The next morning the crew discussed their plans over breakfast. They were all looking much better than the night before, Sola’s color had returned and Aka’s leg no longer needed the wrap. Where they had been skewered by an ice shard was now no more than an imperceptible patch in their fur, a testament to Willow’s healing along with the rods support. The cleric herself was looking much better, though most of her bruising had been on her stomach and wasn’t visible in the first place.
They needed to go back into town to get the potions Chiru was gathering for them, but Keizeron didn’t want to stay to long before they set out for the day. They were still a full days travel from the capital, and then another two days on top of that to Chilside. It wasn’t that they were under any strict time constraints, but rather Keiz felt like they had been staying in the same place for too long already.
After breakfast he took Willow and Zero with him to pick up the potions, while Sola, Aka, and Mea got the ship ready to sail. He noticed Mea was following her crew mates with a barely concealed grin, like she was in on some sort of a secret, but decided if it was an issue Sola would talk to him about it.
Unlike the day before the town was bustling with activity as they made their way into the city center. People were out checking on one another, repairing damages to their homes and shops, and cleaning up the last of the debris. A few of the villagers waved to them, and some even greeted Zero by name since he had spent time with them the day before. The automaton greeted each of them in return, though he had forgotten any of their names. At least none of them seemed to mind.
Before the trio got too far into the city they came across Chiru and Rudanite gathering the pieces of the glacedea that Zero ripped apart while defending Sola. “Good morning!” Chiru called happily, waving a piece of discarded mandible at them. “We were wondering when you were going to come back, I’m glad I caught you!”
With a grunt of effort she tossed the insect part into a wheelbarrow next to her assistant. The avian man dropped another segment of the creature into the container, and dusted his hands off on his jacket. “I think this is enough for now Doctor,” He said, noting the wheelbarrow was almost full. “Let’s head back to the clinic.”
“What do you do with the bodies?” Willow asked as he picked up the handles of the cart.
“We use them to make the antidotes. Their blood contains a natural anti freeze, which means the ones not killed by fire are even more valuable. Though we can still used the charred parts for other things!” Chiru responded happily, picking up a stray leg to carry with her.
“I wonder if Aka could use any of their parts?” Zero asked, tilting his head and looking at a few discarded remains that Chiru and Rudanite had left behind.
Keizeron walked ahead, chatting amicably with the doctor while Willow fell in step with Zero. “Probably not, I think they mostly use mechanical parts, not natural ones.” Then she grimaced. “Also, I think the captain was a little annoyed with them for making that bomb on the ship without telling anyone, we probably shouldn’t bring them any random materials.”
“They made a what?” Zero repeated. “When?”
“We, we told you about this last night? We mentioned several times that was how we scared off the warden?” Willow frowned. They were never sure when Zero was joking around or when he genuinely forgot things.
“I am not mad, I am disappointed,” Keizeron added, looking back at Willow. “I’m not going to stop them from bringing their alchemy supplies on board, I just need them to warn me when they bring explosive chemicals on board.”
“That’s not exactly comforting,” Willow shuddered as they arrived at the clinic. It was a small building, made from the same white lumber as most of the buildings in town. Willow noted it had heat runes on it, though they were different from the ones on the city hall. Probably less potent, as they were on a more flammable material.
Chiru let them inside as Rudenite and Zero carried in the glacedea parts for her. Despite the fact that the doctor had been out, several villagers were already in the quaint waiting room. From what Willow could tell it was only a few minor injuries, things that hadn’t been deemed important enough the day before when healing magic was running low.
“Good morning Jade,” Chiru waved to an elderly dwarvish woman with her arm in a temporary sling. “I’ll be right back with everyone once I wrap up with these nice folks,” she informed the gathered villagers.
There was a murmur of worry between the few villagers, and Willow felt a pang of sorrow. Facing off with the warden and then having to heal Aka, Willow had used all her magic before they even made it back to the shelter. She felt horrible the day before, being surrounded with the wounded and suffering and being unable to do anything about it.
“I can help,” Willow offered, rolling up the sleeves of her dress. If they were going to be traveling the rest of the day, it seemed unlikely that she would need to save her mana for anything else.
Chiru looked up at her with a thankful smile. “I’d appreciate that.”
