katoomba ♔ while I formulate denials of your effect on me

[moonheart]

♬ Watching You Go - Ghosts

WHO || Alanna, Jaime, Faith, Fiona, Jordan, Adi [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights investigate a shady temple of Mystra.
WHERE || Katoomba, Australia
WHEN || July 24th [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

The Knights take off for Katoomba, Australia, to investigate a tale of a temple to the goddess of magic Mystra that was erected very suddenly and mysteriously, seemingly unknown to other Mystran clergy in the world.  A bizarre tale of a cleric being chased out with gunfire, and a missing bookseller with a connection to the church have left Wynn worried about what might be going on within the walls of the temple.  It is constructed a short distance from the actual city proper, up the river.  

Comments

[trebond]

[ Oh. Goodie.

Alanna glances inward at the guards in particular, then hands the money over to Shan. Yep. They need to be in there. Now. ]

[lionbrave]

The goddess does like her gold, doesn't she?

[He is JUST SAYING. They seem pretty fixated on this fee thing.]

[moonheart]

[ having collected it, shan thar moves aside with a small smile, letting the other priest speak. a couple others are gathered here as well, mostly younger folks in their twenties. he introduces himself as starweaver deinyn fembrys.

"Do you deserve Mystra's Sacred Trust?" he asks, as he walks in front of them. "Some of you do not, and you'll be asked to leave during the three days you'll spend in the petitioner's quarters. I won't lie - the next three days will be hard. You may get bored, you may get hungry, but if you persevere, you might just earn the Starry Gnosis, the secret knowledge. If you can't commit to three days, leave now. Father Shan Thar will return your donation. If you're staying, put your belongings in the petitioners quarters, and change into the vestments you'll find there. Stay there until you're called, contemplating obedience to the goddess."

faith frowns deeply and whispers: ] Anyone else think this sounds kinda like suck?

[trebond]

[ This is the actual fucking worst.

No, literally, it's everything Alanna hates about magic and religion and she's actually contemplating setting herself on fire and jump out the window just to get away.

Unfortunately, duty and honor and knighthood trump her absolute loathing for everything that Deinyn is saying. Alanna squeezes her eyes shut, takes a deep breath, and can't bring herself to look at Faith as she says, ]

It's our only option.

[ They have a mission. She trudges towards the petitioners quarters. ]

[lionbrave]

A pity I'm so honorable a knight. I certainly don't wish to commit to so much as three hours.

[It's muttered to Alanna, but he's matching her step for step as they walk. He's not backing down. Even if this ritual is stupid.]

[missindependent]

Very lame. Much suck. [ she whispers back to faith. they may get bored? and hungry? worst. but on the plus side, awesome secret magic knowledge. maybe. that should be enough to hold fiona's interest, as long as she's able to keep that in mind.

also, she didn't really bring any belonging, besides maybe a watch or some tampons?? so she's just gonna go change now. ]

[mining]

I actually find the whole thing rather nostalgic.

[ Including the fixation on money, go figure. Adi didn't bring much either, so he's grabbing some clothes while he comments and then heading off to change. ]

[moonheart]

[ all nine 'petitioners' change, and starweaver fembrys asks each of them to remove even any jewelry and place it in the trunks in front of their beds in their quarters. they're all bunking in one long room, divided into four 'sections' by small half-walls that each fit two end to end beds across from two others. it's definitely tight. faith leaps onto one after putting on her plain black robe, trying to bounce and finding it too hard to do so. ] Dibs!

[trebond]

[ Alanna has a HORRIBLE FEELING ABOUT REMOVING THE TOKEN OF HER GODDESS, and leaving it in a trunk. Especially since it's a token that the Goddess gave her to protect her from her enemies. And she's in her enemies' house. Fuck. So she looks thoroughly uncomfortable while she tucks the ember pendant into the trunk at the foot of one of the beds. ]

Did you go through a similar process, Adi?

