Kiyoka, Douaga and beyond

[Drannin]

Harker nodded. "Something to take up with the boss man. Before you start ringing any wedding bells," he pointed out. "Anything else bothering you, Rosie?"

[Graybeard]

"Bothering me?" Sister Rose answered, somewhat absently. "No, not really. Don't worry about the 'totally secular' part." She smiled. "I'm certainly not going to try to convert him."

Which actually got to the root of something that was bothering her, but it had nothing to do with Argus. That topic ... well, it was going to require some quiet thought.

Back to the present. "You said you had some things you wanted to talk to me about. Your turn."

[Drannin]

Harker shrugged. "Actually, that conversation covered most of 'em. Location, family, faith... that sorta stuff. Also, fair warning: Fayna's gonna be antsy about this thing. She envisions her daddy coming home with her, and she ain't gonna be happy when that doesn't happen. Nothing to be done, you just gotta tough it out. She'll come around."

Harker was silent for a moment, thinking. "He's come a long way, hasn't he? The boss, I mean."

[Graybeard]

"He's come a long way, hasn't he? The boss, I mean."

"He has," Sister Rose agreed softly. Then she smiled. "But so, coming from a very different starting point, have I."

They headed back into town, and somehow the sight of a nun of the Veracian Church walking hand in hand with a three-foot-tall bipedal beaver didn't seem incongruous at all.

----------------

"There's one other thing," Brother Miguel said as the session with Tim was breaking up.

Father Red gave him a raised eyebrow, as though silently saying, are you sure you want to get into this? But Miguel forged ahead. "You asked about religions. As I said, there are a lot of different religions down there, mostly animist in general outlook. In Douaga, there is a general, unspoken live-and-let-live policy about religions not getting in each other's hair. But out in the country ... in the first village you come to, it may be the religious practice for the chief to offer you his daughter for the night, and not take no for an answer. In the second, they'll stick you in a big pot and cook you for a ritual dinner.

"And in the third village, they'll do both."

[Drusia]

"Good morning, The Dwarves Love You," the oddly-dressed priest intoned as the group stepped through the door. "How may I be of assistance?"

I blink and look at Argus in confusion. "I don't think --," I start to say.

Therese asks the man about clothing. He shows her some armor and calls it a sacred relic.

"-- this is a store," I finish.

In fact, it has the air of a temple about it. A very strange temple, but none the less.

-- Desiree

OOC: Sorry; took my kid to visit his grandma and grampa (on my side) this weekend - couldn't really get caught up til today. And I'm not done grading yet either.

[Alberich]

"There's one other thing," Brother Miguel said as the session with Tim was breaking up. "...But out in the country ... in the first village you come to, it may be the religious practice for the chief to offer you his daughter for the night, and not take no for an answer. In the second, they'll stick you in a big pot and cook you for a ritual dinner. And in the third village, they'll do both."

Tim was a little taken aback by the off-handed way this last information had been added...

[OOC: "See? That's a detail. We need those."]

...and asked whether there was any way around these, ah, customs. Besides just not going into the country in the first place, or being ready to beat hell out of the villagers. He elected not to tell them he had encountered a similar custom in Goriel or how he'd gotten around it with his celibacy if not his dignity intact.

[Graybeard]

Brother Miguel fixed Tim with a direct stare. "No, there isn't any way to get around those customs, as you put it," he said. "Even the people who live in those villages out in the boonies don't always know what's lurking in the next one. Luminosita's Nethers, I almost died there when I was a kid, by wandering into a village that looked friendly but turned homicidal." If Father Redmond objected to the oath, he didn't show it.

"The church pulled back the missions in the known dangerous places," Miguel continued. "We'll try to find more out about the one where Brother Dalton was when he got kidnapped. I know it was supposed to be one of the 'safe' ones -- for all the good that did him."

-----------

Therese had to admit, that wasn't exactly the kind of clothing she had in mind when she wandered into this place.

"Uh, is there anything more -- feminine to wear? Possibly to go dancing in, say?" she asked, and the priest's eyes lit up under oddly-shaven eyebrows. "Ah! You'll be positively amazed at this!" he answered.

The items in the next display case didn't really look like clothing at all, or so Therese thought. Protective gear for entering a hazardous area, as she knew the Northern Confederacy used for manufacturing the ammunition for their firearms, maybe, but nothing to go dancing in ... However, if going along with this strange man would allow them to beat a hasty, relatively polite retreat, then so be it. She went over to where he was pointing proudly at the contents of the case ... but not without a quick pass by Argus.

"Get us out of here," she whispered.

[Drannin]

Well, time to beat a hasty retreat. "Oh, look! Girls, there's someone I recognize over there! Let me introduce you!" A blatant lie, but sometimes simpler was best. Argus moved to lead the ladies out of the temple.

[Graybeard]

After dropping Harker off at the inn to resume lurking and sketching, Sister Rose finally caught up with the others as they emerged sheepishly from the Temple of the Divine Dwarf. Incredulity crossed her face as she reached Argus. "What in Luminosita's Name were you all doing in there?"

"It was, uh, a mistake," Therese said, still shaking her head at what she'd seen and heard.

Rose smirked. "I bet it was. Did Argus tell you about the remodeling job he did for that place?..."

---------------

Father Redmond checked his pocket watch, a non-magical one; he hadn't had time yet to go native in Kiyoka. "I'd better go get ready for the afternoon service," he said. "The Church insists that our rites all be according to Orthodox liturgy, which is enough different from ours that it's not automatic for me yet." He turned to Tim. "Want to help?"

Brother Miguel cleared his throat. "Feel free if you want to," he told Tim. "I assume there'll be another briefing session tomorrow once we know more. For right now, just let me leave you with one thing, back on your question about the 'customs' of the villages beyond Douaga. If you do need to go out to those villages for any reason, go only with a guide from Douaga. The main mission there should be able to set one up, and it's extremely important that you use him or her -- probably him. Do not under any circumstances venture into unknown villages by yourselves." His shudder was one hundred percent genuine.

[Alberich]

Tim genuflected, thanked brother Miguel for the information, and joined Father Redmond for the service. After that was through, he'd probably head back to their inn to rest. It was right and proper for there to be another briefing before they left this place; everything he was being told was something the entire group needed to hear.

This was doubly true if they were going to bring Desiree and Anfisa -- an idea he was quite opposed to. Desiree in particular had a penchant for wandering off into dangers she couldn't handle and crossing boundaries that oughtn't to be crossed. But enough fear might keep her in line.