While Keizeron and Zero went to the back room, Willow made her way around the room doling out minor healing spells. She made short work of sprains, bruises, and the small lacerations the villagers didn’t have time to tend to yet. It was tiring to use so many spells so early, but she thought her mother would be proud of her. They hadn’t had many chances yet since they started on their adventure, but Willow wanted to help people. It made it feel like she was accomplishing something, since she hadn’t been able to spend a lot of time looking for her sister yet.
The villagers thanked her, offering her the money they would have paid Chiru for her services. Willow felt awkward taking it, since it wasn’t the reason she was helping out, but she ended up taking about half of what they tried to give her. It made her feel less bad about using most of her magic so early in the day, and she knew in her heart Aka would be annoyed if they found out she was working for free.
After she had gone through the worst of the injuries she made her way to the elderly woman who showed her a small cut on her left arm. It wasn’t very deep, and it was decently dressed, but it was clearly still bothering her if she had come to the clinic to have it looked at. Willow sat down next to her, tracing her minor healing spell into the air. But as she started to cast the spell the woman gasped loudly, and pointed a finger at Willow’s chest. Willow flinched, breaking the concentration on the spell.
“Why, stars above and land below! You’re a cleric of Vothos!” She yelled with excitement, no longer looking as tired as she had moments ago.
“I- yes?” Willow asked in confusion. It was unusual to be sure, most clerics fell under domains that were more specifically dealt with health and healing. A lot of them worshipped Aria and used light based magic, but most followed the teachings of Sirana, the goddess of healing.
“How marvelous! I haven’t seen that old harvest god take a cleric in almost twenty years! You must come with me!” She got to her feet, the cut on her arm completely forgotten in her enthusiasm.
“Oh, I shouldn’t leave I have to wait for my crew,” Willow replied awkwardly, pointing at the back door Zero and Keizeron had disappeared through. At least this woman was the last of the villagers and no one else was waiting for her to heal them. Willow tried to heal her first, but she insisted on waiting until there were no other broken bones or bruises to look at.
“Nonsense, you must come meet my Malachite, oh this is so exciting,” The old woman ignored Willow’s protests and grabbed the younger woman’s hand. “You can call me grandma Jade, everyone else here does.”
“But, my crew?” Willow glanced back at the door as she was pulled out of the clinic.
“Don’t fret about that, it’s a small town Chiru will know where to find us, no problem! But if you insist we can leave a note.” Grandma Jade waved her hand dismissively. She produced a scrap of paper from her pocket. Wrote her name and placed it on an empty table in the middle of the room. “What’s your name sweetie?”
“Uh,” Willow hesitated a moment. Keizeron had warned the crew to be careful, but it wasn’t as if they hadn’t told several people their names the night before. She also couldn’t imagine this little old woman betraying them to the coalition.
((“Should I roll insight?” Lucky asked the rest of the crew.
“That can’t be how this whole game goes,” Caine sighed as Lucky rolled and then looked at her character sheet.
“You started this by giving us the world’s most paranoid captain,” Zenith pointed out.
“Is it really paranoia if they’re really out to get him? That’s a seventeen,” Lucky looked at Caine expectantly.
“Oh yeah, you’re good. This lady is just super jazzed you’re a cleric of Vothos and wants to show you something connected to that.”))
“My name is Willow Zybella,” Willow said after a bit of a pause.
Jade nodded her head, a few strands of her auburn bun coming loose at the motion. “What a pretty name for such a pretty girl! Come along now.”
“Where are we going?” Willow asked. Now that it was apparent she was going to follow the old woman, Jade had let go of her hand. They walked at a brisk pace through the city, Jade calling greetings to the other villagers they passed. Most returned the call to Jade, but looked hesitant when they saw Willow. She knew what it was like to see a stranger in a small town, she had given similar looks to people who visited her ranch in Slaowin.
“My cottage! We didn’t get much damage from the raid thank Aria. Oh isn’t this just so exciting! My husband was a follower of Vothos! He still is I suppose, but we haven’t done much growin since we moved to Flolon. Even during the summer months it’s so cold! But we managed to grow something I think Vothos would be proud of, givin the circumstances.” The old woman rambled as they walked through the streets of Saburn.
