[Runequestprax] Chapter Eight: Gaumata's Vision

[Lev Lafayette]

Chapter Eight: Gaumata's Vision


This is one of the creepiest scenarios ever written for any game system!

Dramatis personae

Storyteller, (Lev)
Phoebe, Grantlands Initiate of Zola Fel and Seven Mothers (Michael)
Red Mouse, Zebra Tribe Initiate of Zola Fel (Sean)
Honest John, Pavis Initiate of Eurmal and Zola Fel (Rick)
Mathee, Pavis Initiate of Lhankor Mhy and Issaries (Gawain)
Praxilites, Sun County Initiate of Yelmalio (Jay)
Mountain Strides, Agimori Initiate of Lodril (Karl)

Fire Season, 1615 ST

With neighbourly relations growing between Duke Rauss and Lord Rabbit
Hat, the Duke assigned his mercenaries for a fortnight on the Lord's
request. For many miles away at the Sun Dome Temple, the great Gaumata
The Strange had receieved a vision of ill omen. In his vision, he had
received a hawk's view of the village of Black Rock, on the west side of
the Zola Fel. "But in that village the women walked with filthy sticks
in their guts. The men were sickly and weak, and tiny monsters devoured
unknown foods in the fields and there were no children to be seen.
Nearby there was a blood red lake. All dissolved into a foul pool of
gorp which exploded and even splashed the holy Sun Dome itself."

With Praxilites recent successes, Lady Vega sent him to investigate and
he took his old friends with him. They travelled to the town of
Queenscliff and then headed south along the Queenscliff Creek to the
ruins of Dry Market and the dry bed of Gone Creek, and then further
along the river to a second escarpment. To their left and right were
remains of the God's War, the rocks known locally as Gnome Head and
Toad's Claw. The highly defensible Black Rock village itself, flush
against a bluff of the Red Toad Cliffs (these giant toads themselves
being an occassional threat), was some seven leagues and harsh march
under Yelm's gaze from Queenscliff, with naught but skullbushes and the
occasional darting lizard for company.

Black Rock was an impoverished settlement of some thirty buildings with
surrounding marginal farmland and grazing lands for sheep and goats. The
only stone buildings was a one-and-a half story Temple to Ernalda, and a
Shrine to Yelmalio, the yellow paint fading on the dome made from
sun-dried bricks. The party was introduced initially to the village
headman, Fethal Gilthelm, a bearded middle aged man who had served his
duty as a Sun Dome Templar who gave the most appropriate greetings to
the arriving party. Also present was the somewhat scrawny young head of
militia, Thosah Strongspear who waxed lyrically about his great (and
late) father. 

Preparations for a feast that evening were made, for it was rare that
such visitations were made. In the while, the inquisitive characters
sought what information they could about the village. The first thing
that struck them was the demographics; there was just over five score
individuals, of which two-thirds were children all aged less than twelve
or thirteen. There was only one or two who were in their late teens and
none in the middle. Of the the thirty-five or so mature women, nearly
all were pregnant with the except for a half-dozen who were nursing.
There was only a dozen and a half mature men and half a dozen elders,
all of whom seemed at least a little bit touched in that special way by
the Gods. Honest John, for his part, had explored the village and had
encountered some children engaging in acts of cruelty to a goat; when he
called against him they threw stones, but he caught one with such
excellence from the air that they turned and fled.

Praxilites and Strides were followed by a older boy who introduced
himself as Varloz Gilthelm, the Headman's son. He seemed most fascinated
by Praxilites military prowess and in particular seemed to have an
unhealthy appetite for the more gruesome details of the profession.
Nevertheless Praxilites and Strides performed some military training for
a phalanx of the youngsters which they took up with some relish. As the
children played soldiers, Mathee overheard various conversations, and
came to the most unusual conclusion that all the children seemed to
named 'Visla' and Phoebe attempted to befriend a village woman named
Ulna; she seemed extremely reserved even on matters of family life.

