Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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Graybeard
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Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: OK, new thread, starting on the other side of the door that was just opening in the old one.]

"This, ah, isn't exactly what I was expecting," Sister Rose commented mildly as she inspected the sanctuary of the Temple of Our Lord Luminosita in Douaga. Although maybe I should have been, now that I think about it.

The sanctuary was surprisingly small, really not much more than a chapel, much less than half the size of the main hall at the mission in Kiyoka. The ceiling, she was pleased to see, was composed largely of skylights that admitted the light of day to the room. That felt good after the mildly claustrophobic interior of the tree-tower and its luminescent fungi that served as light sources. The walls, however, appeared to be on the same model as the tower, made of actual living wood with large swatches of green -- all except the one at the far end of the sanctuary, which appeared to be stone covered with ivy. Apart from a small altar near the door they'd come through, there were curiously few decorations that had a Luminositan theme.

Father Morton noticed her giving the place the once-over and cleared his throat. "A modest start," he said, "but the mission has not been here all that long, and building a decent stone temple is difficult in this place." He looked around to make sure that Minister Musoke was still preoccupied with Desiree, as indeed he was, and lowered his voice a notch. "The minister tells us that this used to be a temple of some other, heathen false god, the worship of which was abandoned long ago, thank Luminosita. We were able to get the rights to use the place almost for free, and we cast occasional Purification spells to purge it of its previous, unholy essence."

And of its dank, vegetable smell, and critters like that snake that might inhabit the walls, Rose guessed, correctly. It'll be interesting to see how Desiree reacts to that. "Do you know anything about that earlier -- false -- religion?" she asked.

"Nothing at all," the priest answered as he moved into the room. "There was an altar up against that far stone wall. Of course, we dismantled it and cleansed it of the heathen presence."

And of any information that might have let us know what we were getting into, Rose thought. "Mind if I take a look? We need to get more familiar with the -- heathen practices here if we're to find Brother Dalton." Morton looked unhappy, but gestured for her to proceed.

The floor space where the altar had been was indeed stripped of anything from its earlier days, and uninteresting ... but it took only a minute or two for Rose to find something on the wall itself that made her gasp in surprise.

What lay under the covering of ivy wasn't just bare stone. It had obviously been worked and carved into a statue of sorts ... a statue that looked exactly like the upper half of the ones they'd seen at Stone Man Pass, and of the little figurines that had been found in the wake of the late Father Blaise.

"Good lord," she gasped again. "Argus, you'd better come look at this."
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Drannin
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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Argus walked over. "What is... oh." He took a long look at the carvings, considering. "Too much of a coincidence," he said with a sigh. "And we know nothing of what was worshipped here." He sighed. Investigation time.

*****************************************

Elsewhere, Harker was taking deep breathys, trying to get the courage to approach Fayna. It was not easy. That woman was not going to be happy in the slightest...

Oh well, no time like the present.
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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"We're on a second floor here," Sister Rose guessed, speaking to Father Morton and seeing from his face that her surmise was correct. "Can we get into the ground floor? I think it's important to see the rest of this statue."

The priest looked chagrined. "We -- do not have access to what is there. As I said, this space is not our own. We can only use what Douaga offers us. They said the first floor is a ruin, a wreck, and has been sealed off for decades. Besides, what possible interest could we have in an old, broken-down statue of a false god?"

Rose gave the man a long, searching look, wishing she could unobtrusively put up the Empathy spell. However, her gut feeling was that his discomfort was genuine and that he wasn't consciously concealing anything. I wish my detection magic was better. Seems like it would be useful here. She made conciliatory noises to the priest, but at the same time, flashed a mental message to Argus. <"Maybe I'm being excessively nosy, but I have a feeling about that space. Wonder if Harker could get in there undetected?">

-----------

Speaking of whom, having eluded the snake, Harker now found himself in front of a door that proclaimed itself the entrance to "Cleiviein Enterprises, Field Office."
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Alberich »

Anfisa concealed her amusement at these priests who feared to see the statue's naughty bits. "Well," she said in an innocent tone, "if it's all ruined and unused and there's nobody in there, surely they won't mind if we break in and have a peek?"
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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"if it's all ruined and unused and there's nobody in there, surely they won't mind if we break in and have a peek?"