The direction Jade was leading them was the opposite direction they had gone yesterday, so Willow quickly became lost as nothing looked familiar. The buildings around them grew more sparse until they came upon a quaint looking cottage at the end of a small street. Willow couldn’t help but gasp as it came into view. The home itself was very well made, crafted from the same white oak as the rest of the village to make it hearty against the cold. There was a small garden out front, and while most of the plants were dormant for the winter she could still a few green stalks and colorful flowers peeking through the snow. Though she couldn’t name every bloom, she knew that not all of them were cold resistant making the feat even more impressive.
As lovely as it was, it was clear even from the street what Jade wanted to show her. The cottage had a hole in the roof, clearly intentional as a tree was growing through it. As she stared Willow quickly realized it wasn’t a tree at all, but an alarmingly tall Yashwood bush that was thriving in the harsh winter. The same type of bush that was on her holy symbol, effectively turning the whole cottage into an impromptu temple.
Jade gave a knowing smile as she saw the recognition spread over Willow’s face, and without another word she followed the stepping stone path up to the front door. Willow took a moment to compose herself and followed.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
((“Hard cut to Keizeron and Zero coming out of Chiru’s office and finding the whole waiting room empty and their cleric gone.” Blair laughed. ))
“We were gone for half an hour,” Keizeron sighed, looking around the room. “Where did she go?”
Chiru noticed the note first and picked up. “Oh for Aria’s sake, I know where she’s gone off to.”
Willow carefully trod over the stepping stones, as she approached the cottage she felt a sense of peace she hadn’t felt since she left home. The temple of Vothos in her hometown wasn’t very large, but it had always brought her a sense of safety when she went there. Vothos himself was not a very active god like some of them were, but Willow could feel his presence when she tended her personal garden or cast healing spells in his name.
She could still remember the day she first became an official cleric. Willow and her mother Amira, had talked about it for months. She had learned a few spells here and there, even before Wisteria left to join the ship crew. After she went missing, Willow realized she would need to make herself useful if she was going to find employment on a ship. She was terrified, but convinced herself it wouldn’t be so hard if she was helping people along the way, even if it was just whatever crew she ended up joining. While her mother fell under the light domain, it never set right with Willow, and together they went to the temple of Vothos to pray.
Nothing happened while they were there, but that night Willow had a dream. She was walking across one of the fields on their ranch, when she noticed yashwood leaves sprouting from her hair and clothes. As she walked, plants sprung forth from her feet, and she saw a path open up before her, leading her far from home. The way ahead was cloudy, but Willow felt a warmth spurring her on. So she walked, and she hasn’t looked back since.
Jade opened the door for her, leading Willow inside. The home had earthy décor, with many muted tones of brown and green covering the small entryway. Despite the fact that there was a hole in the roof the home was warm and comfortable, and smelled of herbs and freshly baked bread. Willow almost wanted to cry, it was the first time she felt like she was home since she moved onto the Fortune's Favor.
“Mallory! You old duck, come out I’ve brought you a surprise!” Jade called as she lead Willow deeper into the home. They reached a sitting room, where the yashwood bush was. It had a small little circle of rocks around it’s base, each with a rune painted onto it. She could see the roots spread out across the floor, hidden under bumpy rugs. She wondered how it wasn’t a tripping hazard for the eldery couple. There were a few mismatched couches and sitting chairs, covered with decorative pillows and draped with hand sewn blankets. A fire place was sunk into the wall on the opposite side of the bush, a low fire going.
“A surprise?” Willow heard a voice from a side room, and worn wooden door opened. “My dear I thought you were going to get that scratch on your arm looked at, what sort of surprise could you have gotten from Doctor Chiru?”
A confused looking older dwarf man stepped into the room. He was wearing a homely outfit with an apron over it, and had long black hair that was peppered with grey. He noticed Willow, ducking slightly to fit in their home and let out a deep laugh.
“My dear, you have to stop kidnapping children! We’re going to get in trouble with sheriff Beck again!”
“She came with me willingly,” Jade crossed her arms.
“To a degree,” Willow muttered, and was promptly ignored by grandma Jade. Also, she was 24, she was hardly a child. Though with the pair being one of the longer lived races, she could understand why they would think she was so young.
“Mallory, she’s a cleric to Vothos!” Grandma Jade gave her husband a light smack on the arm.