Sighting the village shaman, the Red Mouse followed her up the Red Toad
Cliff to her lean-to. Offering food from the feast, the Mouse noted that
the shaman at first seemed very nervous. Slowly, as a fellow animist, he
gained her trust and she introduced herself as Penliss, a young shaman
experienced beyond her years. She had seen chaos, a Broo had eaten her
mother in front of her when she was young. She explained that there was
a poison in the village, that the children were monsters, and that
Fethal and his Mistress had taken her magic items and Power. The Mouse
pondered on this "Mistress" for he had not seen such a woman as Penliss
described.

That night the River Voices except Phoebe stayed Fethal's home, staying
in his main room whilst he and his wife slept in their room. Suspicious,
the party kept watch and with good reason; during the night they first
heard what sounded like three voices in Fethal's room. In extenuating
circumstances, they breached privacy and peered into that room where
they saw Fethal, thin and drawn, talking to a naked woman perched on the
end of his bed as she reached above into the rafters; and quiet sobbing
came from Fethal's wife. Phoebe on the other hand, slept in the Ernalda
temple where she became acquianted with Grey Azdala, a seemingly senile
elderly woman, but nevertheless also with Rune magic.

The following morning, Praxilites travelled with Fethel to investigate
the town records whilst the others searched through the headman's house.
There they discovered the Shaman's magic items, a strange rune of
illusion, life and death, chaos and illusion, and words etched into the
walls and implements of torture. Later Praxilites amazed the Voices by
recognising the rune representing the powers of a Succubus. Despite his
search of the records not discovering anything new, Phoebe's
investigation of the Ernalda Temple records revealed many sudden deaths
of Priestesses in the area, and many bad omens, including the birth
Visla. Grey explained that she went missing but couldn't quite remember
exactly when.

The Voices and their allies decided that day to travel to the west after
Red Mouse returned Penlisses magic items, although Phoebe decided to
stay behind with Grey Azdala, for her help was needed. As the rump group
travelled they were set upon most violently with arrow and spear by
children along a pass many leagues from town. They proved however to be
no match for the party who massacred them with little trouble.

Further on their journey they encountered a pond with a large hazia
plantation nearby and a barn. Inside the barn were the grisly remains of
humans, half-eaten. As the party investigated the barn and found several
casks of incriminating evidence they were set upon by more children
firing arrows from the rafters. In response, the Voices set the barn on
fire, destroying all within.

But also within the barn was many bales of the dried hazia weed, and the
hallucinogenic smoke issued forth. Once again it chose Praxilites as its
victim and he fell to the ground and became discorporate. In this state
we has able to see into the spirit world and found by the water's edge
an old willow tree, renowned for its sadness.

When Praxilites recomposed himself the party went to the water's edge
and searched about. There they discovered the skeleton of a young woman
and concluded that this was Visla. They then engineered the destruction
of a dam and allowed the once dry Gone Creek to flow again. They then
headed back to Black Rock Village.

Meanwhile at the Village, Phoebe had been confronted by a number of
children. When they attacked her, she fled into the Ernalda Temple and
locked the doors. The children gathered and started to make a fire to
burn down the doors whilst all the adults fled; most surprisingly, some
of the children were able to cast magic. Things were looking extremely
grim for Phoebe, but eventually she discovered the sacred chalice, and
used it to give Grey some sense of reasoning who then cast Repair magics
on the door. 

The main group returned and an almighty battle ensured between the two
score children and the party. The casulties among the children were
high, but still they pressed on. Finally as the afternoon wore on,
Fethal and the men returned from the fields with a look of horror as
their children lay scattered throughout the village. They accused the
party of being murderers most foul and advanced with ill intent. But
they were prevented by Ulna and some of the women folk, who agreed with
the party that their own children were monsters. Then Penliss returned
and accused Fethal of bringing evil to their village; and a great Red
Cliff Toad croaked from above.

Eventually the story became clear; in his youth Fethal had desired a
poor young woman named Visla, but she spurned his affections. Just prior
to him having to leave to do his military duty, he raped and murdered
the girl, allowing a Succubus to fester and grow. The Succubus
eventually took over the entire village, holding them in place through
sexual bribery and threats.

With the proper burial of Visla, the Succubus simply went away. Fethal
was executed and the rest of the men for their complicity were sold into
slavery. The children, or at least those that were caught, were
destroyed, and the women were taken to the Chalana Arroy Temple for the
casting of Cure Chaos Wound.