Lorenzel and Ramanzel

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Drannin
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

Post by Drannin »

Argus jumped. Dammit, man, don't get maudlin all of a sudden! Seeing Miguel's reunion with his savior, and the realization that he had a message from his daughter had made Argus a tad bit wistful. Evidently, his expression had had been more than 'wistful' by several shades. Actually, he had to admit, his true feelings put mere wistfulness to shame.

"Ah...sorry. I'm fine. Just a lot on my mind right now." One daughter far way geographically, and the other might as well be just as far emotionally. "Please, don't mind me." Argus considered that a drink would be lovely right about know. He took a drink of grape juice instead.
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

Post by Graybeard »

"As you wish," Sister Rose answered, doubt evident in her voice; she'd traveled with Argus long enough now to be able to read him like a book, Empathy spell or no Empathy spell. Clearly something was bothering him beyond this reminder of his daughter Fayna ... but what? Well, it's not like I don't have my own secret pains, she thought, possibly unaware that she herself was not a very difficult person to read. In any case, she said no more, and concentrated on her soup.

Meanwhile, Brother Miguel was getting an unexpected reaction from Ranulph as he continued reminiscing about the encounter on the Southern Continent. "I remember, there were three other men with you," he said. "There was a tall man who did most of the preaching. He --"

"Father Blaise," Ranulph interrupted, something in his voice that Miguel couldn't place, but didn't like. "I would thank you not to remind me of him. Following our time in the south, he returned to Emerylon and -- took a different path." The man's body language made it clear that he didn't think highly of that "path," whatever it was.

Now what was that about? Miguel wondered to himself. He made a mental note to himself regarding this Father Blaise, and went on. "There were also two younger men, or at least I thought they were younger. I was only eleven years old myself, so they still looked plenty old to me."

Ranulph's expression changed, to one of more easily recognizable sadness. "Brother Rendel and Brother Carter," he confirmed. "Alas, they are no longer with us. Not long after we met you and delivered you to the mission, Rendel contracted a disease that our healing magic could not counter, and he died before we could get him home. It was very sad; he was wise in the ways of Luminosita and the church, and he should have had a great career in Luminosita's service in front of him."

Dare I ask about Carter? Miguel wondered, but Ranulph forged ahead. "As for Carter, his death remains controversial to this day." His nearsighted eyes wandered off to the distance as he remembered it. "I wasn't there when it happened. I'd come down with the same disease as claimed Rendel, and was near death myself, although Luminosita be praised, my body was able to fight off the evil. From what I understand, he and Blaise had gone out from the mission to continue their ministry. In hindsight, that was a bad mistake; we should never have traveled in a group smaller than four. Our zeal got the better of us ... Anyway, when the two of them returned to the mission, Carter was clearly out of his mind. He was raving about a 'death god' that he and Blaise had encountered in the jungle ... and then he just stopped. Dropped dead in his tracks. There was not a sign of illness, no known poisons in his system. You were right: he was young, and also fit, in fact he was on leave from the military at the time. He simply should not have died like that ... but he did."
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Porcelain Fish
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

Post by Porcelain Fish »

Maduin barely held in a grimace, sipping from his glass of water. Young, fit, and a soldier. Carter had probably been fairly handsome too. What a waste. This talk about a "death god" and dying and diseases gave him an unpleasant feeling. It was not the most pleasant conversation to be having at a dinner table.

"So did you continue to travel after that?" Maduin inquired with a pleasant smile, intent on engaging Ranulph in less dire discussion.
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

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Odd turn of phrase, but what did you expect from a Tsuirakuan? Sister Rose thought. They weren't thought to be very religious in general (although she wondered about the "Weave" expletive that Argus occasionally delivered himself of), and this man might not grasp the concept of a mission. In any event, Ranulph gave him a straight, and patient, answer. "Actually, we never traveled more than thirty miles or so from our mission. The country just didn't have the roads and such to support it. However, with all that death going around, we decided to close down even the mission itself, and pull back to the capital city of Douaga and preach Luminosita's Word there. So I guess you'd say that no, we didn't travel any more, at least not after I got healthy enough to go back to the embassy."

The main course, a rather pedestrian but adequate poultry dish, arrived at this point, and the conversation flagged briefly while the diners applied themselves to the bird (or, in Lillith's case, to the vegetables surrounding it). This gave Rose enough time to frame a question, after pondering whether she was setting herself up for trouble with it. "Were there ever any efforts to make additional studies of this 'death god' that Brother Carter was hallucinating about?"

She wasn't completely expecting Ranulph's answer, which was prefaced by a barking, humorless laugh. "I'd say there were ... but the only survivor from the mission who knows about them is Blaise, and he's up in Emerylon and not talking."

-----------

Actually, Ranulph was wrong, but only by half; Father Blaise indeed hadn't talked about the death god to anyone for the last ten years ... but when a certain visitor dropped in on the country estate that he'd somehow acquired, his tongue became mysteriously, inexplicably loosened.
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

Post by Porcelain Fish »

Maduin ate delicately, mindful of his cravat and vest. He was, in spite of himself, becoming mildly interested in this whole death god business. After all, the whole thing would have taken place who knew how many decades ago and off on the distant southern continent, and, he supposed, it really was rather silly to be frightened of a weird bit of storytelling since there was obviously no danger now. For their part Sister Rose and Brother Miguel both seemed to find the subject positively intriguing. Maduin found himself wondering if they'd encountered many such religions.