[mining]

[ Adi grins at the enthusiastic claiming of a bed that he's pretty sure is identical to every other bed in the room, and he sits on one of the empty beds while looking to Alanna. ]

Don't most clerics? Fewer tourists at some, maybe, but most of the temples I've been to are fond of ritual and meditation.

[ What kind of weird ass cleric are you that this is so thoroughly creeping you out, Alanna. ]

[trebond]

I was trained by the castle healer, not in any temple. I've a hard time sitting still, so it's always worked well enough for me.

[ She offers a lopsided smile, knowing how odd it must sound. ]

I suppose it was high time I paid my dues.

[mining]

And paid them in spades. [ Familiar, yes. Three days of whatever rigorous devotion they're in for is still pushing it. After a thoughtful pause: ]

You did worship a god, though.

[ Searching, even if it isn't technically a question. ]

[trebond]

We've a whole slew of them in Tortall, certainly. Everyone has their favorite. [ Or, rather, each of the gods have their favorites, in Alanna's case. The Great Mother hadn't given her much of a choice. ] The Great Mother Goddess. I believe she's worshipped in Faerun, as well.

[missindependent]

[ with a nat 20 knowledge religion check, fiona speaks up as she pulls a robe over her head ] Chauntea? The goddess of summer, farming, crops and that sort of thing? Yeah, people get pretty fanatical when it comes to food.

[lionbrave]

There was a Mother Goddess in Westeros as well. One of the Seven. [He finishes putting on his robes and looks down at them, grimacing. He might be too vain for this look.]

[trebond]

Oi, watch it! [ Throwing down a name for Her is still very jarring for Alanna!!! ] Anyway. She's more than that, to us. She's ruler of the gods; Mother of Mountains and Mares, and the Wave-Walker. She's beautiful. [ She pulls her hair out from under the robes, smiling at the thought. ] Appears to all sorts; sometimes she's a young maid, or a crone, but mostly she's a mother, lovely as you can imagine. [ She nods to Jaime. ] We've Seven, as well, though we don't call them that, and there's all sorts of lesser divinities below them.

[missindependent]

What do you call them, then? If you don't call them The Seven, or whatever, what do you call them? [ don't mind fiona over here, jaime, admiring your attire as well, but sad the robes will be covering all those muscles now :( ]

[trebond]

The Great Gods.

[ not super unique here. ]

[missindependent]

[ fiona shrugs because i guess that makes sense, and begins searching around their quarters for nothing in particular ] I hope we get to learn all sorts of new magic and stuff... even if this is a sham, they should at least know that much to maintain a decent cover, right?

[mining]

I wouldn't get your hopes up. I doubt they'll teach us anything useful in the course of a few days.

[ Debbie Downer. He kicks back on the bed he's perched on in the meantime, staring at the ceiling and leaving her to the random searching. ]

But there's got to be a great light show, right?

[ Because money. Also because he's pretty sure there was something about weird lights in the report?? ]

[lionbrave]

That's about all most religions are, so I'd hope so.

[Welcome to why Jaime is not a cleric.]

[missindependent]

Huh. Well, at least that's something, I guess. [ she gives up her searching for now and slumps into the bunk nearest faith ] So, what's next on the agenda? Ghost stories by flashlight, or...?

[trebond]

I imagine they're like to throw us all out if we attempted to learn more while we're meant to be ... praying.

[ Her lips purse a bit, souring around the word. Not her favorite activity. She's just throwing it out there, though. It feels like there must be something they can do to learn more, and yet. And yet. ]

[mining]

Maybe we should've gone the direct route.

[ A slightly sideways glance towards Jaime. ] You had an idea about putting their cleric skills to the test, yeah?

[wishuponadjinn]

[and we'll say jordan finally comes wandering in from changing into his own set of robes, his clothes hanging from one hand and a fancy bottle clutched in the other. he tosses his clothes into the trunk at the end of the bed he chooses, but tucks the bottle beneath his pillow.

conspicuously, though the priest had said to remove all jewelry, he is still sporting a thick band of silver around both wrists. he looks around, sheepish at realizing he's missed most of the conversation.

taking a seat on the edge of his bed he attempts to catch up.]