Minister Musoke realized two things. First, he had rivals (or so he already thought of them) for his attention to the ravishing priestess; this girl could scarcely be pried away from her, and the tall, quiet redhead who had been staying in the rear of the party had been eyeing the three of them cautiously -- it would be easy to say "suspiciously" -- ever since they arrived. Infatuated he may have been, but he retained enough sense and sensitivity to be aware of that. There might be ... possibilities later. But first things first, and he had to make sure he didn't make any tensions worse.

Second -- how to put it -- these people seemed generally rather clueless about living in a place where the ecology not only consisted of living things, but was itself alive in a fundamental way. "That might not be a good idea, miss," he said gently to Anfisa. "The earth reclaims Her own in such a place most rapidly. If She wants a place like that to be off limits, well, it is well for the rest of us to make it so. The Mother's defenses are powerful. Yes, some magical investigations are possible. We are contracting with representatives of Dr. Cleiviein's country to come up with magical sensors that will help us understand what areas we can develop, and what are reserved to the Mother, without offending Her. Sir, you might even have heard of those contractors, as they share your name, although I understand it is common in your country."

<"Well, that explains that,"> Sister Rose and Argus thought at each other. Cleiviein wasn't that common a name in Tsuiraku ... and in fact they knew only one other person who had it.
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Drannin »

Elsewhere...

A knock on a door. A gruff response; permission to enter was granted.

A door opened. A small figure entered, and was spied by the inhabitants.

Profanity ensued.

Harker felt sorry for Argus already.
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Drusia »

"That might not be a good idea, miss," he said gently to Anfisa. "The earth reclaims Her own in such a place most rapidly. If She wants a place like that to be off limits, well, it is well for the rest of us to make it so. The Mother's defenses are powerful."

Huh.

"Too bad Lillith isn't here," I sigh. "If anyone could get friendly with Mother Earth, it was Lillith. I could handle something small scale like that snake, probably, but... this sounds a lot bigger."

In any case, I'm glad the guy is talking like a normal person again instead of... of whatever he was acting like. I'm not even sure how to describe it. It was a sort of weird combination between religious fervor and intense crush. Even that isn't really doing it justice, but I'm just not sure how else to say it.

-- Desiree
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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Sister Rose decided not to press the point with the downstairs continuation of the statue. It was obviously a sensitive subject with the Douagans, and it didn't appear to have anything to do with their main reason for being here anyway. (Or so she thought, incorrectly.)

At least the interpersonal dynamics seemed to be resolving themselves, she noted with relief. Another person with the hots for Desiree could only cause problems; Therese had become disturbingly quiet and distant when Minister Musoke had all but offered himself to the half elf as a human sacrifice. Getting him back in role as the liaison for the mission had interrupted that, if not necessarily dispelled it. She'd have to keep an eye on that, but for now, it was back to business.

"What do you wish to know about my city?" Musoke asked as soon as they were settled into seats in the sanctuary.

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

OOC: Whatever happens at Cleiviein Enterprises ... happens. Let your imagination run wild, D; that one is up to you.
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

Post by Alberich »

"The earth reclaims Her own in such a place most rapidly. If She wants a place like that to be off limits, well, it is well for the rest of us to make it so...What do you wish to know about my city?"

"Well, you say the Earth tells you what places are and aren't off limits around here." She found the idea amusing, a sentient earth looking up girls' skirts all the time but always beneath their feet. No doubt the effete priests of Veracia could sympathize! "Do you think the Earth could tell us where that priest got off to?"
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Re: Douaga: the search for Brother Dalton

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Minister Musoke looked at Anfisa blankly. "Mother Earth speaks to us only through life and death," he said. "She does not speak in the language of men."

Sister Rose wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. If the earth had "told" the Douagans that whatever the downstairs held should be left alone, the logical conclusion was that someone had died trying to get into it.

Just like other people died around those figurines, she thought.
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