Perhaps it became something of a hobby for the Veracian priesthood, going off to convert the pagans to their religion and coming back with the best ghost stories. It was easier to understand in such a context, although Abbot Ranulph didn't seem to find the recollection particularly enjoyable if his tone was any measure. Perhaps that was part of the story-telling, a clever show put on for additional theatrics. Maduin had heard of such past-times among less advanced cultures.

"Does the Veracian priesthood encounter a great many death gods?" he inquired. "I'd think that they'd be less popular than other varieties, you know, being related to death and all."
Last edited by Porcelain Fish on July 31st, 2009, 12:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

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"Does the Veracian priesthood encounter a great many death gods? I'd think that they'd be less popular than other varieties, you know, being related to death and all."

Don't rub it in, Sister Rose thought sourly, then decided the question deserved a straight answer. "To my knowledge, we've never encountered an actual 'death god,' although some of the scholars who study the elven religion think there's a suppressed death god in their pantheon." She paused for just a moment to see if the maybe-Paedagogusi was going to react to this statement; when there was no reaction, she continued, "However, there are certainly death cults out there. There is one notorious renegade offshoot of the Veracian Church itself, called the Malletarians, who definitely are based on death worship. Needless to say, they're considered blasphemous and heretical; Luminosita, after all, exists to bestow life, not death. As for other cults, Miguel, you've studied them more thoroughly than I have; want to take over?"

Brother Miguel shrugged. "You can find all sorts of strange cults up north. I know of one that thought that their god had been reincarnated as a giant potato. Yeah, some of them worship death, but we don't pay much attention to them. As for what the 'Veracian priesthood' runs into, you have to remember that the large majority of priests and nuns in the Church of Luminosita never venture more than a hundred miles away from whatever city or town they're ordained in. Rose and I, we're kind of ... outliers. Now if you don't mind: why do you ask?"
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

Post by Porcelain Fish »

"Well it seems like a very sensational subject. Very exciting, although of course I have no personal desire to encounter one of these cultists you speak of. At least, not without a number of guards and perhaps some thick, magically reinforced steel bars between me and them." Maduin smiled.

"But if its true that encountering such religions is an exception rather than the rule, well that's very reassuring. You and Sister Rose and the good abbot here must be quite brave to have dealt with such . . . interesting people in person. I can't imagine what sort of courage and steadfastness those sorts of situations must have required for you to have handled them successfully. I'm sure you have many fascinating stories to relate."
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

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A groupie? Brother Miguel thought at Maduin's enthusiasm, but Sister Rose's reaction was less whimsical. This guy is asking an awful lot of probing questions for someone who's just supposed to be Kitaura's Argus-sitter. Might he be ... something more? "There's not really much to tell," she said, not altogether truthfully. "Miguel and I serve at the Veracian mission in Kiyoka, not on the Southern Continent. We're just in town on an errand of the mission. Surely you don't consider Kiyoka terribly foreign and exotic, do you?"

Maduin didn't get a chance to respond before Ranulph snapped his fingers. "Kiyoka. That reminds me. One of the senior brothers of our temple here has been offered the possibility of becoming the assistant Abbot there, replacing your man Father Egbert, whose sad death is the occasion for your visit. Would you be willing to meet with him tomorrow and give him your impressions of the mission?"

Rose and Miguel looked at each other, glad for the change of subject; Ranulph seemed to have a diplomat's ear for when a conversation was getting uncomfortable. It only took a moment, however, for that nagging puzzle to raise its head again. The man obviously had some skills and some accomplishments in his past, so what was he doing out in the boonies? Well, they'd come back to that, but he'd asked for their help ... "We'd be glad to," Rose said. "It might have to wait a day, though. We've made arrangements for a trip out to Ramanzel tomorrow, to finish off our errand and meet with some of the late Father Egbert's family." She paused to gauge Ranulph's reaction to the mention of Ramanzel; the place seemed to have something of a reputation.

If he had one, he concealed it smoothly, again evoking that same bit of puzzlement in Rose and Miguel, but they let it pass as he replied. "Very well. I think we can stall a day before giving Patriarch Jeramel the decision. Now, if I may call your attention to the blackberry tarts that are arriving from the kitchen..."
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

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"Ah, yes, the spirit world..." Van said wistfully, smiling as he leaned back. A stringed instrument, not dissimilar to a lute, appeared from off to the side - whether it had always been there or was just now summoned, Cit was not entirely sure. Van strummed, looking off into the distance. "...there's a fair bit of me in the spirit world, even now."
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Re: Lorenzel and Ramanzel

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The dinner party was breaking up, and Sister Rose gave Maduin the address of the inn where everyone was staying; he'd want to rendezvous with them in the morning, and to bring the message from Fayna, presumably. "Seems like a nice enough fellow," Brother Miguel told her as they left. "His outfit was a little off-putting at first, but he was still agreeable company."

"I suppose," Rose said, doubt in her voice. "I can't help but think there are going to be some strains in the relationship, just because of who he is and what he's supposed to be doing. But let's not borrow trouble."

They walked in silence for a while, past the now-quiet copse where Lillith had encountered her "followers" earlier. That reminded Rose of something. "Lillith, Sasha, Argus, you were all pretty quiet at that dinner. Is everything okay?"

[OOC: Once everyone has said whatever they want to say, are we good with a fast-forward to morning, and preparations for the road to Ramanzel?]
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