August 28, Year 3488 (SE 118)
The party spend the morning finishing up in the town of Barar. In particular, they sell the gold ring that they found and collect the reward promised to them by the town's head merchant. Sharla spends a few final hours with Tamat at the Druid circle and Jalessa at the Temple of Kib.
Once their tasks in Barar are complete, they bid farewell to the town and set out for Viskha, to return the symbol of Kord to Iskander and continue on their quest. They travel for the rest of the day and set up camp for the night at the side of the road.
That evening, P'hla calls the group together for a meeting. She explains to them that she has been having very strange, vivid, recurring dreams the focus on two monuments. She dreams of lizardfolk (or similar creatures) dancing around a stone obelisk in the desert to the east, and these same lizard-like creatures being driven to build a pyramid in the west by laughing, humanoid creatures. Furthermore, when she had the dream last night, a voice spoke directly to her.
This voice claimed to represent powers older and more powerful than the Gods, and said that the Gods had stolen the world from them, and soon they would rise up, take back rulership of the world, and cast down the Gods and their creations. It asked for P'hla's service, and in return it would grant her great power and spare her life when the rest of the Gods' creations are destroyed. P'hla refused this offer, at which point the dream ended.
The rest of the party are unsure what to make of this, until Flossaria confirms P'hla's story by telling them that she has had the same dreams, including being spoken to by the same voice last night. Flossaria, however, asked more questions of the voice, including details such as what exactly would be expected if she served, and was told that someone would visit her to explain.
As they discuss the dreams, Sharla realizes that the description given by both P'hla and Flossaria of the stone monument in the east seems to match descriptions given to her by Tamat of the Eye of Ranorach, the monument for which Arik is searching and which led him to travel to Ember in the first place.
The party decide to report this to Arik and get his opinion on the matter - meanwhile, they double up their guard shifts for the night. With P'hla's refusal to serve the voice, they are worried that it or its servants might seek some kind of vengeance.
August 29, Year 3488 (SE 118)
Most of this day is spent travelling, with the party arriving at Viskha around evening time. Even from a distance, however, they can tell that something big is happening in the city. A great fleet of ships is gathered in the city's harbour, and Zedlyn recognizes them as Viskhan military ships. They approach the ferry that should take them across the river to the city, finding it is much more crowded than usual. When they ask a bystander, he tells them that the flood season is upon Ember, and Viskha is preparing to resume its war with Cappadarnia.
Eventually, they get a spot on the ferry and arrive at Viskha. The city itself is very busy with the bustle of soldiers and other military staff, but they make their way through and head to Iskander's mansion. They present him the symbol of Kord, which he is happy to receive, and he holds up to his end of the bargain by giving them the Ring of Fire Resistance that will allow Arik to function normally in the desert heat.
Arik tells them that he has spent his time with Iskander perusing his considerable library of religious texts, and has uncovered an ancient text that seems to relate to the Eye of Ranorach (http://fgofe.blogspot.ca/2014/03/the-eye-in-waste.html). They also question Iskander about if he knows any unusual creation myths, or myths about something greater than the Gods. The only such story that Iskander knows is the story of MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, said by some to be the creator of the universe. He is said to be sleeping, and the Gods are his dreams, and the worlds are the playthings of the Gods. This doesn't quite match what P'hla and Flossaria were told in their dreams, but MANA does appear in the text that Arik uncovered. While speaking to Iskander, they also learn that there will be a royal procession the next day that he will be attending, in which the queen herself will be leaving the city and heading off to war.
While the rest of the party are discussing these myths and texts, Adokas heads off to find Lieutenant Hadia at the police station and check in. When he speaks to her, she tells him that she actually has a message for him and the rest of the group - several days ago, their presence was requested at the Viskhan Palace, and she was asked to bring them as soon as possible. When Adokas asks if there has been any progress in tracking down the cult of the half-closed eye, she tells them that there has, but she has been forbidden to speak of it by royal order. She believes that this order and the meeting at the palace are related. Adokas agrees to gather the rest of the party and meet at the palace gates one hour after sunrise on the next day.
Adokas returns to Iskander's home and relays Hadia's message, then the party disperse to rest for the night. Zedlyn stays at a local brothel, Adokas at a nearby inn, Iriellis and P'hla at the Temple of Slid (Iriellis uses her influence get P'hla admitted for the night), and Sharla at the Temple of Kib (using her knowledge of the Gods and her possession of a valuable golden holy symmbol of Kib to convince them that she is a pilgrim of sorts). Flossaria asks Arik to join her at the Temple of Mung.
At the temple, Flossaria shares with Arik the details of her dream, as she did with the rest of the party the previous night. Arik agrees that trying to visit the monuments that she saw in her dreams would be a good idea, except that they have no real idea where they are, beyond "east" and "west". There's little more than mile after mile of desert in both those directions, so attempting an expedition without more information would be folly. Flossaria tells him that she can still feel a faint tug to the west in her mind, which could lead them there, but Arik is unconvinced.