The old man put his stocky arms on his hips and laughed again, louder this time. “Well I’ll be! What are we doing chatting around then, I’ll bet she’ll want to inspect the shrine!” He waved his hand to the yashwood bush that she had been dying to get a closer look at since they entered the room.
“That would be nice,” Willow laughed nervously, trying not to sound imposing despite how excited she was.
The old dwarven man finally introduced himself as Malachite, and while he was never a proper cleric he was in a large fellowship of Vothos before they left Slaowin. Jade left the room while he showed her each of the hand carved runes in the rocks around the bush. He explained how he carved them with Vothos in mind, strengthening their bond and allowing him to grow such an improbable plant in an even more improbable environment. Jade returned after a few minutes with some scones she had hastily heated and some fresh green tea.
“Don’t get many terran in these parts,” Malachite observed as he took a seat in one of the large patchwork love seats. He munched on a scone while Willow continued to circle the yashwood plant with great interest. “It’s far too cold.”
“And a bit further on airship than we usually like traveling,” Willow sighed. She didn’t want to complain to these people who have been nothing but kind to her, but it was dawning on her that she would have to leave soon and she would once again lose the only feeling of home she had.
“What’s so important here then dearie?” Jade asked, taking a seat next to her husband and patting his hand. He surreptitiously wiped a few crumbs from the chair while she wasn’t looking.
Willow paused, thinking of the rod and then her sister. “I’m looking for something, but I don’t even know if it’s here.” Jade and Malachite exchanged glances while she spoke. “I feel so lost, like I’m completely out of my element. I want to look for my sister, she means so much to me, but then again the mission my crew is on is so much bigger than either of us. I don’t feel like I can ask them to go out of their way for me. It’s not like they don’t know, or don’t want to help but I don’t think I could ask that of them. I just don’t know if I’m doing the right thing in putting her aside.”
Willow twisted the hem of her dress as she talked, trying to blink the tears out of her eyes. She had spent so long feeling like no one could understand her plight that she just told everything to the first people to be kind to her since she left home. She sniffled, rubbing her eyes as grandma Jade got up and gave her a sympathetic pat on the back. Willow held in her tears, setting a hand on the bush in front of her.
“Being so far from home can be scary, especially when you don’t know how to ask for help. Have you gotten guidance for your troubles?” Malachite came to stand on her other side.
“Well, I give worship when I can, but it’s not like Vothos is a very vocal patron,” Willow sniffled.
“What?!” Malachite exclaimed suddenly, making her jump. She hit her head on the low roof and swore, rubbing her head as the dwarven man continued to rant. “The nerve! To take on a cleric and give her such an important mission, and then to not offer guidance when she needs help?”
“Now now dear, what have we said about chastising the gods?” Jade tutted.
“I said I would stop when they strike me down for it,” Malachite replied waspishly. Willow was too surprised to even react. How could someone have such a cavalier attitude towards a god? His own god even? Malachite turned away from the women and tapped the bark of the yashwood bush intently. “Well? Come on my old friend!”
“Should you really be doing that?” Willow asked after a moment. In response the bush shuddered, the branches all rattling together as if it was trying to get up and escape. Then it settled down, the leaves all turning as if they were trying to look at Willow. Her mouth hung open.
“He’s listening now,” Malachite said proudly, holding his hands up. “What do you want to ask?”
She paused for a moment, looking at the plant that was kind of looking back at her? Then to Malachite and Jade who were waiting expectantly. Finally Jade noticed her hesitation, and with another tut, lead her husband out of the room exclaiming loudly that they needed more scones.
Now in the privacy of someone else’s home, Willow stared at an indoor plant and wondered how her life had come to this moment. It stood impassively before her, it’s branches waving in a nonexistent breeze as it waited. Vothos was listening to her right now? What an overwhelming thought. What would she say? What did she need?
“Can you help me?” Willow asked timidly. “How can I know that I’m doing the right thing? Is it more important for me to look for the senka rod or for my sister?”
She set her palm on the rough bark of the yashwood bush and waited. For a moment the plant stilled, and for a terrible moment Willow thought he was gone. And then, she was struck with a vision.
