asmodeus. Once we learned how to tell them apart so that we might save them from their involuntary worship, we were on our way down a very inconsistently lit path. Wave after wave of cultists tried to block our progress (seriously, where did he find so many of them) but we were able to make it to the temple entrance. Cultists blocked the way in, and even though we did manage at one point to push them back we were unable to enter. There were some very bright lights, blindingly bright even, and apparently there were some among us that were marked as champions that had been called to complete tasks. Fortunately we were entertained during our wait by some horribly off key singing led by Trent. As the champions succeeded the lights went out, one by one, until finally we were able to enter.
Once inside the temple, we found an open casket with a body inside and some words in a foreign language that Baron Diamond was able to decipher rather handily. We were all a bit tired at this point and were a bit slow on the uptake, but Trent realized it was a name. Varion. Twen and I recognized this name as Prince Nertails most trusted advisor and friend. We set the bulk of our forces about desecrating the temple while Hygar and some of his Voranians performed a seance to speak with the deceased. They learned that Varion could not move on to a peaceful rest because he believed he had failed his Prince and his people.
Just about this time, the temple desecration was complete and the force field blocking access to the body was removed. We found a letter, which Baron Diamond read to us aloud. My reading comprehension when someone reads to me is horrendous, so I was very confused and probably frustrated everyone present with the amount of times I needed to ask ‘wait, who sent this to where?’, but eventually I understood that the letter was from Varion to Nertail. He apologized for needing to send him away and for not succeeding and there were some very sweet words. Apparently they were *very* close friends. Maybe even roommates. We held a small ceremony for Varion where we said some kind words and let him know that we had succeeded and set his body ablaze. We then took some of his ashes to give to Nertail if he’s ever found, and then Hygar did some earthy magic and the coffin sunk into the ground. The temple seemed sufficiently desecrated, though Trent burned it down just in case, and we headed back to rest.
The next day, we gathered in town once again. Twen and I filled Sha’ri in on what had transpired the evening before, and then she addressed the gathered masses. She informed us that they needed a new acting Steward to be able to move forward with council decisions. Twen and I tried to offer to co-lead, but it was made very clear that only one could be the Steward. And so, somewhat reluctantly, we were in opposition and there would be a vote. First however, we needed to overcome some trials.
The trials were interesting.Each trial granted us a small statuette which needed to be placed at the temple to signal our success. The first trial were statues that opened a door when we mimicked them and said a phrase. You ever try to get six people in the realms to do the exact same thing at the same time? Well I did it so I am pretty sure I’m some sort of god. Next was a crocodile in water that people kept throwing lightning into and almost killing us because we are slow learner. There were some pieces of a puzzle in the water that a small group worked to solve. I assume they put it together since the water drained and we passed. Then there was a bird of some sort flying over a chasm who handed us some paper that we needed to engineer to make it to the other side. Most of us were efficient and just wadded it into a ball, but some made some very effective paper gliders. Once across that, we encountered some animals. One was a very skinny little kitty. We killed them, because why not, and the last way was open.
We were at a temple of sorts, and Twen and I presented ourselves as candidates and the voting implements were distributed. They stamped our hands with an arcane symbol so we couldn’t vote more than once as we placed our votes in the ballot box and the votes were tallied. I was announced as the winner and asked to step forward. I was immediately presented with my first choice as Steward, which was between the demigods of Legacy who represented the past, and Honor who represented the future. Twen reminded me that Verai’s past was slavery and then Legacy tried to tell me that it wasn’t ‘just about slavery’ and that he would become my legacy should I choose him. I would have my legacy be honor, so that was my choice. We then needed to defeat Legacy in combat before his troops to banish him, though he would be trying to kill me before mine as well. I was expecting a difficult fight but it turned out to be rather easy to defeat him. He had not many supporters and he made… not the best tactical decisions.
The day was won. The plague had been cured, Asmodeus weakened, and a Steward named. All in all it was a successful weekend campaign to heal and stabilize New Verai. I had quite a stake in this and I truly appreciate each and every one of you who helped along the way. While there is much still to be done, we could not have gotten this far without you. Hopefully things remain settled for a time, but should the need arise I hope to be able to lean on your assistance once again.
Until next time.