That night, Flossaria is awoken by one of the priests of Mung, who tells her that someone is there to see her. She gets up and greets the visitor, who is a dwarf who introduces himself as Grif. Grif is middle-aged and has the appearance of a veteran, with scars and old wounds all over his skin and a pronounced limp in his walk.
Grif introduces himself as an emissary of the same entities who contacted Flossaria in her dreams, and asks her to step outside to talk with him. She does so, and they move to the alley next to the temple. There, Grif allows her to ask whatever questions she likes.
It quickly becomes apparent that Grif is somewhat unhinged, mentally. He doesn't seem to care that the Ancients (as he calls them) apparently intend to destroy all of the Gods' creations, humans and demi-humans included, and he seems to implicitly believe everything they tell him, despite having no real reason to. He demonstrates the powers that have been granted to him - a simple light spell, not impressive on its own, but he points out that it normally takes years of study for a mage to master even the simplest of spells, but he was granted it, along with much more powerful abilities, in an instant.
Already suspecting that something is seriously wrong with Grif, Flossaria tries to cast a spell to detect evil, but phrases it so that Grif thinks that she is casting a spell to evaluate his magical power. She casts the spell and finds that Grif is radiating evil power, although whether he is just naturally an evil individual or whether this is due to the influence of the Ancients is unclear.
While he doesn't answer all of her questions, Grif does impart some useful information. He tells her that he and his fellow cultists have mostly been occupied digging up ancient artifacts and uncovering ancient lore, as directed by the voices in their heads. He informs her that P'hla's refusal to serve is known, and that she has been "marked" for it. Finally, he tells her that the Ancients can see into her dreams, and therefore can find out anything she knows.
With Flossaria remaining hesitant and unwilling to commit to serving the Ancients, Grif decides to depart and give her time to think. He warns her not to tell anyone about the cult, and to make up her mind quickly.
Re-entering the temple, Flossaria warns the guards to be extra vigilant before returning to sleep for the rest of the night.
August 30, Year 3488 (SE 118)
The next morning, the party gather at the palace gates and meet Hadia for their meeting. Taking a moment to talk amongst themselves, Flossaria shares what she can of her encounter from the previous night - specifically, she warns P'hla that she has been marked by the cult, and warns everyone else that apparently the Ancients can see into her dreams. They consider going to the College of Mages to see if there is a spell that can prevent her from dreaming, although such an expedition will have to wait until after their meeting.
A guard lets the party into the palace complex, and they are led to a smaller building near the main palace. They are escorted to the office of a royal official, who introduces himself as Ayal, advisor to Queen Ilthai's chief vizier, and explains his interest in the group. He tells them that the palace has recently become aware of the cultists of the half-closed eye (though he explicitly avoids saying how), and that they are interested in dealing with the cultists. However, they wish to do so in the most discreet way possible, both to avoid frightening the common people and to avoid alerting the cultists themselves. Going through the police would cause too much of a disturbance, but the party are ideal candidates for this task, as they are already involved anyway, and they can investigate in an unofficial capacity.
Ayal offers the party 2000 gold pieces if they kill either kill or drive out the cultists without causing an undue disturbance. They have tracked the cultists to a specific building within the South Yannreach, and estimate that there are at most a dozen individuals hiding within. Zedlyn haggles Ayal up to 3000 gold pieces, and they request that he send a message to the College of Mages requesting their aid. Ayal agrees to these terms and the party accept the mission. He gives them the location of the cultists' building.
Leaving the palace area, the party split into four groups, in anticipation of the royal procession in a few hours. Iriellis returns to the Temple of Kib and spends the time praying; Flossaria and P'hla head to the College of Mages, Zedlyn and Adokas go to investigate the cultists' building, and Sharla and Arik head back to Iskander's mansion to research in his library.
At the College of Mages, Flossaria and P'hla discover first-hand that one must either be a member of the College or the invitee of a member; Ayal's message has not yet arrived, and the battlemage guard doesn't let them in. They do at least convince him to pass a message on to the mages inside, asking if they know any spells to prevent someone from dreaming. They decide to return later, once Ayal's message has arrived.
Zedlyn and Adokas check out the building where the cultists are hiding - an ordinary, somewhat rundown residential building in the South Yannreach. Asking around the area, they find a room for rent in a building across the street, with an excellent view of the cultists' hideout. They rent the room for a week, making sure to pay the landlord a bit extra in exchange for his silence. Zedlyn gets to work furnishing the room with curtains and furniture, while Adokas continues to scout out the area.
Finally, Sharla and Arik spend their time in Iskander's mansion, searching for old maps or other texts that mention pyramids to the west. While Sharla is more scholarly, Arik has spent the last few weeks cooped up in the mansion so he is familiar with the library. In the few hours they have, they are not able to make any substantial discoveries.
As mid-afternoon approaches, Iskander kicks Sharla and Arik out of his mansion, because he and his wife must leave to participate in the royal procession. The rest of the party head out and gather together to watch the procession as well.
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