Willow was on a dirt road, it stretched out far in front of her and was full of twists and turns. She looked behind her, seeing the lights of her hometown fading in the distance. The wind was blowing gently and it was dark out, but she couldn’t tell if it was late at night, or if it was the great storm clouds looming overhead. It was cold, and Willow wanted to move forward to find a shelter from the rain before the storm broke. However the path in front of her was split,but she couldn't make out where they lead to before they were swallowed up in the gloom. She had no idea which of the paths could lead her to the future she wanted.
((“Roll a perception check,” Caine said, pausing the scene they had crafted for Lucky. The groups cleric looked a bit awkward being put on the spot, and laughed to cover their nerves.
“Can’t even have a chill vision from my god, I have to roll and mess it up.” Lucky sighed. The die rolled across the table as the rest of them watched with interest. “Uh. It’s a fifteen.”))
Willow took a step towards the fork in the road, when the clouds parted for just a second. A bright golden light lit her path, and she could see a bit further into the distance for a single crucial moment. What she saw was that further down the road the two branching paths came back together and continued along the same way.
With a start she shook her head, realizing she was back in the living room of the elderly couple that may or may not have kidnapped her. A loud snap pulled her from her thoughts, and one of the largest branches in the middle of the plant quivered. It lowered towards her, it’s curled branched resembling a person’s hand. The stick like fingers unfurled, and a small twig grew from the palm. It was only a few inches long, but several little leaves formed, and a bud sprouted from the end.
Willow stared for a few moments, prompting the hand to jostle, obviously offering the twig to her. Slowly she reached out, grabbing the stick and snapping it off the hand. Instantly a warmth spread through her, a comforting feeling she had never felt before. Willow started crying in earnest now, holding it close to her chest. It felt like home. It felt like she was doing the right thing, and always had been.
“Thank you,” She whispered.
The plant stilled. Though the warmth from the twig faded, Willow knew it would come back if she needed it again.
A loud knock resounded through the tiny cottage, and Willow tried to pull herself together. She heard Malachite open the front door and greet someone warmly. As she blotted the tears from her eyes she heard Keizeron’s voice and Zero’s clanking body. No longer the people she was too scared to help, but now the friends she wanted to work with. It was time to move on, now that Vothos had given her the strength to do so.
((“So, how do the gods even work here?” Winter asked as they stopped to take a break. “Has Willow just never tried to talk to her god before? Why did some old guy have to get his attention first?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that, but I guess I should tell you all since this is inherent stuff your characters would know about the world,” Caine mused. “And the listeners. All ten of you, love you guys!” He waved to the microphone. It did not wave back.
“You should wait until we’re all back from break,” Zenith observed as Blair and Ren had both gotten up. Ren looked up from where he was grabbing a sparkling water from the kitchen pantry.
The group chatted as they waited to finish their break, and Caine picked up one of his notebooks, leafing through all the pages of important things they’ve written down so far. They skimmed over various locations, npcs, items, and stopped on a page labeled pantheon of Entalita. Once Blair was sitting back down they started.
“There are seven major gods in the world, though your characters would think there were only six. The core domains are fire, water, earth, air, light, darkness, and magic. These main gods are ever present and unchanging, aside from Aria who fell a very long time ago. However these seven-six- are not the only gods in Entalita. The number of minor gods is always in flux, and can change at any given moment. Domains rising and falling as people’s interest in them diminish and swell.
Being a minor god in Entalita is a little like a popularity contest. Their powers and influence are tied directly to the number of worshipers they have. Some have very steady existences. Vothos has been around for a very long time, and will be yet because he represents the harvest and that will always be something that people pray to the gods for. But it doesn’t mean he can be inactive, if he doesn’t give farmers a good harvest to reward their loyalty people might praying to other gods or domains and he could lose power. But as we’ve just seen, Vothos does still take an active roll, so he’s not in danger of falling like other gods of more specific domains might be.
Anything can be a godly domain if enough people worship it. There’s gods for certain forests, the concept of beauty, even wanton violence. But the smaller the domain and following, the more a minor god might try to bribe it’s worshipers to keep it’s power. The stronger they are, the more power they can give to their priests, who become clerics and paladins. For gods of nastier or hateful things you do see more cult like followings. These people will force others to join their religion to make their gods, and themselves, stronger.
If a god looses enough power they can fall, in a way thats not dissimilar to the way Aria did. After someone has gained enough followers and ascended to godhood it becomes impossible to destroy them completely. If they fall they can die, but their essence will always be around as long as they still have people who know of them. If their domain can regain enough followers, or if their cult can produce enough magical energy, a fallen god can come back to power. But this is extremely uncommon, and can lead to power imbalances in the astral plane.
Aside from their domain’s duties, the job of the six remaining core deities is to maintain the balance in the astral plane. Occasionally they will split themselves or allow smaller gods expansion into their sphere to help. That’s why there’s an earth god, who deals with all things from the ground but also a harvest god, or how there’s an air god along side gods of storms and winds. As far as your characters know, the senka rod is an immensely powerful ancient artifact that’s deeply linked to Aria. Restoring it should have enough power to bring her back despite how long she’s been gone, and help the rest of the main pantheon restore balance.”
“Oh, so is that why the sky islands have started to fall? Not just because the person who lifted them is gone but because the celestial plane has been operating while missing one seventh of it’s power for a few centuries now?” Winter was intrigued.
“One could conclude that. But I should mention that your characters are currently unaware that the islands are crumbling. People who pay attention might have noticed at this point that the celestial plane is starting to lose control of the smaller gods, but unless you study the planes or celestial magic you probably don’t know. You’d probably think the tension is caused by the conflicts between the nations, which is maybe not entirely untrue. The queen is just very good at misdirection and hiding information.”
Caine watched with satisfaction as all of them scribbled down notes about what they were saying. Normally only Winter took notes, while the rest of them typically would only stop to write something down if it pertained to their character. A lot of the world building tidbits Caine had done so far were only in the podcast and hadn’t been read during the session. It gave the players the option to go back and listen if they wanted, but to not force extra info on them if they didn’t want to meta game. It was a fine line between playing a game and telling a story, and Caine could only hope they were doing their best.
“So we’re on this major quest to bring back a fallen god to restore balance to the world even though we’re not even aware there’s an imbalance. Cool cool. But I thought she was back already? Keizeron has talked to her hasn’t he?” Lucky asked, looking up from her paper.
“Well, first of all it is deeply ingrained in this worlds mythos that bringing Aria back is a good thing, the only problem is that nobody can agree on why that’s good. Your characters don’t have to know anything about the celestial imbalance to want to bring Aria back. As for the Keizeron thing, I’m not gonna tell you all his secrets but like, do you really think one of the major gods would just disappear after dying? Without leaving any piece of themselves behind? Even the minor gods still have some influence until the last of their worshipers vanish.”
“So if Mea picks a god and starts praying, would she become a cleric before we have to fight the warden?” Ren joked.
“That's not exactly how it works. You would have to actually believe in the domain you're praying to, and not every type of magic is compatible with every god. Caine closed their notebook. “But if you want you can certainly try. Now where were we?”
The stage was set. Caine could only hope they had inspired their players to take more interest in the world around them.))
Willow pocketed her gift from Vothos, thanked Jade and Malachite for their help, and followed her captain back to the ship. To his credit, Keizeron didn’t even chastise Willow for running off. When she left the cottage he noticed her puffy eyes and the change in her demeanor, and decided not to question it.
Both Keiz and Zero were carrying bags full of loudly clanking bottles. Her mind was occupied as they walked through Saburn, but as they neared the docks the loud noise finally cut through and started to distract her. “Why do you have so many bottles? I hope we won’t need that much antidote.”
She couldn’t tell exactly how many were in each pouch, but from the shape and the clanking she estimated it was around thirty bottles. Chiru never told them how many she was offering, but thirty seemed a bit excessive to Willow.
“The nice doctor asked us to take the extras to her son!” Zero announced cheerfully.
“She gave us a city name and a location, but I’m not entirely sure where it is. I’ll need to talk to Aka,” Keizeron muttered as they walked up the gang plank. “Not that we could have turned her down given the favor she’s doing us.”
Sola had long since had the ship ready to sail, and he was patiently waiting at the helm as the rest of the crew arrives. As Zero took the bottles below deck to put in storage Keiz finished untying the anchors and they could finally set off. Keiz watched over the railing as Saburn faded from view, and saw Meridia standing at the docks. She didn’t wave, but he felt a grim determination coming from her. They needed to kill the warden to claim the rod, but their mission had quickly grown to so much more than that. Now he realized a whole country was relying on them, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
